Reading, Writing and Riddling

Dear Sir or Madam

Will you read my book?

It took me years to write

Will  you take a look?

Paperback Writer   Lennon McCartney 

About a moon and a half ago, right here on this site,  I committed myself to penning that story that I've had somewhere inside as a loose affiliation of ideas for a couple of years or more. " How hard could it be? " I  thought.  I like, as Carolyn so deftly puts it, " rubbing words together " and I would be more effective as an editor if I too spent time at the starting end of the pen. I  understand the basic formula - set up a palpable problem then create attractive and engaging folks to solve it in attractive and engaging ways. It's like following a flight of steps. How could I get waylaid ?




 I told myself more than once back then, that one night soon I'd put bum to chair, fingers to keyboard and words together.  It would be un morceau de gateau.  I remember ,when I first got hooked on sci-fi, reading that Asimov(or maybe it was Bradbury) would routinely smack out thirty plus pages a day (editing, what the #*$& is that ?) . 

This thing, that thing and the other thing intervened and before I knew it  weeks had passed.

 So I sat down finally. Along with the challenge of writing a readable story there now was the creeping feeling that tempus was fugitting. Deadlines  have always been on my bane A-list. Carolyn, where do you find the time ??

When I did get back to my list/heap of ideas, fragments of this and that, and notes to self about what should be included, etc., I found that they actually further muddified things. I  needed some sort of outline to follow. I'd violated that very rule that I'd spent a number of years attempting to insert into the minds of my writing students - don't leave the house without a map!  I am now in the process of fleshing out that map. In doing so I've been made to focus on just where the potential weak links are. The foolproof flight of stairs has become a dark tunnel of sorts.  There are lots of  shadowy nooks and dead-end diversions to negotiate before I get to the light at the end.




In a small, serendipitous way succour came to me a few days ago. I got a copy of Kurt Vonnegut's posthumous " Armageddon in Retrospect " as a gift from my sister awhile back and I finally found myself in a position to crack it open. I've only been through the intro written by his son Mark so far but a couple of paragraphs in I found a perspective putting item.  A nine year old Mark describes his dad's M.O.

  




" He rewrote and rewrote and rewrote, muttering whatever he had just written over and over, tilting his head back and forth, gesturing with his hands, changing the pitch and rhythm of the words. Then he would pause thoughtfully rip the barely written-on sheet of typing paper from the typewriter, crumple it up, throw  it away, and start over again. It seemed like an odd way for a grownup to spend his time, but I was just a child who didn't know too much."

I feel better. 

Okay, I knew that there would have to be more doses of riddlin' injected into this international conversation. I welcome it heartily as I am a sucker for that kind of stuff.  Your last one left me with two possible choices. Either it's an old school reel-to-reel tape machine or ( and this is my ultimate guess as any half decent reel to reel would not click whir or hum lest it distort the recording ) it sounds like the ribbon wheel on an old electric typewriter. 

In response I respectfully submit the following twosome :

My Brothers are onions, my sisters are chives

I bring a strong presence to all of your lives

Best in the buds and worst in the roots

With tasty bruschetta I'm oft in cahoots

*

*

Seldom in kitchens, often in halls

  sometimes I'm even found climbing the walls

Sometimes I'm hairy and sometimes I'm bald

Sometimes upon me you find yourself called



Don

Passion and a riddle

 

I am blown away by Don’s passion for music, and I admire it – to have a passion so deep it becomes an integral part to the day. I was wondering if I had such a passion. I sampled various genres of music this week with the thought that since I do love having it in the background, maybe I was not paying attention to sleeping passion. I took a clue from Don’s “acres and acres of sci-fi inspired music…” I listened to Rush, they were passing fad for me years ago, sorry Don; I even did some techno this week. I realized that I listen to and use those different genres daily. But I’m not passionate about them. Music is part of my life’s tapestry, but it doesn’t provide my story – it is a life supplement – a vitamin.

