Seven Compelling Reasons Never to Lend Josh Karaczewski a Paperback Book

I am hard on things. It is entirely unintentional, but objects in my possession over any prolonged length of time - like, say, the period of time it takes to read a book amid an overloaded and distracted schedule - draw the risk of being battered, bent, spilled upon or otherwise stained, so on and so forth. Hardcover books are a bit safer, because I leave their dust covers on a high shelf, and I have a fabric book-cover that offers a measure of protection. But paperback books knock and slide around my bag, get stuffed in jacket pockets, get pried open with one hand while the other is engaged with potentially messy activities like eating and drinking, etc.

And do not think that my affection for an author offers any measure of protection - quite the opposite. My favorite authors, as will be demonstrated by the following photographs, receive the rudest treatment: pages with quotes I like get dog-eared and pencil-noted, then weighed spread-eagle open when I copy out said quotes; the margins receive my greasy fingers more than the standard amount as I reread exceptional passages; and the best books, the ones I don't want to end, or want to sip long and savor, spend more days in the dangerous containers of transit, and in the company of imbruing food and drink.

So here is fair warning to anyone who is considering lending me a book: when it is returned, you will know that it has been read, and read hard. It will bear my physicality upon it.

War and Peace never had a chance. It just takes too long to read to keep safe, and any paperback binding is insufficient for that amount of pages. There is no way to read the middle chapters without creasing the binding. I had the same trouble in high school with Les Miserables, but I suspect that that copy became so worn from long usage that I threw it out when I finished my reading. Note, however, that the cover managed to hold on and protect its pages to the last: well done soldier, well done.

The reader's offending fingers display the shipping-tape used to reattach the cover.

 Love the vintage Woolco price sticker!

A vicious tear - my bad Ken!

God may or may not have blessed Mr. Rosewater, but he certainly forsake this book!

 You may have survived the bombing of Dresden, but your cover couldn't survive Josh Karaczewski!

A different primate's rude fingers did this to your collection of short stories.

Even Sissy's great thumbs wouldn't have been this unintentionally brutal.

And finally, the worst example of literary bookslaughter I have to confess to. This was not a book that I particularly liked - not a Brave New World-esque story to be seen throughout. After reading a short story that I didn't care for, it would sit for a couple of months before being picked up again. I have had to shimmy under the bed to rescue it a few times after it fell off the headboard. I would start reading a story, give up, and then would have to reread the beginning to muscle through its completion. Notice that the front cover is missing altogether - I have no idea where it ended up, or even if it is still in the house! Sorry Aldous, but you were a victim of my tastes, and your book paid the ultimate price.

Authorial Interactions - with Nath Jones, Session 1: An electronically-facilitated introductory Q & A

One of the benefits of writing is the opportunity to talk about writing with other writers. One such writer I recently came into contact with is Nath Jones. Jones is the author of the On Impulse e-Book Series, a four-book collection of short fiction, flash fiction, prose poetry, and memoir.

We're not sure where the following series - I suppose you can label them guest blogs - will go, for having no specific destination or locked parameters of form in mind is part of the allure. As we learn about each other, so readers will (hopefully) gain insight into our work, our working, us, and writing - in general, and in specific.

Below are Jones' responses to my introductory questions. Check her Facebook author page for my responses to hers.

-Josh Karaczewski: Who is your blog for? Describe your ideal reader.

Nath Jones: I don't really have a blog. I have a new website with a cool plug-in for the blog. But. I'm still debating about what to do with it. I always had a huge resistance to blogs. It just seems so ridiculous to tell everybody everything. But. Then I ended up doing that very thing in emails and on Facebook instead of on a blog. Probably should have just had a blog.

My ideal reader? Loves books. Likes mine. 

-JK: What themes have you been exploring? And in what format?

NJ: I'm doing some ground tests in relation to the ruggedly individual capitalist American Dream. I think it's funny how art gets divided from our busy, headlong lives. I want to see where that divergence occurs.

-JK: What keeps you blogging, especially video-blogging? (I'd say v-blogging, but that sounds like what happens after a night of alcoholic excess.)

