A little late...but worth the wait...or not.

So, due to a week crammed with papers due, I just now gathered up enough time to write my post for the week. I watched Pan's Labyrinth by myself in a dark room right before I went to bed Monday night, and I must say, that was not one of my brightest moments. I had no idea what the movie would be about (other than possibly a labyrinth, haha) and there were definitely moments that I was really scared! The faun was so creepy! And the baby eating man was even worse! I don't think that this is a movie that I would've watched if not for this class, but I'm glad that I did. Overall, I thought it was a very good movie, and I thought that there was a pretty good balance between "real life" and fantasy. I was also quite intrigued by Ofelia's bravery, or stupidity, whichever it happened to be. NO WAY would I have gone down those stairs by myself!

Story wranglers for March 5 class

Jessica, “Fourteen Experiments in Postal Delivery” (Schoffstall)

Jessie, “La Fee Verte” (Sherman)

Casey, “Cup and Table” (Pratt)

Laurie, “Journey into the Kingdom” (Rickert)

Ellie, “The Muldoon” (Hirshberg)

Congratulations to Renee

I just innocently visited the University of Alabama home page, looking for the final exam schedule, and who's smiling out at me but our own Renee Rivas, recently named to the 2008 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team. Congratulations, Renee!

Due date for second paper

The Monday of exam week is May 5, Cinco de Mayo, so the second paper will be due that Monday night at midnight. Sorry I left that off the syllabus; thanks for noticing.

Go sleep now?

Since I was writing my paper on labyrinths, I wanted to wait to read everyone's comments on the film until after I had finished. Preserve my initial assessment type thing. Of course, now that I'm all done and have read the billion comments I never want to write about labyrinths again. Nevertheless, I would like to get the class's opinion on something (something I didn't write about in my paper. Yay!) Unlike, say, the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie, very little of the fantastical action takes place within the garden maze. Ofelia's ordeal with the toad arguably occurs underground, not in a branch of the magical kingdom. In the meantime, what the official Pan's Labyrinth website calls an ogre, a.k.a. the Pale Man exists in an intriguing, yet unspecified location. Basically, I'm used to the monsters staying in the labyrinth and wondered if these creatures were also somehow trapped by the labyrinth's power. I find it somewhat strange to think of a kingdom as idealistic as Princess Moanna's harboring Mr. Creepy Cannibal.
While I'm at it, I also want to note my disappointment regarding the second challenge. For starters, Ofelia accomplished that task for all practical purposes by retrieving the knife. So the faun had no good reason to revoke her birthright. For finishers, why did Ofelia go through that harrowing experience if the blood of the innocent could just as suitably be shed with a gun? I feel the faun is at fault somewhere and hope the king gives him a stern talkin to.

Paper

Ok, because I'm paranoid, I just wanted to get it out there that I just sent my paper (twice). It was sent! Please tell me if it doesn't arrive safely in your inbox...

Chalk Door also in Beetlejuice!

I finally remembered! I kept trying to remember where I had seen the whole 'chalk door into the underworld' thing and it hit me. It was in Beetlejuice! Haha!

Anyway, I thought I'd share my amusement. I'm sure you can find references to it elsewhere. Since it managed to appear in both movies, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a more common magical device (like the mandrake root) that appears not infrequently.

Pan's Labrynth!!!!!!!

Hello All!!!! So I have to say that I really liked Pan's Labrynth even though for some reason I was expecting a little more fantasticalness (not a word, I know but it works!). The fantasy elements were really good. The whole idea of her as a princess. However, I felt that it was not enough of her fantasy world shown. I wanted to see more. I think it is because I may be comparing it to Narnia. In that movie, I feel that there was an equal balance between the fantasy world and the real world. When I think back on the movie I remember most the aspects of the real world and the cruelty of her step father but not necessarily her fantastical adventure. I have to admit that at the end I did get a little teary eyed. Okay okay I am a big sap and even though I know that she went to her fantasy world (& lived happily every after) the way she had to die was just horrible!!!! I wonder though, is her baby brother going to grow up and have his own little adventure back to be reunited with his sister. That would be a great sequel!!!!! Next time though it should be more fantasy and less real world!

The Spellbook Trope

I think it's really interesting that so many fantasy authors insert literary notions into their works. I mean, "The House of the Seven Librarians," "Magic for Beginners," and Pan's Labyrinth are just a few that we've encountered so far. And I got to thinking....where did this idea start? Lots of lore involved witches with spellbooks, and this idea in and of itself reflects the innate magic in every tome. Obviously fantasy writers enjoy this notion- and well they should! Reading has more to do with fantasy than with any other genre. Think about it; you're taking a few words and seeing a whole new reality. To torment a brand new cliche: "It's just like magic!"

Also, someone previously mentioned that the saddest moment in the movie was when the mother burned the mandrake. I TOTALLY AGREE! I think that there is definitely a comparison to be made between Ofelia and her mother. For instance, they are both concerned with Ofelia being 'a princess,' only Ofelia means it in a fantasy-type way and her mother just wants to squeeze the best out of the crummy life they have. It's so sad!

Pan's Labrynth: Greek Mythology and Ophelia

First of all thanks to everyone for coming to watch Pan's Labyrinth at Nott Hall. Netflix was also and so where the wizard swears. For those of you who are confused by the weird titles of my classmates posts, Amy pulled up some puppet show on youtube of Harry Potter learning wizard foul language. It was rather interesting to say the least.

When watching the movie, the scene where Ophelia drew the door in the wall and went to the home of the baby eating guy really struck a bell with me. Ophelia eating the grapes reminded me of my Greek lore where Persephone ate 3 pieces of fruit while the captive of Hades. Persephone was daughter of the goddess of nature. Mother Earth's daughter basically. She was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld and held captive. She was a beautiful girl who did not have a care in the world until Hades entered her life. While she was a captive she ate 3 pieces of fruit in the underworld. She was finally released after Zeus put pressure on Hades. However because she ate the fruit she was required to spend 3 months of the year in the underworld as Hades' wife. This is the origin of the seasons as her mother celebrated her arrival and mourned her loss.

Opheila is a Penelope like character. Because she was a carefree girl until the "devil" of her step father entered her life. All of the fantastical elements in the story resemble those of Greek myth. In her story, the princess escaped from the underworld and now she is returning there. The weather was even cloudy and overcast throughout the story as if her goddess mother were mourning her return.

This is just a thought to chew on. There are many more connections that can be made.

