Books and the Mental Mimosa
So I have recently started to read some Lovecraft. Surprisingly, as a longtime horror/fantasy/sf reader, I'd never read any before.
I have to say that I'm not sure what the overall verdict is right now. My opinions of Lovecraft's various personal prejudices aside, I have mixed feelings on what I'm reading. Specifically, I picked up a copy of what are mostly short stories: "The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death." His imagery is scintillatingly weird, and I find it often beautiful. But at times it feels repetitive. I don't know if this is just because it is a volume of his collected short stories that vary on a theme or what; any thoughts from other Lovecraft readers?
I also picked up copies of a new Barbara Hambly paperback and an Octavia Butler I hadn't read (Wild Seed). Very fond of both, although the spousal unit comments on my love of female authors.
Speaking of female authors, let me recommend to those of you unfamiliar with her writing the work of Robin McKinley. If I could write like any one author, it would be her.
And speaking of my writing, I have been immensely cheered of late to find that as I have been driving my friend around and waiting for her to finish teaching her classes, I have been having little crystal bubbles of non-academic-paper writing ideas surfacing in my brain champagne. I've been having them for years, but during the course of my school career they have been mostly bursting and dissipating, leaving me somewhat flat. However, these more recent ones have not been dissipating as fast, but have rather been contributing to the mental mimosa that is the gnomish brain - sometimes bubbly and sweet, sometimes tart and acidic, and potentially intoxicating (or sometimes dulling into a stupor, given my day and mood) if absorbed in quantity.
Imagery playfulness aside, I am going to go walk the Codypesto before we head to his V-E-T appointment...
I have to say that I'm not sure what the overall verdict is right now. My opinions of Lovecraft's various personal prejudices aside, I have mixed feelings on what I'm reading. Specifically, I picked up a copy of what are mostly short stories: "The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death." His imagery is scintillatingly weird, and I find it often beautiful. But at times it feels repetitive. I don't know if this is just because it is a volume of his collected short stories that vary on a theme or what; any thoughts from other Lovecraft readers?
I also picked up copies of a new Barbara Hambly paperback and an Octavia Butler I hadn't read (Wild Seed). Very fond of both, although the spousal unit comments on my love of female authors.
Speaking of female authors, let me recommend to those of you unfamiliar with her writing the work of Robin McKinley. If I could write like any one author, it would be her.
And speaking of my writing, I have been immensely cheered of late to find that as I have been driving my friend around and waiting for her to finish teaching her classes, I have been having little crystal bubbles of non-academic-paper writing ideas surfacing in my brain champagne. I've been having them for years, but during the course of my school career they have been mostly bursting and dissipating, leaving me somewhat flat. However, these more recent ones have not been dissipating as fast, but have rather been contributing to the mental mimosa that is the gnomish brain - sometimes bubbly and sweet, sometimes tart and acidic, and potentially intoxicating (or sometimes dulling into a stupor, given my day and mood) if absorbed in quantity.
Imagery playfulness aside, I am going to go walk the Codypesto before we head to his V-E-T appointment...