#280. Film Fan, Fan Companion, Star Trek, Jabroni Companion

#280.

The Film Fan is, technically, complete, which is pretty amazing, because I've been working on that particular version of my favorite films list for about a year. The document even with a number of really miniscule write-ups for some of the films comes in at almost ninety pages. I wonder how absurd it would be to write a whole book on my ideas about film. The Fan Companion blog itself was born of an equally absurd idea last year (it began with a series of commentaries on Star Trek that I simultaneously posted at Lower Decks (hence the star backdrop), when I thought I might literally interest Pocket Books with a, well Fan Companion, akin to the official companions it had put out for nearly every Star Trek series (Enterprise got sacrificed both to the diminishing interest in the franchise, and the idea that the Internet would actually replace printed media in the immediate future). I had attempted to solicit several of the writers of those companions, but I only went so far as Facebook, and didn't get very far. I had figured, if I could interest those guys, I could possibly interest Pocket Books. But even Pocket Books couldn't interest anyone in its most recent version of its encyclopedia, Star Trek 101, which was released about a year before the 2009 movie revival, before anyone could be sure they should be interested in the franchise again. I figured it would be neat to have a book that covered a fan's perspective, and not the angry fan who hated and/or nitpicked the franchise to near death by 2005, but someone who genuinely enjoyed Star Trek.

Anyway, following the conclusion of the Film Fan, I'll be entering Slobberknocker Fan territory, the first time I'll have dedicated a whole blog to pro wrestling. Should be interesting...

#279. Fan Companion, Comics Reader, Sigild V, Hall Bros, Ecce Homo

#279.

Figured I should also mention a little of what I've been doing in my family of blogs. Every Thursday I update the Fan Companion (where I've been counting down my 500 hundred film favorites since last fall) and Comics Reader (where I've gotten [forty-five] creator Andi Ewington to sign up as my first official Blogger follower thanks to my hearty recommendation of his graphic novel in the 2010 QB50). I've been steadily working at Sigild V, writing and posting new stories about as regularly as I did with the poetry cycles I've done from 2007-2010. I've been hard at work at a sequence called Lost Convoy for the past few weeks now, posting new installments as the story has blossomed, and it continues to do exactly that. I've got a second act planned that will expand the story, and still not even get us to the point where our lost survivors are reunited with the rest of the fleet, not to mention barely mentioning much of the apocalyptic context!

But beyond that I've just posted a handful of short stories ("Bound by Blood," "The Insomniac's Dream," and "Monkey Palm") I wrote last year, several of which were rejected by my pal A.C. Hall for one of his Hall Bros. anthologies, though not too many sour grapes, since I got a story called "Last Ride Out of Liberation" included in the upcoming Villainy anthology, and even selected as Ace's editor's pick, which I'm terrifically proud of.

Have I even mentioned that I finished writing Ecce Homo in the final hours of last Friday? I'm also really happy about that. And so begins the long process of getting the darned thing published. Hey, Ecce Homo, have you met Finnegan, your brother in that struggle? But seriously, I worked on that sucker from October to last month, and while I spent long periods of time not actually writing, it was another revealing experience at what it takes for me to write a novel, and I'm probably more proud of this one than either of the other two (but I like those, too). Hopefully the world really will get a chance to judge for itself.

#278. Reading List: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

#278.

Next on my Reading List:

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern, a wacky little book written some time ago, perhaps made a little more famous for modern readers with the Steve Coogan movie. I'm excited about this one, but the introduction in my version (which wasn't listed on the Borders website, something of a recent anomaly) is just brutal, enough to make me wish I were reading anything else. Usually intros aren't this bad. Why oh why, [insert name here]? But I remain undeterred...

4/21/11 edit: Turns out that intro wasn't as bad as I thought, since I did go back and have another look. But it's also exactly as bad as I thought. Dude did not really contextualize at all. That's what you do with intros. Instead it was as rambling as Tristram himself. Wait a minute...

#277. Jerome Charyn, Chris Jericho

#277.

Before I get to the latest Reading List book, I thought I'd take some time talking about a couple of books I recently finished, including the last selection, Jerome Charyn's Raised by Wolves.

