The Mythopoeic nominations for this year's awards have been nominated:
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature
* Theodora Goss, In the Forest of Forgetting (Prime Books)
* Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon’s Arms (Grand Central Publishing)
* Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel (Roc)
* Catherynne M. Valente, Orphan’s Tales, consisting of In the Night Garden (Spectra) and In the Cities of Coin and Spice (Spectra)
* John C. Wright, Chronicles of Chaos, consisting of Orphans of Chaos (Tor); Fugitives of Chaos (Tor), and Titans of Chaos (Tor)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature
* Holly Black, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale (Simon & Schuster); Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie (Simon & Schuster); Ironside: A Modern Faery’s Tale (Margaret K. McElderry)
* Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant (HarperCollins)
* J.K. Rowling, The Harry Potter series, consisting of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s [Sorcerer’s] Stone (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bloomsbury); and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury)
* Nancy Springer, Dusssie (Walker Books for Young Readers)
* Kate Thompson, The New Policeman (HarperTeen)
You can go here for all details. I am excited to see that I have read one of them! Ysabel, by Canadian fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay. And two more are on my list of books to get - Theordora Goss's In the Forest of Forgetting, and Catherynne M. Valente's books. Plus for the children's books nominated, I've read all the Harry Potter, and I've been hearing good things about Kate Thompson's The New Policeman. I know some bloggers have read Holly Black's Tithe.
So, in honour of today, I thought I would announce that I have decided to read all the Mythopoeic Award winners and nominees, from when it first began in 1971. Go here for the award winners list, and here for the lists of all the nominees.
I have read a surprising number of books, and I am counting ones I've read already! This is an open-ended challenge for myself, to be completed whenever. Mostly this is my way of reading some of what has been considered the best in mythic fantasy written since Lord of the Rings was published. I am not making this a general challenge to all you only because I can't figure out how to do one of those darn cool buttoms!!! So if you are interested, just drop me a line and we'll keep in touch. Oh, for those who need some encouragement, Neil Gaiman is well-represented on this list!!!
The same goes for the World Fantasy Awards. Go here for the complete list of past World Fantasy award winners and nominees. I have not read quite so many on this list, but still, I am currently reading a nominee for 2006, Paul Park's A Princess of Roumania, and Jonathan Strange and Dr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is on many of my challenges for this year and it won the previous year. Again, this is open-ended for me, like on-going current challenges in the book blogging world to read all of the the Pulitzer Prize and Booker Prize winners. Only mine is to read all the winners and nominees for the World Fantasy Award.
I am very excited about setting myself these challenges. Some day I may join the ongoing Newbery and Pulitzer Prize winner challenges, but for now, I want to read what I already love to read. Don't be surprised if a few mystery award challenges creep in to my on-going list too! Then, I can see what challenges I can join next year, based in part on these that I've set for myself. The Canadian Book Challenge 2 (set to start in 16 days!!) fits in as Charles de Lint has been nominated on both World Fantasy and the Mythopoeic lists.
So what do you think? Is anyone out there interested in reading the best books in the fantasy world over the space of the next several years?
Monday, 16 June 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Finally, the heat is gone!!
Well, that was a blast of summer. From Friday at 4 pm exactly, until last night, we suffered through heat and humidity that usually comes in July at the height of summer. I have realized that I need a fan by the computer, as evinced by the fact I haven't been on once since the heat wave began! So, I am way behind in book reviews, Weekly Geeks (I don't even know what this week's is yet!), but I am happily catching up with my book reading! Quick review: I finished The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, and so have 2 books left in the Once Upon a Time Challenge (plus the play to be read on June 20). I have 4 books left in the Canadian Challenge, so it's not looking good, but I should be able to get at least two done. And then the Banned Books Challenge, which also ends this month; I have one left to read, and I picked The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende as an alternate. So, with 17 days left until these challenges end....wish me luck, and finding a fan in the city!!! At least high humidity (it was near 40 c with the humidity, folks, and from 30 to 32 c just temperature) means I can sit in front of the fan and happily read, and not feel guilty about all the gardening etc needing to be done. So, I'm actually happy we had the humidity for that, but I am so enjoying today, back to normal late spring temperatures and it's not HOT.
