To Read & To Write

I don't know how well Shard Cinema (2017) will age compared to Williams' previous two books ( Roman Letters and Combined and Uneven Apocalypse ). However, I do think the theory he provides his readers concerning the contemporary cinematic experience is vital to new interpretations of a world that has become increasingly difficult to conceive of visually. In essence, he writes of a purely visual representation of a kind of momentary halting of time that allows for the movement of abstractions rather than the movement of actual objects; a coming into view of that which has been broken, fractured, severed, and ultimately, shattered. Most of the films he cites are blockbusters that had/have the monetary heft to show their audiences a kind of shattered imaging (it takes a whole lot of money to digitally produce the effect). Interestingly, it seems Williams understands these moments of gradual breakdown - the shift of perspective from "landscape" (or cityscape, etc.) to ...

"He knew what evil lay upon this land. It was in the sun-symbols on the nurse's apron, in that stupid woman's terror, in the fey, feral eyes of Pyotr's elder daughter. The place was infested with demons: the chyerti of the old religion. These foolish, wild people worshipped God by day and the old gods in secret; they tried to walk both paths at once and made themselves base in the sight of the Father. No wonder evil had to come to work its mischief." (p. 113) This passage, found one third a way into Katherine Arden's  The Bear and the Nightingale  (2017), tells of Konstantin, a monk from Moscow, visiting a small village on the outskirts of the kingdom. Konstantin believes he has a mission, a "duty", to save the village people from pagan beliefs and folkloric tradition, but, as the story goes, the collision of God and duty alongside enchantment and magic just make the sum of all parts a more potent whole. Though this story is set in Russia at...

I could not finish this one (I read 133 pages of 248). I think it's more a matter of writing style than anything else, not subject matter. Though the stories were creative, they didn't give me pause. Also, the irony within the text was a bit too direct for my taste.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Beren and Luthien”, published for the first time as a standalone novel by his son, Christopher Tolkien, last year (2017), is a romantic fairy-tale and fantasy story about the love and journey between a mortal man – Beren - and an Elfin maiden – Luthien. The tale is included in Christopher Tolkien’s edition of his father’s other work, “The Silmarillion”, but is, in this publication, told in full detail, with most of J.R.R. Tolkien’s editions, revisions, embellishments and subtractions included. Reading this publication is like listening to the same piece of music over and over again. Though it is the same song being played, each time it is played the song sounds quite different, with each unique articulation changing the mood, tone, and pace of its story, allowing the listener, or here, the reader, to pay attention to the intricate details, from which an infinite amount of meanings and renderings can be produced. “Beren and Luthien” was notably written a year after...

Natalie C. Andersen’s debut novel, “City Of Saints & Thieves”, chronicles the life of a young orphan girl, Christina, who must become a Goonda – a member of a thieving and violent gang in Africa's Congo – in order to survive. She knows next to nothing about her past, and her present is full of vengeance and hatred for a man she believes killed her mother, Mr. Greyhill, one of the richest men in town. “City Of Saints & Thieves” is written like a diary. Christina struggles to come to terms with her past, but how can she when it’s a big huge blur of events both terrible and good? The honesty in this book is wonderful, but there wasn’t as much internal dialogue as there should’ve been for someone going through a childhood full of brutality. Christina, or “Tiny”, as the Goondas call her, has one thing on her mind – seeking revenge, by means of murder, for her mother’s death. It would’ve been a more riveting read if there was more reflection on the mental and emotional instab...