Post This. Or, You Know, Tweet It. Or something.

Time to fess up.

So, I've finally started to pay attention to, become interested in, engage in, make some noise in, grow addicted to, be entertained by and enjoy Twitter.  No kidding. (Don't believe me?  Yeah, well, take a gander at the Twitter feed over there on the right-hand side of this blog.  Right there under that picture of me that -- whoa -- seriously needs to be updated. Ahhh...note to self....) 

Okay, but alas and anyway.  I swore it just wasn't in me, and now here I am...dare I say...tweeting on a somewhat regular basis. At the office, while I'm working at home, when I'm fixing dinner...I even read tweets tonight while I was on the treadmill at the gym.  Uhm.  (!)

And we're all adults here, yes?  Yes, I think we are.  Or at least most of us are mostly adults at least most of the time.  Probably.  Maybe.  So I'll go ahead and throw out the "A" word, even though I struck it out a few sentences prior to this one. (Oh, haha, c'mon, admit it. You thought I meant that "A" word, didn't you?) Yeah, no. What I meant was addicted.  That "A" word.  I won't say I'm there yet, but I'll admit that I'm beginning to see how I could be.  So apples-falling-off-tree-branches easily....

But there's just one teensie-weensie little thing that's hindering my existence in the Twittersphere, and that is this: I don't quite get the hashtags thing.  I mean, I understand the purpose of hashtags and how they work.  I understand what will happen if I search for one, or if I use one myself in one of my own tweets. (At this point, you're drumming your fingers on the table, wondering what in Sam Hill is left for me not to understand about hashtags, aren't you?)  Well, okay.  What I don't understand is where they all come from -- at least in some cases -- and how you find ones that you might want to use that are already in use (if that's even the Twitter way). 

I know people, businesses, organizations and et cetera make them up on purpose sometimes. Like when the organization I work for holds big events, they create and assign hashtags.  Yep, got it.  Check. But I'm talking about the ones that people always seem to be throwing out at the end of their tweets that point to something that's not a major event or whatever. 

For example, say I tweet the following (which is, truth be told, true): I recently finished re-reading Stephen King's 11/22/63.

Now I realize I'm not obligated in any way to append a hashtag of any size, shape or relative importance to my 140-ish characters. But it seems rather logical that I might go ahead and add any of the following: #king, #stephenking, #11/22/63. Those make total sense, and I absolutely get it. 

But what about any from this next group: #stephenkingauthor, #stephenkingrules, #bestkingbook, #besttimetravelbook, #bestbookever, #bookrec.  Those do, in fact, make sense (at least to me), but do I just throw them out there willy nilly?  How do I know that other people will even know they exist, if they don't already? Better yet, what if other hashtags, very similar to these in meaning if not in form, already exist and are in use (say, #bookrecommendation, #recommendabook, #irecommendyouread)? Should I look for them?  Should I try to use what's already out there? If so, then how? 

My consternation becomes even more obvious (to me, of course, but maybe not you?), and for the same reasons I listed for the previous bunch, when we're talking about hashtags such as the following (still assuming they might follow the sample tweet I proposed above): #booksthatbelongtohistory, #geniuswriter, #wishicouldbesocreative, #timeresonates, #dancingislife, #youwouldlovethis, #putitonyourlist, #waytokill30someoddhours, #50lbsofprint. 

So...there it is. Comments -- especially those offering up explanations -- are welcome.

Oh, and by the way?  A friend at work only had this to say when I told her about my hashtag anxiety: You're way overthinking it.  Way.

Yes, clearly....

Write What!?!?

Yeah, so here's me trying to work on the novel.

Just sayin'....

Return of the Wayword Blogger.

I've been feeling the need to get back to blogging, and recently was tasked with doing it (for work) from an upcoming national conference hosted by my employer. The timing on the work request is pretty good in the grand scheme of things, I think. In a motivational way, I mean.  As I was wanting to start blogging again anyway, well...I guess I just figure that if I can blog for them, surely I can get back to blogging for myself.

Let's start by throwing out a few of my most recent reads:

• 11/22/63 by Stephen King (actually, this was a second readthrough; still as fantastic as it was the first time)
• The Host by Stephenie Meyer (...yeah...I resisted...but my sister convinced me, and I'll just say that, for various reasons, it was worth the read)
• Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston (three words: could.not.finish)

Current reads are Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and Time and Again by Jack Finney.

Reading; Not Writing.

Clearly, I've not made a priority of posting here on the blog in a good many months. My bad....

So, instead of setting expectations about how often I'll write and/or what I'll (allow myself to) write about, and thereby intimidating myself into not writing, I'm just going to wing it. The only goal of this particular post is to list some of the books I've read in the past few months.

• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• Sway by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
• White Horse by Alex Adams
• Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Must say I've found inspiration for my own writing (potential/possible/plausible writing?) in all of the above -- some more than others, of course.

