On Writing Excuses someone talked about writing an epic fantasy in a limerick. I figured I’d give it a go. Of course, it’s a slight cheat, but epic nevertheless.
A tiny man with a ring
Said I’ll save the world from this thing
He traveled to Mordor
But in very short order
Was trounced by the chatty bling bling
I’ve wanted a cool animal friend for some time. And I mean a friend, not a pet. Pets you have to take care. Friends come, delight you, then leave. And lest you think I’m a meanie, I’ve got five cats that came with the house we moved into a few years ago. Love ’em, but I don’t need any more pets.
But a friend, now that’s different. Up here in the sticks we’ve got lots of interesting candidates: foxes, coyotes, raccoons, neighbor dogs that get into your garage and abscond with nifty chew toys like your expensive new hiking boots.
I’ve always wanted a bird gang as friends (I think it’s an unfortunate Disney heroine-envy syndrome). We’ve got eagles and magpies up here. But we also have crows and ravens. And ravens, according to some sources, are as smart as wolves. In fact, I’m so taken with the bird gang idea that I’m using it in the series I’ve titled LORD OF BONES. The hero has two raven friends who will be characters in their own rights.
So you can imagine my delight when I read the article on NPR and saw this.
I’m beginning a study of linguistics. Well, an author’s study, which is different from getting a degree or anything like unto it. I’m looking for what’s useful for a specific project. And when I want to know about a subject, I’ve found it’s best to start with the juveniles and encylopedias so I can get the big picture and the actual pictures (who said picture books were for kids?) and then move to more detailed and specific stuff. Well, I came across a marvelous quote within the first 30 seconds of Wikipedia’s entry on Linguistics:
Linguistic inquiry is pursued by a wide variety of specialists, who may not all be in harmonious agreement; as journalist Russ Rymer put it:
“Linguistics is arguably the most hotly contested property in the academic realm. It is soaked with the blood of poets, theologians, philosophers, philologists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and neurologists, along with whatever blood can be got out of grammarians.”
Whatever blood can be got…
(grin)
That’s going in a story, somewhere, I gotta use that somewhere.
Zing, Baby!
I miss the squirrels we had at the old homestead. No, that’s not hyperbole. Until two years ago the six of us lived in a 900 sf home my wife’s grandmother homesteaded for. But that’s beside the point. We had squirrels there. They chittered, ran about, tossed apples down at my girls when they tried to inhabit the hammock.
For those of you not from Utah, you might be wondering why this is such a big deal. If you’re from the East you might be thinking I’m nuts. But out West trees are few and far between, which means so are the squirrels. So we loved our squirrels, but then they got into our neighbor’s fifth wheel and he promptly killed them all.
Alas.
But here, for your pleasure, are squirrels using their god-given intelligence to do what they were bred to do–steal and eat.
Of course, they are squirrels. Not quite geniuses yet.
One of my stories either needs a squirrel who steals candy bars or a character who is constantly setting up obstacle courses for the varmits.
The Titan Robot Show
The first part scared the crap out of me. More here on their cool website: http://www.cyberstein.co.uk/
Oh, and remember the last monster created with a named that ended in stein? Not an auspicious beginning…
