Category: Detritus

Another one for the authors list: Jonathan Carroll. A beautiful and eerie writer whose work is best described as being a darker version of the urban fantasy genre perpetuated by such writers as Charles De Lint and Terri Windling (bit link happy today, aren’t I?)

Why have you never heard of him? Because his work is so very difficult to categorize. Deftly toes a line between fantasy and horror, but is far literary to be categorized as genre fiction. More like modern fiction with flexible boundaries. I suspect bookstores just have no idea where to shelve his stuff.

Anyway, if nothing else, read “The Marriage of Sticks”, which is exquisitely written and most unnerving, and which I read in a single night when I discovered it a couple of years ago. One of those books that you can’t put down at the time, but that does not lend itself well to rereading, as it sort of knocks the wind out of you the first time around.

More about Thackery Lambshead and his fabled guide…

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays? Um, I live in Arizona

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect? Just being in the same town as my relatives is nice. And I like to bake things, whether anybody eats them or not.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions? Oranges at the bottom of the stocking for good luck, and the traditional setting off of the smoke alarm at the grandparents’ house

4. Do you do anything to help the needy? I am the needy, Just kidding, I might do something if I can afford it.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself? The Thackery T. Lambshead Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases. I keep saying this but no one believes me.

From Neil Gaiman’s blog, a response to the question “which is more important, the writing style or the content?”:

“I think it’s like asking which part of a song you like best, the words or the tune, to be honest. In a perfect world, you shouldn’t be able to take them apart. I like different styles of writing (and I like writing in different styles), but if the writing’s being used in order to tell a story, then I’d rather it didn’t get in the way of reading the story. But then, I like to be able to hear the words of songs…”

Why do there need to even be other authors in the world when we already have Neil Gaiman? She says in fawning adoration. And yet I must confess to being a little bit bored with the 1602 comic. Having become accustomed to better. And wait in agony for the new novel, which may yet be a year or two away from publication. Sigh…

When Hercules/Herakles killed his family in an insane rage, the oracle of Delphi assigned him a series of labors under the control of Eurystheus his cousin and king of Mycen�. The second labor involved going to Lerna to kill the hideous monster named the Hydra of Lerna.

The Hydra, born of Typhon and Echidna, was an enormous serpent with nine heads. Its den was a marsh near Lerna in Peloponnese. It would issue forth to ravage the herds and crops, its breath moreover was so poisonous that whoever smelt it fell dead.

With the help of Athene/Pallas (goddess of wisdom and prudent warfare), Hercules located the monster’s lair. Accompanied by Iolaus, son of his twin brother Iphicles, Hercules arrived at Lerna, found the monster near the spring of Amymone. and forced it to emerge from the marshes by means of flaming arrows.

Hercules struck it with his sword, but even as he parried, a giant crab (Cancer), sent by his enemy, Juno (the jealous and vindictive wife of Jupiter who was Hercules’ father), scurried out of the marsh and attacked him, by nipping his feet. Quickly Hercules kicked the crab away and with one almighty blow of his club pounded it to pieces. Every time Hercules struck off one of the Hydra nine heads with his sword two grew in its place.

Iolaus set the neighboring forest on fire. It was Iolaus who suggested burning the stumps before they had a chance to grow back; and with the help of a red-hot brand (torch or club – depending on the version), Iolaus burnt the snake’s heads, cauterizing each stump with hot iron torches just as soon as Hercules chopped off each head and before it had a chance to grow back.

With the blood flow stopped, the Hydra’s heads ceased to multiply. Hercules cut off the final head and buried it under a rock which can be found to this day on the road from Lerna to Elaeus. Then he soaked his arrows in the Hydra’s blood which made them poisonous and deadly. Even a grazing shot from one of those arrows would kill.

While one might be tempted to say “well done”, Eurystheus, who had assigned these labors to Hercules, was not satisfied. Hercules had cheated, he said, since he had needed Iolaus’ assistance. Upon completing this, which was his second labor, Hercules had acquired all of his famous armor with which he is usually depicted; the lion’s skin; the poisoned arrows; and the club that he made from the tree trunk he had used to burn the Hydra’s necks.

SILVER SEA

jewelry, scents, candles and more…

137 E Congress

Tucson, AZ 85701

(520)745-0417

(On Congress St between Hydra and The OscarWilde Playhouse,

And across from The Chicago Store)

Open Monday through Saturday, 11am to 7pm.

Elizabeth Mead, proprietress

There were some technical issues as well as some babies sitting on the keyboard issues…

Myth of the Day:

Famous Punk Rock Love Affairs…

Sid and Nancy

Kurt and Courtney

Fred and Patti Smith

In courtly love, a man passionately devoted himself to a woman. Courtly love was chivalrous and beautiful, but was also about misery, rejection and denial. In the Middle Ages love and marriage didn?t necessarily go together. Marriages were usually political arrangements and love was an “extramarital emotion” (Knights). However, if a husband discovered his wife was cheating on him, he was expected to kill his wife and the man she was with. Therefore, men usually chose to admire the object of their affection as unattainable and considered it enough to “chase her with honor” (Knights). There were five main rules of courtly love and Dante seemed to obey them to a tee. The first rule is to suffer for love and worship until it hurts. Dante seemed to be in constant adoration of Beatrice, suffered without her and worshiped her in his poetry. Rule two states that “Marriage is no excuse for not loving someone else”(Knights). Dante was married, as was Beatrice, but this never stopped Dante from loving her. The adorer, according to rule three, is not to hesitate to grovel in song. Dante chose to grovel sorrowfully in poetry, which is a form of song. Rule four states that “Thou shalt in all things be courteous” (Knights). Dante believed that the mark of a true gentleman, other than courage and valor was courtesy. In a social setting it was understood a gentleman would converse “with the ladies in gallant fashion” (Barbi 8). The final rule stated that “Love made public rarely endures”(Knights). Dante wasn?t public with his love of Beatrice until after her death because, “love decreases?if a woman finds that her lover is foolish and indiscreet” (Knights). Dante showed the true meaning of courtly love and was a gentleman throughout his life.

It was 23 years ago today. Imagine if he’d lived. What would he think of what the world has failed to become?