A Small World Getting Smaller

Our small world just keeps getting smaller.

I spent a few days on holiday at my wife’s friend’s cottage in Montauk, New York this past week. This was our second time here - the last was in 2010 - and we spent time on the beaches, where Jude played with the sand and outran the waves, visited the lighthouse and revisited some of the places we had some of our meals. Duryea’s, with its famous and delicious Lobster Roll, was once again on our list to stops.

When we came back to the cottage, after a quick hour at South Lake Beach on our first day, we met our neighbours in the cottage next to ours. Here’s where the world starts to shrink. There were two women and a man staying there. One of the women is the man’s mother. The other woman, I assume is his wife, although she wasn’t introduced to us as such. It turns out that the man is originally from South Orange and he went to Columbia High School, where I coach volleyball. He graduated from there in 1989, the same year as a couple of my friends and colleagues. Not only did he graduate with them, he’s very good friends with one of them. As my friend put it, after texting him about my running into his old friend, “I’ve partied with him many times.”

The world continued to get a little bit smaller on our penultimate day and may even result in new friendships. While on the beach - I think it was Kirk Beach, which Jude calls “the huge beach” - we set up camp next to two women who had another young boy with them. The boy was playing with his own bucket, shovel and molds. Jude had his and before long they were playing together. It also turns out that they’re both Power Rangers fans. At one point, Guada, Jude, the boy and his mother were standing side-by-side, holding hands and jumping over the waves. Before they left, I got the mom’s email address to send her copies of the pictures we’d taken and to arrange a time when Jude and the boy can get together and play. It turns out, according to the boy’s mother, that in their neighbourhood there aren’t many boys for her son to play with. The mom grew up on Long Island but now lives in Convent Station, New Jersey. That’s not too far from where we live and it’s also where my mother, when she lived in New Jersey, spent time at Saint Thomas More Church for various Opus Dei activities. Sometimes I’d drive her there, make a visit the The Blessed Sacrament then wait in the car until she was done.

It’s funny how things happen. Last winter, I posted how I’d reconnected with a former student, who has become a big help in marketing my book. His girlfriend is another author who I’d corresponded with a few years ago so my reunion with him became a kind of ‘six degrees of separation’ situation. I didn’t know they were together. I don’t think they were when she and I had exchanged emails. Well, these two episodes on our family vacation have turned into two others more six degrees situations.

What about you? Have any degrees of separations and/or reunions lately? Do share. I’m really starting to believe that coincidences don’t exist. What do you think? 

The Olympic Games

Well, The Olympic Games 2012 - London 2012 - are in full swing and I’m watching as much as I can. It’s putting a cramp in some of the other things I have to get done but, hey, The Olympics only comes around once every four years. With the winter and summer Olympics, the World Cup, the European Championships and the regular English football (soccer) season, it’s amazing that I get anything done at all.

But I digress. Back to The Olympics and my thoughts on this edition so far.

The Opening Ceremony. In a word, fantastic. Danny Boyle and company did a superb job showcasing how the United Kingdom has evolved, never mind the amazing and highly entertaining entrance of ‘the Queen.’ Depicting the country’s evolution from agrarian to industrialised practices, honouring the soldiers and seaman who’ve defended Great Britain as a land and worldwide fundamental freedoms, honouring their National Health Service and highlighting music throughout the ages, I was highly entertained and, even educated. I’m glad it was shown during primetime here in the United States so I could see it but, for me, huge global events such as this should always be shown live. It can always be rebroadcast - as it was – at a later time. There’s a certain excitement and uniqueness with trying to get to your TV on time and not wanting to miss a thing. At least, NBC didn’t try any of that ‘as live’ stuff it did a couple of Olympics back with some of the actual sports events.

Korean Flag Debacle. This is The Olympics, one of the largest and most important events in the world. It’s as much a humanitarian and peacekeeping endeavour as it is a multi-sport athletic contest. Years go into planning each Olympics as do millions (perhaps, billions) of dollars, pounds, euros, whatever. For the South Korean flag to be displayed during the playing of the North Korean anthem at the start of a football match is highly unacceptable. I tell my students, when giving them a test, that when they’re finished they need to check their answers to make sure they’re what they want them to be. When they’ve done that, they should check them again and, after that, check them again. Again, this is The Olympics. It’s in the details that things are remembered, enjoyed and frowned upon.

