A good question, let us consider it carefully. She took tea with the witch onceuponatime and discussed it on tiptoe. The witch speaks in well-reasoned tufts of nothingness, on this subject as all others. Candy-floss and quick suppression of suspiration define the meat of her discourse. So the conversation was like that, set to the rhythm of the spoons against the cupsandsaucers.

The witch does not understand what a woman is, what a man is, what a person is. She can only make them with words.

That is why we take tea with the witch in cautious charity.

êšeṯ ḥayil mî yimṣā

Surely, a worthy query! In the shade of the swamp at last she put it to the little prophet, and to her surprise got no answer. The prophet ran dirty hands through short-cropped hair and took out a cigarette but didn’t quite manage to light it. The prophet hissed through the nose and kicked at the moss. The prophet shrugged.

“I thought the words were out here, I’m asking you for a word,” she said. “Give me the word.”

“If I knew that one I’d go straight to Heaven,” said the prophet. “What do you think keeps me from the mountaintop?”

A crow lifted from the treetops with an uneasy croak.

אֵֽשֶׁת־  חַ֭יִל  מִ֣י  יִמְצָ֑א

What a question that is! Don’t ask the boy with the angel face, all he knows is dancing, all he’s ever known are tomcats and dogfoxes. My little Irish, my little syncretist, you cut-rate Aquinas you. He’s hand-in-glove with the king of jacks these days, the little liar and the big one, that dark paw enfolding that pale hand. You’d have to unlace their fingers before you got a straight answer out of him. Even then it wouldn’t be worth much.

He and the prophet were always closer than they looked; you revile most the thing that fits most neatly into the velvety pouch of your heart.

a woman of valor, who can find?

Sometimes, small gestures tell you what you need to know.

(also, boy howdy do I ever love the color yellow)

Fooling around with the use of an underpainting. I learned a lot from this one. The “Delight’s Children” thing is a phrase that crops up periodically when I’m writing about clairvoyant stuff. I can’t decide if it’s just weirdery, or if it’s a piece of plot that might come in handy as I reevaluate the Silver Beat project in light of the purpose statement I wrote a while back.

And, uh, some friends asked for a squirrel in a dress. Then they tried to convince me to start a tumblr devoted to drawings of squirrels in dresses.

I’ve wondered why this is. I know plenty of people who’ve stayed married for their entire run, as it were. I’m sure you know at least a few. I suspect that the desire for dramatic plot twists drives the short shelf-life of TV-world love to some extent. From personal observation, though, I can testify that a healthy relationship that lasts a long time is not necessarily free of dramatic plot twists. You don’t have to drive a couple to the brink of dissolution–and the over it–to have interesting stories.

Sometimes I think our expectations have been conditioned so that we’d struggle to swallow a long, strong romantic relationship on a TV show. I’m not saying anything shocking when I note that statistically, the shape of long-term relationships in America (the world of TV, as we all know) has changed. These changes are complicated ones, and the reasons probably even more complicated, but I suspect that the very sense of that change (whatever its actual shape) makes it more difficult to accept at face value what look like the relational norms* of yesteryear–i.e. long-term, companionate marriage.

In either case, the situation occasionally strikes me as weird, especially when I think about all the interesting stories to be told about people in long-term relationships working through stuff and getting stuff done. As always, of course, your thoughts on this are appreciated. Maybe you can suggest other reasons that TV romances have such a short shelf life. Possibly you can point me to further reading.

In the interim, however, I would like to give props to the show that sparked this post, because it seems like a slight shift in pace. It’s called Grimm, and its currently between seasons. The basic premise is police procedural set in Portland with fairy tale stuff (yes, yes, this is a show tailored to my weaknesses). I don’t know what the writers will do with the main romance in season 2, obviously, but season 1 seemed really different and makes me hopeful. There is a clear threat to the protagonists’ relationship (the pressure of the secrets one partner is keeping about the existence of fairy tale monsters), but both of them are very committed to each other, remain pretty much faithful, and at least try to communicate. It’s very novel, for TV-world, and kind of a nice change of pace. If cops and fairy tales sounds interesting to you, and you’re up for a story about a basically okay guy who is in a committed relationship with a basically okay lady, I’d recommend it.**

—-

* Just to be sure we’re all tracking, by “norms” I don’t mean “what is normal,” I mean “what people think is proper.” I’m not making a statement about what relationships were like in the past so much as about what people expected relationships to be like.

** Caveats, it’s dark fantasy so there’s some gore (TV 14) and a mild but fairly consistent level of cussing if that’s an issue for you.

(you might actually have spotted this one in my header on WordPress once or twice; I added it to the random assortment of header images some time back)

I still have all those empty capsules, actually; I keep trying to think of something I could make and stick in them, to leave somewhere random in my neighborhood. I’ve done the same thing before with bookmarks and origami stars, quarter machine capsules seem like the logical next step. Any brilliant ideas, O many-splendored readers?

Apropos of nothing except that I now have reading time, I’ve been rereading John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come, better known as Pilgrim’s Progress. I read this book many, many times over when I was a kid. I can’t even try to rank it among influential books of my childhood, because I read so many books as a kid and so many of them left fingerprints on my soul that ordering seems impossible (seriously, though, how did I read so much? I wish I had that kind of drive now). So let’s just say that I really, really liked it.

