Saturday, August 2, 2014

7 Ginger Thoughts on Self-Respect

So do you walk on eggshells around certain people? Constricted with the realization that one day they’re going to take the tiniest bit of your word choice and deconstruct it into something personal? Sort of like that Mexican expression “searching for tits on an ant”? Or the equally philosophical expression of “creating mountains out of molehills”? Well, I just want to share a few thoughts I've come to realize concerning this topic and the power of self-respect. I hope they all relate, but if not, they'll find the right cord with the right person. I refer to them as ginger tips because I always sip ginger tea or suck on ginger candy to treat an upset stomach. Take that as you will.

1. Be mindful of people who don't pay attention to what you say the first time, nor follow up with concrete questions. They're probably giving themselves room to misinterpret you in the future. And if that’s the case, don't wail back. Instead, be prepared to walk away from their game.

2. Always continue to be kind and considerate of other people’s time, even when someone didn’t feel the need to be considerate and understanding of yours. It may seem like a burn after you've taken someone’s time into consideration and they've used it against you, but it isn‘t. You learn from the respite how to strengthen yourself.

3. You don't have to accept every offer thrown your way–despite what people say. We're all carrying a load toward our destination, and many of us can’t stop to add more until we drop off some of what we already have. Therefore, some things are better left as a blessing for others as you prepare to take your next step. Besides, there’s an opportunity up ahead that someone else left behind that’s perfect for your relief!

4. Don't let anyone tell you what God should be to you, as well as what God is or isn't doing to better your life. Just as you are the pioneer of your spiritual path, only you know what you pray about before bed each night.  As well, only you wake up to greet God in the morning refreshed and ready to try again.

5. Someone took your thoughtfulness and twisted it into something personal? Try to stay kind, but remain silent. Do this the first time your kindness and intent are misconstrued, and do not ravel in trying to fix it the second time. Eventually, you'll move on and the recipient will mull over the message and why you didn't give them more to misconstrue. Silence really is golden.

6. Don't fall into the mental beliefs and traps of others. Instead, be constructive in releasing yourself from your own. You are your own guru. Don't count on someone willing to make you feel guilty for not applying their beliefs into yours.

7. You are not always going to be understood–and that’s okay. Be proud that you made the decision to speak!

And there you have it!  I got some things off my own chest and hope that they've inspired you.  I tried not to sound all folksy, but that's just the way it came out.  Nevertheless, be encouraged.  

Friday, August 1, 2014

Gladstone's Serpents

Feels like I just read something that’s a cross between the video game Mirror’s Edge, the early 90s cartoon Pirates of Dark Water, and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.  Interestingly strange blend, but somehow those three seem to linger like an aftertaste.  I can only hope that you're familiar with either of the three as I attempt to shed a little on how I came to that conclusion.  For starters, Two Serpents Rise is the second book in Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence series, but it’s not an immediate sequel to the first book, Three Parts Dead.  Therefore, Tara isn't present here.  Which was probably one of my initial disappointments and reasons for hesitating to even pick up the book.  Eventually I got over it; and if you've read the first book, don't let this realization stop you either.  Each book takes place in the same world, with at least the same magic system and engaging sense of corporate politics in an unknown fantasy world (sometimes I envision a steampunk setting).  And guess what, it’s all good still!

So the God Wars has ended some decades now (as noted in Three Parts Dead) and a new fiscal and governing system has been in order over the city of Dresediel Lex.  An immortal skeleton known as The Red King fought in the God Wars, won, and has basically taken over the economic and governing obligations that the old gods once upheld in the city.  The Red King supports Dresediel Lex's many utilities through his corporation, Red King Consolidated.  And while many of Dresediel Lex’s citizen has moved away from celebrating and worshiping gods in favor of The Red King's support, a small minority has not.  That would include a few willing to destroy Dresediel Lex by reviving some of the old, slumbering gods to full power.  Not only would this knock out The Red King's sovereignty, but it would also forward the politicking for the gods' revival. 


Bright Mirror Reservoir provides Dresediel Lex’s water supply, and is monitored/treated by Red King Consolidated.  One evening a batch of mysterious water demons are released into the reservoir, polluting the city’s water supply.  For any individual who finds him or herself reaching for a faucet, they risk the release of the Tizmet demon, a carnivorous flesh eater that can split and rearrange itself into multiples.  However, Red King Consolidated quickly manages to close off the polluted segment of the reservoir, trapping the Tizmet... for now...  


