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Happy summer, everybody!  For the next while, there are going to be some absences from the blog as we take vacations, but we'd hate to leave you guys hanging.  It's no secret that we blog much more now than when we started this baby, and there are far more of you reading than there were way back when.  So we thought we'd bring back some blog entries of days gone by that you may have missed if you just joined us in the last year.  If you have any favorites you think your fellow readers might enjoy, give us a shout below!

It didn’t surprise me when someone asked me recently what the differences are in how I handle the projects I love and the projects I work on for money. It did, however, irritate me. The question came loaded with the insinuation that there are two kinds of books—the ones people should read and the ones they actually do. Often, I find that literary and commercial fiction are pitted against each other, as though they’re totally different beasts that serve entirely separate purposes. But is that really the case?


Too often, category fiction is treated like the bastard stepchild of the written word. But, frankly, I’m a whole lot more likely to pick up Stephen King’s new book than dive into Thomas Pynchon’s latest doorstop. Which isn’t to dismiss literary fiction, either.

Years ago, I was getting a ride to a train station from an MFA student in Massachusetts, and we talked about the challenges of fiction writing and writer’s block, not to mention how competitive the marketplace is. And then he unleashed this on me: “I could knock out the sort of mystery novels that sell hundreds of thousands of copies, but I’m better than that.” If he weren’t behind the wheel of the car, I would have smacked him upside the head. I mean, really. Do you honestly think the only thing holding people back from becoming bestselling authors is…integrity?

As I patiently explained to him (who am I kidding? I sounded like a howler monkey in heat), it takes a lot of talent to write a fantastic mystery, just as it does to write an amazing literary novel. They just happen to be very, very different talents. Anyone who thinks that just because someone is a wonderful writer means they can pull off working in other genres clearly hasn’t read Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days. I recommend they keep it that way.

And let’s not get too far without mentioning that literary and commercial are not exact opposites. There are plenty of authors who mix the two forms freely. One can see this by reading the stunning, bleak mysteries of Dennis Lehane or the thrilling horror of Clive Barker. And is it just me, or is the award winning Cold Mountain as much a retelling of The Odyssey as it is a historical romance novel?

What I’m saying is, let’s let the snobbery go. Reading Madame Bovary can be as entertaining as reading Valley of the Dolls and vice versa, and there’s nothing wrong with that. To those people who consider genre fiction to be “guilty pleasures,” let it go. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King, Charles Dickens, Jackie Collins, and Victor Hugo, and I’ll happily debate the merits of Lucky Santangelo and Esmeralda any day. I’m the guy on the subway reading The New Yorker and Romantic Times.

The lines for me just aren’t that sharply drawn. So whether I’m pitching a new cozy mystery or a collection of interconnected stories previously published in literary journals, you can know one thing links them: I love both.

Originally posted in June 2007.

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～PROFILE～

Israeli Prime Minister / Iconic Mother of the Jewish People

1 of 24 to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence

Hebraicized her more Western name, Meyerson

Drank 12 cups of coffee a day

Wikipedia Bio

[To see past editions of Jew of the Week, visit Owen's blog, Winning the Polyglottery!]

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He steadies the little hardbound book on his leg, putting pencil to paper on a page between the next and last—naturally.

Squinting, he continues, drawing anything that comes to mind. Partridges in profile, a disheveled rake in platform shoes, and of course, buns—many, many naked buns. The buns of fantastically stubby, balding men whose walking-on-air leaps of joy so perfectly showcase a certain golden doughy confidence, the viewer's given no choice but to share in at least a bit of what they have... by the pound (after pound)—fancy, fancy freedom.

So jump, my gelatinous friends! Jump!

[To view Bryant's buns, click here.]

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As mentioned in a previous post, my illustrious über woman of a sister has once again called on me, and this time for her portrait. Since she's in the field of education, immediately I wanted to make a picture of "the learned scholar in his den" variety, only this time it'd be "in her den." Holbein's terrific portrait of Erasmus was used as my jumping-off point.

Of course it was only natural I put beakers in the background. What's an important person without beakers? An incomplete important person—that's what I say.

Anyway, we can all hope to one day have such a cute den.

But until then...

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～PROFILE～

Rabbi / Sage

One of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages

Drew from Aristotle to inform his study of the Tenakh

Bench press record: 425 lbs.

Wikipedia Bio

[To see past editions of Jew of the Week, visit Owen's blog, Winning the Polyglottery!]

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～PROFILE～

Boxer / Actor / Possible Golem

Defeated Hitler's favorite fighter, Max Schmeling

Wore trunks featuring the Star of David

Jethro Bodine's baby daddy

Wikipedia Bio

Website

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Some recent work ...


Preparatory realistic 3D visualization of a product packaging range.


Two scenes from a storyboard for a television commercial.


