He is the Dark Knight. He is the winged vigilante, the greatest superhero in all of the comic book world.

And he is dead.

So goes the plot of Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? a follow up to this year’s Batman: R.I.P. by Grant Morrison.  Gaiman, the comic book genius behind the ever-popular Sandman series, penned this eulogy as a way to say goodbye, a love story to his first comic book hero.

In a short, but complete introduction to the graphic novel, Gaiman describes that his love of Batman is as “one loves a parent.” In what is ultimately every fan’s chance to say goodbye to the dark hero who helped raise us all, Gaiman starts it off beautifully with a heartfelt lecture on his own connection to the character.

The plot, like any good Batman comic, is somehow just a shade past realism, while taking a huge step into fantasy.  Dozens of characters, spanning the whole of Batman’s 60 years, attend Batman’s funeral, each telling his or her own tale of Batman’s life and death, all while Batman himself watches, narrating off-screen. He, like the readers, has no idea what is going on, and why so many of his friends and enemies have gathered to tell wildly conflicting stories about the man of mystery. It is up to him, the so-named World’s Greatest Detective, to figure it out, and to explain it to all of us.

Friend and foe, great and small make their way through the ceremony. There’s Commissioner Gordon, Batman’s trusted ally, and his daughter Barbara, who after being injured by the Joker became Batman’s all-seeing eye, Oracle.  Enemies like Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Ra’s al-Ghul, Penguin and the Mad Hatter sit among them, as Dick Grayson, the first Robin and Bruce Wayne’s soon-to-be replacement as Batman, starts the ceremony.

It is left to Batman’s two closest relations, lover/enemy Catwoman and faithful butler Alfred, to tell the extended stories. They draw on Batman’s character, his greatest flaws, and all of his complex history. They rewrite the beginning, and even the ending, of the life of their hero, but always manage to stay true to the character himself.

That is Gaiman’s greatest strength. He knows his subject, and any reader who has lost touch with the character will be faced with the impossible task of keeping up with the dozens of “there, did you catch that?” moments – and no, you probably did not catch them all the first time.

The graphic novel touches on every generation of the Dark Knight, from his early origins “a couple of years before Pearl Harbor” to the darker, more distressed Batman of recent years. Gaiman, and his tale, remind us constantly, that while the man may die, the legend never does.

It is a send-off fit for a warrior. What could easily fall into the realm of cheesy or fan-baiting instead retains all the dark lore of its hero. Gaiman and longtime Batman artist Andy Kubert worked tirelessly to represent every great artist and writer who has helped shaped Batman along the way, but each manages to leave his own touch on the project. Batman’s final four-page farewell, looks like a page torn directly from Gaiman’s Sandman.

Kubert’s artwork, shown more precisely in the supplemental sketchbook, is often a direct copy of his forefathers’ work on the comic, assuring that fans of any age will see Batman as they remember him best.

It is a difficult task to be the one to kill off an idol. Batman is so many things to so many people. He is America, our dark side to Superman’s purity. He has saved us countless times, maybe not from the Joker, but certainly from drowning in normalcy. He is deserving of the greatest goodbye granted a legend.

Gaiman may not be synonymous with Batman, but with this comic, his love is showing – and he allows every reader to show their appreciation as well for the man who shaped our culture and rewrote our ideas of “good” and “bad.”

It is a haunting goodbye to a tortured soul who has touched us all in some way, and we all deserve to be there, right beside all the men and women who made Batman what he was, so that he could shape us into who we would become.

-Stephanie Jackson

Happy Friday, everyone.

Friday’s are usually pretty quiet here at the office, so I usually make myself busy with checking out the blogrolls and other projects.  This morning, I wrote my sponsor child in the Philippines a letter, sorted out some OSAP details, and sent out a query letter.  Shhhhhhhhhh, don’t tell anyone!  I’m also in the homestretch of my NaNoWriMo novel (or, as Rikki says, Nanaimo novel!) and at 43,000/50,000 words, I have nowhere else to go.  In a desperate attempt for some online inspiration, I’ve found the following things to stir my imagination.

Enjoy!