NJ: V-blogging is fine with me. I spent some time figuring out what would be sustainable for me. I'm not a fan of subjective opinion. To me it's bad enough to be telling everyone everything all the time. I really don't want to be judging everything all the time. So. Reviews are not for me. But. I really do love books and want to share them with people. When I was a kid I always had this idea that I'd have a late-night radio show and just read books to people all night. So. The Literature Break is a derivation of that dream.

-JK: How do you esteem and value fiction? Why should we bother investing our time?

NJ: Writing is my first priority. For my life and time, writing and reading are everything. They come before friends, before family, before work. Everything else is secondary. That really confuses people. But. After folks understand my priorities they respect it.

For myself, I really do have the compulsion. So. There's no should in terms of why we're bothering to invest our time. For me, it's happening and that's it. So. I really can't speak for anyone else. I can't say that anyone else would really talk to their work scheduler and ask to work all weekends to have enough time to write. For me, that's what seemed right.

And I really don't feel that others should do anything. I don't care if people read and write. Why does it matter? They can do whatever they want. I'm not one of these literacy enforcers.

But. For me, there's no other way to lose myself, to transcend daily life, and to enter a space of total flow.

-JK: Have you ever been to the San Francisco Bay Area?

NJ: Yes. Definitely. I love it. I love Muir Woods. I love the Marin Headlands. I love the tourist stuff with the seals. The museum where you can see the cables working to pull the street cars. Golden Gate park. The gorgeous vistas. Come on. It's an amazing city. I love the food--hate that Enrico's closed.

On Emotional Attachments to Electronic Representations: Uncharted 2-Among Thieves

When I finish a great video game, there is a period of mourning afterward. Just like a book can be reread, a game can be replayed—and many video games augment this reanimation with alternate endings, or by rewarding different playstyles (stealth vs. frontal assault, weapon vs. melee, etc.)—but nothing can compare to that first play/read.

Finishing a good game, I am anxious to find another game to play. Finishing a great game, there is a time afterward where I either don’t want to play games at all, or only play casual games like Angry Birds; games I can quickly pick up, and just as quickly set down.

And when I do start that next game, my initial impression of the new game will always be negative: I’ll get frustrated with the controls; I won’t connect to the characters, and their objectives will seem unimportant. I will play terribly, because I will not want to invest in the new skill-set. When I fail to accomplish their objectives, or get them killed, there is no guilt, no frustration in my failure, no sense of loss, because I am removed from my part in the interactivity. I haven’t been able to connect with the new game only because it is not the old game.

I am undergoing this feeling now, having just finished Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I played through the game twice: once on Hard for the story and an initial exploration of the world, and then on Crushing for the challenge, to find the remaining treasures, and earn the last single-player medals. I was able to avoid the loss of finishing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, because I transitioned from one game directly to the next – like reading books in a series. I might have been able to avoid this if I owned Uncharted 3, but with the state of our household’s economy, I have to be strict with the same rule I have for my book purchases: nothing new until I have finished what I already own, or until the stories I peddle bring in wealth—whichever comes first. But my single-player file is at 100% completed, my kids aren’t old enough to join me in co-op, and I have little interest in multiplayer. I’m at that point where playing the game now would be a regression; it would diminish my experience with Nathan’s adventures. In a few years, when my children are mature enough to play the game, I will enjoy the reunion; but if I returned now, it would be like visiting high school too soon after leaving for college: I haven’t established myself fully in a new game environment, and seeking the familiarity and comfort of Uncharted 2 will only serve to make the necessary break more difficult.

So, reflecting on how affected I am by great games begs the question: what makes a game great? Good games abound, games I can enjoy, and then put down without any regret at finishing them, and then move on to the next: Far Cry, Fear, Resident Evil 4, Half Life (1), Starfox 64, anything with Mario in it—these would strongly fit in this category. They were obsessions during my play of them, but not from any emotional connection. Emotional connections are the key.

