A Twist of Things to Come

My Beloved returns tonight. His visit may be a short one, I'm happy anyway.

Hope you all have lovely weekends!

There are hours to go before my honey pot comes home, and stuff I should be doing. Instead, I'm fooling around on LJ.

:)

So, I had an interesting chat with narniadear It started with me telling her how she really must find time to watch his readings of The Graveyard Book over at http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx because it is completely delightful. The reading isn't as polished as it is on the audio book -- the character voices are less developed, and he stumbles occasionally (though very rarely) -- but the advantage is that you get to hear people laugh at all the right bits, and respond to his facial expressions. It's a performance more than a reading, though it's that, too.

They've broken Chapter Seven into two readings, and hearing the audience gasp collectively at just the moment when Big Boy stopped the audiobook and said, "Wait! What? is lovely. THEN, he ends the reading at the worst possible moment and someone in the audience shouts "NO!" and most everyone moans. (The wicked, wicked man!) It's a beautiful thing, though, really. You should all go watch.

1.Anyway, narniadear confessed that she had not read any Gaiman-- a bit meekly, as if I were bound to revoke her Geek Merit badge. She wondered whether I could recommend anything, and I had to admit I haven't read much of his work, either. Well, I never have gotten my hands on Sandman, which is what most people talk about. I enjoyed Good Omens, but was never really sure how much of it was NG and how much was TP. I'd have to say that The Graveyard Book gave me the most unalloyed pleasure of anything of his I've read. Coraline was great, too, and I rather enjoyed a collection of short stories I found at the library. The Legends contribution wasn't bad, but between that and American Gods I found I'd had my fill of "scudding clouds."

I really enjoyed American Gods, but by the end I wanted to roll up a newspaper and smack him on the head."Stop *thwap* Making *thwap* Clouds *thwap* SCUD *thwap*" (Every writer has their pet phrases, and some writers change them depending on the story. If we're lucky, someone catches them, so I know that was petulant of me. That said, NO MORE SCUDDING,PLEASE.)

I need to read Anansi Boys. So, all I can really say is that I like his kid fiction, I enjoyed American Gods way more than the above rant would lead you to believe (I finished reading it -- I don't do that If I don't love a book and don't have to) and I LOOOVE The Graveyard Book soooo much I want to make everyone around me read it.

2. Somehow, from there we ended up talking about sex in books. Sex can be a powerful motivator. It can change the dynamics of relationships, or illustrate them. In short, it can be important to a story. But some writers don't use it for that.

Most stories don't mention going to the bathroom, but even that can become a powerful plot point, in the right story. (Civil Rights activists were sometimes kept in cells with no toilet until they soiled themselves, something their jailers used to demean them. That there is a frakking powerful illustrative device to use in a story.)

Even in erotica, which I am pleased to write when inspiration strikes, has to be more than tab A into slot B, or it's not all that interesting to me.

3.THAT got me thinking about the story I sold, and I went and opened the file (hadn't looked at it since I sold it, for various reasons - mostly the absolute certainty that I'd see things I'd want desperately to change). The first line? "It wasn't about sex."

*snorffle* At least I'm consistent. Har!

4. So I ended up re-reading it and realized the boy-toy in the story bears a striking resemblance to Adam Lambert. He (Lambert) has a history of non-traditional hair coloring.

Some days, my brain is a strange place. This, has been one of those days. :)