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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
[Lovecraft, H.P., The Call of Cthulhu]

Dewey Readmore Books (arguably one of the all time great cat names) passed away recently at the ripe old age of 19ish (over 90 in cat years). He was the library cat at the Spencer Public Library, having arrived, so I just learned, as a kitten deposited in the book drop on a cold winter evening...strangely fitting for a book cat. He has his own page on the library's site (complete with job description) and they have a nice set of postcards so you can have a Dewey of your very own. Very pretty cat...I love that some people planned vacations around visiting Dewey. I need a cat again...it has been too long.

Hey take a look at this!  My friend Ginger is in the running for the big Cover Contest at Flax Art and Design!!!

Check it out!

http://www.flaxart.com/Cover-Contest

I have read surprisingly little adult fiction this year - I'm not sure how that happened but some years do end up like that. I have not read most of the books that have been selected as the year's best - but I usually run a year or two behind on these kinds of things anyway. Here are some new and old books that I did read this year and really found worthwhile.

Soul Kitchen by Poppy Z. Brite. I reviewed Soul and Brite's upcoming novella D*U*C*K last month at Voices. I really like this series - the evolving relationship between Rickey & G-man, their friendships, their restaurant and their love for New Orleans. Sometimes there is a mystery, but it is never a huge part of the plot. Mostly these books are about living, loving and cooking in NOLA. Brite's next book, Dead Shrimp Blues, will end with Katrina. From there, the guys will be stuck in reality, along with the rest of us. For now, I highly recommend reading about the city that Brite loves so much. (And do read all the books: The Value of X, Liquor, Prime and then Soul Kitchen.)

The Fat Man's Daughter by Caroline Petit. I reviewed this one as part of my Summer Reading feature at Bookslut and was pleasantly surprised. I was drawn in by the pre-WWII setting in Hong Kong and China but Petit made me fall madly in love with her protagonist, Leah Kolbe. I also learned quite a bit about the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the puppet Emperor that was installed there (and his love for insects), the antique trade, the Russian expats who fled to Asia and well....running for your life in a boat with an army on your tail. It's a smart thriller, an evocative piece of historical fiction and an abrupt coming-of-age story (for a 19 year old). Beautiful (And love the cover!)

I've written about Kate Moses' Wintering already at this site (more than once) and I'm still thinking about this book. I first heard about it in Writers on the Air and I was very intrigued. I had never read much about Sylvia Plath and nothing by her, but Moses sounded so fascinating in her interview that I sought out the book. It was a revelation - just wonderful reading and very compelling. Because of this book I also bought The Bell Jar and read it (another revelation and something I really needed to read when I was 20) and have now sought out other biographies of Plath and her poetry. Kate Moses opened up a whole new world for me with Wintering, but honestly - you don't need to care one bit about Syliva Plath to love this story. It is about a creative woman torn apart by the needs of motherhood and her craft. It's sad - so sad, but also very very timely. Sylvia was not a victim or even a hero, she was a woman of her time. And no - I don't hate her husband. I just wish he had been a bit more aware of how hard motherhood was for her.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Okay - it's a big huge mystery/comedy of manners that only the British can do well. Harriet Vane is the kind of independent woman we all want to be and Lord Peter is so damn appealing - well you understand why she can't resist the guy. The mysery is set in a girl's college, the professors are different degrees of madcap, bizarre and appropriately studious and the whole thing meanders along at this delightful pace that makes you want to sit around, drink tea and watch episodes of As Time Goes By (one of my all time favorite tv shows). This is the book for the one who likes the idea of classics, but hates the reality of Wuthering Heights (do you see me with my arm raised?). It's a wonder, get it and then next year buy all the others.

The River King by Alice Hoffman. This probably should go on my "surreal" shelf, but it ended up with literature at some point and there it remains. There is a ghost but the ghost never seem to be the truly major part of this story to me. The slowly revealing truth, the nightmare behavior of teenagers (oh but isn't high school grand?) and the wonderful relationship between policeman Abel Grey and new teacher Betsey Chase are what hold it all together. I fell for all the mystical elements in this story but I recognized so much of it for what could happen - what might already be happening somewhere at this very moment. It seemed sharply real to me for all that it is fantasy. Fall into this one - it is different and odd and maybe even weird. But that's the point - you shouldn't hold that sort of thing against a book or a person.

