Autumn Reflection

Thanks to N. Vivian for saying on top of things this past couple of weeks! Myself, I seem to have left the blog by the wayside, so to speak. Thousands of apologies, oh Reader!

Where to begin?

Well, the semester at Clark has taken off rather quickly, as they often tend to do, and we are now at the middle of the term. I have received my first round of essays to grade and while the process is time-consuming, I am finding that, all in all, I'm enjoying it. Who would have thought that reading and grading 35 essays would be enjoyable?

Ahh, It is hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago we were enjoying summer. Although with the weather behaving as it has been, who would have thought that the summer had actually ended? This is the time of year when I find myself thinking of all the things I would like to do outdoors, but never end up doing them. I think of riding my bike down the various trails in central Massachusetts, going for a hike, paddling a canoe down one of the many rivers nearby, and sitting outside by the lake in the early morning with a cup of coffee in hand. It's odd, but when I think of relaxation, I think of autumn, not summer. I've always associated summer with free-time and vacation, and therefore being active and busy. Fall, on the other hand, seems to me to be the time for reflection, introspection, and relaxation. I'd like nothing more than to have ample time to sit and relax with a good book in hand. And a coffee, of course.

But what about you? What is your favorite part about fall? What do you do to relax, while the chaos of the business world and daily life rages around you?

Two reviews for the price of one!

Two books up for review since the first review is so short, and because I missed a review last week.

The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How To Solve The Mysteries Of Weak Writingby Bonnie Trenga. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.

Cute is really the best word for this book. Each chapter opens with a 'case write-up' that uses a ton of whatever grammatical error the chapter itself is covering. They cover the usual suspects (ha ha, I am witty, no?): passive voice, misplaced modifiers, unclear pronoun usage, excessively long sentences, etc etc. The book does a decent job explaining what each error is, and giving some generic ways to fix it. Then the chapter ends with a basic recap, and tell you to go back and read the original write-up to find and fix all of the mistakes. Nothing amazing or particularly insightful, but still pretty useful. What I felt was lacking from the book was an explanation of why someone would make that mistake. I mean, the passive voice is used I use the passive voice a lot. Why? I'm not entirely certain. Giving some insight into the 'why's' of the mistake would mean that I could potentially stop myself from making that mistake by recognizing the danger signs.

2.5 Stars

Aerie by Mercedes Lackey. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.

Oy. First, let me tell you, Misty was my favorite author for years. From sixth grade till at least partway through high school, she was heads and shoulders above any other author I could name. It's true that I didn't go to the extreme of buying each book as soon as it was published, but hardcovers are expensive and I was just a kid. Still, the minute one came out in paperback, they were clutched in my hot little hand. Staying up till four in the morning, eating Sweet Tarts, reading the newest Valdemar book, and reveling in the early morning silence of my house...that was the closest approximation to heaven I could fathom for a long time.

That being said, Aerie was a disappointment in a long string of disappointments. It is still better than that fiasco she calls One Good Knight, but that's pretty much the textbook definition of "damning with faint praise". This book actually had the climactic battle scene. It is the last novel in the Jouster series, following the further adventures of Kiron and his fellow Dragon Jousters as they try to integrate themselves into society and keep the newly formed borders of Altia safe from their outside neighbors.

Kiron is having trouble with his girlfriend, who wants girls to have equal rights to dragon eggs as guys do. Kiron is resisting and blah blah blah romantic 'tension' that goes through the first three-quarters of the book. Putting an additional strain on their relationship is this other chick who is falling in love with him. Why does she love him, you ask? Why, only because she's been the loyal friend and companion to Kiron's mother, and his mother has decided that her son's future is best served by marrying her son off to Chick and have them live on the old family farm--once Kiron finds a way to take it back.

Kiron knows none of this, and when he finds out, doesn't really care. He's too busy being friends with the High King and Queen, the leader of the Dragon Jousters and trying to save the world. There's plenty of interpersonal wangst as Kiron deals with his girlfriend, Chick deals with her feelings for Kiron, Kiron deals with his mother, and the elite group of female Dragon Jousters deal with each other. As has been very much a hallmark of Misty's recent books, nothing is really explained or described very deeply. There's no real character growth, motivations are shallow, and even the big scary enemy seems added as an afterthought--we get no real detail about them.

I really miss the days of Magic's Pawn and The Lark and the Wren. Back when characterization, continuity, and craft actually mattered to her.

When all is said and done though, the book itself is fairly fun. It isn't deep, thought-provoking, or narratively complex, but it's still a good way to kill a few hours without really exerting yourself. This is the perfect "break from studying for finals" book. Flufftastic. And there's lots of Egyptian mythology window-dressing, which is always fun to have. Just don't expect to get much in the way of plot development, and brace yourself for the deus ex machina OF DOOM that IS the climax of the book, and you'll be fine.

