The Festival is now in full swing (which probably explains why it's raining constantly) and I've added Tim Minchin and Amnesty International to sights seen. Minchin was excellent, laugh until a small bit of vomit comes into your mouth funny. He really is such a talented chap with not only being humorous but a highly skilled and adept musician if you get the chance to see him, take it. I've put a little clip of him below:
We also went to see The Amnesty International gig with Ed Byrne's, Rich Hall and Mark Watson who between them managed to wake me up via the art of laughter as the time nudged two in the morning.
Still plenty more to go which I'll report back on later next week.
****
Had an interesting conundrum in the editing of 'The Missing' this week in the use of language, particularly American English. It all stemmed from the spelling of the word 'tyre' which in the US is spelt 'tire'. In one part of the novel a character from the US of A talks about changing the tyre (or tire as it would be) with someone from the UK. They both refer to the rubber part of the car and by the end of the piece the UK character has changed nationality (don't ask, just read the book when it comes out and all will become clear). So the problem...do I use 'tyre', 'tire' or both depending on who is speaking or doesn't it matter and should I use the spelling for the language I'm writing in (UK English). The matter was too much for me and the editor and so was sent upwards to the chief editor and the results are....(drum roll)...use the UK spelling...phew!
****
Finished off the other two volumes of Miracleman as written by Alan Moore.
The second book entitled 'The Red King Syndrome,' though not liked by all is for me the best of the three as it shows the hero's ascent into the heavens as he realises that his powers make him a God among men. Humans become nothing to him as he can kill them with ease, imagine Superman with no moral compass. Also through his actions he brings about the creation of a creature even more powerful than himself.
Olympus, the third and final book has Miracleman reminiscing on his past and how the Earth was reshaped once he and several super heroes decide that they will rule the planet. It's a bitter sweet ending as the comic is seen only from Miracleman's point of view and though he knows he has brought justice and humility to the human race it was done via death, intimidation and knowledge that humanity is now firmly under the yoke.
The only problem I had with the final book is some of the language used my Moore during the dance sequences. It's good but just a little bit indulgent for my tastes.
****
Read this week:
Miracleman Book Two: The Red King Syndrome by Alan Moore et al
Miracleman Book Three: Olympus by Alan Moore and John Totleben
Showing posts with label Editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Editing. Show all posts
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Comic Timing
Just finishing off Ch.3 of 'The Missing', with the help of Maureen. Still plenty of work to go and with Madam Vin doing the first read through of 'DarkFather' and the new short story I've started, things are busy, busy, busy.
Been able to do quite a bit of reading over the weekend by sticking mainly to comics:
Skin was banned and few people wanted to publish it when it was first touted. The story of a violent skin head Thalidomide is not going to be every one's ideal subject matter and while the comic is worthy it is intrinsically flawed due to its main character. You never sympathise or really care about Martin 'Atchet and early on you realise the inevitable ending. It is however, well written with clever use of language and the bright almost hypnotic art work is uplifting.
Batman Year One I first read years ago and seems to have aged well. It's Miller's re imagining of the Dark Knight, gone is the ludicrous 70s version (including the rubbish Robin character who I've never liked) and in its place is the darkness and film noir of a Gotham in need of a violent anti-hero. Clever, violent and very, very dark.
Ministry of Space is an alternative history piece concerning what would have happened if Britain had won the space race and not followed WW2 with a decade of depression and a huge national debt. What's best here is the art work, it's magnificent, full of Dan Dare type vehicles and colours. It's only problem is the ending, too quick and too obvious.
It is written by Warren Ellis who also produced Freakangels, which I am enjoying and can't wait to read the next episode of.
The Last American is a futuristic 'last man' story that just doesn't seem to go anywhere. It feels as if the writers and artist both got bored with the project and gave up after several episodes. This a shame because it was building into a good story and the small detailed art work gave it a claustrophobic and empty feel, perfect for the attitude of the hero.
