Harvest Holiday

Happy Thank You Giving Day

It’s times like these that we worship the sacred act of stuffing our faces because a couple of settlers up in New England survived the harvest. Just, don’t eat too much turkey. Seriously, what are turkeys thankful for?

Anyways, we have around 11 days left for the Enhance Magazine deadline. I have amazing submissions and can’t wait to share the work with everyone. Stay tuned to the release and possibly a post about how much InDesign is awesome.

Also, Salon de Madame Odalys has a short and sweet (no sex!) story for today.

Candles and Ghosts

I'm still reading Candles Burning by Tabitha King. It's a bit boring, in the sense that's there's so much drive by writing that I can cry. Drive by writing is writing that just glances at the story. I'll try to describe it at another time.

The only good thing about this is the main character, who can hear the whispers of the dead. But, the back of the book lied. It's supposed to mention the connection to her murdered father or at least his ghost.

So far (three thirds into the book) I see a connection between strange women stealing the young protaganist. There's also the ghosts of her grandma, and great grandmother... and a strange desolate woman.

The development of interesting and important things in this book moves at the pace of iced tea seeping into the water outside sitting under the sun in southern Alabama.

I guess that's why I enjoy short stories and poetry best. [End Rant]

Bees

She’s sitting outside in her old black and red striped pants. It would be dumb to sit outside in the sun because she’s wearing a black tank top. The heat doesn’t bother her. She’s sitting with her old mp3 player and headphones. The sun warms the skin of her closed eyes as she swims through the colors.

It always starts out with red, cherry neon red. Sometimes the red turns into orange. Some times it brown circles cover the neon glow. She forces her eyes to close from all sight and a dull red-brown color covers her sight.

Step one over. She uses the tempo of the music blaring through the soft padding of her headphones as a guide to escape the red reality. Her mind latches onto the sounds as the song whispers and whisks through the wind blowing. Together the sounds of the wind and the music break the chains of her physical reality. Her hidden soul emerges, a fierce bubble made of petroleum and her complex character, it rides and glides through her chakras.

The bubble floats and releases euphoric toxins into her body. Her will forces the bubble through the anger filled arenas, the lust filled marshes, the sparkling feathers and gems, and straight through her heart The void rules her heart, where her three personalities meets.

She doesn’t notice the song anymore. The heat of the sun turning her skin brown fails to warm her. She’s far away from this world, her mind, and spirits around her. The bubble struggles through pierce the void of her heart, but it can’t succeed.

It hasn’t tasted the crystallized sugar of success, yet. Once the bubble reaches her heart, the noises flood her existence. She hears the loud whirr of the wind moving her hair. The clicks of the car door closing. Television static charges out of the open blinds from the neighbor’s apartment. She hears the hesitation of the bubble.
Then, she opens her eyes. There is a green tint to everything. She looks around to the neighbor’s window, out onto the street where she had heard a car. She shakes her head and switches the song on her mp3 player. She stares at the ceiling of the tiny porch.

“You doing alright up there?” She asks the bees.

She was sure that today would be the day. She would have broken through the void of her heart. But, the small nest of bees kept her tied to her senses.

Is it really true that bees don’t attack first?

However that worked. Knowing that the bee’s lives were numbered kept her in this reality.

Reading: Code Geass Volume 1 – Chronicles of the Cursed Sword Volume 1-3

I read manga too. I read the first volume of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. It’s actually exciting because it’s not a Tokyopop book. (It’s Bandai Entertainment.) I have nothing against Tokyopop, but they have a monopoly of manga and anime in the US. I have everything against monopolies. Anyways, the summary on the back of the book reads:

The Holy Empire of Britannia has conquered Japan. Now known as a mere number “Area 11,” Japan has lost its freedom and the people have lost their rights. But one Britannian boy dreams of toppling the very system he is a part of. His name is Lelouch. And he has obtained the power to change the world. And now his rebellion has begun.

It’s a fancy summary that promises an adventure, a rebellion, blood, and honor. As common with the manga I read, there are magical elements, death, and a gang of terrorists. AKA this is a good read.

I also finished reading the Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, a Tokyopop three volume edition. The summary on the back of the book reads:

Rey Yan was an orphan with no home, no skills, and no purpose. But when he comes upon the PaSa sword, a cursed blade made from the bones of the demon king, he suddenly finds himself with the power to be a great hero. But after him is the sword’s creator—the evil imperial minister who needs the sword to release the demon king!

So basically, there’s this orphan who has a powerful sword. This sword can release the “demon king,” and our hero, Rey Yan is out doing hero things… like saving people’s lives. It’s a classic hero killing demons tale with extraordinary twists (there are four demon rulers in the underworld… what???). This story incorporates ‘magic’ as well as traditional Japanese sword fighting in a great war during the Zhou Dynasty.