Pan's: Not What I Expected

I would like to preface with two things: I had never seen this movie before even though I had heard of its critical acclaim and two I watched it with two friends who have nothing to do with this class. Both aspects gave me such a different interpretation of the movie than I was expecting! The previews and the title both led me to think that the movie would focus mainly on the fantastical, as in the girl would spend the majority of her time in the labyrinth but really the movie focused more on reality. I haven't really previously been exposed to a piece that allowed me to compare the fantastical as correlated to reality on such a clear level before. This leads me into having two friends who were there for the hell of it. I let each of them give me their opinions first, just to see what part my background in this class might play. Each of them said that they much preferred the scenes that were reality and thought the movie would have been so much better off it the director had completely left out the fantastical elements. I was shocked! It meant so much to me to see that the audience was able to take it however they wanted: that Ofelia created an imaginary world or that she actually crossed over into another realm but that either way, despite the tragedy that surrounded her, her belief in something better carried her through. I actually couldn't help but compare this movie to Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Despite all the hatred that little girl had seen and experienced she still stayed true to herself (as in not throwing the baby into the pit). I really thought the fantasy was a good reflection of how humans need to believe in something or else life is pretty much terrible, religion, fantasy, or otherwise. Can you imagine if she hadn't had the labyrinth to get her through? It doesn't really matter if it exists actually. Okay, this is super long. Sorry! And I need to save all this typing for my paper. See you all in class!

Quick Question!

I need to include some of the abominations unto Nuggan in my paper, but I'm having trouble finding them again in the book. Should I cite them without page numbers? Is there an electronic copy of this book that I can just hit search through? I wish I would've decided on my paper topic before I read it so that I could've marked pages :(.

The Faerie subculture

At the website of Faerie Magazine, note especially the upcoming faerie festivals.

Faerie Magazine has a sister publication, Pirates Magazine.

Another fantastical ad campaign

This ad appeared on the back cover of the April 2008 issue of Sport Compact Car.

An interesting fantastical ad campaign

This ad ran in the March 2008 issue of In Style. Now check out the website, http://houseofxensa.com/. Be sure to click "Enter site."

A del Toro interview

This interview with Guillermo del Toro at Ain't It Cool News includes some interesting context for Pan's Labyrinth:

When I was a kid, when I slept in the guest bedroom of my grandmother’s house, at midnight, a faun would come out from behind the dresser. ...

I find that the girl in the movie is not so much trying to escape reality, which is the way that it would normally go. She’s actually articulating the world through her fantasy. So the things in her fantasy would reflect things in the real world. It’s not really her way of coping with the real world, more like interpreting. ...

The worst acts of violence are those that occur in a household, and a civil war is that. A civil war is a war in the household. ...

A friend of mine was being beaten with a bottle. And the only thing I noticed was that the bottle was not breaking, like in Western movies, like John Wayne breaking the bottle over someone’s head. ...

What I try to do is create a world that has a mythology behind it, and then I try not to explain the mythology. I think the minute you do that, the mystery goes away. ...

The real test for the girl is not so much the test, but seeing how she learns from her mistakes and seeing how she is capable of following only her instincts and disobeying the rest of the influences. It’s about her being her own little person. ...

There’s a tale called “The Three Hairs of the Devil.” [Here's a link to it.] The devil is asleep and a guy pulls one hair, and he can ask one question, whatever he wants to know. And there’s a town where water won’t flow, and the town is dying of thirst. So the guy pulls the hair and asks the devil, “Why is water not flowing in the town?” And the devil says, “If you look under a stone, you will find a giant frog. Kill it, and the water will flow.” That’s fairy tale logic. ...

The tale just has to be told, it’s not a logical exercise. Why does Cinderella need to leave at midnight and not 1 o’clock or 2 a.m.? ...

The movie tries to tell you that for every character in the movie, there is a moment of choice. The movie is based on the crossroads, the labyrinth, right turns, left turns, choosing where you go. And it’s a theme for the doctor, a theme for Mercedes, a theme for the mother, who chooses obedience, for example. ...

To me, the grotesque is beautiful. ...

I think it defines who he [Vidal] is, what an unstoppable guy he is, that he is sewing his own mouth. And he becomes, essentially, the Big Bad Wolf at that point.

Del Toro's notebooks

Like the late Alfred Hitchcock, Guillermo del Toro is one of those filmmakers who plans a movie in meticulous detail, including the visuals, before shooting begins. Check out these selections from his amazing illustrated notebooks, which remind me of Leonardo da Vinci's. The smaller pages at the bottom led directly to Pan's Labyrinth; you'll recognize the mandrake root and the Pale Man. Other examples are on the second disc of the two-disc Pan's Labyrinth DVD set.

A visit with Benjamin Rosenbaum

Benjamin Rosenbaum, author of "A Siege of Cranes," writes:

Thanks for teaching my story, Andy! :-)

(Nowhere is safe from the all-seeing eye of Google Alerts)

(I note that your syllabus says "Also chiming in from time to time may be invited guests from the world of fantasy publishing (as opposed to the fantasy world, which we all inhabit)"... clearly you should update it to insert "or uninvited"...)

We're delighted to have you chime in, and there's no need to wait on absent-minded me to issue a formal invitation. Benjamin Rosenbaum, meet the class; class, meet Benjamin Rosenbaum.

Class, check out our guest's archived blog entries about the writing of "A Siege of Cranes" -- which I just discovered, myself. Here he reveals that the first draft was written in a five-day frenzy, and that much of the worldbuilding was derived from his work on the online fantasy game Sanctum. Here he shares the issues he tackled in the initial rewrite. And here he reveals that he finally sold the story, after umpteen rewrites, five years after that first draft.

Benjamin, "A Siege of Cranes" seems such a natural for Twenty Epics that I'm rather floored it wasn't written especially for that anthology. Heck, the whole anthology might have been inspired by your story!

I'm also amused by this confession of yours: "One problem I know already: the title has absolutely nothing to do with the story. But it's such a cool title! Sigh."

If you don't mind my asking, how different is the published story from that initial draft, what are the chief differences, and what's your assessment of the finished product? Is this sort of fast, violent, detail-rich sword-and-sorcery adventure a subgenre you envision yourself returning to?

*insert Wizard Swear here*

So, about Pan's Labyrinth...I'm pretty sure I liked it, but it didn't exactly jump out at me like, wow! That was an amazing movie! Although I'm pretty sure it would have been a bit more exciting if I had seen it in a real movie theater as opposed to on the projector screen in the classroom in Nott. That's okay. It was good. And, as for the fantasy versus escapism debate, I'm undecided. It seemed like it was real enough, but for me at times, it just seemed like that this was a little girl's imaginative way to have something of her own to just be there and be something special that she was involved in. I think the only thing that lends fact to the argument that it is real and fantastical is the little blurb in the beginning of the movie that talks about the past. Otherwise, the creepy faun guy was not very convincing to me. It was kind of like, "Do these three tasks by the time the moon is full and maybe I won't eat you." I guess what the story needed was more of a background. If there had been a more detailed underlying plot that tied everything together (in the fantastical world, not the real world), I think it would have been more believable as fantasy.

I have a very long introduction to my paper written. Now I'm going to try to drag myself back in and see if I can't get closer to 1,000 words by the end of the night.

Will power, don't fail me now!

Most tragic moment....

Yeah, so I know that end was rather emotionally poignant, but I have to say that it wasn't the one that got me the most.

The moment I thought most tragic (not that there was difficulty in finding these) was when the mother burned the Mandrake root. It made me really interested in her back story. When had she stopped believing in fairy tales? When had that hope drained from her? She had to have been a little desperate after her husband died. Her daughter describes her as having cried a lot and she seemed depressed. And then there was that scene where she describes how she met Mr. Psycho and the other women made a big deal over the circumstances being very 'curious'.