Meanwhile, I did pick up some treasures at my daughter's school - they had their annual fund-raiser, called the 'Spring Fling', on Friday evening, which was our first time attending. A pony ride, police cruiser - for the lights and siren! my son adored it! - , some jumping and slides (the kind rented from fairs, all rubber), some skills contests, all for the kids to try (we adults paid for it, thus the 'fundraiser' part). And, best of all, a BOOK sale! By the time I got to the gymnasium, it was near the end of the fling, so while I was looking around, suddenly it was announced that you could fill a box for $3!! Well, that was fun! Here is what I found (mind you, the gym by this time was so hot that I was perspiring just standing looking at books, so this tells you how much I love books that I stayed there long enough to fill a box!) -
-Ulysses - James Joyce - what can I say? FINALLY!!!
- Goblins - Brian Froud - a pop-up book! Of actual goblins by Froud! cool, eh? (supposedly for the kids, but really for moi)
- War For the Oaks - Emma Bull - with the original cover that I first read it in, 20 years ago!!
- Chernevog - C.J.Cherryh - thanks to Nymeth for her reviews of these books, I was looking for this one and Rusalka. they're out of print, so this was a real find.
- Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi - Before they announced we could fill a box, it was $2 or $3 a book. This was one I saw several copies of, and thought ok, on to my TBR pile.
- The Once and Future King - T.H. White - again, another book out of print! I was so thrilled what I saw this one! One I've been meaning to read for years and years, and now I can.....so now my question is: do I join the Arthurian Challenge?? Already on the 1% challenge....
- Letters Home - Sylvia Plath ed by Aurelia Plath. I owned this book years ago, when I was in my Plath phase. Also, I wanted this book because she writes about her creative struggles, worries, and thoughts, and I wanted to compare how I find her thoughts now, versus when I was in my 20's reading this book. Plus, I've been writing over the years -and struggling, with being a mother and being creative - so I'm curious how much more I will understand/agree - or not- with Plath. It's a hard road, to be creative and find time to parent. Again, another author I had everything by, once, and gave away. I am learning so much these past few years on how much I will come back to books and authors I love, to reread again. So I still stand behind the meme I did (last post from last week), because I do go in circles. I might find new books/authors/genres to read, but books i love I will always come back to. And that's something I think really only age can teach. At least for me! Anyway, now I'm wondering where i can fit this book in one of my many on-going challenges. Maybe the Non-fiction five?
- Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card. Again, I'd read this and loved it, and then it got lost/given away over the years. time to reread! I so look forward to seeing if I love it as much this time round, especially as so many of you, Gentle Readers, have been reading it recently and have loved it.
- The Iron Daughter's Daughter - Michael Swanwick - I've been meaning to read this since it came out, and could not find a copy. It's also a World Fantasy nominee, so counts in the Awards Challenge (which I am choosing my categories to, still.) I am so excited! Oh, I wish there would be another fantasy challenge going on!
- One Writer's Beginnings - Eudora Welty - I read this about 15 years ago, and loved it. I had borrowed it from the library, and never got my own copy. So I was delighted to find this at the book sale! I love how she writes about her family, and about her writer's beginnings. (ok, so now, I have enough books for the Southern Challenge.....no, must not, cannot, will not finish any challenges if I keep doing this!!) A real treasure for me.
- Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny - one I'd read from the library again, but never had my own copy. I remember I really liked the story, though it is strange. I was really glad to get this.
-Tomorrow Midnight - Ray Bradbury - 'illustrated in comic book form' is what it says on the cover. But in paperback! I have never seen this one, so I was curious and opened it up. Lo and behold - 6 stories by him, told in comic book form! the six stories are written by him, and put into comic form by Albert Feldstein. Wow. And I love what Ray writes in his introduction to this volume: "One of the reasons we go into Space is to lose ourselves again, know magic, plumb mystery, ride high, be glorious, and have the heck frightened out of us. And we will be frightened not only by other worlds and creatures on those worlds, but by ourselves. We are still the greatest mystery and we shall spend several million more years trying to figure ourselves out." Who could resist picking this book up?
And that was my haul at Woodroffe Elementary Public School on Friday. For $3.
I have to go make strawberries and fresh whipped cream for my daughter before her bedtime. Strawberries and cream and books! I love summer!!
Meanwhile, I did pick up some treasures at my daughter's school - they had their annual fund-raiser, called the 'Spring Fling', on Friday evening, which was our first time attending. A pony ride, police cruiser - for the lights and siren! my son adored it! - , some jumping and slides (the kind rented from fairs, all rubber), some skills contests, all for the kids to try (we adults paid for it, thus the 'fundraiser' part). And, best of all, a BOOK sale! By the time I got to the gymnasium, it was near the end of the fling, so while I was looking around, suddenly it was announced that you could fill a box for $3!! Well, that was fun! Here is what I found (mind you, the gym by this time was so hot that I was perspiring just standing looking at books, so this tells you how much I love books that I stayed there long enough to fill a box!) -
-Ulysses - James Joyce - what can I say? FINALLY!!!