Video Love

I love stop motion!  Which reminds me of these …

This has been making the rounds on the Internets lately, and what kind of (sometimes) book blogger would I be if I didn’t link to it too?

More stop motion loveliness.  I love this lyric:  She pours a daydream in a cup / A spoon of sugar sweetens up … 

I must, must, MUST see this movie!!!  It’s inspiring much of the feel of my next novel (yep, already thinking of the next one because I’m a glutton for punishment) Visually stunning and so fantastical!  And Jude Law, Johnny “Sexiest Man Alive” Depp, Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, Terry Gilliam, and the late, talented Heath Ledger? Yes, please!

Quote love

Wine is sunlight, held together by water  – Galileo 

Well, darkness exists so the stars can shine, darling  –  Source Unknown (if someone knows the source, please let me know!  If this is a quote from One Tree Hill or something, I will kick a pigeon.  Just kidding.  I don’t advocate violence towards animals.  But I will feel terribly, terribly let down by the universe.)

Love is the extremely uncomfortable realization that something other than oneself is real  – Irish Murdoch

Sexy authors and historical figures love

Sir Isaac Brock. You know you can't resist that hand on the hip pose!

Andrew Sean Greer, author of "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," a very beautiful book

Neil Gaiman ftw!

Joseph Boyden: hot AND Canadian!

A young Nathaniel Hawthorne could give ME a scarlet letter ... *wink wink!*

Lord Byron: HE walks in beauty, like the night

And because I pretty much have to …

Listen to Wiretap. For Jonathan Goldstein.

Read Broken Pencil magazine. For Hal Niedzviecki.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  May your weekends be as busy or as lazy as you wish them to be.  Other than writing like the madwoman in the attic (rereading Jane Eyre for the billionth time; couldn’t resist!), I plan on having a schedule-free one.

Am head over heels over Bom’s You and I.

The MV’s just too cute. Sad. But cute. Like… she’s just going with whatever life’s giving her. Despite all the shits that are coming her way.

I like that ^^,

And the vocal’s decent!! It’s kinda good actually. Goes really well with the song and you don’t really get the it’s-all-engineered vibe when it comes to the vocals. I know it’s kind of hard to believe that she has decent vocals (pop groups these days.. pft. And Bom being in 2NE1 and all…) but no shit. Really. Girl’s got decent voice!

Take a listen =)

***************

I miss Neil Gaiman’s writing.

Been ages since I last read his book.

Those books out there… of his…

Just waiting to be bought…

I want $$$! Loads of ‘em!!

I need books people. More books!

Neil Gaiman’s books!!

T.T

***************

Twilight Saga’s losing its charm. I wonder why.

Watched the latest addition to the saga still though.

Much better than Twilight I must say.

But like I said. Kinda losing its charm in my case.

What I like about the movie most? (ALERT: PURE “FANGIRL” MODE HENCEFORTH)

Taylor Lautner.

Obviously.

Though he’s not that much of a looker…I mean, he’s decent looking but he’s not exactly my type of hott…but fuck! Boy’s got a really nice body ><” Impossible to ignore I tell you.

Chiseled.

Sculpted.

You name it. They all depict his body. Seriously. How can you not salivate over this?! Just the right amount of muscles for his frame… ngaa… it’s a pity though that he’s gonna keep bulking up. I like him just the way he is now =(

P/s: You and I together… it just feels so right~~ Yeash darling. I love you. It doesn’t matter that you don’t have Taylor’s rock-hard abs. You’re still my Rockstar and I’m still your number one groupie. (Geli tak? =P)

]]> http://aalibrary.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/booktrust-teenage-prize/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:25:48 +0000 aalibrary http://aalibrary.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/booktrust-teenage-prize/

Author Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book won the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009.

