Yes, Halloween is a very special time of the year.
6 Comments on Hammer for Halloween, last added: 10/29/2010
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By: Aaron Polson,
on 10/29/2010
Blog: The Other Aaron (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, hammer horror, Add a tag
By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 10/20/2010
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dystopia, writers, Frankenstein, William Faulkner, god-complex, Add a tag
I've been knee-deep in world-creation these last weeks. I'm writing a retelling of Frankenstein set in a dystopian future, which means the world is mine to make (and break). It got me to thinking about DesCartes. Cogito ergo sum...I think therefore I am. As an author, I not only think my characters into being. I think their world into being. Kind of leaves an all-powerful aftertaste.
You might be a writer if...you've developed a god complex.
And society thought only surgeons could do that. How little does the world know about the secret lives of writers. Saving limbs and lives is nothing in the daily routine of a writer. We create worlds. Destroy them. Shape alternate universes for our own. Rewrite history. And make it all so real, readers cry, laugh, rejoice and hate as passionately as they do in the real world.
It can leave a writer feeling a bit like god.
I have to admit, though, the godliness I experience is not only that of a god of great joy but one plagued by doubt, concern, tears, frustration, and hopelessness. It is an ever so fatally human god. Still, to be a writer means to think like a god. To be willing not only to breathe life into characters and worlds but also to destroy them with wrath, vengeance, or worst of all, for the good of the story. We kill our darlings, in the words of Faulkner.
I giggle to myself guiltily now when my husband (he's a doc himself) talks surgeons and god-complexes. If only he knew, he was living with a writer who suffers than very same complex squared.
At least he hasn't found all of those darlings stuffed under the floorboards yet. Or the alternate worlds that are crammed into the closets. Nobody ever said just because we kill or destroy our darlings we have to throw them away. We writers may be dastardly but we are environmentally conscious. We recycle nixed storylines and characters all of the time. That's the great thing about playing god. We can kill them off one day and bring them back to life the next.
Ah, the joys of being a writer!
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By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 4/27/2010
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: classics, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Young Frankenstein, Prometheus, Blake Snyder, Mel Brooks, Add a tag
I recently sat down to add an oldie but a goodie to my library, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I don't know how I managed, but I missed this one in high school and college. After finishing it last night, I am in awe.
I always thought Shelley's work was groundbreaking, even if all I'd ever seen of it was the parodied Mel Brooks version, Young Frankenstein. The tragic monster hero shines through, even there.
I'd even read about it some before. That is was and still is touted as the first science fiction piece. New. New. New.
Well...
In all fairness to Shelley, not even she labeled her work as new. She actually entitled it, The Modern Prometheus. Yep, that really really really old Greek guy who had his liver eaten out every day (he also happened to create life from clay).
There are no new stories.
Shelley did have a new take, though. It's not often that man creates life. Woman, yes. Man? And then he turns on it. Deplores it. And that creation goes out in the world to be despised and hated. And yet it only wishes to be loved and show love. It's external hatred that turns the outwardly monsterly creation into a monster on the inside.
Clever. Very very clever.
By the time I got to Frankenstein the man's death, I wasn't rooting for him. I was rooting for the misunderstood monster. How could I not? The monster pleads with Frankenstein to understand his plight. To give him someone to love and to share his life. Frankenstein, however, cannot get beyond his own external revulsion at the outward appearance of his creation. He cannot see that ugly on the outside does not necessarily mean ugly on the inside.
In today's world of increasing preoccupation with external appearances, it's a classic idea. A classic tale. It's still cutting edge. That's saying a lot for such an old tome. Wouldn't it be amazing to write something that rings true for such a long time?
