October Focus:
The Epic
...all the rest have 31. And then some - for October, surely, when Daylight Savings ends and we Spring forward/Fall back one hour. With the slightly extra time at hand, then, how apropos to salute the authors, poets, and playwrights who got a little long-winded with their works:
Thomas Wolfe, born Oct. 3, 1900. Look Homeward, Angel could've been even longer, before editor Maxwell Perkins demanded revisions and some 60,000 words be cut out. 
Eugene O'Neill, born Oct. 16, 1888. Mourning Becomes Electra.
Geoffrey Chaucer, born Oct. 25, 1400. The Canterbury Tales.
Ezra Pound, born Oct. 30 1885. The Cantos,written between 1915 and 1962, is divided into 117 sections. And yet Pound never considered it complete.
John Keats, born Oct. 31, 1795. "An epic called Endymion is a joy that goes on and on."
And a special nod for carpal-tunnel technique goes to Jack Kerouac, who died Oct. 20, 1969. "That's not writing, that's typing," said Truman Capote about On the Road. He meant it as a criticism, but perhaps he didn't know that Kerouac produced his manuscript by typing it single-spaced on a "scroll": a continuous, 120-foot roll of tracing paper sheets that he cut to size and taped together, allowing him to type continuously without the interruption of reloading pages. How epic.
Finally, an invitation to commemorate the author of Paradise Lost, one of the greatest epic poems in the English language:
"Welcome to the John Milton 400th Anniversary Celebrations organised by Christ's College, Cambridge. A former student of the College, Milton is one of the most brilliant and influential English poets. But he isof great importance as a political and religious thinker too, and was an intellectually dominant figure in one of the most turbulent periods in this country's history. Our programme of events during 2008 aims to span the full range of his achievements. Through public lectures, concerts, readings, performances, and exhibitions we aim to celebrate Milton's genius and to draw attention to the breadth and vitality of his legacy." (GH)
Comics and Graphic NovelsBill Sherman, EditorBOOKS FEATURES
Natalie Bennett (You can email me at natalieben AT gmail DOT com)
and Gordon Hauptfleisch (email)
and Kevin Eagan (email)
Comics and Graphic Novels Editor: Bill Sherman (email)If you would like to offer a book to be reviewed, please email Ecolsen2003 AT cs DOT com with book details and the person to be contacted for a review copy. The book will be offered to Blogcritics' 1,000-plus members, and one will be chosen to review it. They will contact you directly.
Recent Books Articles
- Oct 10, 2008
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Book Review (Novella): The Vault Of Deeds by James Barclay— With Barclay so farcically and satirically standing the hero genre on its head, you'll never look upon heroic fantasy in quite the same way again.
Book Review: Creepy Cute Crochet - Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! by Christen Haden— A little bit creepy, a little bit evil, and a little bit weird, these fun crochet projects turn amigururmi on its head.
Book Review: Rescued by John Bevere and Mark Andrew Olsen— Far from your average suspense novel; an emotional roller coaster ride with a deep undertow.
Interview With Suspense Author Cody McFadyen About New Book The Darker Side— "Reading is what got me dreaming; dreaming is what got me writing."
- Oct 9, 2008
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Comics Review: Scrambled Ink edited by Diana Schutz— DreamWorks animators break from out of the studio and into book publication.
Comic Book Review: Dr Who - The Forgotten #1 by Tony Lee and Pia Guerra— Doctor Who: The Forgotten is look back at the Doctor's past incarnations.
- Oct 8, 2008
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Book Review: The Warriors by Mark Andrew Olsen— Fabulous scenery and suspense, less than stellar spiritual application.
Book Review: Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town By Cory Doctorow— Doctorow has written a moving, sometimes funny, and sometimes frightening story.
The New Canon: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski— House of Leaves breaks almost every rule of fiction, from the typographical to the metaphysical.
- Oct 7, 2008
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Book Review: Life on the Run by Bill Bradley— Coupling his views on basketball with his foreword, Bradley's book acts as an important critique on sports culture.
