I've just started a book which opens with a character performing a coin trick in his pocket where nobody can see it. Brilliant. Wish I had thought of that.
(book: The Magicians by Lev Grossman... I believe it comes out in August)
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I'm writing a short story right now. Well, not right now. I was writing it earlier, back when there was sunlight and my brain still worked. Anyway, it's about the strange chill that falls upon you when you drink too much wine in the summertime. Or, it's about dancing. Or, possibly, it's about an old woman who guards the door to faery. Or, then again, it might be about losing things. I'm not entirely sure. It's all vague and foggy, and while I know what happens, I don't actually know what it's about, so it's hard to figure out what I need to tell and what is best left untold.
And, I have a character named B. because I can't think of a name for him. Sad.
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My sister has the best taste in YouTube treasures: How Wings Are Attached To The Backs Of Angels (Comment Les Ailes Sont Attachees Au Dos Des Anges) by Craig Welch. An easy comparison of flavor would be to Edward Gorey. Also, I've always liked that Chopin nocturne.
10 comments:
I adore the national film board of Canada. I used to love getting to catch some NFB animated short or other when they would occasionally pop up on TV. Now they have hundreds of films up on their website, which is well worth checking out if you haven't. http://www.nfb.ca/
Balthasar. His name could totally be Balthasar.
Er. I'm kidding. Mostly.
You could just call him B., if it fits. Remember Mr. X Billups in "To Kill a Mockingbird"? (He was mentioned, like, once.)
Brin.
David Brin.
?
Damien, you are evil.
Hm. I really need to read To Kill A Mockingbird again. It is mostly lost in a strange period of reading finickiness, back when I was obsessed with Dumas and wanted everyone to run around with swords and feathered hats. Anything else seemed dull in comparison.
Just call him B...is Kafka got away with single-letter names, why shouldn't you? Also, your story sounds delightful! (He can always be David Brin in your mind...)
"...back when I was obsessed with Dumas and wanted everyone to run around with swords and feathered hats. Anything else seemed dull in comparison."
Ha ha! We read "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 8th grade - I think at the same time I was in a production of "The Member of the Wedding," so I was more or less living in the pre-war South. Dumas might well have been too much for me at the time...
This is my problem with recommending books to young people. I was a very weird young person who, for a little while, thought IVANHOE was the most thrilling book ever. I have no concept of what one should read when. My book brain was all a mishmash, and I went happily from fluffy books about girls in love with horses to convoluted novels about French politics.
Wow! Ivanhoe? Hot damn! :)
Sounds like you and I had completely opposite reading trajectories - I was pretty into reading the so-called classics up until sixth grade, when I switched to Sweet Valley High (and Gone with the Wind). I tend to prefer books where people aren't physically doing much (I'm a sloth), which may be why I never got into The Three Musketeers. Maybe I should try La Dame aux Camellias.
Have you read The Remains of the Day? It blew my mind how the surface/physical story is just a butler driving a car out to the countryside, but the inside the head stuff is so huge and heartbreaking.
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