Thursday, August 2, 2007

Tiny Revelations and Being Bad!

The results from Carl's Tiny Stories contest are in and the stories are all amazing. I have to give a big round of applause to everyone who participated in this one. I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and the amount of effort put into these really shows. They were all top notch. Many were very touching and all of them were quite powerful. Elaine's (Quixotic) amazing story Father took home the top award, and rightfully so. Very touching, haunting, and something I can relate to. Great job ;)

For those not in the know, the contest was to write a story that was exactly 100 words and you could not repeat the same word twice! Very challenging. If you haven't tried it already, you really should. It was quite fun. My story was titled Jaden's Nakaya. Jaden was to be the main character of my NaNoWriMo story and Nakaya was the world in which it was set, but that idea has been laid aside for now and a new one has taken it's place...but I'll revisit them later. Here's my story:

His eyes shifted to an egg shell white – pupil and iris removed. Jaden was tranced.

He re-appeared where childhood ended. That dark memory when imagination could no longer play the savior.

It had worked until then.

Couldn’t face pain…always running…

Wicked thoughts awoken Nakaya, my bright world…I’m safe here, free. There are others – some like me, winged creatures, sparkling nymphs, things of water who create mystical sounds…All stolen away.

Bang…blood…sirens…funeral…

…It’s time to grow up…

…Gotta be the big boy…

Kaya’s gone forever…innocence lost.

I have a choice in this.

Beauty reclaimed.

The End! I'll pursue his story and go much further in depth in the future. It's so hard to tell a story in 100 words. I know what I'm saying in this story, but I don't know if anyone else would! I wanted to capture the imagination as a place of escape and how we often lose that or feel that we have to lose that as we grow older...how we're sometimes forced by "real life" to lose our imaginations...but I also feel that to an extent we have a choice...we can choose to use creativity as a means of expression and a means of escape and release...

OK, so enough with the heavy stuff...on with the being bad! I spent a lot of money on books and I only bought 2 of them! Both are pre-orders. Subterranean Press had to go and announce 2 really incredible books. The first is their new edition of Neil Gaiman's Coraline with an all new cover by Dave McKean. The book will also be signed and numbered, though they haven't specified if it will be signed by Gaiman and McKean or just Gaiman. It will also include a few new illustrations by Dave McKean and will have several full color photos of Coraline puppets from an Irish Puppet production of the book! If you preorder the novel, you are entered in a drawing to win one of three Coraline dolls made by puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal! The other 2 dolls are going to Gaiman and McKean. How frickin' cool is that!

The second book that I bought is Lye Street by Alan Campbell. This book sounds amazing. It's a prequel to a book called Scar Night that is available now that has gotten wonderful reviews and has been compared to Neil Gaiman and Charles Dickens. I'll be picking up that one soon. Lye Street won't be released until January 2008, so I have plenty time to read Scar Night first. The main reason I ordered Lye Street (aside from the fact that it sounds cool) is that Dave McKean did an incredible wrap around cover for it! I love it. That one's only $25 for a signed hardcover which really isn't bad for a Subterranean Press edition.

Alright...that's all I got!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are both beautiful covers. Sounds like you've got some treasures coming your way :)

chrisa511 said...

It was the covers that sold me. I can't pass up a great cover. I'm definitely guilty of buying books based solely on their covers while walking through the aisles of the bookstore.

Anonymous said...

Oh hello shiny treasures! That's another hit for my credit card this month... Thanks for the heads up, Chris! ;)

Anonymous said...

Also, I really enjoyed your tiny story, Chris. Would love to read more!

Anonymous said...

. . . . that Coraline cover is extremely creepy, and I'm not sure whether I love it or am afraid of it, haha!

DesLily said...

hey chris.. tsk tsk..being a bad boy again i see lol..

that little dragonsdale book i got in florida (photo in my blog) I bought because of the cover lol!! but it wasn't so much the "art work" as the having to open both sides to get into the book (sorta like a journal that overlaps to seal closed with velcrow)..but.. at least it was only 16.99. I can't believe I do that sort of thing!lol

all of Carl's short stories were amazing!

Funny how you used the character of something you wanted to write and I used one I did write about lol.. think we were on the same wave there??! lol.. so dang it all.. I have to keep entering contests Carl does so eventually I can win a poppet! lol..and I may just have to order the Duirwaigh book..sigh..we'll see, it will have to wait for now.. it was sure a great prize package!

Anonymous said...

those are two very cool books you have coming chris! and their covers are gorgeous.

having a signed copy of "coraline" is also going to be cool!

darkorpheus said...

You are definitely a bigger Gaiman fan than me, Chris. I love the cover for Coraline.

Oh. You mean you have decided the story you're going to write for the NaNoWriMo challenge? I'm still drifting on the story. Oh well. It's definitely is going to involve the occult.

chrisa511 said...

No problem Quix...dangerous, eh? I just couldn't pass them up! I kept saying that I would wait until I got some extra money...but I decided I had to order them NOW, so onto the credit card they went :/

Court, I love the cover! I agree that it's quite creepy, but that's why I love McKean ;)

Deslily, No surprise there, eh? I'm always buying books because of the damn covers, lol. The Dragonsdale cover is really cool! I wish this one was only $16.99...the Coraline book was $60!

The Durwaigh book is REALLY cool. I might pick up a copy for myself too. The stories really were all amazing...and like I said, I felt extra special knowing Lilith when I read yours :) It was a beautiful story.

JP, I'm really looking forward to the both of them! I can't wait for the Coraline book. They say that it's always well into production so it should be available soon! Longer post about it when it arrives.

chrisa511 said...

Dark Orpheus, One could say that I'm a bit of an obsessive Gaiman fan at times ;) Isn't the cover great!

Yeah, I've decided on my NaNo story and I've started planning it out, thought I don't want to do too much planning. I really want to just sit at the computer and just start typing for this one and see what comes out. I want to have fun with this and just see where it takes me. But I keep having these ideas in the middle of the night, so I jot them down since we can't do any actual writing before November.

Your story's going to be great! I can feel it :)

Anonymous said...

I sort of lost my idea for the NaNo story in the ether somewhere, somehow. Perhaps it will float back to me between now and then...

chrisa511 said...

I hope it does Quix :( You're a great writer and I need your NaNo support!

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm sure something will occur to me. That or I will just start randomly typing in November and see what happens. *grin*

chrisa511 said...

That was my plan before this idea jumped in my head!

chrisa511 said...

HAHA! Carl, you should know better by now...never come near my blog with a credit card in sight...I'm a bad influence, lol.

I've noticed that the rats have been making a big come back. I've picked up a couple of them over the past few months. I got me a devil rat and a Poe rat. LOVE the Poe rat, he's my favorite :) The jester rats are really cool too...but um, I'm currently broke due to all of this book buying :/

Carl V. Anderson said...

I've been reluctant to share my last week's worth of book buying...not to brag, but I think I've outdone you in the 'out of control' department. Woe is me! And I of course immediately ordered Coraline and the Campbell book...

CJ said...

The story is great, Chris! I'd love to read more.

And the book covers are wonderful. I see nothing wrong with picking up a book because of the cover!

cjh

chrisa511 said...

Carl, you can't make comments like that and not share! You must let us know now...Of course there have been a few purchases I have made lately that I've kept quiet too, LOL!!

Thanks CJ!! Oh, I see nothing wrong with that either, I do it all the time. Most of the time I end up pretty pleased with the book. I really do think that you can tell a lot by a book's cover.