Blurred Line

Really, you might need one for this hilarious post over at Paperback Writer. Read. Laugh.

Another thumbs down on "Learning Magic from Mint" today. A form letter, too, which isn't exactly encouraging. Anyway, in order to combat any feelings that the story might not be good enough, I've gone and sent it off to a market paying professional rates.

I've been trying hard to get something down on paper today, but haven't had much luck. A little over two hundred words, but that accounts for over an hour of effort. Some other things have been distracting me today, but still, "Spam" has hit the 2000 word mark, so I suppose I'll be happy about that.

Finally, what's the general opinion on this cover?

We'll start with the bad. If you've been wondering what's responsible for the infrequency of posts around here, feel free to cross the following off your list: death (crushed by overwhelming stack of books left to be read for the summer), abduction (taken by that crazy guy in the street who spits at everyone), massive writing binge (finished Mass Romantic and another novel in the space of three days), massive drinking binge (no, wait, this one might have some element of truth in it), or ill-advised crime spree (apparently, J-walking is a gateway crime). Anyway, the truth of the matter is that I'm connected to the internet with a router these days and, sometimes, the router decides that it's absolutely unacceptable for more than one page to load every two minutes. As you might assume, trying to post becomes a very frustrating process. Honestly, it's just not worth it. So, if I disappear for days at a time, I swear - I haven't gone on any crime sprees.

Good news: The final cover for Goodbye, Darwin is in and it looks better than ever. I'm excited. Only the typesetting remains.

Some stuff to get you through those nasty Monday morning blahs...

Bookslut's Liz Miller reports her experiences at ComicCon.

Is another generation of Segways really what we need?

Drugs and A Scanner Darkly - criticism over at the Internet Review of Science Fiction. (requires free registration)

Are you attracted to larger women? Maybe you're just hungry.

Recommended fiction: "Draco Campestris" by Sarah Monette @ Strange Horizons.

Just a quick question today, for those of you who read e-books, or any variation thereof: Have you ever downloaded Creative Commons licensed versions of books that you probably wouldn't have bothered with had you had to pay for them?

I haven't, but that has more to do with my general aversion to reading from the computer screen than with any particular distaste for e-books.

Actually, that brings me to a follow-up question for people who don't read e-books. Would you download of Creative Commons licensed version of a book that you wanted to read that was available in hardcopy, to save money (or trees, or whatever else might be saved)?

Lastly, an observation about life in the downtown core: I'd sell my soul for a reserved parking spot near my apartment.

For those who are interested in the fate of Goodbye, Darwin - an update. I've had some troubles getting in touch with the cover designer which has resulted in the final cover file being in limbo. Hopefully I'll get that soon. Typesetting is coming along, although reformatting all of the submissions is enough of a chore to never make me want to do an anthology again.

As for my own writing, things have been pretty much non-existent, since I've been so busy. I'm going to take another shot at doing my 1000 words per week starting on Monday, though. Cross your fingers for me.

Three of the books that I read over the course of the past few weeks (I think I read six in total) were worthy of recommendation, so I thought I'd get to them today. Although all three of them are technically classified as literary fiction, there's a little bit of something for everyone here. No cover shots, unfortunately, since Blogger's giving me some upload trouble, but I think you'll get along fine without it.

I'd been hearing the name Frances Itani quite a lot, as she lives in Ottawa and gives a lot of talks on writing around the area. So, when I saw her acclaimed debut novel, Deafening, on sale at BookCloseouts, I picked it up. The story takes place in two parts - the years leading up to the first World War and during the war itself. The lead character is Grania, a deaf girl living in small town Ontario, struggling to cope with her disability. In the second part of the novel, the story skips between the adult Grania in Ontario and her husband Jim, who is fighting overseas. The first portion of the novel is an interesting, if not terribly page-turning, read. It's when Itani sets Grania's deafness against the horrors of war that the novel becomes truly awe-inspiring. This is definitely one to check out. It's retailing for $11.48 at Amazon, and for five bucks at BookCloseouts.