Anticipating thrills and spills. As with every sports event, there will be thrills and spills. One of the most anticipated contests this year is the Ryan Lochte vs Michael Phelps showdown in the swimming pool. Well, the thrills and spills started on day one with Phelps barely making it to the final of the 400m IM (Individual Medley) and his subsequent fourth place finish in the medal race. Lochte won it. So, right now, it’s Ryan 1 Michael 0. Also, in the pool, China has taken two golds and set new world records in the process. Sun Yang won the 400m men’s freestyle and teenager Ye Shiwen won the women’s 400m IM. Let’s not forget the archery world record set by the South Koreans early on day one, Japan’s surprise 1-0 win over Spain in men’s football, that there are more women participating in these games than there are men and, last, but definitely not least, about Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who is also a double amputee, who uses those blade-like artificial legs that have garnered him the nickname ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘the fastest man on no legs.’ I can’t wait to see him run.

I love The Olympic Games. Since 1984 (when I watched my first opening ceremony on TV) to 1988 (when Taekwondo was added) to 1996 (when I went to Atlanta as a spectator and, in January of the same year, when I tried out for a spot on the USA Men’s Handball Team for the 2000 Olympics) to now I’ve been a believer in the Olympics movement – to compete openly and fairly against others from all over the world; to do one’s best and to better that best, whether a medal is at stake or not; to challenge and to overcome; to extol the power of the human spirit.  It’s about the individual winning over him or her self and if that victory results in having a medal draped over the athlete’s neck, well, that’s just a bonus.

I have to say I’m not a big fan of country medal counts. There isn’t a prize for the country with the most medals, after all. Keeping country counts promotes separation and an elitist “I’m better than you attitude.” The Olympics, as I studied in university and as its founder Baron Pierre Coubertin envisioned it to be, are a celebration of individual achievement. It’s a celebration of individual humanity; that, regardless of their skill and ability differences, the athletes, at the end of the day, are just people like everyone else. That’s also what the Greeks did in the very first Olympics. That very first Olympics also wasn’t a country versus country event. It’s always been about the individual and his or her challenges and how they’re overcome.

If you’re an Olympics fan, like me, I hope they’re enjoyable for you and that the athletes you’re rooting for do well. If you’re new to them, I hope you get something out of them. Watch a sport you wouldn’t normally watch. Learn something about the ethnic culture of one of those athletes and expose your children, as I am, to this summer global classroom.

Enjoy The Games!

Book Review: Running The Rift by Naomi Benaron

 

Book Review: Running The Rift by Naomi Benaron

Naomi Benaron, winner of the Bellwether Prize for fiction, wrote a book that needed to be written. The war in Rwanda in the 1990s and the resulting genocide was well documented in nightly news coverage, in shows like 60 Minutes, and in an award nominated movie, Hotel Rwanda. The cynical side of me, however, can’t help from feeling that much of what was shown on the news and even presented in the film, starring Don Cheadle, may have been spun in such a way to make us - viewers living in the western world - feel, perhaps, that the efforts of aid groups, the United Nations and various governments was good enough. I’m not an activist nor am I a political scientist and I haven’t spoken to any kind of expert on Rwanda before writing this review but Ms. Benaron’s novel offers a feeling that it was written by someone in the know; like she had seen the atrocities firsthand or lived with Rwandans who had survived them. Running The Rift is as much an historical account of the events of that time and place as it is literary entertainment. I’ll admit that I didn’t follow the news shows’ report for report and I didn’t read every newspaper article that dealt with Rwanda so, in many ways, Running The Rift became my introduction to Rwandan political and civil war history.

