Smekday, the Cocteau Twins, and Repentance

Today I want to direct your attention to my latest book review over on my Shelfari to your left. Just hover over the book and see my review. I read the YA Sci-Fi tale called The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. It's a pleasant read and a tad silly, but when I read these kinds of books I always find myself thinking that I could write this if I wanted to.

Also, I've added a gadget from Playlist.com at the very bottom of my blog page. I decided for now to forgo the automatic startup of the music because I think it's a bit annoying when I open a blog and someone else's idea of good music infiltrates my ears, but if you want to open yourself up to one of the loveliest sounds on earth, scroll down and click play to consider Elizabeth Fraser's divine voice with some tunes from the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil. You're welcome.

Lastly, I've posted a new piece of fiction on my author site brentwescott.com. It's a story I originally wrote and published when I was in college. Just a small, college literary mag called Entropy, but published is published. I recently revised and updated it a bit, so go here if you'd like to read "Repentance." I welcome feedback. Feel free to pick it apart or just tell me how brilliant I am.

Comments

  1. ChanelMay 22, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    I want a widget that plays some of my favorite songs...

    That is so cool! How do you find these things? First you did the Shelfari, and now you have Hear This. You are officially cool.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bryan WhiteMay 22, 2011 at 5:55 PM

    I 2nd what Chanel said. I like the idea of a music widget, but I agree that it's annoying when they play automatically. I wonder if you could imbed certain tracks in certain posts. Hmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brent WescottMay 22, 2011 at 8:58 PM

    Chanel and Bryan: I just click on links like "create your own" and follow the directions. If it were any more complicated, I wouldn't know how to do it.

    So you too can click on the "create your free playlist" or just go to playlist.com for your own widget, but only if you promise not to foist any music on anyone by keeping it on auto.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wifey MayMay 22, 2011 at 9:51 PM

    Here I thought you were going to poke more fun at those who predicted the Rapture for the weekend. Talk about misleading titles.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brent WescottMay 22, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    I suppose two of the three topics for the day could be somehow related to the Rapture. I guess I've had Rapture on the brain.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JustRexMay 23, 2011 at 4:28 AM

    The "Smekday" book sounds interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for that one. And your facility with the widgets makes me feel like a Luddite. I liked the story but it felt like a fragment. There was no lead-in and no firm conclusion, if you get my drift. It was good, but left too many questions unanswered. Unless of course, that's what you were going for.

    ReplyDelete
  7. JustRexMay 23, 2011 at 4:29 AM

    And P.S. Thank you for letting me choose my own version of listening pleasure. Sites with automatic music get clicked off of quickly in my realm.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 6:06 AM

    Books that don't live up to their potential irritate me. Why tease me with a premise and then not fully explore it?

    However, any book which features a protagonist named "Gratuity" and nicknamed "Tip" seems to deserve my attention.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brent WescottMay 23, 2011 at 9:19 AM

    darev: Thanks for reading the story. You're right about the fragment thing. I did intend for it to be just a snippet of life, but there's not much character development or at least not much backstory to give them any rhyme or reason.

    Doug: Some books have pacing problems. It's like the author gets bored with what he's doing and wants to write about something else. Have you read Hunger Games? The last part of the last book, Mockingjay, is like that. It's almost as if the author just decided she was done and had to wrap everything up in just a few pages. Annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Charlie PulsipherMay 23, 2011 at 12:36 PM

    Annoying, yes, but I understand the desire to just be done lately.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

11 Reasons to Read My Blog. You Won't Believe What Happens Next!

The interwebs sure have changed since I started blogging three and a half years ago. As I attempt to rebuild Building Castles on the Beach after basically bypassing 2013 and the first half of 2014, I notice that many of the sites I read and enjoyed before when I was a full tilt blogger haven't posted anything for months or even years, or have even discontinued their blogs altogether. A recent culling of the blogs I officially follow has shown that at least two of my formerly favorite websites have been co-opted by porn. These are blogs I had direct links to in the margins of my own posts. I would be embarrassed if I thought anyone was actually visiting my own site during the time those links would have been active. The other major difference is the kind of writing that seems to get read on the interwebs. I'm reminded of the commotion in the 90's about the popularity of the "newspaper" (look it up, kids!) called USA Today . It was frequently criticized due to th
Read more

Talent Is a Ticket to Nowhere (Guest Post)

Image
My husband, Brent, has been preoccupied lately with the successes of a few (very few) writers who have self-published their novels. There is a feeling that by self-publishing they’ve somehow subverted the talent-driven system of agents and publishers. To that, I snort though my nose and cry “Hah!” (Blog owner's note: My wife says I've been preoccupied, but apparently she's been preoccupied herself since rewatching the entire season of Smash already this summer. I've offered her the platform of this blog to get some things off her chest.) I don’t believe in the talent-driven system. As far as I’m concerned it’s a myth that we share with others to promote hard work and persistence – it’s the Santa Claus of the creative world. Cute braids require long hair, not a mullet. I lost my faith in this particular Santa Claus when I was 7-years-old and I auditioned for a part in a community production of the Sound of Music . I loved that show. I knew all the songs. I
Read more

A PhD Can Still Be an Idiot (Guest Post)

Image
(Apparently my wife has a lot on her mind lately. This is the second guest post from her in less than a month. I'm happy to let her speak her mind here, of course, but you all should let her know in the comments if you'd follow her sage wisdom to a blog of her own.) It's about rebirth and second chances, right? I got my Master’s Degree from the University of Phoenix. To those of you out of touch with the world of for-profit academia, the University of Phoenix is not located in Phoenix. Or more precisely, it’s not only located in Phoenix. They have “branches” all over the place. (At this point they’re more ubiquitous than Starbucks.) But I digress. I freely confess that I enrolled in the University of Phoenix for the meanest of reasons. First, they didn’t require that I pass any annoying graduate entrance exams, obtain letters of recommendation, or write an essay extolling the virtues of their program and my fitness for it. Second, I was aware that they would make
Read more