In enters Red King Consolidated’s risk manager, Caleb Altemoc, to investigate the scene.  Before the night is over, his investigation leads him to a potential witness to the reservoir's contamination.  The witness's name is Mal, and she’s a cliff runner–a dare devil of sorts.  Fascinating at her best, Mal hands Caleb a slew of surprises as he unravels his investigation; however, the biggest surprise comes in the form of the love (or lust) Mal awakens in him.  Meanwhile, a few anti-Red King citizens are plotting to dethrone The Red King and awaken the destructive power of the old gods.  It appears that the beginning of their agenda started with the release of the Tizmet demon, a possible means of frightening Dresediel Lex citzens into supplication of old gods' graces.  

With a case suddenly in his hands, can Caleb stay focused enough to find the culprit behind the reservoir’s pollution?  And as if Mal’s tugging at Caleb’s emotions weren't enough to deal with, can he deal with encounters with his terrorist father’s conflicting desires to power up Dresediel Lex’s old system of honoring gods through the use of human sacrifices?  Which is certainly an additional complication to Caleb's investigation. Nevertheless, that’s where Two Serpents Rise takes off as a tangling fantasy featuring old gods, disclosures, sorcery, corporate fraud, and… love (?).


Two Serpents Rise has this sort of Mesoamerican flavor to it. This makes it slightly different from the previous book, Three Parts Dead. So while Two Serpents Rise is fantasy, the majority of its world-building comes dressed around what I thought of as pre-Columbian Maya or Aztec Empire-like culture. It doesn’t reference this period specifically (maybe because its fantasy); however, you gather as much in characters with names such as Kopil, Alaxic, Kekapania and Teo. Furthermore, you have sea gods named Qet and so on and so forth.  Still, it's the use of ancient sacrificial pyramids reformed into establishments for commerce that really brings color to context of the book.  Nonetheless, with all that said, I came to the conclusion that Caleb is Mexican (for all intents and purposes).  This made me appreciate his story even more because it seems like a rarity to find an ethnic protagonist such as Caleb driving a fantasy. 


Caleb's father is known not only as a fugitive for his beliefs in aged traditions, such as human sacrifices to appease old gods, but he is also a Quechal high priest. Seeing that Caleb works for Red King Consolidated, he doesn't hold the same traditional beliefs as his father.  However, he's familiar with them enough to disagree. This father-son relationship adds a purposeful and tense element.  It also fits perfectly when the conflicting theme of Two Serpents Rise is the revolutionary shift from old methods of survival to contemporary forms of economic profusion. As well as questions regarding the price each method requires to keep a civilization running smoothly, and the risk some are willing to take to forward their personal vision for the old.

I found all of this plus more to be a complete and utter win. And while it wasn't as compound and thick on the mystery side as I'd hoped, I have to say that I did enjoy speculating which character was up to no good in Gladstone’s cast. In that sense, it read slightly like a mystery with the small exception of that fantasy-pulsing prose that I sometimes found distracting. You know, prose where a character is doing something active such as running, but it’s laid out in a narrative decked with analogies related to… I don't know… stars and tumbling through space. Not that that’s bad, but for someone who likes to puzzle over and solve mysteries as they unfold, sometimes I just need the scene and not an overload of "vision sequences" and spinning rooms. Though, respectfully, is perfect for the genre Two Serpents Rise is written in.


And incidentally, I want to put aside P. D. James's Mind of Murder to step into the third book in Gladstone's series. (^_^)

Friday, July 25, 2014

Slow Days in July

Just a few random pictures I took with my phone over the week.  My best friend and I were downtown eating and trolling through the open-air market and other historical sites when we remembered that we hadn't taken any pictures.  Combine that with my forgetfulness for writing this week's events down in my journal, and I decided to just post a few pictures on the blog as a means of cheating.


These lofts are kind of a dream home of mine.  I have a vision board, but this place isn't up there yet.  Nonetheless, it's at the forefront of my desires.  If PCH sent me a check (or I made good money from doing what I love), I would vouch for a top floor corner unit facing West.  Lots of natural air and light.

I always tell people that staying here would be the one reason to keep me in town while my heart sings to move Westward or three hours East (again).  Still, I really am fond of this dream I have of staying in this place.  For at least a year!