I look around our house, my space, and realize there isn’t a room in the house that doesn’t have a book shelf in it. Not only are the shelves packed, but there is a second layer of books on top; obviously we ran out of room. On the dining room table, right where I can get to them, are my favorite magazines – Wired, Discover, National Geographic, and the Christian Science Monitor. I also have my latest book right there. When I travel, I travel with a book; I have a Kindle reader, two types of readers on my computer… I guess I could say words, the written word, are my passion. It is what brings a smile to my face. It is what I do – I am a writer, an editor; I am a publisher of works that are like Don’s music – raw, in your face – it is the adventure that catches me up and takes me away from “here”. This is my passion and I get to live it.

When I’m editing, I’m riding shotgun, I call out the “watch out”, and “why did you turn there?”  I get to enjoy the ride the author takes me on. Sci-fi can touch on topics that might otherwise be banned. Plot twists are mandatory and with sci-fi, you can get away with it as long as there is a thread through the story that the reader can follow. Characterization has no limit – we all give human characteristics to nonhuman entities. What is fascinating is when the nonhuman acts within the confines of their culture and how it clashes with humans and how it is resolved. Sci-fi can fill the imaginative mystery of how things fit together.

I love a good mystery, so the question is: why sci-fi over mystery? I think I’ll leave that open for next week. A new Capt. Jackson story was turned in today and I can’t wait to start reading.

Okay, Don. Here’s another riddle for ya

Clickity clack
Whir hum
Numbers letters
Metal
Wrapped around ribbon
Clickity clack
Whir hum



 

 

Carolyn  

More scenes from a marriage - Rush to the altar

  I'm pretty sure, Carolyn, that if you and I were in the same music store, we would not run into each other very often. That's one of the best things about music. It's subjective and individual - no two people will have exactly the same musical appetites or inclinations. When you refer to composing soundtracks inspired by the works you're reading/editing,  it certainly illustrates the best music and sci-fi marriage of all -  when the  music drives the story but also the story begets and drives the music. 

I'm  reminded of some of my very favorite examples of this win-win creative situation. Right up there is "Red Barchetta" by Rush. The song, my trusty Wikipedia tells me, was inspired by the futuristic short story " A Nice Morning Drive " by Richard Foster and published in the Nov. 1973 issue of Road and Track Magazine. It portrays a future in which unbridled performance vehicles ( a.k.a. Muscle cars, hot rods, etc.,) have been legislated out of  existence by " the Motor Law". 

The narrator escapes the city to visit his uncle on his former farm every Sunday. This is in part because his uncle has meticulously preserved one such vehicle " a brilliant Red Barchetta from a better, vanished time.",  hidden in the barn for him to use when he visits. During one such clandestine drive he is chased by two air cars ( the police, perhaps? ). They are only eluded when he crosses a single lane bridge too narrow for them to follow. The music conveys just as much sheer vicarious adrenaline as the story itself. That's  my kind of rock and my kind of uncle, too. 

He'd truly have to be the proverbial "rich uncle", though. Less than fifty of the original  Ferrari Barchettas were made in the very early 1950's. (See pic) They are ultra rare and desirable.  One was  recently auctioned  for approx. 2.5 million dollars. 

Known for decades as " The Thinking Man's Heavy Metal Band " Rush have mined science fiction heavily and effectively in their music. Lyricist and drummer Neil Peart only recently confessed that he's abandoned his penchant for Ayn Rand, an ongoing source for his lyrical inspiration  earlier. She recently came back to haunt GOP VP candidate Paul Ryan as well.

 These three Canucks are surpassed only by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in terms of consecutive gold and platinum studio albums. I believe, and not too crassly, this means lotsa people like them. Incredibly, only this year The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally saw fit to nominate them for inclusion. - Okay Don, put the soapbox and flag away now!



 In the opening sequence  to Star Trek  (2009) a fiery-eyed, tousle-haired  pre-teen James Tiberius Kirk barely able to see over the dash flings a classic Corvette around the badlands for a joyride. Soon he's accosted by two airborne officers. With The Beastie Boys   " Sabotage"  hammering in our ears ( a choice choice for sure ) he takes them on a chase that ultimately spells the end of the old but pristine 'vette. I can't help but wonder if " Red Barchetta" had a direct or maybe a subliminal influence in the inclusion of this scene. 

