There is one thing that has always made me feel safe and for some reason wanted and that's books. Typical, and laugh if you want. But books have never hurt me, laughed at me, or punched me in the face so I'll take them over real people anytime.

I use to dream of getting older and having enough money to afford a room with books from the ceiling to the floor, all four walls.

Can your not understand the majesty and magic of books. The world has never wanted me, but books have never rejected me. They've taken me to more places then I could ever go physically. They have enlightened my mind and given me answers when no one else could answer my questions. But of course they are still flawed, all authors are flawed. Everyone writes with selfish needs. Trying to convince you that whatever they are saying is true and right. Everyone is selling something.

There's still nothing better than a good book. Here is a list of the top ten books I carry into loneliness:

1. Othello by William Shakespeare
2. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
3. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
4. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
5. The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
6. Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
7. The Waste Land, The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot
8. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
9. Dracula by Bram Stoker
10. The Works of Edgar Allen Poe

Obviously countless other works I could name that I'd bring with me on a island ... but this isn't an island so....

I haven't read anything by Ian Irvine or Marianne de Pierres before, but I've just picked up a copy of Nylon Angel, the first of her Parrish Plessis cyberpunk series, which is now teetering at the top of the enormous pile of soon-to-be-read books on my bedside table.

I've been a fan of Sean Williams for some years now, so it was exciting to meet him, and I found his 'ten and a half commandments for writing' very helpful. This morning I've been poking about on his website and found this, which also looks useful. By the way, is it just me, or does he look a bit like Simon Pegg?

I'm feeling very inspired right now. There will be some more short stories coming soon...

Great Society- Take Me To A Circus Tent

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane style.

Hello from Airplane Holiday Center:

Please be safe on the roads and don’t drink and drive.

How are you? July already. What could be

better than a journey with the Fab 4 of Liverpool?

Beatles From The Vaults #86

From circa November 23, 1971 George Harrison with friend Gary Wright as part of Gary’s band

Wonder Wheel:

Two Faced Man (Mr. Harrison on slide)

Cool things from the Rock Tent Vaults.

I’m excited because if all goes well the follow book

to the Jefferson Airplane “Take Me To A Circus

Tent” is not too far off! It’ll be on the Jefferson

Starship (The real periods 74- 78 and 92-present)

“Have You Seen The Stars Tonite.” More details to

unfold during upcoming flights! 179 photos for

you fine passengers! Over 500 pages.

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-

JEFFERSON STARSHIP- Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several. Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64yesyouarerightitsgeorge.mp3

Hope the holiday will be great,

craig

Perhaps it's the theme.  Edgar, the young boy of the title, loses his father, and his need to understand and accommodate the conflicting emotional tornadoes raging within him after this drive him.

Perhaps it's the dogs.  Wroblewski has managed to capture without cute or clever anthropomorphizing how dogs act, and, using that, he has extended his considerable powers of sympathy to dream inside the minds of the dogs.  Almondine, the dog who is, perhaps more than merely metaphorically, Edgar's soul, presents one of the most beautifully realized portraits of love and strength I have read.

As I have said, I will have much more to say about this book when I have recovered some equilibrium, but for now, all I can say is read this book.

Letter on the Blind for Those Who See by Javier Tellez, which I cited as one of my favorite pieces in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, is an interpretation of the same story. Of course, once I went to the Whitney's page on Tellez, I saw that I could have known this before if I had followed my admiration with curiosity.

I will, however, choose to see this: A good artist can provide a good story in any medium. And, I can recognize a good story when I see one--maybe it is the right decision to pursue a phd in literature. (Always equivocating.)

Ali has been raving about this place for months (most notably their Sangria, which was divine). I'm still full and we finished eating over 4 hours ago.

After dinner we headed to the cinema in the hopes to catch another Sex and the City screening, however we missed the show, which was just as well because we were right on time to see Prince Caspain. The horribleness that was the first movie installment of The Chronicles of Narnia still makes me cringe but this one exceeded expectations. Clever script and perhaps the best scene is a movie - omnimous woodland graffiti:

"You were right to fear the woods X"

Yes, I realise that particular X means ten, but I almost died laughing. I've ranted enough about the X (or 'kiss') replacing the period in Brit speak, so I found that to be amusing.

Growing up I was enamored with the Narnia series, and tonight I was reminded why I loved the character of Edmund so. The underdog, sure he was a prat in the beginning but he learned he ways. I'd choose him for High King over Peter, any day.

Growing up, who was your favourite literary character, and why?

"Adam does not discover himself until Eve appears."

