Want to really work on this post for a long time. Possibly rereading all of these. Really understanding in great detail what I like about each.
Favorite writers and why...
Lev Grossman-.. Felt like it is a very realistic examination of the fascination with the Narnia books.... J liked it was like Potter but darker and more realistic characters. Like almost truly realistic characters in a fantasy fiction setting.
Robin Hobb- in Farseer, etc she stays in first person with just Fitz throughout and puts him through hell. Endless injustice and he is affected by it. Permanently. He's not some stoic super hero. He's affected and the reader cares. Meanwhile it's a world full of mystery. The magic is left vague. There is a real feeling of history and realness to the world. Plots are nothing special.
It tantalizes in that you know Verity and Fitz have great Skill abilities/potentials yet you wait and wait and wait for them to actually use them. To finally right past injustices. Fitz's Skill and Wit are both denied him for so long and you wait and wait.
Fitz has a true friend throughout that he can communicate with telepathically. What an escapist dream. Just the two of them through the dark cold nights traveling.
In Liveships we have such pain. The bad guy Kennit, something horrible was done to him as a child. The Mad Ship finally just abandoned, blind. The young boy who's father reads like some ME stereotype. Cutting his own finger off. And the mystery of bringing back dragons. The symbolism of the return of magic to the world. What will happen? What will they be like? The serpents trying to find their memories. (Mystery, etc, page turning).
Mervyn Peake
The characterizations are so detailed and... strange. They stay with you. Though little actually happens and really not a page turner.
Brent Weeks (night angel)
Escapism. To be such a badass. Even actually returning from the dead.
Third person. Starts by showing just how pitiful Azoth is. Shows doesn't tell as he tries to complete a task.
Got so engrossed in the story again forgot I was analyzing it.
Dave Duncan ( A man of his word/a few good men, also the Great Game)
Tough one to summarize. Seriously underrated. Rap has perfect morals and very very slowly turns into the ultimate bad ass. And he holds back from showing what he's capable of.
The guy in the Great Game has the same morals. Great job on the setting.
Wrinkle in Time and the rest of the series
I don't know now. Extreme nostalgia. Didn't really have much to compare to. Still I love these and somehow I picture S. as Meg, which drives me crazy somehow. Hearing about being young and getting home from school and looking in the fridge for a snack and having a liverwurst and cream cheese sandwich. And the rock out back. The sky. The garden. I don't know?? I can't explain.
So Charles is a genius. That's nice. Loved the Swiftly Tilting Planet cover with Charles on the unicorn and demons grabbing for them in the clouds. At Tara in this fateful hour....
Narnia
How I'd love to slip into another world through a closet. Nostalgia.
Tschai
Everything Vancian. Worlds made so complete with so few words. Here they don't believe he's from another world. Religion is used to subjugate man. The most competent man. A typical hero I suppose. And a stoic. Not touched by the hardships that happen to him. One can adopt this attitude IRL. If necessary.
Gene Wolfe
Hard to explain..... A stoic like Vance....
Drizzt
Escapist. Bad ass fighter in a simple easy to understand world. Bad guys are clear. Beat them with your sword fighting. Yet Drizzt is like a real person. Affected by being a good person yet stuck in such a terrible dystopia. Surrounded by Dark Elves.
Also really like Anthony Ryan, Aldous Huxley, Tolkien, Kundera, Robert Tressel, Richard Adams, Christopher Buehlman, Charles Bukowski, Dickens, Leguin, Lovecraft, Murakami, Stapleton, Sheri Tepper, TH White, Paar Lagerkvist....