Anyway, this is just my two cents.

Expecto Patronads!!

So, I also watched Pan's Labyrinth, and it was so amazing!! However, I would like to disagree with Jessica. I believe that this was a fantasy in every sense of the word and that the things that happened to Ofelia were real. She was really a princess and the faun was real (albeit creepy, I mean, really, he goes into a small girl's room at night) and so was everything that happened to her. I don't believe that it was a world that she created. I believe that it was just another world next to her own. So, yeah, that's my side of the argument and I'm sticking to it!! So, yeah, feel free to disagree with me if you think it was just an elaborate escape from reality. But I don't think it was. So, alrighty, see you wednesday!

el laberinto del fauno

So, I had already seen Pan's Labyrinth, and it was awesome the first time; but seeing it again was so much better. I bawled at the end, as soon as her mommy comes out on the throne. I wish the little girl could have had a better end, instead of being killed by the a**hole, but I could tell she was happy living her fairytale life. Hopefully, she didn't feel any pain.

Escapism!!! Miserable reality... you invent your own world... like the little girl did. But I still don't understand how she got out of the locked and guarded room.

And time: I'm sure it symbolized something big bc the guy kept bringing out the stopwatch every 15 minutes, and then the story about his dad dying... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Oh! And a useful tool.

Ah.

I always like to pass links along that I find useful and intriguing.
Thus, as we were discussing public domain books and the Wizard of Oz in class on Wednesday, I thought of this website:

Librivox.org

Librivox is a website dedicated to providing free audio-books from texts in the public domain for users to stream from the website, download directly, or subscribe to "chapter-a-day" podcasts.
Their vast collection of volunteer-read audio-books include fantasy classics like the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

Even if you're not looking for fantasy, this is a great resource and an awesome way to fill your iPod with literary love.

Post for the week: Escapism and Isolation

So, I've been thinking about the stories we've read lately, and about how at the beginning of the semester we discussed the Fantasy genre as a tool for escapism.

It seems to me that a lot of the stories we've been reading lately revolve around two themes:
A.) Main character travels on exciting fantastic journey away from small town (i.e. A Siege of Cranes, Monstrous Regiment, etc.)
B.) Main character lives in extremely weird and fantastic small town/isolated place (i.e. Botch Town, In the House of Seven Librarians, etc.)

Now, both of these themes sort of take advantage of the reader's desire to leave his/her own small town reality, but they play out in different ways. The reader is either transported away from a fictional small town on some sort of fantastical journey (therefore living out his or her escape fantasy vicariously through the protagonist), or he/she is transported to another isolated (but far more interesting) town/place.

Personally, I find scenario B much more intriguing because the author creates this incredible isolated area, which he/she sells to the audience like Hawaii in a travel brochure. Although there weren't a lot of positive comments in class on "In the House of Seven Librarians," I thought the sense of place came across really well. Most of the characters were well painted, and the library itself came through loud and clear--I could almost smell the musty cardigans and old paper. True, the plot wasn't incredibly complex, but I felt that the escapist quality could be found in visiting the overgrown library itself. Plus, if the idea of spending all your life in a small town scares you, reading a story in which a girl grows up in a library surrounded by old ladies makes your life look pretty eventful. Granted your walls don't bestow teddy bears upon you, but at least you've seen the sky.

Question

When exactly is the second paper due?

The All Powerful Authors

I found it interesting how many of our readings for this week deal with the power of words or stories. "Siege of Cranes" likely incorporates the most wordy tropes. As the typical fairy lore goes, the power of speech denotes magical animals and Marish needs be wary of words in the djinn's fairy world where words equal boons. The war-machine of body bits falls apart as Marish identifies the pieces and Magd also comes under his control through the exchange of a few words. I've also read plenty of tales which speculate about the mental character of horror story writers, but "Sob in the Silence" went ahead and made a murderer out of the guy. I couldn't help but think of Gordon Strangle Mars from Link's "Magic for Beginners." Also to mind came Agatha Christie's Ariadne Oliver character or "Murder, She Wrote," in which mystery novel writers are also able to solve mysteries. Through their writing, they all gain the ability to do as they write. The horror story writer gets the added bonus of receiving the same type of supernatural revenge he might write about. The story becomes even more powerful than the novelist as he is overcome by Maude's story. The "Seven Librarians" tale also obviously deals with "word-power" and also makes me think of "Magic for Beginners." Both use a library as a whole other world and both of the main characters struggle with their role in becoming part of the library. Interestingly, Fox's library seems more like the external world, whereas Dinsy must leave the library to experience nature and cities and the like.
I think, in the end, writers probably can't help but think of their own creative powers and feel the need to make a story out of it.

eh

So these stories were pretty good and they held my interest. So what's with the "eh," you might ask? I just didn't get the same spark I got from Link and Pratchett. I am trying to think of something different and wonderful to say than my fellow posters...hmmm... I did make sure to read "A Sob in the Silence" during the daytime or wow I never would have been able to sleep. It was a really well-written, fast moving story. I feel like I read an entire novel in thirty pages. Well, an entire Stephen King novel- who I tend to be wary about, seeing as I have an irrational ability to scare myself. Haha. I am looking forward to the next set of these stories. Maybe then I can figure out the reason why you picked them in this order like everyone else is wondering.

My opinion: without the influence of the other blogs

Ok, so I totally forgot to blog this week since we didn't have any readings the week before. I finally finished reading all the stories last night, and I haven't read all the other posts so they won't have any influence on what I want to say.

First of all, I loved them! They were all so out of the ordinary, completely new settings/creatures, and it really stretched my imagination realm. I'm pretty sure each story had somewhat of a message or a complaint about society. Or maybe the author went through something that he wanted to symbolize through the form of a story, like "Femaville 29." That story was probably in response to the FEMA errors committed in the aftermath of Katrina, and he wanted to let the mass audience know of how exactly life was in the camp, psychologically. We see the toll it took on the people after the newness wore off as he describes the tenseness and frustration so well. But the most profound effect is the new city the kids build. He obviously does not have the ability to imagine such stretches of reality since he grew out of it long before, but the "fact" that he sees it along with all the other people lets you know how intense the loss from the hurricane was. These people had nowhere to go, so it really affected them subconsciously, and made them see something that wasn't there-- a solution. Since the ones presented to them (or forced upon them) had no appeal, their minds had to create something to appease the soul.

I have so much more to say!!! But I'll wait until class to elaborate on this idea, and for the other stories.

I think I'm falling a bit behind...

I promise, I'll post another blog in addition to this one soon to make up for missing last week because my computer decided one day that it didn't feel like turning on anymore. After wiping the whole thing clean and reinstalling everything, however, it is mostly back to the way it was and I should be able to post like I've never posted before!

Anyway, on the topic of my story...

I'm not really sure how I feel about The Night Whiskey. I can say that I liked the sort of old-fashioned, small town feel of it, which was added to by the story of the deathberry, which had been passed down for generations. I'm not really so sure about the people getting all drunk and going to sleep in trees, although I guess being up high and only lightly supported by the branches of a tree can only add to the dreamlike quality of whatever high you're on.