With his first novel, The Beach, Alex Garland had already achieved something resembling cult status, and usually people like that tend to stick within their niche. Not so with Garland's sophomore effort, The Tesseract. Aside from the fact that its set in Asia, the novel has nothing in common with its predecessor. The Tesseract is, in a way, similar to movies such as Crash or Magnolia, where you have a number of characters coming together at one event. This specific even centers around Sean, who's on the run from a group of Filipino mob types. While Sean remains veiled in mystery during the novel (and part of an interesting metaphor Garland sets up), his flight introduces us to a local crime kingpin's driver, an affluent doctor who left behind a torrid childhood love affair, and a street kid who's still trying to figure out the world around him, among others. I'd link to its Amazon page, but it's only $1.30 for the paperback and just two bucks for the hardcover at BookCloseouts, so why even bother?

The last novel was Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. This one's garnered a number of comparisons to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, if only because it's a piece of literary fiction with science fiction underpinnings. Ishiguro's novel is told by Kathy, who reflects on her life at Hailsham, a prestigious and somewhat mysterious private school, where she grows up with her best friends Ruth and Tommy. One blurb on the book notes that Ishiguro is one of the world's most "observant" writers and that certainly seems the case here - he absolutely nails the social dynamics of childhood and the teenage years, right down to the silly little meaningless arguments. The mystery looming in the background (although it's never technically a mystery, since it's out there, but Ishiguro's way of delivering information in a slow-drip manner spins things into mystery) is based in science fiction, but shouldn't turn off the literary crowd. This one's definitely for you if you enjoyed Atwood's novel or things along the lines of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife. Check it out at Amazon.

On Friday I mentioned that I'd been feeling very grownup and urban since the move. To put it mildly, this new living environment feels vastly different from anything I've ever experienced before. Up until now, my life has been pretty much been lived exclusively in suburbia (or some neighbourhood trying its best to simulate a similar feel). Lots of trees and parks and kids riding bikes.

Now, one thing thats always fascinated me about suburbia is how the name of the game there is safety. I mean this in a literal sense, as in how there's very little crime and how things are generally family-oriented. However, I also mean it in terms of insulation. What from? Well, subversion, of course. One thing I always hear is how some people who are a little bit lazy as far as property upkeep goes are pressured by neigbours into mowing their lawns more often. Why? No one wants an eyesore like that. Not on their street. Because, you know, that might make people from other streets think that that particular street is a little suspect. A little sketchy. A little "wrong side of the tracks".

I'm exaggerating here purposefully to make my point, but I think most people who've lived in a suburban environment can point out some occasion where deviation from the norm was frowned upon.

So, when I walked down the street for breakfast this morning, I passed the following (a three block walk, no less): A family (polo shirts, khaki shorts) with two small children, a couple of student types (dress shirts, jeans), a forty-something guy with a pink buzz cut (80s tapered jeans, muscle shirt cut off at the ribs - displaying the paunchy stomach), two hobos (hobo-wear), a business type (shirt and tie, nice shoes) and thirty-something woman who may have been doing the walk of shame (low cut clubbing top, short skirt). Thing was, no one really batted an eye. This is everyday kind of stuff. And, in a way, I'm finding it rather refreshing.

What kind of effect will this have on my writing? Well, I'm not so sure yet. I do generally write things that take place in an urban setting, but my depiction of that world has been the product of trips to the downtown core (both here and other cities) and stuff from other novels. I've never lived the environment I write about 24/7 before, though, and I think that doing so can only result in good things.

I am curious about other people who might have moved and had it affect their writing. Anyone have a good story on that subject? I'm all ears.

I'm all moved in now, and I finally have a sustainable internet connection. Anyhow, the apartment is great and I'm really loving my new location. I feel freakishly grownup. Or freakishly urban, anyway.