Now, “emotion” brings the connotation of sadness, but it’s much more than that. When I enjoy a film with my emotions, I usually mean that it has made me feel with the characters; the music definitely helps push me over—but character is key: in Shawshank Redemption I felt the struggle against injustice; in Braveheart I felt loss, betrayal and sacrifice; in Love Actually I felt, well, love (actually). But in every great movie that moves me, it is fraternity that I am affected by most—by the friendships that become family. In The Lord of the Rings, the bravery was stirring, but it was all Frodo and Samwise that brought the water. Andy Duphrain had Red, William Wallace had his warrior poets, and Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series has Sully, Elena, and even Chloe. Sully, who risks himself to let Nate get away in Uncharted 1 & 2; Sully, who is willing to almost bankrupt himself to get Nate out of a Turkish prison; Sully, who will travel the world with his friend, scheming, adventuring, getting him in trouble, and then helping to get him out of it. I covet Frodo his Samwise, Andy his Red, and Nathan his Sully. In the game chapters with Sully, when I would misstep, or my skills would not be enough to keep my electronic representation alive, and the color drained out of screen, the last thing I would hear before the reset to the last checkpoint would be Sully’s anguished voice yelling “NO!”—such a simple word to so clearly express the unbearable shock of losing your friend. It made me play more carefully, so that I wouldn’t break Sully’s heart when I died. In the Borneo chapter, when Sully called out that he was pinned down by gunfire, I immediately darted out from the safety of my cover—no thought for my own safety—to kill any minion who dared threaten my friend.

Me and my buddy, Sully

 Then there is Elena. Righteous, strong, capable, opinionated and fierce, alluring even when spattered with mud, willing to put herself in a warzone to expose wrongdoing, Elena makes Nathan a better person by setting high standards for herself: for Nathan to partner with her, he is required to make himself more honorable. I love how the ladies in the Uncharted games are self-sufficient; they can hold their own platforming, and in a gunfight. They are equals in your adventure, and don’t need you to babysit or protect them. And they, like Sully, are traumatized by your death, causing you to build your skill as a player, to spare them the pain of witnessing you die.

 Muddy, fierce, lovely.

Much has already been made of Uncharted 2’s action set pieces, circular narration techniques, and enthralling story. So all I will say in closing is, when you play, swim wherever you can, climb whatever you can, stop to play with the mountain children, pet every yak, look at every page in your journal, and enjoy the views (“I was talking about the mountains, really”).

Bibliographic Augmentation

My latest short story, The D. C. S. G. Meeting, is now live in the Fall Issue of Menacing Hedge! Besides basic electronic print, there is an audio reading of the story - just make sure no kiddies are around when you listen in: the story satirizes a particularly adult theme in today's culture, and is rated R. While you're there, also check out Scary Bush, where I and other writers share cringe-worthy early writings. http://www.menacinghedge.com/

The Encyclopedia Closes - RIP Donald J. Sobol

As a young reading geek in the 80's, the Encyclopedia Brown series remained the apex of intelligent reading. I don't think I ever fully guessed the outcome of the mysteries, but I never minded. Besides the entertainment value of the stories, Sobol's characters made it okay to be smart - made it more respectable than it was to be smart in class. As my young reading geek son struggles with displays of intelligence in school, I hope that the example of Encyclopedia Brown using his thinking skills, and having those skills be appreciated by his peers, serves as inspiration to never dumb down his intelligence for others.
Now if only we can find a Sally Kimball for him...

My very own stalker

I'm certainly not worthy of the privilege, but I have my very own stalker! For some reason their comments got buried in my Blog's Spam folder, so it has actually been going on for a number of years now, but my Anonymous stalker has been expressing his or her admiration for my work through a series of experimental poems. So now that I have discovered them, I wanted to share them, because I think Anonymous is actually a much more talented writer than I am.

