Almost Perfect

W. E. Pete Peterson has written an account of his time at WordPerfect Corporation, called Almost Perfect.

Apparently it was first published in 1994, but he has now released it free on the web.

The prose itself is simple - it feels like a student's writing. The story itself, however, is incredibly engaging. Because Mr. Peterson began at WordPerfect with no knowledge of computers, we learn as he learns, and you finish the book feeling like you know a lot about how the business worked.

Beyond that, the book is a very good read for anyone going into business for themselves or with a young startup company. Their inadvertent success is a lesson for the rest of us - especially anyone looking at a very young field.

I advise clicking over to Almost Perfect and giving it a read.

Review: Mind and Body

Mind + Body, by Aaron Dunlap is a fast-paced scroller.

I'm currently reading a novel, some webfiction, and lots of nonfiction, but I tore through this novel. It's 400+ pages in PDF, but it sure didn't feel that long. It's a simple mystery/action plot - a high school senior tracking down all the weird shit that happens to him after his Marine Corps father dies.

At first it felt similar to Doctorow's Little Brother - the teenager thrust into a conspiracy too large for him to see its end, a fairly straight-forward love interest, etc. The more I read, however, the less alike they felt. Mind + Body is definitely has less to say, making it simultaneously shallower and less preachy. Mind + Body is not afraid of its simplicity - the work is less punctuated by action and fights than it is driven by them. And it works.

Unfortunately the final product reads like a draft. There are a solid handful of sentences that just aren't finished. They require 1-5 words to finish the thought, but they're just MIA. Our first person narrator definitely feels his age (though articulate), which is a plus (he says things like "the internet told me"). In the first third of the book phrases are often jarring. I'm not certain if I got used to the character or if Dunlap got used to him.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping, surprisingly real novel. It should be picked up by a publisher and marketed as a YA novel - it's good enough.

The Only Difference Between Men and Boys

Cross-posted on Air Theremin

For your edification, Nicholas Ozment explains.

This work of short fiction is one of many posted on Every Day Fiction: "Short fiction in your inbox, daily!"

It's a cool concept, and I think I'm going to sign up. Who knows how many good stories I could discover that way?

Lies That are True

Whatever happened to Jeffery Harrell?

He used to have a great page of stories online and a blog, both of which appear to be AWOL.

His book is here - and I may buy it, because the stories are wonderful.

This appears to be his twitter - which offers no clues to his site's disappearance.

If I can't get some information on the site, I'll have to take it off of my blogroll. Sad face.

Women From Words

I don't know what to call this - flash fiction perhaps?

Regardless, I was fairly disinterested to start, but found myself drawn in by c.vance's personification of each author's prose.

There were definitely bits that didn't fit, but overall I was impressed - or at least impressed enough to go back and browse the fare at Word Riot.

-S

Cthulhu and Gaiman, sitting in a tree

Arr apostraphe ell why eee aych.... yeah...

So Neil Gaiman has posted some Lovecraftian fiction here.

Or, at least, I wanted to call it "lovecraftian" at first. Unfortunately, the more I think about it, the less I am able to differentiate between what Gaiman has done and fanfiction. Perhaps that's why it is posted on his blog?

So tell me - is this truly fanfic, or is my head unable to catch something that my gut does? Perhaps it is merely that I generally dislike the fanfic I come across and tend to think of it as intellectually lazy that I fail to acknowledge the potential for genuinely innovative, clever, and appealing fiction within the... genre?

Go read the story and tell me what you think.

Dirty Red Kiss

A Salinger for our generation, Dirty Red Kiss's Caulfield-esque narrator opens a window through which we can see humanity in a way that is beyond the capabilities of a more articulate, self-aware narrator.

Caulfield isn't the only protagonist that Derek Henkel's narrator reminds me of - he also bears a resemblance to Titus, of Feed, and Arel Ashe of Scorch.

What, you ask, could these four possibly have in common? Each book is set in a different moment in time, the protagonists are different ages and different genders. Feed and Scorch are both clear indictments of the consumerist west, while Catcher in the Rye and Dirty Red Kiss are both a bit more open ended. It seems as if there is nothing real or significant to tie these books and characters together.

I'm sure you'll not be surprised to find that I believe there is something they share. I would even go so far as to class them all as examples of an archetype, albeit one that I am proposing right now, for the first time: "everyman with the potential to rise above."

This is a fundamentally hopeful archetype, but one whose characters are usually tinged by sadness and uncertainty. They are normal, near average, and surrounded by friends and peers who are decidedly mainstream. Unlike their peers, they contain within them seeds of insight of creativity - seeds that we can only see because of our privileged position as readers. Perhaps, then, we are too rash to assume that they are alone among their peers? As much as our narrator may appear to be the only character with the potential to grow, it is mainly by their thoughts that we determine their potential.

It's for this reason that the "everyman with the potential to rise above" is fundamentally hopeful. No matter how poorly the protagonist's journey may go, their hidden seed of insight gives the reader hope that the most abject of us may yet go on to blossom.



So. Read it.

Blooks

I can't help but feel silly when I write the word, but "blook" is a term that appears to be gaining legitimacy: there's even a blooker prize.

A blook, apparently, is a book whose contents were based on a blog. At least, that's how the Lulu blooker prize defines them. It seems to me that a serial novel published in a blog would be a great definition. The above-linked blook, Plague Zone, is by David Wellington, who seems to be after print publication, so he fits the Lulu blook definition pretty well.
There are, however, plenty of examples of web serials that might be called blooks - and often so call themselves.

On the other hand, maybe we need a better word (or words) for all of these things. Any suggestions?