There was a time when a man's library meant something more than just a collection of books. One's library was a reflection of the individual's interests and , by extension, a sort of glimpse into the inner workings of that person. As such, many people would place bookplates on either the inside cover or facing page of works they'd acquired.
One of my guilty pleasures has always been prowling dusty old bookstores, looking for the rare gem that may be lost among the mountainous volumes that such places attract. I loved to pick up a book that had been affixed with bookplates, or signed by their previous owners. Even better is to find a book with underlines, highlighted passages, or, better still, annotated in the margins by someone studious.
These books, once lovingly cherished, or part and parcel to their lifeswork stand as a sort of archaeological record, leading the peruser into a fascinating interaction across time with the person who had once taken the time to place their mark on a book.
Yes, I know, it is rather odd, but we all must have our fancies that set us apart, no? The next time you're in a used bookstore or antique shop, have a look at the book selections and make note of those that have been inscribed, or somehow otherwise personalized. Now wonder for a moment just what that person may have been thinking when the underlined that passage in the well-worn Hawthorne, or when the made notations beside the poetry of Lord Byron...
Archaeologist Stumbles on 2,000-year-old Mayan Mural
Archaeologists have dug up the oldest known Mayan painting inside a ruined pyramid deep inside a Guatemalan jungle. Dated at around 100BC, the paint-on-plaster mural depicts the Mayas' creation myth with an elegance and finesse suggesting the civilization developed much earlier than previously accepted.
"It was like discovering the Sistine chapel if you didn't know there had been a Renaissance - like knowing only modern art and then stumbling on the finger of God touching the hand of Adam," William Saturno, the archaeologist who found the ancient masterpiece, told a press conference.
Mr Saturno, of the University of New Hampshire in the US, stumbled across the mural in the remote site of San Bartolo in 2001 while trekking through the jungle looking for another set of ruins. Exhausted, he says, he almost fell into a looters' tunnel in his search for shade and then looked up to find the figure of the great Corn God peaking out from the dirt on the wall above him.
Remarkably preserved for more than2,000 years by the cool underground temperatures, the oranges and yellows, reds, greys, grey-blues and flesh tones remain clear. Now uncovered in all its splendor, the painting will feature in next month's National Geographic magazine.
The main nine-meter (30ft) wall of the mural shows the son of the Corn God creating the Mayan mythical and physical world. In one scene he offers up a fish and establishes the watery underworld, in another he sacrifices a deer and creates the earth. In a third he floats in the air holding out a turkey to make the sky, while in a fourth he is surrounded by the blooming flowers of paradise. Other sections depict the Corn God's birth, death and resurrection, and establish the principle of divine kingship with the Corn God crowning himself, and the first human king claiming his earthly crown from the surrounding deities.
"It's the equivalent for the Maya of the Biblical account of Genesis, but it's more than that because it provides a link between the gods of creation and the Maya kings," archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli of Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the find, told the Los Angeles Times.
Mr Saturno said he guessed the chamber may have functioned as a rehearsal room where Mayan kings could learn the mythology for public ceremonies. The discovery nearby of a royal burial site dated to 150BC fuels the idea that Maya civilization evolved much earlier.
Yesterday I felt weary, weighted down by inner demons and insecurities that I'm unaccustomed to dealing with. This morning, they're still there, hungrily licking their lips and considering making me their meal. I need to lock myself away, somewhere where I can lose myself for a time and wrestle the beast within. A war of wills, perhaps... on a battlefield of vellum, weilding dark magick hammered out in a cacaphonous spellchant on an infernal keyboard.
Is that what I've succumbed to, a creative debt paid for by an inner depression? Is that the fire that fuels my passion? The muse that lurks in the shadowed recesses?
Last night, another millenium of words spilled out, Ashes to Ashes drawing ever closer to completion. Decidedly not horrific in the slightest, there is certainly a healthy dose of the supernatural within the story. I am elevated for that short while by the clickity clack as my fingers dance across the keys in a near trance-like state, but what is that sound behind me? The rap-tap-tapping at my chamber door?
It's the weight.
That damnable, oppressive weight.
Do we write in a furious output of words that we might construct a palisade between ourselves and that feral creature that's come sniffing about? When Morpheus calls and we heed his whispers, the gates are opened and the beast without and the beast within fall upon one another, locking their fanged maws on the throat of their discontent.
What can break this malefic curse and allow a sliver of redemption in through the darkness gathered?
A softly spoken spell, but a whisper in a sea of madness.
"Daddy... I love you." And sometimes, even that is denied.
A major archaeological investigation is getting under way at one of Western Europe's most impressive prehistoric sites.
The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney is the third largest stone circle in the British Isles, but little is known about it.
A month-long programme of investigations will be undertaken by a 15-strong team.
The last important archaeological studies took place there in the 1970s.
Significant developments have taken place since then in analytical techniques including dating.
Historic Scotland said very little was actually known about the site, including its exact age and purpose.
A scheduled ancient monument, the stone circle and henge of the Ring of Brodgar is part of 'The Heart of Neolithic Orkney' World Heritage Site, inscribed by UNESCO in 1999.
The project will involve the re-excavation and extension of trenches dug in 1973. Geophysical surveys will also be undertaken to investigate the location of standing stones.
