Category: story

Tuesday – Anything Possible – Short Story

~ John W. Howell ~ 17 Comments

I found this helmet while walking on the beach last week. Like most things, it prompted a story.

2015-04-18 08.35.03

 

Look You There by John W. Howell © 2015

“Hey you there.”

“What do you want?”

“You know hanging off that structure is dangerous?”

“Yeah, but you ought to see the view from up here.’

“Look you there I’m ordering you to come down.”

“So who are you?”

“I’m the platform foreman that’s who. You come down before you fall into the Gulf.”

“I’ve been working drilling rigs for twenty years and never fell once.”

“There’s always the first time.”

“I’m not kidding you I think I can see land from up here.”

“Impossible land is over sixty miles away.”

“Well, one thing is sure.”

“What’s that?”

“If I did fall I could never swim that far.”

“You would never live through the fall. That’s two hundred feet to the water.”

“Yeah, I know. Whoa, it sure is windy up here. There goes my hat.”

“That’ll cost you twenty bucks now get down here.”

“Man that is a long way down. Okay, my hat convinced me. I’m coming down.”

“Watch that first step.”

 

Literary Holiday is as Literary Holiday Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 7 Comments

I was again surfing the net (sigh) looking for Fiction Favorites material and stumbled on to the following blog written by the staff writers at http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog. I thought the blog was the kind of thing that needs to be republished since it was originally put up in July 2010. You can click on the various holidays for more information

IRELAND, COUNTY LIMERICK, 1997 ---LICENSE PLATE
IRELAND, COUNTY LIMERICK, 1997 —LICENSE PLATE (Photo credit: woody1778a)

if you have interest. So here it is and I hope you enjoy.

Eleven Literary Holidays That Every Book Lover Should Know

If you’re a literature lover, you should take every opportunity you can to revel in your love of good books. Luckily, there are a few days or weeks set aside in the year that promote doing just that. Here are some fun and educational holidays that will let you appreciate great works of literature, spend time at your library and even help you create some writing of your own.

  1. Bloomsday, June 16th: This holiday celebrates the life and work of Irish author James Joyce. On this holiday, participants relive the events of his most famous work, Ulysses, which take place on the same day. Bibliophiles will recognize that the holiday is named after the novel’s main character, Leopold Bloom. While you can celebrate at home, the real party takes place in Dublin with pub crawls, cultural activities, readings and a generally good time.
  2. Hemingway Days, Third Week of July: To properly celebrate the beard and books of Hemingway on this week-long holiday, you’ll need to head down to Key West Florida. There, you’ll find everything from Hemingway look-alike contests to rounds of drinks served at Hemingway’s favorite Key West bar, Sloppy Joes. The celebration culminates with a party on Hemingway’s birthday. The celebrations aren’t all in jest, however, as there is a serious literary award, The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition, held as well.
  3. Hobbit Day, September 22nd: If you can’t seem to get enough of Middle Earth, spend this fall day celebrating the book and its author, J.R.R. Tolkien. The date was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of hobbits Biblo and Frodo, and often celebrants mark the day with feasts, going barefoot and general merriment in true hobbit style. Hobbit Day takes place during Tolkien Week, so you can spend the whole week enjoying the author and his works.
  4. Great Poetry Reading Day, April 28th: Are you a poetry fan? Why not take advantage of this spring holiday then, and read some of the world’s best verse out loud. The holiday offers a great chance to hold a poetry reading party, listen to the poetry of others and perhaps write and read your own great works.
  5. Tom Sawyer Fence Painting Day, July 1st- 4th: You don’t have to be in Hannibal, Missouri, hometown of the fictional Tom Sawyer, to appreciate this holiday. The celebration, which takes place during the Fourth of July, offers participants the chance to indulge in frog jumping, Tom and Becky contests, parades, and of course, fence painting. If you can’t make it out to Hannibal, have your own Mark Twain themed party at home.
  6. Clerihew Day, July 10th: A clerihew is a type of four-line verse that is generally biographical, beginning with the subject’s name and is always humorous. You can celebrate this type of poetry, invented and named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley, throughout the day. Write short poems about your friends (or enemies), fictional characters or just about anything to have a few laughs and gain a greater appreciation for writing at the same time.
  7. Winnie the Pooh Day, January 18th: Travel back to your childhood with this holiday that commemorates the honey-obsessed bear and his pals. Observed on the birthday of author A.A. Milne, this holiday invites celebrants to read the classic stories to them or to share them with the next generation of book lovers.
  8. Reading is Fun Week, Fourth Week of April: While this holiday was created to share the love of reading with a child, there’s no reason that adults can’t celebrate it on their own as well. Buy yourself a new book, spend some time alone reading, or promote reading in your local community. However you choose to celebrate, this weeklong holiday is a great chance to geek out on reading.
  9. Dictionary Day, October 16th: Created to honor Noah Webster, best known for his creation of the well-known Webster’s Dictionary, this holiday asks readers to improve their vocabularies and appreciate the importance of the dictionary. Celebrate this holiday by learning a few new works, doing a crossword puzzle or just paging through a dictionary.
  10. Library Week, Second Week of April: Most book lovers couldn’t do without the services of their local library. This week is a chance to celebrate all that libraries do and all that can be learned from the materials they hold. Created by the American Library Association, National Library Week is the perfect time to pay a visit to your library, check out books and hear what others have to say about the value of libraries.
  11.  Limerick Day, May 12th: English writer Edward Lear helped to make the Limerick, a five lines, rhyming poem, popular. This holiday commemorates the often silly or bawdy type of verse he held dear. You can celebrate by creating your own limericks or reading those of others.

