The New Peter Straub Novel - Release Date February 9

The book trailer for Peter Straub's upcoming novel A Dark Matter. I can't wait for this one!

Geaux Saints!

I rarely write about sports here on the blog, but I'm faced with something I truly never thought would happen: The New Orleans Saints going to the Super Bowl. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for them, you might even say delighted. When I was growing up in Mississippi, the Saints were the nearest NFL team, so we saw their games every painful, excruciating week. And they were awful. I mean really bad. If you didn't grow up watching them every week, I'm not sure you can truly appreciate the depth of atrociousness that was the Saints.

They really sucked.



Yet there were glimmers. There was Tom Dempsey (a man with half a left foot) kicking a 63-yard field goal in 1970, a record that still stands today (although Jason Elam tied the record a few years ago). And of course, there was Archie Manning. I remember watching the Saints on TV and going to a couple of games. At the time, I didn't know a lot about football, yet I did know that quarterback Manning was clearly talented, but he couldn't do it all by himself. As a whole, the team just never seemed to be able to put it all together. Manning's last season was in 1982, about halfway thorough my college days. I still watched, still hoped, but to no avail. It really boggled the mind how the Saints would have a game all but locked up and lose in the closing seconds due to either a bonehead play or a freak sequence of events that no one could have predicted. When Ken Stabler went to the Saints for three seasons in the 80s, there was hope, but those hopes never materialized. I remember the "Aints," the bags over the heads and everything.

Then came a real turnaround in 1979. The Saints won 8 games and lost 8 games that season. It was a really, really big deal: the first time they weren't losers. If you don't know the rest of their history, you will. Just turn on any sports station or watch ESPN for the next two weeks. You'll hear all about it.

Again, I'm delighted for them. It's hard to describe, but there's almost a sense of relief in last night's Championship Game. There was something about growing up, watching the Saints lose week after week, year after year, even decade after decade that really got to me. I'm not sure why. I never played organized football and my favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys (perhaps because they did win a lot?), but something about all those Saints losses really hurt. Maybe it caused me to want to strive for something bigger, not just to not lose, but to win, to excel. Maybe watching those Saints games made me work a little harder to achieve my goals as a musician, a teacher, a writer, a person.

Or maybe I just like to see the underdog win sometimes. I don't know.

But I'm glad for the Saints. Best of luck in the Super Bowl. Enjoy!

I'm So Confused...

We're getting closer to making a large(r) screen TV a reality, but the more I look, the more confused I get. The Samsung LN40B630 40-Inch is probably my top choice right now. I'd like to get a 46", but I think the price jump is a little too much. The things I will insist on are 120Hz (as opposed to 60Hz, even though the prices for the 60Hz are dropping like crazy) and 1080p.


I've still got lots of review to read and places to look. Maybe this weekend. It's not so much confusing as it is time-consuming. The other considerations require just as much thought. For instance, a Blu-Ray player, one that will allow me to watch streaming NetFlix and allow me to up-convert my regular DVDs to near HD quality. I've heard that a lot of Blu-Ray players just don't hold up, breaking after a few months. Everyone's trying to get me to consider the PS3, but I'm not interested in games (and don't want to get addicted!).

And what about surround sound? If I get surround, the speakers in the back of the room will have to be wireless. $$$

Lastly (and most oddly), Cindy and I rarely watch TV. So why the big screen? I love movies. That's the main reason I want the TV. Currently we get only local channels which is fine with us. I'm hoping I'll still be able to pull the same channels out of the air with the TV's digital tuner. I certainly don't want to pay $60 a month for channels I'll never watch.

Lots of my Facebook buddies (especially Don) have given me some great advice and insight. Still....Decisions, decisions.

Goals, Not Resolutions

So we're over two weeks into 2010... How are you doing on your resolutions? Most of the people who have resolved to get in shape at my gym either have already given up or are going at a time other than my usual time. I hope they haven't given up, but I do like to find a parking spot and available equipment.

Anyway, I prefer the term goals to resolutions. Resolutions are usually heard in the form of "I'm going to lose weight this year" or "I'm going to get in shape this year." Too vague. A goal, in my mind, is more specific and has a definite time-table. For instance, one of my goals is to read at least 120 poems in 2010. Why? I'm quite poetry-ignorant and want to understand how poems work, both for enjoyment and my own writing. (Although I don't plan on writing any poetry, I think reading it can greatly enhance your fiction writing.) So my goal is to read at least 10 poems a month. That's not that many, but it's probably nine more than I typically read a month. And by read, I don't mean zip through; rather absorb, dwell on, chew, digest.

