matrixrefugee: the word 'refugee' in electric green with a background of green matrix code (Mervyn Peake)
[personal profile] matrixrefugee
Lo and behold, a post that is not a signal boost or fanfic, though there will be discussions thereof.

Have been busy with errands or RP tagging or reading. I've ordered a number of books (used) from Amazon, including several of Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow's modern faery tale anthologies, Sarah Monette's "Doctrine of Labyrinth" novels (aka Felix and Mildmay's canon, to the [livejournal.com profile] carpe_ho_ras folk), and two very different biographies of Mervyn Peake (that's him in the icon, if you wondered who the gent up a tree was) and an anthology of several bits and bobs of poetry and short stories by him, entitled "Peake's Progress". This year being the centennial of his birth, I felt it was in good form to bone up on this fellow whose writings and art I admire.

I'm finding that Peake was every bit as eccentric and gleefully odd as some of the characters he created and it's been a delight discovering the man behind the Bricks, as [livejournal.com profile] tomboy_typist and I affectionately call his magnum opus (which is getting a canon update in June, since the long-lost "Titus Awake" is going to be released then: I have that on order as an early birthday present for meself). He's also someone I'm coming to admire with little disappointment. A lot is made of his tragic illness, but that mostly seems to be played up since he seems to have had very few of the unpleasant skeletons in the closet which some writers seem to have had. This can get irritating, since it seems a lot of critics let that overshadow the rest of his life, but I'm refreshed to find that his death was balanced by a life full of wonder and eccentric happenings (including nearly getting bitten by a camel when he was eleven, which incited him ever afterward, to make jokes about camels to lighten a mood) and an incredible level of productivity. This guy, it seemed, lived with pencil and paper in hand, sketching and doodling and drawing as much as he could. In many ways, he reminds me of myself...

Work today: I was anticipating having jury duty, as I'd gotten my summons back in January, but after calling in to find out if I was needed, I found that I wasn't. They were looking for Badge Numbers 1 through 91, and since I was Number 153 or 159, I didn't have to go in.

I've been poking at the Hurt/Comfort fics that I owe people, but I have to admit that while the fount hasn't dried up, I just haven't had the energy to post them. Add to this, I've got the deadline for [livejournal.com profile] love_bingo and I took up the [livejournal.com profile] help_japan auction as well. The fics will be written, it's just taking some time for it to happen. That and I got stuck coming up with ideas for my last two squares for [livejournal.com profile] love_bingo: for the life of me, I'm staring at two prompts, trying to match them to fandoms and characters, and those prompts would be:

"When I fall in love" and

"heavenly love".


Any thoughts? I'm open to any ideas now.

To say nothing of being worried for a penfriend of my mother's, in Japan, who lives in the Sendai region. We've been trying to locate her via the people finder that Google has set up, but she's come up as "unspecified", which could mean anything. This wouldn't be the first time that she's lost a penfriend in a natural disaster. She lost contact with a penfriend whose husband was a medical missionary working in Sri Lanka, during the tsunami there a few years back.

Huh?

Date: 2011-03-17 11:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] noizchild.livejournal.com
Last two squares? You're that ahead of me? Last time I checked we both had six squares in love bingo.

Ref on another account...

Date: 2011-03-18 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 77th-earl.livejournal.com
I've got several more fics in various stages of writing, beyond the six that I completed and posted. Some I started writing, some are still in the idea stage. But I'm stuck as to what to write about, for those last two squares.

Re: Ref on another account...

Date: 2011-03-18 01:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] noizchild.livejournal.com
Oh okay. How many accounts do you have on here?

Re: Ref on another account...

Date: 2011-03-18 01:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] matrixrefugee.livejournal.com
Including RP accounts? Ahhhh...about twenty. ::laughs::

Re: Ref on another account...

Date: 2011-03-18 01:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] matrixrefugee.livejournal.com
Yeeeeah, I got quite a few characters that I RP, used to RP, or am planning to RP.

Date: 2011-03-18 02:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyneferankh.livejournal.com
* hugs * I am so sorry about your Mom's friend :( I will be praying! (Ooh--that reminds me, I ought to tell you here since LJ notifications seem slow lately, but I left you a comment over at your thread at [livejournal.com profile] help_japan! )

Oh--I've heard of Mervyn Peake but have never read his stuff, I shall make a point of doing so by his centennial though! ;)

Ref on an roleplay character's account...

Date: 2011-03-18 03:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 77th-earl.livejournal.com
And he just so happens to be a character that Peake created.

If you can find it, I can't more highly recommend his "Gormenghast" books (the long-lost fourth book of which is going to be published this summer). They can be a bit of a haul to get through, since he has this very dense prose style: it's like the verbal answer to fruitcake, and just as delicious once you get accustomed to it. It's like a fantasy of manners or a faery tale gone wrong in a good way. I'm currently reading some of his poetry, which is just as wordy and intricate and full of loopy but lovely metaphors.

Thanks for tossing me that link: I somehow missed the notif, and I've noticed notifs have been a bit spotty lately. I've got an idea for an Inception fic, and I'm tosing around something for an "A.I." fic. I should have something up by this weekend if things work out...

Date: 2011-03-18 07:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veilofveronica.livejournal.com
((hugs)) I'm sorry to hear about your mom's penfriend. I hope they locate her safe and sound. She's in my prayers.

Date: 2011-03-18 08:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] matrixrefugee.livejournal.com
:: Hugs back:: Thanks for your prayers and your concern: this means a lot to my mom and I.

And mmm! That shamrock cookie looks delicious!

Date: 2011-03-20 03:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veilofveronica.livejournal.com
hehehe...I had three just like it at my future mother-in-laws..they were SO delicious!
(my fiance is part Irish, one of his Grandma's is direct from Belfast!)

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