Myth, the Universe, and Everything

• Mary Pearson takes a stab at what YA books are all about at Tor.com. I find her prejudices against adult novels interesting, since I go exactly the opposite way about my adult reading (I have no need to read books I should have "grown into" by now). I do wish she'd delved a little more into what makes Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels book a YA title -- I read it and didn't particularly like it (I expected to like it very much; it's fairy tales, twisted and changed, but they almost all end hopelessly, and I didn't feel I got more out of either the original tales or anything out of the new versions). I also could not for the life of me figure out why it was a teen book -- it didn't seem to be geared toward a teen audience; it didn't feature teens as protagonists; there weren't really any coming of age stories that I noted. I'd hate to think it was just YA because it was a fairy tale collection, and thus relegated to the "not for grown-ups" section. (Via janni.)
  
  
• Like government conspiracy theories? Then you'll be fascinated to read about how the attack on the Death Star may have been an inside job. The facts just don't line up, people! (Via janni.)
  
  
• Last year at this time, Halloween flash fiction and monster descriptions got posted up at Flames Rising. The link provides a list of the entries from last year (including my own Hounds of the Morrigan).
  
  
• SLJ ran an interesting article about librarians as truth detectors, whose job is helping users sort out trustworthy information from information that needs to be debunked.
  
  
• What should you not put in a query letter to an agent? Goals to write multiple books per year for multiple houses. That may eventually be your style, but your potential agent may be suspicious of your promise to write four to five books a year before you've worked with an editor at a publishing house to experience the whole editorial process. (Via irysangel.)
  
  
• Friend of the blog cinda_cite posted a lovely entry last week about living local fiction, which is something I think about quite a bit in both my own writing and in my UF reading. She also brings in some Tolkien-esque tips on subcreation.
  
  
• I'm a bit late posting on the new FTC regulations, so you may have already heard about the new rules for blog reviews. Apparently, getting an ARC or review copy of a book from a publisher is considered compensation, and must be disclosed. (The FTC is under the impression that reviewers return copies of the book they receive to the publishers. Huh?) There's also some discouragement about linking to sites where you can purchase the books, as this would then be considered a paid advertisement. I'm not sure whether the disclosure allows you to then freely link to a purchasing site or not. At any rate, expect to hear whether or not I received a book as an ARC when I mention it here.
  
  
• PW ran a good article about the growing market for digital comics.
  
  
• This week's NYTBR ran an interesting review of classics without universal appeal, prompted by the new film version of Where the Wild Things Are.
  
  
• An amateur metal detector uncovered the largest Anglo-Saxon gold hoard ever found. Larger than the cache found at Sutton Hoo, one of the major Anglo-Saxon sites in England, this hoard was recovered in a field in Stratfordshire.
  
  
• Jeri Smith-Ready is running an ongoing YA prize-a-day for October, to celebrate the five-year anniversary of her blog (congratulations!), as she gets closer to her new YA book release.
  

In the last year or two, I have become fascinated with storytelling mediums that use more than just words to communicate narratives or recall them to mind. The great myths and legends of humanity have long been depicted in non-narrative works of art like marble statues, stained-glass windows, and totem poles. I have recently become fascinated with a much newer form of narrative art: the comic book.

Comic books combine images and words to tell stories. These could be stories of any kind, though stories about superheroes seem to have dominated the medium. My recent interest in comics got sparked late last year when I heard that Neil Gaiman was writing two new comic books about Batman. I knew Neil Gaiman as an award-winning fantasy and science-fiction novelist, but I had just discovered that he began his writing career with comic books. (His popular comic series The Sandman, seventy-five issues that ran from 1989-1996, has been reprinted in eleven volumes that are still in print.)

Gaiman was slated to write his two new issues about Batman's death, which certainly surprised me at first. But Batman would have to die, I suppose, and his death would be an important part of the overall Batman story. The two Gaiman comics came out in the spring, and I could not have been more impressed with them. The setting is Batman's funeral. The wide range of guests at the funeral includes Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, the Penguin, and even Superman. Batman's spirit is somehow there, as well, observing his own funeral.

Some of the guests come forward to pay their respects. Catwoman speaks first, recounting their meeting and describing how Batman died in her pet shop. Alfred speaks next, describing how young Bruce responded to his parents' murder and how that led to his death -- but I should quickly point out that Alfred's story is completely different than Catwoman's story! Seven other characters also tell different stories of Batman's untimely death throughout the two issues.

Gaiman's comics resonated with my interest in and study of myth on two counts:

• First, storytellers throughout history have incorporated elements from other stories into their own or retold existing stories with alterations to produce new versions. Gaiman is telling a new story that obviously incorporates existing characters and events created by others. But Gaiman is also re-imagining some of these existing narrative elements. Alfred's story in particular is wickedly clever, in which Alred reveals that he was somehow the Joker. (I believe this story is original to Gaiman. But since I'm not familiar with all the existing Batman stories, please correct me if I'm wrong.)





• Second, the approach to the world that produces myth and art often concerns itself with the subjective experiences of meaning and significance rather than with objective facts. By using a frame narrative to place the accounts of Batman's death into the mouths of characters in the story, Gaiman puts the emphasis on these subjective experiences. All nine stories discuss what Batman's death might mean or signify, and they all ring "true" in their own way -- even if they could not all be factually accurate.

You can find these two new issues at your local comic shop by asking for Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853. DC Comics last month released a hardcover book containing these two issues (along with three earlier Batman comics written by Gaiman), which is available at Amazon and other booksellers. I would highly recommend these two issues, even if, like me, you have had little previous exposure to comics.

• The creation of civilization. The law-givers and philosopher kings. Moses, David, Jesus; Plato, Socrates, Aristotle.


• The spread of civilization throughout the "known world." The warrior kings. Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar and the Roman legions. Charlemagne and the knights in shining armor.


• The spread of civilization across the Atlantic. Explorers such as Leif Ericsson, Columbus, and Magellan. Pioneers such as the Spaniards (in New Spain), the Pilgrims, and the Colonials. Civilizers such as Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.


• The spread of civilization around the globe. America as the world's source material (Walt Disney, John Wayne, Michael Jordan). America as the world's shining beacon (American GIs, JFK and Camelot, the astronauts). America as the world's superpower (Reagan, Bush, Powell).