- Goblins - Brian Froud - a pop-up book! Of actual goblins by Froud! cool, eh? (supposedly for the kids, but really for moi)
- War For the Oaks - Emma Bull - with the original cover that I first read it in, 20 years ago!!
- Chernevog - C.J.Cherryh - thanks to Nymeth for her reviews of these books, I was looking for this one and Rusalka. they're out of print, so this was a real find.
- Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi - Before they announced we could fill a box, it was $2 or $3 a book. This was one I saw several copies of, and thought ok, on to my TBR pile.
- The Once and Future King - T.H. White - again, another book out of print! I was so thrilled what I saw this one! One I've been meaning to read for years and years, and now I can.....so now my question is: do I join the Arthurian Challenge?? Already on the 1% challenge....
- Letters Home - Sylvia Plath ed by Aurelia Plath. I owned this book years ago, when I was in my Plath phase. Also, I wanted this book because she writes about her creative struggles, worries, and thoughts, and I wanted to compare how I find her thoughts now, versus when I was in my 20's reading this book. Plus, I've been writing over the years -and struggling, with being a mother and being creative - so I'm curious how much more I will understand/agree - or not- with Plath. It's a hard road, to be creative and find time to parent. Again, another author I had everything by, once, and gave away. I am learning so much these past few years on how much I will come back to books and authors I love, to reread again. So I still stand behind the meme I did (last post from last week), because I do go in circles. I might find new books/authors/genres to read, but books i love I will always come back to. And that's something I think really only age can teach. At least for me! Anyway, now I'm wondering where i can fit this book in one of my many on-going challenges. Maybe the Non-fiction five?
- Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card. Again, I'd read this and loved it, and then it got lost/given away over the years. time to reread! I so look forward to seeing if I love it as much this time round, especially as so many of you, Gentle Readers, have been reading it recently and have loved it.
- The Iron Daughter's Daughter - Michael Swanwick - I've been meaning to read this since it came out, and could not find a copy. It's also a World Fantasy nominee, so counts in the Awards Challenge (which I am choosing my categories to, still.) I am so excited! Oh, I wish there would be another fantasy challenge going on!
- One Writer's Beginnings - Eudora Welty - I read this about 15 years ago, and loved it. I had borrowed it from the library, and never got my own copy. So I was delighted to find this at the book sale! I love how she writes about her family, and about her writer's beginnings. (ok, so now, I have enough books for the Southern Challenge.....no, must not, cannot, will not finish any challenges if I keep doing this!!) A real treasure for me.
- Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny - one I'd read from the library again, but never had my own copy. I remember I really liked the story, though it is strange. I was really glad to get this.
-Tomorrow Midnight - Ray Bradbury - 'illustrated in comic book form' is what it says on the cover. But in paperback! I have never seen this one, so I was curious and opened it up. Lo and behold - 6 stories by him, told in comic book form! the six stories are written by him, and put into comic form by Albert Feldstein. Wow. And I love what Ray writes in his introduction to this volume: "One of the reasons we go into Space is to lose ourselves again, know magic, plumb mystery, ride high, be glorious, and have the heck frightened out of us. And we will be frightened not only by other worlds and creatures on those worlds, but by ourselves. We are still the greatest mystery and we shall spend several million more years trying to figure ourselves out." Who could resist picking this book up?
And that was my haul at Woodroffe Elementary Public School on Friday. For $3.
I have to go make strawberries and fresh whipped cream for my daughter before her bedtime. Strawberries and cream and books! I love summer!!
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Booking Through Thursday
Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?
Hmm. I saw this week's Booking Through Thursday meme on John's site, and started a reply to him. Then I got started thinking, 'have my book-tastes changed over the years?' Have they really? And the answer is, no. I read more of what I like, and less of what I don't - in fact, I refuse to read what I'm not interested in, now. I am trying to read more of what matters to me now, more of what I enjoy, and expand in areas I am interested in. These are still the same areas I was interested in 20 years ago: fantasy, mystery, poetry, history, some fiction, some biographies, gardening, cooking. Now, John took the example of Stephen King, and said that his approach to King has changed. Me, I find I want to reread Stephen King's work and see if I enjoy it as much as a 40-something reader, as I did when I was in my late teens and early twenties! My approach to horror books has changed though, from devouring everything, to backing off in the 1990s (splatterpunk, anyone?), to realizing lately that there are some really good scary books again, so more horror is creeping in now.