 BTW,  a multi-minute tease for the new Star Trek flick "Into Darkness" will, apparently, be included as a preface to The Hobbit  movie. - the tsunami  keeps rollin'

Another excellent  marriage of story and music, for me is  Willy DeVille's " Storybook Love " in The Princess Bride  soundtrack. It's sort of a three-way marriage ( or four if you include Mark Knopfler's involvement in the creating of the overall soundtrack) including William Goldman's original novel  which begat  Rob Reiner's beautiful movie  which included this simple and elegant love song.  Apparently a lot of people felt the same way as it was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song.  


There are acres and acres of sci-fi and fantasy inspired musical creations. Some are memorable. Some are strident, derivative or sophomoric. Most are forgettable but some just work. My favorites could be someone else's also-rans.   Music is like that. 

T

Addiction to Music is catching

 

 

 

 

 

I saw this and thought of you, Don.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’re good, Don! Raccoon Family is the answer to the riddle. I love the picture! My daughter occasionally deals with bears in her neighborhood, but so far, none have strayed this far into our town.

I understand about music. Music is a must in my life. I have different types of genres of music for the various activities I am engaged in. I’m not quite as into exploring different sounds as Don is -I prefer instrumental, piano is a favorite. Guess that could be because I played piano for many years. I even accompanied our kids as they competed through high school – our daughter was on the bassoon, and our son was on cello. We did okay until their talents exceeded mine as their music became more complicated. Our daughter did a double major in college – music and education. Our son has continued his musical interests and found a guitar far more portable than the cello. He started a “Rock Band” at the school he teaches. They’re not ready for prime time but they seem to enjoy playing. Me? I play a CD multi – stack player pretty well and have managed to put together some decent playlists on my iPod. I keep thinking I’ll get back to the keyboard someday, but for now, I’ll leave that to my husband.

Like everything else, music is changed a lot over the years, especially how to buy it.  I’m one of those people who likes to see the cover of the CD before I buy it. How an artist puts together their images and uses color on their cover influences me.  I loved going out and listening to music in the different stores – it was an outing and an adventure. I know that iTunes is available and I can buy individual songs, but the sense of adventure is missing, that sense of discovery is gone. And I admit I don’t know enough about new artists anymore to even know where to begin to get new beats to listen to. I guess I’m still old-fashioned in that respect. I imagine that techno to me is comparable to rock ‘n roll to my folks.

One of my favorite past times is imagining what kind of soundtrack I would put behind the stories I’m editing. Scott Searles book, ONE, one of the first stories we published, needs a full orchestra, deep booming sounds,brass and drums; Bone Mechanic by Jeph Keir is flutes and bowls with crashing ocean in the background. I haven’t quite gotten the right sounds together for Ariel’s books yet, and for my own, I haven’t thought of the sounds. To be truthful, I was relieved to just get the writing done. But I admit that sound is in the back of my head as I pen my latest Tracker story – guess I’d best speed up the tempo as the rough draft is due in a couple months.

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Sci-Fi and Music- A marriage made in someone's heaven

Carolyn, about those riddles - laughter was indeed the first. The second was music - which brings me, strangely enough, around to what I’m gonna yip about today in a non-concrete sequential manner, of course.   

"I love it", as Hannibal Smith  used to say ( oops, another guilty pleasure inadvertently revealed ) "when a plan comes together".  That phrase must be some kind of  powerful mantra otherwise how else to explain  Liam Neeson signing on for a movie resurrection of that  super-cheesy and at the same time  mindlessly delicious A-Team thing.  Just the original series episode with Boy George is enough to make one seriously wonder if there was even a scintilla of intellect or subtlety at freakin’ all in the popular culture of the 80’s - no wait, that was when the disco virus was rampant  - enough said! 

 How many dragon hoards of riches do you think Liam got for that cinematic slumming ?? 
 ( maybe it’s a guilty pleasure of his, too. ) 




 I am a music-loving person. I’m not  an accomplished musical person ( my only claim to fame in that regard was as a trombonist in my high school band ).  From the moment I rise until  I doze off at night, there is, and there has to be,  music about. I always have it on when I'm reading or editing.

