Comics Wrap-Up

This is the wrap-up of my week in comics (because comics and graphic novels deserve more recognition than they get):


This week in my comic-reading habit (and yes, it's pretty much as bad as my novel-reading habit,) I've been reading horror comics from indie producer Double Take via Comixology - these comics are based around an event that turns the dead into zombies/ghouls. I have to say that the most disturbing was Home 1: Lighter Than Air, due to the demented swearing child that no-one seems to think is weird. The covers of these are really stand-out, and (despite the obvious sexism) I can't deny that the cover to Rise 1: Sister's Keeper, from an artistic point of view, is stunning.

In terms of the big boys (which, to the terminally uninformed are, obviously, Marvel and DC,) I read Hulk #1 (I know, there are a million Hulk #1's by now) of Marvel's Marvel Now! releases, subtitled 'Who Shot Bruce Banner?' this is the first issue in the Bruce Banner DOA storyline. And it was freaking awesome. It is woefully easy for Hulk comics to slip into caricature, parody, and needless complex messes, but this avoids that and stays instead to measured story, affecting art, and emotional heart. And look at the cover! That, my dearest readers, is how you make an excellent and effective Hulk cover.

The Writer Diaries (or How to Destroy a Blank Page)

I'm going to be honest. I'm usually honest. I don't lie to you nice people. Particularly not when you take the trouble to read my blog-posts. Anyway, back on-topic; I'm going to be honest - as a writer, I have absolutely no freaking idea where I'm headed. But I need to ignore that. I need to ignore the deep and painful bite of uncertainty, and concentrate on the words.

But, how do you do that? Well, do what works for you guys - honestly - anything to destroy that blank page. But what I find is that writing prompts give you something to write (and it's ok if it goes completely off-topic and/or is crap, and/or batsh** crazy.) And that keeps your imaginination (ok spelling police - imagination,) going and stops all of the words that are inside you from rotting you out from the inside :) (Never underestimate the power of the smiley face.)

Some people like to work on word quotas, page quotas, or time quotas. I'm a time quota kind of girl myself - never worry about how much you're writing, just take at least 10 minutes a day to write it.

I also personally like to keep a list of prompts, and cross off as I complete. If you don't want to do a prompt, and you find yourself consistently ignoring or avoiding it, scribble it out, and move on to another one. There are zillions of prompts out there, so there's no need to get hung up on one that clearly isn't working for you.

Writing prompt websites and generators range from the awesome to the crap to the preachy (I seriously dislike the preachy - writing is something you should not be guilted into unless it's by a meme of Tom Hiddleston/Loki - just type 'you should be writing Loki' into Google images and you'll see what I mean.)

I find the following sites generally useful when searching for prompts:

Writing Exercises - there are loads of generators here, including dialogue, scenario, and title. Occasionally this tosses you a prompt that's pretty lame. But overall, these are usable and creative and will make you think of different things (and allow you to kill the blasted blank page! Mwaha! :P )

The Pantomime Pony Writer's Den - also has a bunch of random generators (see the links on the side of the page) which have a variety of subjects to get the creative juices flowing. I find that some of their prompts are pretty darn random (which can be fun!) and can also be so long that you can sometimes split them into two prompts (BOGOF anyone? Haha. Sorry, I'm now wondering what was in that chocolate bar I had at lunch.)

Chaotic Shiny generates multiple prompts at a time. Use the drop-down to pick the number of prompts, then click Write! The prompts have variations on time and word count criteria, but don't feel too constrained - use as desired.

Tumblr and Pinterest also have dozens (and probably hundreds or even thousands) of users who provide a constant stream of writing prompts - these are pretty easy to find if you use the search box.

Happy writing (and reading, of course!)

Time to Review the Evidence (Classics Edition!) - Dracula by Bram Stoker

Title: Dracula (US Link)
Author: Bram Stoker
Genre: Classics, Horror, Paranormal, Vampire

A few starting notes:

I've read 'Dracula' several times now - it really is the godfather of vampire fiction. What Mr Stoker would have thought of Twilight et al is anybody's guess, but this was considered terrifying and risqué when it was first published.

Premise:

Jonathan Harker (one of the most under-appreciated characters in literary history, in my humble opinion,) a young solicitor's clerk, is engaged in work that takes him to Transylvania and one Count Dracula. He soon finds that things are not as they first appear.

