“All things on earth point home in old October; sailers to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.” ~Thomas Wolfe
Here are some shiny things that caught my eye recently:
♦ All Hallow’s Read.
This week’s recommendation for All Hallow’s Read is Alabaster by Caitlín R. Kiernan, a collection of short stories about albino monster-hunter Dancy Flammarion. Here’s the official description from Subterranean Books:
An albino girl wanders the sun-scorched backroads of a south Georgia summer, following the bidding of an angel or perhaps only voices in her head, searching out and slaying ancient monsters who have hidden themselves away in the lonely places of the world. Caitlín R. Kiernan first introduced Dancy in the pages of her award-winning second novel, Threshold (2001), then went on to write several more short stories and a novella about this unlikely heroine, each a piece of what has become an epic dark fantasy narrative. Alabaster finally collects all these tales into one volume….
You can read an excerpt from the story “Bainbridge” here. Kiernan is a wonderful writer, so if you can’t track down the out-of-print-and-now-pricey Alabaster, try Threshold, which was definitely unnerving, or her latest novel, The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, a ghost story.
Enjoy 10 legendary monsters of Europe! Then revel in 7 legendary monsters of South America!
♦ The Reading Spot.
Last week was Steampunk Week 2012 at Tor.com. Here are some of the essays I found most interesting (or check out the index of all the Steampunk Week posts): Professor Elemental Defines Steampunk (or, at Least Tries to); Queer Cogs: Steampunk, Gender Identity, and Sexuality by Lisa Hager; Four Kinks Your Great-Grandparents Didn’t Want You to Know About by Margaret Killjoy and Professor Calamity; Stitching Time: Creating an Interactive Steampunk Narrative by Yomi Ayeni; Bruce Boxleitner’s Lantern City is Steampunk TV with a Can-Do, Fan-Fueled Attitude by Ay-Leen the Peacemaker; and Victorian Monsters by Diana Vick.
Curl up with these wonderful stories:
England under the White Witch by Theodora Goss at Clarkesworld Magazine
Blood Oranges by K.C. Shaw at Daily Science Fiction
Last by Rich Larson at Daily Science Fiction
Kill Kat 1 by Andrew Bell
Weaving Dreams by Mary Robinette Kowal at Apex Magazine
No Harm in Tears by Lissa Sloan at Enchanted Conversation
Lyria by Miah Sonnel at Daily Science Fiction
My Mask, Humanity by D. Thomas Minton at Daily Science Fiction
The Talking Fountain by Diana Părpăriţă at Enchanted Conversation
Watchdragon, latest flax-golden tale from Erin Morgenstern
The Commonplace Book by Jacob Clifton at Tor.com
King of Marbury by Andrew Smith at Tor.com
Dodger (excerpt) by Terry Pratchett at Tor.com
Little Star (excerpt) by John Ajvide Lindqvist at io9
Conjunctions (a poem) by Neil Gaiman
And why not enjoy some more poetry? In their newsletter last week, Poetry.org offered several Halloween poems from their archives, including The Dead by Mina Loy, Medusa by Patricia Smith, Hades’ Pitch by Rita Dove (love this one), A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud (translated by Bertrand Mathieu), and Darkness by Lord Byron.
This past week AlphaBooks, an alphabetical tumblr exploration of fictional characters curated by Ben Towle, moved to the T’s. My two favorites this week are Leah Palmer Preiss‘s Mr. Toad, from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, and Gerri Ryan‘s Thumbelina, from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale (dig all that groovy design work!).
Mr. Toad by Leah Palmer Preiss
- Thumbelina by Gerri Ryan
Banned Books Week was last week:
♦ Viewers’ Paradise.
As I mentioned last week, my friend Cameron Cook has been posting at least one horror-film review a day in honor of the Month of Horror. To date, here’s what’s been reviewed: A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Descent, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Cabin in the Woods, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Fall of the House of Usher (guest post by TJ Dempsey), and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Cameron also blogged recently about Modern Horror vs. Modern Horror Fans and re-posted his top ten favorite horror films.
Park Chan-wook, director of the fantastic Oldboy (many, many thanks to Cameron for loaning me his DVD of Oldboy last year), has a new movie coming out in March, Stoker. This trailer is full of delectable creepiness. I can’t wait!
Here’s a promo shot of Daniel Radcliffe for the upcoming film Horns, based on Joe Hill‘s novel (via). Looks fun!
Photo Credit: Doane Gregory/Red Granite Pictures
Here are two facts you need to know (at least to understand why I’ve included the trailer below): 1. I love love love Darwyn Cooke‘s graphic-novel adaptations of the Parker series created by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake). 2. I love Jason Statham (do I love love love Jason Statham? No. Maybe love love, though). This movie is my Reese’s cup, people! Via.