Next, to get at least one short story published in 2010. In the last three or four years, I've had one story published (all in small magazines or on websites most people have never heard of) with the exception of 2009 in which I published nothing. Mostly because I wrote nothing, certainly nothing of consequence, other than revising a YA novel, which is still sitting on my hard drive. It's not a lofty goal, but I need to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week writing from January to April (this is over and above the novel revision, which I plan to have ready to submit by July). Again, that's not much. It's certainly not enough, but I should have more time on my hands in April.



And finally (although this is not my final goal, not by a long shot), to read (or listen to) Roberto Bolano's massive 2666, not only because it's been on my shelf for over a year, but also because it represents all of the other books that have been sitting on my shelf for well over a year. (It was also given to me by a co-worker and one day she's going to ask me how I liked it!) My goal is to have it read by the end of February.

Tell me about your goals. Or resolutions. Or dreams.

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories (2009) - Mary Robinette Kowal

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories (2009) - Mary Robinette Kowal

There's a lot of great science fiction, fantasy and horror being published by small presses and I like to support their efforts when I can. Usually I'll purchase a couple of small press books a year, books that I know I can't get anywhere else by authors I know I'll like. I decided to take a chance on Mary Robinette Kowal's debut collection of short stories from Subterranean Press. I'd never read one word of Kowal's work, but have read glowing reviews of her individual stories as they appeared in print or online. So it was a bit of a risk spending $25 on a slim 80-page book by a relatively unknown author.

I'm so glad I did.

Kowal's stories are filled with interesting characters and fascinating ideas, but it's the human element (as well as excellent writing) that makes this collection soar. Two of the stories concern young adults who yearn for something they don't yet have. In the case of a boy named Aage in "This Little Pig," it's a 1952 MG in a future in which internal combustion engines are largely a thing of the past. For a girl named Jaiden in "Jaiden's Weaver," it's an expensive teddy bear spider that her homesteading family will never be able to afford. Both stories capture not only the yearning of these two people, but also the humanity and struggles that we all remember from our youth (and beyond).

"Just Right," about OCD and "Locked In" about a man suffering from ALS are both moving without becoming sappy, powerful without being manipulative. Yet the title story is my favorite, a tale of a blind man and his dog who travel to distant planets searching for exotic native fragrances that can be turned into perfumes. Kowal narrates this gripping "first contact" story from the blind man's point-of-view. I challenge anyone to write a gripping, nail-biting alien story as good as this one without using visual imagery.

Kowal, winner of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, is clearly a writer to watch. I know I plan to.

Book Loot

Well, the holidays are over, most of us have been back to work for awhile, so now it's time to reflect on what's really important. That's right, Book Loot. Here are the books I received for the holidays:



I'd never heard of Nicholas Carr until recently, but from what I've read, he has an interesting perspective on technology and culture. I've dabbled into Big Switch and have had a tough time putting it down. I can say the same for Jeff VanderMeer's Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer. Lots of great stuff in here, but I'm reading it in bits and pieces as not to get overwhelmed. (Thanks, Dave and Cher!)



I don't always agree with him, but I do enjoy Roger Ebert's writing. I'm already over 100 pages into Awake in the Dark and am delighted to have received it. (Thanks, Jan and Pete!) High Wire by Peter Gosselin is actually not a Christmas present, but Cindy's dad read it and thought I'd like it.



I've been coveting the ESV Study Bible (Is it right to covet a Bible???) for quite some time, so I was delighted to get it for Christmas. This is a beautifully put together Bible with study aids, cultural references, maps, just all kinds of stuff. (Thanks, Cindy!)



I decided to take advantage of the Small Beer Press sale (which is now over), an effort to raise money for the Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston. I also decided to try two authors I've never read - Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales by Greer Gilman and Hound, a mystery by Vincent McCaffrey. These two and the next two books were sort of presents to myself, so I didn't take a look at them until after the New Year. (Well, not much of a look...)



More from the Small Beer Press sale, Benjamin Rosenblum's The Ant King and Other Stories and A Working Writer's Daily Planner, a really nifty and inspiring planner/journal that I've been using since Jan. 1. I highly recommend it.

Okay... Tell me about the books you got. (You did ask for books, didn't you?)

The Year in Reading

I finished 2009 with 119 total books read, one less than I read in 2008. A lot of people seem impressed with reading over 100 books a year, but they shouldn't be. I know a lot of people who read many more than I do, some over 200. And consider that many of these books (over one third) were audiobooks.