Back home in Britain, Jonathan's fiancée, Mina Murray, is planning a break in Whitby with her friend, Lucy Westenra. Soon, Mina is worried about Lucy's health - what could be causing her illness?

Meanwhile, Lucy's jilted lover, Dr John Seward, continues his work at the lunatic asylum. His patient, Renfield, is acting very strangely...

Best bits:

This still has the power to draw you in to its atmospheric Gothicism and delectable prose. Perhaps we now consider it less frightening than our Victorian forebears did, but then, we have been de-sensitised by shocking films, books, TV shows, and video games. It's a wonder that anything frightens us, really.

The characters (with some notable exceptions) are vivid and intriguing. I personally favour Jonathan Harker - a man who fights his way through the darkest of situations.

The epistolary (look at me with my shiny literary terms - that means it's written in letters, diaries, etc.) form is used fantastically to highlight portions of plot with pin-prick precision, and to document the passing of time without getting in too much of an ever-loving muddle.

Not so great bits:

OK, don't yell at me, but I can't stand Lucy Westenra. She, to me, is the most awful stereotype. She is contradictorily pure and tainted at the same time - a symbol of Victorian sexual politics if ever there was one. She faffs about like a wet rag for most of her screen-time (I know there's no screen, but you know what I mean.)

The casual sexism is what bothers me the most about this book. The urge to scream at statements about thanking God for brave men is quite high. Unfortunately, I think this is largely a by-product of the time in which it was written.

Some may find it a very slow read - Victorian English, and not exactly short - but please don't let it put you off.

Verdict:

This is, and ever will remain, a classic. The book that popularised the vampire still has the power to entrance, absorb, and delight.

Nerd Church! - A Little Retail Therapy

Sometimes, you need window shopping - or, in this post-digital age, windows shopping. I'm a nerd. We have established this. We shall move on.

church image courtesy of debspoons at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I found The Literary Gift Company when faffing through the intricacies of the interwebs - and I like their style. I particularly like the Banned Books Bracelet. I am sooo tempted!!! If only I had more moneys (drat!)

But Cee! You're all thinking. This is Nerd Church! It's supposed to be stuffed full of moral sh** that you've dug from the pages and slapped into a blog post. Ah yes, erstwhile blog-hopper, but every religion and marketing company in the world will tell you that symbols are powerful things - and so jewellery and gifts with a literary theme are a fantastic way to spread the bookish message(s.) And maybe start to think about Xmas shopping for your fellow book nerds... or just windows shop, because sometimes you need it. Retail therapy is a powerful thing, even if you don't have the money to treat yourself.

Friday Fics Fix! (In Which We All Pretend We're Not Crying For Bucky Bear)

I have but one humble (or maybe not so humble, who knows?) fic for you this week. That fic is

 

Kindness, What is Kindness? by lovinthor

 

 

This actually doesn't include sex or even romance or heavy petting (I know! In a fanfiction?! How did this happen?) Instead, what we have here is something which will tear your heart out, take a big juicy bite, and then show it to you :) (See, it's sentences like that which convince me I'm now officially a fangirl - as if there was any doubt.)

 

I think that Bucky ("Who's Bucky?" - sorry, Marvel girl humour there,) is the cause of more feels (to the non-fandom initiated, these are intense, indescribable feelings that take you over completely) per Marvel fangirl than almost any other character (save maybe Loki... (sigh.)) Because... well... Bucky Bear! (This is where we, as fangirls, establish that Bucky Barnes is adorable in a way reminiscent of a teddy bear, or adorable when with a teddy bear, or adorable as a teddy bear.) This originates from Baby Avengers, in which Steve (Captain America,) carries a teddy bear named Bucky. Ahhh, I love it when canon (the official book, series, comic, whatever,) comes up with something that even a fangirl would've been scared to start (...depending on which fangirl.)

 

So, back to the fic at hand. Kindness, What is Kindness? is a heart-breaking dose of the feels featuring none other than Bucky Barnes (contains Captain America: Winter Soldier spoilers.) It's lovely, it's well-written (save the odd bit of grammatical gremlin-ness,) and you need  to read this if you've ever looked at Bucky Barnes and felt the urge to make it all better! (Yes, every Marvel girl in existence, I'm talking to you.) Enjoy :)

Banned Books and Censorship (or, To #@!% or Not To #@!%)

Warning: In the spirit of anti-censorship, I'm going to swear like a sailor with no symbols to protect your innocent eyes.

