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At NPR online, Margaret Atwood discusses the next big form. I know from the moment the election was decided, MANY writers were vocal online and everywhere else about how they were already inspired to new dystopian work. To look at the form those works may take is a great exercise; and I think she may be right. The pace of traditional fiction cannot do justice to the creative juices flowing right now.

The evidence from Pech IV and Roc de Marsal clearly shows that the Neanderthals at these sites lived without fire not only for long periods but also during the coldest periods.

The Atlantic has a cool look at fire (hah). I've always been fascinated by the concept of the human hearth; hearth rights, the earliest human domesticity, the social contracts born of our control of and sharing of flame for warmth, protection, and cooking.

When a question is asked perfectly, it doesn’t need a tidy answer.

TA also has a wonderful link for writers (and readers!), just with its opener (well, or Faulkner's) on this article about asking the right questions. I have talked about the problems I have with creating tension on the page; as a writer of historicals set in known events and amongst characters who actually lived, it's too easy for me to think the (hi)story itself is enough. But it's necessary to know both WHY anyone else would find that enough, and to entice them to want to know. What gifts do we as authors bring to our characters ... ?

Which gets me thinking about my WIP's first line ...

The heat had begun to feed upon the red tile roofs of Ravenna, as if with a hostile will, when Amalasuntha was born more than eight days late.

Now, the CLOSING sentence (currently) is a literary in-joke. I love it, though it may not survive. It's worth reading the whole to get to it. Let's hope I'm getting the hang of this tension thing ...

(Confidential to my nerd readers: anyone else watch Caprica?)

Yeah, and it's a lot from The Atlantic today, but bear with me; they have some excellent writing!

Who else recalls Mike Mulligan and The Little House? Staples of my own childhood, I was thinking of the beautiful art for The Little House just a couple of days ago; the way it depicted time, especially; the way the house had a face, filled with emotion. This essay picks up those memories, and finds the relevance right now, with a powerful punch at the whole idea that innovation was invented recently. Y'all know how I love a good recency illusion and a The Dirty, Stupid Past refutation! (Want to get away from The Atlantic? Worth a click is the New Yorker story about Virginia Lee Burton.)

(S)uccessful in eliminating hair, and also in causing muscular atrophy, blindness, limb damage, and death.
Hoo baby!

Okay, back to The Atlantic, for another of my obsessions, hygeine! On the industry, social and cultural implications, and pain of feminine hair removal. Evolutionary racism, and Darwin's culpability. Ow.

Quote

Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive of such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit. That the imagination of man is capable of creating the myth of a more open, more generous time is not a sign of our folly.
— Orson Welles

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Random thought: how about … never trust anyone (man or otherwise) who decides anyone (woman or otherwise) must not be TRUSTED on the basis of any aspect of their personal tastes?

Let it be said: The Telegraph is not my favorite UK paper. But they have a couple good links now and then.

First, their list of 30 great opening lines from literature . It's a nice breadth of recent centuries and authors. To read them all at once makes for interesting inspiration; even in a single sentence, the different novels take you to different places and introduce us to a variety of characters. Well worth the look, for my writer and reader readers!

Next, just this quote, though it's only one from a longer series. Anyone would know I'd agree with the sentiment, but in keeping with my Illusions of Recency posts, it's looking at the date on this one that'll either sober you up quick or reassure you somewhat about today.

Star Trek: Axanar and the legal aspects of copyrighting Klingon. What a fandom buzzkill, Paramount. Fan produced for *generations* (b’doom pssshhhhhhh) have been fun, hallowed, and even considered canon www.startrekcontinues.com at times. So much for that thing where “CBS has a long history of accepting fan films” and “…realizes that we’re just making their brand that much better.”. Bummer. With thanks to Dena Pawling for pointing to the suit.

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Washington, DC's public library system is sponsoring a banned book scavenger hunt, and if you find one, it's yours. How. Splendid. Is that? #UncensoredDC

"(A)n indescribable alchemy of kindness and intimidation" puts it so well - on what it's like to guest on RuPaul's Drag Race, and the ineffable ness of his presence. Oh so very yes.

Quite a few of my JRW friends are represented in River City Secrets: Stories From Richmond. Here is an anthology I look forward to sampling and savoring!

I am, as usual, grateful and impressed with the community of Reiders at Janet Reid's blog. Today, we discussed trigger warnings, sensitivity, thought ... and even feelings. The one place on Teh Intarwebs where reading the comments is a GOOD idea. (Extra bonus: I found this poem along the way, because I click on commenters' IDs. A lovely moment, captured ...)

John Davis Frain has an excellent collection of quotes for writers; Carl Sandburg's #9 on this list is a classic!

Here is another, from my recent reading of The Serpent's Tale, by Ariana Franklin:

“Oh, I have a high regard for hypocrisy,” the little nun said. “It pays lip service to an ideal which must, therefore, exist. … In its own way, it is a token of civilization. You don’t find hypocrisy among the beasts in the field.”