And as I thought that, I realized that this is what I do: I go in concentric circles - I read heavily in one area, then I back off for a while, then I come back to it again years later. What I am learning is to not give away books in that area because I will come back to it, eventually! See Charles de lint below - once I read everything by him, then I backed off for a while, and now I'm keen to read all his books again. I want to see what I can discover this time around. Since this is a theme that keeps coming up in my posts, it is obviously something that interests me. Maybe we should do a meme on what we find when we reread a favourite author, are we disappointed or in love again?
At the same time, I don't just want to reread favourite authors, I want to read new books and find new favourite authors. Neil Gaiman, anyone? Jasper Fforde? I know by now that chances are they will be mystery or fantasy writers, or poets (or Arsenal supports, like *Nick Hornby*). So, the answer is no, not really. My reading tastes are pretty much the same. Now I don't know if this is good or bad! Aren't we supposed to change as we get older? What about our life-long loves and passions? I have been reading mysteries since day one. And when they get too dark or violent, I switch to fantasy, my second great love. And when that gets silly or unrealistic, I go back to mystery. I need them both. All my other books fit in around these two areas. Ghost stories/horror novels would be third.....
mystery
fantasy
ghost stories/horror
good fiction (L.M. Montgomery to Jane Austen line of good writing!)
poetry
I do have to admit to reading tons of (gulp) romances in my teens! Thankfully that has dropped off quickly after I left home, never to reappear (I hope). Oh well, we all have our bad book pasts, and I'm not counting this for this meme!
What do you think? Are you like John, or me? Have your reading tastes changed over the years?
The Second Canadian Book Challenge, eh?
The rules are up! John at The Book Mine Set has the rules up for The Second Canadian Book Challenge, eh? This time around, there are 13 different ways to select books for the challenge:
Last time the most popular method of completing the challenge was to pick a book from each province and territory (hence 13 books). That's fine, and it's the way I plan on completing it again, but it's not the only way. Here's a list of ways to theme your books:
1. From Sea To Sea To Sea- Books from each province and territory
2. The Prize Pack- Books that have won awards (Gillers, Governor General, Stephen Leacock, etc)
3. New Canadians- Many of our best authors weren't born here (Carol Shields, Michael Ondaatje, etc). Why not celebrate with 13 books they've added to the great Canadian library?
4. The Lesser Knowns- Want to introduce people to authors who haven't gotten the recognition they deserve? This approach would aim to pick 13 books published by small firms or even self-published.
5. Missed Books- Check out the list of books read for the 1st edition of this Challenge. Try to pick 13 books that no one read the first time around.
6. The Double Double- Pick 13 books that also fit the criteria for another book Challenge that you've signed up for.
7. The McClung- How about 13 Canadian books written by women?
8. The Individuals- Many of our authors have been quite prolific, having written 13 or more books. Want to devote the challenge entirely to Lucy Maud Montgomery? Margaret Atwood? Robert Munsch? It's 13 books by a single author.
9. The Provincial/Territorial- Host a sub-challenge if you like! 13 Albertan books, for example, would still fit the mandate for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge.
10. The Genres- 13 poetry books? 13 picture books? Non-fiction? Sci-fi? If you can find 13 books and define a genre, you can do this approach.
11. Publishers Choice- Pick 13 books all by a single publisher.
12. Titles- 13 books with Canada (or some version of) in the title (ex. Eve Wiseman's Kanada, Will Ferguson's Why I Hate Canadians, or Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada)
13. The Free Spirit- Just pick 13 Canadian books and have fun!
I have decided to got with The Individual. I'm picking Charles de Lint. This is kind of cool. I get to read 13 books by him in the coming year! I can catch up on the books I've missed, and reread some favourites! I'm really happy. So far, from my shelves I've picked:
1.Dreams Underfoot (reread)
2 The Riddle of the Wren (reread)
3. The Dreaming Place
4. Memory and Dream
5. Wolf Moon - DONE
6. Moonlight and Vines (reread)
7. Forests of the Heart
I owned most of his books before I moved to England, and while I happily gave them to a friend who was reading his books, I now find I am replacing all his books. Some are out of print now, and some have been reprinted, so what I am hoping to find are:
8. Yarrow (reread, one of my all-time favourites by him)
9. Moonheart (reread, again one of the best fantasies, period)
10. Jack of Kinrowan (might be a reread)
11. Waifs and Strays
12. Promises to Keep
13. Spirits in the Wires
I just read Widdershins earlier this year, a sequel to The Onion Girl, which I loved, so they are not on the list (read too recently to reread just yet). If I can find Mulengro, this is a must!