Here is the first poem, from February 2011

knitting reversible cable stitch web cablecanbus cable for shipboard usetime warner cable program schedule torrance lg chocolate cell phone lime green chocolate mousse recipe from mccall'skylie minogue chocolate lyrics loveincipio orion ipod touch chocolate dr levins high fiber shake diet cure for jet lag diet mealshomemade diet shake recipesperfect anorexic diet issa v knot dress marylin manore dress patternutube ruby red dress vanessahow men should dress used hunting gear for sale goldenhill hunting club membershunting termsj m hunting suppies marine fidelityadvisorinvestment mortgage investor company low interest rate marine mortgage 20mortgage loan equityabn amro inc mortgage preinsulated underground pipe rhino eugene oregon pipe shopsflexiable pipe for wellsnon mar pvc pipe imperfections of the radar gun massachusetts and radarhytop nextrad radarcamera radar detector grocery shopping cart wheels troy ohio shoppingnew york city vintage shoppingjoyce oates

Isn't it extraordinary! Anonymous ignores all conventions towards punctuation, and manages to create a stream-of-conciousness prose poem on all of the ideas that went through his/her head while reading my writing. It's just amazing that someone would be able to remember the succession of images that comes when you are reading: the instant interpretations which lead to tangents, and then mutate into new thoughts - all expressed through such visual language! It's one of those poems that opens up in new ways, revealing new connections in post-modern existence, with every reading.

The next poem came in April, 2011


"A sales Sales Leads or Income Lead, is the identification of a individual or entity that has the curiosity and authority to obtain a products or company. This action represents the first stage of a sales approach. The lead could have a corporation or business linked (a B2B lead) with the particular person(s). Revenue leads are generic leads - i.e a person indications up for a kind of give, instead of a certain corporation or brand name. arrive from possibly lead generation companies processes these kinds of as trade fair|trade displays, direct marketing, promoting, Internet promoting, spam, gimmicks, or from revenue person prospecting pursuits this kind of as cold calling. For a product sales lead to qualify as a revenue prospect, or equivalently to move a lead from the procedure stage income lead to the course of action sales prospect, qualification ought to be done and evaluated. Ordinarily this requires identifying by direct interrogation"

I never think of poetry as a potential vehicle for satire, but I think this poem brilliantly attacks the parasitic business theories and practice that chokes the innovative. What Dr. Strangelove did to the Cold War era, this poem does for The Great Recession.

Also in April 2011 came this haiku


It is rather in-
teresting for me to read
this blog. Thanx for it.

Which, I know, doesn't follow the modern conventions that abhor the 5-7-5 syllabic form; but I understand, and can empathize with, Anonymous' statement on how traditional forms can haunt a writer.

And then April 2011 ended with a trio of back-to-back-to-back masterpieces of narrative existential anxiety in poetry .

"Replica, and dubiously into the jersey. A special whole superformance cobra think i. The famous brand watches,' fache's covered. A longines in the conquest during watches jingle, a instrument was to suppose trail and squeezed it to a side with the classic reflection in a zipper, that he seemed sentenced against the gas. Him fired wildly and looked up that bag, the gucci horsebit emptying at the replica on a single hour. Sothis accounted out his watches, and her on one water to imagine the top to my leg. Thoughtful first windows turned inserted of fancy watches between hank were written in the years except a overhead conceived of coming cab. It glanced replica increased dutifully trying not at the rich gun folded on within the part surface in a large aircraft. A massive replica stilled fighting off a alive sabertooth for skull that was a watch. Sunnuto got. Them loose say watches. imitation of time-keeping devices I feel anyway, ringing his citizen"

and

"By such seiko framed whether vivace watches and darkened of seat weapon, i would be balanced the twin approach back into the new midnight. Upon the sinatra, his frank watches - back aren't was now hyacinth, or england had her side right usually from he would, warning wall when we thought to without the stumper of his little silence. Rolex is of a sympathetic tudor she would patiently take a outside watches in he while dale. By bently the neat watches was deep, around, and breath asked made to be with he the was tears! Now, in that replica around personally raybans, it had to say eyes, of an nose, his suites smiling further like the bulb. Fear then factory or a replica kept his waters in a writhing - tracks certificate. designer replica watches 80s did to want her swatch between yellow watches. Crossing the watches is the clear thankful kids. Fake would call with watches were later cartier - shiny. Welcomed, countdown ignored quite watches, had"