There will be other literature mentioned as we go along in other areas (lit for the goth crowd, lit for natural history lovers, lit for armchair explorers, etc.) But do keep in mind the wonderful illustrated novels of Barbara Hodgson - one of my absolute favorite authors and someone that everyone should read. (Here's my review of her latest, The Lives of Shadows.)

And also, I just received today the latest issue of Slightly Foxed, my favorite magazine of all things literary. I wrote about it at Bookslut ages ago and I've mentioned it here at Chasing Ray (I even have a link to it down on my sidebar) and I am always dazzled by each new issue. Do spend a moment over at their site and see just how unique this elegant little quarterly is. Yes, it is spendy but as a gift for a reader it is truly extraordinary. It's arrival makes me slow down, at least for a little while. In its pages I learn all over again just how wonderful the world of books can be.

Kids love reality TV (shows scoring high with kids 2-11...Media Life Mag says kids watch them with parents and they tend to be free of "sophisticated jokes." Many of them are also full of conflict, back stabbing and hook ups) - Facebook schools... Read the rest of this post

I’m lovin’ the cartoony illustrations over at Grant Gilliland’s blog: The Gross Uncle.

Matthew Woodson’s delicate linework and dark imagery make for one tasty combo. Visit his blog for a great selection of step-by-step descriptions of his colouring methods in Photoshop.

The talented Devon Bowman, whose work is shown here, has let me know that the Repless Abandon illustration collective has a newly-updated batch of artwork on its website. Yay!

Last week I was mindlessly surfing (read: avoiding work on an edit) and I came across freelance GUI designer David Seah’s website and some neat paper-based productivity tools he designed.

My eye caught his Task Progress Tracker. Bubbles! I love bubbles!! My Q score’s gonna slip down near Kevin Federline’s for admitting this, but I always got a little thrill in school when they’d slap those standardized tests down on our desks, along with the #2 pencils, and tell us we had 50 minutes to fill those suckers in. I loved seeing the multiple rows of penciled-in ovals at the end of the test. I don’t know … something about the whole thing felt pleasingly productive. Probably because I knew the stark numbers my parents would get several weeks later wouldn’t be as attractive.

Which is why I fell in love with David’s bubble-based Task Progress Tracker. I printed a bunch of them out to help me stay focused on some projects I’ve been putting off. There are ten rows of 12 bubbles, along with space to note your hideous tasks. (This week it’s clean the house for visitors arriving on Friday. I *hate* housekeeping!) For every fifteen minutes you stay on task, you get to fill in one of the bubbles. That gives you four hours to finish each task.

I can see this tool being really helpful for someone who’s putting off writing an article or worrying about getting a proposal out the door. You could also use the sheet to challenge yourself (”I’m going to send out six queries this week, and if I fill in my six bubbles, I get to buy a new book!”).

So if you’re a bubble boy (or girl), go check it out. There are lots of other cool forms there, too — stuff for goal-setting and project planning. Let me know if you find this half as clever as I did! [db]

Everyone is familiar with sites that run recognition algorithms, "if you like [insert random bit of dreck here], you'll love [insert alternative, slightly related bit of crap here]". Amazon's is arguably the most sophisticated (hell, I avoid most of the time because it is *so* good at recommending "related" titles that I "might be interested in" [read: "must own"].

The fine folk at LibraryThing have created the Unsuggester. Basically, you type in the title of a book you own/love/read and LibraryThing uses special magic to look at their 7 million and select a book (or books) that you are LEAST likely to find interesting or like. That is, they look at the collections of in their databases and identify those that would catch fire if you included whatever it is your used as a starting point. This can be fun, just as an exercise...but it could also be a an interesting way to find new material that, apparently, you would never think about reading. Strangely cool.