My favourite read has been Batman: The Killing Joke. At last a comic book that understands the Joker, how twisted and unbalanced he really is. This Deluxe recoloured version is amazing, lush and sharp. It also highlights what a good writer Alan Moore can be when working with an artist ready to curb some of his more outlandish digressions. Almost perfect.
****
This blog is now also going out on SFCrowsNest run by the talented (and probably very busy Stephen Hunt. If you haven't read the website or Stephen's work I can highly recommend both.
Read this week:
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
Lat American by Alan Grant, Mike McMahon and John Wagner
Ministry of Space by Warren Ellis, Chris Weston and Laura Martin
Batman Year One by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli and Richmond Lewis
Skin by Peter Milligan, Brendan McCarthy and Carol Swain
Been able to do quite a bit of reading over the weekend by sticking mainly to comics:
Skin was banned and few people wanted to publish it when it was first touted. The story of a violent skin head Thalidomide is not going to be every one's ideal subject matter and while the comic is worthy it is intrinsically flawed due to its main character. You never sympathise or really care about Martin 'Atchet and early on you realise the inevitable ending. It is however, well written with clever use of language and the bright almost hypnotic art work is uplifting.
Batman Year One I first read years ago and seems to have aged well. It's Miller's re imagining of the Dark Knight, gone is the ludicrous 70s version (including the rubbish Robin character who I've never liked) and in its place is the darkness and film noir of a Gotham in need of a violent anti-hero. Clever, violent and very, very dark.
Ministry of Space is an alternative history piece concerning what would have happened if Britain had won the space race and not followed WW2 with a decade of depression and a huge national debt. What's best here is the art work, it's magnificent, full of Dan Dare type vehicles and colours. It's only problem is the ending, too quick and too obvious.
It is written by Warren Ellis who also produced Freakangels, which I am enjoying and can't wait to read the next episode of.
The Last American is a futuristic 'last man' story that just doesn't seem to go anywhere. It feels as if the writers and artist both got bored with the project and gave up after several episodes. This a shame because it was building into a good story and the small detailed art work gave it a claustrophobic and empty feel, perfect for the attitude of the hero.
My favourite read has been Batman: The Killing Joke. At last a comic book that understands the Joker, how twisted and unbalanced he really is. This Deluxe recoloured version is amazing, lush and sharp. It also highlights what a good writer Alan Moore can be when working with an artist ready to curb some of his more outlandish digressions. Almost perfect.
****
This blog is now also going out on SFCrowsNest run by the talented (and probably very busy Stephen Hunt. If you haven't read the website or Stephen's work I can highly recommend both.
Read this week:
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
Lat American by Alan Grant, Mike McMahon and John Wagner
Ministry of Space by Warren Ellis, Chris Weston and Laura Martin
Batman Year One by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli and Richmond Lewis
Skin by Peter Milligan, Brendan McCarthy and Carol Swain
Thursday, July 03, 2008
A Load of Links
Things are progressing...slowly. They're getting there but everything takes so much time. 'The Missing' is now a few weeks into its edit under the guiding hand of Maureen and DarkFather has been printed off and had its first read through by an audience (of one, by the name of Madame Vin).
I've been doing a bit of surfing recently and found all sorts of lovely things online. Use the links below to explore:
A great little static film in photos from Jonathan Glancey (architecture journalist of the Guardian) on the watery London of tomorrow with a special guest appearance by the hidden Fleet river: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2008/jun/30/architecture
This seems to be a collective artists site with some beautiful and funny films: http://zune-arts.net/
An article about Central Park at night, which makes me think that my comic book script 'The Park' still has legs. I'll probably go on and have a rewrite of it soon: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/fortean_traveller/1188/central-park-in-the-dark.html
And a load of website dedicated to places underground which I'll put here so that I can find them again next time I'm looking:
http://www.undercity.org/intro.htm
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/09/28/top/a06092804_01.txt
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/rails/disused.underground.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3925259
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/ground_pentrating_radar.htm
****
Currently in the middle of Alan Campbell's new work but last week I read Stella Muller-Madej's account of being a Jewish child during World War II. She ended up in the Warsaw ghetto and then a concentration camp before being saved by ending up on a work detail at one of Oskar Schindler's factories. I was expecting a harrowing account of life during that period but instead found that the violence and death was almost glossed over as another event in the daily grind of life. This is because the Holocaust is seen through the eyes of child, a child who did not fully understand what was going on, allowing her to ask the questions we all want to know, which is the why and how something like that was ever allowed to happen.