His book saw off competition from five other authors including Patrick Ness who was nominated for the second time. Ness won the prize last year with The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

If you are looking for a new author to read and you like horror and fantasy stories, then Fragile Things is the book to pick up. Fragile Things is a compilation of short stories and poems written in Gaiman’s familiar witty prose. Cleverly, the stories and poems are arranged in a long story-short story or poem pattern. This pattern allows the reader a breather between the longer, more emotionally dense stories like “The Problem of Susan,” a short story about Susan Pevensie from E.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. However, the shorter stories are no less intense – one short story is actually a series a tiny vignettes that were written to accompany Tori Amos’s album “Strange Little Girls” and deals with the women that each song heartbreakingly depicts. Each piece has some kind of fantasy element, something that places the story outside of the realm of what we consider to be normal. However, each story has a kernel of emotional truth that makes the characters in Gaiman’s stories, if not relateable, then at least recognizably human.

“O Delírio da Morte era ser Coraline”

Já ouviram falar na Delírio? Leiam o texto para entender

Blog CA apresenta ao público leitor da CA

Sandman: Noites sem fim

Adentrando, história sobre a mais jovem dos Perpétuos, Delirium, é, na minha opinião, uma das melhores do álbum. O modo como Gaiman a estruturou parece um pouco confuso a príncipio, mas essa era exatamente a intenção.

Nela, Delirium se encontra perdida e ferida dentro de seu próprio reino. Daniel, o atual Sandman, o corvo Matthew e Barnabás, o cão guardião de Delirium, tentam reunir um exército de loucos para resgata-la de dentro de seus domínios.

A história é narrada da perspectiva dos loucos, sendo toda fragmentada e muitas vezes indiferenciada. Os desenhos de Bill Sienkiewicz seguem o mesmo padrão do texto de Gaiman, transmitindo uma sensação de estranheza e certo desconforto.

Na realidade, o que eles conseguem é transmitir exatamente o que se passa na mente de alguém mentalmente perturbado, incapaz de diferenciar o que é real do que é mera fantasia, incapaz de distinguir a si mesmo e aos outros que o rodeiam. Uma forma bastante original e genial de mostrar quem (ou o que) é Delirium.

Delírio se encontra perdida no universo Orkut?

CA avisa

Qualquer semelhança com a realidade não é culpa da CA…

CA avisa

Delírio nasceu da Morte que desejava ser Coraline

Tou procurndo uma boa imagem de Coraline para colocar no avatar.

CA avisa novamente

Qualquer semelhança com a realidade não é culpa da CA…

It’s that time of the year when spirits are running rather too high for my comfort – the elections. But, because I’m not heavily invested in either side, I can celebrate the fact that my little blog just turned 2. ‘course I didn’t think it would make it this far, but I’m glad it did so I plan to keep it going. For a while at least, until my laziness gets the better of me

It’s only fitting that on an anniversary I get to write about an author I love. No, not Salman R. this time, but Neil Gaiman (wouldn’t it be great if he came around here? I bet he’d be tons of fun ) and Neverwhere. Before anything else though, I think I’m really in love with the title. There’s  magic in it, it’s not nowhere, it’s neverwhere, an incantation to transport you. That’s why I don’t particularly like the translation (nicaieri) - it doesn’t convey the same feeling of wonder.

Richard Mayhew is a regular guy, with a 9 to 5 job, a demanding girlfriend and a rather submissive demeanor. One day, a hurt girl appears right in front of him and he chooses to care for her, instead of following his girlfriend to a very important business dinner. From then on, he becomes part of the London Below, a place of mythical creatures, angels, powerful rats and their human servants – the rat speakers. Plus 2 criminal yet well spoken thugs – Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar, Door, the eldest daughter of Lord Portico (part of a family who possessed the ability to open pretty much anything) a Marquis and an Earl. In this London Below are all the people who have fallen through the cracks, people for whom time, the world, its dangers and its stakes are not the same as in London Above. And I love how Mr. Gaiman gives new meanings (or literal meanings) to things part of the everyday existence (the tube stations – Blackfriars, Earl’s Court, the floating markets held in Harrods or Belfast Tower etc) – the whole affair vaguely reminded me of Harry Potter.

It’s great fun, this book, and I had no idea it was written as a companion to the TV series (I actually thought it was the other way around). A while ago I tried watching it, but I honestly have to say I didn’t go through the whole show because it looked pretty bad…so I might hold out for the movie, if it ever gets done.