I was a little nervous rereading it, actually, because I was afraid it wouldn’t stand up. I’ve heard some fairly disparaging comments about it over the years; allegory is not a super-popular genre these days. I’ve only gotten through Part I, so I’m not sure how I’ll feel about the handling of women in Part II (however, I’m inclined to be generous because gender is hard and I’m not sure I’ve got such a great handle on it myself). Nevertheless, I was really pleased to find that so far it more than holds up over time. My appreciation of the book has actually deepened in a few specific ways.

First, as a reader, I’ve found that I’m better able to understand the ideas he’s working with. When I was a kid, I often struggled with the long theological conversations (not surprising) and found myself confused by certain things. As an adult, able to critically examine ideas with a little more intentionality, I can step back and see what Bunyan’s trying to accomplish. As a kid I had no idea Bunyan was a Baptist; as an adult I can see how his Baptist perspective informs the work and explains things that confused me as a Presbyterian kid. With a little more historical context under my belt I can also see how the book is a product of its period; I can see how the politics of the period shape the work (for instance, did you know that most of the bad guys are described as gentry? Not my own observation–I think I read it in something by Carl Trueman, quoting someone else I can’t recall–but I’ve had it in mind as I read and it largely checks out).

Second, as a writer, there’s a lot to be learned from Bunyan’s approach to allegory. He wears the allegory very loosely, which is interesting because I think the instinct in modern allegory (such as it is) is to bury one’s ideas beneath layers and layers of symbolism. When I veer in the direction of allegory I’m usually very cagey about it. I don’t think one way is right or one is wrong. Certainly very few modern readers enjoy Bunyan’s approach, but honestly I think there’s a lot to be said for it–sitting on the fence between storytelling and didactic writing is not inherently bad. I still find Christian’s pilgrimage fairly compelling, and I’m prodded to contemplate Bunyan’s ideas at length. He’s doing something right, even if it’s not something we’re comfortable with. This gives me a fresh perspective on how I handle allegorical elements, which tend to creep into my stories when I’m not looking. I may not change what I’m doing, but I’m not so locked into the habits and norms of contemporary literature (always a good thing; I often find myself and others prey to the tempting idea that the last generation is the only one that recognizes good literature).

Third, as a practicing Christian for an undetermined but significant number of years (I was raised in it, okay, I don’t have a conversion to date from), Pilgrim’s Progress takes on a whole new dimension. I don’t think, as a kid, I really understood what some of the mishaps Christian gets into stood for. Now, however, they remind me of things in my own life–the sojourn in Giant Despair’s Doubting Castle, for instance, is all too familiar. I’m struck by how sensitively Bunyan handles some of these topics, and how his word-pictures match up with my own experience centuries later.

From all this I conclude that Pilgrim’s Progress is still a book worth reading (I’m sure Bunyan is relieved). Perhaps precisely because it doesn’t fit comfortably with our ideas of what a good story, or a good allegory, should look like. It’s good to shake ourselves up sometimes by visiting dead people’s opinions and tastes. If you can read it in that spirit, I think it will well reward your efforts.

Welp, Scribefire has officially stopped being my go-to for crossposting between WordPress/LJ/Dreamwidth. It keeps giving me an error when I try to post to LJ, and my searches turn up no reliable fixes. I did try uninstalling and reinstalling, but all that did was remove all my blogs, and now I can’t add my WordPress, either.

Scribefire’s failure at all the tasks for which I initially installed it makes more urgent my desire to move to a self-hosted WordPress, which will allow me to crosspost via cunning plugins (I hope? This is what they tell me). Which leads to the big question: HOSTING.

SO!

Peoples of the Internet, I am in need of good, cheap hosting that will support WordPress at the very least (expansion is a distant possibility). If you can recommend anything along those lines, I would very much appreciate it. I know a few of you have mentioned hosts in the past, but I can’t recall where or when.

Any tips you have for migrating to a self-hosted blog would be nice, too.

Nabyn

I was super busy when this was a thing, but I noticed a bunch of people talking up Nabyn a while back, and it looks like an interesting gallery site. I’m curious, though, any users have fresh opinions at this point? Is it a good place to post/see art? How’s the interface? Is the community healthy? What kind of art/people make up most of the population?

…Also, would anyone be willing to hook me up with an invite if I were to want one?

A wee mooncat! I seem to draw them all as kittens; I am not sure if this is just coincidence, or whether the adult form is significantly different and I need to design that. Hmmm! There are a lot of interesting creatures on the Menagerie moon, just starting with the Man in the Moon and his mooncats. Possibly I should do something creatively about that…

Last May (yes, that long ago!) I was working on an idea for a zombie comic. I did some concept sketches and started writing a script, but thesis immediately co-opted all my energy and I’ve done little with it since. I think I need to do more genre research before I go any further. Anyway this is an initial concept for one of the major players. Not sure about his name.

More zombie concepts.

Yes, this is definitely a comedic take on the zombie apocalypse scenario.

Annnd the last of the concepts. I hope to revisit this eventually, pending research and time and other variables. Because, well, I like zombies for some reason. There are a few things that bug me about zombie stories that I hope maybe to address, too. Like I said, pending research and all that.

A quick reminder, filed under notes to self.

After I read MCA Hogarth’s story Family, I had to draw one of the protagonists, Vasiht’h. Because he is AWESOME, and his anatomy posed an interesting challenge. But mostly because he’s awesome.