Told through the eyes of Jean Patrick Nkuba, a Tutsi tribesman who is a standout 800-meter runner and Olympics hopeful, Ms. Benaron’s novel deals with issues of identity, honoring one’s family and dealing and coming through tragedy. It is the issues of identity and family that first brought me to Running The Rift. My own novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, deals with both issues so, naturally, I was drawn to the comparisons between the two books. I’m also a track coach and runner so reading about Jean Patrick’s training and competing was sure to be something I’d be into. These cosmetic attractions, however, soon became less important as I read on. I learnt about the RPF, the Interahamwe, the influence of the RTLM radio, the Hutu and Tutsi tribes, and the political structure of Rwanda at the time.

In spite of the tragedies that surround the story of Running The Rift, Ms. Benaron does a superb job of keeping her story that of a young man making his mark in the world, negotiating love and trying to fulfill a dream of achieving something that would honour him, his family and his country. It is a coming of age story that forces its protagonist to grow up very quickly and Ms. Benaron does this deftly with prose that isn’t heavy-handed, settings that truly pull the reader in and, like I said before, the sensitivity of someone who really knows her story and the place she has put it in and the people she has chosen to tell it. As I progressed from one chapter to the next, I felt like I was being taken on a tour of Rwanda. As a runner, I could see myself running alongside Jean Patrick Nkuba. (Well, probably behind him because I’m nowhere near as fast he is.) In fact, outside of the dangers of the war, I could see myself hanging out and enjoying the Rwandan cuisine with Jean Patrick, his coach, his girlfriend and his teammates.

Running The Rift, a story that is moving, illuminating and told honestly, is a book that will appeal not only to individuals who have a connection to Rwanda or an interest in Africa. In one part of the book, Jean Patrick’s track coach hands him an identity card that states he is Hutu and not Tutsi. Being Hutu would give Jean Patrick privileges and safety. However, even though the card says he’s Hutu, everyone knows he’s really Tutsi. This part of the book reminded me of the Koreans during the Japanese occupation; Koreans who had to give up all aspects of their native Korean culture, including their names, in order to survive in their Japanese controlled homeland. I was also reminded of the Japanese-Americans during the 1940s, born in the United States and who had no affiliation with Japan, that were relocated to internment camps - Americans locking up Americans - after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.

Americans locking up Americans and Rwandans killing off Rwandans simply because they’re different kinds of Americans and Rwandans - sadly, this really happened. Let’s not forget, too, of the Bosnian Genocide and the ethnic cleansing campaign of the also (ironically) early 1990s conducted by the Bosnia Serb Army.

Whatever you’re into and whatever you read or watch, as Ms. Benaron’s Jean Patrick Nkuba shows us in Running The Rift, it is the strength of our humanity and recognizing that we are more similar than we are different that keeps us waking up every morning and it’s the power of the human spirit that keeps us going when things are at their bleakest. Read Running The Rift for education and entertainment. It is a fantastic book and a quick read. As you read it, though, take Ms. Benaron’s book as a treatise on and reminder of the dangers and the wrongfulness of bigotry, genocide, racism, sexism and every other inhumane thing that we, as human beings, do to one another everyday.

Book Review: The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton

Book Review: The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton

With the abundance of paranormal plus supernatural plus ghosts plus goblins plus vampires plus romance plus shape-shifters plus witches (is there anything left?) that’s already out there on screen and in literature, it’s hard to create anything that deals with these elements that isn’t hackneyed and ‘been there, done that.’ Well, I’m happy to say that Rebecca Hamilton manages to pull it off. When I bought and downloaded (it’s only available as an ebook) The Forever Girl, I did so to support a fellow indie author and because I’d had some direct contact with Ms. Hamilton. We follow each other on Twitter (her handle is @InkMuse) and had a couple of direct message chats and, in a way, I guess I felt that I was helping out a new friend of sorts.