While it is terribly small and slow, I love my city's downtown area.  It's filled with not only historical homes/buildings, but also little alleyways and nooks perfect for exploring on foot.  Not to mention areas of cobbled road.  Oh, and ghosts!  Nevertheless, the area is growing every day.  The detective story I started writing two years ago takes place in a fictional downtown inspired by my own.

The building on the right was built in 1821 for cotton traders.  It's now a restaurant where you can get crispy skinned gulf red snapper for $31.  Needless to say, I just admire the building as I walk along.


A small area of historical homes and stores preserved as a museum and touring location.  If you're from here, chances are you took a field trip out here in the third grade.


The building we're standing on is where in July of 2004 (ten years ago exact) I went to apply for a job as an extra in a movie that was filming in our city.  For two long days I worked toward my screen "debut" as a military man waiting to board a train.  I got sprayed with a hosepipe as a form of rain, and ate Salisbury steak underneath a tent separate from the leading actors–which included Gabrielle Union and Billy Dee Williams.  That was super cool!   

A month or so later, I got a $110 check for my work.  It was a check that I desperately needed at the time because I didn't have a job.  In any regard, being an extra in a movie was a great and treasured event.

That's all I got for now.  Thanks, everyone for stopping by.  I really didn't want to let this pictures stay tucked away in my phone. (^_^)

A Little Gladstone


Book three in Max Gladstone's The Craft Sequence series (I'm hoping his publisher offered him another contract) has finally arrived at my doorstep! Yippee! Right on time, because I'm more than halfway done with book two, Two Serpents Rise.  (Update: I'm done with it.) Thinking today is a good day to relax and finish it, especially after another day at the 9-5. However, I don't think I'm going to go right into Full Fathom Five afterwards. I want Gladstone's world to simmer for a minute.

You know... it's really interesting. The reason I picked up Gladstone's first book [Three Parts Dead] was because the cover featured a woman of color. Mix that with the genre he writes in (which is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy... among further genre-blending), and I was sold. Immediately, I became determined to get to know him and his work. With the passing of Octavia Butler and L. A. Banks (to name a few), it's not common to find this kind of diversity in sci-fi/fantasy novels. At least not to the extent that the lead character is of an ethnic flavor. Nonetheless, the reason I mentioned diversity and covers is because Full Fathom Five features an Asian woman alongside a black woman–my definitive fantasy combination. Which is no surprise when you consider how Toni Morrison and Amy Tan are my absolute favorite authors! Funny, eh?

First book in Gladstone's Craft Sequence series.  See the cover?  That's Tara!

Happy Reading, everyone!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Unbox Me


Here we go.  Time to unbox the latest batch of BookOutlet books.  I suppose I can't resist a deal, and saving $10 when you spend a total of $30 is too good a deal to ignore.  Especially when the books are less than $7.  So you can look at it two ways: either you're getting free shipping or a free book.  Makes no difference.  You must indulge yourself!


Freshly opened and free of packing paper (and mysteriously missing a packing slip).  I'm already super excited at this point.  I like how BookOutlet always makes it seems like there are less books than you actually ordered.  But still, I can already tell I'll need to rearrange my bookshelves again.  Including placing the remainders of my last order off my desk and somewhere appropriate until I find the mood to read them.


As I mentioned in a recent POST, I finished the first book [Hotel Paradise] in Martha Grimes's Emma Graham series.  Immediately, I just had to have the remaining three books in Emma's series.  Like... it was that serious.  So I'm happy I found them all in one go!  The series order goes as: Hotel Paradise, Cold Flat Junction, Belle Ruin, and Fadeaway Girl.  Still, I'm going to wait before I jump into book two.  I have to catch up on another author first, then it's back to Emma Graham's world.



Two copies of Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi suddenly popped up on the BookOutlet's listings.  They're the original hardbacks–which is extra, extra cool.  And made for a quick, compulsive snatched.  The original hardbacks have tons more character than the current paperbacks (speaking about the covers).  So what better way to start collecting them in this form than with the first book in the Kinsey Millhone series?  A Mind to Murder is book two in P. D. James's Adam Dalgliesh series.  After reading the first book, Cover Her Face, finding book two screams WIN!