In the past week, I have…

a) eaten Post’s Blueberry Mornings obsessively
b) been enchanted by Neil Gaiman’s Blueberry Girl
c) watched Blueberry Nights by Wor Kar Wai
d) fallen in love with The Cookie’s Museum Blueberry Tart cookies.

It occurred to me that since this is current, I should cover this:

Okay, so NPR made a very backhanded compliment to The Sandman series. This dude whose blog I’ve never read before in my whole life has a very good point about Sandman, I mean I’ve read parts of Sandman and I have no idea who Morrissey is. My best friend reads Sandman and he’s as non-goth as it gets. So why is NPR confusing Goth with Emo, or Sandman with a Goth stereotype? Neil Gaiman agrees that the article from NPR made patronising cliches and I reckon that Dan Stryker (the bloke whose blog I’ve never read before but am about to add to my RSS feed) is justified in being offended on a far greater level than I am. It takes advanced age to be offended to a greater degree about stereotyping Sandman fans, and I can’t really add much to the debate other than that even though I wasn’t old enough to read Sandman when it came out the first time, I reckon that it’s pretty unfair to lump an entire fanbase into a demographic without detailed sociological evidence. And I’m saying that as a Society and Culture student and HSC graduate, the NPR article didn’t do ethical research, or any interviews of Sandman fans to research the articles. And even if you throw all sociology graces out the window, comparing Sandman fans to Twilight fans is just unfair.

* * * * *

Text Copyright © Jacob Martin 2009. All Rights Reserved.

So another quickie review of a fun, scary read. Half-Minute Horrors does exactly what you might think; it pulls together over seventy stories aimed at giving youngsters a good fright through a mixture of prose, poetry and pictures and is really very enjoyable.

The selling point for me was the range of authors included – really well-known names from Neil Gaiman to Joyce Carol Oates (two of my absolute favourites as regular visitors to this blog will know) via Gregory Maguire, Margaret Atwood and Holly Black.

You could choose to read one of these a day if you are a person with discipline and iron self-control. I of course approached this the way I eat chocolates – only meant to have one or two (honest) but before I noticed half of them were gone.

Either way this is cool and creepy and a good introduction to scary stuff.

The scheme of Life
never knew darkness,
true darkness, until the
Vulgar left it
gathering dust in a
pawn shop down
Drury Lane. The Muffin Man
sobbed to hear such
woe; and the
gingerbread men once
created in ardor
died in existence,
died in essence – fading,
cracking, peeling -
never again to remain. Forfeit:
gone the days of
strokes and molds.
Life: further fading
black Void.

Who would stand outside the flow of
status quo, and denounce the degrading
acts of their practices past:
no longer worshipping the mortal,
man-made “deities” whose
sordid pictures plaster every last
found wall -
even the creaking, groaning,
shambles of a frail, old woman and her
quaint blue cottage down the street,
awaiting chain and ball;
and no more partaking daily life as
Roman holiday to behold:
Schadenfreude instead of familial structure,
and increasingly more Bigwigs than, try, Musketeers –
a malevolent experience of reality this world!
Dissolving,
lie Truth and Honor of regal times,
submerged in the trenches of the ocean whose name is anything but.
[The Bard (even in his time),
from the tremulous fathoms,
surfaced with a looking glass
to reflect upon the failing,
epitomizing life of a Madman,
whose ravings of Hedonism proved scant, when
one sect of the Trinity remained pure,
and a Scaramouch proved necessary, as an
undying foil to
unshed fallacies,
tainted with Treason and Temerity.]

Could you find yourself,
escaping between the cracks of society,
leaving behind the comfort of a Life to
uncover the someone something disclosed?
Could you find yourself,
friends with underworld denizens,
whispering the follies of an angel and the
biting thoughts that you,
and you alone,
must fight across Night’s Bridge?
[Life above would flow unturned.]
Behold your mementos:
The bottle-cap necklace,
the mythical blade, and
the Providence key –
nostalgic flashes, deft endowments, and pure chance shall
unlock the door, and,
humbly, you shall gain respect,
Hero,
amongst all who now
truly do matter.
Understand the truth of these small things:
the moments of still comprehension
Rilke captured,
Wilde elaborated and
Blake imagined — lest you
paint yourself, in angst or inquietude,
Edvard Munch’s Skrik; lest you
plummet, during some frowning sunset,
into the black Void of the
Road to Nowhere; lest you
predicate Rodin’s  Fata Morgana – the specious
manifestation of space behind the
Gates of Hell -
ecstasy and bliss.