Now, as I noted when I wrote up the listing last week, I fell into this weird confluence of Charyn and Quentin Tarantino before I became a big fan of Charyn's writing, from Johnny One-Eye, one of his most recent novels. But Charyn cast a long shadow before that one, a fact I helped acquaint myself with over the last few years, having recently added The Tar Baby and The Green Lantern to my collection (you can imagine, Theoretical Reader, knowing my affinity for the DC hero about to get his own movie, that the title alone of that last one intrigued me; alas, of course, no relation).

Anyway, I noticed a pattern the deeper I went into Charyn's backlog, and that's that Jerome likes to revisit historical figures in whimsical ways (a little of what drives Peter Ackroyd, who preceded with two books Raised by Wolves on the List, remember). Reading Wolves was like seeing an entirely different facet of him. Of course, he does present himself as both a deep scholar of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but less so of Jackie Brown and Kill Bill (the book was published before Grindhouse or Inglourious Basterds, so cannot comment on them), and he instead falls back on a more relaxed attitude concerning their worth, is considerably, lightly, hostile toward them, in fact. It ends up making Charyn seem less discerning and more interested in following popular trends, falling into others footsteps, as it were.

This is mildly troubling, since I'd begun viewing him as something of a kindred spirit, something that in my experience is few and far between. I had hoped he might better analyze than the norm the bulk of Tarantino's career (since that's about as much as the book amounts to), so was disappointed to read that he doesn't offer the same scrutiny to movies that are less universally loved.

I am aware of the fact that different opinions do in fact exist, and that he is free to believe whatever he wants, but to have written a book about someone might have implied that he has a more abiding interest in the subject than the average person. That simply wasn't the case, and as a result, I feel a little more alienated from an individual that I have been otherwise proud of "discovering."

Okay, so that's that. I've also recently completed Chris Jericho's latest book, Undisputed. I loved his first book (available in stores now), and I loved this one, too, but again, it was a little disturbing to learn a little too much about his general psyche. In it he reiterates his displeasure with Bill Goldberg, the WCW phenomenon only WWE could kill (he said in jest, because it was in fact WCW that thoroughly decimated him). Back in 1998, it seems, when Goldberg was in the midst of his championship run, he refused to work a straight program with Jericho, which was one of his primary motivations to eventually leave the company and sign with WWE. What Jericho has refused to acknowledge all these years is that tiny fact, that Goldberg was in fact world champion at that time. Jericho had never even sniffed the main event level at that time, and had only been with the company for two years.

It gets more and more interesting. One of Jericho's biggest idols, I'll remind you, was Shawn Michaels. HBK's singles push with WWE began roughly in 1992. He didn't become world champion until 1996, four years later. I just want to maybe suggest to Jericho (besides, be light on your feet!) that he could have been a little smarter about that situation. Okay, so I'm pleased it delivered him to WWE a year later, but if he'd smartened up then, he might have saved himself a world of trouble. He recounts his reign as undisputed champion as something of a huge failure, that one of the few bright spots was when he finally won, however briefly, the respect of Vince McMahon by, well, acting like a champion. Here's where I further suggest, given the context I've reiterated about Goldberg, that maybe Jericho might have understood why his dream push against the champion didn't happen, and he got the attitude he did...because, hell, he's really froot.

Anyhoo. I really do respect Y2J, wish him the best of luck (light on your feet!), hope he wasn't cast to be the first one voted out (again!). He just needed a little seasoning. And he got it. The book covers his WWE tenure only between 1999-2005. He would enjoy far greater success in his 2007-2010 run, becoming a legitimate world champion and main event presence. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Also, reading this one finally made me take Fozzy seriously. They're froot!

#276. Reading List: Raised by Wolves

#276.

Next up on the Reading List:

Raised by Wolves by Jerome Charyn, one of those awesome pieces of synergy I was absolutely not going for at the time. I became a huge Charyn fan some time after picking this book up either in late 2006 or early 2007, so this book was bought based on my interest in Quentin Tarantino, which itself has only increased (see: Inglourious Basterds). So to finally get around to reading this one might give you a sense of how this list works. (I should also note that I'm always reading several books at once; this list is only representative of my "most serious" interests, which is to say not the ones that I will randomly read simultaneously.)