Max Gladstone's Two Serpents Rise is the second book in his Craft Sequence series.  Released in October of 2013, I've waited this long to finally pick it up.  Why?  Because book three, Full Fathom Five, just released and I'm behind.  Basically, I have to catch up.  Max Gladstone is great.  Like Steve Bein, I'm starting to notice that I like male urban fantasy writers more than female–which is very unusual.  But it has to do with how the romance aspects are mostly snuffed off by male authors.  That's just the damn truth.  Give me the great characters, the world-building, the unique plotting.  Leave all the sex chat and werewolf gazing out.  

Nonetheless, Gladstone's series reflects the democracies of corporate America (but not necessarily American) inside urban fantasy, extreme world-building fantasy, and a few other genre-bending elements.  As I await my copy of Full Fathom Five, I'm sinking my teeth into this one.  I'll be back Emma Graham.

Thanks, everyone.  Do you love BookOutlet?  And what're you reading this summer?  Share in the comment section below!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Paradise & Old Murders


"Life was hard, but I was resolute."
~ Emma Graham, Hotel Paradise

I missed the voice of twelve-year-old Emma Graham the second I finished Martha Grimes’s Hotel Paradise.  And lucky me, BookOutlet had a $10-dollars-off-when-you-spend-$30 deal happening.  Even more thrilling, the remaining three books in Emma Graham’s series was in stock.  SOLD!  I packed my e-cart then went about my gleeful business.  As I write this–days after reading Hotel Paradise–I have yet to find myself lost in another book.  I'm currently struggling through Marlon James’s The Book of Night Women, because it’s apparent that what I really want is more Emma Graham.  Crazy, right?  Has this ever happened to you?

Emma Graham reminds me of myself when I was twelve, and on forward.  She pays close attention to adults.  She asks questions without much regard.  Sometimes those questions are attached to requests for favors.  She also speaks most of her mind to adults, but knows when to hold back for her own, stealthy advantage.  She’s the definition of precocious and brassy, but never to the point where she becomes an unlikable smart-ass.  Tack on how hilarious and perceptive she is, and not once did I feel any dislike for her.  

Most of that is probably because I understood where she was coming from.  She and her family resides and works (she waits tables) in a lakefront resort hotel called Hotel Paradise.  They somewhat inherited it through Emma's father, but not quite with Emma's biting great-aunt hanging over the place from her fourth floor bedroom.  Nonetheless, Emma's mother is the busy head chief at the Hotel Paradise (my mother was always busy and left me to my own devices sometimes); her brother is a charming prankster who is best to avoid (my younger sister got away with murder); and her father has long passed (yeah, well not mine).  Like myself Emma kind of has herself, her intrusiveness, and her imagination.  With the exception of a handful of townies to help her along the way, she stood on her own resolve.  And it was Emma’s imagination, intrusiveness, and resolve that affixed her to the forty-year-old "accidental" murder of a woman named Mary-Evelyn.  See, many moons ago a local resident named Mary-Evelyn climbed aboard a small boat that lead her out onto the lake adjacent to the Hotel Paradise.  She never came home alive.  This is where Hotel Paradise takes off... but never quite lands...

Martha Grimes
There are several things that you have to kind of take note of before you begin reading Hotel Paradise. The first is that it’s not your conventional mystery at all. Apparently, Martha Grimes gets a little flack for this from some readers, and even I had trouble kind of calculating what she was attempting to do with the spread of her plot. So with that said, do not go into Hotel Paradise thinking this is a case of page-turning suspense. Not quite. Even with two murders for Emma to break her sleuthing teeth on. The book is leisurely. The investigation process is leisurely. The town(s) Emma tromps through is leisurely. However, what’s not leisurely is Emma’s wit and commitment. Nor is Grimes’s rich characterizations of the other townies, Emma’s nemeses, and the interesting theories surrounding her investigation. Those elements are opulent in details, and makes up the bulk of the book.  As they should, because even toward the end not a damned thing is resolved. Everything–and I mean everything–is up in the air. And you know what? I loved it like that!

Another aspect about this book that you should probably consider is that Hotel Paradise doesn't have a set location. You'll quickly realize that it’s a small town somewhere in America, even if it comes across as somewhere in the United Kingdom. Or some place specific like Keswick, Cumbria. But no. You’ll realize that it’s American, and mostly through the attributing dialogue. It still doesn't quite cover the feel of the story, though. Which brings up another allure within the book: there is no definition of time and/or age. The book was published in 1996. However, that doesn't mean a thing when it reads a touch like something Frances Hodgson Burnett [The Secret Garden] wrote in the early 20th century. It’s both a funny and haunting thing; and all part of Emma’s voice and the magic of a narrative that draws you into its world.