Book Review: The Watchers by Mark Andrew Olsen— A weak female lead and questionable tactics in the war of the spirit make for a disappointing read.
- Oct 6, 2008
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Book Review: Capote in Kansas - A Ghost Story by Kim Powers— What might have been a lovely and haunting story collapses under the double-team pressure of mawkishness and bad writing.
Book Review: The Daughter-in-Law Rules - 101 Surefire Ways to Manage (and Make Friends with) Your Mother-In-Law! by Sally Shields— A tongue-in-cheek look at what it's like to be married.
Interview with Nathan Rosen, Editor of MicroHorror— "I believe that a great horror story is made of the same three elements that make a great joke: the setup, the escalation and the payoff."
Book Review: The Essence of Health by Dr Craig Hassed— A scientifically oriented book which does more than just help people get better.
Book Review: The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell— The writer's irreverance and lack of pretense shine through as she makes even Pilgrim theology entertaining history.
Book Review: Take Your Best Shot By Tim Grey— A great book for anyone from novice, advanced amateur, as well as anyone making the move from film to digital.
Book Review: Runaway (Starlight Animal Rescue) by Dandi Daley Mackall— Difficult foster children, horses that nobody else can train, wild kittens - Starlight Animal Rescue is a home for them all.
Graphic Novel Review: Usagi Yojimbo Book One: The Ronin by Stan Sakai— Usagi Yojimbo is a ronin, a masterless samurai, a bodyguard for hire. He's also a rabbit. The first book in Stan Sakai's classic series.
The Early Word: New Non-Fiction for the Week of October 6, 2008— Anne Rice, Arthur Rimbaud, Marcella Hazan, John Rock and the Reproductive Revolution, the Hunt for Bin Laden...
Book Review: The Health Cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly— Colourful, easy to make food that is as attractive as it is delicious.
Book Review: Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty— A great, original story that doesn't come along often. And when do you encounter powers like smelling a person’s past and shooting feces from fists?
Book Review: Crosby Stills & Nash - The Biography (Updated 40th Anniversary Edition) by Dave Zimmer With Photographs by Henry Diltz— For both CSN&Y fans and students of American music history, the updated version of CSN's biography is an essential read.
- Oct 5, 2008
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Book Review: The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler— Dissects sixty years or ordinary lives, lived in an ordinary way, thus capturing their essential, inevitable unpredictability.
Interview with Gail Smith, Author of Code 30 and Journal— "I think a horror writer disassociates himself from the true, vile nature of the beast."
Book Review: Heavenly Places by Kimberly Cash Tate— Are you a lot like Treva too?
Book Review: Something to Tell You by Hanif Kureishi— The language is confident and often rich, the setting full of vibrancy, but Something to Tell You is beset with paralysis and a voyeuristic narrative.
Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman— Superheroes jump off the comics page and into prose in this entertaining first novel.
Book Review: Behind the Screen by Mark Stone— Poor writing and flat characters make this dull "thriller" painful to read.
- Oct 4, 2008
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Graphic Novel Review: In the Small by Michael Hague— Humans have suddenly shrunk to the size of approximately six inches tall, while the rest of the world has remained unchanged.
Comic Review: Supergirl #34 by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle— Sterling Gates's vision of Supergirl begins in this issue, and brings compassion and depth to a dynamic character.
The New Canon: Atonement by Ian McEwan— Ian McEwan's masterful novel starts out like a Jane Austen country romance but ends up a post-modern meta-fiction.
Book Review: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer— The film comes out next month, and I’m wondering if I’m going to be facing another Potter-like situation where I am disappointed with the adaptation.
Book Review: Once an Arafat Man - The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life by Tass Saada and Dean Merrill— Once a sniper, now a servant, Saada presents a vision for peace within the story of his own life.
Book Review: Angels and Insects by A.S. Byatt— Examines how ideology can determine the direction of relationships.
Book Review: Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins— Jenkins set out to bring the stereotypes, and thought and laughter, of football, and he manages to "semi-succeed."
Give It Away: One Solution To The Book Publishing Blues— I'm willing to let people read what I've written. Now the question remains - are people going to be willing to read it?
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