2.5 stars

In books I trust,
N. Vivian

A Political Post

I hope no one minds this. If it decided that this isn't in keeping with the blog, we can delete it, but since this argument is both well-researched and well-delivered, I think it should reach the widest audience possible.

Dear Gov. Palin,

How DARE you?

How DARE you stand on that stage, on the shoulders of generations of women who have struggled and sacrificed to allow a woman to achieve what you have, and spit in their faces the way you have done over the past few weeks? For a serious candidate for vice president to turn in such a poor performance in interview after interview that the fact that you managed not to pee on the stage meant that you exceeded many people's expectations is a crying shame. In the month since you were named as candidate for VP, you have embodied every single negative stereotype ever put forward as a 'reason' why women are not fit to lead a nation. You have been shallow, superficial, disorganized, and clearly uninformed on a wide range of issues that the president MUST understand. That is absolutely disgraceful. You are no longer Miss Wasilla - this is not a beauty contest that you can win by chirping "World peace!" into a microphone and waiting for someone to show up with your tiara and sash - it is deadly serious. How do you propose to take over the presidency, should that be necessary, when it takes you weeks of preparation and drilling and rehearsal in seclusion to get through a 90 minute debate? You are so afraid of the press after your three disastrous interviews that you have decided to avoid them completely - don't think that we can't see through your attempt to spin the situation to cast yourself as a victim of the evil, mean, press corps. Do you seriously believe that that would be an option for you, should you ever become president? What will you do then?

The open letter doesn't stop there. Please visit her blog to read the rest. Trust me, it's worth the visit.

Regards,
N. Vivian

Mr. Spock, MacGuyver, and Sara Connor walk into a bar...

The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes, Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 1st, 2008

Let's kick off the new month with another review, shall we?

My biggest argument with this book is that it is filled with cliches. I'm not referring to the archetypes, of course (anyone who picks up a book about archetypes and expects something new and fancy is an idjit), but the way they used archetypes in their descriptions. The way everything was described, I felt like I was reading a romance novel primer, even though they took examples from all genres. They used a lot of 'cutesy' terminology, which I found tedious. For example, when describing interactions between the BOSS and the BEST FRIEND archetypes they use:

The BEST FRIEND says the BOSS:
* is rude
* a tyrant and (they did not include and 'is' here, so the BOSS a tyrant)
* a captivating dictator

The BOSS says the BEST FRIEND:
* is small potatoes
* weak, and
* true blue

...oookay.

The book is broken down into 4 sections: male archetypes, female archetypes, using the archetypes to create new characters, and interactions between archetypes. Each section is set up much like a textbook, with little notes in the margin. I'd've preferred if the notes in the first two sections contained useful information, instead of reiterating which characters from literature and film embody said archetype, which is also included in the text, but I can live. The first two sections gave the archetype title (BOSS or BEST FRIEND), a brief description, qualities, virtues, flaws, background, possible careers, and two different ways the archetype could develop. The BOSS, for example, could be a princess-type character, or a trailblazer, or something else entirely. Nothing incredibly groundbreaking here, but still interesting information to have.

Section three explains using the archetypes to create characters. There are: core archetypes, where the character is 'just' one archetype (Mr. Spock is the PROFESSOR, Ellen Ripley is a CRUSADER); evolving archetypes, where the character starts at one archetype and evolves into another (Sara Connor goes from being a WAIF to a CRUSADER); and layered archetypes, where a character has a smattering of two or more archetypes (MacGyver is both a WARRIOR and a PROFESSOR). I did have fun using this section to assign archetypes to the characters in all of my role-playing games. The last section described the way the archetypes interacted with one another. The first part described the female archetypes interacting with other females, the second was males with other males, and the last was describing mixed-gender interaction (where I got my BOSS/BEST FRIEND example above.)

One great thing they did in this section was explain how the two clash, mesh, and change. The side notes in this section then give examples of how two characters from media embody these. But they don't only choose examples that go through all three steps: American Beauty's BOSS (Carolyn) interacts with the BEST FRIEND (Lester), and only clash. I appreciated them using a variety of examples, instead of staying within the strict 'Clash-Mesh-Change' pattern. I felt some of their examples were a bit dated, but it did come out in 2000.

Overall, The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes is fairly useful, if only as a jumping off point. People who feel like they have a good grasp on characterization already will probably find this tiresome in the same way the first few weeks of English class is, while the teacher ascertains that, yes, everyone here can use a period correctly. Still, it's a good jumping off point, and afforded me lots of fun as I figured out other characters from books, movies, and games that aligned with which archetype, though the archetype selection was fairly limited (I've got another book here with 45 archetypes. Fancy, no?) The book might have gotten a higher score, but I hated how they felt they had to completely capitalize every archetype every time they used it. I'm sure it was annoying in the above four paragraphs...now imagine reading the whole book like that.