In closing, Hotel Paradise is not for everyone. Part of me wants to push recommending it, and another doesn't. What I can say is that if you like the traditional mystery set up, then you just may want to stay away. However, if you got time for a slow book with a great leading narrative (who is at her best because of her age), then Hotel Paradise just might work for you. Anyway, I can’t wait for book two, Cold Flat Junction.


Some of Emma

"...Why make a fuss about such a little thing? is always my mother's fuming response as she bangs around the pots and pans preparing to shut down for the night.  All she wants is some peace and quiet.  Well, I say, all I want is some white meat of chicken."

"I kept the butterfly box, which I'd made from a small carton that once held Hunt's tomato sauce, for I had gone to a lot of trouble making the plastic-covered window, and I might be able to use it for something else."

"I stood before the candy-display case looking at the lineup of Butterfingers and Necco wafers and keeping my own ears open.  When I left the kitchen, I remembered I'd want some money, so I crossed the grass to the other wing and went up to my room to collect some of my tips.  I took a dollar in change along, which I jiggled in my fist whenever Mr. Britten looked my way, just to let him know I was here on business and not to loiter like some other people I could mention."

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

More CRAZED!

So, I can not finish writing about Ha Jin's The Crazed without sharing one of my favorite "ramblings" from Professor Yang.  I found the preceding passages too thought-provoking to ignore, as it asks a great question regarding Western and Eastern poetry voices and mechanics.  It also reflects one of the overall arguments of the novel.  

"He lifted his face and began lecturing in his normal way.  'Comrades, when we analyze a Western poem, we should bear in mind that the speaker and the poet are rarely identical.  The fundamental difference between Chinese poetry and Western poetry lies in the use of the persona.  In the Chinese poetic tradition the poet and the poetic speaker are not separate except in some minor genres, such as laments from the boudoir and folk ballads.  Ancient Chinese poets mostly speak as themselves in their poems; the sincerity and the trustworthiness of the poetic voice are the essential virtues of their poetry.  Chinese poets do not need a persona to alienate themselves from their poetic articulation.  By contrast, in Western literature poets often adopt a persona to make their poetry less autobiographical.  They believe in artifice more than in sincerity.  Therefore, when we read a Western poem, we must not assume that the poet speaks.  In general the speaker is fictional, not autobiographical.'"

"'The essence of Western culture is the self, whereas the essence of the Chinese culture is the community.  But poetry in both cultures has a similar function, that is, to express and preserve the self, though it attains this goal through different ways.  In Chinese culture, poetry liberates and sustains the self despite the fact that the self is constantly under the overwhelming pressure of the community.  Thus Chinese poets tend to speak as themselves, too earnest to worry about having a characterized voice to conceal their own–they desperately need the genuine self-expression in poetic articulation.  In other words, the self is liberated in poetic speech, which is essentially cathartic to the Chinese poet.  On the contrary, in Western culture poetry tends to shield and enrich the self, which on the one hand is threatened by other human beings and on the other hand has to communicate with others.  Therefore, the persona becomes indispensable if Western poets intend to communicate and commiserate with others without exposing themselves vulnerably.  In this sense, the persona as a poetic device functions to multiply the self.'"

Seeing that Ha Jin is a poet himself, he must've been channeling himself through Professor Yang intensely during this moment/scene from The Crazed.  Nonetheless, I have to say that I need to familiarize myself with more poetry by Chinese poets to even construct a decent response.  Nevertheless, it all bears a thought.  However, what I will say from a cultural and societal standpoint is that I can most certainly see how Eastern cultures focus on the community/country as a collective; whereas in the West we do lean toward many of our inner, personal philosophies and identities as individuals.  If this is reflected between–say an American poet over a Chinese poet–then I wouldn't be surprised should I come to that conclusion after exploring each.

So what do you think?  Is there some reality behind Professor Yang's thoughts in relation to poetry and cultural differences?

As a minor sidenote, this whole post/subject kind of makes me think of those moments where I'm screaming at whatever current Korean drama I'm watching.  Watching a character bow, move, get slapped, and honor abuse to save face for him or herself, as well as to not embarrass or make another character uncomfortable, often gets to me and my Western way of thinking.  But that's neither here nor there.  It just is what is is.  I understand it completely, while knowing that if I were in that situation it would take every bit of me to hold myself back.

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