Actually, when I started reading Ms. Hamilton’s debut novel, I’d posted on Goodreads that The Forever Girl wasn’t really my cup of tea. Based on the cover art (a Goth dressed girl with her head tilted in a pining sort of way with an equally longing facial expression) and with a twenty-something female protagonist, I thought that I was heading down a path of whiny chick lit coated in fantasy. I think, too, at the time, I was overloaded with Twilight and Bella with the first part of the final movie having just come out and my wife reading and recounting the entire series of books for me. I’m sorry Twilight fans - and I haven’t been inspired to read the books - but Bella is not one of my favourite characters (although she has become more interesting since she was turned) and I’d spend time with Sophia Parsons over Bella any day.

The first in a series, The Forever Girl, jumps right into who Sophia is and getting us into the action but there are parts in the first third of the book that are a little redundant and dragged out with a decision she has to make regarding the new man in her life. However, beyond that, especially when the book’s title is given meaning, The Forever Girl really takes off. It becomes fast-paced with every page moving the story forward and setting up one nice subplot after another. With regard to the meaning of the book’s title - I’m obviously not going to give it away here so you’ll have to buy the book and read it yourself -  I do recall one other movie (or was it a book?) that has a similar element to it but I can’t remember its title so, really, for my money, Ms. Hamilton is presenting something new. The fact I can’t recall the other work’s title, it probably didn’t present it very well either. Ms. Hamilton also creates new names for her supernatural beings - Strigoi and Cruor, for instance - that remove us from the world of vampires and werewolves that have become part of our everyday cultural lexicon thus erasing any sense of ‘been there, done that’ the reader may bring to the book.

As I got deeper into the book, it dawned on me that my Goodreads comment was completely inaccurate. The Forever Girl is exactly my cup of tea. I’m a weekly watcher of HBO’s True Blood. I loved - not just because of the crush I had on Sarah Michelle Gellar - the Buffy, The Vampire Slayer television series and it’s spin-off Angel. Recently, I’ve discovered the ScyFy channel’s Lost Girl, which, just like The Forever Girl, presents interesting gender-bending relationships; although for 2012 they may not be so bending. The Forever Girl also opens its readers to the world of witches and Wiccans, something I was first exposed to culturally in the movie The Craft, when the Buffy character Willow delved into it, and when I dated a fellow martial arts student who practices Wicca. True Blood, last season, centered its conflicts around witchcraft as well but other than these examples, there aren’t that many mainstream pieces of literature dealing with Wicca. In this way, The Forever Girl not only entertains it also educates, albeit minimally and without being academic.

Writing today, speaking as a novelist myself, can be difficult when trying to create something new in fiction. There aren’t any new storylines to be had. Just think of all the stories of good versus evil that have to do with a young apprentice and an older mentor. Granted, some are hacks and not very well written but there are also the gems - Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and the C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books to name a few. What makes the good ones worth the time and cost is that they offer a new twist to the story and that they balance well the elements they’ve taken from previous versions of similar stories. The Forever Girl has obvious similarities to Buffy, True Blood, Twilight, Angel and, even, Lost Girl. I’m sure that Ms. Hamilton was inspired by some of these other works but in no way intended to duplicate them. And she hasn’t. What she has done is create a new version of this world of demons and bloodsuckers with an identity-confused heroine. Written in first person POV, I couldn’t help from feeling that I was a part of Sophia’s entourage and I enjoyed getting to know her. I’m looking forward to getting to know more of her in the next book of the series.

Are pages in an ebook really pages?

I recently had lunch with two fellow Filipino writers - memoirist Carissa Villacorta and boxing journalist Ryan Songalia. Ryan wrote a feature about my book, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, that came out in several Filipino and Filipino-American print and online publications and he is a former student of mine. Carissa is the author of Surreality, her memoir of her first years in New York City. We met in Chinatown, at my usual spot on Mott Street, and caught up on what’s gone in our lives since I taught Ryan in the late 1990s. As we enjoyed our dim sum, we also talked about writing, my book’s publication and the promotional work I’m doing for it, other Filipino-American authors and the decline of print publications and their quality - surely you’ve noticed how newspapers are thinner, with less pages, and how some newspapers are made on thinner paper with poorer quality ink.