A few breakdowns:

Fiction = 89
Non-Fiction = 39

Male authors = 86
Female authors = 36

Translated works = 5

And the breakdown by Adult Fiction, Non-Fiction, YA and J-Fiction: (It makes a nice little peace sign if you turn it upside down.)



Enough with the stats and graphs! Here's everything that I read in 2009:

JANUARY

Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (NF 2008) - Thomas L. Friedman * * * *
Last Evenings on Earth: Stories (2006 translation) - Roberto Bolano * * * * 1/2
Mansfield Park (1814) - Jane Austen * * * * *
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death (2009) - Charlie Huston * * * *
The Hour I First Believed (2008) - Wally Lamb * * * 1/2
Ernest Hemingway on Writing (NF 1984) - Larry W. Phillips, ed. * * * *
The Truth About Celia (2003) - Kevin Brockmeier * * * * *
Indemnity Only (1982) - Sara Paretsky * * *
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964) - Philip K. Dick * * * *
What I Saw and How I Lied (YA 2008) - Judy Blundell * * * * *
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (YA 2007) - Sherman Alexie * * * * *

FEBRUARY

Killshot (1989) - Elmore Leonard * * * *
Looking for Alaska (YA 2005) - John Green * * * * 1/2
The Hunger Games (YA 2008) - Suzanne Collins * * * * 1/2
Logged On and Tuned Out: A Nontechie’s Guide to Parenting a Tech-Savvy Generation (NF 2007) - Vicki Courtney * * * 1/2
Deadville (YA 2008) - Ron Koertge * * * * *
The Final Solution (2004) - Michael Chabon * * * 1/2
The 39 Clues, Book 1: The Maze of Bones (J-Fic 2008) - Rick Riordan * * 1/2
Bog Child (YA 2008) - Siobhan Dowd * * * * *
Little Brother (YA 2008) - Cory Doctorow * * *

MARCH

Me, the Missing, and the Dead (YA 2008) - Jenny Valentine * * * * 1/2
The Adoration of Jenna Fox (YA 2008) - Mary E. Pearson * * * 1/2
The Little Sleep (2009) - Paul Tremblay * * * *
Newes from the Dead (YA 2008) - Mary Hooper * * * 1/2
The Castle (1922) - Franz Kafka * * * *
Outliers: The Story of Success (NF 2008) - Malcolm Gladwell * * * * 1/2
Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life (NF 2008) - Colin Duriez * * * 1/2
Snow Falling in Spring: Coming of Age in China During the Cultural Revolution (YA NF 2008) - Moying Li * * *
Faceless Killers (1991/2003) - Henning Mankell * * * 1/2
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (NF 2007) - Tim Challies * * * * *
No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row (YA NF 2008) - Susan Kuklin * * * 1/2

APRIL

Ubik (1969) - Philip K. Dick * * * *
Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children (NF 2008) - Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., MD and Freda McKissic Bush, MD * * * * 1/2
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2008) - John Langan * * * *
The Manual of Detection (2009) - Jedediah Berry * * *
Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (NF 2008) - Colvin Geoff * * * *
Castle (2009) - J. Robert Lennon * * * * *
Feathers (J-Fic 2007) - Jacqueline Woodson * * *
Knots and Crosses (1987) - Ian Rankin * * * * 1/2
My Teacher is an Alien (J-Fic 1989) - Bruce Coville * * * 1/2
An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (NF 2003) - Michael Dirda * * * *

MAY

The Grifters (1963) - Jim Thompson * * * * *
The Neddiad (J-Fic 2007) - Daniel Pinkwater * * * *
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose (NF 1969) - Flannery O’Connor * * * * *
The House with a Clock in Its Walls (J-Fic 1973) - John Bellairs * * * 1/2 (2nd x)
Private Midnight (2009) - Kris Saknussemm * * * * 1/2
Making Movies (NF 1995) - Sidney Lumet * * * * *
Hide and Seek (1990) - Ian Rankin * * * *

JUNE

Pretty Monsters (YA 2008) - Kelly Link * * * * *
Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) - (NF 2008) - Kevin DeYoung and
Ted Kluck * * * * *
No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech (NF 2009) - Lucinda Roy * * * *
Hostage (2001) - Robert Crais * * * 1/2
Wait Till Helen Comes (J-Fic 1986) - Mary Dowling Hahn * * 1/2
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (NF 2008) - Tim Keller * * * * *
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (J-Fic 1968) - E.L. Konigsburg * * * *
The Impossible Bird (2002) - Patrick O’Leary * * * 1/2
Ignore Everybody and 39 Others Keys to Creativity (NF 2009) - Hugh MacLeod * * * *
Tooth and Nail (1992) - Ian Rankin * * *

