Here's to You, Ray!

photo by Alan Light, 1975.

I just can't say enough good things about Ray Bradbury. You cannot call yourself American without having read, "Farenheit 451," his genius novel about censorship. Most of us were required to read it in high school and for good reason. It's a classic!

But I knew him earlier. Ever since he first scandalized me in junior high with a one-sentence chapter in "Something Wicked This Way Comes," I've been hooked. He seems to slough off conventions in order to tell the story the way it needs to be told while evoking vivid sights and smells and provoking new ideas.

Of all his works, "Dandelion Wine," is my favorite. It is an ode to boyhood and summer. And it's sequel, "Farewell Summer," is pretty great too. He can instantly transport me to Greentown, Illinois on my 9th birthday, though I've never been there, nor have I ever tasted vanilla-lime ice, nor been chased home by a killer at midnight.

If you prefer his science fiction, may I recommend "The Martian Chronicles," a novel written like a series of short stories telling loosely the history of our colonization of Mars. It contains the genius "The House of Usher II," an allusion to Poe, but about Martians of course.

My most recent Bradbury read, "Now and Forever," contains two novellas, "Somewhere a Band is Playing," and "Leviathan '99."

"Somewhere" treats you to the best of his 'nostalgia' writing in which he invites you to see and smell the things he holds most dear in real life, like buckets of cream cooling in the shadows, or the dripping refrigerator, or the cat sitting on your chest while you sleep, breathing your air.

I cannot attest to the genius of "Leviathan" because I have not read "Moby Dick" nor even seen the movie which uses the screenplay penned by Bradbury. But if you are a Melville fan, you might find this story of a mad space captain chasing the tail of a white comet fascinating. One of Bradbury's characters mentions reading every other chapter of "Moby Dick" while in Mystic Seaport. I wonder, I just wonder if Ray ever did that.

Your words for the week, gleaned from "Now and Forever:"

natty - neat or smart in appearance or dress.

panoply - complete or full display, as in dress, armor, show of military power, etc.

gantry - a frame of scaffolding used to support an upright rocket before launch.

jerkwater - insignificant, out of the way.

My Antonia

Having grown up in Nebraska, I feel ashamed that I made it through high school without having read any of Willa Cather's writing. I took my re-education into my own hands and downloaded My Antonia to my kindle. Though it wasn't my favorite book ever, I do appreciate how clearly she showed me life for the early settlers of Nebraska and life in Red Cloud. 

I read in one of the comments on Amazon, that Cather in explaining the book to a friend, plunked a vase or something onto the table and explained that it represented her heroine, and her goal was to show her from all angles. Alas, my (little) scholarly research won't substantiate the story, but if that was her intention, then she accomplished it. Antonia (or Tony) is not the main character, but we see her through the eyes of the narrator throughout the course of their lives. 

The writing in My Antonia is rich and dense. Cather really knows how to turn prose into near poetry. And she creates lasting images, like an abandoned plow on the horizon magnified at sunset. Here are a few words I gleaned from the novel:

gelding - a castrated horse.

grizzled - hair streaked with gray. 

lassitude - fatigue or languor.

disapprobation - disapproval on moral grounds.

freshet - the overflow of a stream due to melting snows. 

Miss Marple Takes a Vacation

She's gonna getcha!

I don't know what you're going to do with me. When I look at some of my older posts, I can tell I was trying to impress you with what books I was reading. Let's be honest. The last five books I've read have been by Agatha Christie. So, I guess if you don't have a problem with that, we can still be friends!

I bought a handful of Christies at a terrific used book store earlier this summer. Why someone would want to de-Christie their bookshelves is beyond me, but I get the better end of the stick, so to speak.

Despite it's mid-century green cover, A Caribbean Mystery was a first-rate read. Miss Marple takes a vacation to the West Indies and gets herself mixed up in murder.

In general I can figure out Miss Marple mysteries quicker than her Poirot stories, but this one got me. It shouldn't have, but what can I say. Plus it had some great words!

doyen - the oldest or most experienced of a group.

houri - a beautiful virgin in the muslim afterlife.

badinage - playful repartee of speech

datura - plant from India, also an hallucinogenic.