I tried and tried to find some sort of deeper meaning for the whole deal where Pete brings his wife back from the other dimension, and the only thing I can come up with is that, since all sorts of bad, unfortunate things happened after he brought her back and they "killed" her again, you shouldn't try to disturb how things are? Maybe? Like, if you have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with a dead friend or relative, don't ruin it by trying to transport them back to your dimension.

I can kind of see a correlation between Pete's dead wife (whose name I can't recall at the moment) and the deathberry itself; it's like, the deathberry grows from a bush (a living thing) out of the carcasses of animals (a dead thing). Pete's wife is, essentially, a dead thing, which ends up as a sort of living thing, but it's like a mutated living thing. She doesn't look or act exactly how she did in life, but for technical purposes, I suppose it could be said that she is alive. The deathberry, while alive, is a sort of mutated version of its original form, i.e. a regular berry. Normal berries are usually somewhat sweet, good to eat (most of the time), while the deathberry cannot be consumed except in its fermented form, the Night Whiskey.

I'll try to scramble my brains to come up with more by class time. I don't think I'm awake yet.

Today's story wranglers

Erica: "The Night Whiskey" (Jeffrey Ford)

Amy: "In the House of the Seven Librarians" (Ellen Klages)

Casey: "Sob in the Silence" (Gene Wolfe)

Courtney: "Femaville 29" (Paul Di Filippo)

Jessica: "A Siege of Cranes" (Benjamin Rosenbaum)

Hic Sunt Dracones... in the house of the creepy writer-guy...

Sometimes certain fantasy short-stories give me a tummy ache. Or threaten to compromise my sleeping habits for a while. I have just finished “Sob in the Silence,” and I hate that I saw everything coming (yeah, it was a bit cliché) and yet I am still scared witless. Maybe it was a little (lot) too cliché. I was thinking the entire time, “Is Mr. Wolfe really going there? Oh, yes. Yes, he did.” I couldn’t help but remember one of the scariest movies I have ever seen, The Devil’s Backbone. A good lead-in to Pan’s Labyrinth, no? Also directed by Guillermo del Toro, this ghost-story fantasy/horror has been called a thematic lead-in to “Labyrinth” on many levels (Pan’s Labyrinth even has two background characters straight out of “Backbone”). We will definitely have to discuss this later, after the viewing-party, perhaps. But I was going somewhere with this, I promise. I thought the use of orphanages, ghosts, and bad-guys getting what they deserved at the hands of… those without hands… was all too clear an echo between the two works. Has anybody seen this? It’s not too bad a movie. The story in the anthology, though, seems lacking compared to what we have read before.

So… looking a little deeper than the tired plot, I realized that there was no “sob in the silence.” The title is actually from an 1843 poem, “The Cry of the Children,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (of Sonnet 43 fame). She was out-spoken about oppression, the lower-class, and child labor. Her (terrifying) poem spoke of the impoverished, working children, who cry out futilely for an unreachable Heaven. Deep stuff, considering the woman whose family was murdered searched for a heaven of her own, and ended up robbing others of their life on earth. It's too late for me to dwell upon similar meanings, but as far as I can tell, the other seems to be commenting on the fact that adults have no right to play God (or any other tyrant) to society's children.

Now for the real thing

First of all, show of hands please for anyone wanting to try the Night Whiskey experience?? Hurray for drugs and trips because those elements make fantasy much more...fantastic. I really wish that we got to find out what really happened with the wife--or rather what happens after Ernest escapes. What does everyone think about Ernest (it is Ernest, right?) getting the premonitions about Henry Grass, but then the real tragedy happening to Pete? Interesting. I also was (pleasantly) surprised when Witzer enabled Ernest's escape. I didn't initially see him as someone who would provide the means to leave the town. Help yes, leave no. I'm still not sure if I think he did it to assuage his own guilt or because he genuinely wanted to help Ernest. I'm thinking it's the former, but I still like Witzer.
Secondly, I LOVED Femaville 29. That was awesome. The kids just KNEW what to do and they created an entire working CITY. Little kids have dumb-founding powers of imagination. Awesome. The disaster part: not awesome, but amazing in that it created an outlet and a use for the children's imagination. I was very sad when Parrish did not make it into Djamala with Izzy and Nia but at least the story was cautiously optimistic, leading me to think that maybe once Parrish is healed/recovered he will see Izzy and Nia again. Anyone else in favor of happy endings? I'm finding that there are not that many in the fantasy we've been reading.
I think this blog has rambled on long enough. :)

Cold medicine, how I love you, let me count the ways...

My story for this week was “Femaville 29,” and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with it. I mean, it was a great story, and I really enjoyed reading it, but I felt that it lacked a little in the fantasy department. You really don’t even notice anything fantastical until the very end. I mean, children playing make believe is fantasy in itself, but is a story almost entirely about children playing make believe really considered fantasy? I get the fantasy element at the end where all of the evacuees can see the new city that the children built and they all go live there, but the way it was written lead me to think that Parrish just went a little “nutso” after he killed the little boy, which makes me think that he’s just hallucinating the whole thing. The reason it really makes me wonder is because every time he sees Djamala, he also sees the building in which he shot the little boy. This makes me wonder…

Would we consider hallucinations fantasy?

I think of fantasy as an intentional “creation” of something, whether it’s just mentally imagining it or physically writing it (or whatever you do to “make” it, ha-ha), but I think of a hallucination as something very unintentional and unwanted. It’s defined on dictionary.com as a false or mistaken idea which makes me think that maybe it’s not really fantasy. Here is where I get fuzzy – we said in class that playing make believe is considered fantasy. So, if someone had an imaginary friend, I would consider it fantasy and still make believe. BUT, what if that imaginary friend suddenly became a hallucination and the person thought it was real? Would it still be fantasy?

This leads me on a new thought, I also think of fantasy as being imaginary. Most people who read fantasy know deep down that it’s not real at least outside of our minds, ha-ha. I’m pretty sure that those who have hallucinations think they are real. Would this dismiss them from being considered fantasy?

I went on a long tangent, but I’m a little “under the weather,” and my cold medicine makes me a little loopy. I’m hoping that all of this will make sense in the morning when I’m no longer loopy.

For Andy

Another short fake blog...(real one to follow)...this is out of sheer curiosity Andy, but what is the rhyme or reason behind the order in which we are reading these stories? (i.e. Crystal was not the only one to make that mistake). Just wondering. :)

Die, milkshake, die! That's right, milkshake, you have been defeated. Now you go to milkshake prison!

So, real quick, will the paper be due midnight next wednesday, like it was last semester?? Or at a horribly obscure time during the day. Oh, and I would love to express my undying love of random quotes.