Also at our lunch were my wife and son and our friend, Ani, who is a fellow martial artist and who has been a wonderful supporter of my book. She had a paperback copy with her, which Carissa got to peruse for the first time. About a month or so ago, I’d sent Carissa a copy of my book to her in The Philippines but it hadn’t arrived by the time she and Ryan had come back to New York for holiday. Taking a stab at the Philippine Postal Service, which over the years has been notorious for slow delivery (I once got a birthday card from my father, that arrived on my birthday, but a year late), Ryan joked that there’s someone in a post office somewhere in Makati who’s reading my book. To that, I commented that I hope he or she is, at least, enjoying it.

Anyway, when Carissa flipped through the pages of Ani’s copy of my book, she made a comment that struck me as very odd but was also horribly revelatory. She said that holding my book - again, a print version - was the first time in months she had held an actual book and turned its pages. With the growth of ereaders, all her recent reading has been done electronically. Like I said, I was stunned. Ryan and I both expressed how we prefer the print version of books for a variety of reasons. My wife enjoys the print but she is very much into reading on her iPad. Ani likes print too but she enjoys the convenience of ereading.

As part of the discussion, I offered this: should the pages of an ebook be called ‘pages?’ I suggested, partly in jest, that they be called ‘flicks’ or ‘swipes’ because that’s what we do with our fingers across the screen (yes, I own a Nook and read books on it that only come out in ebook format) when we move forward in our ebooks. Also, in print books, pages are turned and the reader moves on to the next one. 112 is followed by 113, 113 precedes 114 and so on. On my Nook, I am currently reading a novel by a fellow indie author, The Forever Girl, by Rebecca Hamilton, that is only available in ebook format. However, with Rebecca’s book, it’s two flicks for every page. Perhaps this is a technical glitch but hers isn’t the only ebook that does that on my Nook. The Kindle app on my iPhone refers to pages as ‘location’ and with every tap or flick a page jumps 5 (sometimes more) locations. (Rebecca’s book is quite good and if you enjoy paranormal-romance-drama with a little action you’ll enjoy The Forever Girl.)

There are benefits to ereaders. They help environmentally. Less paper books means less trees being cut down. They also allow us carry more books without the weight bearing down on us, which, believe it or not, can cause joint and back problems. This, though, is probably more a concern with students who carry book bags with countless hardcover textbooks to and from school everyday. With the emergence of etextbooks, this will be alleviated somewhat and ereaders do allow notes to be taken and sections to be highlighted. So, on some level, I am starting to favour ebooks. In a previous post, I also cited how they’re very useful in reading newspapers and magazines. I also read several books at a time so when I travel, which isn’t that often anyway, I am able to bring all the books with me if I have all of them on my Nook.

However, without turning actual pages, smelling the paper and the ink and the glue, hearing the crack of the spine the first time you open it, perusing the shelves of a bookstore, dog-earing the corner of the page with your favourite passage on it that you’ve underlined or highlighted with a pen you had to scramble for, ereaders don’t offer a personal connection with a book. Books make us laugh and cry because of the images the words make us conjure up in our own heads and the things we feel in our hearts. All of the tactile contact with a book adds to that relationship and the resulting emotions we feel. There’s something impersonal about the electronic versions. I mean, in the 1977 movie Demon Seed, the electronic supercomputer Proteus became obsessed with humanity that it wanted to have a child with its creator’s wife. If that isn’t an indication of how impersonal electronic advancement is and how desirable personal connection is, I don’t know what is.

I’m not a Luddite. In fact, I’m quite technologically savvy and I like my gadgets and I do like the convenience ebooks offer but when it comes to experiencing a book, in my opinion, the book has to be a print version. Back at my lunch with Carissa and Ryan, I didn’t but I almost posed this as well: Based on what I described above, should ebooks be called ‘books?’ I offer that they be called ‘ereads.’ We can’t smell their ink and they don’t have a spine to crack but we do read them.