and

"Ever locking throughout a bowie knife was replica australia, in with the easy washbasin beneath his driver and through the thick cap behind passengers. Antique taught with a lying clock. And whatsoever replica chanel would explode immortal infrared to communicate cold purse. And spent i seemed of the amp? A tissot hid much sacrificing the watches of the soviet uk. And until replica jerseys on port about he don't, you looked destroy really. She pulled you the mens without the leather in his strap. Luminox, only climbing the watches by a day. Vintage ago against a doxa watches? Dax out no cobra, replica. Than been discuss this deadlines, felt meet each friezes with the vapid john have regretfully harassed a head of invicata watches of the i'll over jude and umealiq yes. fake watches The patch truly, a marcel watches made and known the darkness anyway about the group. Mental he with rolex nasty, and he said the watch halted to have our replica man"

All three poems, with their fearful meditations on the counterfeit nature of time through its repetition of timepiece imagery, and the tonal transition from an exotic odyssey in the first poem ("superformance cobra") to a sense of loss in the second poem (as in "and breath asked made to be with he the was tears!"), to penultimate violence in the third poem foreshadowed in the first poem (as in "explode immortal" and "you looked destroy really"), perfectly reflect the culture of terror enveloping our nation.

How lucky I am to have a fan who puts so much of their soul into comments on my posts! Oh Anonymous, you inspire me to continue blogging if only in the hope that what I write will catalyze another stunning poem for you to share in my Spam folder!

The Experiential Review, on "Be Now Buddy What"

As an indie author, marketing has been like waking up in a dark, unfamiliar place, and needing to go to the bathroom: I have an pressing urge to get something out, but I have no idea where I am, or where I need to go to get relief. And since I knew that it was easy to find lots of crap on the internet, it seemed the logical place to start looking.

I soon found places where other indie authors congregate, and set about learning from the "veterans" among them what I should be doing. What particularly excited me was the idea of the review exchange. The writer half of me was all like, "You mean, I'll get some essential marketing while finally becoming part of the writing community I've been craving to belong to since my first short story was published," and then the reader half of me was like, "Dude, they're gonna give us free books man!"

So I set about finding writers that wrote literature with humor and/or satire, because I felt that if they enjoyed writing that, they would probably enjoy reading my humorous/satiric literature. The first author I found willing to trade works was Dan Spencer, and so his "Be Now Buddy What" became my first indie swap read.

While I have read plenty of articles, and a few short stories in electronic format, "Buddy" was the first novel I read solely on a computer (I don't own any fancy e-reader yet). I just read it in a PDF format, and I must say I enjoyed being able to scroll through pages as I read.

And now, without further ado, my review of, "Be Now Buddy What":

The word media is derived from the Latin word for medium. “Be Now Buddy What” is a satire of how our internet-age media fails to keep to an unbiased, factual medium, driving stories toward the edges of sensationalism. Through ironic takes on Greek myths, a naked man mysteriously survives what becomes a fall to innocence; unscathed, but amnesiac, the falling man sets out to discover who he is under the borrowed name of Buddy What. The reporter who haplessly got the exclusive to Buddy’s fall serves as travel companion, concerned friend, and nameless third-person narrator of this literary mockumentary.

When Buddy’s search for identity proves fruitless and disheartening he disappears – and undergoes what can be described as a sea-change on land, working in an almond orchard. Buddy stops focusing on who he was, believing that the better course is to concentrate on who he is. Here again, the Greek symbolism of almonds promising that upcoming travels will be filled with prosperity take several ironic turns, when Buddy and our narrator set off to share this message with whoever will listen.

Skewering internet bloggers, investigative reporters, megachurch preachers, and other proponents of perverting media communication in the digital age for their own narrowly biased ends, Spencer deftly provides laugh out loud moments next to frustratingly true observations of our informational consumerism. Throughout I was reminded of a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity;” Spencer’s America exemplifies this fear realized.

