So several years ago I read the Sandman series of comic books, and absolutely loved them. Erin tried to introduce me to some other series, and for the most part I found the books okay, but I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as Sandman.

So why do I care? Why am I interested in comics/graphic novels? Well, for one thing that’s a whole lotta books I haven’t read.

I started thinking about this partially because of a post over at Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels that was a response to someone trashing women’s reading. Fantasy, romance, and comic books all fall into the category of books that people don’t respect. But after some thought, I don’t understand why.

Speaking only for fantasy–because that’s what I read–it does actually address lots of issues. The same types of issues that were addressed in the past by my favorites, folk tales and folk lore.

The series I’m reading now, Dennis L. McKiernan’s Mithgar series, covers at all kinds of topics, from environmentalism to overpopulation to the nature of free will. Even Piers Anthony, who frustrates me to no end, wrote an entire book looking at the nature of death, which was part of a series looking at death, fate, war, nature, time, evil, and good.

Just because it’s telling a story doesn’t mean it won’t make you think. After all, that is what folktales were supposed to do. Teach you a lesson while entertaining you.

So I’m curious about these books that seem like something I would like. After all, how different are superheroes from the Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome? Aren’t they just our modern mythology?

Of course, it may end up being like Science Fiction. I like a handful of titles (Ender’s Game, Becoming Human), but for the most part I just don’t like to read science fiction. It just doesn’t do anything for me. And it may turn out that comics are the same way. But I feel like I should give them a try first.

So, any recommendations?

I loved Sandman, as well as Neil’s comics about Death. I liked the first League of Extrodinary Gentleman, really disliked the second. I thought that Kingdom Come was okay, but felt like I was missing something (which would be, of course, the backstory of all the damned characters, yes?), I liked the first few books of The Books of Magic but was seriously annoyed by the end. (I kept wondering, “Where the hell did that come from? Why doesn’t this make any sense?”)

And that’s it.

This weekend I had to get a new watch. Somehow I’d managed to enough damage to my current watch that it was no longer water resistant, and when I checked the time Saturday morning, found that the inside face had steamed up.

This is far from the first watch I’ve managed to ruin. My last watch somehow managed to get its face knocked off, it only took me three years to ruin a very heavy diver’s watch to the point that despite replacing its innards it would no longer keep time, and in college I managed to melt the face of the Swatch I regularly wore. (Apparently the Swatch guard [remember those?!] was good enough to reduce scratches but did nothing for melting.)

How do I do all this damage? I regularly crash my wrists, hands, and arms into walls and doorways that apparently leap out at them when I’m not paying attention. (I’m also really hard on rings, which is why the only ring I wear is my wedding band–and some days even that makes me nervous, like when I catch it on the kitchen storm door handle.)

I really don’t understand how I can be this clumsy, without having spent far more time in the emergency room.

Results for the 2005 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest are out!

My personal favorite was:

“The night resembled nothing so much as the nose of a giant Labrador in excellent health: cold, black, and wet.”

Devery Doleman
Brooklyn, NY

(If you don’t know, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is an “international literary parody contest, [that] honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873).)

ADDENDUM the First:
Also: The Lyttle Lytton Contest

The Eye of the Hunter (1992) Dennis L. McKiernan

If I remember correctly, this is the second Dennis McKiernan book I read–and the first novel. (The first book was the short story collection Tales of Mithgar.)

In The Eye of the Hunter, the Lastborn Firstborns Gwilly and Faeril, join with Riatha and Aravan to fulfill the oath to destroy the Baron Stoke, who killed Riatha’s brother, and Gwilly and Faeril’s ancestors.

Besides reading, I’ve also watched more movies this summer than I have in the past several years put together. In order of preference:

Batman Begins (repeatedly)
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Fantastic Four (twice)
The Bourne Identity
Finding Neverland
The Incredibles
MIB
MIB II
X-Men II
X-Men I
Spiderman I
Spiderman II
Revenge of the Sith

I liked everything except Revenge of the Sith; I’d already seen MIB and MIB II before; And I loved Batman Begins–that’ll be on pre-order as soon as it becomes available. (And if that list doesn’t tell you something about me, not sure what does.)

I’m also planning to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as soon as the crowds go down. And some of the fall movies look good as well. This is the first time in a very long time that I’ve looked forward to seeing multiple movies. (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Serenity; The Corpse Bride) At this rate I may actually be able to discuss popular some form culture with my co-workers.

I’ve read 78 books so far this year. Not including schoolbooks and cookbooks.

This also doesn’t count the books I’ve started and dropped for something else. (Michael Jecks The Merchant’s Partner, Stephen Lawhead Byzantium, Bite, David Liss A Conspiracy of Paper, Takashi Maisouka Cloud of Sparrows, John Matthews The Song of Taliesin. I haven’t abandoned these books completely though. Except Bite. That really wasn’t to my taste except for the Charlaine Harris story.)

For my information only…
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Into the Fire (1998) Dennis McKiernan
Book Two of the Hel’s Crucible Duology

The conlusion to the story started in Into the Forge, Phais, Loric, Tipperton, and Beau leave Mineholt North to continue Tip’s quest to take the coin to Agron. War continues to rage as Gryphon seeks to dominate Mithgar and its inhabitants.

Read More about Into the Fire

Into the Forge (1996) Dennis McKiernan

The first book in the Hel’s Crucible duology. Tipperton is awakened by sounds of battle outside his door, and thus is drawn into what is to become one of Mithgar’s great battles of good versus evil, as Gryphon seeks to dominate not just Neddra, but Mithgar and all its people.

Read More about Into the Forge

I’ll be spending the day sitting on the porch watching all the motorcycles go by.

I’m sorry I missed the Clydesdales–but aren’t there more than three motorcycle movies out there?

ADDENDUM the First:
I missed the beginning of the mass of bikes that went by my house, so my results may not reflect all riders, but I was struck by one thing. In all the bikes that went by I saw five bikes with stupid helmetless riders (illegal in West Virginia mind you), and I saw one (1) bike driven by a female. Lots of women riding, but only one woman driving her own bike?

Of course all the female riders might have been at the beginning of the mass of riders I saw, all riding together. But with all the bikes I’ve seen going back and forth since–no women.

I did see lots of pretty bikes though.

ADDENDUM the Second:
On the way to the movies we saw for female drivers–one of whom may have been the woman who drove past my house earlier. And no helmetless riders.

Roman ruler’s head found in sewer

Happy Rain Day!

Apparently an habitual drunk with little grasp of reality painted the lines downtown after the repaving. Going down University Avenue now involves swerving all over the road in an attempt to remain in your lane, especially where once wide lanes are now narrowed to to width of a Volkswagon Beetle. (See: southbound lane by the Westover Bridge)

The only thing worse is the parody of lane control that they created by the new Osage shopping center, where you veer far to the right due to turn lanes were created whole cloth, and normal lanes were edged onto the roadside.

They need to put up a SLOW! Dangerous Turn! sign things are so bad.

I can’t imagine what posessed someone in Morgantown planning to think that any of this was a good idea.

So last winter Michael and I both did WVU’s health screening, and in addition to cholesterol (we both have excellent cholesterol levels) I paid extra and got the extra blood work done. When I got the results back, my blood counts were irregular, so I made an appointment with my doctor. After a lot of blood draws, the conclusion was that I was slightly anemic, which we should be able to correct with an iron supplement. So I started taking two iron pills a day, one in the morning, and one in the evening, which seemed to correct the problem.
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