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By: Eric Orchard,
on 4/7/2010
Blog: Eric Orchard (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: genre, jeff vandermeer, frankenstein, ann vandermeer, books, Add a tag
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By: Kinderscares,
on 1/29/2010
Blog: KinderScares (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kids, drawings, frankenstein, kindergarten files, Add a tag
By: ZackRock,
on 11/1/2009
Blog: Sugar Frosted Goodness (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: music, halloween, Frankenstein, Zack Rock, Add a tag
By: John,
on 10/29/2009
Blog: DRAWN! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Frankenstein, Jude Beers, Illustration, halloween, monsters, Add a tag
By: John,
on 10/29/2009
Blog: DRAWN! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Frankenstein, Harry Borgman, Books, Illustration, halloween, Drawing, Cartooning, monsters, More Inspiration, How-To, Sick, Art History, Dracula, Add a tag
By: Linda Kay,
on 10/7/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: watercolor children's illustration, Halloween, frankenstein, Add a tag
By: mitchowl,
on 10/6/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: frankenstein, Linda Mitchell, frankie, Add a tag
By: Vanessa Brantley Newton,
on 10/6/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: frankenstein, younger, school crush. digital watercolor., Lili, Add a tag
By: Tasha Saecker,
on 9/15/2009
Blog: Kids Lit (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: friendship, Picture Books, monsters, Frankenstein, Book Reviews, Add a tag
By: Peggy King Anderson,
on 5/18/2009
Blog: A Sound from My Heart (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: monster, children's writers, Frankenstein, writing conference, Add a tag
By: Kim Wheedleton,
on 10/28/2008
Blog: Bugs and Bunnies (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Author, holidays, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Add a tag
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By: Aaron Polson,
on 10/29/2010
Blog: The Other Aaron (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, hammer horror, Add a tag
By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 10/20/2010
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dystopia, writers, Frankenstein, William Faulkner, god-complex, Add a tag
You might be a writer if...you've developed a god complex.
And society thought only surgeons could do that. How little does the world know about the secret lives of writers. Saving limbs and lives is nothing in the daily routine of a writer. We create worlds. Destroy them. Shape alternate universes for our own. Rewrite history. And make it all so real, readers cry, laugh, rejoice and hate as passionately as they do in the real world.
It can leave a writer feeling a bit like god.
I have to admit, though, the godliness I experience is not only that of a god of great joy but one plagued by doubt, concern, tears, frustration, and hopelessness. It is an ever so fatally human god. Still, to be a writer means to think like a god. To be willing not only to breathe life into characters and worlds but also to destroy them with wrath, vengeance, or worst of all, for the good of the story. We kill our darlings, in the words of Faulkner.
I giggle to myself guiltily now when my husband (he's a doc himself) talks surgeons and god-complexes. If only he knew, he was living with a writer who suffers than very same complex squared.
At least he hasn't found all of those darlings stuffed under the floorboards yet. Or the alternate worlds that are crammed into the closets. Nobody ever said just because we kill or destroy our darlings we have to throw them away. We writers may be dastardly but we are environmentally conscious. We recycle nixed storylines and characters all of the time. That's the great thing about playing god. We can kill them off one day and bring them back to life the next.
Ah, the joys of being a writer!
By: Stacy A. Nyikos,
on 4/27/2010
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: classics, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Young Frankenstein, Prometheus, Blake Snyder, Mel Brooks, Add a tag
I always thought Shelley's work was groundbreaking, even if all I'd ever seen of it was the parodied Mel Brooks version, Young Frankenstein. The tragic monster hero shines through, even there.
I'd even read about it some before. That is was and still is touted as the first science fiction piece. New. New. New.
Well...
There are no new stories.
Shelley did have a new take, though. It's not often that man creates life. Woman, yes. Man? And then he turns on it. Deplores it. And that creation goes out in the world to be despised and hated. And yet it only wishes to be loved and show love. It's external hatred that turns the outwardly monsterly creation into a monster on the inside.
Clever. Very very clever.
By the time I got to Frankenstein the man's death, I wasn't rooting for him. I was rooting for the misunderstood monster. How could I not? The monster pleads with Frankenstein to understand his plight. To give him someone to love and to share his life. Frankenstein, however, cannot get beyond his own external revulsion at the outward appearance of his creation. He cannot see that ugly on the outside does not necessarily mean ugly on the inside.
In today's world of increasing preoccupation with external appearances, it's a classic idea. A classic tale. It's still cutting edge. That's saying a lot for such an old tome. Wouldn't it be amazing to write something that rings true for such a long time?
By: Eric Orchard,
on 4/7/2010
Blog: Eric Orchard (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: genre, jeff vandermeer, frankenstein, ann vandermeer, books, Add a tag
I was recently asked the question " What are your favorite cross-genre stories?" by John DeNardo of SF signal. My answer, along with ones by much smarter people can be found here. Thanks for the opportunity John, Ive always loved this column.
2 Comments on SF Signal Cross-Overs., last added: 4/7/2010
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By: Kinderscares,
on 1/29/2010
Blog: KinderScares (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kids, drawings, frankenstein, kindergarten files, Add a tag
Here he is:
Admit it. Frankenstein has never been cuter than this!