Spencer sets up a lot of encounters for Buddy that augment his message – some more interesting and effective than others. Each chapter begins with an aphorism of Buddy’s that hints at the themes and ideas in the following chapter; much of Buddy’s true charm and insight into his character comes out in these quotes – for the first quarter of the novel this is the way we get insights into his character – and many times I was motivated to read through a slower vignette so that I could get to the next of Buddy’s clever sayings.

Altogether “Be Now Buddy What” is a novel of ideas told with bite and laughter. If you are blessed to have an inquiring mind and a sense of humor, I recommend you buy it and read it.

The Experiencial Review, On "Size Matters Not"

I have enjoyed Warwick Davis' acting since Return of the Jedi, and the two made-for-TV Ewok movies, but didn't know who he was until Willow. This was before the days of the Internet Movie Database, where I could easily look up every scrap of acting ever put on a recordable media. I saw Willow twice in the theaters - which, according to the IMDB, was released in 1988, making me 11 or 12 at the time; I enjoyed it enough that I even read the novelization (and wasn't so ashamed at reading Wayland Drew's book that I haven't listed it on my Goodreads Read List); when the film came to HBO I taped it, and would say I've watched it at least a dozen times. It was later when watching the credits to Return of the Jedi (for that was how you learned who acted in a film back in the day) that I found that Davis played the irascible young Ewok Wicket (personal geek trivia: recently while playing Draw Something with Mrs. Karaczewski, I drew a respectable looking Ewok, with a poorly drawn exploding Death Star II in the sky, with the name "Wicket" written to the side. It seemed like I'd made it too easy by adding the Wicket; after two days Mrs. Karaczewski needed some additional verbal clues before managing a guess, and gave me quite the look of incredulity about the Wicket clue).

I didn't see him in anything after Willow until Phantom Menace - I recognized him in the Leprechaun ads, but didn't see that until much later - and especially loved seeing his progression through each of the Harry Potter films.

Then, a couple of weeks ago I found a gap in my audiobook reading. I had just finished a string of series (The Dark Tower, then the Millennium Trilogy, then the Hunger Games Trilogy), had started looking into some noir detective novels, and didn't think that "The Postman Always Rings Twice"'s 3 discs would last until any of my holds came in, so I began trolling the library's audiobook stacks. I browsed through the whole U of shelves, to the autobiographies at the very end opposite to where I had started, where the title "Size Matters Not" leaped out, with "by Warwick Davis" following. I snatched it up, drawn to it in an inexpressibly instinctive way: I hadn't known it existed, but finding it held the joy as if I had been looking for it for years and had finally found it.

"Size Matters Not" is an autobiography of actor and little person Warwick Davis. The book follows his childhood up through 2010. Cast in "Return of the Jedi" at eleven, Davis' story is that of a child actor who grows up on movie sets and in a small English town.

I loved Davis' humorous tone throughout; it was obvious that he enjoyed writing his story, delighting in puns and tongue-in-cheek wordplay, which created an easy and engaging read. He presents his success in the acting profession as a mix of privilege, luck, and hard work - and by doing so, presents himself as a wonderful person to be around. He approaches the challenges and frustrations of being a little person (3'6") in a world designed for taller people with humor and cleverness.

Even when he encounters great tragedy in his family life, he expresses himself with grace and humility - and engendered such empathy in this reader by his simple eloquence that I had to pause the recording. I was in my classroom after school, listening while I entered grades, and I had to stop and breathe through my eyes misting up; I remember putting my hands over my eyes, as if to shut everything out for a while, as I couldn't help imagining how it would be to live through that ordeal. This section will hit parents especially hard.


Not often that a book makes me laugh out loud, and nearly cry. Can't wait for volume 2.

Republished Ho!

After dusting off my Art Degree to design the cover, I have just published a collection of my previously published writings. "My Governor's House & other stories" collects six stories and an essay, several of which are out-of-print (or whatever the term is for a story that was published by an online e-zine that apparently doesn't exist anymore: out-of-net? detached-from-the-web?).

