What Are You Conscious Admiring Influences?

By: Eeleen Lee on 9:29 pm

The title of this post is taken from this excellent interview with China Mieville - Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of 'Perdidio Street Station', 'UnLundun'  and 'The City And the City'. "Kraken" is his latest novel and it is released this month.



Mieville mentions being influenced by numerous writers and works; elements that you may not be aware at the time of writing, of being influenced by things you hate. However he mentions a strong debt to Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy as a Conscious Admiring Influence.

Who or what are some of your Conscious Admiring Influences? They include writers/poets/playwrights/ actors/directors/painters/ etc..., books, poems, passages or even phrases that set off inspirational fireworks in your nascent creative consciousness.

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"Haunted House Hunting" mentioned in The Sunday Star

By: Eeleen Lee on 8:36 pm

My short story, "Haunted House Hunting" was mentioned in The Sunday Star (December 27th 2009) and online at The Star.com

A summary of my story begins the article about the City of Shared Stories Kuala Lumpur website.

Ending 2009 on a small but glowing feeling of achievement.

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My First Review

By: Eeleen Lee on 6:07 pm

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20090707101444/Article/

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"Memory Man"- Aqualung

By: Eeleen Lee on 11:53 am

For the uninitiated, 'Aqualung' is the stage name of English singer-songwriter, Matt Hales. He is usually lumped together with Coldplay. Comparisons that are rather puzzling, for the resemblance is only in passing; the frail but winning vocals, tinkling piano-playing and enigmatic, plaintive ballads.

Commercial sucess eludes Aqualung, even after scoring hits with 'Strange And Beautiful', soundtracking a Volkswagen Beetle advert in 2002, and 'Brighter Than Sunshine' in 2003. Perhaps a move to Columbia Records, USA will change Matt Hales' fortunes for the better. But for now, look to his 2007 album, 'Memory Man' for gorgeous,swirling, wistful music that could fill up a stadium as well as a concert-hall, in atmospherics, if not in audience. He also broke out the hard, rawkin' guitar, feedback, vocoders and breakbeats, so *take that* to all those knee-jerk Coldplay comparisions.

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The Migraine-Inducing Reading List (Or:What NOT to Read When Hungover...)

By: Eeleen Lee on 8:04 am

1. "The Man In The High Castle"-Phillip K. Dick

A book-within-a-book subplot worked into a quixotic slice of alternative history: what if the Axis Powers had won World War II? Can you handle it?
If not, and if you really really need your dose of quality Dick (snigger!) go and watch 'Blade Runner' or 'Minority Report'. Do not complain that movie adaptations do not do full justice to PKD's literary vision- there's a very good reason why. Film studios are not be held responsible for disintegrating the brains of screenwriters, directors and test-audiences into puddles of steaming goo.









2. "Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings" - Jorge Luis Borges


The stories in this volume have been likened to philosophical Chinese-box puzzles. Borges' genius is indisputable but what happens when you try to solve any puzzle with a migraine and/or hangover? You give up after two minutes. Return to Borges when you are back under the influence, even at the risk of forgetting any insights when you sober up or come down.



                                                      3. "Ulysses"-James Joyce

*Such* a weighty tome! Here's a heavy book in all senses of the word. I recommend the annotated edition- only because I get a sadistic thrill from thinking of all you poor migraine/ hangover sufferers trying to read obscure footnotes and keeping up with definitions. Save yourself the trouble and bash yourself over the head with this one. It won't cure your headache but you'll forget all about it if you take aim and apply enough force.








4. "Only Revolutions" by Mark Z. Danielewski

It's hard enough trying to read in a straight line when you are chugging down Panadols and Alka-Seltzer. All the text in this novel goes up and down, in two-toned curlicues and in mirror-image. The book title is apt enough- you'll be seeing spirals when you try to read this. If this book makes sense to you or the spirals are big green pythons that are talking to you about the postmodern tropes in this book, then your problem is bigger than a hangover or a migraine.

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Book of the Month

By: Eeleen Lee on 12:10 pm

"Looking For Jake And Other Stories"- China Mieville


What is it about the genre, 'fantasy' that tends to put the average female reader off? The incessant noodling on the ins and outs of sorcery and dragonlore? The lack of convincing female characterizations? The constant quests that take the heroes across more terrain and culture-clashes than an average season of "The Amazing Race"? The male hegemony that governs the lands of fantasy?



Hats off then, to London-based author, China Mieville a two-time winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, for Perdido Street Station (2001) and Iron Council (2005). He eschews the cliches of modern fantasy- no swords, no sorcery, no wizards and warriors, and no array of mythological creatures improbably co-existing on the same plain. His weltanschauung is urban, dark, paranoid and grotesque. Dip into this book and be richly rewarded for your courage.

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