Heaven-sent,  stars fall,
setting in motion,
voluptuous and majestic as
Hokusai’s Tsunami:
Purpose.
Would you define Purpose,
set afoot that schooner,
and forever therefore transform yourself from
juvenile ignorance? — or, inversely,
devolve into an insect of reproach?
No abyss of invisibility befits anyone today;
Liberalism planted a flag amongst the clouds:
Why shun and hide from your due liberties?

Revel again amongst the abstract
mind of a child; unbreakable outlines
disappear, and the bars that once
blocked all aspiration dissolve…
The stage, clear and free,
waits for the performer, who with ease and candor,
enthralls the Fates and, more importantly,
Ego,
boldly presenting an anthem of modest respect.

Allow that thread to golden,
brightly shine!
Victory to who goes -
concerning that
Gnostic beauty, the
Liberalism of Literature -
(again!)
Victory to who goes and
attains Romanticism; unlike the
Tomfoolery of undeserving Artisans,
who fail to flow with prime Imagination or Feeling,
they traveled the distance,
unearthing that one ought hold,
stead and sound,
betwixt one irrevocable thought:
Romanticism…
pure un-Enlightened Reason;
who would spurn nature?

Quick –
Gone –
True –
Resound –
Emotions are the swift songs of eternity
felt in one fleeting second; imagine Mozart’s
Requiem,
contained and compact,
yielding itself to grace your being;
with a lamenting saunter amongst hazy spirits,
the past shaped would invoke
deep,
cadenced,
breathless desire:
reveries of hoisting sail again.
Yet, in essence,
you know this foolish;
deeper even, beats content.

In joy! meant
the seasons of lives
and times…

After writing a post on Natib Qadish, a modern revival of Canaanite religion in the United States, I received some comments from Lilinah of Qadash Kinahnu, another modern Canaanite religion revival. These movements are a fascinating development in an overly technological era — both movements have online resources that include serious scholarly treatment of ancient religions of the Levant. Both appear to be sincere attempts to get in touch with what modern religions seem to have lost. Both have heard the call of Balu.

In a society where universities seldom offer programs to study the Ancient Near East, people are starved to know about it. I realize that the field of study will never bring in the money that the sciences or finance do, but obviously there is something deeply satisfying about it. And students are hungry for it. Not only appreciated by those who start revivals of ancient religions, many of those who read more recent popular treatments are intrigued. Neil Gaiman’s American Gods was a New York Times bestseller. Although much belatedly, H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos has become a paradigm for many undergraduates I’ve met. I was reminded of this as I watched Stuart Gordon’s 2001 movie entitled Dagon. A relentlessly tense and macabre film, the Lovecraftian base assures a constant draw for those who hear the call of the ancient deities.

We love technology. I’m posting this entry on an internet where ideas are simply electrons forced into recognizable patterns. We can’t imagine what life was like before being able to communicate with people just about anywhere in the world instantaneously, and where we can live our entire lives without ever actually touching physical money. Over all the noise of technological progress, however, can be heard the distinct call of Balu — a call to a simpler era, pre-Christian, pre-Judaism, pre-Iron Age. It was an era when human destiny fell into the hands of ancient gods.

This year has marked a return to reading for me. I’ve always loved to read, but sometimes life takes over, and it seems there is no time. But this year I found time. It’s been fun. A few books rise to the top when I look back on 2009. I thought I’d choose my top 5 and profile them in the order that I read them.

The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus by Brennan Manning

This book was so good, I read it twice this year. I blogged about it here.