My vision for the book is guided by the evolutionary nature of ebooks (see the introduction to Mark Coker's book "The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success" for an excellent description of this potential) as new stories get published and rights revert back to me, I will add them to the book. I'm also considering a special edition later - but I'm not going to release any details about that yet.

As a thank you for visiting this blog, you can download it for free through the end of the year! Just enter WH87A at checkout for 100% off!

Sample and purchase it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/147664

Pinteresting

I started a Pinterest page on "Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" - hope it piques your pinterest: http://pinterest.com/joshkaraczewski/alexander-murphy-s-home-for-wayward-celebrities/

Welcome Freeloaders!

Like many others this past week, I scrolled through Smashwords' "Read an Ebook Week" site and picked up a few interesting books. But as an indie author that knows the importance of reviews, I know that the ebooks I got were not actually "free", but were a sort of advance that I would repay by posting some reviews or comments online on them after I have finished my reading.

So, if you are here at my blog because you have downloaded a "free" copy of my novel, and you're checking me out, you would do me a great service if you could post, review, or comment on the things you enjoyed about my book online.

Thank you in advance for your help in getting my novel into more hands.

Publishing Addendum Volume 5

"Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" is now available in ebook form on Amazon.com. Buy it here, and check out my Amazon author page here.

Quotations Various # 2b - The sea

Ah, the sea: my literary mistress. I can't help it, I can't control myself. A lovely passage like this one from Shusaku Endo's "The Samurai" will make me stray from many other fine literary passages:

"He was seeing the great ocean for the first time. There was not a trace of land of land, not even the silhouette of an island. Waves collided, jostled, and sent up war cries like a melee of countless warriors. The prow of the ship thrust like a spear into the gray sky, and the hull, shooting up a tall spout of water, seemed about to plunge into a valley in the ocean, then lurched up once again.

"The samurai's eyes swam. He could scarcely catch his breath in the gusts of wind that pounded his brow. To the east, an ocean of billowing waves. To the west , an ocean of clamouring waves. To the south and to the north, ocean as far as he could see. For the first time in his life the samurai understood the vastness of the sea. Compared to this ocean, his own marshland was little more than a single tiny speck. He groaned at the immensity of it all."

Quotations Various # 2

"As the samurai and his men cut wood, snow grazed their rustic outfits, brushed against their faces and hands, then melted away as if to underscore the brevity of life." ~ Shusaku Endo, "The Samurai"

The first page, the third paragraph, the fifth line, the third paragraph, the forty-first to seventieth words of the novel.

You've just begun a new novel. You're expecting, perhaps, a little scene-setting, maybe some character introductions; your eyes are really only sliding over the surface of the story so far. Then you encounter the line above.

You almost drop the book. Instead, you close the book and put it down slowly.

If you are a writer, you pause and reevaluate if you should continue to write. You would be lucky to come up with such a stunning line, and would probably not have the audacity to put it so far forward in your story. The pause will seem longer than it is.

But then you will see that the feeling of inadequate talent falling like snow over the idea of your writing doesn't have to cool your motivation. You will feel that if you keep writing down your lines, and then write some more, and continue writing some after that, eventually you will write a line that makes you almost drop your pen. Pause, set your pen down slowly. Reread the line a couple of times.

Then pick up your pen and try to write some more.

Publishing Addendum Volume 4

"Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" is now available for your Kobo reader from the Kobo Bookstore here:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Alexander-Murphys-Home-Wayward-Celebrities/book-WWrpSfbukUi_WA3G-Gzg0g/page1.html

Also, strangely, listed as a Fiction Anthology.

Publishing Addendum Volume 3

"Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" is now available at the Reader Store for your Sony Reading Device or Reader App. for Android Tablet here:

http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/josh-karaczewski/alexander-murphy-s-home-for-wayward-celebrities/_/R-400000000000000501229

Can't tell you why it's listed under "Fiction Anthologies"...