Some books by him that I haven't read are: Triskell Tales (op), Dingo, Little (Grrl) Lost, The Blue Girl, The Wild Wood, The Ivory and the Horn, plus all the ones I have read but need to buy so I have a complete collection (my ultimate aim!) - Spiritwalk, The Little Country, Svaha, Someplace To Be Flying, Greenmantle, Trader ..so many books to choose from! Depending what I can find in the next few months, some of the titles in my challenge list might change. So many good books to read! I'll let you know as I find them.
So I hope, if you haven't, you'll pop over to John's blog and join in on the fun. It is fun being, Canadian, eh!
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
The Fair Folk - ed Marvin Kaye
I approached The Fair Folk knowing nothing about it except it was an anthology of fairy stories, and that it won the World Fantasy Award. Nothing prepared me for how wonderful, delightful, exciting and good these stories were.
The anthology contains 6 stories:
"The Kelpie" by Patricia McKillip - this was one of the more magical stories, as one would expect from McKillip. She sets it in Bohemian London in an enclave of artists. What happens when they go up North, will leave an indelible impression on your mind of the north of England and the old stories of what lives under the waves.
"Except the Queen" by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder. Wow. I want more of this story! They packed what could have been a whole novel into this novella. I want to know more about their world - the Fairy Queen is as cold as you would expect, except....except she is the queen, and what she does is amazing and powerful. And the two sisters and what happens to them - and the little touches of homey magics and herbs and spells, how they find their way in our world - this was a story of Faerie that is stunning.
"UOUS" by Tanith Lee - funny, and twisted in the way only Tanith Lee can pull off. Beware of wishes.....of speaking when you think you are alone. this was the most bittersweet story in the collection, which is much how humans feel after fairies reach over and touch us....
"Grace Notes" by Megan Lindholm - sweet, very sweet. I thought I didn't like the main character at first, but she makes him into a very unlikely modern man hero. This story is what would probably happen to us if we did have a brownie in our home!! I really liked the characters and story here.
"The Gypsies in The Wood" by Kim Newman - Wow. I am still thinking over this story, the ending, the characters. I feel like I stepped into a book, reading this - the characters are so well-developed, and the story is a thrilling, magical re-working of what happens when your children play in the tiniest of woodlots by themselves. Eery, haunting, and scary in places - faeries aren't fun, they have their own lives and this along with "Except the Queen" really give us the sense of danger that comes with fairies. This story has a knock-out ending, and I can't get it out of my head, it was that good. Brilliant.
And last, but not least, Craig Shaw Gardner's "An Embarrassment of Elves" - sheer delight. I laughed out loud in places, and am now wondering if I should pick up one of his novels because I enjoyed this one so much. There are six books in the Ebenezum the Wizard stories, and this is a new short story in that world using all the characters from the novels - Wuntvor is apprentice is hilarious, as are all the companions. And what the elves do with their magic - well, the results are funny, and fun.
This was one of my favourite reads of the year so far. If you haven't read it yet, and are part of the Once Uon a time Challenge, then try to get a copy of this. And if you're not part of the challenge and like fairy stories, I really think you will find something to enjoy in this book. It won the World Fantasy Award for a very good reason - really good fairy stories. And it's not just the fairy aspect, this all were well-written - the stories were complete, characters well-rounded and interesting, and I never knew exactly where the plot was going, so each was a surprise and pulled me in and kept me there.
This one comes highly recommended, Gentle Readers. I will be keeping this one and re-reading it over the years, I think. An instant classic, or it should be!!!
Monday, 2 June 2008
The Classic Fairy Tales - Iona and Peter Opie
I have been reading fairy tales and myths for the past few weeks, to catch up on my Once Upon a Time Challenge. 18 days left.....so I am very relieved to have finally finished another one!
