So far, 2013 has been relatively rainy. In a state that is often flirting with drought, that isn’t a bad thing. I wouldn’t have minded a pass on the rain last Saturday, when we spent much of the day helping someone move, though. Today and tomorrow are really wet, with anywhere from 2-7″ total accumulation expected. I awoke to thunder and lightning this morning, which is always nice. I also managed to assemble a complete short story in my head without ever getting out of bed. It’s going to be a challenge to set it down on paper exactly as I imagined it, and I have absolutely no idea where I’d try to market it if I finish it, but I like it a lot. I have this fear that I’ll break it if I try to write it, though. It’s a delicate story.
Kev Quigley (from Charnel House) reviewed Twentieth Century King for FEARNet. He says, in part: “Vincent delves into the decade, never tipping too far into scholarly discourse and never becoming a sycophant. It’s fascinating to read frank criticisms of a novel like Cell, while at the same time read wild praise about King’s landmark On Writing. Interestingly, the reviews grow longer as they march toward the present; along the way, Vincent grows more insightful and digs deeper into each book to find out why they tick. As interesting as it is to see the grand sweep of King’s books from 2000-2012, it’s just as exciting to watch Bev Vincent’s progress as a writer.”
I posted my review of Double Feature by Owen King at Onyx Reviews. I only have one more book to review before I’m caught up for the time being.
The Stephen King Catalog is offering a free signed bookplate on advanced orders of The Dark Tower Companion, while supplies (of the bookplate) last.
We finished Season 2 of Treme and are roughly halfway through the third season. I’ve also started watching the first season of Prisoners of War, the Israeli series that became Homeland in the US. There are some significant differences. The title is Hatufim, which translates to Abductees, I’m told, and the focus thus far is entirely on the three men who were captured and held in Lebanon for seventeen years. That’s a much longer period than in Homeland. It means that the woman who was 21 when her husband went missing is now closing in on 40, and the son who was born after he was taken is now almost a man himself.
Instead of focusing on just one man, as Homeland did, the story so far includes them all. Two families trying to adjust to the return of a loved one after such a long period, and one family where only a body came back. That one is interesting: his next of kin is a sister who hallucinates that he is still alive. I’m only in the second episode, but so far there’s been no analog to Carrie Mathison. There is a hint that something untoward is going on, though. One of the PoWs advised the other to stick to the story, but already they are contradicting each other while being debriefed. In Homeland, the wife was involved with a friend of the hostage. Here, one wife actually married the brother of the abductee and they have a son together, something they think the former hostage doesn’t know, so they’re carrying on a charade until the time is right.
Justified returns tonight! I liked last night’s Castle, where Beckett and Castle’s ex swapped stories. I wonder how much of an effect the ex’s parting shot had on Beckett. Has Castle really changed? I’m also intrigued that they’ve given Lisbon a “Red John” (or a white whale) to obsess over and pursue on The Mentalist. Maybe that will give her a better understanding of Jane. I wonder if Cusick (Desmond from Lost) and Simon Baker sit around comparing American accents.