Anyhow, I'll be filling you all in on everything soon. I've also got a whole schwack of books and movies to recommend, among other things.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Thursday, August 17, 2006 - Dictionary Required Really, you might need one for this hilarious post over at Paperback Writer. Read. Laugh. Cavan blogged at 10:47 PM \| 0 comments - Rejection #4/Writing/Mass Romantic Cover Another thumbs down on "Learning Magic from Mint" today. A form letter, too, which isn't exactly encouraging. Anyway, in order to combat any feelings that the story might not be good enough, I've gone and sent it off to a market paying professional rates. I've been trying hard to get something down on paper today, but haven't had much luck. A little over two hundred words, but that accounts for over an hour of effort. Some other things have been distracting me today, but still, "Spam" has hit the 2000 word mark, so I suppose I'll be happy about that. Finally, what's the general opinion on this cover? Cavan blogged at 6:07 PM \| 3 comments Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - Good News/Bad News We'll start with the bad. If you've been wondering what's responsible for the infrequency of posts around here, feel free to cross the following off your list: death (crushed by overwhelming stack of books left to be read for the summer), abduction (taken by that crazy guy in the street who spits at everyone), massive writing binge (finished Mass Romantic and another novel in the space of three days), massive drinking binge (no, wait, this one might have some element of truth in it), or ill-advised crime spree (apparently, J-walking is a gateway crime). Anyway, the truth of the matter is that I'm connected to the internet with a router these days and, sometimes, the router decides that it's absolutely unacceptable for more than one page to load every two minutes. As you might assume, trying to post becomes a very frustrating process. Honestly, it's just not worth it. So, if I disappear for days at a time, I swear - I haven't gone on any crime sprees. Good news: The final cover for Goodbye, Darwin is in and it looks better than ever. I'm excited. Only the typesetting remains. Cavan blogged at 4:55 PM \| 0 comments Monday, August 14, 2006 - Monday Morning Reads Some stuff to get you through those nasty Monday morning blahs... Bookslut's Liz Miller reports her experiences at ComicCon. Is another generation of Segways really what we need? Drugs and A Scanner Darkly - criticism over at the Internet Review of Science Fiction. (requires free registration) Are you attracted to larger women? Maybe you're just hungry. Recommended fiction: "Draco Campestris" by Sarah Monette @ Strange Horizons. Cavan blogged at 10:25 AM \| 0 comments Friday, August 11, 2006 - CC (The Book Kind, not the Alcohol Kind) Just a quick question today, for those of you who read e-books, or any variation thereof: Have you ever downloaded Creative Commons licensed versions of books that you probably wouldn't have bothered with had you had to pay for them? I haven't, but that has more to do with my general aversion to reading from the computer screen than with any particular distaste for e-books. Actually, that brings me to a follow-up question for people who don't read e-books. Would you download of Creative Commons licensed version of a book that you wanted to read that was available in hardcopy, to save money (or trees, or whatever else might be saved)? Lastly, an observation about life in the downtown core: I'd sell my soul for a reserved parking spot near my apartment. Cavan blogged at 6:22 PM \| 0 comments Thursday, August 10, 2006 - Hello, Darwin? For those who are interested in the fate of Goodbye, Darwin - an update. I've had some troubles getting in touch with the cover designer which has resulted in the final cover file being in limbo. Hopefully I'll get that soon. Typesetting is coming along, although reformatting all of the submissions is enough of a chore to never make me want to do an anthology again. As for my own writing, things have been pretty much non-existent, since I've been so busy. I'm going to take another shot at doing my 1000 words per week starting on Monday, though. Cross your fingers for me. Cavan blogged at 4:48 PM \| 1 comments Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - Three Books Three of the books that I read over the course of the past few weeks (I think I read six in total) were worthy of recommendation, so I thought I'd get to them today. Although all three of them are technically classified as literary fiction, there's a little bit of something for everyone here. No cover shots, unfortunately, since Blogger's giving me some upload trouble, but I think you'll get along fine without it. I'd been hearing the name Frances Itani quite a lot, as she lives in Ottawa and gives a lot of talks on writing around the area. So, when I saw her acclaimed debut novel, Deafening, on sale at BookCloseouts, I picked it up. The story takes place in two parts - the years leading up to the first World War and during the war itself. The lead character is Grania, a deaf girl living in small town Ontario, struggling to cope with her disability. In the second part of the novel, the story skips between the adult Grania in Ontario and her husband Jim, who is fighting overseas. The first portion of the novel is an interesting, if not terribly page-turning, read. It's