Posts filed under ‘WALT’S OBSERVATIONS’
IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS BY ERIK LARSON
I just completed reading In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. He is a superb writer of creative nonfiction. His books are fact made to read as novels resulting in a page-turner of history.
This work covers the rise of Nazi Germany with Hitler and his henchmen gaining control of the government. The events are viewed through the eyes of William E. Dodd, in 1933, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany stationed in Berlin.
The story is a chilling recounting of the slow increase in terror and insanity of the Nazis toward the German population and especially the Jews. Reflected is how the horror slowly escalates until it is impossible to halt progress towards world conflict.
SPIN
It’s time for a confession.
In a past posting I ranted and raved about how I hated the way news was being presented in this day and age and vowed to never watch it again. Well, it seems that ‘never’ can be a short interval. I admit I am a flawed individual with addictions to bear, and the news is one of them. For instance, when on vacation I agonize that some major event will occur and I will be left out of the loop. Who know, Congress may agree on something, nuclear war and or the end of the world would happen and I wouldn’t know about it. All this is rationalizing to soften my failing: I’m watching the news again.
Not only am I watching the news, but I am watching the news given by multiple sources. This may explain what led to this piece.
With the advent of cable news there are a host of news outlets to provide fodder for whatever persuasion you may be, be it liberal or conservative. The middle is more or less left for the networks to serve. So yes, I have even begun watching a cable news station that rhymes with ‘sox’.
As I watch some of these news presentations, I find it difficult to determine what news is and what is editorial. Then it dawned on me. Today you can watch the news and hear the slant that you want to hear, according to your beliefs.
The above insight brings me to the topic of this discussion, the definition of spin as I see it.
I can be rather slow in the thinking process at times. Okay, most of the time. I always thought that spin was delivering half-truths to support your opinion, incorporating falsehoods, to some extent. However, after listening to various outlets delivering the news on the identical topic, I’ve come to change my opinion. There is no falsehood involved. Cable news chooses to report the facts, but only the facts that they know will support the views that their viewers will be comfortable with, that support the agenda of both the station and those who hold what the station presents as gospel. At times I find it amusing to listen to the various outlets reporting on the same topic, selecting only the facts that they find relevant.
Bottom-line; listen to as much news as you can even if you don’t agree with the philosophy of the outlet. Then, use your brain to decide what the truth is by assembling all the facts. That’s what it’s all about.
THE COURAGE OF THE YOUNG WRITER
I salute those youthful individuals who toil daily for the love of their art. Jack Kerouac banging out On The Road on his endless roll of paper not knowing where that work would lead. For hundreds, thousands of Jacks the road is a dead-end. They are the unsung heroes of their art hoping the nod of someone of power, the recognition that never comes. You shall remain unknown, taking your work to your graves.
I began my fiction writing career thirteen years ago when well into my fifties. I stumbled upon this career by accident. Beginning with writing a memoir, I soon turned to short stories and finally novels. While beginning this chapter in my life, I had already been a scientist for twenty years and well established in that profession. Thankfully my two careers overlapped and when a lay-off raised its ugly head five years ago, I became a full-time writer. Since beginning my writing career I have published more than twenty-five short stories and one novel. I’m just getting started for I have two more novels written and a host of short story ideas. Yet, with all this under my belt, some who know me think I ‘just dabble’, that writing is my hobby. None of them know the terror of the blank page or computer screen, but you do my young and young-at-heart friends.
This reflection of my past and present is to contrast the path I took to writing with those who early on decided that putting down in words their thoughts and products of their imagination was the purpose of their life. They take any job available to support their profession, a profession where they can well spend hundreds of hours not knowing if they will make a penny.
You have chosen a lonely profession. For when you take up your pen or sit before your keyboard there is only you and your thoughts. That loneness is the great equalizer between the known and unknown writer.
THE POWER OF THE BLOG
Many of us blog on a regular basis, or in my case, I visit on a rather irregular one. Yet how many of us pause to ponder the power attached to what we are doing? We are displaying, not only to our friends and acquaintances but to the entire world and perhaps beyond (my science fiction side is showing), our thoughts and sometimes emotions. What we consider important.
This realization crept into my brain when I used a relatively new feature provided by WordPress. It allows you to view the hits your blog has produced around the world. Granted, for me, the vast majority of views listed are countries in which only a solitary person read my blog, but that means in that remote corner of the world my voice was heard. Heady stuff. So for me, as my thoughts sail into infinity – and beyond, I will strive to make them clear, concise and worthy of your time.
ADDICTED TO PRINT
Perhaps it is my age or my past or a combination of both, but I am addicted to the word printed on paper. I know my love spells doom for many trees but I am in too deep. I also know that this is the age of the eBook. Some of my work is available in this medium. I am intrigued by the Kindle White, the prospect of carrying a thousand books with you. But for now I’ll stick with paper.
One question I have is, “How well do the eReaders bounce?”
I am forever falling asleep while reading, either in bed or in my favorite chair (I am getting old). When I awake my book is usually on the floor and closed; my place gone. In my daughter, Lynn’s, younger days I would tell her I lost my place and she would answer, “Don’t worry, Dad. It’ll turn up.”
Here are more reasons why I may never switch to the electronic medium. I love the smell of books. I know many of you are also closet book sniffers. When I begin a new book I open it up to its middle and breathe in its scent. I love holding books and being surrounded by piles of them waiting to be read.
I especially love the smell of old books. Some you need not open to gain their odor. The smell of their history bombards you. I have a bookcase full of old books. My oldest is a book of English history from the late 1700’s. I doubt if my old volumes have much value. Why I cherish them is, as I hold them, I wonder who held them when they were new, and how those people lived. I wonder if they appreciated the books scent when it was new.
