I'm sick. Been sick for a while, actually. It's turning out that I have more issues with my health than I know what to do with. Probably more issues than Mad magazine. I dislike so many issues. So you know what I do?
I collect books.
Since I'm writing about Greek mythology in my book, I figured I'd have lots of reference books. I also have other reference books for other things. My book has more than Greek mythology, but a lot of poetry and children's rhymes and games as well as other stuff (fairy tales). For that, because I have a shoddy memory, I have books and websites. Remember I mentioned Paperback Swap? Yeah, awesome website. It is such an enabling web site.
Anyway, I figured in my infinite sickness that I would post a couple of the titles I'm working with.
Mythology~
Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fables by Thomas Bulfinch
The Universe, The Gods, and Men: Ancincet Greek Myths by Jean-Pierre Vernant
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin
Art and Myth in Ancincet Greece by T.H. Carpenter
Anthology of Classic Mythology by Trzaskoma, Smith, Brunet
Metamorphis by Ovid
The Greek Gods by Bernard Evslin
Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology by Edward Tripp
Egyptian Myths by George Hart
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm
Fairy Tales~
Snow White, Blood Red by Ellen Datlow
Black Thorn, White Rose by Ellen Datlow
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Andersen's Fairy Tales
The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People by Thomas Keightley
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Witchcraft by Susan Greenwood
Children's Rhymes~
Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts by Josepha Sherman and T.K.F. Weisskopf
Limericks by Linda Marsh
American Children's Folklore by Simon Bronner
One Potato, Two Potato by Mary and Herbert Knapp
The Original Mother Goose
Nursery Rhymes - lyrics, origins, and history (website)
Jump Rope Rhymes (website)
Chants and Taunts, Clapping Games (website)
I'm just noticing...I have a lot of research material. Thing is, that's just the "specialized" material. I have more. I actually have entire bookcases dedicated to research material. And enough books in boxes in my parents's basement to probably start a miniature library.
Oh, also! A subscription to WiRED magazine that is pretty much invaluable. I need to go through my stack and start ripping out all the articles I find fascinating. Technology and science are fascinating, even if I can't be a scientist making all these awesome things happen. Then again, with my twisted brain, it's a damned good thing I'm not a scientist. I'd turn evil.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
I'm not dead.
A lot has happened recently and my life has imploded a bit. I'm working through it, though! And plotting my story.
Research is a fickle thing, though. Especially when it comes to mythology. I'm trying to beef up on Greek mythology since it plays such a crucial part of my world, as well as science-y type stuff (hellooooo WiRED magazine!). World building, as it turns out, is a bitch. The interesting thing, actually, about Greek mythology and all the books I've been reading about the different myths (aka, trying to find different perspectives on the Gods and how different myths turns out...which are more Roman than Greek) are based primarily on Ovid. Which is actually fascinating. I'm very tempted to reach out to one of the universities with Mythology/Classics departments and see if they have any suggestions. I'm fascinated by mythology, and especially when it comes to how different some of the myths are, as well as how the Gods are portrayed. I just have to screw up my courage and try and find someone to approach. Probably a teaching university. They always seem to be the most...willing.
In the meantime, I've found a fantastic place to obtain research materials! It's called PaperBackSwap. You post books you want to get out of your house and get credits for them, and then request new books from others! Granted, some of the stuff you want to read has a nasty little wait list (I've got a couple where I'm number 170-something in line) but it's worth it. I have a 1969 edition of Edith Hamilton's Mythology. It's old and smells fantastic and is just lovely. I've gotten a ton of research material from the place. And more keeps rolling in! ...and it means I get mail. I like mail. A lot.
But, yes. I am...plotting, more than writing. I know, I know. You're supposed to write every day, no exceptions. Well, I'm researching and plotting, and trying to keep focused on that. And then I'll write and be rusty for a week or two, and then things will once again be magickal, and I'll have my life back in order. And it will be perfection.
