dying alone (overheard)

The people at the table above me are talking about the death of a man who was single and liver alone with his dog.  He was 58, and he died suddenly, and it took 5 days for them to realize.  "So sad," they kept saying.  "No family, no wife and kids, how sad, nobody knew, how sad," they said.  "No one should live alone and be single," they said.  "So very, very sad."

I hid a crooked smile and thought, again, Actually, not really.  Who is it sad for?  He's dead; he's not horrified or embarrassed by it.  And no family means there wasn't a wife and kids to be sad at being ripped away, no family to suffer.  Maybe I feel bad for the dog, but why is it sad to be alone if that is your choice?

Inner Critic on the Prowl

I am too judgmental lately
about writing stories
and I wonder what brought this on

things I could have enjoyed before
my inner critic sneaks up
and ruins for me, pointing out
the flaws, and I wonder when
it will turn on me . . .

Practicing the Examined Life?

"When a generation's main mode of self-expression is a Facebook post, it is unsurprising that we do not understand ourselves. It is impossible to practice the examined life through a Tweet." - Paul D. Miller 

I read this and thought it made sense.  But then I wondered, when people "Tweet," are they trying to use that as a way to practice the examined life?  And is self-expression the (only) way we (should) examine our lives?  It was a good sound bite, but I'm not sure I buy it in the end.

Your thoughts?

Literary vs Genre fiction

"I think in the west, literary fiction is not supposed to deal with absolutes, and that’s why it’s better regarded, whereas genre fiction deals with absolutes. There’s such a divide. Meanwhile Japan does not do that even with genre fiction, and you don’t have the same divisions." - Yani Mentzas

Your thoughts?

American Fantasy Prose Readers: the same thing again and again

"My understanding is, especially with American fantasy prose, that the people who come back to that expect the same narrative again and again. It’s a phatic experience. Just being able to go through the sleepy town, that fulfills a prophecy, sort of reminds you of what it was like the first time you picked up Tolkien."
- Noah Fulmar

Hey, fantasy readers, what are your thoughts on this? (There's plenty more to the roundtable, so you can go back a bit to get some context, if you'd like it.) 

Why We Need Stories

"But more importantly, without any context any description I gave you would read like an essay. Sure I could explain some of the lost pagan rites from Vint. But without context and narrative, our ability to care about such things is dramatically reduced.

"That’s why we need stories."

- Patrick Rothfuss

This sounds like why my sister hated the Silmarillion.  Then again, sometimes you want the info so badly that you'd prefer to have it in any form.  And when an author takes as long to write (admittedly great) novels . . .  Well, stories are amazing, but the facts are better than nothing.  Your thoughts?

Another book I'll have to read (with pleasure)

I read this quote and thought of my earlier post about fans and their potentially vicious hatred of movie adaptations of books they loved.  This person says it way better.

There was that miniscule chance you’d get it oh-so-very-wrong and then I’d have to become all nerd rage-y and rip the book apart, because that is something unfortunate we fans have a habit of doing. We love these things so much, when we feel they are not being treated with the respect they deserve, we tend to become irrational jackasses in an effort to protect whatever it is we love. - Source: Geeky Pleasures

Yes, that's it exactly.  Sounds like maybe John Scalzi's Redshirts (an apparently loving and very competent send-up of those poor guys who die inevitably pretty much every episode in the original Star Trek TV series) manages to avoid this problem of inciting nerd rage and irrational jackassery.  Sigh, now there's another book I have to read even though I don't think I've ever seen the original Star Trek series in its entirety.  (Note that this is one of Mr. Scalzi's comic novels, like Android's Dream, not one of his uber-serious military sci-fi epics.)