The book is written as a memoir many years after the events, and Stella's use of English is shaky which helps to add to the child like quality of the events. It's a hard going book with casual violence and death part of the daily regime but also a reminder of the horror's human can perpetrate against each other.
****
Finally I'm looking forward to the end of Dr Who this weekend and a 'possible' new Doctor. Because Who won't return until 2010 I'll have to put up with a new Batman film instead:
Read this week:
A Girl from Schindler's List by Stella Muller-Madej
I've been doing a bit of surfing recently and found all sorts of lovely things online. Use the links below to explore:
A great little static film in photos from Jonathan Glancey (architecture journalist of the Guardian) on the watery London of tomorrow with a special guest appearance by the hidden Fleet river: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2008/jun/30/architecture
This seems to be a collective artists site with some beautiful and funny films: http://zune-arts.net/
An article about Central Park at night, which makes me think that my comic book script 'The Park' still has legs. I'll probably go on and have a rewrite of it soon: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/fortean_traveller/1188/central-park-in-the-dark.html
And a load of website dedicated to places underground which I'll put here so that I can find them again next time I'm looking:
http://www.undercity.org/intro.htm
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/09/28/top/a06092804_01.txt
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/rails/disused.underground.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3925259
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/ground_pentrating_radar.htm
****
Currently in the middle of Alan Campbell's new work but last week I read Stella Muller-Madej's account of being a Jewish child during World War II. She ended up in the Warsaw ghetto and then a concentration camp before being saved by ending up on a work detail at one of Oskar Schindler's factories. I was expecting a harrowing account of life during that period but instead found that the violence and death was almost glossed over as another event in the daily grind of life. This is because the Holocaust is seen through the eyes of child, a child who did not fully understand what was going on, allowing her to ask the questions we all want to know, which is the why and how something like that was ever allowed to happen.
The book is written as a memoir many years after the events, and Stella's use of English is shaky which helps to add to the child like quality of the events. It's a hard going book with casual violence and death part of the daily regime but also a reminder of the horror's human can perpetrate against each other.
****
Finally I'm looking forward to the end of Dr Who this weekend and a 'possible' new Doctor. Because Who won't return until 2010 I'll have to put up with a new Batman film instead:
Read this week:
A Girl from Schindler's List by Stella Muller-Madej
Sunday, June 15, 2008
All Simian until today
I'm having to oscillate between two different manuscripts at the moment. Maureen and I are going through Chapter 1 of 'The Missing'(or the first part of the novel as it doesn't really have chapters) sending copies backwards and forwards to one another. At the same time I am printing off the first version of 'DarkFather', which is being read by Madame Vin. I'm hoping the stories don't become too intertwined by accident. I would hate for the Missing Man to suddenly pop up in The Gap.
I'm also at the start of a 'get fit for the Cairngorms bike ride' regime, which was going fine until I pulled the tendons on the inside of both elbows. They have been in exaggerated spasm since last Friday causing me to walk around with my arms bent like an Orang-utan. This has resulted in Madame Vin threatening to put things just out of reach and fits of giggles when I bend simian like to pick them up. Fortunately today the arms are once more straight making me feel all evolved.