♦ The Book Nook.
This photo of the Documentation Centre at the Library and Archives of the National Museum Reina Sofia Art Centren in Madrid comes courtesy Bookshelf Porn‘s Facebook page:
Also, check out the library of NYU Press. Modest magnificence. Via.
♦ The Horns of Elfland.
My friend Andy’s celebrating the month at Radio Free Other with 31 Days of Halloween, reviewing a variety of musical artists appropriate for the spooky season and including music videos. So far he’s talked about Jeremy Messersmith (and gave me a shout-out, bless him), Mark Lanegan, Laura Marling, Blitzen Trapper, My Morning Jacket, and Laura Veirs. Go give RFO a read and a listen!
I just discovered Raylene Rankin via Kate Beaton’s lovely post on the occasion of Rankin’s death.
Also, I recently discovered Scandinavian singer Rebekka Karijord via Terri Windling’s blog. Her song, “Wear It Like A Crown,” is beautiful, so consider me bewitched.
♦ Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah (Shore).
Showtime hired pommedauphine to make cupcakes for the premiere of Dexter and the result was “Red Velvet with whipped vanilla icing, shards of sugar glass and red simple syrup splatter.” I want to eat so many of these! Via.
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Finland: its climate, its Kalevala, its education system, and now its school lunches! Click through and tell me this Finnish lunch of salmon soup and lingonberry pudding doesn’t make you want to move?
Learn how to flip food in a pan like a chef! Spoiler: don’t lift the pan. Time to practice…. Via.
♦ The Ninth Art.
At Tor.com, Tim Callahan continues the Great Alan Moore Reread with Promethea, Part Two.
Tim Hanley, who writes Straitened Circumstances (a superb blog about Wonder Woman and women in comics), wrote a guest post for DC Women Kicking Ass (another superb blog about women in comics) on The Brief Feminist Revolution of Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane.
Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Where the Wonder Women Are series continues with Mystek, Kitty Pryde, and Crimson Fox.
This Wondermark really cracked me up for some reason.
♦ She Blinded Me …. with Science!
Biology: Understanding sleep paralysis
Neuroscience: Microscopic wasps might have “clockwork” brains
Forensic: How forensic pathologists used maggots to identify an “unrecognizable” body
Epidemiology: Why HIV is more evil than we could have imagined; Rise in allergies has nothing to do with exposure to disease
Psychology: Roses don’t smell as sweet to psychopaths; men with shaved heads appear more masculine, study finds; what is it about the telephone that introverts dislike? (via the Get Better page on Facebook). Speaking of introverts, I couldn’t resist sharing another Grant Snider cartoon:
Apiology: French bees unwittingly make blue honey from M&M’s
Physics: How did we discover the existence of ultraviolet light?
Educational: Everything I need to know about teaching literature I learned from Winnie-the-Pooh
Weird: It is now possible to receive text messages from a cow’s vagina
♦ Tiny Bubbles.
I love this little pumpkin by Christopher Blake:
♦ Writers’ Corner.
Krissy Brady lists 3 reasons you should write when you’re tired.
Sentence Length Matters: The Anatomy of a Perfect Paragraph by Susan J. Morris
Juliette Wade on why you shouldn’t rush your writing
L.B. Gale looks at 7 books with unconventional chapter structures, and Elizabeth Spann Craig breaks down what to include in your first chapter.
This image from Sutured Infection would make a good story prompt, wouldn’t it:
Catherynne M. Valente talks about the big idea that brought about The Girl Who Fell beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.
Chuck Wendig reveals 25 ways to get your creative groove back as a writer (or, “how to art harder”).
Mary Sharratt gives 5 tips for writing historical fiction, which apply to many other genres besides historical fiction.
LitReactor on 10 words you literally didn’t know you were getting wrong.
Chet Phillips says, “Michael Ramstead formulates intriguing narratives into his beautiful, unsettling paintings.” What story does the painting below tell you?
Harper and the Flood and the Ghost by Michael Ramstead
mental floss wants you to know 13 little-known punctuation marks we should be using.
More devils in the details: how the neighborhoods of Manhattan got their names.
Full Stop’s Teaching in the Margins series continues with Gregory L. Ulmer.
Mary Robinette Kowal has a debut author lesson on Facebook that’s worth reading.
♦ The wonderful Nina Paley, who made the gorgeous Sita Sings the Blues, has a new short, “This Land Is Mine,” a clip from a longer, in-process film. “This Land Is Mine” is a bloody history of the Holy Land and, as Paley points out in Who’s Killing Who? A Viewer’s Guide, “you can’t tell the players without a pogrom!” Via.