#275. Borders, The Rock, Mr. Anderson, Ecce Homo, Seven Thunders

#275.

Gotta mention the Borders news from this week. While the store I work at is perfectly safe at the moment, the one I opened in Burlington, MA back in 2006 has closed, so that is what I am sad about. Also, there's one in Erie, PA that closed, too, and I went to college in that town.

Other big news from the week: The Rock! Finally...The Rock has come back...! This is such huge news in wrestling that it's beyond obvious. Very excited. I would cynically say he came back because he finally realized he would never be fully embraced by movie audiences as much as he has by the movies themselves. He's by far the msot successful wrestler to ever appear on the big screen, but...c'mon, The Rock is first and foremost the most entertaining (electrifying) wrestler there has ever been, not just a gimmick but one of the most complete presences ever possible. I secretly hope he fights Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII (it's too obvious a shot at the one person truly capable of selling the Deadman's first defeat at the event), even though I know there are three other opponents currently lined up for Taker (Wade Barrett, Sting, or Triple H, and out of those I'd ideally like Sting, and can only imagine the promos). Anyway, he's back!

Also, Mr. Anderson did lose the TNA world title at Against All Odds, but that speaks more to Jeff Hardy's legitimacy as champion than Anderson's. Ken has plenty more chances to win it back, now that he's finally done it the first time.

...Also, still working on Ecce Homo. When I actually write, it works really, really well! Very close to finishing, and have so much mapped out, it's really just a matter of writing. This has been a very interesting process. On a side note, I swapped the order of the next two books I'll be writing, since the War of 1812 book I finished recently helped me map out a little more of Seven Thunders, which has technically been my passion project since 1998...

#274. Reading List: Lambs of London

#274.

The latest book on my Reading List:

Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd. The Clerkenwell Tales, by the way, was as awesome as I could have wanted. Because I found myself with enough time, I read the last hundred pages in a day, and I don't often read, even with all the time possible, that much like that, only when really motivated usually (though strangely I never really did that for school). Ackroyd truly is a literary treasure, something I don't mind reiterating. This particular book concerns a real-life brother and sister team who ends up fabricating a "lost" Shakespeare play.

#273. 2011 Royal Rumble, Sigild V, Ecce Homo

#273.

I gotta say, last Sunday's Royal Rumble, and I'm talking the rumble itself, was probably among the best overall rumbles WWE has ever done. I would say it was technically brilliant, not only playing to all of the major storylines and strengths of the current roster, but even pulling a few tricks out of the bag. I mean, even Chris Masters had a spot! And speaking of spots, I know I'm a John Morrison partisan, but if it hadn't been designed otherwise, 2011 would have been a perfect year for him to win, at least with that guardrail spot of his! But the Nexus/Corre was used to perfection, John Cena, even the Great Khali. I mean, seriously, pound for pound, so much thought was put into this one, you might call it, already, a serious match of the year candidate.

And of course, Alberto Del Rio won it. I know this may seem a tad premature for a guy who has skirted more rivalries than he's had real matches in his WWE tenure, but the guy is the find of the new millennium for the company. He's the new Ric Flair. I'm talking 1970s Ric Flair, when the Nature Boy was originally making his name, establishing his legacy. I'm sure he wasn't beloved by everyone back then, but he was the best of the game, and he only got better, and more beloved, the more he stuck around. Ric Flair was supposed to be the consummate heel. He wasn't supposed to be liked. But he became one of the most beloved performers wrestling ever saw. Every major comeback he made, and there were quite a few of them, was thanks to the fact that the fans loved him so much.

Alberto Del Rio is not the Ric Flair you know. But Alberto Del Rio has all the tools to become that man. To become the man...Winning the Royal Rumble in 2011 is a step in that direction. Hell, winning at WrestleMania practically guarantees that he's there.

Anyway...that's some recent wrestling thoughts.

Now, somewhat obviously, I've got a new blog project, Sigild, my new short fiction forum, which I hope to expand, when I've properly established it, and make it the hub of a whole community. That's the dream.