Hunger Games Movie.

Just got back from seeing the Hunger Games. And, wow. It did not disappoint. I always worry about the translation from book to screen -- that being based on the colossal disappointment I've dealt with so many times in the past in instances where it's been done wrong.

The Hunger Games, though? They did it right. Oh, so right....

Late to the Party. As Always.

I have this penchant for ignoring my friends' (and now my son's) reading recs, until something like the last book in the series (Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling), or an impending movie release (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins) spurs me into action.

I read all of the first six Harry Potter Books in the six months leading up to the release of Deathly Hollows. Finished Half-Blood Prince a week before DH came out and was standing in line at midnight to buy it. (For the record, my receipt says I purchased the book at 12:07.) Then I did go ahead and read that one in 24 hours.

Cut to last night, when I stayed up until the crack of dawn to read The Hunger Games all in one go. My son has been raving about the series for ages now, and since I want to take both of my boys to the movie next week I decided to get with the program and at least see what the fuss is all about.

And that fuss? Well-warranted. And then some. I've got the Kindle Fire all charged up and am planning to start Catching Fire on my lunch break this afternoon.

Little Red Riding Hood in Four Minutes. Exquisite!

Okay, you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words, right? Well, check out this video. Four minutes to tell a story. No dialog, no narration. But it's spectacular. And it hits you right there. Wow.

RED from RED on Vimeo.

Making Words Work.

"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
"When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

~ Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass

Longing for the Sea.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

~Antoine St. Exupery

And Also...

...am reading Amanda Hocking's Switched...at the same time that I'm plowing through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  Must say, the juxtaposition of those two storylines in my mind is a rather odd one. 

Reviews on Tap.

Have read several books recently that I've not got around to reviewing.  (Will get to that as soon as I can make the time.)  The books (in the order I read them) are:

• Breaths in Winter: Three Tales of Ghostly Horror, by Donna Burgess
• Midnight Palace, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 
• Inherit the Stars, by James P. Hogan
• The Adjustment Team, by Philip K. Dick

Reviews coming (hopefully) shortly.

Currently, I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.  I actually began reading this one some time ago, but got distracted and haven't decided to pick it back up until now.  (Am thoroughly enjoying it, and plan to finish it this time.)

Book Reviews: Alpha by Title.

An updated list of books I've reviewed here on Blogger (beginning December 2011).

Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster

The Night Strangers (1) by Chris Bohjalian

The Night Strangers (2) by Chris Bohjalian

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Review: The Prince of Mist.

Nothing is more powerful than a promise.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of my all-time favorite authors, and The Prince of Mist is his first published novel. Zafon has said that, "It was the book that allowed me to become a professional writer and to start my career as a novelist, and I’ve always been fond of it."

The synopsis, as found at Amazon:

It's war time, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they've recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners' son, who died by drowning.

With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the strange circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called the Prince of Mist -- a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden -- an adventure that will change their lives forever.

Unlike Zafon's Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game, The Prince of Mist was written for teens/young adults and so is far less sophisticated -- but no less enjoyable -- a read.

Zafon's prose, as always, is elegant -- even if leveled down for his younger audience -- and he wastes no time diving straight into the story, drawing you right in and carrying you along at whirlwind speed straight through to the end.

I read the book in two sittings, and would have finished it in one had time permitted. It's engaging, a compelling story with likable teen characters, an intriguing mystery, a spooky (and rather terrifying) villain, a motley crew of circus performers/stone statues, and the harnessing of magic for evil purposes.

The story launches straight into the Carver family move, one that young Max instinctively knows will change his life forever. From the outset, time takes on new meanings and characteristics -- appearing under different sets of circumstances to run backwards, stand still and bifurcate into different tracks. A cat with a knowing countenance and a pushy demeanor catches the eye of Max's younger sister, Irina, and rides home with the family to their new house. Alicia, the eldest, is distant, detached and clearly unhappy.

Max meets a local boy, Roland, and the two become fast friends who are swept up, along with Alicia, into an adventure precipitated by an accident (caused by the cat) that sends Irina to the hospital.

The trio puts together clues involving a walled-in garden of enchanted statues; a sunken ship named the Orpheus; a collection of old home-made films left on the Carver's new property; the story of a diabolical magician named Dr. Cain and his connection to Roland's grandfather (a lighthouse keeper who watches over the Orpheus); and the true fate of Jacob Fleischman, the boy who drowned in the ocean and whose parents previously owned the Carvers' new home.

A profound respect grows between Max and Alicia, Alicia and Roland become more than friends, Roland's grandfather does his best to protect his grandson and the evil Dr. Cain changes all their lives forever.