Crooked Little Heart by Anne Lamott

I’ve read a lot of Anne Lamott’s nonfiction. I love it, because it always reminds me that it is okay to be imperfect – that all human beings are flawed and broken, and that God loves flawed and broken people. It turns out her fiction does the same thing. Crooked Little Heart is filled with flawed and broken characters; Lamott doesn’t hide their failings or shield them from pain, but she tells their story with compassion and grace. To me, this kind of storytelling rings true.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I am becoming more and more of a Neil Gaiman fan. It started with Coraline, which I read three years ago. Since then I’ve recommended it to just about everyone I know. And I will recommend it again now: Read Coraline; it’s excellent. The Graveyard Book, which won the 2008 Newberry Medal, is also very good. Maybe the concept sounds morbid to you: A boy lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts. It’s not morbid. It is a scary, funny, and bittersweet story about growing up. It made me feel happy to be alive. And I couldn’t put it down.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

I picked up this book after hearing a lot of good things about it. I wasn’t disappointed. The story is at times tragic and at times bizarre, but author is consistently compassionate toward his characters, and I found myself rooting for them the whole time. I really cared about what happened to Owen Meany. Irving is a great storyteller who ropes you in. For example, this is the book’s first sentence:

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice–not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

One of the best first lines I’ve ever read. Doesn’t it make you want to pick up the book right now?

The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers

Lots of artists and writers have recommended this book, and I finally got around to it last month. It was a dense and heady read that required my full attention, but it was also rewarding. Like C.S. Lewis, Sayers has the ability to take a confusing abstract concept and demonstrates that it is, in fact, logical and reasonable. Without explaining away the mystery of the Trinity or the wonder of human creativity, she shines light on these topics and leads the reader to greater understanding. This book affirmed my creativity and faith. I plan to read it again.

So that’s my list. What were your favorite books you read this year? Let me know. I love getting book recommendations.

This post is generally a reaction to a post on Noble Savage’s blog about Twilight and young adult literature. Now, while I was not offended per se, I did feel a little begrudgingly towards it.

So I will put my hand up and admit that I read children’s books. Well, of course I do at the moment, it’d be a bit daft if I didn’t considering I am immersed in a children’s lit course. But I enjoyed reading kidlit before the course began. There are many reasons that I do.

1. I have a child.
2. It’s a little bit of light entertainment. (Books like Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl.)
3. Sometimes it’s the best way to get large themes across succinctly. (Books like Northern Lights and Little Brother.)
4. ‘Cross-over’ fiction is some of the best fiction around. (IMO)
5. I would like to write a cross-over novel, so keeping an eye on the market is a must.

And that’s just to name a few of the reasons. But reading children’s literature when you’re an adult seems to have a social stigma attached to it. People tell you to get a life, to grow up and stop living vicariously through books aimed at teenagers. But do you know what I say? It’s my life. I enjoy these books and I will stand by them. And guess what? I also enjoy reading books for younger children, such as Neil Gaiman’s kids books (usually aimed at the 5-8 years – Wolves in the Walls – and 9-12 years market – Coraline and The Graveyard Book), and even Charlie and Lola books have their appeal for the interaction of word and image. What I have to ask is why do the people who think it’s childish for adults to read kidlit have such an averse reaction? It’s not like we’re smoking in public. It’s not harmful to their health. So why the problem? The simple statement of having been mortified about your mother enjoying teenage fiction doesn’t seem enough. I mean, I would have loved for my Mum to have read the books I was reading so that I could have talked with her about them, and I would hope that when it comes to Princi being that age that we would be able to share whatever type of literature, be it Shakespeare or Harry Potter or whatever is popular then. I think it is silly to ignore certain books because they are not demographically aimed at your ‘age market’.

Now, I wonder, how many adults would own up to something like Little Women, a book directly targeted at girls – or dare I say it, young adults – being one of their favourite books? How about Treasure Island? Alice in Wonderland? Anne of Green Gables? Tom Brown’s School Days? Are these acceptable because they are considered classics? So what’s the difference with people quoting Harry Potter or Twilight as their favourite books now?

I understand that some books are directed at kids. I wouldn’t read Hannah Montana (sickly sweet Disney pap) or Sweet Valley High (not my kind of book), but I have read the Potter series and Twilight. While I enjoyed Harry Potter, I hated Twilight despite my vampire addiction. For me, the advantage of reading Twilight was the lesson in how not to write (while the story had potential, the execution was dire. Still, it hasn’t stopped the books selling in their millions).