The Power of Words

I know several people were looking at writing their essay topics on the power of words. When I read "In the House of the Seven Librarians" this topic again came to mind. Whoever had this topic could talk about the power of words in the library. The library had some sort of a magical power or intelligence due to all the books being kept in such close proximity. This again reminds me of Terry Pratchett's books. Everything can be related back to them can't they? Anyway in his books the library at the Unseen University has some of the same characteristics as the one in the year's best. All of this is credited to the vast amounts of books contained here which according to Pratchett distorts the space time continuum.
Speaking of the power in magical books many fantasy stories also have this common theme of powerful words. Several stories such as the Drangonlance Chronicles and the Discworld novels contain magical books that can only be ready by the powerful. For anyone who has not been trained, these books will either be indecipherable or deadly. Anyway I hope this helps someone.

Ahhhh Man!!!!

So yeah. Tell me why for some odd reason I did not look at the syllabus to find out what stories we had to read. So of course, I started from the beginning! Yesterday I came to the realization after reading two of the beginning stories (which I happened to thoroughly enjoy) that our stories assigned to read started on page 78! I cant complain though because I did like them. Just for future reference Pol Pots Daughter... Awesome!!!

Yet another horror story about a well...

I'm sure we've all seen THE RING? Yeah. Freakiest movie EVER. What is it with the innate creepiness of wells?

Well! (lol) I enjoyed a lot of things about this story, mostly because the elements in "Sob in the Silence" made me think about other tales we've read so far. I'm not sure I would have liked it if it was a stand-alone read, though. I know this will probably catch me a lot of guff in class, but it seemed a bit cliched. I know that it's difficult to come up with original ideas in a notoriously overused genre, but nothing about this story really seemed to stand out. Well, except the fact that the scary bad guy was a horror writer. I'm sure that has some interesting implications. Cuz, see, he is a HORROR WRITER...and he's doing evil things...writing them, if you will...horror...*ahem* The identity of the main character made me hearken back to some Ford and Link and discussing the relationship of the art to the artist, particularly in "Magic for Beginners" when Jeff's(?) dad writes him dead. I also thought about this story in relation to the tales about perpetuating tales. You know, like "Jupiter's Skull" and "Lull." The main character has obviously experienced some horrible things that he perpetuates. Isn't that sort of like being trapped in a story?

I'll give you a topic. Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss.

So, I won't lie, I really hope someone knows this quote. It might be one of my favorite things ever, along with the other discussion questions, of course. Okay, so back on topic, I had to read the librarian story, which might be my favorite thing ever! I mean, personally, I would love to grow up in a library! It would be amazing!!! Yea! So, for a deeper meaning, I guess this story could be a commentary on the chaos of the real world and the choice between that and a more orderly existence. The librarians obviously thought that the outer world was too much to bear, but Dinsy wanted to experience the madness. Also, is the orderly existence worth it after you see all the things you have to give up? It would be interesting to see if Dinsy ever chose to go back to the library. Maybe when she was old and wanted that orderly life. You can discuss this amongst yourselves as well. Okay, and really, am I the only one that thought that a living library was the coolest thing ever! I want to live there too!!! Or at least visit, since I enjoy chaos. But, yeah, rambling is over, this is the coolest story ever, and I'm done.

HA!

"Olive had been the children's librarian since before recorded time, or so it seemed. No one knew how old she was, but she vaguely remembered waving to President Coolidge. She still had all of her marbles, though every one of them was a bit odd and rolled asymmetrically."


AHHHahahahaha......

hilarious....

'nuff said.

Once Upon a Time

So, I've been working on a series of paintings based on fairy/folk lore for my art class. To that end, Laurie introduced me to a great on-line database with all the fairy tales you could possibly want access to. I've found it very helpful for my research, but I thought others might be interested in it for the sheer story value. If you've never read the original Grimm brothers or Anderson tales, then you should definitely take a look. They are actually quite grim.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
Who knows, go to the address above and you may find a short story to back your thesis!

Also! Extra Material For Those Interested!

For Laura (I think), this is the Patricia C. Wrede series I was talking about with all the gender bending and fun time dragony goodness:
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles <--Amazon page

The one I was talking about in class was Dealing with Dragons, which is book one of the series (but the rest is worth a read too!).

Also, here's a link to Pratchett's Nac Mac Feegle series:
1.) The Wee Free Men
2.) A Hat Full of Sky
3.) The Wintersmith
There's a lot with the "power of words" in this series. As it was The Wee Free Men that introduced me to the Discworld, I have a special place in my heart for the little blue Scotsmen, but I also just happen to enjoy this series thoroughly. If you liked Monstrous Regiment (or even if you didn't!), you should totally read these.

Hope that helps someone out!
Or at least throws someone on to a good read!

Paper Topic

Well, I already discussed my amorphous paper topic in class, but I forgot to post it here... so without further ado...

For my paper I'd like to focus on gender in "Botch Town," and how, while the realm of the youthful is mostly dominated by boys, Mary is able to fit almost seamlessly into their society by remaining rather androgynous. Mary is a "medium" in that she can both calculate the future (using the male and female techniques of her grandparents) and remains in between genders. Her alternate persona, Mickey-Who-Has-All-The-Answers, is never assigned a gender and could easily fit in either category.

Also, the feminine seems to be targeted by the peeping Tom in the neighborhood. While Jeff is not androgynous, he does look a bit effeminate next to his macho brother, Jeff. Thus, after the super effeminate Charlie (that's his name, right?) goes missing, Jim is the next target. Similarly, most of the window peeping incidents include screaming women (or a screaming Mary), and macho men trying to chase down the perpetrator in vain. Also, the two siblings who don't fit decidedly into one gender category are the ones who "see the devil" in the nun and the man in white.

Right. So it's rough, and it needs some trimming, but that's what I have so far.
Any suggestions?

Clarion and Clarion West

I don't know whether any of you are interested in writing science fiction and fantasy fiction at some point, or whether you know anyone who is, but I highly recommend that anyone with such an interest consider applying, at some point, to the Clarion or Clarion West workshops. (Many people apply to both simultaneously, then see what happens.)

You'd need a summer free of other obligations, and the tuition/room/board can be pricey, but most attendees (including me) have a blast, and countless alumni (including me) have found it a transformative experience. I was a student at Clarion West 1994 and have taught at Clarion 2004 and Clarion West 2005.

I mention it now because both workshops are coming up on the application deadline for summer 2008, which is March 1.

This year's Clarion instructors include two writers on our syllabus, Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners) and Geoff Ryman ("Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter"), plus James Patrick Kelly (author of Burn, on my fall 2007 syllabus), Mary Anne Mohanraj, Neil Gaiman and Nalo Hopkinson. This year's Clarion West instructors include Paul Park, Mary Rosenblum, Cory Doctorow (author of two novels on my fall 2007 syllabus), Connie Willis, Sheree R. Thomas and Chuck Palahniuk.

Clarion is in San Diego, Clarion West in Seattle. (Yes, Clarion West is farther east than Clarion; it's a long story.)

I do not generally recommend the Clarions to folks who don't thrive in workshop/deadline situations, for obvious reasons. But I'm always willing to talk to anyone who's interested, not just in summer 2008 but anytime. Pass the word.