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
I last timed a run two years ago. 2 miles in 14:10. I last labeled a post with running in May 2015. 16 months ago. I guess I quit running and just played tennis instead. Not a terrible thing I guess. Not much time to do both and spend time with wife, son, etc. But since heart surgery and being forced to be completely sedentary, I really find myself wanting to get back into it. I miss it. So trying to run just about everyday right now. Which is different. Previously I was running 3 or 4 times a week. Just maybe I'll get way faster than ever before with this greater frequency? My plan is to just run hard once a week. The rest of the time go really really slow. And not even worry about my speed. Right now slower than a walk actually. In fact I've been reading a book on my smart phone while running. Although I have to run in a long tunnel or when it's dark to do that. Going so slow makes it much easier to stick with it. I jog the 0.6 miles to my car after work even. Terribly slow though. But I feel like it's still worthwhile. Like how it's making me feel. Also switching to ball striking. Hopefully a high frequency of runs will stop me from getting much calf soreness. Jury is still out on that.
So today did my first time trial. It is 12 weeks since surgery. My resting heart rate is in the 70's when it used to be in the 50's. My ejection fraction is only "low normal". The cardiologist says these things will improve. Anyway, 9:58 for one mile. Average of 10:28 for two.
But it's been 16 freakin months since I really did any hard running.I shouldn't get too worried about how the heart surgery may have affected things.
So today did my first time trial. It is 12 weeks since surgery. My resting heart rate is in the 70's when it used to be in the 50's. My ejection fraction is only "low normal". The cardiologist says these things will improve. Anyway, 9:58 for one mile. Average of 10:28 for two.
But it's been 16 freakin months since I really did any hard running.I shouldn't get too worried about how the heart surgery may have affected things.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
12 weeks out. Been running hard. Want to get back into that. Provided I don't start getting headaches again. And played tennis wednesday with Chi. No two hand backhand though. Would like to switch to dominant hand on top for groundstrokes like Gene Mayer. Hoping to play in two hours but looks like a big storm is coming.
Read a bunch of stories by Fredric Brown. I had remembered from 20 years ago the talking donkey. Very, very dated stories. Read them while jogging. LIke them but ultimately didn't read all 33. Not much worth saying except that whole sci-fi age is just behind us now I guess. Innovation has slowed down such (not even a space program really at the moment) that people lost interest. And I guess there's only so many stories about first time alien encounters, which is mostly what he wrote about. I will say they have more meat to them than most stories these days as far as plot/things actually happening that you can't see coming. That's largely a function of short stories though.
Read Justin Cronin, The Passage. It was for an online book discussion club. There's not much to discuss except how it's not really very good. Best seller of course. 900 pages with a cliff hanger ending. Zero interest in the next book. Most of the characters felt the same. Not distinct. Also randomly influenced by the 12 prime vampires... just makes it pointlessly random. Don't really care when people die. Blah. I will say I can't put my finger as easily upon why it's not very good. That could be me getting old though.
City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett. The follow up to City of Stairs. Loved the beginning of Stairs, where there is the mystery of the departed gods. Was hoping they'd return. They sort of do. But just to be killed off for good. Blades seems to be the same idea. Characters aren't terribly interesting. Well Sigrud is good. A bad ass who's been put through hell. But otherwise not so interesting. Reads like it was written by a women, kind of. Almost like detective/mystery novels also, which wasn't, and apparently still isn't my thing.
Was hoping for a rainless miracle.... now the wind is blowing really hard... but the dark clouds are kind of past... Please....? Sprinkling but the heat could dry it fast...
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick. 33% in. Meh. YA. A bit. Started in a factory where children worked like slaves. Combined with magic. She escapes on a "dragon". Now she's going to a high school but they're looking for her. Bit to YA.
Ash by Mary Gentle. You'd think with rapping 8 year olds and so on it'd be very grim and adult like but no. Not really. Read a review. Bit of a stereotypical light romance like women always write.
Bad habit lately of finishing bad books. Related to buying them. These days that first 10% (the free sample) are really good.
Read a bunch of stories by Fredric Brown. I had remembered from 20 years ago the talking donkey. Very, very dated stories. Read them while jogging. LIke them but ultimately didn't read all 33. Not much worth saying except that whole sci-fi age is just behind us now I guess. Innovation has slowed down such (not even a space program really at the moment) that people lost interest. And I guess there's only so many stories about first time alien encounters, which is mostly what he wrote about. I will say they have more meat to them than most stories these days as far as plot/things actually happening that you can't see coming. That's largely a function of short stories though.