Twilight was the main problem in Noble Savage’s post. Yeah, the papers have focused on the release of the film (as is the way of media relations and advertising these days. Bandwagon, anyone?), but as with the books if the newspaper articles don’t interest you then don’t read them. Not only that, as young adults, aren’t teenagers reading newspapers too? Don’t they want to appear more mature by reading “respectable, grown-up” media? So why shouldn’t the papers try to sensationalise these films? Not only does it garner attention for the film/book/whatever, it also increases their unit sales. As for the arguments about adults jumping on something that is targeted at teenagers, well, why should that stop someone who is not in the targeted age demographic from reading them? Isn’t that one of the reasons why authors, librarians, teachers, and the general public petitioned against age banding on children’s books? Okay, the argument there was for younger children vs. older children, but it’s still relevant to this argument (young adult vs. adult).

So, as it is, I’ll continue to read and enjoy the stories found in children’s and young adult literature. It’s only fiction, after all. And, as C.S. Lewis said:

I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.*

I think that says it all. Fiction, whatever it is and despite who it is marketed to,  should be enjoyed by those who want to enjoy it whatever their age.

     “Tudo vale a pena, se a alma não é pequena.” Mestre Pessoa que me perdoe, mas foi a primeira coisa que eu pensei quando li no Livros e Afins  uma matéria com um comentário do Neil Gaiman sobre a pirataria. Pirataria essa que, ele sabe, atinge o seu próprio bolso. Sem mais delongas, lá vai o que o Gaiman disse:

“O fato é que queiram – ou não – as editoras, os livros de Gaiman e de inúmeros outros autores estão disponíveis na rede – ainda que de forma ilegal. O perigo não está em livros serem lidos de graça. Mas neles não serem lidos”

     Não é de agora o sujeito é o meu herói. É sem dúvida um dos maiores e melhores escritores do nosso século. Ele deu um novo gás a todo o gênero de literatura fantástica, criou os super heróis mais divertidos, os mais filhos da puta e até identificou a cerveja sem álcool como um dos motoqueiros do apocalipse. Nem vou entrar aqui no critério de suas obras que foram plagiadas e acabaram virando best-sellers, mas envolve um garoto de óculos, mágica e uma coruja.

                Infelizmente ele ainda é daqueles autores considerados underground. Fora do mainstream da literatura por fugir do estilo romancezinho água com açúcar, os seus livros são propositalmente para um público que sabe e quer pensar. Quer expandir a mente. Um exercício que poucos estão dispostos a fazer.

                E convenhamos, falar de si mesmo na terceira pessoa é só pra quem sabe mesmo que é fodão e ponto.

Comics!

I love comic books. You might think it childish but I beg to differ. I think comic books are great because:

• Of the art! I love art and comic books give you that cinematic experience without the need to switch on the TV or to go to the movies.
• The writers are brilliant. They keep you coming back each month for more much like a Chinese soap.
• Comic book stories are rich with influences from a variety of sources. Comic book creators draw from history, science, folklore and all kinds of literary sources to make their stories interesting. Let’s not forget the human element.
• Superhero comics especially inspire me to be more than I can be. Don’t we all want to be heroes and do the right thing each and every single day in our lives? Sacrifice. Honour. These are lessons that comic books can teach us.

I used to read a lot as a child and I am trying little by little to get back to reading but I find that I’d much prefer to read books that teach me something about myself and life rather than fiction. I don’t do that as much these days cos’ I have to read & write as a living and I can’t stand reading pages that are made up of walls of text. I guess that’s why I prefer comic books to books these days which is a lil’ sad I suppose. I read so much less now compared to my growing up years. The only book that I go back to constantly is the Bible though so at least I’m getting some reading done daily from the good book.

Here are some good books I would suggest to anyone who wants to get into comic books as a start:. You might recognise some of them as they’ve become Hollywood properties in recent years.