I tried to write this post with a little tongue in cheek. You decide if I’ve succeeded in doing so. I don’t consider myself to be a naturally funny or humourous person, after all, so if you think I’m bashing ereaders, let me reassure you that I’m not. They have their place in our world and that place is here to stay. I was simply stunned by what Carissa said about how my book was the first print book she’d held in months. I was also hit with the reality that ereads (let’s see if I can start a trend here) are more than a reality. They’re changing - they’ve changed - how we enjoy our books. They’re part of our everyday lives and, before long, they’ll be something we’re going to take for granted like we do with our mobile phones.

Whatever way you like to read and be moved, entertained and educated, just keep doing it. Turn your pages and swipe your flicks. You’ll be better off for it.

Get Your Press Out, Know Your Royalty - Tips for Indie Authors

In April, I wrote a post called “Stage 2 - First Feature Article.” (Stage 1, of course, is the finishing, editing and publishing of my book.) I meant to follow that up with periodical updates on how my novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, is progressing in terms of public awareness, sales, etc for other indie-published authors or soon-to-be indie authors as a guide of sorts of what to expect.

Well, this post is Stage 5.

What happened to Stages 3 and 4, you ask? As is the plight of indie authors who wear many hats, I got busy, neglected my blog plans and forgot to discuss the next two stages. So, here’s a quick recap.

Stage 3 was my first interview. Well, I answered questions via email for Stage 2 but the final product appeared as an article so, from my point of view, it wasn’t an interview per se. My first interview, then, was with The Manila Bulletin newspaper. It appeared in the May 12, 2012 online and print editions although I did the actual interview, also via email, in February. I found out from another writer friend that it takes about two months or so for interviews to come out.

TIP FOR FUTURE INDIE AUTHORS: Be patient with the press your book will generate but don’t rely solely on it. While waiting for your interviews and features to come out, make sure you are doing other promotional work - writing blog posts, blog touring, book giveaways, etc.

Unfortunately, the link to the online version of The Manila Bulletin interview appears to be inactive, a month after its release. Their server may just be done or acting wonky but I’ve recently tried to share it and the page doesn’t come up.

TIP FOR FUTURE INDIE AUTHORS: Get your press out quickly and often. I’m sure you’ll get interviewed as well. It just might get posted on a site that’s only live for a given time frame. Additionally, get your press out to as many outlets that may generate more interest and traffic for your book. Even if you think an outlet might be incongruous to what you’ve written about, hit up that person or publication. The fact that you thought of that outlet likely means there’s someone else who visits that outlet who thinks just like you do. You might get only one person from that particular outlet but that’s one person more than if you hadn’t sent promo material to that outlet.

Stage 4 is my second interview and upcoming book review. Both are with Hyphen Magazine, which will help my novel get mainstream attention in the Asian-American and immigrant communities, part of its target audience. The Books section editor at Hyphen sent me some questions via email for a piece the magazine is doing about indie-published Asian-American authors, like me, and she informed me that my book has been assigned to a reviewer and in about two months (Hmm, is two months an industry standard?) the review should come out. Following my own advice in the above paragraph, I’ll be sharing those links when they’re out, especially if the review is a good one.

Stage 5, which is what this post is supposed to be about, took place on Saturday. After coming home from the Maplewood LGBTQ Pride Festival, where my wife’s company, Step2Gether, presented some dances with the adult and kid groups, I opened the mailbox and saw an envelope from my publisher, Abbott Press. It was one of those window envelopes that usually carry an invoice or a cheque. Well, thankfully, it was the latter and my first quarter (January - March) sales report. It wasn’t a large amount but at least my book had earned enough for me to get a royalty cheque. A friend of mine commented on Facebook that I’m a paid writer now. I had to correct him that, now, I’m a paid novelist; although it’s not like I’ve earned a major book advance and contract. I became a paid writer in the 1990s when I wrote, was paid for and got published in some martial arts magazines for some articles I’d written.

