(via twobluebirds)
After three years and 400 pages, I have finally finished writing the first draft of a novel. Now I'm collecting all kinds of advice about writing and editing. Do you have some? I also like books, science fiction, and many other things.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.] 10 plays“It Won’t Be Long,” from Dear Companion by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore
We’re not as old as we feel now
We’ve so much more to reveal now
Whether days are bright
Or sorrow filled
We’ll find our comfort in these hillsSometimes I feel like my life is slipping me by, and when that feeling comes it helps to remember that we are never as old as we feel, and that so many wonderful things are out there in the woods just waiting to be discovered.
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Hear, hear! These mountains need a lot of help.
“I think they should name it something better. The top ends up flatter, but we’re not talking about Mount Everest. We’re talking about these little knobby hills that are everywhere out here. And I’ve seen the reclaimed lands. One of them is 800 acres, with a sports complex on it, elk roaming, covered in grass.”
-Rand Paul Senator of Kentucky
By this same logic:
- It’s okay for me to set fire to your lawn, because “we’re not talking about the Great Plains here.”
- It’s okay for me to burn down your house, because “we’re not talking about Buckingham Palace here.”
- It’s okay for me to kill your dog, because “we’re not talking about Lassie here.”
This doesn’t even take into account the fact that the Appalachians are the oldest mountain range in North America, filled with an astounding variety of flora and fauna. There are over 6,000 species of plants, as well as 255 documented species of birds, 78 mammals, 58 reptiles, and 76 amphibians. Of these, many are found only in the Appalachians and the adjoining lowlands.
Okay, Rand… I’ll grant you that the Appalachians may not be the most tallest mountain range, but they’re still pretty damn impressive and worth saving.
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Good reads: "The Truth and All Its Ugly," by Kyle Minor →
Imagine my surprise when I started reading this fantastic short story by Kyle Minor after it came up on my RSS reader.
The setting seemed eerily familiar at first — close-knit Appalachian families in a near-future SF setting. But then things started moving closer and closer to home — the University of Kentucky, and stone fences built by slaves, and Sonic burger, and Man O’ War neighborhoods near the Lexington airport, and Keeneland — I was completely taken aback. Seriously, it was kind of creepy to see my neighborhood pop up out of the blue like that. (Not to mention the climax scenes at the Lexington Green shopping center, which I had just visited. Granted, New Circle Road is called “the Loop,” which I haven’t heard, but that can pass.)
And a knock-out SF ending. You don’t know what’s coming until it does, and then it punches the reader in the gut.
It’s not Danny. It’s not Danny.
I’m going to have to find more stuff by this author, because this story is amazing. (via The Rumpus)
Theme: Linear by Peter Vidani
