What I'm Reading, Watching, Writing, and Running

What I'm Reading:

*I just finished "Gone Girl:A Novel, by Gillian Flynn"

This is one of the coolest novels I have ever read, or perhaps will ever read. The kind that makes you wonder how the author can walk about normal society with these kind of disturbed thoughts in her head, the kind that make me hope one day I can metamorphosis my own twisted ideas cocooning in my head into something that can fly.


You do not want to run into this woman in a dark alley



Why did I love it? Such a unique and wonderful use of untrustworthy narrators.  Nothing cooler than ending a chapter where a character talks to the police with the line,  “and that was my fifth lie?”  Huh? Well, which five were the lies?

But this is only the beginning.  You're in for a roller coaster that works on so many levels. The murder mystery by itself would make it enough, but the novel speaks to marriage and relationships' tendencies to cling to the sickest parts of each other. The toxic ties that bind and keep us together and the resulting rresentments we share like an unwanted spawn.

 

The novel addresses the way we experience all of our existence either through the media, or by referencing back to a movie version of our reality, and if you look closer, you'll even see a retelling of the Oedipal myth.


Real word horror. I couldn’t sleep, I kept hearing the words, “Play nice Nick, play nice”

*I got a huge DNF on 'The Twelve' By Justin Cronin, which was the most disappointing DNF of my life. It was the first novel I pre-ordered before the release date, after The Passage was right in my wheel-house, but the novel became laborious and then torturous.

*Now I"m off to read:  A Storm Of Swords, or, as I think of it, Game of Thrones Part 3, by George RR Martin. It's a given I will like it, and it's only over a thousand pages, so at a pace of 20 pages a day average, I should be done just in time for the HBO series to start in March. 

If you're a geek like me and into this kind of thing, George RR Martin has a blog called "Not A Blog." Look to the right and down you'll see it on this list. ---->

 

What I'm Writing:
Revisions and rewrites of my next novel, "On The Lips of All Children." The title comes from the line "Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children", made famous by the movie 'The Crow.'

Trying to work on it diligently, practice patience, and there are a handful of publishers who I may grace with a submission (and by grace with a submission, I mean grovel at their doorstep) before putting the novel out the new-fashioned Amazon KDP way if it comes to that.

I've identified and spoke with a very skilled editor, and fortunately have some beta readers who are reading it right now as we speak.  May they be blessed with the gift of honesty. If you want to see a draft of the prologue, it's up on Fictionaut. Warning: this is no Jade Rabbit. Rated RH for really horrific.

What I'm Watching:
Girls on HBO.
Instead of quirkiness dashed in, the quirkiness is trying just too hard, just a bunch of plot set ups for some cool quotes trying to make the statement of a generation. And I don't like Adam as a desperate suitor. It doesn't fit. Still, the series is great, always makes me smile and want to download some new music on itunes. I will keep watching even if I am middle-aged guy.

I watched the pilot of 'The Following' during a treadmill run. I gasped once, ran fine, and enjoyed the pace of the sho. It lived up to much of the hype. The show bastardized Edgar Allen Poe a bit, tip-toed on cliche, but was deliciously dark and fun and fast. Plus only one degree of Kevin Bacon. A series recording is set on the DVR.


Homeland - 8 episodes in, and I'm finally getting interested. During the first episodes, Clare Danes had the same exact emotion and same spastic look on her face throughout, but a short little affair with the suspected terrorist has changed all of that, and she is finally a well-rounded character with a full range.  Did you see Damian Lewis/Brody on the Globes? In real life he has this huge British accent. A well-deserved reward for such a haunting character. Saul gives me beard envy, and I am sure the facial hair is just the tip of an interesting iceberg. (no spoilers!)

What I'm running:
Just putting in miles this week. I hope to do a 15 miler this weekend, and with the snow, it may very well be indoors.

What I'm plagiarizing:
I often go to writer Chuck Wendig's blog, TerribleMinds, the freelance penmonkey, for inspiration. Even though his words are targeted to writing and publishing they are easily transferable and universal.

So, when he writes "Write the best book that lives inside you" - I can't help but change that to "Run the best marathon that lives inside you".  Look to the right and you'll see Mr. Wendig on this list. ----->

Hell, come to think of it;
Blog the best post that lives inside of you,
Live The Best Life That Lives Inside Of You