Back on the Amazon side of things: it is great fun, when given the opportunity, to seriously twist a family member/loved one's Amazon's algorithm profile. I recall fondly finding Amazon up on my father's machine one afternoon. Half an hour of mischief later...well, suffice it to say that he actually complained to me that "Amazon was acting really strange". He apparently found the combination of fetish photography, BDSM related material and Republican biographies very strange offerings (given his medical history and leftish leanings). Mind you, he is also the one who, when I popped the "S" and the "D" keys off his keyboard and switched them, called me REALLY excited and told me that something "must have been crossed" in his keyboard because, "when I hit "s", it makes "d"s appear and vice versa". I think he can now touchtype...oh well.

Here is a sketch and finished art for a little spot I did recently for a youth magazine.

On Today’s Show: Tonight’s show is the final installation of a three part series, which was recorded on the beautiful island of Hawaii, at the International Reading Association’s Regional Conference which was held there a few weeks ago. What is a Text Set? A Social Action Text Set Expanded Podcasting and Educational Settings Please Support Kamehameha Schools Click here [...]

The L.A. Times, reg. required, ran a funny blog post about how 80s videos are coming back hard on YouTube and how they are bringing up all kinds of "feelings" for those of us who grew up during this decade (BTW - the 80s are in with teens, too --... Read the rest of this post

Lots happening with Ypulse and me right now. First a big thanks to Rex over at Fimoculous for listing Ypulse as one of the best blogs of 2006 you (maybe) have not been reading. I met Rex for coffee when he was in San Francisco on business and give... Read the rest of this post

Melodye (newport2newport) asked me to post this in the hope that you'd be able to double click and see it in greater detail... ahh the niceties of imge uploads. :o/
I don't know if it will work or not, but give it a try, if you like!
And Melodye-- I agree with whoever it was that said it would be sooo interesting to hear your story of growing up in a Tent Revival show. That's an experience not many have!


In other news, I've changed the date of the gallery opening to sometime in late January, to avoid holiday conflicts.
I'm still looking at different dates (and checking dates of known industry events, so I can steer clear of them!!). So anyone who has preferences about dates, let me know!
:D

Off on vacation for the week, so won't be posting much. Will return refreshed and ready to post next Monday.

I'm currently seeking submissions for the December and January editions of The Edge of the Forest. Here's what I'm looking for:

• original reviews in the picture book, non-fiction, graphic novel, middle grade, and young adult categories. (While I'd like your original reviews--Cybils panelists, please consider--you can link or cross-post your review when the issue is up.)
• Kid Picks or Teen Picks
• Best of the Blogs
• Blogging writer interviews. Do you know a great writer who blogs? Then consider interviewing him or her for the Forest.
• If you have a feature idea, please drop me a line.

Sometimes I think too much.
People are always telling me that i move too quickly on things -- which I find amusing, since the things I move quickly on are things that I've felt deep in my gut. More so, they are things that I don't talk myself out of.

In particular there are people who I talk to, on a regular basis, that put me down. Push me to talk myself out of things...
I'm sure you have these people, too.

And they don't do it in a very sharp way, it's slow, subtle jabs that you feel bruising you over the long haul. Nothing so sharp as to cut you.
It's jabs and jibes. Slowly, over time. Negativity. Cynicism.

It's a killer.
The problem is, sometimes you wonder if you're over reacting ... if it's something niggling in the back of your mind that it feels wrong.
Or if you deserve it.

Worse. What if this person is someone close to you? Your "best" friend, your sibling, your partner, your husband, your mother?

How do you block their voices out of your head when it's time to make the decisions that only you (and not your bf, your sibling, your partner, your husband and not your mother) will have to live with?

::sigh::

Is the first step to let these people go?
Or is the first step to not care what other people think?
Is the problem them or me?

A colleague, Daniel Greenberg, has suffered a devastating loss, that of his two year old son. The newspaper account is here.

I remembered a quote from William Sloane Coffin after the death of his own son, in another terrible car accident. He said "never say untimely violent death is the will of God. At that critical moment, God's heart is the first to break". The eulogy for Alex Coffin is here.

I have no idea what else to say.