JULY

Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town (NF 2009) - Warren St. John * * * * 1/2
Dead Until Dark (2001) - Charlaine Harris * * * 1/2
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1 (J-Fic 2006) - Rick Riordan * * * 1/2
Intent to Kill (2009) - James Grippando * * 1/2

AUGUST

The Scarecrow (2009) - Michael Connelly * * * *
Strange Telescopes: Following the Apocalypse from Moscow to Siberia (NF 2009) - Daniel Kalder * * * * 1/2
Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple) (NF 2008) - Jeffrey Kluger * * *
The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006/2009) - Stieg Larsson * * * * *
The Thin Book of Naming Elephants: How to surface Undiscussables for Greater Organizational Success (NF 2004) - Sue Annis Hammond & Andrea B. Mayfield * * * *
Same Kind of Different As Me (NF 2006) - Ron Hall & Denver Moore w/Lynn Vincent * * * *
Illyria (2007) - Elizabeth Hand * * * * 1/2
White Sands, Red Menace (J-Fic 2008) - Ellen Klages * * * *
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time (NF 2006) - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin * *
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates * * * *

SEPTEMBER

The Long Goodbye (1953) - Raymond Chandler * * * * *
Life As We Knew It (YA 2008) - Susan Beth Pfeffer (Books For The Beast) * * *
The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership (NF 2009) - Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh * * * * 1/2
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (NF 2005) - Malcolm Gladwell * * * * 1/2 (2x)
World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty is Vital to American National Security (NF 2008) - Thomas F. Farr * * * * 1/2
The Siege (2009) - Stephen White * * * *
Ravens (2009) - George Dawes Green * * * * *
Unwind (YA 2007) - Neal Shusterman (BFTB) * * * * 1/2
Farewell, My Lovely (1940) - Raymond Chandler * * * * 1/2
Slammer (2009) - Allan Guthrie * * * *
Wake (YA 2008) - Lisa McCann (BFTB) * * *
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything (NF 2009) - David Dark * * * * *

OCTOBER

Confessions - St. Augustine (trans. Henry Chadwick) * * * * *
Wise Blood (1952) - Flannery O’Connor * * * *
Marked (YA 2007) - P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast (BFTB) * *
Graceling (YA 2008) - Kristin Cashore (BFTB) * * * *
The Concrete Blonde (1994) - Michael Connelly * * * *
The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural (YA 2007) - Deborah Noyes, ed. (BFTB) * * *
Isis (2006) - Douglas Clegg * * * * 1/2
Columbine (NF 2009) - Dave Cullen * * * * *
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (NF 2008) - Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski * * * * *
Her Fearful Symmetry (2009) - Audrey Niffenegger * * * *

NOVEMBER

The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development (NF 2009) - Walt Mueller * * * *
Audrey’s Door (2009) - Sarah Langan * * *
As I Lay Dying (1930) - William Faulkner * * * * *
Await Your Reply (2009) - Dan Chaon * * * * *
This is For the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America’s Most Violent Gang (NF 2009) - Samuel Logan * * 1/2
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That
Matters (NF 2009) - Timothy Keller * * * * *
Odd and the Frost Giants (J-Fic 2009) - Neil Gaiman * * * *
Stormbreaker (YA 2001) - Anthony Horowitz * * * *
Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye (J-Fic 2004) - Geronimo Stilton * * * 1/2
The Film Club (NF 2008) - David Gilmour * * * 1/2
Good People (2008) - Marcus Sakey * * * *
Pobby and Dingan (2000) - Ben Rice * * * * 1/2
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity (NF 2006) - David Lynch
* * * 1/2

DECEMBER

The Real Festivus; The True Story Behind America’s Favorite Made-up Holiday (NF 2005) - Dan O’Keefe * * * 1/2
The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture (NF 2008) - Kary
Oberbrunner * * * * *
Rogue Male (1939) - Geoffrey Household * * * * 1/2
9 Dragons (2009) - Michael Connelly * * * * 1/2
Break (YA 2009) - Hannah Moskowitz * * * *
Peace Like a River (2001) - Leif Enger * * * * 1/2
Secret Lives (2008) - Jeff VanderMeer * * * * *
The Giant-Slayer (J-Fic 2009) - Iain Lawrence * * * *
Red Shift (1973) - Alan Garner * * * * 1/2
unChristian: What a New Generation Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters (NF 2007) -
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons * * * * 1/2
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009) - Kazuo Ishiguro * * * 1/2
Leviathan (YA 2009) - Scott Westerfeld * * * * 1/2

Okay. Now go and read something.