Style proposals for an infographics animation about cloud computing.

You're invited to Sevensheaven.nl for an extended impression.

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• Question I: Prior to this picture, have you ever—ever—seen an artist's excessively detailed interpretation of beloved teen icon Corey Haim?
• Question II: If so—which isn't at all possible, outside of '80s teenage fan art—was the name of the piece a play on the Jewish phrase, "L'Chaim"?
• Question III: Isn't this why Owen's paid the big bucks?

Answer Key: I. NO, II. NO, III. PERHAPS

[For more on Owen Schumacher, visit his blog, Winning the Polyglottery!]

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[For more on Owen Schumacher, visit his blog, Winning the Polyglottery!]

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I suppose I'm a disciple of Andy Warhol right down to the indecision. I started out thinking there'd be only one of these, but sometimes when you're tinkering with the colors, you'd prefer not to choose. (In fact, I like looking at them side-by-side, don't you?)

Anyway, these're for you, Rose. Gabba gabba hey!

[For more on Owen Schumacher, visit his blog, Winning the Polyglottery!]

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Hey, guys! I'm new to Sugar Frosted Goodness. I'm very thankful for this opportunity, as well as for this blog's premise and benefit to the art community at large.

My name's Owen Schumacher—and I also go by the Fop. I'll be posting updates here as well as on my own blog, Winning the Polyglottery! To view more of my work, you're also welcome to visit my Bēhance and Flickr pages.

Thank you much!

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You may recall that I mentioned Jay Amory's The Fledging of Az Gabrielson after I saw an item on The UK SF Book News Network website about the role of adults in YA fiction. It took me several months to get hold of a copy of the book, but the library bought it in the end and I read it about 10 days ago. I'll give you my thoughts on Amory's contention about adults in YA novels in a moment, first the book.

Az Gabrielson is a member of the Airborn race - who evolved centuries ago from ordinary humans after a climatic change that left their world covered in dense cloud. The winged Airborn race now live in "sky cities" which perch on top of vast columns that stretch hundreds of feet above the perpetual cloud. But beneath this cloud lives another, less fortunate race, the Groundlings (who are generally believed by the Airborn to have become extinct). The Groundling's society largely revolves around keeping the supply elevators which take everything that the Airborn need up to the sky cities. (Most Airborn believe this process is automated.) The procedure for keeping the supply elevators full and running is overseen by a group of Deacons who are the upperclass of Groundling society. The Deacons are a cross between religious leaders and factory overseers. They organise the collection of supplies to the Airborn from the Groundling people and in return, they promise that Groundlings will be resurrected as Airborn after death.

Unfortunately some of the Groundlings believe this is just pie in the sky when you die, and they organise themselves into a group called Humanists and start to plan a revolution. They begin picketing the supply depots, which leads to supplies to some of the sky cities falling off. The Airborn notice this and decide they'll have to send someone to investigate. Enter Az, who is a misfit amongst the Airborn as he has never developed wings. He's recruited by an agent of the government to go down to the ground to establish, if he can, why the supply elevators are coming up empty. So Az goes off and gets caught up in the unrest and events unfold pretty much as I expected...

So, what about Jay Amory's criticisms. Does he uphold his argument that adults shouldn't let teens go off alone to deal with complicated situations ? Well no, not in this book at least. Amory complained that:

[Adult characters are] only there to be ignored. They introduce the young protagonist into the action then step back and play no further part, except maybe at the end.

And that's exactly what happens to Az. He's recruited by the Airborn leaders and sent off to investigate totally ill-prepared and ill-informed. He nearly dies more than once because he lacks sufficient knowledge to deal with the situation he finds on the ground - and yes, OK, the Airborn adults are more or less suffering from the same ignorance themselves, but that doesn't make it right that Az is sent off with so little preparation, given Amory's insistence that such a situation is wrong! Some of the Airborn leaders believe that the Groundlings do still exist, but Az is only given a veiled hint of this instead of being told outright. Amory was particularly vocal about Albus Dumbledore's habit of leaving

Harry to stumble and bumble along and get into dreadful, life-threatening scrapes for several hundred pages

- but I'd argue that Dumbledore generally gives Harry just enough information to work most things out for himself - and then expects Harry to use his head and do just that. And yet Az is left literally stumbling around on the ground, trying to figure out how to deal with the situation into which the adults have dropped him - and he doesn't have any magical powers to help him as Harry does.

So if you're looking for a book that involves adults in YA adventures, you won't find it in The Fledging of Az Gabrielson. This is the first in the "Clouded World" series, and Amory says that the adults will be more involved in later books, but so far, they're not so much.

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Here is a great video that goes nicely with the texts and incidents shared in CLIP 17 as well as in the comments. Thanks Carol, for sharing this with me. Check it out! http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ Catch you next week. vivian

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