Tag Archives: literature

goodness, humor, life, nerd

My new career as a part-time smartass, perhaps

I wrote a review of Beautiful Creatures, the worst book on the planet, on amazon.com a couple of months ago and got a lot more (read: any) attention than I expected.  It served as my impetus to get on Goodreads.com, which is a fantastic book review website that I’m currently addicted to, and where I’ve made a couple of new friends due to the popularity of my Beautiful Creatures review.

artist rendition of me being a book reviewer

artist rendition of me being a book reviewer

I got another comment on my review today that read thusly:

Ok, so I haven’t read this book yet but when I do read reviews of books, I like to read the people who gave a bad review and discover why they didn’t like the book or what irritated them about it. I love your sense of humor with your review and how you go into detail about the specific parts of the book you didn’t enjoy. I am a writer and have recently self published my first young adult novel called Seeds of Eden. This is probably going to sound a little odd but I was wondering if you would read it and do an honest review of it. As an author I am still trying to find my reader base and connect with new readers. I can email you the epub version of my book if you would like to take a look at it. If you aren’t interested that is also fine, it’s up to you. Let me know what you think about this and get back to me! 
Here is the link for my book on amazon: Seeds of Eden (The Concilium Series)
You can also find it on Goodreads too! 

I was pretty dumbstruck.  Was this a tricky way for this person to get someone to buy her crappy $0.99 ebook on amazon, or was she actually, genuinely asking for a review?  I sat statue-still at my computer and thought, “Is this my first ever official request as a book reviewer?”  I’m choosing to think so because that’s awesome, and the book looks pretty awful and should be fun to hilariously critique, lol.  Still, I’m excited about it.  Kinda stupid-excited.

Advertisement
Standard
goodness

Clan Gordon

I pulled over to check out an estate sale the other day, and bought a few things for super cheap: a solid pewter stein for my Renaissance Faire costume, a few pieces of silver, and an old book.  The book had an ownership label on the inside cover with a Latin phrase on it.  Turns out this book once belonged to Basil Gordon of Clan Gordon, the second oldest clan in Scotland.

So I found them online and emailed them about the book, offering to bring it with me on my travels to Edinburgh, and maybe pass it off to them there.  I heard back promptly (they have no interest in the book), but the member of the clan I’m in contact with (Kevin Gordon) was very nice, and said he was here in the states.  I wonder where he is…

I went back and got a little silver baby cup for my mom (she collects them), and some more old books, one of which has a copy on Ebay for $125.

I love old books.  As a kid, when I couldn’t sleep at night, I would get up and set next to the bookshelf in the computer room, and just pore through the old books my folks had.  Their age, the way they smelled, the strange little stories they told were so soothing.

Standard
goodness, humor, nerd

Everyone loves Cthulhu

I found myself in the strange position of explaining the Cthulhu phenomenon to my dad over the weekend.

STOP COMPLAINING AND EAT IT

It started with this hilarious-looking game, Miskatonic School for Girls, where members of the H. P. Lovecraft universe make up the staff.  The point of the game is to help your house’s students retain their sanity longer than your opponent.  The card that pushed me over the edge?  Cthulhu as the lunch lady.

First I explained what Kickstarter is; an online service that allows people to raise funds for independent projects for which there are too few/zero financial sponsors.  Then I told him about the game.  Then I tried to explain how Cthulhu has become an internet meme for some reason, but I’m not sure how, so I found myself saying stuff like, “He’s an underwater god from the Lovcraftian universe, but people online make fun of him by making him out to be emo or adorable.”  Which makes no sense of course, but it’s an internet meme, so all it has to do is entertain in the void to be a success.

how do I even begin to explain Cthulhu Spock...?

Cthulhu really is the perfect internet meme, now that I think about it.  He’s an obscure reference to a piece of literature at the root of sci-fi/fantasy nerd country that few people have actually read, but somehow everyone knows and loves enough to poke fun of and ironically turn into plushies.  He devours souls, people.  And now he’s a knitted baby toy.

YOU WIN, INTERNET.

I made this

Standard