• The Hellboy series written & drawn by Mike Mignola (Seed of Destruction, Wake the Devil, The Chained Coffin and Others, The Right Hand of Doom. Conqueror Worm, Strange Places)
  

  Hellboy

• The Green Lantern books written by Geoff Johns with either Ivan Reis or Ethan Van Sciver on pencilling duties (The Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1 & 2, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Lantern: Wanted)
  

  Green Lantern

• 1602 by Neil Gaiman with art by Andy Kubert & Richard Isanove
  

  1602

Interior art from the pages of 1602

Green Lantern is currently one of the most exciting titles I’ve read in recent years. I’ve written posts about the Emerald Gladiator before and if you’re a long-time comic book fan I can’t help but marvel at what Geoff Johns has done with the character. It’s amazing stuff cos’ he’s taken the Green Lantern mythos further. I’m in the middle of the Blackest Night saga and all I can say is wow.

Blackest Night - a Green Lantern epic

Before you write comic books off as childish give one a spin. You’ll find that there’s a lot more than meets the you within its colourful pages. Nuff’ said!

I used to read graphic novels (Comics), when I was a kid, but never took them terribly seriously, although I did absolutely love “Sin City” and bought it on DVD. So, I found Gary Reef’s Art From the Heart group on ning and joined yesterday. I’ve been a Youtube fan for about a year, so it seemed like a logical progression and lo and behold! there’s an Illustration challenge which ended yesterday with ‘Dream’ as the focus…

You know I don’t really do drawing much, but boy, this character got under my skin and here’s what happened!

So, it’s doodle (pencil); watercolour mood wash; doodle with fineliner; Add Neocolour black to his hair and doodle some more with Sharpies. If you’re interested, here are some links to follow:

Wiki – Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

Neil Gaiman’s website

It was fun to draw/sketch again. I need to keep practising! =)

NB: Thanks for all your kind wishes re: DH’s health – we have an appointment with his GP tomorrow to discuss the Ultrasound scan and are both very impressed with how quickly our doctor heard back from the hospital. When you really need it, the NHS is unbeatable… xo

Neil Gaimans Graveyard Book hat schon wieder einen Preis bekommen.

(Man beachte bitte den wunderbaren britischen Humor in der Überschrift!)

Habe gerade das Hörbuch fertig und bin noch begeisterter, als ich es beim Lesen war. Ich kann es sehr empfehlen, sich die Hörbücher anzuschaffen, die Neil selbst liest. Er hat für jeden Charakter eine eigene Stimme und eine eigene Klangfarbe. Fantastisch, zumal er mit seiner Stimme auch sämtliche Emotionen ausdrücken kann.

Kurze Erläuterung für die, die es nicht kennen: ein kleiner Junge von eineinhalb Jahren entkommt einem Verbrechen, dem seine Familie zum Opfer fällt. Er wackelt aus dem Haus und landet auf einem alten stillgelegten Friedhof, wo ihn ein kinderloses Geister-Ehepaar adoptiert, Mr. und Mrs. Owens. Er wird Nobody genannt, kurz: Bod.

Das Buch erzählt seine Geschichte bis zu seinem 15. Lebensjahr, sein Aufwachsen unter den Geistern des Friedhofes, seine Erfahrungen mit der Außenwelt und schließlich seine Vergeltung an den Mördern seiner Familie.

Obwohl die Geschichte so düster klingt, ist sie eher witzig und spannend, mit einem Tick Philosophie und einer guten Prise Krimi.

Zu lesen ist sie klasse, aber zu hören ein Hochgenuss, zumal Neil Gaiman die altmodische englische Sprache des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, die viele der Geister sprechen, wunderbar hinbekommt.

Außerdem dabei:  Silas, Bods Beschützer, der weder zu den Toten noch zu den Lebenden gehört. Liza Hempstock, die im 15. Jahrhundert als Hexe verbrannt wurde und von Bod einen ungewöhnlichen Grabstein bekommt. Miss Lupescu, die mal ein Mensch, mal ein Wolf ist und furchtbar schlecht kocht. Die Frobisher-Familie, deren Mausoleum ein sehr altes Geheimnis birgt. Ghouls. Und und und.

Das Buch ist auch auf Deutsch erhältlich und heißt einfach Das Graveyard-Buch. Wer aber irgend kann, dem empfehle ich die Originalversion.