I'm one section away from completing Ecce Homo. It's been a long haul, but the ride will have been worth it. I've been holding off putting Finnegan into the hands of other publishers, but I think I'm just about ready. It sounds a little weird, but I wanted total confidence in my third book before I could fully regain it for my second, which I've been trying to get published for the past year.

...Somewhere, talking about pro wrestling and literary fiction in the same blog post really does make sense...

#272. Reading List: The Clerkenwell Tales

#272.

Next on the internationally acclaimed Reading List:

The Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd, an author I discovered by chance in college, after discovering the then-recently published Plato Papers, which quickly became one of my all-time favorite books. But I hadn't read another book by Ackroyd since, because, criminally, he's relatively hard to find, even though he is, like the equally semi-obscure Jerome Charyn, one of our finest living authors. But in recent years, I've managed to collect a few of his more recent books, and he's due up on the Reading List, least with the two of three currently on it (I've got his acclaimed London: The Biography, but that'll be for some future version of this already extensive list).

#271. Skippy Dies

#271.

Because I have a terrible, terrible condition, I just keep buying books, even though I've got far too many already. My most recent acquisition is Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, one of those literary pieces of literature that so many readers are petrified of. I came across it while I was shelving other books. Well, I shouldn't say I came across "it" so much as the three volume edition that's in the link. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. I read 2666 and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in the same kind of edition, so I naturally associate only really exceptional books with the volume format. I don't know when I'll actually get around to reading it, but I figured it was worth noting.

#270. Mr. Anderson = World Champion

#270.

Can't believe I didn't make a note of this back on Monday, but very, very pleased that Mr. Anderson has finally become a world champion. On the whole, at least for the past year, I'd give TNA the edge as far as world champions go. Last year they stood behind AJ Styles, RVD, and Jeff Hardy, all wrestlers who have demonstrated real commitments as in-ring performers. Anderson just happens to be the first one in a while who can also be counted on to deliver as a personality. It's something the company really needs, and the way he became champion was brilliant. Those who got Genesis thought they were going to have another PPV headlined by a couple of guys fighting merely to become the number one contender, but instead got that and the actual championship match, and all three competitors, Hardy and Matt Morgan, have been involved in a program for the past few months at least, while Hardy and Anderson have been going at each other (and occasionally tagging together) for much of the past year. It's cohesive, and that's exactly what TNA needs, some real momentum. Like him or hate him, but Anderson as champion represents that.

Not to take anything away from WWE, but when the most exciting world champion you had in 2010 was Kane, then there was definitely not a lot of cohesion there. But it was definitely a transition year for both companies. 2011 should be interesting.

#269. Leo Five

#269.











Above are five really crude Leo Five cartoons. You can see for yourself how really, really crude they are. Why the heck am I even posting them? Well, long story short, I've been an amateur cartoonist pretty much my whole life. Recently, I picked up a couple of Penny Arcade collections, and that's pretty much why these are here. This is not to say Leo Five is inspired by or responding to Penny Arcade, just that you know who to blame directly. There's a cat named Tristan referenced in one of them because it's a nod to the indirect inspiration behind this whole debacle, an overheard and misheard set of names. There is obviously no one actually named Leo Five. Which means there should be a really, really crude cartoon strip named Leo Five.

...Obviously...

#268. Film Fan, Comics Reader, John Morrison, Galatea, Ecce Homo

#268.

I've finally updated the Film Fan, for the first time in about a month, all that slacking owing to computer woes. I believe I've talked computer woes here at Scouring Monk before, so Theoretical Reader will not be surprised.

I've also posted the 2010 QB50 at the new Comics Reader, my new so-and-so blog. I will hopefully have new stuff posted there on a weekly basis, both on new comics and older material.

Likewise, I will be updating the Film Fan list weekly until I reach the complete 500, and then I'll include a comprehensive listing for my favorite films from 2010, because hopefully by then I'll have seen pretty much all there was worth seeing from last year. I'm particularly anticipating I Love You Phillip Morris and The Way Back, plus finally seeing The Social Network, among others. Otherwise, Lower Decks denizens have already seen preliminary lists, both as a main article on the front page (listing my genre faves) and at the OL forums.

