Writer Tamago

Bryon and I first visited Disney in 1996. It was, coincidentally, the year I also went to Japan on a scholarship tour, so it was a good travel year all around. We decided we were going about six months in advance, and in order to count down, I drew little Mickey heads on each day of my calendar.

The Wonderful World of Disney had been a staple of both of our childhoods. Most likely hokey by today's standards, and to some extent a prolonged infomercial, Disney showed us theme parks and creative, magic vision.

Now, I know. I know that many people dislike Disney. They see Disney as sort of a sell-out, or not so visionary, or corporately evil. It's not my intent to step up and defend Disney. Disney does questionable things regarding copyright. While they have had low creative ebbs, they've also been incredibly innovative at other times. I can see the pluses and minuses to the company.

All that said, no one does theme parks like Disney. I've been to a few, and there's no other experience like it.

When we went in 1996, we did the grand tour. We stayed on property at Caribbean Beach (Disney has moderately priced and value priced resorts, as well as the more expensive and traditional ones).

Because I'm the kind of person who saves what I like best for dinner to eat last, I methodically planned the trip so that the Magic Kingdom was at the end. I also figured that as an adult, I would no longer be as interested in the Magic Kingdom as the child in me was.

We visited Disney Studios first. It was a small park with a few interesting attractions, most obviously the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The evening we arrived, we were hit with a furious thunderstorm. We stood under an umbrella together and watched fireworks. It was really something.

The other park to visit was Epcot. Epcot was very interesting. As someone who enjoys travel, I knew I'd like the World Pavilions. The other features were a little dated, but they were fine.

Coupled with visits to shops and restaurants, Disney was a fine vacation. Before the Magic Kingdom piece, I have to admit I wasn't finding what four-year old me was looking for.

We should have gone to the Magic Kingdom first.

(more...)

There was a time...

My life started out in the Navy. My father had escaped small-town Iowa by becoming a career sailor in 1959 when he graduated high school. He traveled around the world and ended up in Dunoon, Scotland, where he met my mother while he was stationed in the Holy Loch.

Life was pretty good up until about the age of four. I remember huge chunks of that life. My earliest memory is me, being whisked onto my mother's lap while a camera takes a picture of the three of us. I was scooped up from a chair, my older brother was pulled in tight, and the flash bulb went off, embedding the episode in my gray matter forever.

We went from Maryland to Iowa (for a tiny sojourn, as opposed to the later exile), and off to Guam for two years, where we lived on a naval base. I had a Captain Crunch t-shirt, beautiful clothes from Sears (even then, the costumer lived), and a generally happy life in our typhoon proof home.

My father did two tours of duty in Viet Nam. It was the case then that after two tours of duty, a sailor rotated out for a tour, but Viet Nam was special, and Dad was offered a third tour of duty. This time, in a little 4-man boat going up and down rivers.

My dad decided in 1969 that his career with the navy was over. We went to California while he left, and then we returned to Iowa, where we reverted to the traditional dysfunctions of my mother and my father's family. Upon retrospection, I see this decision as critical to my life thereafter. Things were very different pre- and post-Navy. Of course, my parents would have been my parents, regardless of where they were, but I see the Navy days as halcyon, my mother sane, my father that nice man who smelled of soap who visited sometimes.

But this isn't about them. It's about Disney. And I have to give you that background, so you can begin to understand my fascination.

As we left California and returned home to Iowa, I sat in the plane with my mother, Mrs. Beasley in my lap. I loved traveling. I loved the smell of diesel fuel, and the little trays of bad food, all of it. My mother pointed out the window. "Look," she said. "See those lights down there? That's Disneyland."

There was a sea of sparkles and lights out the window as I looked down on diminishing California. I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful in my four-year old's experience. This was coupled with the fact that at that time, I couldn't see (I would begin wearing glasses at five), so the whole thing took on a gauzy, fairy-tale experience.

"Some day we'll all go there," said my mother.

And of course, I believed that. Because everything my mother ever had told me had happened.

I wanted to be part of that. It ignited my imagination. It activated my wish circuit. I already knew Mary Poppins lived there. And Cinderella and Malificent. I wanted to be there too.

(more...)

My friend Mark posts his thoughts about our recent trip to Universal Studios, and I think he does a very complete job reviewing our trip.

A couple of weeks ago, Ferrett also weighed in on the HP part of Islands of Adventure.

And Julia Rios talks about Disney briefly as she journeys through California.

***

Behind every great man going into Hogwarts, there has to be a very sweaty woman.

I agree with pretty much everything Mark and Ferrett said.

I also realized that Disney has become my theme park standard. More about me and Disney next entry.

Catherine

As a companion article to yesterday's review, here's Jim's answers to a few questions. *

Tamago: In what ways do the characters of Roudette and Talia compliment or echo each other, if you think they do at all?

Jim: Roudette is definitely a foil to Talia. In many ways, Roudette is who Talia could have become under different circumstances, and vice versa. Both lost their families as children. Both had to flee their homes. But Roudette was alone. To me, that’s the biggest difference between them. Talia has Beatrice, Snow, Danielle, not to mention the other characters we meet in Red Hood’s Revenge. Roudette has only her mission.

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It's no secret that I've sung Jim C. Hines' praises before on this site. Last year when we were lucky enough to have Jim as our author GOH at Icon, I went so far in a book group discussion to call Jim's Goblin series an every man novel. No, I'm not going to 'splain that (unless there's popular demand), but it's true. Believe the English professor, okay?

Jim took a great risk as a writer. He changed brands. About the time I learned of Jim's existence (Fantasy Matters, 2007), Jim was done with the goblin phase of his life, and was moving into his princess series.