 Last summer I finally got to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  My long suffering spouse will confirm that I almost had to be dragged out kicking and screaming at days end. If you have any musicality about yourself at all, you must go there too.

  My menu leans to classic rock and R&B but I  scoot off into other areas too. As I’m at the keyboard right now I have  the hypnotic  techno-pop  of  electronica  pioneers Kraftwerk as my aural backdrop.

.

 Earlier I was on a classical kick,  it was Suppe - Light Cavalry Overture, and The William Tell Overture and Barber of Seville from Rossini. I was going to put The Blue Danube on but It would simply make me want to drop everything and watch 2001 for the gadillionth time. 

Sometime soon we have to talk about Kubrick!  Not now though, or I'll fly right past  the topic at hand..

I like music enough that it’s a key element in that story I’m not so steadfastly trying to scribble down - more on that in a blog or two.

I love Sci-fi   too. So when the two of them come together it is bonus time. Such stuff happens regularly in fact. Example: O"Ryan's   Cyphares XIV, the supreme and supremely delusional ruler in her engrossing The Serpent Bearer series that I first encountered in the editing trenches almost immediately made me think of   Lucky Man by Prog Rock icons Emerson, Lake and Palmer.  It was such a strong  connection that I  see him  every time I hear it now. Much of their other stuff compliments reading O'Ryan too. If you happen upon this blog O'Ryan,  listen to all the ELP you can. Or perhaps you have already in which case, ten thumbs up. It’s about connections, n'est-ce-pas?.

Captain Jack's adventures send me to quite a few musical places too. While I'm there I hear  BTO  (  bone- crunching riffs and in yer face lyrics - Taking Care of Business, You Aint Seen Nothing Yet ! )  The Allman Bros, but especially one cut by the Dutch Band Golden Earring. Nope, not Radar Love but a driving little ditty titled Twilight Zone.  You may recognize it more by its chorus lyric " When the bullet hits the bone". Anyhow, as soon as I hear it I'm right out there with Capt. Jack and  crew. These musical connections just add another complete color to the reading palette for me. 

And, oh yes, Carolyn, your last riddle was seriously confuscating as Bilbo says. I may be a galaxy or two away from the real answer but the best I can come up with so far is that  you have a fat raccoon family about or ( hopefully not) a mamma bear.  




Anyhow, this music thing is not over but I've filled this weeks dance card. Later...

don

Hodgepodge, laughter and a Riddle!

Don gave me a lot to think about this week! And yes! the answers to last week's riddles were punctuation and autumn! Nice work!

 

Okay, my guesses for Don’s riddles from Wednesday: laughter and emotion

 

On to the meat of the blog: On behalf of the voters subjected to endless hours of rallies, media reviews of the rallies, debates, reviews of the debates, bad taste commercials and survey calls, I think we could all have used the help of Glamdring. I imagine that on more than one occasion political pundits would have gone blind from the blue glow in the crowd. Of course, we can also relate dragons to politicians – riddling talk that makes us waste time trying to understand what they said.

As an editor and a writer, wordplay is fundamental. It is that process of how to get the point across clearly that often stumps writers. However, one of my students found just the right words in his fairy tale rewrite of Humpty Dumpty: Humpty found out about the infidelity of his wife, Mrs. Dumpty. Humpty felt like “his heart had been poached and his brains scrambled.”  WOW!

 

The ultimate human wish – to right a wrong and survive! For me, I think that is the draw for an adventuring swashbuckling story.  That and the ending, the return to life as it was – the Hero’s journey. On the Wormhole Electric website we put together a definition of pulp that I think most accurately defines a reader’s experience for me:

“… good pulp is the hero winning the day, walking through the smoke and dust of the situation and coming out a bit older, a bit wiser, ready and willing to do it all again another day; it is the hero peering through the dissipating haze feeling satisfied…  As a reader, pulp is something that explodes in your face, dominates your thoughts as you pull with the hero through the villainy, the deceit, the rawness, the heart break; and like the hero, at the end of the story you want more. For a moment that glint in the hero’s eye is yours, his nod of definitiveness is your nod.”    

