Posted in Culture, Seattle, Writing, tagged building characters, Characters, classic cars, creative writing, MG-TC, Seattle, TR3, Writing, writing tips on 08 Oct 2013| 15 Comments »
It’s been an interesting ten days…and while this isn’t strictly “writing-related,” give me a minute and I’ll try to wrap it back around to the topic.
During the past week or so, while I was working on “Antelope Hunting with Sir John,” I was also going around looking at cars.
Cars? you say.
Yes. Cars. Remember back when my wife asked me that “unexpected question?” Like that, cars. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Television, tagged building characters, Castle, james spader, Richard Castle, television reviews, the blacklist, Writing on 25 Sep 2013| Leave a Comment »
Monday was a bit of crazy around our house, so we missed the two premieres we were waiting for. To be fair, we were going to miss one of them, anyway, since they were both on at 10PM and I was not staying up until midnite…not on a school night.
But last night, we caught up with both “Castle” and “The Blacklist.”
Warning: there will be some mild spoilers in this post.
Posted in Books, Writing, tagged creative writing, ebooks, editing, Kindle, self-publishing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 17 Sep 2013| 7 Comments »
We are live. “The Revitalization of Emily” is live on Amazon, and available for Kindle readers and apps.
Formatting went well, but there’s one new lesson I learned. Fonts that work well on the printed page are often too big for the Kindles. I had a couple of iterations before the headers worked properly.
Overall, though, an easy process.
Some people wonder why I do this on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) instead of iBooks or Smashwords or any of the several other venues open to short fiction works. They also wonder why I don’t put it up everywhere, simultaneously.
The main reason is one word: reach. (more…)
Posted in Culture, tagged creative writing, friendship, gaku, grief, loss, old friends, vignette, Writing on 04 Sep 2013| 3 Comments »
I once knew a girl.
She was beautiful, with happy eyes and apple cheeks and long, black hair. She was quick to smile, her eyes turning into crescents, her laugh quiet and shy, like a secret. She was quiet, like me, and thoughtful, unafraid of deeper questions. She played the violin, not very well, but well enough to enjoy the challenge, the process, and the camaraderie of the shared anguish of second violins. From my seat in the viola section, we would share a glance, a wink.
She was kind. When I told her of my growing affections, she suggested we take a different course. I decided my life was better with her in it, and agreed. We remained friends, wrote letters, flirted without romance, talked of life, of dreams, of the future.
In time, though, our paths diverged. Other loves and other dreams led us both away from our hometown. Our letters grew infrequent, then stopped.
Decades passed.
Then, a note. An email. Is that you? Do you remember me? (more…)
Posted in Books, Low Tech, tagged books, fore-edge painting, hidden paintings, Robert Mudie, University of Iowa on 03 Sep 2013| 3 Comments »
The simplicity and durability of the codex book is hard to match. A decidedly low-tech marvel by today’s standards, a book is still a nearly magical thing.
I have books in my house that are hundreds of years old. I have one was made in the early 1700s. That’s three centuries, my friend. And all of them still work.
The printed book has held many secrets. A lover’s note hidden between the leaves. Scribbled marginalia penned by a previous owner. Messages constructed with the first letter of each physical page. Code keys built from characteristics of specific editions.
And here’s a new one. “Fore-Edge Paintings.” (more…)
Posted in Books, Culture, Writing, tagged believable characters, book review, books, creative writing, introversion, introverts, quiet, society, susan cain, Writing, writing tips on 30 Aug 2013| 7 Comments »
Echoes from another time.
“You’re too sensitive.”
“I was just teasing!”
“You need to come out of your shell.”
“You spend too much time in your head.”
When I was young, adults labeled me with words like “shy” and “bookish” which didn’t sound bad but I was pretty sure they weren’t compliments. I had no such confusion with the schoolyard taunts of “pussy” and “faggot.”
