Deckles and Dragons
Libraries, genre fiction, and the Past (both real and imagined)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I Want to be an Eccentric Scientist When I Grow up
When I was young--when I first learned about magma and subduction zones and the tectonics that inch-by-inch rend our continents into new shapes--I wanted to be a geologist. My fascination led to the gradual acquisition of a rock collection. Some purchased, some picked up on the sidewalk, and some given to me by my eccentric but wonderful Uncle Roger out in California. I learned words like "sedentary" and "igneous" and "metamorphic."
Labels:
arts and crafts,
museums,
science,
steampunk
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Reading Tolkien Out Loud
In the olden days of oral culture, literature was spoken. Stories were transmitted to their "readers" vocally or musically. Those were the days of the minstrel, the scop, the skald.
Nowadays, most of our stories are consumed quietly, silently, individually. We do so much silent reading that I think we forget--good writing is designed to be read aloud. Why else would students be encouraged to read their own writing aloud when revising and proofreading? Read-aloudability is essential for poetry, but is an important characteristic in all writing. Living vocal chords breathe energy into the hollow bones of texts.
Read-aloudability is one of the reasons I love Tolkien so very much.
Nowadays, most of our stories are consumed quietly, silently, individually. We do so much silent reading that I think we forget--good writing is designed to be read aloud. Why else would students be encouraged to read their own writing aloud when revising and proofreading? Read-aloudability is essential for poetry, but is an important characteristic in all writing. Living vocal chords breathe energy into the hollow bones of texts.
Read-aloudability is one of the reasons I love Tolkien so very much.
Labels:
language and writing,
Tolkien,
Ursula K. Le Guin
Monday, May 7, 2012
Steampunk Stylings
A corner of my steampunk-styled room at home. |
For those of you who don't know, steampunk is both an aesthetic movement and a subgenre of science fiction that explores an alternate, anachronistic Victorian era--a historical "future" powered by steam.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Welcome to Deckles and Dragons!
Please grab a mug of ale, sit by the fire,
and listen to our resident minstrel sing of heroic deeds. Your quest is
about to begin!
Anyway--why am I blogging? As is often the case, the tale begins with a work of fiction.
In honor of my inaugural entry (and to practice inserting
images), I present to you a dragon! This little beastie lives in the margins of a book of hours
at Boston Public Library. I don't know whether this particular fellow breathes much fire, but he is rather too
badass for only four heads—he decided to sprout another one at the end of his
tail.
Anyway--why am I blogging? As is often the case, the tale begins with a work of fiction.
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