Tag Archives: Reading

Wknd Rprt: July 2019 – Wk 2

NOTE: This report should’ve already been filed a couple days ago but it sat unpublished in the draft folder.

So after the live show we played on the 5th of July, I forced myself into a guitar sabbatical for at least a week. Looks like that will turn into at least two weeks because my brain has shifted back from musician mode to author mode (actually, our next show isn’t until Sept 6, so we’ve got some downtime for a bit yet before rehearsals resume). Thing is I’ve always oscillated between my two main arts like that since I added being a “serious writer” to my artistic passions in 1993 (five years after first picking up the guitar in 1988). So I am perusing my list of (unfinished, always these days) writing projects and reconnecting with them to see which one or two is screaming the loudest at me for abject neglect. Fast-forward a few days since beginning that perusal and I have totally identified which projects are screaming loudest. More on what I like to call The Writer’s Plight later.

And now a brief brief on the previous week that was . . .

– READ –

When I was at HALF-PRICE BOOKS the other day I overheard a guy say that he was in the middle of two books. My immediate thought was: Just two? I chuckled. I can’t say I always read multiple books at the same time . . . well, actually, comic books totally conditioned me for this approach to reading. As a youth I was reading comics some six years before truly getting into novels. Non-fiction books I devour quicker with more intense focus because that’s less about entertainment and more about edification and knowledge. I’ve always been obsessed with variety. Music, books, TV, movies . . . people. I’m terribly bored without a rainbow. I will confess that there are times I wish I could be more of a one-lane at a time kinda guy. Most often I’m not. And currently I’m in one of those modes where my book acquisitions are frequent and I just want to read ALL THE THINGS!!!

– Watched –

spider-man-far-from-home-teaser-poster

I was skeptical that it would be better than SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, as many have said. It’s just as good as but I always give the edge to the more emotive offering, which SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is. Love what the final post-credit scene portends for the future. Oh, and Tom Holland is exceptional! Zendaya was sublime.

I watched this 7-video playlist courtesy of CapnOfCrunch on YouTube. I will finally see JAWBOX live and in person on July 27th at The Metro in Chicago. Can’t wait! These clips totally got me even more stoked!

DISCOVERED

I listen to a LOT of podcasts (maybe I should post a list of my subscriptions at some point?), many of which focus on comic books and/or their creators. But it’s always cool to get a more visual feature about comics and their creators. I happened to stumble across the debut of this particular one by one of my favorite comic artists.

Description from YouTube . . .

THE DRAWL WITH JASON LATOUR: Talking comics & creativity with writers & artists while trying to push my own.

ABOUT JASON: Jason Latour is a writer & artist. He co-created the EISNER WINNING Image Comics Series: SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Marvel’s SPIDER-GWEN and is a proud part of the OSCAR & GOLDEN GLOBE WINNING SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. In 2015. He won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award for Comic Book Art. Charlotte NC is where he learned to draw(l).

FOLLOW:
https://www.youtube.com/user/jasonlatour
https://twitter.com/jasonlatour
https://www.instagram.com/jasonlatour/ROJECTS

T’was a good week, all things considered. This week could be even better with some scheduled time off and plans with some friends as well as some quality solitary time as the fam leaves me and the pets behind for a few days getaway.

Be well and live your best life.

-BLR

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RUCKERPEDIA | A Programming Note

So everyone’s favorite new website RUCKERPEDIA has been showcasing dark fiction this month in honor of the “Dark Days of October” leading up to Halloween. And over the next couple of weeks that will continue to be a focus of my little Library of Works.

However, tonight a crime spree will commence as I upload six different pieces of crime fiction, be it a series of 50-word dribbles, a dialogue-only piece, short story excerpts and even a work-in-progress. I’m might even include a couple of noir pieces as the nightcaps. 

So make sure you tune in this evening from primetime and on through the late night hours for some seedy good times, m’kay?

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The Evening Muse 6 | The Need for Speed & Selectiveness

Expedience – I read a lot. Of course that goes without saying. Just the other day I heard Stephen King say he is an omnivorous reader, and I agreed I am the same. Voracious, in fact. However – and because of this – I need to do a lot of using the speed-reading technique (as well as bypassing the boring parts in larger works). In the past as a short story editor I’d speed read a lot of short stories out of necessity. Nowadays, if I speed-read a story it is because to my tastes it’s wasting time getting to the compelling part. If I speed-read a novel, it’s not just because I tend to check out so many of them from the library and need to boogie through them swiftly, but it may also likely be because I am not quite enamored with the prose style, or it has a weak or non-existent plot, or worse yet, a plot that is simply not compelling. A lot of times novels are not paced as well as they should be. This is often a problem of structure, but unfortunately it’s sometimes the problem of the author’s narrative intent and approach.

Pickiness – Admittedly I am a particular kind of reader these days. I do not need to be wowed by a writer’s diction, quirky prose or clever turns of phrase. All I need is compelling stories piloted by likable, sometimes charming and charismatic yet always compelling characters. Purposeful dialogue. Though I do like to see lots of dialogue, I am not a fan of aimless, pointless chatter. Minimal prose. Though I don’t mind thorough description and (pertinent) details, I prefer narrative that doesn’t meander and rather gets on with it, preferably using a ticking clock. That tends to be the bigger draw for me, which is probably why I prefer crime and suspense thrillers (and the occasional horror tome, though like sci-fi and fantasy I prefer it on the big and small screens). I like immediacy and immersion. If the story, especially a novel, takes its sweet time getting to the rising action or the crucial character development then I’m more than likely to become impatient, uninterested and will look for the exit.

I also want to be quite intimate with the protagonist. I want to be immersed in their psyche, which is why I prefer the subjective third-person point of view. It’s my favorite to write from as well.

I wish I was a more patient reader, maybe even a one-track-minded reader like my wife is. She can’t read multiple books at a time, whereas I have to for the aforementioned impatience and other reasons. It may also stem from decades of reading multiple comic book series – it conditions you for a wide array of episodic but diverse reading scheme. And yes, the correlation between the scattered focus in my reading and the same in my writing is not lost on me.