Dark & Twisty

For the first time I think ever, I read nearly an entire book in one sitting.  It was Off Season by Jack Ketchem.  It was not because it was such a page turner but I was stuck on an airplane. 

The story is about a bunch of inbred wild people in Maine killing and eating people.  That's pretty much it.  It tells their story and the story of the people they stalked to eat.  Only one survived and that was by luck and a very disgusting oral sex scene.  I think that I liked the sequel better. Offspring seemed to have more plot and direction.  This was an early splatter punk story, and lives up to its splat factor. 

Jack is a good writer, and distrubing in his ficition.  I read this book and it's sequel (also mentioned in an early blog entry) to help me write inbred folks better.  The characters for the most part seemed to be more slack-jawed than anything else.  They were also very sexual but kept it in the family.

Posted by Jared at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just finished my third residency at Seton Hill University.  I had a good time and learned alot, but the issue now is that I am needing to get a lot done in a short amount of time. 

Reading is one of the major things I need to get done.  Not only do I have a mass of books to read for a course, I have a large selection that needs to be read for furthering my thesis.  I also have to start rewriting my thesis novel.  This is a matter of much importance.

Besides that, I had fun watching friends graduate.  I also saw a scary future for residency without them. 

Posted by Jared at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is Father's day, and for the first time in 30 years I am fatherless.  This is a very sad day for me.  Making it worse, is that it falls one day before the 2-month anniversary of my father's passing. 

I tried to avoid the holiday all toghter and I've done a pretty good job. I didn't buy a gift and attempted to keep from seeing comercials and other adverts.  Things seemed to have worked pretty well.  I aniticpated being very depressed today and that just doesn't seem to be the way things turned out.  It's a good thing because I can't handle spending weeks of dysphoria having to struggle to get out of bed in the morning. (more so than usual.)

Looking today at father's and son's, I had to do something strange to be with my dad.  I wore one of his shirts.  I can't be with him, but I was close to him. 

For those lucky enough to still have a father, good for you.  For those fathers have a happy day.

Posted by Jared at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had trouble catgorizing whether this is a story or book review.  It is a stand alone book, but Dr. Arnzen refers to it himself as a novelette.  So I chose story.

 This is a delightful bit of horrific reading.  This may be one of the most disturbing thing I've read in a while.  It wasn't the gore that got me so much as the premise.  The truly scary thing about this story is people would really do this if it were possible.

If a man could have sex with a dog and raise a breed a puppies for fighting they would do it with little thought.  Not all men, but those who enjoy things like rooster and dog fighting.  These are gruesome games.  I would imagine that if humans could make human-sized roosters they would do that too.  It would be Foghorn Leghorn fight.

The other scary thing is how easily the main character turns to supporting these strange creatures if no the fighting lifestyle. 

The only real question i had about the whole thing is what rancid butter smells like.  I've never smelled.

If you can get your hands on this one, read it.  It's worth it.  (The text only comes in a limited fashion so many leatherbound and paper back editions.)  FYI, I picked mine up on Ebay from the publisher.

Posted by Jared at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am not a huge fan of James Patterson.  My mother loves him and I tried to read him a while ago.  I didn't care for him. 

I did, however, hear an interview with him on NPR recently.  He discussed his proflic ability to write up to 9 novels a year.  Of course he works with others, and that's not the lesson I learned.  I should've already known what I learn but I didn't.  He said that when he edited a book or drafted it after the first draft, he lef the spacing between lines at about 3 or 4 spaces.  He stated that he wrote in those spaces.  I think that this is wonderul idea and i plan to use this the next time I start drafting.

Posted by Jared at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Ah, it's summertime in Alabama, and the mullets are blooming.  After the long winter of the mullets staying in doors or keeping itself wrapped up to stay warm, the long flowing glory of redneck is lush and rampant again. 

You see these wonders everywhere.  They are at Wal-mart, on the beach, at the river, and at the Dairy Queen.  Some are high toppers with the tip top standing at attention like the spikes on Bart Simpson's head.  There is then the bangs mullet.  This one you have bangs with.  There's the ever favorit skullet.  This variety of mullet keeps the pate scalped while the back grows long and luxurious. There is the femmullet, which is the female version around here seen on both lesbians and regular women. 

In the summertime, the warm temperate heat of the region combined with the humidity and blazing sunshine keeps these wonders of the coif world growing.

Few people actually know that in some regions of Alabama the mullet is the state flower.  As I type this, I am looking at the crazy mullet aka the insane in the membrane mullet.  this is mullet adorned by a mentally ill person who like children forced to wear the child mullet may not know better or have any other option to where this great hairstyle.

Everyone come to Alabama before the Mullet Season is over.  Much like the azeala season of Mobile, it's worth seeing.

Posted by Jared at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, so this is not a statment about the reader.  The book is titled You Suck.  This is a book about vampires.  A great title for a vampire story, no?

The great thing about this story, written by Christopher Moore is its absurdist quality it has.  Moore writes in the absurdist style.  The characters are believable, likeable and not likeable, but they all have a goofy quality about them.  I enjoyed the way the characters seemed driven by mundane but also hilarious drives.

The two man vampires Jody and Tommie are just trying to get the hang of being vampires.  The problem is that others are out to get them.  Tommie had a gaggle of stoner friends who want to kill them.  They come into the story after squandering nearly $600,000 on a blue prostitute.  The problem is that she wants to be a vampire because she is an aging blue hooker.  (No body likes a dead blue aged hooker.)  She gets her wish and she becomes a not so nice character.  Then she turns the stoners into a gaggle of stoner vampires.  This was very enjoyable because they lament that they can't get stoned any more.  One of these vamps says "being sober sucks."

The two man vamps get a minion.  She is a goth or more properly wannabe.  She has whole chapters devoted to her perspective in her own tongue.  These chapters made me laugh out loud, which I rarely do. 

So here's the low down.  I liked this book, espcially the absurdist approach.  You laugh and are horrifed at the same time. This has piqued my interest in Christopher Moore and writing in the absurdist form. I think I blog about that topic seperately.

Posted by Jared at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I must say.  What fair is this at?  I'll never look at the scrambler the same.

Posted by Jared at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)