Titles from McFarland

As I've indicated in class, a lot of critical writing is being published, in both books and journals, about fantasy literature in all its forms. Check out, for example, these recent titles from McFarland & Co. The Tolkien and Shakespeare table of contents is especially interesting.

Pan's Movie Party!

We talked a little bit in class about getting together to watch the movie which was mainly due to Renee harassing me to say something. Anyway lets figure out a time and I will clear it with Mrs. Batson and Dr. Sharpe. It will have to be like next weekend I think or we could probably get away with it Tuesday night. While we are on the role of women in fantasy literature I would not mind some baked goods (Mostly kidding don't shoot!) For my support, Andy can call in and watch it with us too if he wants. Anyway lets get this thing figured out.

men/women/its

Hey guys! I really, really want to focus on gender roles for my paper. I am having trouble narrowing my topic down because my brain just keeps finding tangents and tangents but so far I am focused on Kelly Link and Terry Pratchett with some more, widely known references thrown in. Any ideas?

Breaking the Laws of God and Man!!!

Hey! I just figured I'd get my paper claim out there, since everyone else is jumping on the gravy train.
*ahem*
I'm really interested in writing a paper about the death/overthrow of gods. I want to use "Boatman's Holiday" for sure, and I'm pretty certain that I'm going to use "The Weight of Words" and link it to the bible. I would also like to use PRINCESS MONONOKE. I'm trying to focus my thesis on the idea that a god can be destroyed when individuals start their own creations (like in "Boatman" when the guy is able to actually create a paradise in hell and in "Weight" when Mr. Snake Man molds words to create his own world/images/ AND HE KILLS PEOPLE, TOO). I was toying with using some Pratchett, but I'd like to stay away from the 'if you don't believe in them, they die' idea. Some other references would be nice, though, if anyone has any ideas...

Do you have a flag? -Eddie Izzard

Speaking of staking claim....


I've thought of two options that I like. Both involve Pratchett. Haha!

One- This one would focus on Jackrum and his/her dubious views on manipulation discussing how it was a good/bad thing. Maybe even contrasting it with Vimes' version of how he manipulated events i.e. little gnome dropping coffee beans out of the sky.

Two- The second one would focus on the confinement in behavior of gender roles

I think the second one is a little generic, and I think I'm actually talking myself into the first one, now that I mention it. We'll see... I'll percolate on it for later...

Are we staking claim on our papers?

I'm planning on doing my paper on Monstrous Regiment and relating it to "The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women" and/or other publications that have used the name "Monstrous Regiment." I had a killer test tonight though, so I am just now getting to the whole reading thing.

Damn the pumpkins! Full speed ahead!!

So, paper topics. Yeah...fun times. Well, I know I already somewhat mentioned what I wanted to do, but I feel like I've narrowed it down a little bit. I want to write my paper about the physical manifestations of death in fantasy and how it is used to develop the characters, or something like that. I want to use Botch Town, and I know that 'death' is called the devil, but I think it can be used interchangeably with death, so yeah. I'm not sure other than that, maybe using Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, along with the brief interlude with death in Monster's Regiment. I'm not sure though, any suggestions would be wonderful...I don't mind reading a new book for my paper as long as it isn't a million book long series or something. Thanks, see you all tomorrow!!

paper topic

Ok.... So i haven't gotten all of the kinks and specifics worked out, but I wanna go ahead and stake claim to a paper involving a theme seen in many fantasy and sci fi texts, where the story circles back around to where you started. or maybe something about how often we have stories where the whole adventure occurs without having a real effect on the world around you [outside adventure without time passage occuring in 'real' world]

Like I said.....haven't worked out the entire concept yet.....or chosen texts, but yeah.....any thoughts?

"Old dudes hate that"

The men's fashion portfolio in the February Esquire, starring Andy Samberg of Saturday Night Life, includes this old dude with a secret amulet. Be sure to read Samberg's accompanying quote, below the photo.

Before Harry Potter and Peter Jackson's Tolkien movies, this joke would have mystified Esquire readers; now they all get it.

What most people think of when they think of fairies

The Bradford Exchange, purveyor of high-end tchotchkes, knows exactly how fairies are "supposed" to look and act. But Kelly Link's fairies, and certainly Susanna Clarke's fairies, are something else again.

The ayahuasca circuit

This Los Angeles Times Magazine article on the increasing popularity of ayahuasca -- now given U.S. Supreme Court sanction -- casts light on the scientific and cultural background of Jeffrey Ford's "Coffins on the River."

Monstrous Regiment annotations

Maybe y'all can think of additions to this fine preliminary list of Monstrous Regiment annotations. Having the songs and song lyrics explicated, including Country Joe and the Fish's "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag," is especially helpful.

One useful addition to the page would be a list of items of clothing and items of fashion that in our own world actually are named for military leaders, something Pratchett has much fun with in this novel. Wellington boots (or "wellies") and sideburns immediately come to mind.

Question!

Hey Andy,

That essay you were talking about is called "The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women" right? I didn't realize until now that there were so many other books written about the Monstrous Regiment! I just thought Pratchett was refering to Igors, Vampires, and Zombies as monsters when he named the book!

George Michael: "You gotta have faith-a, faith-a, faith"

Regarding the books on the syllabus thus far, two of the three authors heavily address religion, and not entirely in a positive light. (Does Link do that too?) We established in a class discussion that Ford is not a fan of Christianity, and that his theme of the death of gods continues to pump through the veins of Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment. However, Kalen got me interested with all his fancy talk of Small Gods. I discovered upon researching it a bit that "Om" is another god in Discworld on the decline due to lack in believers. (Yet another reference that a god is whoever we want it to be, and as long as there exists faith, there exists somehow a god of our very own.) But Om in Small Gods isn't losing credibility; he is losing "listeners" (I don't know how else to put it... it's late). I mean, his followers have completely shifted their focus from the true essence of his godliness toward the shallow and superficial order that comes with higher religion, i.e. heirarchy among the clerics. His people, in a sense, became idolaters. The same thing is happening to Nuggen in Monstrous Regiment. People no longer care about the whats/hows/whys of *pleasing* their god, only about how not to anger him. Thus, his many Abominations are his downfall. I just found it interesting that the religions were not being criticized by Pratchett due to lack of credibility as I have seen in a handful of Fantasy works; religion is criticized here because people lose sight of the more important aspects of their faith. I like you, Mr. Pratchett. You point out how people do stupid things, especially as masses. Casey, if by chance an idea hits you and you change your mind about the “death of gods” as a paper topic, I would absolutely love to take a crack at it.

A blurb on the regiment

So, first off, the main reason I was not a huge fan of this book was because I was expecting the whole marching through the woods thing to lead to something...like, maybe, a battle? Because they're supposedly in the middle of a war? It was kind of a letdown, really, because I feel like the book ended before it really began. A bit lacking in the action department, that's for sure.

Also...random comment, because I've been thinking about it for so long, and it kind of ruined it that Maladicta turned out to be a girl, but during the entire course of the book, whenever Maladict had something to say, I always heard him as sounding like Stewie from Family Guy. Anybody else? Probably not, I'm weird that way.