Have a great Weekend and don’t be tempted to start your Limerick with: “There once was a man from Nantucket…”

List is as List Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

As you can see I love lists. I stumbled across the Modern Library’s governing board’s list of the greatest books of the twentieth century.  The board members were: Christopher Cerf, Gore Vidal, Daniel J. Boorstin, Shelby Foote, Vartan Gregorian, A.S. Byatt, Edmund Morris, John Richardson, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and William Styron.

This list was put together in 1999 and is ranked from first to last.  There was a lot of controversy when the list was published (Not enough women, too many North American and English authors, and general bias) but it is still a pretty good list for anyone who wants a number of books from which to choose.  I will say no more here it is: BTW you can click on the link and see the New York Times review when the book came out

1.”Ulysses,” James Joyce

2. “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” James Joyce

4. “Lolita,” Vladimir Nabokov

5. “Brave New World,” Aldous Huxley

6. “The Sound and the Fury,” William Faulkner

7. “Catch-22,” Joseph Heller

8. “Darkness at Noon,” Arthur Koestler

9. “Sons and Lovers,” D. H. Lawrence

10. “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck

11. “Under the Volcano,” Malcolm Lowry

12. “The Way of All Flesh,” Samuel Butler

13. “1984,” George Orwell

14. “I, Claudius,” Robert Graves

15. “To the Lighthouse,” Virginia Woolf

16. “An American Tragedy,” Theodore Dreiser

17. “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” Carson McCullers

18. “Slaughterhouse Five,” Kurt Vonnegut

19. “Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison

20. “Native Son,” Richard Wright

21. “Henderson the Rain King,” Saul Bellow

22. “Appointment in Samarra,” John O’ Hara

23. “U.S.A.” (trilogy), John Dos Passos

24. “Winesburg, Ohio,” Sherwood Anderson

25. “A Passage to India,” E. M. Forster

26. “The Wings of the Dove,” Henry James

27. “The Ambassadors,” Henry James

28. “Tender Is the Night,” F. Scott Fitzgerald

29. “The Studs Lonigan Trilogy,” James T. Farrell

30. “The Good Soldier,” Ford Madox Ford

31. “Animal Farm,” George Orwell

32. “The Golden Bowl,” Henry James

33. “Sister Carrie,” Theodore Dreiser

34. “A Handful of Dust,” Evelyn Waugh

35. “As I Lay Dying,” William Faulkner

36. “All the King’s Men,” Robert Penn Warren

37. “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” Thornton Wilder

38. “Howards End,” E. M. Forster

39. “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” James Baldwin

40. “The Heart of the Matter,” Graham Greene

41. “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding

42. “Deliverance,” James Dickey

43. “A Dance to the Music of Time” (series), Anthony Powell

44. “Point Counter Point,” Aldous Huxley

45. “The Sun Also Rises,” Ernest Hemingway

46. “The Secret Agent,” Joseph Conrad

47. “Nostromo,” Joseph Conrad

48. “The Rainbow,” D. H. Lawrence

49. “Women in Love,” D. H. Lawrence

50. “Tropic of Cancer,” Henry Miller

51. “The Naked and the Dead,” Norman Mailer

52. “Portnoy’s Complaint,” Philip Roth

53. “Pale Fire,” Vladimir Nabokov

54. “Light in August,” William Faulkner

55. “On the Road,” Jack Kerouac

56. “The Maltese Falcon,” Dashiell Hammett

57. “Parade’s End,” Ford Madox Ford

58. “The Age of Innocence,” Edith Wharton

59. “Zuleika Dobson,” Max Beerbohm

60. “The Moviegoer,” Walker Percy

61. “Death Comes to the Archbishop,” Willa Cather

62. “From Here to Eternity,” James Jones

63. “The Wapshot Chronicles,” John Cheever

64. “The Catcher in the Rye,” J. D. Salinger

65. “A Clockwork Orange,” Anthony Burgess

66. “Of Human Bondage,” W. Somerset Maugham

67. “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad

68. “Main Street,” Sinclair Lewis

69. “The House of Mirth,” Edith Wharton

70. “The Alexandria Quartet,” Lawrence Durrell

71. “A High Wind in Jamaica,” Richard Hughes

72. “A House for Ms. Biswas,” V. S. Naipaul

73. “The Day of the Locust,” Nathaniel West

74. “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway

75. “Scoop,” Evelyn Waugh

76. “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” Muriel Spark