Read Justin Cronin, The Passage. It was for an online book discussion club. There's not much to discuss except how it's not really very good. Best seller of course. 900 pages with a cliff hanger ending. Zero interest in the next book. Most of the characters felt the same. Not distinct. Also randomly influenced by the 12 prime vampires... just makes it pointlessly random. Don't really care when people die. Blah. I will say I can't put my finger as easily upon why it's not very good. That could be me getting old though.
City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett. The follow up to City of Stairs. Loved the beginning of Stairs, where there is the mystery of the departed gods. Was hoping they'd return. They sort of do. But just to be killed off for good. Blades seems to be the same idea. Characters aren't terribly interesting. Well Sigrud is good. A bad ass who's been put through hell. But otherwise not so interesting. Reads like it was written by a women, kind of. Almost like detective/mystery novels also, which wasn't, and apparently still isn't my thing.
Was hoping for a rainless miracle.... now the wind is blowing really hard... but the dark clouds are kind of past... Please....? Sprinkling but the heat could dry it fast...
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick. 33% in. Meh. YA. A bit. Started in a factory where children worked like slaves. Combined with magic. She escapes on a "dragon". Now she's going to a high school but they're looking for her. Bit to YA.
Ash by Mary Gentle. You'd think with rapping 8 year olds and so on it'd be very grim and adult like but no. Not really. Read a review. Bit of a stereotypical light romance like women always write.
Bad habit lately of finishing bad books. Related to buying them. These days that first 10% (the free sample) are really good.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
50 days out and so impatient. So sick of no athletics as a distraction. Hope my sternum hurries up and heals. Had some moral outrage. But not the last day or two... Have decent book idea related to empathy and the afterlife.... Still problematic. The bigger thing was the main character has a loving and at least somewhat wise father. Instead of being in hell and so miserable that I couldn't stand to go into the world.
There is happiness in minimalism. Eating an entire pie generally doesn't make you any happier than a single piece. Relying on your imagination to fill in the blanks is usually so much better than the alternative in modern society concerning many things.
Going back to work next week. Unhappy to be going back and not entirely sure I'm up to it.
I think empathy comes first. Not trying harder than most to practice the golden rule.
There is happiness in minimalism. Eating an entire pie generally doesn't make you any happier than a single piece. Relying on your imagination to fill in the blanks is usually so much better than the alternative in modern society concerning many things.
Going back to work next week. Unhappy to be going back and not entirely sure I'm up to it.
I think empathy comes first. Not trying harder than most to practice the golden rule.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
33 days out and don't feel so cranky. Except my paper got rejected and I'm not up to the revisions within the deadline as I'm not going to be at work for a few more weeks I guess. Finally doesn't hurt to breathe hardly at all but I can't quite yawn yet.
Son had tubes put in his ears today. It's because my wife couldn't produce breast milk and we thought it best to do cow milk till 2. Eventually I plan to get rid of milk as it's terrible for you.
I recently also read The Dark Tower, Till We Have Faces and The Great Divorce all by CS Lewis. Till We Have Faces was excellent and I wondered how I couldn't have known of it. Turns out Lewis also thought it was his best but it was never popular. A big theme in it was jealousy. The Great Divorce has a lot about people finding ways to refuse to admit they're wrong. Holding on to erroneous thoughts. I'm not a christian but I have always liked his writing. The Dark Tower starts out great with the Stinging Man but I thought took a wrong turn in making one of the people from their reality into one. I see why he didn't finish it.
And I read two books....The Nethergrim and The Skeleth by Matthew Jobin. Not terrible. Not quite as childish as the covers looked. Not quite. Think I need to take a break from that sort of thing though.
Now that I've been off almost 5 weeks, I feel about ready to start writing. Maybe my x-ray tomorrow will show my sternum not healing correctly. I'll leave that as just a vague hope. Starting to feel good enough that I kind of am enjoying being at home. Need to write about things that actually matter to me and do it in a selfish matter. Write something that will increase my own version of 'spirituality". And make real characters. That's always been my problem. Distinct characters.
