Blog Archives
Of Books and Traditions
Most people have traditions around this time of year. I certainly do—I like routines anyway (slight OCD tendencies? Me? Never!), so the idea of tradition works quite well for me. Some are pretty standard: Advent calendar, Christmas Day at my grandmother’s, NORAD Santa Tracker, etc. Some are a little more personal.
For as long as I can remember, I have read Richard Scrimger’s Of Mice and Nutcrackers every holiday season. It’s a middle-grade book, and although it’s apparently a sequel, it stands alone (I haven’t read the first one). Essentially, it follows seventh-grader Jane Peeler as she directs her class’s production of The Nutcracker while dealing with strained friendships, her dad’s pneumonia, and her cursing, chain-smoking grandma.
It holds a special place in my heart.
Obviously, it’s a childhood favourite. I don’t remember when I first read it, but I remember thinking Jane was really old. So, I was probably around eight or nine.
I’m twenty-one now, and I still love it.
It’s a genuine story, with some remarkably clever writing. The cursing grandma? Scrimger neatly uses “sound-alikes” to show her “bad words.” Get the shell out of bed, ham stairs, and so forth. Let’s be honest, some kids probably know what he means, but that’s okay. They’re in on the joke.
But there was one that took me quite a few years to get. At one point, the grandma yells at an incompetent driver: “Hey, axle!”
Axle.
Think about that for a minute.
Yes, he went there. And I respect him so much for it.
It also took a few years to figure out why Jane’s little brother avoids pork chops and ham throughout the book. Likewise, a few years to catch the sly in-text references to Scrimger’s other books. I love that. I love that the main thrust of the story is accessible to kids the first time, but that all these nuances emerge with successive readings. Sure, some of the characters are fairly one-dimensional (The Mean Teacher), but most of them are surprisingly complex. If I were to ever try my hand at kidlit, this is how I’d like to do it.
But of course, I also love it because it’s so strongly linked to the holidays for me. Over the years, it has become part of my preparations for Christmas. I savour it, reading a chapter a day, timing it so that I reach the part where the principal says, “…fourteen days until Christmas” on December 11th (yes, I’m a nerd).
I don’t know if or when I’ll ever have kids. If I do, Of Mice and Nutcrackers will certainly make an appearance.
But I’ll let them decode the grandma’s dialogue on their own.
How about you? Any beloved children’s books, or books that get better with subsequent readings?
Announcing the Hear the Hapax Contest!
“A Hapax is a word that occurs only once, ever…”
As most of you have probably figured out by now, that’s the driving conflict behind Hapax. The Word of creation sounded only once, and no one heard it, so now it’s gone forever.
I’d prefer that were not the case with Hapax-the-Novel.
And so, I’m announcing the “Hear the Hapax” contest.
What do you need to do?
Here’s the deal: we’re looking to get this Word out. Every review (Amazon, Goodreads…) you write, every promo you play, every blogpost you craft, every link to the Amazon or Chapters page you post, counts as one entry in the draw. Just send the link to whatever you’ve done to ktbryski@gmail.com, so I’m aware of it. As with all draws, the more entries you have, the better your odds.
What’s up for grabs?
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One World-Ending Grand Prize
A Hapax poster, designed by Erin Scothorn (a lady of many talents who, among other things, gave Hapax its initial critique), and signed by the author and podcast-cast. If you’re a long-time listener, you may remember this image as the working cover, before the official one from Dragon Moon Press was ready. So far as I know, it currently exists nowhere else, and it will be the only one in the world (kind of like the Hapax… :P)
Plus, a CD with the entire podcast – pure story, no Hapax Chats or Story so Fars between chapters…and some exclusive bonus material. 😉
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Two CDs of Apocalyptic Audio
Two more CDs containing Hapax-the-Podcast in its entirety, along with bonus material.
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Three MCBs (Magical Candy Bags)
Tasty, tasty treats from the Great White North.
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Timeline: there may be seven days between Candlemass and the Final Day, but since the Ecclesiat does everything in threes, I’ll give you three weeks. The contest opens at 12:01 am EST(’cause that’s how we roll) Saturday, November 24th, and closes at 11:59 am EST on December 15th. Winners will be announced on this blog on December 16th.
Recap:
Our mission: help the world hear the Hapax, so that it doesn’t echo in the Void for eternity, unheard and unknown.
Leave reviews, send tweets, spread the word, and then let me know.
Questions, comments, links, feedback, and awful puns all go to ktbryski@gmail.com
All right, pals, we’ve got three weeks. Without you, the Hapax cannot be heard. Thank you, and good luck!
Keeping a Cool Head
I know I typically post towards the end of the week, but I did have a few things I wanted to discuss.
I now have all four of my essays back. Three of the four went as expected, and I was happy. Perhaps I got complacent. Actually, I did get complacent, because the last one absolutely blindsided me.
I passed, but it’s a great deal lower than the marks I usually get, and I’m not pleased. For those who know me well, this is (for once) not a case of my having ridiculously high standards. Trust me, you would not be pleased either.
So: shock, and if I’m being honest, some anger. And as long as I am being completely honest, my first instinct was to snap, to rave, and vent.
But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m taking a second, sober look, and I think that, in this case, the principle of “Pick Your Battles” applies.
This was not the most amazing piece of academic writing I have ever produced. The others weren’t my best either, but they were still better. However… I’m on exchange. Yes, it is called Study Abroad for a reason, but realistically, I’m here just as much for the learning outside the classroom. I can learn history anywhere. There are some things about myself, and about life, that I can only learn in New Zealand. Presumably for this reason, every class I take here is judged at home on a pass/fail basis. As long as I pass, I get the credit, but the mark will never, ever show up on my University of Toronto transcript, and does not factor into my GPA.
So really, it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter. I’m not saying that in a nihilistic way, but rather in a “it is not particularly relevant to my ultimate goals” kind of way. When I’ve cooled off, I’ll see if there’s anything I can learn from the comments, but otherwise, getting upset over a paper that will not affect my GPA or my grad school prospects seems like a waste of energy.
Moreover, it reminds me that the time is coming when I’ll be looking at reviews, which is the other reason why I am choosing to let this go. When I get my first negative review, am I going to rant? No, of course not. I don’t want to be That Person. Again, this is training to Pick Your Battles.
The “good” thing about rejection, bad reviews, and bad essays is that you can usually learn something from them. But if not… then perhaps a bit of perspective helps. One bad review in a heap of good ones loses some of its bite. One bad essay in three years of university looks less like an indictment of my academic skills and more like a bump in the road. And when I think about all the things I’ve done and seen in New Zealand… I know that those experiences are far more valuable to me as a person than one more A would be.
As I mentioned earlier, I do set high standards for myself. I want to do well. I want to write well, and tell good stories, and perform good history. But when things don’t go as I’d hoped… well, then I simply ask for the ability to handle them with grace and dignity.