Things to Notice

Yesterday's Gibberish: I'm going to be playing around with some different coloring styles. While I've liked what I've had going on for the past while now, half the reason I started this thing was to experiment with my art. So, I'm doing just that. I plan on some more limited palette ones such as yesterday's. From there, who knows? Possibly some solid colors with colored lines, sharp angles and whatnot. I just keep seeing all these great artists out in the world and feel inspired to try new things.

Changes: Once I figure out this whole podcasting/recording thing, I plan on replacing Gibberish with beautiful pieces of writing (of course Gibberish will still run on its site, so don't worry; it is not stopping). I'll basically be taking a snippet of something, a paragraph or two of what I consider to be gorgeous writing. I'll tell you right now, there will be a lot of David Almond and Ray Bradbury up there. I think all of us, as writers and readers, need to appreciate the sound of the written word--and not simply in poetry either. Prose should sing. Prose should move with the rhythms of love, anger, sadness, and hope. Words are instruments, and I for one love their sound.

My "beard": There will be new pictures on Friday.

More Reading Recommendations

As I did last week, I wanted to take some time out to plug one of my latest reads, Dracula by Bram Stoker. Probably all of you have heard of this book, many have seen Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation, if not the original one starring Bela Legosi, but how many of you have read this thing?

Honestly, I always hesitated over this one, fearing that it would be rather boring--as some of these older stories can often be. This was mainly due to the fact that the book is a rather large one by today's standards--and considering even some of the more recent novels have gotten a few yawns out of me...

I finally broke down the other day and started this thing, and I'm not disappointed in the least. In fact, it is much better than I ever thought it would be. Stoker's sense of atmosphere--especially in the first few chapters--is simply amazing. And the book clips along at a brisk pace, too. As with any book, it drags in places, but overall, I've been thoroughly entertained, and much of this fact is due to Stoker's writing. He really is a gifted author, building his world and suspense, and doing so by having narrator's with different voices--something Ms. Shelly should've learned before writing her Frankenstein.

While I doubt this book is for everyone, if any of you others have been on the fence about reading this, go ahead, take the plunge. It's more than worth your time.

(The above illustration comes from Ben Templesmith.)