Until this point I thought it lame how some people obsess over finding a mate. No more. While some people may be over-hyper in looking for a significant other, it really is understandable, especially at this lonely point in my life. Drew says on the same page that being in the image of God is not an individual thing but carries with it a social dimension as well. Male and female together are not "images of God" but "the image of God." Of course this is a beautiful thing and highlights the give-and-take of a committed relationship: where he is weak she is strong and where she is weak he is strong. But that raises the question: what about Jesus?

While researching indie bookstores to add to my list, I came across an interesting mailing list which you can download as a PDF here. It is a 64 page list of bookstores in the U.S. and Canada, and based on the number of addresses per page I'd say it contains at least 2100 total addresses. Now, there's no guarantee all of these stores are still in business, but I have to say the list is quite magnificent and the only one of its size I've found. It's also already formatted for label printing. Based on its web address, the list appears to be the product of author Karen Chance, although I could not find a link to it on her cool author site.

Since I only have 100 postcards, I'm compiling my own list of stores which I'm researching to be sure they are indeed still in business. But I wanted to share this helpful tool with those authors who may be looking for a quick place to start with their own mailings and promotion.

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

Well I haven't participated in one of these in FOREVER, but I would really like to get back into the BTT groove, and this is an easy one to start with.  I can't say I'm reading anything particularly juicy... but I am reading several books right now, so here they are...

First, I began Wuthering Heights a few nights ago as the first selection for the Classics Challenge, and it's definitely been slow going so far.  I'm really awful at reading the classics, so I thought this challenge would help me become better, and I still think it will, but I do think it'll be the toughest challenge to get through that I've participated in thus far.  I'm about 70 pages into this one and it's just ok as of right now.

I'm also reading the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman - I found one of those all three volumes in one massive book at Half Price Books for like 10 bucks and couldn't turn it down.  I've never read these before, in fact the only fantasy I've really read is the Harry Potter series, and so far I'm enjoying The Golden Compass (I'm about halfway through it).

Third, I just started Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, which so far is also just ok.  I'm actually still not sure what the point of this novella is... it's basically a family swearing and yelling at each other, then getting drunk and being depressed because they're poor.  Oh well... at only about 90 pages, it'll be an extremely quick read for me.

Also on my nightstand, soon to be started, are We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.  I'm hoping to finish one that I'm currently reading soon so that I can get to one of these, as I'm really looking forward to both of them.

What are YOU currently reading this 4th of July weekend?

I'd read one book by this author in the past, and devoured it almost in one sitting (a rare thing for me -- even to complete a book).   That one was Mary Summer Rain's "Phoenix Rising."  This book I was reading about on Amazon is called "Earthway."  I immediately decided I would eventually get it.  Then I clicked on the link to read its first page. 

My head started swimming with joy with just the first two words, "mountain living."  I so desire to live in the country again, secluded with all the luscious and magical nature stuff :)  *sigh*   I looked up at the sky (glass walls here at work) and said a little affirmation -- and asked to be shown the answer as to how I could make this happen, how I could manifest living this way again -- soon! 

Within seconds a guy here at work came in from outside and said to me, "Did you see the rainbow?"  I leaped outta my desk chair here at work (lol) and ran to the door and there it was.  OMG, so gorgeous!!  Ahhh, what a suh-weeet and awesome sign!  ... and cool synchronicity/answer from the Universe.  Instantly!  Oh, baby -- my dream is soooo gonna happen!!  Ha!  ;)  Hey, it's also very cool that it aligns with the color therapy.  Hmmmm...

And by the way, I was going to call this just "Rainbow," but one of the guys here that I work with -- very not "magical" (lol) and had no idea what I was typing about, and not someone I'd speak about "magic" with :) ... but I'd been talking with him about (gushing about) the rainbow.  He walked out the door and to my surprise said, "Yep, a magic rainbow."  Ha! :)

Peace,
Dove

~*~

I did a quickie search for rainbow as a dream symbol and this is what I came upon...

To see a rainbow in your dream, signifies much hope,  success and good fortune in the form of money, prestige, or fame. The rainbow is a bridge between your earthly, grounded self and the higher, spiritual self.

For lovers to see a rainbow, symbolizes overwhelming happiness from their union.

Source:  http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/r.htm

Then include a quasi-mystical moment involving Stephen King, who picked up the advance bound manuscript and started reading.

The reason? "I really don't know. It just called to me. Sometimes they do that," says King. His subsequent blurb begins: "I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle."

Released June 10 with a first printing of 26,000 copies, the novel is in its 12th printing with 170,000 in print, a large number for a first novel by an unknown writer.