I'll admit, the first book of the princess series did not excite me. It was okay, and it was limited by being a first book, which meant a great deal of time was spent in establishing the characters and the situation, and the plot seemed a bit secondary.

By the time I read the provocative reinterpretation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, the very grim Mermaid's Madness, Jim had a solid grasp on where this series was going. Unlike Ariel and Flounder, Jim's version echoes the grim undertones of Anderson. Well done. Golfer's clap, Mr. Hines.

So, are you wondering what I thought about Red Hood's Revenge? Wonder no longer. I'm going to post some of Jim's answers to a few questions I had about the book next entry, but I wanted to write a review of the latest book in the princess series.

I might disagree with the critiques who think Red Hood's Revenge is the best of the series. For sheer mood and similarity to the tone of the original, I would probably give that honor to Mermaid's Madness.

BUT technically, Red Hood's Revenge stretches the author, and it is arguably Jim's best crafted book in the series so far.

Here's a little cut to save your friend's pages. The short version in case you're working on a schedule: Read the book, especially if you like faerie tale and myth-based fantasy.

The longer version?

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Traffic in Tamago-land slows to near crawl as author goes on vacation, and doesn't write anything new for about a week.

So... next up, a write-up on Jim C. Hines' book Red Hood's Revenge, followed shortly by an interview with the author.

After that, a report on why Universal is not Disney, but how it stacks up in general.

I leave you with my interview at the Iowa Source about Hulk Hercules, written by my fellow teacher at Kirkwood, LaDawn Edward's.

See you tomorrow. When I'm done with all the laundry and unpacking.

Catherine

AnimeIowa went very well. I did a presentation with Bryon on Horror Anime before 2000. Maybe the scariest thing about the presentation was how hack-y Go Nagai's 1970s Devilman was. We also did some cultural work, hosting a Japanese shrine and tea party Friday night. The convention was great. it was a good chance to see and spend some quality time with some old friends and catch up.

I did rewrite 3 scenes and discovered they weren't quite so bad. That's always gratifying.

The next two days will be spent working and getting ready for our Florida trip. We'll be taking off with a bunch of friends for Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios for a few days. I'm looking forward to the final hurrah of my summer. Next week, starting on August 10th, we're back in the professor saddle for fall.

There will be pictures. In the other journal, I'll be putting up pictures of me and my fellow shrine maiden from the party. I'll share vacation photos here.

***

Another thing about the school year beginning is that I will be making an effort to get out and visit libraries and schools with Hulk Hercules. I've been holding off until I could talk to the primary audience, kids, so I'll be arranging that. I'll see what I can do about throwing a party at an indie book store in the area as well. There's a store in Fairfield that has indicated some interest. That's interesting to me. Fairfield is our local new age town. And there will be some HH:PW contests. I imagine about 12 would be right.

In the upcoming months, I plan to continue my Viable Paradise XIII profiles. I'm also going to start a new feature, in which I read a book and interview the author like a lit teacher, so we talk about symbolism, depth, characterization, stuff like that. Yes, "stuff like that" is a literary criticism term.

Good to have a chance to say hello before I'm off on another junket. Soon, Ferrett will not be the only person with a picture of a mug of butter beer.

Catherine

Then, there was the mother of all headaches. It kept Catherine home from work, it kept Catherine off the computer. At 2 o'clock, she stumbled into town, her husband driving, to pick up AV equipment for the convention tomorrow. She got on line tonight, and worked some, because it was a costly day she took off work, so she needed to make some of that up. She's rachetted the headache back up some. Goodie...

While the headache was mostly under control, she took a look at Matt Hughes' revamped Genie Memories. AND she was very impressed.

I find it fascinating to look at other people's writing. I find that I learn a lot.

(more...)

Sorry about the quiet. I've been working on, you know, the Write-a-thon. I've also had to sew a quick shrine maiden outfit for the anime convention I'm helping with this weekend. Yes, it has been a long time since I've sewn. I had forgotten how to thread the machine. In my defense, it was a fairly new machine when I stopped using it a couple of years ago.

It's pretty roasty toasty here in the Midwest. We don't air condition except a small bedroom unit at night. Argh.

I'm focused on finishing the troll novel. There will be a call for readers soon. I plan to revise chapters 8 and 9, and then wrap things up with chapter 10. It'll come in at that nice YA size of about 55K. Once I'm done with the write-a-thon, I'll go through with a serious eye on editing, continuity, and connection. Then, agent roulette begins again.

And I'll be glad. Because I want to send something out.

So, I'm not dead, although nature is trying. Off to Florida to the Potter Park next week, so things may get quiet(er) for a while. Oddly enough, I seem to be more chatty when I'm at work all week. Go figure.

Catherine

Please let me know if I've missed any very important events in the last 3 days or so. I'm surfacing for a moment to catch up, but don't have time to read 5 days worth of stuff.

We took a trip up to the Decorah Nordic Fest on Saturday with our friends Mark and Michelle, and then Sunday we went to the 50th Wedding anniversary party for parents of friends, so we've been spending a lot of time in the car. There have been some cool things for writers.

1. I've learned a lot about thermite reactions and white phosphorous, because I've been studying clever ways to blow up...but that would be telling.

2. Matt Hughes has given me chapters of his book Genie Memories to read. I'm looking forward to it.

While I'm feeling smug about things I've seen that you yet haven't, I should also mention George Galuschak's On the Making of a Dead Man's Hand, which truly should be snatched up by some wise and thinking editor.

It's going to be a busy week, kids. In addition to keeping up with the Clarion Write-a-thon, I will be working on some sewing for Anime Iowa. Hey, the presentation's done, but it would be nice to get the outfit done for Friday's party too. And, there's work Tuesday and Thursday.

It's my hope to have a write up about Red Hood's Revenge soon.

What have you been up to? What projects are you working on?

Catherine