For a very long time I had believed (I have believed?) that there was some intrinsic value to language used well. An idea expressed clearly and well seemed more believable or persuasive or true or than one half-formed or blurted out incoherently. But this assumption of mine is only an assumption. It hasn’t been subject to cross-examination or logical analysis. I realize now that I’ve not tested it. (more…)
The first in a series of explanations of idioms, classical allusions, or literary-sounding stuff that ought to make sense from context but doesn’t.
What does it mean to wonder if one can ‘bend the bow of Ulysses?’
-A
An excellent question, A. Ulysses, from the story of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was supposed to be the butt-kicking philosopher king of Ithaca. Ithaca being one of those little city-states in ancient Greece, and not the nifty town in upstate New York. He went on an extended road trip with a bunch of other kings, noblemen and magical-mass-murderers around the Mediterranean to fight in the Trojan war. On the way back, though, Ulysses was cursed, and it wound up taking him some 20 years to get home. So while he and his crew were out supposedly fighting giants and cyclopes and being held as love slaves by beautiful women, as one so frequently did in ancient times, his wife Penelope was left to hold down the royal household by herself. (more…)
I’ve read rather a lot of short fiction lately. Three collections from individual authors and three anthologies from small presses in the UK. Given that I’m going to appear in one of those collections from a small press later this year, I ought to admit some self-interest in this field.
That aside, I’m a bit surprised at how variable the level of quality in anthologies can be. Is it that the sheer amount of effort required to go through umpteen stacks of submitted stories and then to chose those that most accurately represent, uh… well, sometimes I have no idea why some stories are selected for some anthologies. The notions of what marks one thing as being high quality and others as not good enough are more complex than I want to consider messing with here.
But just because a story is short doesn’t mean it can’t be good. If a meal doesn’t include soup, salad, three courses, dessert and coffee does that mean it’s okay to serve food that is old, flavorless or just leaves a bad taste in your mouth? What I’m trying to say is this: please do the short things well, too. Check the spelling and the grammar, make sure quotation marks are used consistently, and make an honest effort to take out the clichés.
Having said that, I suppose I should tighten up my own efforts too. Back to work, then.