The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona and Peter Opie was published in 1974. I picked this book up long ago, knowing I would want to read it one day. And I am so glad I finally read this book! It is better than I hoped it would be. Not only are the original publications of the fairy tales in English presented in this book, but the history of the fairy tale, other languages it may have come from, and where in the world it is found, is also presented. Best of all, are the illustrations. These are presented from varying fairy tale editions published from the late 16th century right up to about 1930. So Arthur Rackham is here, as well as colour illustrations from as far back as 1804 from Tabart's Popular Stories for the Nursery, which was the first collection of fairy tales to have colour illustations. Every story is accompanied by several illustrations, and an introduction explaining when it was first published and by whom, any other fairy tale versions existing, and how far back similar tales to it go. Some tales go far back in time, some tales are wide-spread over the world (Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs), and others are found in a local area only (Twelve Dancing Princesses, Central European).
All of the fairy tales we would have grown up are represented here. This is a treasure trove of fairy tales. It is a collector's dream to own, for those who are collecting fairy tales, both for the history presented and for the incredible index at the back for other sources of fairy tales. These are the original tellings of the fairy tales in English, and it is interesting to see what has changed since they were first presented in English. For example, originally Goldilocks was an old lady! And that is the version we are given in the book. My favourites, the Frog Prince, and Beauty and the Beast, are here. Everything from Rumpelstiltskin to The Swineherd to Diamond and Toads, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are here.
Best of all, was the delight I found in re-reading these tales once again. After reading The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter in May, which are written for adults, it was really fun to go back to the original fairy tales and compare them to Carter's versions, and to Neil Gaiman's poems "Locks", which I found running through my mind as I read Goldilocks tonight, and "Instructions", which would do for a general introduction to every fairy tale book published from now on! Both poems come off rather well in my mind; I really think they will be classics as time goes on. But I have to finish Fragile Things to do a proper review then! (It's sitting by my bedside and I have about a quarter of the book to go). Carters hold up well, but still are much darker in tone and mood. I do like her retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Actually, I came to the conclusion tonight that it would be hard to ruin Beauty and the Beast - I remember an old comic book I had, that had the story of the beast who lived in the Swamp ( I believe he was called Swamp Thing!). A blind girl wandered in, and they met and fell in love. since she couldn't see him, she could only hear his voice, he didn't frighten her. Unlike Beauty and the Beast, however, this tale didn't end happily - for some reason she is running through the swamp (I think she is being chased by baddies?) and falls into quicksand. He manages to rescue her, but falls in and dies. I cried buckets of tears, and it was one of my favourite comics of the few my mother allowed in the house. I think the girl's name was Melody. And it's been 33 years since I last saw it! But that's the power of fairy tales - they stay in our hearts and minds, they roam through our souls shaping how we see stories in our lives and in the world around us, all through our lives.
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Weekly Geeks 5 - Second Favourite Form of Storytelling
So I'm a little slow. I actually wrote a whole post on this topic, and then didn't post it because i didn't like what I wrote. This was last Wednesday or so. Since then I've been giving it alot of thought. Do I write about all my tv shows? Movies? Favourites? How do I go about showing why this is my second favourite form of storytelling? And, as usual I am too late to make Dewey's wrap-up post...but who cares! I finally know what I want to say:
This past week's Weekly Geek was to post about our second form of favourite form of story-telling. Mine is tv shows. I kept trying to make it movies, because I do enjoy them, but the ones I get caught up in, and argue and discuss about, are tv shows, for the most part. By the way, I have to give a big thanks to Bride of the Book God, because she wrote about tv shows as her 2nd favourite form, and some of what she says crystallized what I had been trying to say last Wednesday in the unposted post. So thank, Bride! And you can go here to check out her post. TV are one of the things my family and I sit down to together to do. Over the years, my eldest son and I have watched Babylon 5, the old Star Trek (he still thinks it's cool that I can name the episode within seconds of the opening scene/music!), Lost, and Heroes: he, my daughter and I watch Smallville, the new Battlestar Galactica, my husband and I watch House (our tv show!), Life on Mars, Vicar of Dibley and host of shows from England (mostly on DVD now) and our whole family watches the new Dr Who from Britain. So, after watching the final episodes of Season One of Dr Who this weekend at my daughter's request, I realized that I want to talk about this episode as it encapsulates everything good about tv and visual storytelling.
