Everybody comes to the Qwikpick — even Stephen King

You’re not going to believe this one!

Stephen King has a short story in the New Yorker this week called “Premium Harmony.” http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/11/09/091109fi_fiction_king

It features a store called the Quik-Pik. There’s even a drawing of the Quik-Pik in the magazine.

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You’ll note that King’s store is spelled differently than mine, but what’s a couple letters between friends?

While it’s rather unlikely that I inspired King, you may recall that HE inspired Lyle and his friends a bit. They mentioned “Stand By Me” in their Official Report.

In fact, you might easily see a number of similarities between The Qwikpick Adventure Society and Stand by Me/The Body. I imagine it did influence me as I wrote it, but also both stories are in the Pickwick mode of local adventuring. (I chose the name Qwikpick to play off of Pickwick, of coure.)

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Lastly, one more coincidence. Another major influence on me is the show The Adventures of Pete and Pete, which also featured the Pickwick Mode in a few episodes.

Yes, it had a Qwikpick, too — a drive-thru photo processor where Ellen had a summer job.

Cynsations interview is up!

Cynsations has very kindly interviewed Sam and Michael: http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2009/11/co-authors-interview-michael-hemphill.html

By the way, if Sam appears to take credit for Origami Yoda in that interview … don’t listen to him. His brain’s gone soft from all that Qwikpick Poop Poetry.

Gone to be Knots Landing now

I just had one of those only-in-the-Internet-age moments.

Note: the cropping job on this photo is not my doing, but fits the book pretty well.

For some reason I decided to look up “Gone to be Snakes Now.” The effect of reading this book could best be likened to hyperspace traveling in Hitchhikers, which was itself likened to being drunk. “What’s wrong with being drunk? Ask a glass of water.”

So I did some Googling and discovered that the author Neal Bell:

A) appears to be alive and well and living not that far from me in North Carolina.

B) also wrote for Knots Landing and All My Children.

That’s sort of like learning that Sun Ra wrote Boogie Oogie Oogie.

I also found Bell’s email address and office phone number. Should I call him up and ask him to explain page 83?

What I’m reading now: Swine flu edition

A book I’m not reading now:

The above was my randomly generated picture book debut cover.: Judy, The Pychic Panda. Part of the Cover Week Fun over at ScopeNotes: http://100scopenotes.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/create-your-debut-picture-book-cover

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In the real book dept…

I raced right through “Stanford Wong” while propped up on the sofa. So many nice subtle touches in that book, but I guess I’ll comment here on the flatulence scene: it may actually out-gross Qwikpick’s poop fountain! Now that’s gross!

Then I burned through “Boots and the Seven-leaguers” by Jane Yolen. It’s about a troll teenager, a subject I have tried several times to write about — very unsuccesfully. One blurb on the jacket flap called it “tounge-in-cheek” but I don’t think so. I think it was a very sincere story in a somewhat silly setting.

I’m still listening to the Woman in White, but since I’m lying in bed rather than jogging/walking/mopping, I have a tendency to doze a bit. I’m going to have to rewind.

I’m also part-way through “Titus Groan.” I think this is my fourth reading. I’ve been intentionally not blogging about it, but I’ll probably have to write something at some point.

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There’s also been plenty of TV time as I lie about:

Since we recently finished up season 2 of The Mighty Boosh and didn’t have anything else new to watch, we ended up pulling out an old favorite. The BBC’s “Our Mutual Friend.” On videotape no less.

Ever notice that you can sit through a 2-hour movie and think it’s the longest thing in the world, but a six-hour BBC production can seem too short?

The Great Books … a common thread

I recently finished listening to a hefty chunk of The Teaching Company’s lecture series “Books that Made History: Book that Will Change Your Life.”

In this Prof. Rufus Fears has assembled a list of The Great Books and walks us through them in an entertaining, inspiring fashion. There’s a lot of non-fiction on his list, of course. But let’s look at just the fiction choices:

• The Iliad
• Gilgamesh
• Beowulf
• The Orestaia
• The Bacchae
• The Divine Comedy
• Faust
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Death of King Arthur
• Othello
• Prometheus Bound
• 1984
• The Aenied

What’s the common thread here? Except for a very few — Othello, All Quiet on the Western Front, maybe the Orestaia — they’re all fantasy books. (1984 is the sole sci-fi selection, so it’ll have to be lumped in with fantasy on this one occasion.)