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I failed to specify in my last writing post, that Elise Goldsmith (E. M. Goldsmith at Janet Reid's blog) was responsible for my WIP awakening. Janet liked my thanks to her (see the end of this post for a shark's warm heart). And so, again: my public thanks to EMG, as we sometimes call her, for inspiration.

2016 ... BCE. Here is a really interesting piece about historical fiction - on a Bollywood film taking liberties with the (hi)story of  Mohenjo Daro, one of the first cities in the world. "(T)hrow(ing) the authentic setting to the winds in favour of a better story" ... where does suspension of disbelief end and the Flood Myth begin?

On Rodrigo Duterte, who has so famously called our president an SOB. As bad as our candidates are, even Trump has never said anything (publicly) as vile as this.

(H)e recalled how a 36-year-old Australian missionary was taken hostage, raped and murdered, and how he reacted when he saw her body.
“She looks like a beautiful American actress,” he said. “What a waste. They lined up and raped her. I was angry because she was raped. That’s one thing. But she was so beautiful. The mayor should have been first.”
The crowd erupted with laughter.

Any questions on the existence of rape culture, worldwide, even at the highest levels? Whatever your feelings on President Obama, if you cheer about this sadistic, misogynistic Hat of Assness calling him names - now you know a little bit more about the source.

Another note for my kale-obsessed fellow Reiders: "It's a good idea to eat kale." Knowing that there are diabetes and retinitis pigmentosa in my family tree, and once having had perfect eyesight, the degeneration in my eyesight with age has been especially frustrating. Just today, I forgot to pack glasses in my Daily Bag O' Stuff, and though I *could* still read and function, it was much more difficult. So, marigolds, kale - get your lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin.

And, finally - The Meadow Party is back. Beloved Bloom County, spiritual context, new hope, and pre-prequels. By the way, am I the only one who's noticed how much Donald Trump's hair resembles that of Quiche Lorraine? In fact, this article contains Berke Breathed's thoughts on current politics; and his look at the push/pull of absurdity is one of the best analyses of coverage I've read.

It’s comforting when the smart ass is confused, too.

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In need of a good short story? Do I have one for you. Well, Paul Lamb has a good one for you; but I will point the way. Travel Light.

... and, on the Hilarious Email Cockup front, we have this ...


Two more quotes from Ursula K. LeGuin, because City of Illusions is full of good ones ...

Without trust, a man lives, but not a human life; without hope, he dies.

Laws are made against the impulse a people most fears in itself.

I do not understand. How does this help? How is it okay to say this? I haven't seen a whisper of comment on this judgment.

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, whose district includes the area of the massacre, suggested to reporters that "more likely than not" the shooting spree at the nightclub was ideologically motivated. "Let me put it this way," he said, "the nationality of family members is indicative."

Image: Wikipedia

Y'all know how I feel about adverbs. I am not alone! “There is nothing whatsoever intrinsically wrong with adverbs. In fact, avoiding them leads to bland, forgettable writing. You can and should use adverbs.”

Butter for the gods. I know this story is ubiquitous, but this link goes to the article I thought was the best.

So, Father's Day is coming, and you are fortunate enough to have a dad? Here are some books he might very much enjoy, courtesy of Tom Williams. My dad would I think have liked any one of them.

And finally, once again we learn that supposedly-new ideas aren't so new. Why would we think people wanted their foods to stick to pans in the ancient world? Because some chemical company wants us to think Teflon is cooler than it really is. Anyway - ancient Roman nonstick pans.

Hope Quote

Hope is a slighter, tougher thing even than trust.
--Ursula K. LeGuin

Quotery

If you take material and filter it through me like a sieve, it’s gonna vaguely have my shape. I can’t hide that ‘signature’ any more than I can create it. It’s something that occurs. It’s DNA.
--Robert Altman

From A Review of "The Danish Girl"

"(L)ove does involve a small dark space."
--Richard Bernstein

Truth and Weeping

When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
--Kahlil Gibran

This ends with delight, but it begins in sorrow.

This is where my family is right now.

How do you remind the sorrowful that their fear is born of delight?

I guess you try to bring to mind the memory of the delight.

Quotery

We are all captives of the picture in our head — our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.
Walter Lippmann

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Dare ya not to click on this: the stunningly weird Freudian DaVinci Code. This even steals the cake away from the one I saw today where Jar Jar Binks is actually the evil mastermind behind all the scary stuff in Star Wars.

A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
--Rita Mae Brown

With thanks to Cute Shoes and a sock in my quibbles about the old poison makeup saw - take a look at 5000 years of makeup! Well, financially comfortable white women's makeup, anyway.

And, as to this:

Is there ever any particular spot where one can put one's finger and say, “It all began that day, at such a time and such a place, with such an incident?”
--Agatha Christie

Yes.