Although I felt a little as though there were a few loose ends that I would like to have seen tied up (for example, how Alicia deals with what Dr. Cain does to Roland, and whether or not magic continues to play a role in Max's life after the events with Dr. Cain and the Orpheus), I think ultimately that the ambiguity worked well. It definitely provoked my curiosity and kept me thinking about the possibilities long after I'd read the final words. The only answers, of course, are those I've come up with on my own -- and those sorts of answers tend to be the best, after all.

Savage Chickens - The Ghost of Christmas Future Perfect Passive.

(Image via)

The Next Seventeen....

Stayed at work late, but now I'm home and I've got the next SEVENTEEN days off. I think it's the first time I've had so many days off in a row since I (reluctantly) returned to full-time employment in early 2007.

Seventeen days (nine of which will be spent snorkeling, sunning and sipping mai tais in Hawaii). So many possibilities....

Of course, I did bring some work home with me. One news item that I need to write for the website, and one rather large project -- but shouldn't have to devote too much time to them. And with any luck, I'll actually do some writing of my own (fingers crossed for that).

Twitterpated. Twitless? Twitter-iffic? Oh, that one's bad....

Okay. Giving Twitter another try.

Just. Can't. Resist.

(I wonder if there's some sort of tractor-beam effect built into its code; it's just sucking me in. Resistance is futile.)

Review: Human.4.

On Sunday I read Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster. It was a rainy, gloomy, bookreading kind of day, and I was looking for something that I could read in only one or two sittings and that fit in with the current dystopic/apocalyptic/a-world-less-than-I'd-like-it-to-be and (often) YA genre bent. Human.4 was the perfect choice given those criteria.

First: The synopsis, courtesy of Amazon.

Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same. Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone’s behaving oddly. It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exit.

Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister?

Narrated on a set of found cassette tapes at an unspecified point in the future, Human.4 is an absolutely chilling look at technology gone too far.

Human.4 is a delight for science fiction enthusiasts and philosophers alike. Given that I am both of those things, it's not at all surprising that I very much liked the book.

I have to say, I really admire Lancaster's ability to tell an engaging and thought provoking story that I think is sure to capture the interest of teens (and those who still remember what it's like to think like a teenager), geeks (Yes, I am), the curious, the skeptics, the cynics and anyone else who enjoys digesting a little bit of technology, reflections on the human condition and unanswerable questions in their daily reading.

The narrative structure is creative and works well with this particular story. The narrative voice -- that of a teenage boy, Kyle, as "listened to" from cassette tapes recovered at an undetermined point in time, really is done well. Lancaster combined the structure and voice to good effect, helping distance the reader (in a good way) from whatever is considered present time in the story. It also helps to convey the philosophical questions that are the centerpoint of the story: Who, and more importantly, what, are we (meaning humans)? Where do we fit -- or not fit -- in the world? What power do we have to affect our collective future?

The story told in Human.4 is a little like the art of hiding vegetables in spaghetti sauce (of which I may or may not be guilty). Lancaster tells a compelling and seemingly straightforward story that might be about a lot of things: talent-show hypnosis stunt gone wrong, an alien invasion, technology gone too far, humans as catalysts for their own evolution.

But there's more to it than that. The questions the Kyle asks might be asked of my life and worldview, or anyone else's, in the here and now. And those questions are not only open-ended, but in many cases downright unanswerable. Often they lead only to more questions about such topics as what it means to be human, what are humans made of, what are the possibilities that you're not who -- or what -- you think you are, where do humans go from here (whenever and wherever "here" is), what if there are other "versions" of humans that pass by us (and us them) countless times with every passing moment.

You know, nothing too intimidating.

Of course, at this point you might be saying, "Yeah, right. Not intimidating in the least -- maybe not the book for me." So here's where I remind you about the spaghetti sauce. In the same way that random vegetables can be cut up and, along with the more traditional peppers and onions, put in something like kid-friendly spaghetti sauce, so Lancaster tosses so many philosophical meanderings into his teen-friendly sci-fi adventure.

There's no reason for readers' eyes to glaze over, courtesy of a barrage of questions that are the content of philosophy courses on college campuses everywhere. The questions are there; you just don't taste them. Err...notice them. But you will find after reading the story that such questions are buzzing around your brain, even if only faintly. Bonus, if you like to think about such things. Or, added ingredients and exposure to something out of your particular ordinary that will give the story an added depth that may only be experienced, not examined.

Okay, I'll shut up about the philosophy. And spaghetti, and such....

I do want to mention that Lancaster very cleverly uses his narrative structure also to help further the mystery. For those familiar with cassette tapes, you'll remember that there was a couple-second stretch at both the beginning and end of every tape on which nothing could be recorded. Kyle apparently doesn't take this into consideration, so the words he meant to be the beginnings and endings of all of the rcordings are lost -- a fantastic device used to fuel speculation about what details were contained in those missing and forever-lost minutes.