3 stars

Burned Pride

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, reviewed by Steve on September 23rd, 2008.

Andrew Davidson's debut novel tells the story of an unnamed narrator, whose career as a male-pornstar has filled him with selfish pride and cynicism. Our narrator gets behind the wheel while high on cocaine and drunk on bourbon and swerves off a cliff, thinking he was dodging a flight of flaming arrows.
As the car crashes to the bottom of the ravine, a fire starts and rapidly spreads throughout the car, immolating the narrator, who is trapped in his seat. Somehow, help arrives, and the narrator awakens in a hospital burn unit, where he undergoes various burn treatments. While there, a mysterious former psych-ward patient visits him and talks with him. Her name is Marianne Engel, and she claims that she and the narrator were lovers once in medieval Germany.
Slowly, as the narrator begins the healing process, he finds himself at once believing and questioning the validity of Marianne's stories. Nonetheless, there is both an attraction and a sense of impotence, as the narrator questions how a woman could possibly love one such as he. His sense of self is effectively shattered: pride, ego, and vanity no longer have a place. But just as the narrator starts to come to love someone other than himself, Marianne tells him that her time is near and she will soon have to leave.

For a debut novel, this work is stunning. Not in the "will impact your life forevermore" sense, but nonetheless, the novel leaves you wanting more. Part Chuck Palahniuk, part Catcher in the Rye, Davidson's style is feverishly lucid and flirts with dark humor. His analogies and metaphors do not necessarily score many points on the literary scale, but they are clever and poignant all the same. One example is where the narrator observes, "A cheese strand dangled from her mouth to the edge of her nipple, and I wanted to rappel it like a mozzarella commando to storm her lovely breasts." Not exactly a touching, sentimental, or "high-literary" metaphor, but it's appeal is in its in-your-face grittiness; a sort of literary nod to punkdom.

In regards to characterization, Andrew Davidson nicely wraps the readers interest around his main characters: namely, the narrator, and Marianne Engel, but also the doctors, physical therapist, and Marianne's agent, all of whom seem very authentic and real. Our narrator is credible--sort of. He does not lie perhaps as outright as Holden Caulfield, but what he says must be taken with a grain of salt. He is, after all, a self-admitted addict and a selfish chauvinist to boot.
Another admirable trait to this novel is that we experience the story through the eyes of the narrator, who cannot confirm Marianne's story, but cannot deny it or discredit it either. As such, the reader is more or less invited to interpret as he/she will. There is ample evidence to suggest that what Marianne says is true, and just as much to say that she is delusional. What matters, though, is what the narrator came away with. Regardless as to whether or not he believes Marianne, he was touched; he was reformed; he did fall in love.

Like the other debut novel I've read this summer (The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski) I do have some quibbles about the ending to this novel. I shall not give anything away, but the end felt rather flat and anticlimactic. I think more could have been done with the ending than what Andrew Davidson chose to do. I was disappointed that I had ventured through this tumultuous rollercoaster ride with the narrator only to find that there was no grand finale. The ride simply stopped.

All told, I very much enjoyed the novel. The pacing was fast, intense, and Davidson held my interest all the way through. The characters interested me, the themes and motifs intrigued me, and I would highly recommend the novel. I would rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.

Cheers,
Steve

Rejected Much?

The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman. Reviewed by N. Vivian 09/22/08

Received, read, and finished the book within a day. It is excellent; not only is it helpful and informative, I even found it mildly entertaining. It's divided into 19 chapters, and each chapter focuses on problems that catch an agent's or an editor's eye and cause them to toss the manuscript, generally before having read much more than the first five pages. The chapters are arranged in order of likelihood of getting your manuscript rejected, and so, it starts off with very concrete ideas and rules, and as each chapter goes on, the ideas and advice get more theoretical. Chapter One is about presentation; granted, the kind of paper your manuscript on has no bearing on the quality of the work itself, but a lot of editors won't look at it anyway. As Lukeman says, editors (and their overworked assistants) have to plow through thousands of manuscripts, and are just looking for reasons to toss yours out of the window. Refusing to comply with industry standards is a quick and easy way for them to justify it. Also in the first chapter, he mentions the idea of researching the agents and editors you're sending your manuscript to, and sending it only to people who work with titles like yours--sure, you might lose out because the editor just picked up a book similar to yours, but sending a horror manuscript to a horror editor still gives you a higher chance getting accepted than sending a horror novel to a romance editor. Chapter 2 is about the abuse of adjectives and adverbs, 3 about the way your manuscript 'sounds', and on and on until Chapter 19, which discusses progression and pace. If your book hasn't been rejected by any of the reasons outlined in the first 18 chapters, then you're probably golden.