 

So here is another riddle:

A nightly bandit

Washing to feel with hands

A single mother with a brood in tow

A sumo wrestler in fur 

 

Have a great week!

Carolyn

 

PS

You have an answer to the riddle? Comment! You don't have to leave it up to Don and I!

The Hobbit - An Unexpected Pleasure ( and some riddles to boot )

Well,  I was warned by Carolyn about the alluring, dragon-talk  nature of the riddle. That was just before the Unexpected Pleasure hit.  Now  I happily rise to her riddle challenge. I’m guessing that the first riddle is punctuation  and  the second one is autumn.

Now,  it’s only fair, as Gollum would hiss,  that we be permitted  to reciprocate ( or is that ressssssiprocate ? )

    So....  a couple from way up here in  Cain-a dah.

Softly , loudly and all ways in between

I signal happiness, confusion, discovery or dismay

I am medicine and relief

What am I ?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I move your limbs and your lips

I shake you mindlessly and make you think

I speak clearly in all languages

What am I ?

 I had not expected to be doing  this so soon after I left last week. Then  I was about 50 pages into things and just starting to tell myself “ Hey, this isn’t  bad! “  As a life-long fan of  swashbuckling, wise-cracking, ray-gun toting, gadget sporting  supersonic good guys, I was initially wincing inside at the prospect of a slow slog  through The Hobbit .

 Boy, was I wrong! I  haven’t had this kind of joyful, can’t put it down sense of discovery about a book for  quite awhile - I don’t mind admitting that I enjoyed my ass off reading this story. Almost  50 years after my first attempt I think I’ve finally grown up enough to appreciate this 75 year old children’s book. 


Some observations from the rest of the journey:

One trick  ponies. Being a pony in this neck of the woods is a dead-end gig, like the expendable crewman on Star Trek who beams down to the unknown planet with Kirk and Spock.  The fabulous 14 went through more than a couple of dozen of them in their travels.  Even Beorn the Bruinish Middle Earth Dr. Dolittle has them waiting tables. No respect for ponies here.

Glamdring Envy. I  admit that I felt like Will Smith in Independence Day  test-driving the resurrected alien space fighter when I first saw “ The Foehammer” in action. “ I have got to get me one of these !”  Even the name is very cool. The Foehammer - sounds absolutely  Mr. T.

 " I pity the foe who faces the foehammer." 

Already had my dose of  riddle-in  up top, but I was  surprised to hear  Tolkien backhandedly slamming the whole riddle thing when he noted that “ No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.” Maybe the author was having a crappy day. How can any time spent in wordplay be wasted?






Bilbo is as Bilbo does. Even while flying on the back of an eagle on a crisp clear day well above the danger and with wondrous vistas to behold,  Bilbo still finds the idea of  “ a warm bath and a late breakfast on the lawn afterwards “ preferable to this airborne once in a hobbit lifetime experience. Truly,  leisure is its own reward. 




The next time I find spiders being a nuisance I must roust them with the magic words “ Attercop”  and “ Tomnoddy”  Unless they’re as big as I am, that is.



I did enjoy this read !!





Don

Riddle Me

??..!!

 

“This thing all things devours

Birds, beasts, trees, flowers

Gnaws iron, bites steel

Grinds hard stones to meal

Slays king, ruins town

And beats high mountain down”

What am I?

I have to admit that it has been many years since I read The Hobbit, and if truth be told, I read The Lord of the Rings first. Like Don, I just couldn’t get into The Hobbit the first time. But after The Lord of the Rings, all four books became something I read every two or three years. After my kids finished reading the series, so did I. Haven’t touched it since. But I love the movies! The animated, the real, the Trilogy! Hats off to Jackson for such a magnificent rendition of The Rings. I’m sure his version of The Hobbit will be just as entertaining. Yes! I’m aware things were left out – but to me, it doesn’t matter.  (Obviously I’m not hard core any more.)