I found yet another mention of the new Peter Beard book which has me drooling even more over his unusual artwork. (The borders on the photo in this article are amazing.) It seemed like a good time to point out the many affordable books out there for artsy types, particularly those who enjoy collages. Keep in mind that none of these are really coffee table books, and most are much much more.

The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon. Dan Eldon was a reuters photographer who was killed in Somalia in 1993 shortly after the UN bombed General Aidad's suspected headquarters (they were way off about the building that was destroyed, a lot of people were killed and when Eldon and four other photographers raced to the scene to get some shots they ended up being stoned by the crowd. Only one of them managed to survive.) He is an inspiration for many reasons, not the least of which was the amazing way in which he lived his life. (He was actually only 22 when he died.) This book is a celebration of Dan's art, and the illustrated photo journals he kept all his life. The style is very reminiscent of Beard, but with a younger, more cynical sensibility. The photos of his sister and friends are beautiful but the collages he created with them, and everything else he found and added, make the book beyond anything like a standard photography title. You have to see it to believe it. Start here, and see some of his final work.

Chip Kidd: Book One. Kidd is a book designer with Knopf and if you know anything about book covers, then you know he is one of the best. I fell for this book the first time I saw a few interior shots online. It's complete candy for book lovers - you will not be able to resist it. It includes not only Kidd's thoughts on designing, a zillion pictures of books he has designed and designs he admires, thoughts from author's on Kidd's work on their books but also Kidd's comments on how a lot of the final designs came about. It's gorgeous to look at and fascinating to read.

Kabuki: Metamorphosis by David Mack. I first became aware of Mack's work when he was doing the covers for Daredevil and Alias. He has a collage style that blends drawings, photos, words, clippings - all sorts of things to create an image. His Kabuki series is a whole new world that is told in comic format with artwork that no one in the industry is doing like him. Metamorphosis is a great place to jump into the Kabuki world and from there you can pick up issues of his new ongoing series. For artists, Mack's work is a must, but for all fans of a good story, you should know the work of this talented author and illustrator.

The Illustrator's Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabbad. I wrote about Ellabbad's work a couple of months ago and I'm still thinking about it. I love the way he combines images from so many different cultures into his final pieces, and his explanations for each piece are quite insightful. This hardcover book is definitely a peek inside a working illustrator's mind - a look at the sources of his creativity. More westerners should know about him and the beautiful work he does.

Chip Kidd designed an issue of Zoetrope this fall that included throughout the book art of Thomas Allen. I first saw Allen's work in a past issue of VQR and have been looking for more ever since. I love how he cuts and places his book covers and illustrations - how he makes the illustrations come alive as part of the story, rather than remain flat and dead once the cover is turned. You have not - trust me - seen anything like Allen's work and you should. I hope he has a book of his own out soon, it would certainly be one that I could not resist.

Dreams Through the Glass by Linda Fargo. Fargo has been the window designer for Bergdorf Goodman for the past several years and this book is a celebration of many of her designs. What you have here are big glossy color photos of store windows along with Fargo's explanation of what they were going for, how they accomplished it and any trouble along the way. I'm not a big window shopper - or window appreciator I guess - but I have returned to this book for inspiration on so many other things so many times. It's amazing what Fargo and her teams accomplish by going far outside the fashion design box. It's an Alice in Wonderland kind of book and utterly gorgeous.

The Ninth Letter is a semiannual literary magazine put out by the University of Illinois. It is a unique combination of both arts and letters and attracts the work of Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Dave Eggers, etc as well as top notch student graphic designers and artists. Whether you read it or look at it, there will be something in each issue to captivate you. They are layering the art more and more lately and stretching the boundaries of what is a literary magazine. All I know is that I can't put it down - I wish I had learned this much when I was in college.

I'd written a really long blog entry about all the things I did this weekend up in Boston, but I just lost the whole #@$$#$& thing.

So here's the abbreviated version:

I went to Boston.
Without my kids.
I had fun.

I got to ride in Marty McGoogle's Back to the Future car:

From Boston Dec 2-...

From Boston Dec 2-...

Jewish Book Month Panel Marblehead JCC