Lukeman gives examples about all the issues he discusses, so you can see exactly what is wrong with the problem under discussion, though he doesn't go very deep into fixing those issues (especially as he gets more metaphysical). Sure, Chapter 1 explains exactly what your margins should be (an easy fix), but it's much harder to give specific advice on appropriate story hooks (Chapter 14) or subtlety (Chapter 15). Still, he points out the problems, making them easy to spot in your manuscript, and he admits up front in his book that this is a "Don't Do" rather than a "How To" book. If you can see that you have a specific problem, you can go out an buy a ton of books related to that issue. He does give exercises to do at the end of each chapter, most of which involve sitting down with your manuscript and going over it with a fine tooth comb. I've tried a few with my Nanowrimo project, and they did seem to help.

In all, a good book. It won't tell you how to write your novel, or give you the magic best-seller formula, or even be able to fix a manuscript that's just hopeless, but it does give you a lot of tools to make it better. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get published. I found it so helpful, I went out and bought another one of his "how to get published" books.

5 stars

In books I trust,
Nu

Lassie + Hamlet= The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobleski, reviewed by Steve on 9/7/2008

David Wrobleski's debut novel has received much literary attention, and has been touted by some, such as O Magazine, as being a modern-day classic.

The novel tells the tale of a boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born a mute in 1970's Wisconsin. His family is renowned for their legendary breed of dogs, known only as Sawtelle Dogs, which they have been breeding for generations. Edgar's parents, Gar and Trudy, have continued the Sawtelle Dog program and raise Edgar to do the same. Though Edgar cannot speak, a unique sign language develops between himself, his parents, and the dogs, all of whom understand Edgar remarkably well.

As the story progresses with Edgar's upbringing and dog-training, the idyllic setting is usurped by Edgar's uncle, Claude. A former Navy man, Claude has never been part of Edgar's life until he shows up to the Sawtelle farm looking for work and Gar reluctantly acquiesces. It gradually becomes clear to Edgar that there is an underlying tension between Gar and his brother Claude, and this begins to manifest itself ever more clearly and violently, until it comes to a head with a murder.

Edgar is forced to flee the once tranquil farm and plunge into the Wisconsin wilderness with three of the Sawtelle dogs. Edgar's escape is troubled by more than just the police pursuit, and he finds himself alternating between hunting, gathering, and stealing to survive. Though he manages to elude his pursuers and sever his ties from home, a sense of homesickness pervades Edgar and he longs to return to his old life back on the farm. After months away from the Sawtelle farm, Edgar ventures homeward with a renewed sense of purpose and retribution, which can only bring devastation, but is nonetheless irresistible.

David Wrobleski's novel is perhaps best described as being elaborate. Elements from Shakespeare merge with Sophocles with a healthy dose of Lassie and Old Yeller thrown into the mix, and the narrative is articulated with poetic precision and infused with both a Romantic awe for the natural world and the desire to explore it, a la James Fenimore Cooper.

Of particular strength is Wrobleski's description and characterization of the Sawtelle dogs, who seem to have a deep spiritual and philosophical understanding of humanity. One of the most memorable characters of the novel is Almodine, Edgar's first dog, who raised him just as much as his human mother, Trudy. Almodine, always loyal, ever graceful, serves Edgar with the same sense of selflessness and dedication as Samwise Gamgee does for Frodo in The Lord of the Rings.

As a novel, I would rate this at a 3 on the 1-5 scale. I did enjoy reading it, but there are large sections of the narrative that get bogged down and do not seem to serve any real purpose for the story. Additionally, I felt that while Wrobleski suggested a sort of higher spirituality for the Sawtelle dogs, he did not go as far with that idea as I thought he would. This aspect is largely a matter of opinion, but I thought that much more could have been done with the dogs and their role within the story.

What was most disappointing to me was the end of the novel, which seemed far too cold and tragic. I suppose that if the author was modelling his plot upon Hamlet or Oedipus Rex, the conclusion cannot be anything other than tragic. Yet in doing this, the richness and spirituality as evoked by the Sawtelle Dogs is largely sacrificed, and I was left uncertain what the meaning of this sign now meant. Was it that the human condition is inevitably tragic? Are humans doomed to cause harm, having only momentary blips of benevolence? In the same way that Huck Finn's ending is both troubling and ambiguous, so too is the conclusion to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
Regardless, it was a good read overall; I did enjoy reading the novel and I would recommend it to others, especially those who love dogs.

Cheers,
Steve