What I remember most from The Hobbit, besides all the characters that never showed back up again,  are the riddles. Once my kids got into those parts of the book, and understood, they gleefully tortured me. No matter how many times I’d shake my head and groan, they’d giggle and plot and plan their next riddle. Yelling “uncle” never saved me. Must have been something about my concrete thinking – or maybe it was their concreteness and my abstractness that kept me from getting the answers.

Now that we have grandkids, riddles have come back. But this time I’m prepared! (There is something to be said for experience AND not having to live with the little buggers.) This time I’m ready!

Try this: Remember, you only get 3 tries. . .

Squiggles I am

Shaped lines and dots

Conversations I start and stop

Used rightly I make sense

Used wrongly I make confusion.

What am I?

 

Once a year I

 Return the living to the earth

Dressing them in red, gold, brown and orange

A gentle breath sends my creations swirling whirling

A cascading rain tumbling twirling to the ground

What am I?

 

 

Advert: 

Remember Ariel and the Philcon convention in New Jersey next weekend! 

And Wormhole Electric will be a bit late with the publishing of the free first chapters of the books this month. We are listing the urls for the Amazon UK ebook readers. The site should be refreshed and up by Monday night. Thanks for being patient.

Carolyn

 

 

 

 

 

Hobbitual Offender

J.R.R. himself says the idea for The Hobbit and all that it begat first hit him while he was grading student essays. Having been on that side of the desk I know just how that could happen. Carolyn mentioned earlier that some of her student encounters suggested somewhere else too. Many kinds of fire burn  behind  bright young eyes.

 This is the 75^th anniversary of it's publication and with an unpublished Tolkien manuscript  coming out soon and the movie and new lego stuff ( c”mon can there be anything more canonising in the church of popular culture than to have your literary offspring perpetuated in knobby plastic ?) I wanna surf  the Tolkien tsunami that approaches.

 So, by devoting this blog to The Hobbit I’m simply , and sycophantically,  helping the hype, aren’t I.

Problem…  I haven't read it! I haven’t read any of Tolkien’s  stuff. No movies either.  I tried, though. I tried in high school when , as that Rush lyric goes, it was a “ be cool or be cast out” thing. I tried again in University when it was Eng 101 essay fodder.  I tried a  third time when my daughter was bitten by the Baggins bug.

I just couldn’t make it through more than a couple of pages. 

 Well let’s see if number four is the charm. I just ferreted out my old university copy ( see pic)  from my musty boxes of saved books.

 Found it, naturally, at the bottom of the last box of many. A shock and awe moment even before I got to the title page. Right there on the inside front cover.  This  book cost $2.50 !!  New !!  At a university bookstore !! 

 Anyhow, in I go….

 Some chapter 1 quickie impressions:

 I’ll bet Robert Plant ( once  of the Led  Zeppelin hobbits ) knows this tale. Some  of his lyrical references click for me now. 

 Also I understand now why the short hairy guy at that Halloween kegger  I went to in first year  was flopping about on the common room floor screeching “ struck by lightning, struck by lightning “ He had big feet too.

 An instant party with a wizard, multiple dwarves, detachable party hoods, a live band and wine, ale, tea, coffee ,apple tarts, mince pies, pork pies, cheese, salad, cakes, eggs, cold chicken and pickles sounds great!  Beats the cheesies, beer and a boom-box blow-outs I (sorta) remember. 

 Dragons hoarding gold reminds me of the increasing number of merchants in all the various media imploring me to exchange my old gold. How would a dragon keep tabs on the current market value, and why ?  I smell allegory in this children’s tale. Guess it wouldn’t be the first time. L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s story  The Wizard of Oz  was seen by many as slipping political/cultural comments for voting adults between the lines too. Hmmm…

 Recalling “the good days” when his grandfather was King under the mountain, Thorin provides the best definition yet of retirement - at any age.  “ … and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it…”  - now that’s the ticket!

Yep, I’m  still in there with Bilbo and the crew. Will keep you posted! Especially if any epiphanies pop up.

Don