Myth, the Universe, and Everything

Picking the novels to come along with me as international travelers this year was a challenge. I packed course books and extra resources and had to hem and haw over which novels I would take along for this project. I also have a tendency to buy books while I'm abroad, so along with the large number of books in my bag, I knew I'd come home with more. Such is the way of traveling readers!

( Books on the road! )

So that's this year's tour. Now back to uploading more of my photos for the students!

We're a week into the New Year, and I haven't really put together a list of resolutions. I'm not sure that I will. I do have a goal of forming an actual spiritual practice (rather than a haphazard spiritual observance). The same is true of my writing. I think I lost track of my apprenticeship somewhere along the way and need to get back on the right path.

But 2009 is looking pretty exciting for a number of reasons. Here's some of what's coming up:

1) Substrate. This is my new, semi-local writing group! Since we're based out of New Haven, it's very local to me, but some of the writers will be coming from Boston and D.C., so it'll be a trek. Luckily, New Haven is an old stomping ground for everyone but me (as the person who has spent the least amount of time living here on Connecticut's shoreline, or so I believe), so the writing group meetings can be combined with other events as well. Like, say, D&D games.

2) Baeg Tobar. I've gotten involved with BT again, and am very excited to be working with Scott and Jeremy and Daniel and the BT crew. There are some amazing things in store for the site this year, including serial fiction, short stories, and a regularly updating web comic.

3) England. I've been invited to be the TA/driver/chaperon for the Simon's Rock England Trip in May of this year. The last time I was in England was 2003, when my sister and I went on our (now infamous, I'm sure) Isle of Man trip, where we were attacked by gulls and almost fell into the Chasms. (I exaggerate only slightly.) We'd begun the trip in England, and we stayed in Glastonbury for a good chunk of it. I am very excited to return, and hope to become reacquainted with Geoffrey and Pat Ashe. I've fallen out of touch with the Arthurian scholar and his wife in recent years, and am looking forward to seeing them again.

4) Getting past 1st level. My Mythic Greece players, with the exception of the one who is currently nannying in England (and so hasn't made the past few sessions) are all second level. Also, I got a GM medal at Worlds Apart for running sessions there. (They were shocked with how excited I was with a little virtual medal, but I am constantly in awe of how well we're treated there. They are good people, and if you're near Pioneer Valley and in need of a game store, they should be your go-to point.)

5) Since it's up on the site, I think it's fair to announce that my LFR module, "Head above Water," is premiering at DDXP this year. I won't be going to Fort Wayne to usher it into the world, but I'm really excited to have it given such an excellent spot to begin play!

6) Dogs in the Vineyard. The old Dogs game is coming to a close, and the new Dogs game is ramping up. There are fun times waiting to happen.

7) Another Shoreline summer. There will be sailing, there will be beach cook outs, there will probably be grill outs in our new back yard. (We moved in December.) I may be dreaming in advance about sunshine, but man am I looking forward to beach weather!

8) A million things to read. Moving made me consolidate my TBR pile--the ones I've actually *purchased* and not just added to the list in my head. I'd take a picture, but it's a bit embarrassing. Add to that the number of awesome authors with books coming out this year (or just released): frost_light, melissa_writing, ilona_andrews, sartorias, jimhines, Carrie Vaughn, rkvincent, blue_succubus, antonstrout, amanda_marrone, jenlyn_b, m_stiefvater, mdhenry, nalini_singh... all of them on my Must Be Read list. (And that's just with what I know from livejournals or can back up with Amazon research. Heck, that's mostly for the first six months of this year.)

So, yes, 2009 is looking up. I know, I'm probably one of the few people in the world who is sad to see 2008 go, but it was a good year for me, as far as my short stories getting published, and I'm pretty pleased with it on retrospect. But, as they say, onward and upward!

Nearly all of my B&N preorders have shipped and should be arriving on my porch in the next few days. So I'd like to take this moment to wish a happy Book Birthday (in some cases, belated from earlier this week) to:

• frost_light's One Foot in the Grave,


• melissa_writing's Ink Exchange, and


• shanna_s's Don't Hex with Texas

Welcome to the world, books!

--

Quick notes on why I've gone missing lately (and a further demonstration that I am actually learning html coding--the more that I use it, I figure the less I'll have to look it up every time I want to bullet a list). Since last Friday I:

• Read the first chapter of The Lightning Thief aloud at a storyreading night.


• Ran three Xen'drik Expeditions D&D games.


• Committed my very first TPK as a DM.


• Finished going over the edits for the d20 Steampunk Musha Player's Guide.


• Signed a copy of Into the Reach for a facebook friend who managed to find one used and mailed it to me.


• Wrote a review for Flames Rising.


• Wrote a biographical essay about Marc Aronson (which was incredibly fun--he's a great representative for nonfiction for younger readers, and when John Scieszka's term as National Ambassador for Children's Literature ends, Aronson should be a serious candidate).


• Read Nalini Singh's award winning paranormal romance Caressed by Ice, which I ended up very much enjoying, despite its having two themes that normally make me put a book down (a serial killer/stalker as a major threat and one of the characters having been raped--the former which really doesn't ever sit well with me, but worked out, and the latter of which Singh handled in such a way that the healing process was compelling rather than distressing).


• Watched The Sting with my husband.

Huh, it felt like so much more before I wrote the list. At any rate, it's been very busy around here, and I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading while not falling behind on my schedule of assignments. We'll see how that goes.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the congratulations in the notes to my entry about getting selected for the MWP project. Your encouragement was really a buoy in the current crashing waves of deadlines, and I appreciate it!

And as a second quick entry, melissa_writing and frost_light both had brilliant February 5th entries on subjectivity in publishing. It's always heartening to see that people who are enjoying success had to struggle for it, just like the rest of us who are flailing away, hoping to place our work. The entries are definitely worth reading, so pop over.

All right, Karen, here's the rough start. We'll try conversational at first, rather than formal essay, because this is a blog and because I don't have a formal introduction or conclusion, just an opinionated thesis. ;)

Topic: Use of Mythology in Fiction (and what elements of mythology actually count)

( Read more... )

My general thesis is that there's a lot more to mythology than monsters, and in fact, monsters are such a small part of mythology that it's a shame how many people consider them the whole of it. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dragon tale. (The Book Dragon is my very favorite, and I'd love to find it again.) But just because a book has dragons doesn't mean it's using legends or mythology as a background. And even if the books, like the Harry Potter series, use legends as the background for how mythical creatures act, if that's not a major part of the tale, then the mythology is just an aside. For some stories, that's absolutely how it should be. For others, like Wicked Lovely and the "Percy Jackson" books, the mythology is so integral to the tale that the stories are seeped in it. Both are valid techniques, and both are completely enjoyable.

But if you want to talk about using mythology, it's the latter category that gets the gold star.