77. “Finnegans Wake,” James Joyce

78. “Kim,” Rudyard Kipling

79. “A Room With a View,” E. M. Forster

80. “Brideshead Revisited,” Evelyn Waugh

81. “The Adventures of Augie March,” Saul Bellow

82. “Angle of Repose,” Wallace Stegner

83. “A Bend in the River,” V. S. Naipaul

84. “The Death of the Heart,” Elizabeth Bowen

85. “Lord Jim,” Joseph Conrad

86. “Ragtime,” E. L. Doctorow

87. “The Old Wives’ Tale,” Arnold Bennett

88. “The Call of the Wild,” Jack London

89. “Loving,” Henry Green

90. “Midnight’s Children,” Salman Rushdie

91. “Tobacco Road,” Erskine Caldwell

92. “Ironweed,” William Kennedy

93. “The Magus,” John Fowles

94. “Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys

95. “Under the Net,” Iris Murdoch

96. “Sophie’s Choice,” William Styron

97. “The Sheltering Sky,” Paul Bowles

98. “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” James M. Cain

99. “The Ginger Man,” J. P. Donleavy

100. “The Magnificent Ambersons,” Booth Tarkington

Prompt is as Prompt Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 2 Comments

Nostrovia is a fine blog on poetry. Here is the link:  http://wp.me/s2SbOP-357 .  Please feel free to visit; you will like it.

It is also a place where great ideas pop up. This week the idea is a writing prompt around the following: “Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

The idea is to interpret the words in any fashion. I have chosen a flash fiction piece.  Hope you like it.

The Song

The two singer/song writers finish putting the final touches on the last song for their new album due to be recorded day after tomorrow. They have been at it steady for the last thirty-six hours.

“I’m beat. All I want to do is lay down somewhere. Don’t really care where,” Jerry says.

“Yeah mate,” says Brice. “I’m dead on my feet. Coffee doesn’t work.”

“Those final lyrics in the last stanza  are really good.”

“You think?”

“I am really in love with what you did there.”

“Y’know Jerry. I think I love you too.”

“I said I was in love with what you did. I could give a shit about you.”

“Aw come on mate. You know we are a team.”

“I wish we had an opinion of the music before we record. I like it. You like it, but will it sell?”

“Getting someone to listen shouldn’t be too hard. It is about breakfast time. Let’s go down on the street and find someone who will be willing to come up and listen.”

“Who the hell is going to stop their day to listen to music, and while I am at it, who in the hell is going to follow two crazy looking, smelly guys up here to our studio to listen?”

“What if we offer someone some money? Say fifty bucks.”

Brice you are a lunatic, but I don’t have a better idea. Let’s go troll for a listener.”

Jerry and Brice move toward the door and on the way pick up their guitars.  It was Jerry’s idea to take the instruments to add a degree of professionalism to what he is sure to be a crazy sounding scheme. Jerry opens the door to their studio and standing poised to knock on the door is a young girl about eighteen or so. Brice and Jerry look at each other and pass a communication that maybe a trip downstairs might not be necessary.

“Can we help you?” Jerry says.

“My name is Cynthia Simon and I am collecting for the St James School for the hearing impaired.”

“Please come in,” says Brice.

“Oh I am not allowed to come into homes. Only ask for a donation.”

“I understand completely.  Maybe you could help us.”

Cynthia takes a step back. “Help? How?”

Brice and I have written a song and we need to sing and play it for someone to see if they like it or not. You would be perfect since we think the song will appeal to someone your age.”

“Well…I guess it would be okay as long as I stand out here.”

“Great. You stand there and we’ll do the song from here.”

Brice looks at Jerry and gives him the downbeat. They sing their song as if they were auditioning for Carnegie Hall. They never sang it with so much force before. It was magnificent. They finish and look expectantly at Cynthia for her reaction.

“Well,” Cynthia says. “I liked the words but I think the tune was used on a Go Daddy commercial during the Super Bowl.”

Jerry and Brice are dumfounded. They look at each other, then Brice goes to the piano and picks up the music.