These were the judgments pronounced upon me. They were the phrases that defined me. They were spoken so often, I believed them. I believed that I was defective, inferior. I believed that I was somehow less. Even with all my gifts–of concentration, of perseverance, in music, as an autodidact–I still felt that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t fit in, because I rarely spoke up, because I enjoyed solitary activities, because I preferred walking in the hills to traveling with the pack.
So, when a friend recommended Susan Cain’s sociological study, Quiet, I was intrigued.
Posted in Culture, tagged Chief Sealth, Chief Seattle, Chief Seattle's Grave Site, Harley-Davidson, MG-TD, Morgan Roadster, motorcycles, Poulsbo, Seattle, Suquamish, Triumph Spitfire, Washington State Ferry System on 26 Aug 2013| 11 Comments »
On Saturday, my wife asked the question a million spouses want to hear.
Honey, do you want a Harley?
We went to visit our friend, JZ Murdock, horror author and all-around nice guy, to take him out for a birthday lunch at ChocMo.
ChocMo, in Poulsbo over on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula, is a great place. Appointed throughout with solid wood, wrought iron, and open ceilings, it had just the right blend of bright and dark, noise and quiet. We sat at the window and perused the menus.
The place has eight fine, local beers and ales on tap, a variety of bottled locals and not-so-locals, as well as a full bar. They’ll serve you thimble “tasters” of almost everything, including their selection of whiskies (I tried the Old Pulteney, which was delightfully smooth but still had enough peat to keep me happy).
We three ordered a burger, sliders, and a smoked salmon sandwich, all of which were excellent in taste, quality, and presentation. Drinks were an Italian soda, a diet cola, and a Hale’s Supergoose IPA. We followed up with ChocMo’s signature “drinking chocolate” (think ground/melted Hershey’s semisweet mixed with frothy half-and-half) and espressos.
We talked through the shift change, watching the clouds roll in from the west, build, threaten, then break apart to release more sunshine for our beautiful Puget Sound summer’s day.
On the way back to JZ’s we stopped by the Chief Seattle’s gravesite, on the reservation in Suquamish to pay our respects. It’s been renovated since this picture was taken. It’s now ringed by a circle of concrete in which words from the chief’s famous speech have been engraved. Gone are the wooden logs and dugouts, replaced with tall stele, faced with wood, carved with stylized totem images. The gravestone and cross have not been changed, of course, but it does not have the same intimacy it once did. You don’t feel as though you can walk up and sit down next to the old man. There is a barrier–you can step over the concrete ring easily, but it’s not something that one feels is allowed, anymore. And that’s too bad…
We returned to JZ’s, threw a stick for his dog, and returned home on the ferry, watching the jewels of water and sunset as we crossed to the mainland.
And that’s when my wife asked, “Honey, do you want a Harley?”
You see, JZ, having spent decades in the Honda doldrums, recently upgraded to a Harley, and was kind enough to give my wife a ride. And when I say “a ride” I mean that I spent all afternoon chauffeuring her purse in the car, following the Harley wherever we went, watching her red hair flutter out from under her helmet. She’d never ridden on a Harley before, and she had a blast. She had such a blast, it turned out, that she thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for us to have one, too. So, she asked if I had any interest.
The proper response to “Honey, do you want a Harley?” is “Frak yeah!” and this was indeed my initial response. Then my adult-brain kicked in–yeah, that wet-blanket overseer full of pragmatism and sense. It began annoying me by pointing out that we live in Washington State and–by JZ’s own metrics–there are only 3 months of dependable motorcycling weather in a given calendar year. Then it pointed out that JZ’s been riding motorcycles for decades, and the last bike I had ridden had ten speeds and pedals. It went on to point out other things, but by then the argument had been won. Or lost, depending on your point of view.
So, no Harley. Not for me, not at this point in my life.
However, I did manage to steer us around to something I truly had wanted all my life: a British roadster. The Morgans, the MG-TDs, the Triumphs. The curves, the sound, the smell. My wife was still in the flush of her post-Harley rumble, so if I can find a roadster for the same price as a Harley, I can get one.
At least, that’s what she said on Saturday…
k
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 