0 Comments on The Kindergarten Files - Frankenstein Meets 5-year-old Artistic Ability as of 1/1/1900
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By: ZackRock,
on 11/1/2009
Blog: Sugar Frosted Goodness (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: music, halloween, Frankenstein, Zack Rock, Add a tag
Better late than never! This is the cover art for a mix album I whipped up for Halloween.
Zack Rock: Portfolio, Blog and Twitter.
2 Comments on Frankindiestein, last added: 11/1/2009
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By: John,
on 10/29/2009
Blog: DRAWN! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Frankenstein, Jude Beers, Illustration, halloween, monsters, Add a tag
Jude “Grimbo” Beers presents his third annual 13 Nights of Halloween series of speed-paintings. Last year he did Batman villians, and the year prior was Scooby Doo Villains. This year he tackles a subject close to all our hearts, I’m sure, Classic Monsters of Filmland.
Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog |
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Tags: Frankenstein, halloween, Jude Beers, monsters
1 Comments on 13 Nights of Halloween, last added: 10/31/2009
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By: John,
on 10/29/2009
Blog: DRAWN! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Frankenstein, Harry Borgman, Books, Illustration, halloween, Drawing, Cartooning, monsters, More Inspiration, How-To, Sick, Art History, Dracula, Add a tag
Only two more sleeps ’til Hallowe’en, kiddies! If you youngsters need a little help drawing monsters, then Monsterman ‘Scary’ Harry Borgman can help.
Way back in 1974 Harry drew a little booklet called “How to Draw Monsters”. By then, Harry had been drawing cars, people, landscapes and just about anything else you can think of for more than three decades. Harry began his commercial art career in Detroit in 1946.
In the early 70’s not only was Harry drawing cartoon Draculas… he also drew some gorgeous realistic Dracula illustrations for a book called “Great Tales of Horror and Suspense”.
Harry’s varied career has given him a wealth of esoteric experiences. For instance, though he was never one of “Mad’s maddest artists” he was one of Sick’s sickest artists. The cartoon creeps below are a great example of his ’sick skills’.
Harry is now 81 and still going strong. In fact, he’s just celebrated the first anniversary of his blog. Drop by Harry Borgman’s Art Blog and you’ll see for yourself that this amazing illustrator can teach you how to draw monsters… and a whole lot more!
* I’ll be featuring a dozen scans from “How to Draw Monsters” on my own blog on Saturday October 31st, but you can preview them all ( and tons of other amazing Harry Borgman art) in my Harry Borgman Flickr set.
Posted by Leif Peng on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog |
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Tags: Dracula, Frankenstein, halloween, Harry Borgman, monsters, Sick
2 Comments on How to Draw Monsters! with ‘Scary’ Harry Borgman, last added: 10/30/2009
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By: Linda Kay,
on 10/7/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: watercolor children's illustration, Halloween, frankenstein, Add a tag
As a young monster, Frankie loved Halloween best of all & dressing as an angel was his favorite thing to do. He just needed to learn the difference between good and evil (his heart was still young and pure and held no evil thoughts)...
5 Comments on Frankie Frankenstein, last added: 10/10/2009
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By: mitchowl,
on 10/6/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: frankenstein, Linda Mitchell, frankie, Add a tag
If you're tall, the high school basketball coach tracks you down,
and signs you up. I'm sure young Frankie was tagged early in his youth as someone who was definitely NOT going to be vertically challenged. It was a good thing. Nobody makes fun of the weird-looking scar-faced kid who can slam dunk like nobody's business.
4 Comments on Frankie in High School, last added: 10/8/2009
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By: Vanessa Brantley Newton,
on 10/6/2009
Blog: Watercolor Wednesdays (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: frankenstein, younger, school crush. digital watercolor., Lili, Add a tag
In Frankie's younger days he had a thing for cute little Lili.
This is the couple at the fifth grade dance.
12 Comments on Friends of the Spooky Kind, last added: 10/9/2009
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By: Tasha Saecker,
on 9/15/2009
Blog: Kids Lit (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: friendship, Picture Books, monsters, Frankenstein, Book Reviews, Add a tag
Do Not Build a Frankenstein! by Neil Numberman
A little boy dashes up and tells a group of children that they must never build a Frankenstein! It takes an immense amount of time and effort. At first, it might seem like fun to have your own monster to play with, but then it just becomes annoying. They will break your toys and scare your pets. They want constant attention and are very needy. Because they won’t take a hint and leave you alone, you are then forced to move to a new town. And just when you think that that might work, they show up with very unexpected results!
