More Commenting Sadness, A New Piece I'm Very Fond of, Last Call for Subscriber Writing, and the Next Book Club
Comments are off again until I decide otherwise. You know why. I have had enough.
In happier news…. Compact Magazine just published my first piece for them, and I’m very fond of it. I hope you’ll give it a look. As I say in the piece, I have a harder and harder time writing straightforward argumentative essays these days; after 15 years I’m just tapped out on the form. Increasingly I pepper my writing with little challenges or formalist tricks, oblique references, paragraphs where I will challenge myself to avoid using a particular grammatical form or where the sentences proceed in length in terms of number of sentences by the Fibonacci sequence. Anything to stay interested. This piece is kind of a tone poem, a dreamy little meditation on Las Vegas and the American soul. But even there, I have no thesis and do not want one. This is the kind of thing that excites me now in terms of craft. Please check it out and, if you like it, share it - especially because I am currently banned from Facebook. (I got banned because their bots thought a reference to our drone bombings was a threat to drone bomb, and then banned again for complaining about the previous ban.)
Also! Last call for subscriber writing is this coming Monday, July 25th. Details and formatting instructions are here. Post will come later next week.
We’re doing Young Adult lit for the next Book Club. I understand some people won’t like this choice of genre. The good news is that you can just not participate, and we’ll tear through whichever book we choose quickly so we can get to a future book faster. Please indicate your preference below. I reserve the right to make an executive decision if the vote is very close.
There were a few options I wanted to include but decided against because they’re out of print, specifically Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar and Just a Little Bit Lost by Laurel Trivelpiece. Poll’s open for three days. Because Book Clubs are subscriber-only, so’s the poll. Here are some synopses.
The Egypt Game. The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she's not sure they'll have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind the A-Z Antiques and Curio Shop, Melanie and April decide it's the perfect spot for the Egypt Game. Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. After school and on weekends they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code. Everyone thinks it's just a game, until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?
Dogsbody. The Dog Star, Sirius, is tried for murder by his heavenly peers and found guilty. His sentence: to be reborn on Earth as a dog until such time as he carries out the seemingly impossible mission imposed on him. In his Earth guise, Sirius, renamed Leo, truly lives a dog's life. Although he is the pet of a girl who loves him, both child and dog are mistreated by the family with whom they live. But the worldly obstacles Leo faces are minor when compared with his chilling encounters with the Dark Powers that are against him. His quest seems hopeless until at last Sol, Moon, and Earth itself come to his aid. Dogsbody is a tense, exciting, science fiction fantasy, a thriller, and a touching dog story all in one.
The Gammage Cup. The Minnipins have lost their past. Long ago, the hero Gammage led them in war against the horrible Hairless Ones. But now -- Bravery? Forgotten. Courage? No more. Heroes? The stuff of storybooks.
Yet sometimes heroes turn up when they are least expected.... Muggles, Gummy the poet, and Walter the Earl are not like the other Minnipins. They dress differently, speak their minds, and -- when Walter the Earl finds a package of old scrolls and swords -- dare to disagree with the Minnipin leaders. For their troubles, they are banished from their village. But Walter the Earl found the weapons for a reason: The Hairless Ones have returned. And this time there is no Gammage to protect the Minnipins. This time there are only Muggles and her friends, outlaws who must rescue the very people who have cast them out.
The Giver. The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. This movie tie-in edition features cover art from the movie and exclusive Q&A with members of the cast, including Taylor Swift, Brenton Thwaites and Cameron Monaghan.
There you have it. I will not reveal my own vote so as not to influence the process. I hope some of you who haven’t participated in the past will do so now. I’m hoping to get this started in early August; I’ve missed it. Cheers.