"The Parting of the Ways" is an episode that even after viewing at least 4 times, still makes me cry. In fact, there were very few episodes that I didn't find myself moved by, because the new Dr Who is exploring who we are by going into the past - both Earth past and other worlds - and the future, again sometimes ours, sometimes ahead in the universe somewhere. The best of the episodes involve something personal, and Parting of the Ways is as personal as it gets: the Doctor sends Rose back to Earth to save her, and he and Captain Jack face annihilation, as well as the entire Earth, from the Dr's old foes the Daleks, and she does the unthinkable to save him and Jack. The power of this episode, and in this series as whole, is in its exploration of love. The Doctor, we learn in this episode, when faced with the dilemma of being a coward or a killer, chooses coward. He can't - he won't - kill to wipe out the Daleks, even though he is dooming the human race to painful extermination. He can't because at the bottom of his being is the hope that some way out can be found. The will to live, to survive, even when all hope is lost - that is the Doctor's secret. And in this episode, for the first time, we see what the Tardis is really formed of, for Rose, the Doctor's companion, looks into it, in order to save her Doctor from that annihilation at the Daleks. The picture as she emerges from the Tardis with the light pouring from her eyes and face, the light that is Wisdom incarnate, what the Goddess Sophia (who is Wisdom in Christian mythology) would look like if She walked the Earth - and what Rose says about time, is haunting and beautiful. She is beautiful, and how she destroys the Daleks and restores Jack, before the Doctor stops her, is magnificent. That is a perfect scene that understands the power of Spirit made bodily, and it is so beautiful that I am moved to tears - because Spirit - nor all of time, can't be contained in our bodies. We simply can't hold all that much power, and the Doctor tells her that; even he can't hold it. He can only touch it as a Time Lord, and because it powers his ship. It destroys his current body, and we all meet the new Doctor at the very end. Rose has no memory of what she has done, which is also fitting, because if she remembered, everything else that happened in her life would not mean anything in comparison to that moment she was All and saw all Time.
This episode is about saving the ones you love, if you can, and also about letting them go. When the Doctor sends her back to earth the first time, he tells her, "Have a good life. Have a fantastic life." So I started thinking about what is a good life? Do I live a good life? And Rose says to her mother (who doesn't understand Rose's need to try to get back and save the Doctor), "The Doctor showed me a better way of living my life. You don't give up, you don't stand around, you do something about it." And I thought, that's the recipe for a good life, both in tv land and in the real world. And that's part of why I love Dr Who so much - he goes into time that needs fixing or correcting, he acts. He can't stop time, he can't restore dead people - see the episode when Rose goes back to see her Dad, and what happens! Which Rose refers to in this episode, and how Jackie (her mother) reacts when she finds out - this show is all about love and the things we do for the ones we love, and how the impossible becomes possible if you do something about it. For a main theme of a tv show, that's not too bad! This episode contains all of the season's themes within it. Science fiction is a vehicle for showing us to our selves. What would we be like through other's eyes? What is the best of us? The worst of us? Dr Who shows us all this, with great storytelling and superb acting. I especially love long-arcing storylines, and most of my favourite tv shows (with a few exceptions) have had this as part of the writing. I love to see how one story impacts later on, how one character's actions come into play later. Because that is how our life works, even though we don't always slow down enough to see it. Stories, written and visual, allow us to see that causal effect.
This particular episode also featured the words "Bad Wolf", which were encountered in earlier episodes as well. We finally get an answer to what those words mean, and I thought about it later and I am intrigued by how two little words could catch our attention. And like almost nothing else - except other fairy tale words - do. "Bad Wolf", no matter what context we see it in, immediately grabs our attention because it recalls the fairy tales with the big bad wolf. We know these words mean something. And even as they are a signpost for us to pay attention, so do the Doctor and Rose pay attention, and follow them to the source. So once again I find fairy tales turning up at the most unexpected, least likeliest places!!
And it's one more reason for me to love Dr. Who and this episode!
And, by the way, my daughter has said that if the doctor came by in his blue phone box, she would hop in and travel around the universe with him. She's 5. That Doctor, he appeals to females of all ages!!!!
This past week's Weekly Geek was to post about our second form of favourite form of story-telling. Mine is tv shows. I kept trying to make it movies, because I do enjoy them, but the ones I get caught up in, and argue and discuss about, are tv shows, for the most part. By the way, I have to give a big thanks to Bride of the Book God, because she wrote about tv shows as her 2nd favourite form, and some of what she says crystallized what I had been trying to say last Wednesday in the unposted post. So thank, Bride! And you can go here to check out her post. TV are one of the things my family and I sit down to together to do. Over the years, my eldest son and I have watched Babylon 5, the old Star Trek (he still thinks it's cool that I can name the episode within seconds of the opening scene/music!), Lost, and Heroes: he, my daughter and I watch Smallville, the new Battlestar Galactica, my husband and I watch House (our tv show!), Life on Mars, Vicar of Dibley and host of shows from England (mostly on DVD now) and our whole family watches the new Dr Who from Britain. So, after watching the final episodes of Season One of Dr Who this weekend at my daughter's request, I realized that I want to talk about this episode as it encapsulates everything good about tv and visual storytelling.
