Sam Woodfin's Micro

Marta Szemik's Marked: A Two Halves Novella

Not only is this the first book I've read on my Kindle Fire, it's also the first bit of fiction I've read in years that wasn't based on Xena: Warrior Princess, in some form or fashion. Marta Szemik's Marked: A Two Halves Novella doesn't have any of the lesbian subtext (maintext, if we're being honest) that I've come to expect from my reading material, either.

Wait. Why did I read this, anyway?

Oh. Yeah. I read it because Szemik brought imagination, structure, and a light hand to her work. The narrator, Xander, is a socially-awkward guy who hangs out with a witch, a demon, and a vampire slayer.

No. Really. Let's try that again.

The narrator, Xander, is a shapeshifter, so, technically, he is a demon. He falls in love with a witch, and, yes, there's a vampire in this story, too. Xander has a twin sister, Mira, and the two of them live in a world so dualistic that everyone is marked as either good (water) or evil (the underworld). Everyone, that is, except for Xander and Mira. This story is about their quest for purpose and belonging, even if it is wrapped up in love, lust, fate, and magic.

Marked is rather short (hence the term "novella"), but it's fleshed out enough to make me want to read more about Szemik's world of shifters, benders, seekers, angels, demons, witches, warlocks, the underworld and the good.

Click the image at the top of this post if you'd like to read it, too.

Stephen King's "Mile 81"

 

 

Reading a well-written story always makes me want to write. Not every story that I enjoy reading influences me in that way. My response to fiction is opposite my response to art: When I read a story and think I could've easily written it, myself, I never, ever want to. But, when I read a story, and realize I would never have the patience, or the forethought, to bring things about in the way that the author has, the urge to do just that kicks in.

"Mile 81" is a short story. I received a free digital copy of it, last night, as a Klout perk. And I read it last night, too. It isn't an especially long short story. If you know much about Stephen King, you know that he's written some great short stories ("The Body" and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" should immediately come to mind), but that when he really shines is when the story is big enough and long enough that the hardbacks make for efficient deadly weapons.

I can't see "Mile 81" competing with either of the aforementioned short stories. I certainly can't see it being made into a movie. But the story does play to a couple of King's strengths: He writes women well--and I could name a couple of successful male authors who, really, should just give up even trying to write female characters if, in fact, they're putting any effort into it, at all--and he writes kids well, too.

King fans will be reminded of It in more than a few ways. The first page introduces a kid named George. Maybe It stuck in my mind a bit more than it should have, but I can't combine Stephen King and a kid named George without automatically thinking "We all float down here." Bicycles also feature early on. You It fans know why that's important.

But not all of the It similarities are positive ones. If you've read the book or watched the mini-series, you know that the story has a WTF moment. And that that WTF moment is more "Huh? No. Really?" than mind-bending. "Mile 81" has a similar moment. I can't say more without giving too much away, but that weak spot is there.

The other weak spot, for me, was that, at least once, I found myself anticipating what would happen, only to have those expectations met. I like that sort of easy fulfillment when I'm reading certain types of literature; but with King, I'm more accustomed to having those expectations dashed, and being impressed at the perfect quality of their demise.

Those criticisms aside, this was a good story, and an easy read. King's dialogue/monologues--both inner and outer--and his word choices, in general, along with a sense of suspense which starts building early, made for a story that I wanted to read, rather than one that I had to push myself to finish.

More importantly, I'm sure that I'll want to read "Mile 81" again.

And--more importantly than even the desire to re-read--I found myself, last night, having finished the story, putting my own pen to paper.

Just Got My First Klout Perk! And One of You Can Get it, Too!

I didn't expect to get any Klout perks, this soon! I'm really not very klout-y. But I surfed over to my Klout account a few minutes ago, clicked over to the Perks page, and there it was: My chance to get a free ebook copy of Stephen King's new short story "Mile 81"!

As free (or not-so-free) things go, this is definitely in my wheelhouse!

I'm too excited, right now, to write much else, but I did want to include this little bit:

If you're the first one to click this link, you can get a free copy, too!

Hello, 7! Hey There, 64!

After a short (depending upon one's perspective) hiatus, I'm back online. I went to Wal-Mart, today (along with Best Buy, Sam's Club, Toys 'R Us, and even Big Lots), and bought the cheapest computer I could find. I knew before I bought it that it didn't come with a monitor, that it had 2GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium. What I didn't realize until I'd been messing with it for a few hours is that it has a 64-bit processor. All I really know about that is that my best friend's boyfriend thinks it's a good thing, and that I hope my Wacom Bamboo will work with it.

So far, I've gotten rid of Norton, and replaced it with Avast; installed Firefox, NoScript, AdBlock, InFormEnter, Flash and Chrome; installed CCleaner and Google Notifier; uninstalled the e-Bay thing, Google Toolbar for IE, and Adobe Reader; and gotten Amazon Unbox up and running. I still have a lot to install and/or uninstall, and I still don't have a solid opinion on Windows 7, yet. It has some nice features, but I'm still adjusting to the look and feel, now pining away over both XP and OS 9.

The truth is that, after spending 5 or 6 years getting a computer the way you want it, it's a bit disquieting to have to start all over again, but I digress. And to digress further, the low point of my day came at Best Buy, when the guy trying to sell me a computer asked if I wanted anti-virus installed or if I planned to not go online. I hope that's not how Best Buy programs their sales force, 'cause seriously, dude, that's insulting. Bad false dilemma! No, no!!

Anyway, the good points about the new PC, thus far: Lots and lots more memory. Even with heavier system requirements, the performance difference between 2GB and the 512MB I was running on my old system is pretty damned obvious. I can carry the tower around with one hand, which is useful when I need to fiddle with the back of it. MP4s will play in Windows Media Player. Jump lists are handy, and I like the preview windows in the taskbar. Also, sticky notes! I haven't used them, yet, but I'm just ridiculously happy to have them!

Thanks to the folks who commented in my absence, and please, forgive the rambling. It's been a hard seven days. Take a bit of being cut off from the whole damned world, add in a bit of brand new temporary job (one that involves showing up twice each day, including once around 5:30 in the morning); learning to give insulin shots to a kitteh; several trips to the library; lots of stress; my first desperate yet sober trip to a local straight bar (which, it turns out, isn't completely straight); a sick dog; a sick mother; and hours spent at my desk smoking cigarettes and pressing buttons that don't do anything, and -- well, Hell -- I'll forgive myself, whether you forgive me or not.

More on lots of stuff, later (including all of the wild things that lurk in the woods just outside of town; things I didn't know about until just a week ago), once I've figured out the next several steps in whipping this shiny new system into shape.

P.S.

One *good* thing that came out of my unexpected disconnection: I took some time to read. You know, like books. The kind that fit in one's hands and smell really awesome. I read Joyce Carol Oates Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, and loved this quote:

"...you don't feel extremes of temperature when you're on a mission and your very life's at stake, those hateful bastards wanting to put their hands on you wanting to impose their plans on you, you'd rather die than surrender."

God, to be 14 again!

Scratch that. 14 sucked. But to feel 14 again, I'd willingly convert to an Apple IIe!