B. loves Lewis and I borrowed those books from her. Like her so much better than her sister actually. Her sister was a mess though I surely would have put up with her till I died if she hadn't cut J and I from her life. I guess people a lot of people would think B is a mess also. I think very highly of her. Wish I could find her a man that would appreciate her. She is 37. Hate to think she will never have children. She would like too.
Also spent quite a bit of time the last few days messing around with synth1. Drum presets and trying to locate some other really good presets. Making the sounds may be better but you really just need some main truly good presets as your starting point. At first very very happy with the drum sounds. Thought it better than what I'd ever done before as I've always neglected drums. I've really lost it musically though. I stopped improvising. In part because something went wrong with my midi. Just programming the notes probably doesn't work as well. But... I still have the esq1 on analog and I haven't improvised anything special there. I did spend a couple days really trying to make sounds with it and ultimately wasn't super impressed.... But I know it can sound good with many tracks....
Was thinking it's like the artist who starts out wanting to express something that is in him and eventually he just becomes preoccupied with the process and doesn't really have anything left to express. I don't hear the music off in the distance as I fall asleep anymore. Original songs don't play in my dreams anymore. There's nothing anymore I want to use music to explain to the world.
Son had tubes put in his ears today. It's because my wife couldn't produce breast milk and we thought it best to do cow milk till 2. Eventually I plan to get rid of milk as it's terrible for you.
I recently also read The Dark Tower, Till We Have Faces and The Great Divorce all by CS Lewis. Till We Have Faces was excellent and I wondered how I couldn't have known of it. Turns out Lewis also thought it was his best but it was never popular. A big theme in it was jealousy. The Great Divorce has a lot about people finding ways to refuse to admit they're wrong. Holding on to erroneous thoughts. I'm not a christian but I have always liked his writing. The Dark Tower starts out great with the Stinging Man but I thought took a wrong turn in making one of the people from their reality into one. I see why he didn't finish it.
And I read two books....The Nethergrim and The Skeleth by Matthew Jobin. Not terrible. Not quite as childish as the covers looked. Not quite. Think I need to take a break from that sort of thing though.
Now that I've been off almost 5 weeks, I feel about ready to start writing. Maybe my x-ray tomorrow will show my sternum not healing correctly. I'll leave that as just a vague hope. Starting to feel good enough that I kind of am enjoying being at home. Need to write about things that actually matter to me and do it in a selfish matter. Write something that will increase my own version of 'spirituality". And make real characters. That's always been my problem. Distinct characters.
B. loves Lewis and I borrowed those books from her. Like her so much better than her sister actually. Her sister was a mess though I surely would have put up with her till I died if she hadn't cut J and I from her life. I guess people a lot of people would think B is a mess also. I think very highly of her. Wish I could find her a man that would appreciate her. She is 37. Hate to think she will never have children. She would like too.
Also spent quite a bit of time the last few days messing around with synth1. Drum presets and trying to locate some other really good presets. Making the sounds may be better but you really just need some main truly good presets as your starting point. At first very very happy with the drum sounds. Thought it better than what I'd ever done before as I've always neglected drums. I've really lost it musically though. I stopped improvising. In part because something went wrong with my midi. Just programming the notes probably doesn't work as well. But... I still have the esq1 on analog and I haven't improvised anything special there. I did spend a couple days really trying to make sounds with it and ultimately wasn't super impressed.... But I know it can sound good with many tracks....
Was thinking it's like the artist who starts out wanting to express something that is in him and eventually he just becomes preoccupied with the process and doesn't really have anything left to express. I don't hear the music off in the distance as I fall asleep anymore. Original songs don't play in my dreams anymore. There's nothing anymore I want to use music to explain to the world.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
23 days out. Feeling quite cranky. So sick of laying around. And my heart continues to really pound. Not happy really with my progress, though I suppose I'm progressing.
Teh Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
This is so absurdly long winded. There has been so very little to happen. I give up at 75%. This is just a chore. I was thinking maybe he'd become a better as he went along. Also was waiting for the Sithi. This is just writing that's been churned out. He heard he needed to get his 500 or whatever and he made sure to churn them out.