****
'The Reapers' is the new Charlie Parker novel only it doesn't star Bird and instead focuses its plot on Louis and Angel. I think this book has been at the back of the mind of all John Connolly readers since he introduced us to the characters in the first novel. The two characters have grown with the books but their pasts, often hinted at, has never been fully explored. This book sets the record straight allowing us to watch Louis grow from a poor marginalised southern boy in a racist society through pain and anguish which leads him to becoming a cold hearted killer who is eventually redeemed (as much as a killer for hire can be). It also shows the love and respect Angel and Louis have for one another, the bond that keeps them together and the shadowy lives they must live to protect each other.
It also introduces us to the characters in their lives, from the humble and loyal mechanic Willy and Arno, the local bar owner Nate and the dark brooding presence of Parker, who you realise is just as fearsome (if not more so) than Louis.
As ever the book is well written, cleverly plotted at a fast and rising pace. My only gripe is that the character of Bliss, yang to Louis' ying, is skipped over a little too quickly. I wanted to know more about him, for him to built up like The Collector of previous books. Not that I'm complaining because as usual Connolly has produced a brilliant and creative thriller.
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves however was a bit of a disappointment. Gaiman I've written about before and remains one of my favourite writers but this fell flat in both ideas and the language used. I haven't read anything by Reaves before so have nothing to compare it to. I don't know if it was the fact of co-writing a book that meant their individual ideas and voices were lost in the joint effort but I just found it lacking in imaginative sparks.
The Subterranean volume is as always beautifully produced, however there are a couple of glaringly obvious editing mistakes.
Finally I finished the week reading 'Arkham Asylum,' a 25 th Anniversary release of the Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean comic. I first read this over a decade ago and though the story works only in fits and starts the art work is amazing.
****
Read this week:
The Reapers by John Connolly
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean
I'm also at the start of a 'get fit for the Cairngorms bike ride' regime, which was going fine until I pulled the tendons on the inside of both elbows. They have been in exaggerated spasm since last Friday causing me to walk around with my arms bent like an Orang-utan. This has resulted in Madame Vin threatening to put things just out of reach and fits of giggles when I bend simian like to pick them up. Fortunately today the arms are once more straight making me feel all evolved.
****
'The Reapers' is the new Charlie Parker novel only it doesn't star Bird and instead focuses its plot on Louis and Angel. I think this book has been at the back of the mind of all John Connolly readers since he introduced us to the characters in the first novel. The two characters have grown with the books but their pasts, often hinted at, has never been fully explored. This book sets the record straight allowing us to watch Louis grow from a poor marginalised southern boy in a racist society through pain and anguish which leads him to becoming a cold hearted killer who is eventually redeemed (as much as a killer for hire can be). It also shows the love and respect Angel and Louis have for one another, the bond that keeps them together and the shadowy lives they must live to protect each other.
It also introduces us to the characters in their lives, from the humble and loyal mechanic Willy and Arno, the local bar owner Nate and the dark brooding presence of Parker, who you realise is just as fearsome (if not more so) than Louis.
As ever the book is well written, cleverly plotted at a fast and rising pace. My only gripe is that the character of Bliss, yang to Louis' ying, is skipped over a little too quickly. I wanted to know more about him, for him to built up like The Collector of previous books. Not that I'm complaining because as usual Connolly has produced a brilliant and creative thriller.
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves however was a bit of a disappointment. Gaiman I've written about before and remains one of my favourite writers but this fell flat in both ideas and the language used. I haven't read anything by Reaves before so have nothing to compare it to. I don't know if it was the fact of co-writing a book that meant their individual ideas and voices were lost in the joint effort but I just found it lacking in imaginative sparks.
The Subterranean volume is as always beautifully produced, however there are a couple of glaringly obvious editing mistakes.
Finally I finished the week reading 'Arkham Asylum,' a 25 th Anniversary release of the Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean comic. I first read this over a decade ago and though the story works only in fits and starts the art work is amazing.
****
Read this week:
The Reapers by John Connolly
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean
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