THE FINAL STORM by JEFF SHAARA
I recently finished Jeff Shaara’s historical novel, The Final Storm. He has written numerous novels about war, from the Revolutionary War to World War II. He tells a gripping story along with providing a history lesson of the conflict he relates. His approach is to follow important historical figures, such as Eisenhower for World War II, along with the experiences of the common soldier, men who fought the battle.
The Final Storm tells the story of the latter part of the war in the Pacific, from the battle of Okinawa to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. There is a great deal of detail given to Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This was a poignant read for me for I met Tibbets about eight years ago. He passed away in 2007.
I’m a member of the Mid Atlantic Air Museum. Every year for about the last twenty years the museum has held World War II Weekend on the first weekend in June. Fighters, bombers and transports from the war make their way to Reading Airport in Pennsylvania for the event. Along with the aircraft are military vehicles and reenactors all bringing history to life.
Also present are individuals who played a part in the conflict. For a few years Paul Tibbets was one of the invited guests and that is how I met him. I wish I had read more about him before that occasion. I knew what he did but not much more about the man. I can’t remember what I said to him after shaking his hand. I still cherish the moment but wish I had known more about him.
READING THE MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION
While riding the train to work, my neighbor would read science fiction. Long retired now, he asked me if I would like science fiction books. I, of course, was more than enthusiastic and bags of books came my way and found a home in my study much to my wife’s displeasure. If you saw my study you would understand her fear for it is overflowing with books read and to be read.
Recently, I began reading these classic works. The authors include the likes of Lester Del Rey, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and Ursula Le Guin to name a few. Most were published in the fifties and sixties costing as little as fifty cents.
The novel I would like to discuss is one I recently finished reading, The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein. This book was interesting in that it dealt with the future, a future which is already our past.
Heinlein published this novel in 1956 so it was probably written in the early fifties. The setting of the book is 1970 and the main character travels, via suspended animation, to the year 2000, both needing the author’s speculation of what life would be like in those years.
His take of the not too distant future of 1970 is most interesting. There is talk of a nuclear war with the United States being the target, but it is handled as no more than a minor inconvenience. The year of the war isn’t given and neither is the adversary. My thinking is that it could only be Russia who developed their bomb in 1947. Also, in 1970, robots are beginning to take over the mundane tasks in both domestic and commercial settings. When he gets to the year 2000 he finds society completely changed. The story deals with more of the social rather than the technological changes, but there is a scientist dabbling with time travel which plays an important part of the story for it allows travel into the past. However, this can only be accomplished with great risk for the scientist can set the length of time but cannot control whether the subject goes forward or backward in time.
What amazes me is how the author envisions both years, to compare reality to what he predicts. The world today is full of robot used by industry but nothing like the talking androids, human-like creatures, created by the minds of Asimov and Dick. Time will tell.
I enjoy reading ‘dated’ science fiction and see the author’s take on the future and compare it to what has come to pass.
A WRITER’S VOICE
I don’t know about other writers, but when I read work by a successful author, especially one writing in my chosen genre, I have a desire to mimic the voice of that writer. After all, their voice has worked where mine is less than well-known. However, I resist temptation and, for better or for worse, adhere to my own style, my own writing voice.
What determines a writer’s voice?
Perhaps the most important element is the writer’s life, his experiences along that bumpy road to his vocation and hopefully his avocation. Certainly his age is a determining factor. I began my writing career at an advanced age, some would say almost elderly. And as I stumbled down my own road, I was molded by what I experienced. I sometimes wonder what words I would have produced had I begun writing at an earlier age and how my writing would have developed as I aged.
I feel another determinate of a writer’s voice is the genre you choose to work in. I write science fiction and horror. Science fiction is terse, detail oriented with the story and plot more important than character development. Horror leaves more room for character development but also depends heavily on atmosphere and a host of nonhuman characters. Horror tends to be more ‘wordy’ than science fiction.
These are my opinions on what goes into developing a writer’s voice. For you writers out there, am I on target or completely off the mark?
Someday, time permitting; I may try to stretch my voice into other genres.
A TASTE OF HISTORY – ERIK LARSON
One of my favorite nonfiction authors is Erik Larson and I’d like to share some of his work with you.
I have read three of his books, Isaac’s Storm, Thunderstruck and The Devil In The White City and found them to be thoroughly enjoyable.
Isaac’s Storm deals with the hurricane of 1900 which devastated Galveston, Texas. This occurred before hurricanes were given names and resulted in the worst natural disaster this country has ever experienced with over 6000 lives lost. Isaac was Isaac Cline, the Galveston weatherman when the profession was in its infancy. Larson deftly describes the drama of the approaching storm and the bewilderment it causes until reaction comes too late.
Thunderstruck takes place in the early 1900’s. In this book Larson parallels the experiments and development of wireless communication championed by Guglielmo Marconi with a murderer, Harry Crippen. Marconi’s invention results in Crippen’s discovery and capture while he sails from Europe to America. The history Larson relates and his expert telling of the story results in a fantastic read.
The turn of the century sets the scene for The Devil In The White City. The focus year is 1893. The Devil is Dr. H. H. Holmes, one of the first serial killers. The White City is the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Larson follows the building of the fair and the many trials which must be overcome to accomplish its opening. Intermingled with the construction of the fair are the many crimes of Dr. Holmes and how he uses the fair to lure his victims, mostly young women, to his hotel of horror.
Erik Larson’s work of nonfiction offers the excitement of fiction while covering historical events.
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