Distractions, distractions
So the week of peace and quiet has been followed by a week of bad sleep and stress. Splendid. I suppose that’s the nature of going back to work. I’ve also been doing a lot of improvised comedy recently which has been marvellous but involves (for no intrinsic reason) late nights and in many respects scratches the old creative itch. It lead to a particularly enjoyable show last Friday. We called it Consenting Partners as it was all done in pairs (and trios in the second half). The pair I was in we called Bitchcock Kerfuffle, which probably gives some idea of the energy David and I aimed for. Without intending to we ended up with a lovely narrative about the horrors of Leprechauns which ended in a speed-dating chess match. Eventually there should be some video of that, and the other teams’ marvellous work.
This week itself is likely to be wiped out by my brother’s wedding (yay) on Saturday, but more pertinently he’s asked me to give a speech at the wedding meal… as Captain Pigheart! So now I need to write a specific story about him in a week which is both embarassing, filthy and funny. Bastard. The Blundering Buccaneer I think…
The indolent heat
Oh yeah, as an Englishman I also wish to complain bitterly about the frightful heat and humidity we’ve been suffering with since the UK re-discovered summer. I dislike it.
This week’s scribbles
Tuesday: Twinned With Evil – part 1. This is another dream-based story, and I think will be three parts (still fixing the rest!) It’s set in a city which is slowly destroying itself.
Wednesday: Pulp Pirate 12. Aye, back on the Flash Pulp gravy train again. This time with something that ain’t a pirate story…
Thursday: Eric the Bewildered Weasel part 2. Just posting bits of this is reigniting my interest in the tale – I hope it does for you too. In this part we introduce another of the main characters. I think we’re still in prologueish territory.
Round Up of Last Week
14th August: Shankanalia – the shank in the coffin – some more mean-spirited poems to get you in the summery mood
15th August: The Peninsula Creature – all five parts in one (like a pentagonal deity, but a more fun story)
16th August: Eric the Bewildered Weasel 1– the prologuey section from a longer story about animals and aliens
Events and Excitement
Exciting stuff coming up in Nottingham:
S
tory Club – Monday 27th August at The City Gallery 8pm FREE
MissImp in Action – Friday 31st August at The Glee Club 8.30pm (not free, but cheap!)
Pub Poetry – Monday 24th September at The Canalhouse 8pm FREE
The Pirate Coves – Thursday 27th September at The Golden Fleece 8pm FREE
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0 thoughts on “We Have A Problem With Books”
I’m with you on all counts.
This is an amazing post and one that I feel I could have written, minus the humor, readability, and references to A levels. Interestingly, we also have very similar reading tastes and opinions. While I haven’t read everything that you have, I agree with all you said about those I did read. The only place we diverge is that I live in an apartment and had I not decided long ago to get rid of some books when the sheer volume of them reached a critical mass I would surely be dead, crushed under a huge pile of heavy tomes. Although I do miss certain editions I once had, overall it has worked out pretty well for me.
A couple of notes. The Doctor Who book was likely Planet of the Spiders (a less inspired title I can not imagine) and while you’re right about the later Hitchhiker books, the sequence at Milliways in the 2nd book is my favorite part of the “trilogy.”
And lastly, I also still have my copy of the Hardy Boys Survival manual and once tried to make a survival kit like they describe in the book. However, I much prefer an earlier Hardy Boys spinoff, The Hardy Boys Detective Manual, in hardcover, which came out a few years earlier, and had so many great detecting tips. all sadly useless now in the internet era.
We clearly are the finest of people! I have recently declined the opportunity to take all the books I left at my Dad’s house when I left home. It was difficult, but partly from not having seen them for years I managed to get it down from 400 or so to a mere hundredish. I don’t know where I’m going to put them…
Ah yes, that sounds exactly as terrifying a title as I recall. I seem to remember that the cover of Planet of The Spiders was too horrible for me to even want to touch. You make a good point about Milliways. It’s possible I’m conflating several of the THGGTTG books into one.
Ah! I had no idea they did more manuals. I don’t know where I got the Survival Manual, but I suspect it was a marvellous second hand bookshop in Burton on Trent that had a charming Dachshund named Carl who would bark until stroked.