Ahem:
Spellcrafting for Life: The Art of Crafting and Casting for Positive Change
by A. Murphy-Hiscock
SHIP DATE: May
PUBLICATION DATE: June
Category: New Age
Trim Size: 6 x 9, 272 pp.
Price $10.95 (Canada $16.95)
ISBN: 1-59337-272-8
World rights
I have an official ISBN. I am grinning like an idiot.
(Later: for those who are scratching their heads, this page from the Library of Congress defines an ISBN. They’re unique; that’s part of the whole drama.)
Orchestra was wonderful! There will only be five celli for the concert – and no, the obnoxious oblivious boy isn’t one of them. Dress rehearsal in Saturday morning, and the concert itself is Sunday night at 7.30. I know, it’s rather soon; because I missed two weeks of rehearsal due to illness, the idea that the concert was still two weeks away was knocking about in my mind. It was a bit of a surprise to me to realise it was four days away, too.
Date: Sunday May 16, 2004
Time: 19.30
Admission: 10$
Address: Valois United Church, 70 Belmont Ave, Pointe-Claire
Mapquest, for those with autos or friends with autos who may be bribed with a ticket and a coffee
STCUM bus from Lionel-Groulx Metro
The Mozart symphony alone is worth the price of admission, but the whole programme is a wonderful treat. I’m really looking forward to it.
Surrealmuse takes a look at art in several different ways. Her subtitle was what really caught my attention: When the muse is alive in anyone, they become an inventive, searching, self-expressing creature.
I found this paragraph in Art & Spirituality:
I envision God as another fellow artist, the master artist with a touch of scientific knowledge, but an artist all the same. Who else but an artist would create such beautiful scenic beaches and mountains? With the same token, the dark side of God’s artistic vision is illustrated in the creation of angry, fiery volcanoes. But God also has a sense of humor, who else could create a platypus?
I thought that might get your attention. Enjoy the site, and think about how your own creativity conveys your spirituality.
NOVELS DELIVERED TO YOUR PHONE: E-mail Opens New Possibilities for Old Medium.
Nowadays the sight of people passing time on the train by sending e-mail with their mobile phones is an everyday occurrence in Japan. This technology has now led to the emergence of a new and unexpected phenomenon: people reading entire novels on their mobile phones.
How… novel.
NAGANO TO LEAD MONTREAL SYMPHONY — Kent Nagano will succeed Charles Dutoit at the orchestra
American conductor Kent Nagano has been named the next music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
The announcement of Nagano’s appointment ends a nearly two-year search that began with the controversial resignation of his successor, Charles Dutoit. Nagano made a splash with the orchestra during guest appearances last season.
Nagano will step down from his post at Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, where he has become a popular part of the city’s musical establishment. He is also music director of the Los Angeles Opera and will take over from Zubin Mehta as music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 2006.
The OSM has been without a conductor for a couple of years now, and Nagano won’t be taking over until 2006. For the National Post article, click here.
In a new interview in Empire magazine, director Mike Newell lays to rest the speculation that GOF would be split into two movies. “As far as I’m concerned it’s absolutely possible to do it in one. I think it would be slightly embarassing to do it in two,” says the director in the March issue of the magazine, available on newstands now.
“Slightly embarrassing.” Interesting phrasing, that.
And –
Mother Owl Stops Work at NASA: A great horned owl has decided Pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the perfect place to hatch her eggs. NASA has stopped work at the site until the babies are born. Just look at that expression – you’d stop work, too.
Apparently there’s another owl nesting where Atlantis is to be launched in the fall too. Coincidence? Maybe Great Horned Owls are monitoring our space program.
(Both tidbits found at The Leaky Cauldron.)
I love Baker’s 12. I really, really do.
Case in point:
meanwhile…
“I told you so.”
“Shut up.”
meanwhile…
It takes a talented and gutsy author to attempt a section of narrative like that. It takes an even rarer author to make it work. (Did I say gutsy? Maybe I mean arrogant. Gutsy just doesn’t describe t! very well. Neither does daring. If I use the word arrogant, I mean it with all respect, of course. And he has every right to be arrogant. He’s good.)
t! is one of those authors who pushes boundaries, limits, and envelopes. I’m using this particular example of his work because Ceri and I were in the room when he created it, and I loved it. (I’d link him here, but I know his site address is about to change, so why increase my update work? Look for the Teddybear Sawdust Show in the links bar to the right.)
How to describe Baker’s 12?
Well, the first thing I’d tell a potential reader is that it’s an exciting, challenging, experimental narrative. It involves the concepts of time travel, and situational ethics, two of my favourites. It’s character-driven as well as plot-driven, and it assumes that you have intelligence. That means it doesn’t cater to the lowest common denominator; I used the word challenging on purpose. It employs elements such as humour, gritty action, historical settings, assumptions, group politics, and red herrings, handling them all with aplomb.
What keeps me reading it? The fact that I can see a pattern emerging. Why did I keep plugging away at it, even though it wasn’t a linear story? The storytelling style, and the characters. I love that I can tell what character is in a particular situation just by the style of dialogue. The older I get, the more impatient I become with description-laden narrative. B12 takes the opposite tack, allowing you, the reader, to co-create the world with the author.
As I hate reading large amounts of text on-line, I recently printed all of B12 out and put it in a binder. I sat up until two in the morning in bed reading by candlelight while my husband slept, because I couldn’t put the damned thing down. What I discovered is that as much fun as reading the weekly installment is, the true patterns don’t emerge until you can read the whole thing in one shot. That’s another part of the author’s genius: accomplishing small entertaining bite-size bits, while simultaneously creating something larger.
So yes. Baker’s 12. Read it. Challenge your preconceived expectations of linear narrative, and discover that you’re actually smarter than you thought you were. And enjoy some darned fine fiction while you’re at it.
Update January 27 2004: t! has now officially moved his site. Click through to read the Teddybear Sawdust Show! and Baker’s 12. What are you waiting for?