when Itani sets Grania's deafness against the horrors of war that the novel becomes truly awe-inspiring. This is definitely one to check out. It's retailing for $11.48 at Amazon, and for five bucks at BookCloseouts. With his first novel, The Beach, Alex Garland had already achieved something resembling cult status, and usually people like that tend to stick within their niche. Not so with Garland's sophomore effort, The Tesseract. Aside from the fact that its set in Asia, the novel has nothing in common with its predecessor. The Tesseract is, in a way, similar to movies such as Crash or Magnolia, where you have a number of characters coming together at one event. This specific even centers around Sean, who's on the run from a group of Filipino mob types. While Sean remains veiled in mystery during the novel (and part of an interesting metaphor Garland sets up), his flight introduces us to a local crime kingpin's driver, an affluent doctor who left behind a torrid childhood love affair, and a street kid who's still trying to figure out the world around him, among others. I'd link to its Amazon page, but it's only $1.30 for the paperback and just two bucks for the hardcover at BookCloseouts, so why even bother? The last novel was Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. This one's garnered a number of comparisons to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, if only because it's a piece of literary fiction with science fiction underpinnings. Ishiguro's novel is told by Kathy, who reflects on her life at Hailsham, a prestigious and somewhat mysterious private school, where she grows up with her best friends Ruth and Tommy. One blurb on the book notes that Ishiguro is one of the world's most "observant" writers and that certainly seems the case here - he absolutely nails the social dynamics of childhood and the teenage years, right down to the silly little meaningless arguments. The mystery looming in the background (although it's never technically a mystery, since it's out there, but Ishiguro's way of delivering information in a slow-drip manner spins things into mystery) is based in science fiction, but shouldn't turn off the literary crowd. This one's definitely for you if you enjoyed Atwood's novel or things along the lines of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife. Check it out at Amazon. Cavan blogged at 2:59 PM \| 0 comments Sunday, August 06, 2006 - On Writing and Moving On Friday I mentioned that I'd been feeling very grownup and urban since the move. To put it mildly, this new living environment feels vastly different from anything I've ever experienced before. Up until now, my life has been pretty much been lived exclusively in suburbia (or some neighbourhood trying its best to simulate a similar feel). Lots of trees and parks and kids riding bikes. Now, one thing thats always fascinated me about suburbia is how the name of the game there is safety. I mean this in a literal sense, as in how there's very little crime and how things are generally family-oriented. However, I also mean it in terms of insulation. What from? Well, subversion, of course. One thing I always hear is how some people who are a little bit lazy as far as property upkeep goes are pressured by neigbours into mowing their lawns more often. Why? No one wants an eyesore like that. Not on their street. Because, you know, that might make people from other streets think that that particular street is a little suspect. A little sketchy. A little "wrong side of the tracks". I'm exaggerating here purposefully to make my point, but I think most people who've lived in a suburban environment can point out some occasion where deviation from the norm was frowned upon. So, when I walked down the street for breakfast this morning, I passed the following (a three block walk, no less): A family (polo shirts, khaki shorts) with two small children, a couple of student types (dress shirts, jeans), a forty-something guy with a pink buzz cut (80s tapered jeans, muscle shirt cut off at the ribs - displaying the paunchy stomach), two hobos (hobo-wear), a business type (shirt and tie, nice shoes) and thirty-something woman who may have been doing the walk of shame (low cut clubbing top, short skirt). Thing was, no one really batted an eye. This is everyday kind of stuff. And, in a way, I'm finding it rather refreshing. What kind of effect will this have on my writing? Well, I'm not so sure yet. I do generally write things that take place in an urban setting, but my depiction of that world has been the product of trips to the downtown core (both here and other cities) and stuff from other novels. I've never lived the environment I write about 24/7 before, though, and I think that doing so can only result in good things. I am curious about other people who might have moved and had it affect their writing. Anyone have a good story on that subject? I'm all ears. Cavan blogged at 8:54 PM \| 2 comments Friday, August 04, 2006 - Triumphant Return I'm all moved in now, and I finally have a sustainable internet connection. Anyhow, the apartment is great and I'm really loving my new location. I feel freakishly grownup. Or freakishly urban, anyway. Anyhow, I'll be filling you all in on everything soon. I've also got a whole schwack of books and movies to recommend, among other things. Cavan blogged at 6:08 PM \| 1 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart