I like the competent, assured prose. I would have been more interested if this had been set in a more troubled period, such as the Cultural Revolution (I collect autobiographical accounts). I was sceptical, since I don’t want to read about someone’s vacation or mild culture shock in another country — although I could definitely relate to the toilets on the trains. Ugh. I’ve traveled and know exactly what you’re talking about. And little details, such as second class being highest, were new, and amusing, to me.

Then “Taoist music” caught my eye. I was extremely curious to see what “conduct[ing] fieldwork in Taoist music” would be like in contemporary China.

Star Trek

The new movie looks pretty damn good. I’ll have to take my mom, an old trekkie from the days of the first series, to go see it.

Apocalypse of the Books

Repent, sinner. The end is near.

I now have a Kindle. Even though I’ve had two ebooks published (under another pen name), and have often purchased ebooks to read, I’ve never had a dedicated ebook reader before. I insisted I didn’t need one, wouldn’t want one, couldn’t enjoy one.

I love it.

As I curled up in bed, cuddling my Kindle, the bittersweet thought hit me, Oh, so it’s true. Treebooks are dead.

You see, I can’t even call them just “books” any more, because “books” for ever after will make me think of the content, without necessarily defining the medium. We no longer have mail, we have email or snail mail. We no longer have books, we have ebooks and treebooks.

The image of book apocalypse, by the way, I grokked from a real, recent incident, in which an Amazon shipper abandoned a warehouse full of books.

Here’s my prophecy. Treebooks will not go extinct. There are too many people, like me, who love to caress old covers, turn pages, assemble a forest of spines on magnificant bookcases. But I fear, it is also people like me who will drive the explosion of ereaders and ebooks. Because what I love most about the Kindle is that I can download a book instantly, as soon as I covet it, without going anywhere, without waiting for shipping. Like most introverts, I find anything which helps me interact more with fictional people than flesh people to be a lure.

If I want to turn a book into a social forum, however, it’s easier than ever to add in my own comments and share these with friends, so that our own community commentary interlaces the book, adding a new layer to the original text. Every book can become the mishnah of its own gemara, every ereader a compendium of living talmuds.

What, then, will be the fate of treebooks? I fear, sadly, as ebooks and ereaders become the norm, treebooks will become a luxury. Collectors like me will still shell out hard currency for beautifully bound new editions, but only of books we truly adore. Used books will jump in value.

I have a library of over 10,000 treebooks. A constant battle in our family is where to put my library. I want my library lining the walls of our house. Every wall. (Which is what it would take — our house is not nearly so vast as my collection.) My husband wants my library in the garage, or, preferably, someone else’s garage. One of his motivations in buying me a Kindle was to convince me to sell or give away most of my treebooks.

It’s had the opposite effect. I’m more desparate than ever to hold onto my treebabies. They’re going to be rare collector’s items by the end of my lifetime.

Thoughts Are Things

I hold it true that thoughts are things;

They’re endowed with bodies and breath and wings

And that we send them forth to fill

The world with good results, or ill.

That which we call our secret thought

Speeds forth to earth’s remotest spot,

Leaving its blessings or its woes

Like tracks behind it as it goes.

We build our future, thought by thought,

For good or ill, yet know it not.

Yet, so the universe was wrought.

Thought is another name for fate;

Choose, then, thy destiny and wait,

For love brings love and hate brings hate.

– Henry Van Dyke

Internet Idea Ideation

Fun and easy sources of writing challenges abound on the internet. Here’s one method for generating story challenges: news headlines. Usually, when one reads one news article, along the side are three to eight other articles.

Here, for instance, are the Telegraph’s Most Viewed for today:

1. Venezuela`s Hugo Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages Government price controls on basic goods have been in place, in various forms, since 2003. But the restrictions have forced Venezuela to become increasingly reliant on imports of these products as local farmers will not supply the selected food staples at government prices.Mr Chavez last month won a referendum allowing him to stand indefinitely for re-election.

2. Pink dolphin appears in US lake  “The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink. The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it’s albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.”

3. Gordon Brown appeals to US Congress for help to save the world calling on America’s politicians to join him in forging a global agreement

4. Fish with human faces spotted in South Korea
The “humanoid” carp are attracting attention in the town of Chongju in the centre of the country where they live in a small pond….Both fish are females and more than three feet long. They appear to have distinctive human noses, eyes and lips.

“My fish have been getting more and more human for the past couple of years,” the owner said.

5. Max Clifford tells Jade Goody: `enough is enough`A reality television star sold the rights to her wedding for a rumoured £700,000 to OK! magazine and is also being filmed by Living TV dying of cancer.

And the article I was actually reading:

6. Stone Age phrasebook developed by scientists studying oldest words “If a time traveller wanted to go back in time to a specific date, we could probably draw up a little phrasebook of the modern words that are likely to have sounded similar back then.” …Researchers have also identified several words that could die out within 1,000 years because they are likely to evolve into different forms.

(Small town or odd foreign newspapers often have even quirkier headlines!) 

Here’s the challenge. What if all of these events / facts / people were related? I don’t actually have a plot tying in all of these, but if I did, this would be the cover for it.

UPDATE 11:00 AM.

Furthermore, all characters and brand names for imaginary technology will be named after blog comment verification words. So far I have, “Ardef”, “Vizere”, “Tabilizi” and “Noppit.”

Twilight the Musical

An amusing musical Twilight parody.