i got really busy and have been traveling a bit lately looking for a new house-- funny thing about travel, i took the book and never had a chance to read it.

just got back home today though, with most problems fixed for a bit. should take a few days off to just relax and yes, read.

one thing i should tell you i noticed about her though-- writing workshops preach a lot of "show, don't tell" as the absolute rule of fiction. in her case, i love how she tells, but not too crazy about how she shows (a lot of unnecessary detail-- and yes, it paints a picture, but also distracts and wastes energy).

some people should break the prescriptions and just do what they do best. tell--and tell more.

anyway, tomorrow i'll pick up where i left off and without much to do i should be able to really get into it.

I think I know what you're getting at. But remember, it's a bit of an unfolding mystery. Like, all of it. Believe me, when she "shows", she fucking well shows. And I, being a fan of big picture theological science fiction writers like Gene Wolfe and William Gibson, LOVE that she leaves so much of the detail to the reader's imagination.

You'll see- the characters really come across about as well as one could possibly expect for a story of that length with so many important players involved. You get to know each character intimately. And secrets that are hinted at unfold at a sometimes glacial but ultimately highly rewarding pace.

When the big picture comes together, as it finally does, it's quite a story. And the good news is that the pieces come together in one novel, unlike Gene Wolfe who can stretch his grand mysteries into 12 novels spanning three series.

alright. i'll never read gene wolfe then.

i still think she could have cut what i ahve read so far by two thirds and have it read better, but i'm finishing the morning cup of tea and will have my way with the book immediately next.

Apparently this is one of the largest primary source texts in the entirety of world history let alone the Roman period. So it tickles ALL of my fancies, being a theological exegesis, a fundamental component of Church history, and also a nerdy historian thing!

And to be sure, I am what is called "Non-Chalcedonian" or "Oriental" Orthodox so this text is definitive for me.. a great read!

That book sounds deep and heavy and cool suchfriends...

I just finished my latest book, Keep The River On Your Right, and the review is up on the blog

RXTT's Intellectual Journey continues with Tobias Schneebaum's KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT. http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2015/0...find-when.html

http://ixoyc.net/data/fathers/624.pdf

if anyone is interested, even if just from a historical perspective as again, it is the most detailed glimpse into the life of the 5th century.. (its also 900 pages ;) )

Currently reading Frantzen's Corrections, on the basis on the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 wikipedia page which stated that one character listened to the band.
I'm not too convinced, to say the least. I find it hard to read out loud, which is one my pleasures.

I love $1 books at the library, its filled up half my shelf

a real eye opener. the food industry sucks. Not only "mechanically processed beef" (meat removed from carcasses with a electric rotary wire brush for your basic fast food all beef patties), but also fully processed poultry (chickens and turkey carcasses forced at high pressure thru tiny sieves, which completely liquifies the remains for making "nuggets")

just add soy meal as an extender, but be sure to remove any healthy ingredients from the soy first!

what healthy ingredients? the accumulated pesticides?

--

i've been seriously getting more vegetarian as of late.

it's a long story and don't feel like telling it right now but yeah

but it's not from processed meats-- i get beautiful pastured meat.

eh, long story. maybe later.

soy can actually be pretty healthy stuff, but not the processed stuff. They basically spin off all the nutrients to sell as enhancers to health food products, the vitamins, amino acids, etc. What they put in "meat" to stretch it is cheap fiber that has all the good soy amendments removed

On the pretense of saving money in Iowa City's sidewalk days sales, I dropped in Daydream Comics downtown and picked up HOWARD THE DUCK: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Vol. 1.

Oh, what fun.

While in Daydream Comics, I found a number of old comic books that had published a "letter to the editor" (think, Letters to the Bat-Cave, etc.) by me, written at the age of around 13-15 or so. This was back in what I think was probably the tail end of what is called the Silver Age of comics, late '60s, early 70s. It was such a thrill, back then, to run down to the drug store, pick up a new copy of one of my favorite comic books, and find MY NAME printed in its pages. The first time it happened felt almost literally orgasmic. I remember standing in front of the display of comic books and magazines, staring down at my name in print in a DC comic book (I think it was an issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the one with Batman stories) and feeling so elated that I couldn't move.

I was so tempted to grab the bunch today and slap them on the credit card. Then I remembered that my grownup middle name is Restraint.

I kept those comic books through my teen years until we moved to a new house where the sewer backed up into the basement, and crept all over my neat stacks of DC and Marvel comic books. Crap. Literally. It's something I never quite got over.

Hard to imagine now, but this was back in the day when it was not "cool" to like comic books. It was only nerdy. Maybe worse than nerdy. I remember the feeling of elation ebbing and then feeling overwhelmed by embarrassment. What have I done!? This is going to get out all over school! I'll never get a date with a real girl again! And then I found that nobody knew. Nobody. Because nobody else at school was so uncool or nerdy as to read comic books. Or, if they were, they were not about to let on that they were by letting me know they'd read my letter. And so, I kept writing these letters to the editor and they kept getting publsihed. Sometimes they'd be detailed critiques of storylines and artwork. Sometimes they'd just gush how "great" a particular issue was. It didn't seem to matter.

Wow... Must have been quite strange...

Glad you got to get Howard's whole catalogue!

The internet ruined things like this. Damn the internet!

Over 90% of US soy is GMO, nearly all of which is treated with Roundup. Monsanto appreciates your support.


Very good chance the animals you eat are fed with grains grown where the Brazilian Rainforest used to be. But since you're 4 times as likely to develop colon cancer than a vegetarian, I wouldn't worry too much about environmental destruction.

Food is evil. Just say no.

When I was around the same age I wrote to the now-defunct Musician magazine, and now and then I try to track down that issue. No idea what I wrote.

Your "CV" is much cooler.

A little surreal. To see my name in print, to not recognize what I wrote. "I said that? What does that even mean?" I acquired one of these old comic books a while back, an issue of Batman. I don't want to get obsessive about it, though. My letters were published in probably a couple of dozen issues of DC comics between around 1968 to 1971, and acquiring copies of those today would run up a significant credit card bill--and for what? To see my name in some comic book fan letters section. Meh. Got better things to spend my money on, like HTD comps.

I'm not sure this is the whole thing, though, is it? It includes everything from the beginning, with the Man-Thing comics and runs through issue 16 of HTD. I understand that is where the first series ended. Is there anything of significance after that?

Right...
My favorites are in the volume you've acquired.
Once you've reached #25, it's as if the writer got wary of it all.
Issues 26-28 are glum, the villains are not as fun as the space turnip, and there's little left of the humour. Some dark things happen to Howard's friends (which is quite worthy of reading, as what happens is pretty dark).
So, between #16 and #25 there are really good things, thanks to Dr Bong's treatments.

Issues #29 and beyond were taken over by different writers, and that was not it, not really.

Steve Gerber got back on his feet for a new series that would be cheaper, for quite an enjoyable read!
http://marvel.wikia.com/Howard_the_Duck_Vol_3_1

Thanks, Bertrand. I appreciate your support and guidance on my path to Duckdom.