I'm particularly thrilled, in wrestling news, that John Morrison's push really has been advancing. The Sheamus rematch at TLC seemed like a showstopper, while his recent championship match on Raw against The Miz, by some reports, did the same thing. I expect him to be a world champion well before the end of the year, either by winning the Royal Rumble and headlining WrestleMania (dare I suggest?) or by winning Money in the Bank at said WrestleMania and cashing another contract, this time with a win.

Mr. Anderson, meanwhile, is hopefully at least as close, over in TNA, with the same objective.

Ain't it fun to have favorites?

In writing news, because I've always got a million projects, I'm working on a comic called Galatea. That's all I'm going to say about that. Also, I hope to break back into and finish Ecce Homo, but I don't want to rush it, even though it has now taken longer to write this book than Finnegan, the quest for publication on whose behalf continues. Dalkey Archive Press passed recently, and I want to thank them for their prompt and succinct notice. The dream marches on!

Oh, and this blog has moxie!

#267. Reading List: 1812 - The War That Forged a Nation

#267.

The latest on the Reading List is:

1812: The War That Forged a Nation by Walter Borneman, which focuses on, of all possible surprises in the universe, the War of 1812, perhaps the most famous but least known conflict in US history. I've got a story based on it that I hope to at least have started by 2012 (and hopefully be published otherwise before then), so this is unofficially a bit of research material, but also keeping with the trend I was speaking of earlier in the List.

#266. Reading List: Israel Potter

#266.

Next on the Reading List:

Israel Potter by Herman Melville, one of his last novels, which is partially based on a eal historical figure, a survivor of Bunker Hill, one of the defining conflicts of the American Revolution, who actually wrote his own story at the time of the monument that commemorates that battle, several decades earlier. The veracity of Potter's own narrative was suspect enough, but Melville weaves a story that may reflect on his own fallen literary status, but which provides a fascinating look into the formative United States experience. Melville himself was descended from distinguished members of this generation. Part of what's so fascinating for me is that, without intending it, I'm reading this book after Johnny One-Eye, a far more contemporary, but no less irreverent, look at the same period in history. Glossing over the rest of the Reading List, I'll be delving into a lot of interrelated works, and again, through no conscious intent.

...And I work in a bookstore where people can't even find a single book on their own...Speaking of which, I'm once again giving credit for this book (via linking) to my employer, which has the exact copy I'm reading readily available on its site, which Amazon hasn't. I may be using Borders more often for this blogging of my ongoing list...

#265. Reading List: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Mr. Palomar

#265.

Currently on the Reading List:

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, a collection of interrelated short stories painting a portrait of life on an Indian reservation. I originally read Alexie in college, a book called Indian Killer, which wasn't very good, and as it turns out, not really all that reflective of his writing. This stuff's far better, and helps demonstrate how he'd become a noted literary voice.

Previously, I read Italo Calvino's Mr. Palomar, a series of existential observations, basically thought-provoking material. I may read the author's more famous If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, a book I was supposed to read in college, but didn't get around to, later on, when I've made it further along in the list (i.e. completed it).

Melville's Typee was pretty good, but far from his most literary work. It makes sense, what happened to his career, after reading it.

#264. Hall Bros. Entertainment, Ecce Homo, Moxie, John Morrison

#264.

It's been more than a month since I last posted here! I've completed several books since 10/14, but I'll get back to that later in the week. Today I'm just gonna shoot the breeze a little. I don't know if I mentioned this already, but I got accepted into a Hall Bros. Entertainment anthology, which was pretty awesome. Work on Ecce Homo has been a little spotty of late, partly because of a trip to Maine two weeks ago. I was able to belt out five chapters in one day immediately before that, however, and have done a lot of story development for the remaining half (at least), which to me is just as good as writing (though writing is pretty good, too), given that I'm still trying to get Finnegan published. I don't know if I had done so already last month, but I might as well mention that I've sent it off to a couple of publishers, continuing a year-long effort to find a home for it.

I'm also interested in writing about Moxie! I'm in the preliminary stages of a book proposal that'll cover people's opinions about the oldest and most obnoxious more-or-less original taste soft drink in the country, which happens to be featured in my home town of Lisbon Falls, ME, both at the Moxie Store and the annual Moxie Festival. The working title is This Book Has Moxie!, while I hope to set up This Website Has Moxie! and other tie-ins as they become appropriate and/or relevant.