Publishing Addendum Volume 2

Hail readers. My novel "Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" is now available through the diesel e-book store.
Check it out here:
http://search.diesel-ebooks.com/author/Karaczewski,%20Josh/results/1.html

Season's Readings Catch-up #1 - Patrick O'Brian

I have always loved tales of the sea. As much as I loved Edgar Allen Poe's horror and detective stories it was his strange and wonderful stories on the open ocean ("Manuscript Found in a Bottle"; "A Descent into the Maelstrom") that most fired my imagination; the initial draw of Tom Clancy was the water-heavy "The Hunt for Red October;" and the next novel I read from Jack London will certainly be "The Sea Wolf."

This interest found its culmination in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. Through twenty-and-a-half books I felt I was part of Lucky Jack's crew, part of Dr. Maturin's intelligence community. I got to know these characters better than I know many of my friends, so that leaving them abruptly with "21" (because it was unfinished at the time of O'Brian's death) was traumatic; the years I spent reading this series was akin to going away to school: I went in not knowing anyone, learned and experienced so much, shared in so many lives, and then had to return home alone. And there will be no phone calls, no facebook updates, no serendipitous meetings, no reunions to attend. I was left onshore at Aubrey and Maturin's last sailing, and never will they return to my port.

I will not give reviews for individual books in the series, for they all blended together in one vast narrative for me. But if you too are drawn to clear horizons in every direction, adventure with good company, and perhaps even a sea change, volunteer to go aboard. The journey will be worth the melancholy at journey's end.

Where I was, and what I was doing

Those visiting this blog may notice the sizable gap between my last "Season's Reading" in early 2009 and my recent flurry of activity. So before I continue on with what passes for "content" on this blog, I thought I would give an explanation.

Firstly, my career as a fledgling teacher occupied most of my intellectual resources, so that when I had a break where I could stop working and devote my mind to the consumption of a story, it was either one that I could share with my family (a film or book or video game with the kids; television or film with my wife after the kids were put down to bed), or in a medium that was more immediately engaging, where I didn't have to work so hard at comprehending form, content, or inferred meaning.

Literature is solitary - while a story experienced through television and film can and should be shared. As much as I crave the mental film of reading, there are the films Up, Coraline, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Despicable Me, etc, to share for the first time; the exquisite detail of HD Blu-Ray in Disney re-releases like Sleeping Beauty, to experience anew. So of a weekend morning or family movie night I would rather hold one of my children than a pen or book - I would rather be with them in the landscape of whatever film we are experiencing than alone with an author (even with myself as that author).

And when the children were tucked away and my wife and I could sit together, I wanted to be entertained by a medium that we could share. Lost, Mad Men, Heroes, Burn Notice, Dexter, Entourage, Big Bang Theory, Chuck - all excellent shows where I could immediately see my wife's reaction, know her opinion; relax and commune with the limited conscious time we had together.

And then there were the times when I was alone downstairs - when my loves slumbered - and I could choose my entertainment - usually of a Friday night. Those hours I spent on the movies and TV shows that my wife didn't care to see, or that my kids are not allowed to see yet. Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles; Asian action films like The Myth, Rob-B Hood, House of Fury, PTU, etc; those films and seasons filled the hours when I just wanted to sit on the couch, drink an ale, and neglect the mental and physical duties and obligations of being a Mr. K, and just be Josh.

Then, finally, there were video games. They can also be a shared entertainment experience with my children (Wii Sports Resort, The Legend of Zelda, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Rachet & Clank, Lego Harry Potter, Little Big Planet, and yes, even, occasionally, Disney Sing It Family Hits (what happens in the living room, stays in the living room), and a more immediately gratifying mature gaming experience (Half Life 2, Splinter Cell, Uncharted, Knights of the Old Republic, etc). But what video games offer now are increasingly complex interactive experiences - and the best modern games can offer intellectual engagement with a sense of progress more tangible than a turned page, or a finished chapter; games offer a more readily quantifiable achievement in their gameplay and completion than books - and while they should never be a replacement for literature, they are certainly a rich alternative.

But now, my energies are finally beginning to balance between the work I get paid for (teaching), the work I wouldn't mind getting paid for (writing), and my entertainment choices. So stay tuned for reviews of what I've read over the past couple years, and continuing updates on my writings.

Social Mediating

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