Dr Jane Downes of the Archaeology Department, Orkney College, UHI, and Dr Colin Richards of the University of Manchester are the project directors.
Dr Downes said: "Because so little is known about the Ring of Brodgar, a series of assumptions have taken the place of archaeological data.
"The interpretation of what is arguably the most spectacular stone circle in Scotland is therefore incomplete and unclear."
Dr Richards added: "At present, even the number of stones in the original circle is uncertain.
"The position of at least 40 can be identified but there are spaces for 20 more."
The project is being partly-funded by Historic Scotland.
The Ring of Brodgar is situated on a low-lying piece of land, separating the lochs of Harray and Stenness.
Other features in the area include the Stones of Stenness, a much smaller stone circle set within an enclosing ditch, Maeshowe, a Neolithic chambered cairn and a number of standing stones.
Unlike the Ring of Brodgar, most of the other monuments within this group have been examined by modern digs.
This latest dig also includes archaeologists and scientists from Stirling University and the Scottish Universities Environment Reactor Centre.
Well, Ashes to Ashes is really humming now as I've passed the 2000 word mark. I'd say that it's near half finished or so. We'll see. Writing organically, you're never quite sure when a story might decide to veer left. I just try to hang on for as long as the ride lasts. My goal is to have it wrapped up by Wednesday evening, proofread it on Thursday, then send it off to my first readers for the weekend. I'd like to have it sent in by no later than the 18th of next week, so I believe I have plenty of time. Of course, if I hadn't had so much trouble getting the damn thing going, time wouldn't even be a factor.
On the homefront, Connor, in his ever increasing desire for a sibling, said to my wife and I last night, "I'm going to go stand in the hallway and give you both some privacy so you can rub your bellies together and make me a brother." Of course, with his little boy accent, it sounds more like brudder... Kim and I laughed until it hurt.
I was right. I'll wait a moment for you to recover from the shock of it. Feel better? Well, Ashes to Ashes, that little story I'm cooking up for Haunted Legends found its legs and I'm 1100 words into it and I look to make a huge leap forward on it tonight after the wifey gets home and takes over on Connor-wrangling duties... Damn, it's a fun tale and introduces Landon Connors to the world. Can hardly wait to go back and play with it.
Today, while the Harry Potter marathon plays out in the background (and while Connor watches it and plays what he's calling his Harry Spiderwick Potter Musical 2: The Return of the Wicked Willow in 3D) I've managed to do a spot of research, update the IHW Members page, and dance around answering important emails.
Oh, and I got paid for some artwork, I bought toys on ebay for the kid, and have made plans to snag a X-Box for my little man.
I've also been giving some thought toward the wife and I bringing another child into the world as it seems to be a pressing need of Connor's. He said to me today, "Daddy, it's hot and I need a brother to play with so when mommy gets home can she pee on a stick and grow a baby in her belly."
Yes, I laughed.
Hard.
I asked him, if he had a brother what would he want us to name him. He answered, "Conquer. And I promise that I would hold him, and hug him, and love him very, very much."
If you'd have been here, you just might have seen a grown man cry...
Anyone have any television shows that they were really into only to have them die a premature death? Top billing for me in that catagory would be Shaun Cassidy's American Gothic.
A great show that was never really given a chance to find its legs... The acting was superb, the effects even more so, but for me, it was the writing. Rarely has a show been so evocative, so filled with atmosphere and down right creepiness. If you get a chance to track it down on DVD, do yourself a favor and enjoy.
It's Independence Day. No time for fretting over the state of the union or of the world, for that matter. Hey, Gandalf... bring on the fireworks, old friend.
Let's blow something up :) HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!
As followers of this blog are readily aware, I've been working on an open call submission for Tor's Haunted Legends anthology, helmed, no less, by the equally legendary Ellen Datlow and the always entertaining (and painfully brilliant) Nick Mamatas.
To be blunt, it's been kicking my ass. I am, quite frankly, overthinking the project and putting far too much pressure on myself. And I don't know why, though I suspect it may have as much to do with the current medications I'm taking as with the stature of the project.
Well, I shucked it last night. Not my desire to climb into this particular table of contents, just with the story I was writng for it. That's the second one I've tossed since wrestling with this particular beastie . So you'd think I'd be despondent, but no, not me. I'm always eager to try for the brass ring. If something tries to beat me down, well I can be a tenacious sum'bitch, to say the least.
In fact, what inspired me to delete my latest foray into the Haunted Legends landscape was the birth of another story idea, and no, not the story I've been hinting about that has been pulling at me. This one is altogether different and more than fitting for Haunted Legends. And, luckily for me, it has chased the mystery tale back into the corner and has captured my muse's attention.
To quote George Castanza, "I'm back baby!"
So today I need to pore over some old newspaper articles that have luckily been archived online and collect some particularily arcane research material to complement items in my extensive occult library... Oh yummy, this is always the fun part... It's like eating dessert before the main course. Of course, my main course is usually a slab of meat, freshly killed and cooked rare so it's nice and bloody.
Damn, is it lunchtime yet?
In summation, I'm back in the game and "Ashes to Ashes" will be born once the sun sets and the moon rises over the town of Converse. Something wicked this way comes, if I'm any judge of character.