Really excited for the apparent push John Morrison is getting. Dare I hope for a WrestleMania main event? Also really happy that Mr. Anderson is getting recuperative time off for his concussion, glad that it's being taken very seriously, very publically. And you can't possibly blame the man for this injury.

...But, as I said, I'll be back with more later in the week.

#263. Bound for Glory 2010, John Morrison, EcceHomo

#263.

Given the result of the main event of TNA's Bound for Glory, and who I've been talking about in this blog, you might assume that I'd be a tad upset. But it couldn't have been more brilliant. In fact, the heel turn and championship turn by Jeff Hardy may be exactly what the company needs to reach the next level. This is a purely storyline piece of work that seems to have connected with the target audience. It isn't merely making someone champion who'll please that audience, but rather, and unlike the Main Event Mafia or Jeff Jarrett's runs, not a contrived attempt to elicit heat. This is exactly like Hulk Hogan's NWO moment. Hardy has a legitimate claim to be TNA's Sting, actually (A.J. Styles being, as the company finally realized, its Ric Flair). While he hasn't been an original company man, a lot of his biggest moments as a solo competitor are going to be remembered as a part of the TNA roster. Anyway, this is good, good news, even for Mr. Anderson, who stands poised at least to stick around the main event, because a lot of the work he's done with the company to date has been with Jeff Hardy. So I'm pleased on a number of levels.

John Morrison, meanwhile, finally seems to be capitalizing on his unique parkour technique, much as Daniel Bryan has been benefiting from all the goodwill he generated as the underrated "rookie" in the first NXT season (but see how well that first season has turned out for pretty much everyone involved?). I think, barring unforeseen circumstances, this will finally push him to the next level. Same with former partner The Miz, who seems to be building some legitimate momentum of his own, most notably on this past Raw, when he actually stood toe-to-toe with John Cena, who himself is reaching another platform by actively working with a new generation of competitors. It's the exact opposite of what Randy Orton is doing right now (and ironically, how he got back to the championship in the first place, because of his apparent willingness to do this; his lack of actual commitment to any one new star has hindered his own efforts), and why Orton's title reign is completely meaningless.

***

As I mentioned recently, I've started writing my third book, Ecce Homo, and once again, it's turning into a revelatory experience. Everything I learned the first two times, it's helping to craft something unique and special. I can't speak highly enough about NaNoWriMo, the challenge that provided the impetus of the three acts that comprise my first book. last year I challenged myself to do it over the course of two months, and it worked out really well. And so I'm doing that again, and finding new ways to represent my style of writing. I'll know just how successful it is if I complete the book by the end of the year, which is my goal, and should be easily attainable. I'm giving myself more time this time. I like the pressure keeping a small timetable provides, but I'm realizing, more and more, I can be a little lax, and it's not the end of the world, or the book. I'm a writer who likes to think. Sometimes that means I get very little writing done. But more importantly, it helps bring on new depths and innovation to my writing, which are traits I value almost to anything else.

I'm also working on a story called The Two Caballeros, in conjunction with a comic called Liberation, TX. I'm always ambitious. I figure at some point, all this hard work is bound to pay off...

#262. Reading List: Typee

#262.

Next up on the Reading List:

Typee, Herman Melville's first and most popular book...y'know, in his lifetime. I've read most of his later works (still haven't gotten around to his poetry, which is what he sustained himself on creatively during the last part of his life), and recently picked up a collected edition with his early works, so at some point, I will finally be able to say, I've read all of Melville. And darned proud of it.

#261. Ecce Homo

#261.

Would you believe that I started writing another book? Crazy, I know, because I have written two already, and neither have in the technical sense been published. But when the idea of Ecce Homo occurred to me, I couldn't resist. It combines a recurring element of Finnegan with my inability to write typical descriptive fiction. In other words, it's another stream of consciousness kind of story. It's fun to get back into what amounts to my routine of writing long fiction, which was honed pretty well over the course of the time it took to write Finnegan and Cloak of Shrouded Men, the first drafts of which took a combined five months. Not that I'm bragging...

...Or, shooting myself in the foot. Where's all the wood in the internet?