"It's one of those magical books, like Water for Elephants," says Cathy Langer, lead buyer for Denver's Tattered Cover bookstores. "The word of mouth has been huge." It's not just dog lovers. "It's speaking to a lot of different people's hearts."

"It's the Cinderella story we're all so proud of," says the book's editor, Lee Boudreaux. "It's such an wonderful, old-fashioned read. … You lose yourself in this book."

She mailed the manuscript to King although she knew "he gets tons of galleys." They met while working on the 2001 novel Black House,which King and Peter Straub co-wrote.

Set in rural Wisconsin, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle tells the tale of a young boy mute since birth. With his dogs, he confronts family secrets, tragedy and danger.

Like his protagonist, Wroblewski grew up in Wisconsin, where his parents tried dairy farming and running a kennel. His first memory at age 2 is of the family collie, and dogs remain a crucial part of his life.

The book's success "has been just jaw-dropping," he says. He has been too busy giving readings and interviews to celebrate.

As for his famous fan, Wroblewski says he and King have e-mailed. "We've exchanged thank-yous. I've been a bit tongue-tied. And I'm star-struck." (From USA Today)

photo by travelinlibrarian

To sum it all up, if you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling.

You must write every single day of your life.

You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next.

You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.

I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime.

I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you.

May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories - science fiction or otherwise.

Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.

Thanks Melissa!

At one stage she describes how when she was working, in the little garden cottage where she worked, she would rule up an exercise book with the date and the number of pages she wanted to write, and the number of pages she actually wrote, and a separate page simply labelled, 'Excuses'.

Excuses for not writing. We all have them; we probably don't need to list them, but somehow we've got to get over them. Putting off finishing that poem is the easiest decision you can make in a day and maybe one of the worst.

I always wondered what makes experts experts. I thought it was intelligence or just a lot of experience. It seems to be a lot more than that. I never dug deeper into the subject and suddenly I stumbled into this, while exploring a completely unrelated subject.

People who have developed expertise in particular areas are, by definition, able to think effectively about problems in those areas. Understanding expertise is important because it provides insights into the nature of thinking and problem solving. Research shows that it is not simply general abilities, such as memory or intelligence, nor the use of general strategies that differentiate experts from novices. Instead, experts have acquired extensive knowledge that affects what they notice and how they organize, represent, and interpret information in their environment. This, in turn, affects their abilities to remember, reason, and solve problems.

... the study of expertise shows what the results of successful learning look like...

We consider several key principles of experts' knowledge and their potential implications for learning and instruction:

1. Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices.2. Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter.

3. Experts' knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is "conditionalized" on a set of circumstances.

4. Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort.

5. Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others.

6. Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.

Now we know. Or at least, have some theories to explore. The fragments above, were taken from the second chapter - How Experts Differ from Novices of a really fascinating book - How People Learn.

1) Getting there is a hassle. It doesn't matter where I'm coming from, but I always run into issues getting there. If I go from school then I have to cross damn Clarendon Hills Road and I almost always get run over by stupid impatient drivers. I'm sorry but I thought that pedestrians had the right of way at a crosswalk in front of a school no less. If I'm coming from home it means I have to turn left into the parking lot and of course whenever I'm on my way a sudden rush of cars decide that they need to go the other direction so I need to sit for a good five minutes before I can actually turn left into the parking lot and by this time I've got quite the line of angry drivers behind me. You could argue that none of this is actually the library's fault, but in this town you only go in that part to go to school or go to the library so I have to assume all the people are leaving the library.
2) The "Young Adult" section. I hate this area with the burning passion of a thousand suns. It's this offset "teen" area where teens are supposed to be able to sit and study or browse books more aimed at them. Now, some of these books are actually quite good. One of my favorite books is in this section, but it was written in the 60's, not one of those modern tweeny-bopper books so it's a bit different from most of the novels in this section. My problem with this area that in order to get to it I have to walk right through the middle of the children's section with little four year olds running around trying to get more picture books, and then when I actually get to the section I find two ten year olds fighting over the last copy of Twilight (how I hate that book too). I'm sorry, I thought I was in the young adult section. Liking Twilight is like unacceptable if you're over the age of like 12. If they file Harry Potter in the children's area, shouldn't they put books like Eragon and Twilight there too? Get out of here.