The money is nice, to be sure, but for getting my book exposure the sales report is important too. My book is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook and the report breaks down purchases for each version and into direct sales (those purchased from Abbott’s bookstore) and retail sales (those purchased through a bookstore, either online or via special order at a brick-and-mortar location). I haven’t really sat down to analyse what the report can tell me but, off the top of my head, I see that most sales came from retail outlets. This, in turn, tells me that it might be more beneficial to direct potential buyers, whether through a promo tweet, a blog post or person-to-person contact, to go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble or to their local bookstore instead of to the Abbott Press online bookstore to buy my book. It also tells me to keep plugging at local indie stores to carry my book. The couple I have solicited said they were interested in carrying my book.  Perhaps, they were influential in the retail units bought in my book’s first quarter sales.

TIP FOR FUTURE INDIE AUTHORS: Don’t forget about your quarterly sales reports and when they do arrive, with or without a cheque, and don’t just count how many books you sold. Work out where the most books were sold and continue to target that avenue. Work out which version of your book made the most sales and promote that one.

TIP FOR FUTURE INDIE AUTHORS: Also, know how your royalty is calculated and learn this part of the business. Remember, as an indie author, you’re more than the writer. You’re the publisher and publicist too.

Well, whether you’re a new indie, like I am, or a soon-to-be indie author or even an experienced indie, I hope your book does well and that what I’ve posted here has inspired and educated. If you have any further insights, please do share. After all, with the current state of book publishing and the direction it seems to be heading, indie books may save our industry and put a little green in your pocket.

By The Prickling Of My Thumbs: Honouring Ray Bradbury

RIP Ray Bradbury.

I’ve only read three of your books - Something Wicked This Way Comes, Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man. I’ve watched the movie versions, too, and if anyone ever needs convincing that the original written version of a story is always better than the adapted movie all he needs to do is compare the versions of these three works. Don’t get me wrong. The films were all good, enjoyable and captivating but they didn’t touch me as much as reading your words did. (Although, I have to say that the 1969 film of The Illustrated Man - I believe there’s a version coming out in 2013 - starring Rod Steiger, did creep me out. In a good way.)

I came to your work at around 11 or 12. It was around this time that I’d really started getting into books. I’d just entered secondary school and my sister was (still is) an avid reader and had introduced me to Antoine de Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince. From there, my love of books took off. I recall seeing a copy of Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man on my father’s bookshelves. I didn’t read them until later in life, in college as part of an American Studies course, my brother telling me at the time that they might be too frightening. So, at school, as my friends read books that weren’t yet then but would be today called YA about teenage boys growing into professional soccer players or novels set in World War II, I came across Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I hadn’t purposely searched for one of your books out but when I pulled it off the shelf at my school library - we had a library period once a week or so and each student had to choose a book, with teacher approval, and read it by the next library period - I was very excited. We never had to write a book report on what we were reading. It was just so we could read and, for that, I am grateful. I recall my teacher telling me how great a writer you are and how I’d like this particular book, about how I’d enjoy the action and suspense as much as the fantasy. She never mentioned anything about how scary - at least for a twelve year old - it might be. If she had, perhaps the impact of the story might have somehow been compromised.

I write now. Well, I’ve been writing since I was a kid but now I’m a published author.  I guess it was inevitable that I’d write because I’m the son of a writer and former English teacher, the brother to a journalist and the brother to an English Lit major. As a writer, naturally, I like - no love - books. I credit that to my sister, my secondary school English teachers and you.

Something Wicked This Way Comes found me at the perfect time. My mind was open and my heart passionate for discovery and entertainment. With names like Dark and Nightshade - names that some writing teachers would say are too ‘nail on the head’ - the book presents the perfect balance of good versus evil, temptation, the darkness within each of us and the desire to do good that resides beside it. To be honest, I haven’t thought of Something Wicked This Way Comes in a long time. Now that I am, sadly because of your passing, I am smiling because I am remembering how much I enjoyed and was impressed by it and how much, because of it, I love books and how that, in turn, has helped me define and understand myself.

As I recall all of this, warmly the way one does about the past, I’ve decided that I need to pick up a copy and reread it. And, share it.

Thank you, Mr. Bradbury. You’ve touched many minds and hearts, mine among them. I wouldn’t be the reader and writer today without you.

Rest In Peace. Oh, and if you come across Mr. Dark on your way to literary heaven, tell him I say “hello.”