"The Parting of the Ways" is an episode that even after viewing at least 4 times, still makes me cry. In fact, there were very few episodes that I didn't find myself moved by, because the new Dr Who is exploring who we are by going into the past - both Earth past and other worlds - and the future, again sometimes ours, sometimes ahead in the universe somewhere. The best of the episodes involve something personal, and Parting of the Ways is as personal as it gets: the Doctor sends Rose back to Earth to save her, and he and Captain Jack face annihilation, as well as the entire Earth, from the Dr's old foes the Daleks, and she does the unthinkable to save him and Jack. The power of this episode, and in this series as whole, is in its exploration of love. The Doctor, we learn in this episode, when faced with the dilemma of being a coward or a killer, chooses coward. He can't - he won't - kill to wipe out the Daleks, even though he is dooming the human race to painful extermination. He can't because at the bottom of his being is the hope that some way out can be found. The will to live, to survive, even when all hope is lost - that is the Doctor's secret. And in this episode, for the first time, we see what the Tardis is really formed of, for Rose, the Doctor's companion, looks into it, in order to save her Doctor from that annihilation at the Daleks. The picture as she emerges from the Tardis with the light pouring from her eyes and face, the light that is Wisdom incarnate, what the Goddess Sophia (who is Wisdom in Christian mythology) would look like if She walked the Earth - and what Rose says about time, is haunting and beautiful. She is beautiful, and how she destroys the Daleks and restores Jack, before the Doctor stops her, is magnificent. That is a perfect scene that understands the power of Spirit made bodily, and it is so beautiful that I am moved to tears - because Spirit - nor all of time, can't be contained in our bodies. We simply can't hold all that much power, and the Doctor tells her that; even he can't hold it. He can only touch it as a Time Lord, and because it powers his ship. It destroys his current body, and we all meet the new Doctor at the very end. Rose has no memory of what she has done, which is also fitting, because if she remembered, everything else that happened in her life would not mean anything in comparison to that moment she was All and saw all Time.
This episode is about saving the ones you love, if you can, and also about letting them go. When the Doctor sends her back to earth the first time, he tells her, "Have a good life. Have a fantastic life." So I started thinking about what is a good life? Do I live a good life? And Rose says to her mother (who doesn't understand Rose's need to try to get back and save the Doctor), "The Doctor showed me a better way of living my life. You don't give up, you don't stand around, you do something about it." And I thought, that's the recipe for a good life, both in tv land and in the real world. And that's part of why I love Dr Who so much - he goes into time that needs fixing or correcting, he acts. He can't stop time, he can't restore dead people - see the episode when Rose goes back to see her Dad, and what happens! Which Rose refers to in this episode, and how Jackie (her mother) reacts when she finds out - this show is all about love and the things we do for the ones we love, and how the impossible becomes possible if you do something about it. For a main theme of a tv show, that's not too bad! This episode contains all of the season's themes within it. Science fiction is a vehicle for showing us to our selves. What would we be like through other's eyes? What is the best of us? The worst of us? Dr Who shows us all this, with great storytelling and superb acting. I especially love long-arcing storylines, and most of my favourite tv shows (with a few exceptions) have had this as part of the writing. I love to see how one story impacts later on, how one character's actions come into play later. Because that is how our life works, even though we don't always slow down enough to see it. Stories, written and visual, allow us to see that causal effect.
This particular episode also featured the words "Bad Wolf", which were encountered in earlier episodes as well. We finally get an answer to what those words mean, and I thought about it later and I am intrigued by how two little words could catch our attention. And like almost nothing else - except other fairy tale words - do. "Bad Wolf", no matter what context we see it in, immediately grabs our attention because it recalls the fairy tales with the big bad wolf. We know these words mean something. And even as they are a signpost for us to pay attention, so do the Doctor and Rose pay attention, and follow them to the source. So once again I find fairy tales turning up at the most unexpected, least likeliest places!!
And it's one more reason for me to love Dr. Who and this episode!
And, by the way, my daughter has said that if the doctor came by in his blue phone box, she would hop in and travel around the universe with him. She's 5. That Doctor, he appeals to females of all ages!!!!
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