Summer Sparklers III: The Puzzlers

Yes, I'm still hooked on my puzzles. I love it when the cruciverbalist surprises me by using an unconventional shape or modifying the rules, such as giving me all the words but no clues, and I have to figure out how to fit the words together based solely on how many letters they have.

Surprise, it's a flower!

A diagonal crossword?!

Nope, not a crossword at all. It's plaid.

Sometimes, I get really stuck on a clue. Most of these head-scratchers are either names of European rivers or former public figures. But sometimes its just a simple word and solving the clues around it only gives me what appears to be a random slew of letters that can't make any word at all. Those are the puzzles I can't finish...until I peek in the back. 

Here are some of those "puzzlers:"

Ogee - a double curve, like the shape of an "S;" or a pointed arch made from two "S's."

Dele - to delete, or the act of deleting. (I looked it up, it's a genuine word, pronounced DEE-lee, mostly used by editors. Don't ask me how it's any shorter to say "delete" without a "t," especially in conjugation, but that's why they're the editors, and I'm a mere writer.)

Lanai - a porch. (The word is Hawaiian, but has been conscripted into everyday use.)

Edema - a surface swelling of plants. (Not to be confused with turgor pressure, which is what I tried to fill into the puzzle. It had too many letters.)

Summer Sparklers Part 2

I just can't quit these crosswords.

The "easy" ones don't take me too long, so I just race through them, one after the other, so that I can get to the "mediums." Those slow me down a little bit, but I persevere, because I have this need to get to the "hard" section. I can't just skip to it. I have to do the puzzles in order, and I must finish puzzle number 20 before I start 21. Well, don't hate me if I peek in the back for one or two clues. Some of these pop culture references are a little above my head.

Here are some more "Sparklers!" Also, please enjoy more plaid from my Real Woodsman Collection.

Oleo - margarine. (If you're doing crossword puzzles from the 80's, like me, you need to know this word. They're going to try to sneak it in on you with clues like "muffin topper.")

Olio - a hodgepodge, or potpourri, really of anything. (They throw this one in to make you think it's Oleo, and then the "E" won't work for the crossing clue.)

Lira - Italian money. (You'll see this in every puzzle. Every. Puzzle.)

Icer - Someone who frosts cakes or cookies. (I think it's a made-up word, but that doesn't stop them from using it. I'm going to use it next time I stop at Eileen's.)

Summer Sparklers

I've been filling out crossword puzzles like nobody's business lately. I just can't seem to put my pen down and write a blogpost! It seems I've been neglecting this site, and my agent has been breathing down my neck to post. I told him you couldn't rush perfection. Then I asked him for a five-letter word for a nag. Just kidding.

Do you remember that Sandra Bullock movie where Sandra plays a cruciverbalist? I'm pretty sure she didn't win an oscar for it, but I laughed a lot, so that's a plus. That movie taught me the word, cruciverbalist: one who writes crossword puzzles. And as Sandra's character said, the words must "sparkle."

To celebrate cruciverbalism (not a real word), I've comprised a list of "sparklers" that keep making appearances in my May1998 crossword puzzle book. For some reason the good ones all start with "E."

Epee - a fencing sword; also the art of fencing.

Ewer - a pitcher of water kept next to the bed.

Elan - French for joy or exuberance. 

Ewe - (I know, not the most erudite word, but it's in every puzzle!) a female sheep.

Eclat - acclaim, reputation. (I think the real definition is more complicated than that, but I don't think I can explain it. It is also French.)

The Lights Have Arrived

This week marks the release of my second book, Thus Arrived the Lights, on Amazon Kindle. It follows a motley cast of characters as their lives are turned upside down by the appearance of The Lights. David, the struggling magician, can't stop talking about what he saw, while Richard, the pilot, wants none of the attention he's receiving. And what do the lights have to do with the death of some woman twenty-some years ago? As these men are chased closer to the truth, they discover Someone doesn't like them looking...

Here is a sample of the delicious words inside:

benthos - the floor of the ocean. Or as I use it, the floor of the soul.

repetend - something repeated (such as a chorus or mantra.)

brontide - the noise of an earthquake.

rictus - a grotesquely twisted mouth.

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