Love love love

I have one major complaint about this, my first Terry Pratchett novel: why oh why did we have to read it during the same week that I have a paper due and two tests?! I couldn't put the thing down! I read the back but had no idea about what Discworld really is (turns out it didn't matter all the much in the content of the story but thanks Kalen for explaining, I was curious). I love the comedic footnotes and the witty banter. From the beginning, I was very involved in the book and its characters. I will definitely look into reading some more Pratchett, any recommendations? Some things really did stick out to me though. For some reason I really wanted Maladict to be a boy but I was glad everyone else was a girl. Except for Sergeant Jackrum. I thought the book would have been more powerful if he had been a man who finally understood what a woman could achieve. Women already know that were amazingly capable :). Just with the point being that they wanted women to be able to have more freedoms and join the army undisguised, I thought it would have meant so much more for a man's man of power and intelligence (no offense Blouse) to recognize that. As for General Froc? Genius! Did it strike anyone else that some a 'girl power' book was written by a man? Just wondering because it sure gave major props to Pratchett as far as I am concerned. And Andy, I expect a note written to my Psych professor. It was totally your and this book's fault that I couldn't concentrate on that paper! :)

A New Terry Pratchett Fan!!!!

Okay, at first I was a little skeptical about the book. I must admit that I am not one to get enthralled about books concerning the tactics of war, which is was I thought the book was going to be about. I think the word "Regiment" in the title threw me off : ) However, out of what we have read so far this book, I must say, tops the cake! Pratchett adds in every unexpected twist that yo u would never even dreamed of thinking of. I suppose this is the reason why this book is a national best seller. Vampires, trolls & Igors (even though I never heard of an Igor before... Is an Igor something Pratchett invented or do they exist like vampires and trolls and I just hadnt heard of them before?) brought that fantastical touch to the book that we all know and love. Wazzer, even though she wasn't as action packed throughout the book, gave me a lot of laughs. She was such a fanatic, "The Duchess told me that I should." In addition, I loved Igor (or Igorina whatever you prefer) whose lisp sometimes threw me off. I sometimes had to stop for a second to figure out what she was saying. I found myself trapped in this book from the moment that I started reading. Plus it was hard to find a good stopping place being that there were no chapters. The chapter thing threw me off a little but that was okay. Overall this book was hilarious! While I was reading in the library I found myself chuckling in the midst of quiet studiers who at times would give me those, "that girl is so weird" glances. I could say so much more about the book but I feel as though I would be rabbling so I will stop now and just say that I loved it. Terry Pratchett definitely has a new fan!

Wow.

That was my reaction when I finished this book at some time around 1 this morning at which time I passed out...ha-ha. I've never read anything by Terry Pratchett before, but next time I'm looking for a good book to read, I'll definitely have him in mind! After getting into the book a good bit, I was hooked! The story told a lot like a typical going to war story, but the fact that there were Zombies, Vampires, Trolls, and Igors made it so much better. I've read some stories that feel like the author is trying too hard to make it known that the story is fantasy, but with this one, I just though "Oh, a vampire." It was very smooth. I think my favorite part of the book were all of the footnotes. They were absolutely hilarious; every time I turned the page, I was hoping that there would be another one at the bottom! I also liked when Jackrum kicked all of the men out of the room and made the high ranked officers admit that they were women. What I didn't understand about this part was why they were trying to lock up the girls. Was it because they didn't want to be found out? The only part I didn't like was when Jackrum turned out to be a woman. I just really wanted him to be a nice, easy going man who didn't care whether his soldier was man or woman! That was a bummer. Oh, wait...I also didn't like that Pratchett had different people call the girls different names. I had a really difficult time figuring out who was doing what!

I have questions though:
1. How did those people in the tower know that Maladicta needed coffee...or how did they know so much?
2. Why were they helping them...weren't they on opposing sides?
3. What was with the zombies downstairs? I felt that they were just kind of there, but never really did anything.
4. Did they mention that Shufti was pregnant before page 305? That came as a real shock to me!

I think I had more questions, but I can't remember at the moment. Overall, I just really enjoyed this book!

The Discworld for Beginners

For anyone who has never had the pleasure of reading any of Terry Pratchett's other books I just thought that I would provide a little background information about the world he has created. The Discworld series turns reality on its head. As we saw in "Monstrous Regiment" it is a world inhabited by humans, trolls, gnomes, dwarfs, witches, vampires, etc. Discworld itself a giant flat disk balanced on the backs of four giant elephants who in turn stand on the back of the giant space turtle the Great A'tuin. The Great A'tuin is traveling through the cosmos towards an unknown destination. According to Wikipedia, "the popular big bang theory states, Great A'Tuin is moving to his (or her) mating grounds." To the footnote person it is in footnotes that you find these humorous tidbits that Pratchett throws into his stories. As we saw in this book, Pratchett uses this upside down mirrored version of our reality to make many humorous comments about the world we live in. If you want to do a lot more reading on the laws that govern Discworld's existence there is a great Wikipedia article here.

About Ford's plots...

Overall, I liked The Empire of Ice Cream, but I got a little annoyed at the end of it because of all the repetition in his plot structure. At least every other story ended with some sort of cyclical event. Normally, I would probably quite enjoy this type of structure in a lone story, but with all of these stories in the same book (and so many of them with ending cyclically)... it got a little too much after a while. I still like his writing, still like his stories, but it made them awfully predictable after a while.

Anyone else bothered by this?

Weekly Post

So, I'm not really sure what else I can say about this book that nobody else has mentioned. But, I'll stick with the crowd and say that I loved this book! I was definitely rooting for the girls the whole time, and I loved all the 'monsters'. Especially Maladicta! I loved the fact that she was addicted to coffee instead of blood. I'll admit to being able to relate to that, you know, except for the blood thing in general. I love the few Terry Pratchett books that I've read and this one is no exception. I will admit that the no chapter thing threw me off for a bit, and could be frustrating when I wanted to stop at a convenient place, but other than that it was a good time. So, yeah, this was a good book and I enjoyed it.

Oh, and I will say that I loved the footnotes!! They were perhaps one of my favorite parts. I will say that I disagree with Jessica about them being like an essay, because no essay I have ever read has had footnotes as amusing as these. It kind of reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in the beginning, when the subtitles are full of hilariousness.

Very interesting author (pratchett)

I didn't know if pratchett was a women or a guy...so I decided to wiki it, and in the process saw some pretty interesting things.

First of all, I'm glad the author was a man. It just makes the book so much better knowing that it wasn't based off of a women's horrible experiences with men, and her retaliating against them in general.

Second, the technical aspect of the book:

• The footnotes -- it was a different experience having that in a fantasy book. I don't know if I particularly like it since it felt like I was reading a research paper....but eh, it was something different.
• No chapters -- whoa, did anybody else have a problem in stopping when reading? The action never really stopped after the second half, and if it did pause, I never wanted to stop at a certain point in case something super interesting was going to come up on the next page. Just thought I'd mention that.
  