“How much did we pay for this?” He is holding the music above his head.

“I don’t know, but I was told it was an original score.”

“Who the hell told you it was original?” Brice is now starting to get red in the face.

“His agent. She told me it was original.”

Brice throws the music back on the piano. “You’re telling me that tone-deaf agent told you the music was original and you bought it?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Did you get a signed release?”

“Um…No.”

“So here we are with a song with great lyrics and according to Cynthia here, a tune that was last assigned to Go Daddy on a Super Bowl commercial. We also have only two days until we record and you tell me we have no legal ground to stand on? “

“Yeah I guess so.”

“This reminds me of people thinking dancers are nuts cause they can’t hear the music. I think we are nuts because we can’t recognize a flipping tune that has been played on the flipping Super Bowl.

“Uh…wait a minute,” Jerry says. He turns to Cynthia. “You said you were collecting for a school for hearing impaired.”

“Yes I am.”

“Why are you doing that? Do you go there?”

“Why yes I do.”

Brice and Jerry smile at Cynthia and then at each other. “Of course you do,” says Brice. He reaches for his wallet.

 

 

 

 

 

Grumpy is as Grumpy Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 8 Comments

More research activity turned up an interesting article at Mental_Floss written by Stacy Conradt titled; 11 Authors Who Hated the Movie Versions of Their Books. I thought it interesting since there are listed some pretty good movies and some surprising reasons why the authors of the original story hated them.  Here is a recap of the article’s substance and you will see what I mean:

Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers loathed the movie’s animated sequences and was perturbed that Mary Poppins’ strict side was downplayed.

The Shining – Stephen King felt the director Stanley Kubrick couldn’t grasp the sheer inhuman evil of The Overlook Hotel. So he looked, instead, for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones.

Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice thought the casting was “so bizarre,” she said, “It’s almost impossible to imagine how it’s going to work.” When she saw the movie, however, she actually loved Cruise’s portrayal and told him what an impressive job he had done. She still hasn’t come around to liking Queen of the Damned, though, telling her Facebook fans to avoid seeing the film that “mutilated” her books.

Forrest Gump – Winston Groom did not like omission of plot points and sanitizing some of the language and sex.  He also felt he was not paid what he was owed.  He started the Gump sequel with the lines, “Don’t never let nobody make a movie of your life’s story,” and “Whether they get it right or wrong, it don’t matter.”

Sahara – Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt tales have a cult following. Dirk Pitt movies don’t, especially Sahara which was a certified flop: the $145 million production made just $68 million at the box office. Cussler said it was because the producer failed to give him total script control as agreed upon and sued for $38 million. He lost. In fact, Cussler was ordered to pay $13.9 million for legal fees incurred by the Sahara production company. Though that order was overturned in 2010, it’s safe to say that Cussler probably won’t be pursuing that relationship again.

Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger consented to have his short story Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut made into a movie retitled My Foolish Heart. He was so mortified by the swooning love story that he swore his works would never be butchered again and there has not been a movie made of Catcher in the Rye.

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess disliked the movie based on his novella A Clockwork Orange, he later regretted writing any of it in the first place. “The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate: written a quarter of a century ago, a jeu d’esprit knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence. The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation.”

The Informers – Bret Easton Ellis says, “That movie doesn’t work for a lot reasons but I don’t think any of those reasons are my fault.”

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl felt the movie version of his book was “crummy,” found Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka to be “pretentious” and “bouncy,” and thought the director had “no talent or flair.” He vowed that film producers would never get their hands on the sequel to similarly ruin it, at least not in his lifetime.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey was not impressed. He was originally slated to help with the production, but left two weeks into the process. Though he claimed for a long time that he didn’t even watch it and was especially upset that they didn’t keep the viewpoint of Chief Bromden, his wife later said that he was glad the movie was made.

 I Am Legend – Richard Matheson has been annoyed with the adaptations of his book since 1964. The first one, The Last Man on Earth, starred Vincent Price. “I was disappointed in The Last Man on Earth, even though they more or less followed my story. I think Vincent Price, whom I love in every one of his pictures that I wrote, was miscast. I also felt the direction was kind of poor.” Another version, The Omega Man, starred Charlton Heston. “The Omega Man was so removed from my book that it didn’t even bother me,” Matheson said. And when I Am Legend starring Will Smith was announced, the author commented, “I don’t know why Hollywood is fascinated by my book when they never care to film it as I wrote it.” The most recent adaptation, by the way, completely changed Matheson’s ending because it didn’t test well with audiences.



Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31001/11-authors-who-hated-movie-versions-their-books#ixzz2JfpV9NrF
–brought to you by mental_floss!