Research is a fickle thing, though. Especially when it comes to mythology. I'm trying to beef up on Greek mythology since it plays such a crucial part of my world, as well as science-y type stuff (hellooooo WiRED magazine!). World building, as it turns out, is a bitch. The interesting thing, actually, about Greek mythology and all the books I've been reading about the different myths (aka, trying to find different perspectives on the Gods and how different myths turns out...which are more Roman than Greek) are based primarily on Ovid. Which is actually fascinating. I'm very tempted to reach out to one of the universities with Mythology/Classics departments and see if they have any suggestions. I'm fascinated by mythology, and especially when it comes to how different some of the myths are, as well as how the Gods are portrayed. I just have to screw up my courage and try and find someone to approach. Probably a teaching university. They always seem to be the most...willing.
In the meantime, I've found a fantastic place to obtain research materials! It's called PaperBackSwap. You post books you want to get out of your house and get credits for them, and then request new books from others! Granted, some of the stuff you want to read has a nasty little wait list (I've got a couple where I'm number 170-something in line) but it's worth it. I have a 1969 edition of Edith Hamilton's Mythology. It's old and smells fantastic and is just lovely. I've gotten a ton of research material from the place. And more keeps rolling in! ...and it means I get mail. I like mail. A lot.
But, yes. I am...plotting, more than writing. I know, I know. You're supposed to write every day, no exceptions. Well, I'm researching and plotting, and trying to keep focused on that. And then I'll write and be rusty for a week or two, and then things will once again be magickal, and I'll have my life back in order. And it will be perfection.
Ray Bradbury
I was stunned yesterday to find out that Ray Bradbury had died on June 5th. I was also extremely saddened. The world has lost a fantastic writer, a brilliant mind, and a kind man.
I wish I could say that Ray Bradbury made me get into writing, but he did something better. He got me into thinking.
I was introduced to his writings through A Sound of Thunder when I was in eighth grade. Teachers kept slipping his work into their teachings and I was curious. Then, having been assigned to read Fahrenheit 451 during high school, I got hooked. The idea that someone could imagine these worlds, where life and society have fallen apart, was mind-blowing -- especially to a fifteen year old who hated people in general and society more than most. There are other shorts we were fed that I can't remember the titles (and I have a huge anthology of his writings that I'm working through to find them) but I remember how his writings made me feel, how they made me think. I'm still furious that my university never offered the Bradbury class they kept promising before I graduated. Just the thought of being in a classroom full of people discussing Bradbury and his works makes me wistful.
Neil Gaiman wrote a remembrance of Ray Bradbury for the Guardian about the kind of man Bradbury was. How he would give half a day just to talk about writing with a kid. There's not a lot of people who do that these days. Yes, authors will get together with fans for coffee, for dinner, answer an email back with seven pages of answers and discussion, but a whole half day? Well, authors have lives too. I can't imagine any one, author or not, giving someone a whole half day in this day and age. He was extraordinary. The world has truly lost something precious with his passing.
I wish I could say that Ray Bradbury made me get into writing, but he did something better. He got me into thinking.
I was introduced to his writings through A Sound of Thunder when I was in eighth grade. Teachers kept slipping his work into their teachings and I was curious. Then, having been assigned to read Fahrenheit 451 during high school, I got hooked. The idea that someone could imagine these worlds, where life and society have fallen apart, was mind-blowing -- especially to a fifteen year old who hated people in general and society more than most. There are other shorts we were fed that I can't remember the titles (and I have a huge anthology of his writings that I'm working through to find them) but I remember how his writings made me feel, how they made me think. I'm still furious that my university never offered the Bradbury class they kept promising before I graduated. Just the thought of being in a classroom full of people discussing Bradbury and his works makes me wistful.
Neil Gaiman wrote a remembrance of Ray Bradbury for the Guardian about the kind of man Bradbury was. How he would give half a day just to talk about writing with a kid. There's not a lot of people who do that these days. Yes, authors will get together with fans for coffee, for dinner, answer an email back with seven pages of answers and discussion, but a whole half day? Well, authors have lives too. I can't imagine any one, author or not, giving someone a whole half day in this day and age. He was extraordinary. The world has truly lost something precious with his passing.
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