Numberman has created a Frankenstein that is so far from frightening and so very funny. The big green body atop spindly legs are ridiculous in the best sense. Then you add in the googly eyes and patchwork and he becomes a lovable monster. The illustrations are vibrantly colored, and have a great sense of movement. The pacing of the story itself is fast and almost breathless. When reading it aloud, make sure to save enough breath for the shouts of warning about building a Frankenstein!
A very loud, fresh picture book that is all about friendship and fun. Perfect for sharing at storytimes as that final special book. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
Reviewed from library copy.
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By: Peggy King Anderson,
on 5/18/2009
Blog: A Sound from My Heart (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: monster, children's writers, Frankenstein, writing conference, Add a tag
Oh yes, I admit it was wonderful and scary at the same time.
Our Western Washington SCBWI conference this weekend, that is.
The joy! Bubbling, bursting all around us as 400 writers, illustrators, agents, editors, joined together in a Giant Monster Mash, to figure out together how we can do the very best books possible for kids. We had workshops, gab-fests, and lots of food.
More details coming, but for now I leave you with this picture of our Mystery Guest, who made an early morning appearance Saturday to start us all off on our Adventure-Filled Weekend.
Our Western Washington SCBWI conference this weekend, that is.
The joy! Bubbling, bursting all around us as 400 writers, illustrators, agents, editors, joined together in a Giant Monster Mash, to figure out together how we can do the very best books possible for kids. We had workshops, gab-fests, and lots of food.
More details coming, but for now I leave you with this picture of our Mystery Guest, who made an early morning appearance Saturday to start us all off on our Adventure-Filled Weekend.
1 Comments on Meet The Creature, last added: 5/20/2009
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By: Kim Wheedleton,
on 10/28/2008
Blog: Bugs and Bunnies (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Author, holidays, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Add a tag
So. There's this day set aside just for Frankenstein. Cool! But:
- Is it National Frankenstein Day, celebrated on October 29 as I found it listed for my Little Known Holidays sidebar?
- Or, is it Frankenstein Friday, celebrated the last Friday in October (and created by Ron MacCloskey, of Westfield, New Jersey)?
- Or, is it already over, having been celebrated as Frankenstein Day back on August 30 (to celebrate author Mary Shelley's birthday)?
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Eh. Six of one, half a dozen of the other... How 'bout if I just give you what I found out about ol' Frankenstein, and you can celebrate it on whichever day suits your fancy?
Alrighty. Here we go:
Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus was written by British author Mary Shelley. She began the tome at 18, and completed it at the ripe old age of 19. Interestingly, the first edition was published on January 1, 1818 - but issued anonymously. It wasn't until the second edition, published August 11, 1823, that Shelley's name appeared on the book. Then there was a third edition published October 31, 1831, heavily revised by Ms Shelley and also bearing her name as author.
Here's another interesting tidbit: in the novel, Victor Frankenstein is the name of the scientist who creates the creature. In fact, in Shelley's book, the creature itself is never named, and is instead referred to by such terms as, "monster," "demon," and "fiend." Yet, popular culture has transferred the name Frankenstein to the creature instead of the creator.
Now, how about this: in the film adaptations and cartoons that come to mind, and in our collective psyches, the monster Frankenstein speaks in grunts and primitive sentences. However, in Mary Shelley's book, the creature actually speaks quite eloquently and in detailed language, having learned to talk "by studying a poor peasant family through a chink in the wall" after running away from his appalled creator.
And get this: the creature did not start out vengeful, but only became that way after being met with repeated horror-filled rejection by every human with which he came in contact.
Kinda makes ya feel sorry for the poor fellow. And with Halloween just around the corner, what a perfect time to go find Mary Shelley's book, and get reading...
Sources:
0 Comments on A Day for Frankenstein as of 10/28/2008 11:37:00 PM
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Nice. I just bought a Horror of Dracula shirt from Fright Rags. Good stuff.
I need to watch some horror movies, before I miss out!
Anthony - I love Christopher Lee as Dracula, but Peter Cushing's Van Helsing is the best.
Natalie - Yes. I hear they turn to dust with the sunrise on November 1st. Hurry!
Hooray for Hammer and Hooray for Halloween. But which to watch on the night?
Kate - A marathon? Watch all three? ;)
I love that old Frankenstein movie!