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"Every resident, every visitor, every passing tourist sees a different Buenos Aires" ... Tom Williams' really lovely look at the city nobody ever truly leaves ...

Kate Lord Brown at The History Girls on sating her appetite for a particular rare book (to see the dreadful pun I just made there, click away!). Have you ever had the experience of finding a hard-to-find book? For me and my family, it was the full set of the Durants' histories of western civilization, via Bibliofind, which my college creative writing professor told me about at some point in our highly sporadic post-college correspondence.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
--William James

I remember the post at Isis' Wardrobe about an upcoming Plastic Fantastic party, which sounded delightful to me. For pictures of the effusively ahistorical event, and some eye-poppingly creative costume ideas, enjoy her post about the festivities!

Three hundred years and a few days ago, The Sun set in France. A brief remembrance of Louis XIV - ever popular autocrat, astoundingly long-lived ruler, possessor of some truly spectacular wigs and satins.

Quote

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.

--Art Buchwald

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Mark Chappelle, one of my first friends on Twitter, has some thoughts on being a packrat ... and being an emotional packrat ...

History Extra looks at the crucial components of the phrase and the concept of being "better equipped than ever before" to study the royal dead in England, but the questions the whole idea raises reach well beyond the U. K.

Heard about that skull found still inside its ancient Geek helm at Marathon? Gary Corby takes a good look at the facts.

Finally, a quote for the day:

I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.
--Benjamin Harrison

Fashion Quote

Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity, and afraid of being overtaken by it. It is a sign the two things are not very far apart.
--William Hazlitt

... he may or may not be using the term gentility loosely here ...

Uncle Silas

Reasons I read 19th-century literature:

Truth is simply the most dangerous kind of defamation, and I really think I'm most cruelly persecuted.
--J. S. LeFanu, via the character Mr. Carysbroke

Stealing from INXS?

I just had a little fun using the phrase "elegantly sated" in the latest polish, getting a bit of food on the tables, so to speak.  As much as this might sound like a certain INXS song, the fact is, this particular phrase is actually a tribute to someone - well, who once was - in my family.




We still quote him.  "It is an elegant sufficiency.  Anything more would be a superfluity."

I can admit, Michael Hutchence's superfluity (though he actually was a tiny little thing; saw him live once, basically doing one long Armani-down-to-bike-shorts-and-combat-boots strip tease) did work for me, just fine.  Fortunately, my physics-major boyfriend at the time seemed not to mind

The vid still looks slick, modern, and even current to me.  Then again, I am old and wildly out of touch.  *Grin*

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HAPPY NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY!  Also, hurrah:  Arrant Pedantry has a new post!  "Good writing breaks (the) rules all the time, and following all the rules does little if anything to make bad writing good."  What an extraordinarily intelligent, generous-minded, and useful blog this is.

The History Blog takes a great look at what it takes to conserve The Staffordshire Hoard.  Thorns and puffs of air, along with other non-damaging methods, as it turns out.  As innovative tool-choosing goes, the idea of eschewing modern blades for a precision point found in nature excites me - what a marvelous idea!  Click through for more detail and photos of the exquisite workmanship of these treasures.  Mmmm:  foiled gems.




Is it too late to say, "But wait!" ... ?  Ask Richard III's bones - and Dr. John Ashdown-Hill, who would like to see a stop put to their destruction and testing.  Now that he's gotten the answers he wanted out of the testing ...

And finally, a quote:

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.
--Emile-Auguste Chartier

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Having long been obsessed with blackwork embroidery, many of the images here leave me drooling or fantasizing or just a little inspired, I'm not sure which.  It's not a case of coveting, but certainly of admiring!  Madame Isis always has such excellent images in her posts, and the work in these is beautiful.

Why *does* Lord Falkland's memorial have a duck and a pair of boobies on it?  Some symbols we know.  Some, we have to ask about ...

And a second link at the Rags of Time, with a highly useful piece of wisdom I think Clovis might have appreciated.  Some days, it's easy to appreciate thoughts like this one ...

Celia Rees reflects on an interesting question - "But is it true?"  Having written historical fiction of my own, in the first person, it could be the POV which leads people to ask this question, as she observes.  In my case, "it's true" - to an extent.  This is why I compiled an author's note to sort out as clearly as I can those characters I created and those who are historical, and have an extremely high-level look at some of the timelines I chose to use in The Ax and the Vase, which conform to wisdom other than the common.  The degree to which I felt it was important to stick to the mingled history and legend of Clovis' life is the degree to which I felt it was vital to tell his story - and the degree to which I diverged ... or embroidered ... is the degree to which I felt the right to tell it myself.  I was both a steward and a writer of this story, simultaneously carrying a vessel and filling it.

Sometimes, I really can't wait to finally present it, too.  Thank goodness, this week is the Conference.