3) Organization. I should make this clear, I am fluent in Dewey Decimal System. Not once have I ever needed help finding a book, except at this library Now, if I really wanted/needed a copy of Wuthering Heights for my English class, I don't have time to go around asking for it. The computer tells me there's a copy of it available. I expect to find it where it is supposed to be. I don't have time to go check the newly checked-in books for it. I don't have the time to check the "Popular Fiction" rack. If it's available, I should be able to amble on over to that aisle, and find the book where it belongs, damn it!

4) Selection. Now I really don't understand why my library has like 8 copies of Eldest, 6 of The Uglies, and not one of The Pigman. It's just inexcusable.

It was also the year I wrote On Writing, the bulk of the work being done post accident. That was a terrible, painful process, but the work itself seemed like salvation. Seeing that on Entertainment Weekly's book list makes me happy. (Reprinted from Entertainment Weekly)

 
Anwer Pirzado Academy

Email: ida_balhreji@yahoo.com

Abdullah 'Azzam

Digital Fortress is the book I'm currently reading. It's challenging: sometimes I just can't stop before reading the next chapter. There are many people and many plots happening at the same time, all of them connected to the main plot, although the reader does not know what kind of involvement each character truly has. So each chapter talks about one of these characters, and if we want to find out the next step, we have to wait (read) until that character's plot is mentioned again. Besides, for lovers of the computers' world like me, everything seems to make sense and stimulate our imagination. Stimulating our imagination, according to readers, is one of the things that makes a good book.

Writing: Stubbornness

On the other hand, what makes a writer a good writer, so as to write a good book? Patrick Neate 's testimonial, that I've randomly found at Google, contains an answer:

I think lots of people tell me they want to write novels, but they don't actually have the stubbornness, you know bloody-mindedness to actually make it happen. Sometimes it's very difficult to be creative. I have days, weeks of really, really struggling and just sort of sitting in front of a computer, drinking far too much coffee, buying things on eBay, but it comes back in the end and if you keep pushing it I think it will come. And the more you practise the easier it gets. So I think there's an idea about the creative process that it's somehow freeform, whereas I think you only get that freedom by being very disciplined. So I work very hard. I have rules for myself - I make sure I'm at my desk at nine, I work through to lunch, I do my eight-hour day like I would if I was in an office. The truth is there's no right or wrong way to do it, so you need to practice until you've found a voice or sound with which you're totally confident.

Do you teach martial arts to kids? Ever considered writing about it?

Blue Snake Books, an imprint of North Atlantic Books, is now actively looking for manuscripts in a new area: martial arts books for children. Staying true to Blue Snake's mission of publishing in-depth books on a wide variety of authentic martial arts traditions, Blue Snake Kids will publish sophisticated, intelligent books to help foster young martial artists. We are especially interested in publishing books on single arts or disciplines (karate, tai chi, aikido, muay thai, jujitsu, etc.) but also encourage submissions on slightly broader topics: grappling arts, internal arts, practical self-defense, etc. Authors are also encouraged to submit books on multiple arts that are closely related.

WHAT WE WANT: Books that speak to kids in a language they can understand—without being condescending; training manuals with illustrations or high-quality photos; books designed to be interactive and entertaining (e.g. suggestions for training games, questions for the reader to think about). We especially want books that are intended to be used as a supplement to, not a replacement for, regular training with a teacher.

WHAT WE DON'T WANT: Books that are overly simplistic and broad (e.g. "Respect your teacher; practice your forms every day; bow before entering the dojo."); fiction, picture, or coloring books; books on obscure or not-widely practiced arts.

If you have a quality manuscript that you’d like to submit, here are our submissions guidelines. Feel free to forward and repost!

Mail a cover letter, proposal, and partial manuscript to:

Blue Snake Books Acquisitions Board
2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, CA 94704

Or email Terri in Marketing Communications: tsaul@northatlanticbooks.com

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for all responses!

The proposal should include:

1. Table of contents
2. At least three sample chapters
3. Sample illustrations or high quality photos
4. A 75-word statement describing the book’s intention
5. Statement of your qualifications in this area
6. A marketing plan
7. Review of comparable titles: What are the two leading titles to which your book will be compared? How do they differ from your book?
8. The length of your manuscript in double-spaced pages
9. A few suggestions for foreword writers, and your ideas for back cover endorsements
10. Your plans for promoting the book, including your ability to travel to workshops or speaking engagements with relevant organizations

We aim to respond to every submission we receive within three or four months. Submissions received without S.A.S.E.s (self-addressed stamped envelopes) may not receive responses.

Best of luck from the Blue Snake Books Acquisitions Team!

CLICK HERE to learn more about Blue Snake Books.

CLICK HERE to visit the Blue Snake Books Blog.