I mean we’ve got it all here — swords and sorcery, a monster or two in Beowulf, a Champion or 30 in The Iliad, (a Companion to Champions, too, in Gilgamesh, I believe), a Satanic poodle in Faust, angry Gods, etc… Heck, there might even be fanfic in there, i.e. The Aenied and The Divine Comedy.

So is Fears a closet Fantasy nut or is it simply that most of the greatest books ever written are Fantasy — illuminating the human condition with tales of the inhuman?

80s-era Warren Zevon sighting in Blacksburg & other news

I was pulling on to Main Street yesterday and glanced at a car waiting to make a left turn off of Main Street. Warren Zevon, circa 1982, was driving!

like this: Life Magazine Photo, but with a little more beard.

This adds to my list of people I’ve seen driving around or near Blacksburg, including Kurt Vonnegut and the New Kids on the Block.

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I’m currently going through the galleys for OY one last time as loose sheets of paper. (I think.) The next time I see it, it should be  a bound ARC. Can’t wait for that.

Although, there’s this weird thing about getting the galleys, the ARCs and even the finished book, where you open it up and think “yep, that’s it.” By that time you’ve spent so much time with it, you know it by heart — or at least feel like it.

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Currently reading: Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. An interesting coincidence (or is it?) since he uses multiple narrators, just like O.Y.!

Also reading: Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time!!!

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I’m still gasping over the work of Jason Shiga. Have  you tried any of his interactive online comics?

Big Origami Yoda news…

The Spring 2010 AbramsBFYR/Amulet catalog is out and our wise pal made the cover!

And inside he’s got this awesome double spread:

How awesome is this: I’m right next to Jason Shiga in the catalog! His book “Meanwhile” is going to rock the world. It literally changes the function of illustrations. (Well, actually Shiga has been changing them for awhile now, but this is the moment when the rest of the world must take notice! Prepare the Caldecott!)

Lots more beautiful stuff in there, too! Like “Over in the Castle” and an awesome Dan Santat cover for “Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies!”

To view the catalog online go here. (Origami Yoda is on pages 38+39.)

What Would Dickens Think of Demons in A Christmas Carol?

This post isn’t about whether the movie — which I haven’t seen — is good or bad, but whether a certain scene is or ain’t Dickensian…

Here’s an excerpt from MSNBC’s review of Jim Carrey’s new CGI-animated “Christmas Carol” movie:

…surely Dickens never intended to have a tiny Scrooge running through drainpipes while being pursued by a demonic coach-and-six, no matter how much the chase pops out of the screen.

He may not have intended it, but I think he might dig it. I haven’t seen the movie or the scene in question, but Dickens liked demons — or Goblins, at least – just fine. In fact, this description reminded me of the Christmas Carol warm-up that was in the Pickwick Papers: THE STORY OF THE GOBLINS WHO STOLE A SEXTON.

‘Again the mysterious voices replied, “Gabriel Grub! Gabriel Grub!”

‘”I am afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin, thrusting his tongue farther into his cheek than ever—and a most astonishing tongue it was—”I’m afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin. ….

‘”I—I—am afraid I must leave you, Sir,” said the sexton, making an effort to move.

‘”Leave us!” said the goblin, “Gabriel Grub going to leave us. Ho! ho! ho!”

‘As the goblin laughed, the sexton observed, for one instant, a brilliant illumination within the windows of the church, as if the whole building were lighted up; it disappeared, the organ pealed forth a lively air, and whole troops of goblins, the very counterpart of the first one, poured into the churchyard, and began playing at leap-frog with the tombstones, never stopping for an instant to take breath….

The sexton’s brain whirled round with the rapidity of the motion he beheld, and his legs reeled beneath him, as the spirits flew before his eyes; when the goblin king, suddenly darting towards him, laid his hand upon his collar, and sank with him through the earth.

The Return of Kidlit Trivia

This could be a brief return if Kidlit Trivia is as unpopular this time as last time, but here goes:

What’s the Kidlit Connection between this yukky book of diet gags and a beloved series:

Great Stonewall Review on BN.com

I know it’s a little silly to get excited about an Amazon or BN review, but this one is just too glorious!!!

J-Star gave us 5 stars and said:

This book was both interesting and educational and I couldn’t seem to put it down! I’m a Graduate student studying Elementary Education and I bought this book to use in my future classroom. When reading this piece I realized that I learned much about the Battle of Bull Run and the Civil War that I hadn’t previously learned, while at the same time, I was drawn into the story, wanting to know what would happen next. This book does a wonderful job of sharing factual and historical information and is presented in a manner in which students can personally relate to the character and the story. I recommend this book to everyone!