Hollow World by Michael Sullivan
Sci fi is dying. Very hard to do it and be any good. This did have some nice ideas about the future. Plot was quite silly. Certainly better than Tad Williams though.
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
Pretty good. Boy at school for marshalls that are sort of like secret agent men I think in the middle ages. Vague magic. First book was quite long. 900 pages. I enjoyed. Good read while going through my ordeal. Wish the rest of the series was already completed. He really puts in some good philosophical points while keeping it a page turner.
Having trouble finding a good book lately. I'm so not at my best right now for thinking or anything. I'm thankful I've had a decent number of visitors. Mainly B like 3 our or 4 days, the sister of S, who whatever the fuck happened I don't really know. Some kind of jealousy. Hopefully B will never do something ugly like that. So sick of that sort of thing. The thing is to see how a person treats other people and based off that she really does not appear to be that sort of person. Not remotely. Seems a very good person. Not a miserable misanthrope jealous of other's happiness or whatever.
I have no inspiration. What I had in the past was based off of unhappiness. And that just isn't the way to get it done. Now I'm not really unhappy. Just cranky about physical pain and laying around for close to 4 weeks now. So sick of TV/movies. Getting tired of music even. I think. I don't know.
Get nauseuaueues if I eat much. Find myself turning to thinking about sex as I'm really running out of ideas lately. Hurt too much for hard thinking. Feeling quite cranky that my wife is a foot shorter than me and outweighs me by 40 pounds. No point in complaining about it to anyone. No point talking about it at all. It wouldn't bother me so much except I'm stuck sitting here in the this recliner and just out of things I can do. Can't go do sports, or projects, or even go for a walk. Can't think hard, so being creative is out. More cerebral, anti-page turner books are beyond me mentally right now. Can't go to work. Can't even sit outside and relax because of the locust swarm.
Teh Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
This is so absurdly long winded. There has been so very little to happen. I give up at 75%. This is just a chore. I was thinking maybe he'd become a better as he went along. Also was waiting for the Sithi. This is just writing that's been churned out. He heard he needed to get his 500 or whatever and he made sure to churn them out.
Hollow World by Michael Sullivan
Sci fi is dying. Very hard to do it and be any good. This did have some nice ideas about the future. Plot was quite silly. Certainly better than Tad Williams though.
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
Pretty good. Boy at school for marshalls that are sort of like secret agent men I think in the middle ages. Vague magic. First book was quite long. 900 pages. I enjoyed. Good read while going through my ordeal. Wish the rest of the series was already completed. He really puts in some good philosophical points while keeping it a page turner.
Having trouble finding a good book lately. I'm so not at my best right now for thinking or anything. I'm thankful I've had a decent number of visitors. Mainly B like 3 our or 4 days, the sister of S, who whatever the fuck happened I don't really know. Some kind of jealousy. Hopefully B will never do something ugly like that. So sick of that sort of thing. The thing is to see how a person treats other people and based off that she really does not appear to be that sort of person. Not remotely. Seems a very good person. Not a miserable misanthrope jealous of other's happiness or whatever.
I have no inspiration. What I had in the past was based off of unhappiness. And that just isn't the way to get it done. Now I'm not really unhappy. Just cranky about physical pain and laying around for close to 4 weeks now. So sick of TV/movies. Getting tired of music even. I think. I don't know.
Get nauseuaueues if I eat much. Find myself turning to thinking about sex as I'm really running out of ideas lately. Hurt too much for hard thinking. Feeling quite cranky that my wife is a foot shorter than me and outweighs me by 40 pounds. No point in complaining about it to anyone. No point talking about it at all. It wouldn't bother me so much except I'm stuck sitting here in the this recliner and just out of things I can do. Can't go do sports, or projects, or even go for a walk. Can't think hard, so being creative is out. More cerebral, anti-page turner books are beyond me mentally right now. Can't go to work. Can't even sit outside and relax because of the locust swarm.
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