I could go on but from here I'd only wind up dropping spoilers. I'd rather leave it to the prospective reader to discover on their own what makes this story so unique and so compelling.

Recommended.

Of note: Word is, Human 1.4 is due out in January 2012. As of yet, no details about the story have been released.

Done: The Night Strangers.

I wrote a mid-read review of this story in my previous post, so this will be short and sweet.

Despite numerous interruptions (work, Christmas shopping, work, soccer practice, work, doctor appointments, work, etc.) I finally was able to finish The Night Strangers.  Everything I wrote before about the author's narrative style and the quality of the prose remains true. 

As for the story itself...ultimately, it was satisfying.  I don't mean that to sound underwhelming, because really it was very good.  It doesn't make my Top-5 Favorite Novels of All Time list, but I definitely would recommend it to others. 

One of the things that makes it such a good read is that the storyline -- particularly the ending -- is unpredictable.  Mid-way through, and all the way up until the very last word, I found myself making guesses about the tack Bohjalian would take.  But I was wrong.  In addition, I also found myself predicting how a number of different scenes would turn out, and again I was wrong.  Every time.  I was wrong on all counts, and that's a definite plus.  If I can predict one chapter in how a story will end, then I feel a little cheated -- and disappointed.  Any author who can keep me guessing and unable to see where it'll all end up when the last page is turned is an author whose works I'll return to.

And another thing: Bohjalian draws this story out as if it could really happen.  It's a thriller, indeed.  There are elements of the paranormal, a question of sanity, something akin to magic, another something that might or might not be witchcraft (in the traditional spells and potions sense).  But Bohjalian blends these things into the story in such a way that they don't cause that unappreciated mental jolt that reminds me I'm reading a work of fiction.  Flat out, the story seems possible, believable.  Odd, perhaps.  Unlikely, even.  But still plausible.   

No spoilers, but as I have already written, the ending to this story -- for me, at  least -- was full of twists and turns and, generally, the unexpected.

All in all, a good read.  Recommended.

Mid-Read Review: The Night Strangers.

I'm currently reading The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Bohjalian's prose is economical and accessible. It's neither so simple as to seem uninspired or pedestrian, nor so complex as to sound contrived or to leave me reaching for a dictionary. There's a very natural, almost heartbeat-like rhythm to the words in my head as I read along.

I also find it interesting how Bohjalian changes up the narrative not only through the use of alternating narrative point of view but also via the use of more than one style of narrative voice. The majority of the story is told in third-person -- a great deal of it from the perspective of Emily, wife of Chip (the protagonist). Some is told also (in third-person as well) from the perspectives of Emily and Chip's daughters, Hallie and Garnet, and a handful of other secondary characters. Bohjalian mixes it up, however, when the reader experiences Chip's point of view. He writes it in second-person, which has the effect of really making me, as a reader, easily imagine that Chip's thoughts and actions are mine. It makes me sympathize more with Chip (who's an extremely sympathetic character to begin with) than I think I would were I to read his story "from a distance" in the third-person. It makes his emotions and thought processes altogether more immediate and intimately understandable than those of the other characters.

I'm only about halfway through, but the story is compelling and fresh. It's a fantastic blend of an examination of family dynamics in the wake of a personal falling out after a public disaster; of the struggle to overcome personal demons and post-traumatic stress disorder; of the blurred lines between hallucination and the (possibly) paranormal; of the friction between newcomers and an isolated, close-knit community; of the hint of magic as a common thread in everyday life.

I'm sure I'll blaze through the rest of this story pretty quickly. I'm to that point where abandoning the book (Kindle) is altogether impossible, and leaving it for any stretch of time unlikely. It's that downward trajectory, the rollercoaster gaining speed. It's the end in sight and wanting to get there quickly, but at the same time wanting to savor the twists and turns along the way. All too soon it'll be over, and I'll be on to the next.

Speaking of the next, my "to read" list is fantastically long. So many choices! So many must-reads....

I should mention also that although Bojhalian has written a number of books, the only other of his that I've read is Midwives, which also was very good. It's been a long time, though, so I can't say much more about it than the story was gripping, the idea terrifying in a "life takes a wrong turn" and "good intentions are criminalized" kind of way, and as with the Night Strangers, I very much enjoyed the prose.

Print Pubs: The Writing's On The Wall (Unfortunately, Not Where Everyone Can See It Yet).

Well, tomorrow I'll learn the fate of our two magazines.  Turns out there was quite the uproar from a number of other departments when my department (and by "my department," I mean "I") announced that we had been told the magazines would have to go online-only after the (upcoming) January issues.  There was enough of an uproar, actually, to prompt a review of the proposal at the annual board meeting -- which took place this past Friday.

So, the decision's been made...we just don't know what it is yet. 

Quantum physics, anyone?  Every possible outcome still exists...at least from my point of view.  Just sayin'....