This week is Banned Books Week 2015, and while it's largely an American thing, the rest of the world are often more than happy to jump on the proverbial fucking band wagon and celebrate books which have been banned and challenged. Intellectual freedom is a founding stone of any society that's worth its shit.

Book banning is something which still happens alarmingly regularly - and we need to be more aware of it. Unlike in the US, where the ALA attempts to keep record of fucking challenges and book-banning, there are very few such records kept in the rest of the world. I have no idea when, or if, book banning happens in the UK, having to rely instead on bloody anecdotal evidence.

I know, for example, that at my old school (I'm in my 20s, and finished school in circa 2013... or was it 2011? It might've been 2011. Maybe. Time's never been my strong suit,) every Dan Brown book was marked as 'Sixth Form Only.' Presumably because they didn't want parents coming back at them about the religious/controversial aspects. 'Naughty,' books with sex etc were often confined to these shelves. And sometimes books would have one copy on these shelves, and one on the shelves of the main library (e.g. The Book Thief.) I have no bloody idea why the fuck this was, and neither did the librarian.

So, why ban books? I have no fucking idea. But the reasons given are often about religion, violence, sex, nudity, and swearing. Basically, fucking reasons. Except that kids do not live in a shitting bubble - they know that the world is a complex and shitty place in which people fuck with everything - themselves, each other, and people's minds.

If you want your kids to be good people, they've got to come to that decision by themselves, not because you've prevented them from accessing other opinions. And sometimes, it's just fucking ridiculous. You don't like gay penguins? Fine, go be fucking bigoted on your own time. Just don't stop your kids from realising there's a world out there. And don't even get me started on the religious narrow-mindedness. You can believe what you want, but please allow others to make up their own minds. And don't ban vampire books just because they scare you.

Reviewing the Evidence Time Again, My Friends - The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah

Title: The Telling Error (US Link)
Author: Sophie Hannah
Genre: Crime
Series: Spilling CID/Culver Valley (#9)

A few starting notes:

I've read another of Sophie Hannah's Spilling/Culver Valley books - Kind of Cruel - which was equally absorbing, so knew what to expect in terms of style/genre. As far as I'm concerned, these books can be taken as stand-alone, although there is continuity through the members of the Spilling police department. I find it's not that difficult to keep track of the personal stuff because the main focus is the case featured in the book. Some people would understandably want to read the books in the right order - because some people are less governed by 'ooh shiny! Must read!' principles than I am.

Premise:

Damon Blundy is dead. The list of suspects is huge. The circumstances are weird. DC Simon Waterhouse is working the case, and he doesn't like not knowing.

Nicki Clements is a housewife, two kids, husband, nice house. So, why did she pass Damon Blundy's house so many times that day? What's her connection to all of this?

Best bits:

Sophie Hannah knows how to write. Her characters are absorbing and intriguing, and are painted with the deft touches of someone who knows them inside and out. They are the normal-looking people, the people the neighbours would say, "Did you hear about so-and-so? Well, you'd never have thought!" They also all hide an edge of the sinister, the broken, the secret.

It's the secrets that wind themselves into everyday that govern the plot of this novel. And it's plotted very well. You can tell that Hannah has it all worked out from the start, and that she is just as interested as we are in the psychology, the motives, that lead to events. Layer by layer, Hannah peels away the secrets and lies - and everyone's got some here - to reveal just enough of the juicy stuff to keep you reading. Is it all relevant? No. But then, since when does any police investigation only find relevant evidence along the way?

Not so great bits:

There're things in this book that will upset some people - adultery, lies, secrets, emotional abuse, murder (obviously,) online trolls, suicide and some sexual activity with dubious consent. There's probably some more stuff too, so, basically, be aware that there's psychological trauma and sinister goings-on hiding in these pages - much like in Sophie Hannah's idyllic Culver Valley.

This is a personal preference - but I feel like we didn't get enough of the details of Nicki's childhood and teenage years, particularly since we get so much gravitas placed on it as explanation for Nicki's current behaviour. I would've liked more of an idea of the characters of her brother and parents, just to make it feel rounder. But, like I said, that's a matter of taste - it's just that, to me, the omission of this makes the book feel a little lopsided. I'm sure there are lots of people who would disagree.

Verdict:

This is clever, vivid, and absorbing. If crime and/or psychological motives are your thing, then I recommend you give this a try. I'll certainly be giving more of Sophie Hannah's books a whirl in future.