Overall criticism: After the first 1/3 of book -- super, couldn't put it down, makes me want to read the next book

Pratchett

I love Pratchett. Big surprise, right? The man is hilarious. There are so many moments in his stories where the craziest things happen. I cracked up when I read the part where the coffee bean bag fell out of the sky only to land on Maladicta, right as she was was about to loose it.

But... I also think that there are real veins of truth that flow through his stories. Look at the ending; it was just perfect. I like where he says:

"The enemy wasn't men or women, or the old, or even the dead. It was just bleedin' stupid people who came in all varieties." (389)

As fun as his stories are to read, I think they also resonate with us because of the other things they say in between all the hilarity.

Vampires and Trolls and Gnomes, Oh My!!!

Forgot to mention...loved the vampires and trolls and the flying gnome, werewolves AND the "Igors." Just thought it needed saying that they were pretty amazing.

Pratchett

So I just finished Monstrous Regiment, which, I feel I need to say, is not a book I would have picked up to read on my own, and if I had, I doubt I would have continued reading it. HOWEVER, after I plowed through the first 50 pages, I was hooked. (Okay, so if you haven't finished, stop reading my post because it contains spoilers) The book was full of humor and stereotypes that Pratchett turned around and flipped upside down. The men...or the women...were so real and well-developed that I was cheering for the squad by the end of the book to not give up, and to not accept the "return to your dull lives as worthless women" offer that the OTHER women were giving them. The book was full of constant surprises as each character in turn revealed "his" secrets. I also appreciated the larger themes of war and the stupidity of people that so often causes it. Believe me, I can relate to the stupid people thing. So I wouldn't say for sure that I am a complete Pratchett convert, but I definitely enjoyed this one.

Class Discussion

I really enjoyed the class discussion last week and hearing the many different takes on Ford's works. I have to admit, I preferred The Empire of Ice Cream to Magic for Beginners and I believe it was because Ford's stories made more sense to me. That said, there were plenty of times where the reader had to whip out the "willing suspension of disbelief" card in order to make sense of things, and this was pointed out, much to my surprise, repeatedly in class. I realize this is simply my opinion, but Ford's stories made much more sense to me than Link's stories, and yet no one really asked why or how when we were discussing Link. Maybe her stories are just so off-the-wall that the reader has to accept them at face value, because I feel that if I started asking why with Link, I would never stop. With Ford, yes there were a few inconsistencies, and maybe that's why they were so...inconsistent...because the rest of the work made "relative" sense. Nothing really deep or profound, just something I thought about in class.

Joan of Pratchett

I'm not sure what you fine blokes liked about this saucy novel, but I really enjoyed the Joan of Ark references. I'm pretty sure that Pratchett had our French heroine in mind when he designed Alice (and even the rest of the girls), and I was interested by all the twists he inserted into this well-known historical tale. Instead of being inspired by God, Alice talks to...a saint? a ghost? a god? this point is debatable. Also, Alice the Duchess isn't some sort of supreme, omnipotent being guiding a human pawn...after all, Alice says that most of the time, the Duchess just cries. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK THE DUCHESS IS??? Moving on. Speaking of God, it mentions that Nuggan has faded away, he's only echoes. Does this story give any clues about how this happened? I would like to write my paper about killing gods, ala "Boatman's Holiday," and of course, this stuck out to me. But I can't recall anyone trying to explain why Nuggan wafted away OR why the Duchess can hear people's prayers. Perhaps some other Discworld novels give more insight into the religious workings of this world. I, for one, have never been very enamored of Terry Pratchett, so I wouldn't know. Perhaps one of you can shed some light on the subject? *piercing glare* Hmm? Hmmmmm?

Brandon Sanderson on Robert Jordan's big shoes

At Amazon's Omnivoracious blog, fantasy novelist and editor Jeff VanderMeer interviews novelist Brandon Sanderson about the task of completing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Um...

Since I seem to be posting everything that comes into my head today, I just want to say that I totally called it with Nosferatu and the "Circumcising Dracula" article! Which was highly interesting, as well as depressing, and I would recommend finding the time to read it if you haven't already. I also want to say that I own the 1930's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi and would happily host a vampire-movie night just to watch it. It's probably the best vampire movie ever. I mean, what Count Dracula castle is complete without two scary armadillos?

1 <3 73rRy Pr47Ch377!! r0X0rs!

Did you know there are English to leet translators? Because I just found out.
Anyway, I just wanted to note that mention of "Circumcising Dracula" is perfect for Pratchett. Not necessarily for the antisemitic roots (1922 German film Nosferatu anyone?), but because Pratchett makes fun of vampire related gender stereotypes -- which is what the title made me think of. That's one of the (many) reasons I love Pratchett so much. Even when characters really really want to be the typical fantasy-story character, they just can't. They're too real. In other words, they possess too many of humankind's natural flaws -- entirely inappropriate for being a sexy vampire, poised princess, or stalwart hero. It has been a while since I last read Monstrous Regiment, but I remember finding Pratchett's sentiments on war appropriate to the times, and I'm sure it still is. The narrative offers great twists and turns, so I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I love reading anything Pratchett!

"Circumcising Dracula"

Since Monstrous Regiment is, among many other things, a vampire novel, it's worth pointing out that the body of criticism of vampire fiction is vast. Here's a sample, a 2001 essay titled "Circumcising Dracula," by Jeffrey Weinstock, originally published in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. Weinstock writes: "The native earth in which the vampire is condemned to rest is the dirt of anti-Semitism."

Botch Post

Well, I have to say that Ford is very different from Link as a short story writer, but reading the two so closely together made for an interesting juxtaposition. A contrast of tastes on my literary palate, if you will...

Right. So, "Botch Town" seemed to be an all around favorite among the class (it was mine as well!), and I was wondering if anyone could put into words why she/he enjoyed it so much? Personally, I was enchanted by the well fleshed out characters (especially Mary), and the humorous eccentricities of the family and neighbors. The fact that Jeff's ancient neighbor settles into a lawn chair to shoot squirrels in the summer, and hands out tissue wrapped figs at Halloween is simply priceless.

At the end of the piece in the story notes, Ford reveals that the narrative, "Botch Town," is the contents of the long discarded composition notebook of our narrator. As we see throughout the story, the contents of Jeff's notebook revolves mostly around descriptions of his neighbors. Do you think Ford effectively molds this story into or around the contents of Jeff's notebook? If you were to open the faded black and white cover, and flip through the yellowed pages... is "Botch Town" what you would expect to find?

Book returns

The Supe Store reports that it will start returning unsold spring 2008 texbooks Monday, Feb. 4, so if you have books on this syllabus yet to pick up, and you want to get them at the Supe Store, now's the time.

An interesting new journal ...

... just announced (meaning no issues yet) is Transformative Works and Cultures, which describes itself thus:

TWC publishes articles about popular media, fan communities, and transformative works, broadly conceived. We invite papers on all related topics, including but not limited to fan fiction, fan vids, mashups, machinima, film, TV, anime, comic books, video games, and any and all aspects of the communities of practice that surround them. TWC’s aim is twofold: to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics, and to promote dialogue between the academic community and the fan community.

Co-editors Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse also edited the collection Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays; Busse teaches at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.