Neil Gaiman

Raise your hand if you have ever read Neil Gaiman. I hope there are at least a couple of you out there. Don't recognize the author? That's ok. I'm talking about Neverwhere, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Stardust,  Anansi Boys. Sound a little more familiar? I hope so. If they're not stick around for a bit. If they are, do stay.
Now the reason I picked those particular Neil Gaiman books is because they are the ones I have read. I try not to form too strong an opinion on something I don't know but for this I am fairly convinced. Neil Gaiman doesn't know how to write stories involving Gods. Let's start with Exhibit A, American Gods. The story had potential. It opens with potential living dead, creepy hallucinations, and adorable pet names. A BA ex con whose dead woman used to call him puppy, I think it's darling. However that's about as far as the characterization of the guy went. The story itself was dull and I found I kept reading just because it was a Neil Gaiman book and I kept telling myself if had to get better. The characters felt flat to me. The plot not 100% thought through. And to avoid spoilers, let's just say I was overall disappointed. 
That was Ok though. I had Neverwhere to keep me company for many rereads or if I wanted something a little more chipper I had Stardust. Then I managed to get a copy of the Anansi Boys. It was a book about a man called Fat Charlie Nancy who has no ambitions and no real merit in the world. He is an accountant and he is due to unenthusiastically be married. Then his father dies and at the funeral he discovers that he is the son of a spider god and he doesn't have powers because his brother has them all. If he ever wants to talk to his brother he just has to ask a spider to invite him. Once again this book gets off to a great start and it took me a little bit to think back to American Gods and make the connection that this was a spin off tale. That is probably why I didn't enjoy it and found the same flaws in it.
So once more disappointed with a Gaiman book I set my sights on The Graveyard Book. It was written for children I believe but had quite a fascinating story of the life of a little boy. This little boy's parents are murdered when he is just three years old and he waddles into a graveyard exploring/escaping from the murderer. It is in the graveyard the the inhabitants find him and protect him. The story follows the next twelve years of his life and what he goes through and all he learns being raised in a graveyard. I found it to be a darling story that kept me entertained all throughout. It was paced nicely and while it was a bit heavy on foreshadowing to the point of prediction, it was quite an enjoyable read that I would recommend. 
Now being in a couple of fiction courses, I have quite an extensive lot to read for class and it's not leaving me much time to read on my own. However the list is quite a varied selection of short stories and perhaps I will share my opinions of them with you in a little bit. I have my own works of fiction to create right now as well as papers to be done and a reading list to hack away at so I am capable of discussing things in class. 
So Corset is going to cross her fingers and try and find time to finish reading Charles DeLint The Onion Girl. Unfortunately it won't be today.
With Laundry calling her name,
Corset signing off.

NaNoWriMo

Oh my shame in having forgotten NaNoWriMo.
Otherwise known as the National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write approx 50,000 words (about 175 page novel) in one month, both starting and ending at midnight and it runs the duration of November. You can track your goal via the official site and I believe there is even prizes available to be won. At nanowrimo.org you can also sign on to forums for support and meet fellow writers which I think is a nice concept. Especially when you have a bad case of the block and couldn't form a coherent sentence to save your life, that's a good day to have a support forum. Now a few things to note, when you submit your work to the word count it just about automatically gets deleted. They also have a system set up to scramble your work so there is no fear of thievery. Also to be eligible for the prizes, you have to meet the 50,000 word mark. 

The rules state that, to be an official NaNoWriMo winner, you must…

• Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
• Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
• Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
• Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
• Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
• Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

 See? Doesn't that sound easy? So why don't you head on over and see what kind of adventure NaNoWriMo can take you on.