Tag Archives: Alexander Skarsgard

Hey! Look Over There! Also Giving Away a Book

Updated on January 9, 2013 by carolyn

I had this HUGE HUGE HUGE project at the day job that took weeks of testing and preparation across multiple departments– this was at the same time I was finishing a book. (Can you say STRESS?) As the database administrator, my job included making sure everything worked as it did before. This meant that there were application developers who simply had to test in the new environment. They swore up and down that they did, but when the day comes? Their application logins fail. Well, that can only mean they did not test. Fine. But why lie about it?

Anyway, I lived a life of remarkable stress on all fronts for a long time. But the project is over, the book is turned in and . . . . I got sick.

I knew that would happen, of course. I spent most of last week fighting something off and well, I have been having my own illness pity party for the last 3 days and am now hyped up on medications such a decongestants etc.

What this means is that as I type this, I am not at the top of my game in any sense of the word.

So, it also turns out that I have managed to acquire two copies of The Kyoto Costume Institute’s Fashion which has amazing pictures and content in it. It covers the 18th to the 20th century. I have two copies because, as it turns out, there are different versions of the book, a one volume version and a 2 volume version. The covers are COMPLETELY different but the content is identical.

Leave a comment (See below) if you would like a chance to win the one volume book from me. It’s a high quality soft-cover (really stiff cover).

You have until Midnight Pacific, June 15th to comment. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Winner chosen at random.

Your comment should be about something. Just something, OK? Your favorite superhero. The merits of Skarsgard vs. Patel

Oh, here are some pictures for reference:

Or you could comment about how ardently you pray for my complete recovery from this cold.

Or something.

A confession

Updated on June 2, 2010 by carolyn

I recently read Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades and I must report that the book was a major fail for me. I know many many others love this book, but I did not. I found the authorial voice to be overtly misogynist to the point where it interfered with my ability to enjoy the novel. I very nearly put it down unfinished.

On the other hand, I also recently read Frederica and I loved loved LOVED this book. I would like to know why no one has made a movie of this delightful couple and their love story. Frederica was a major win for me. I think I like it better than Venetia. In these days of Jane Austen remakes, there is plenty of room for Heyer movies. Where the heck are they? The two German movies titled “Frederica” or “Frederika” do not appear to be Heyer’s book.

For those of you who have read These Old Shades, did you like it, and why or why not? What about Frederica?

If someone were to be wise and make a movie out of Frederica, who should be cast? Obviously, Alexander Skarsgard should play the male lead.

Opine in the comments.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alexander Skarsgard, Carolyn's One True Love, Frederica, Georgette Heyer, Reading and Writing, These Old Shades | 23 Replies

Vampyres

Updated on August 5, 2009 by carolyn

The last couple of days in the blogosphere there’s been some discussion about the origin of vampire novels. A lot of these little kerfluffles I don’t care much about, though I skim with amusement and a certain sense of horror through such Internet/writing tropes as Authors Behaving Badly and the like.

The vampire thing got me interested so I fired up Google Books and did some searching. The history is pretty much as you’d expect. Horace Walpole’s 1765 Castle Of Otranto is the first ghost story/supernatural story, though I would think that Mallory’s La Morte D’Arthur deserves a nod in that realm given all the supernatural elements. However, the latter isn’t a story about a ghost, and Castle of Otranto is.

I did not expect, therefore, to find any novels about vampires prior to 1765 and my somewhat cursory review of Google Books bears this out. There are, however, quite a lot of writings that mention vampires. I exclude, of course, discussions of vampire bats, botany and other vampire references that don’t refer to mythical (or are they?) blood suckers.

One fascinating finding was the sheer number of writings in French. My French is barely good enough to get a sense of the works, but essays and definitions abound.

There are any number of essays debunking the existence of vampires some of which are interesting in as much as the authors were not aware that a corpse shrinks a bit and therefore it can look as if fingernails, toes and hair have grown after death, when it’s really just corporeal shrinkage causing the effect. Attempts to explain this away can get your brain in a knot.

As an aside, the contextual ads that appear on the results page of such a search are tres amusant. Did you know you could meet local Vampire singles? Gauranteed Real Sexy Vampires!

As a warning, the old fashioned S that looks pretty much like an F comes into play in literary discussions of vampires. It’s a bit disconcerting at first to see phrases that are actually variants of the verb suck rendered with what looks like an F instead. Vampires: Blood Fuckers. Apparently I’m 12 at heart. Do you suppose anyone giggled uncontrollably back in 1712?

I say, George, let’s read Father’s essay on Vampires again.
Heheheheheh!

Noted vampire books:

The Nightcap by Louis-Sebastien Mercier 1784. This may be one huge boring essay but for the part about blood fucking, er, sucking vampires.

I was briefly thrilled to find a book about Charlemagne; Histoire de L’empereur. Alas, it’s an OCR error. The phrase l’empire has been mistaken for vampire. Imagine the thrill of find out someone thought Charlemagne was a vampire! I would have cracked out the French/English dictionary to translate that one.

Everybody’s favorite Regency bad boy, none other than Lord Byron himself had a bit to say about vampires. The Works of Lord Byron specifically, a non-fiction bit about Eblis, the Oriental Prince of Darkness.

Robert Southey also got in on the vampire thing, in Thalaba the Destroyer

And, last, I think, but by no means least, John William Polidori wrote The Vampyre in 1819. Polidori, as you may know was Byron’s physician and one of the ones who rose to the now famous challenge Hey! Let’s write a novel! that produced Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1897. But that’s a whole other century (from the 1700’s) Edited to add: In case I type the numbers in the wrong order AGAIN, that’s Eighteen Ninty Seven!