Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

1) Twilight

Started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

This is more of a typical short story. First half is here, and if anyone likes it, I'll add the second half later on.

PHASE UP

BY

MADOC DARKSTONE


The end

I can quite clearly remember the moment of my own death. The feel of the poison ripping through my guts: the pain, the sweat, the muscle spasms, the burning. The cold circlet of metal against my temple. A brief flash of light, then nothing. Just black, soothing, nothingness.

I always did like to be thorough.

After the end

When I was next aware of myself, my surroundings were so strange, so � alien, that for a long time I could do nothing but stare in disbelief.

Imagine if you will a vast grid of shining blue lines, stretching up, down, left, right, back and front into the far distance. Then imagine that the grid also stretches into the past and the future.

Can you picture it?

Perhaps not; perhaps you had to be there.

I'm not sure how long it was before I realised that this grid was, indeed, four dimensional. I don't think that in a visible four-dimensional space, time can have any real meaning. It seemed like a long time. I'm also not sure how I realised that the grid extended through time. Intuitive faculties seemed to be enhanced in that place.

At each intersection of the blue lines, at each node, was a bright sphere of bright, grey light. I was just such a sphere.

That came as a shock! No body, just a grey, opaque sphere composed of light, or something like light.

I can hear your complaints now! How could I see anything with no eyes? Again, I can't tell you. You had to have been there. I just perceived, maybe with organs for which there is no name. I also moved without limbs, by pure volition, and spoke without tongue or mouth or lips.

Obviously I'm using these words 'see, move, speak' as the nearest equivalents that our languages provide.

My neighbours

It took me a while, but then I realized that if I was still me, and I was a grey sphere, then all the others I could see were probably persons, or what was left of persons, as well. Don't forget, I remembered my death, so whatever I was experiencing, this had to be my persona, or spirit, or soul � or something.

This is where it gets even stranger.

By an effort of will, I drifted along one of the blue lines and spoke to a near grey sphere.

It was not human.

It communicated by a series of images. I suppose I did as well. The images it transmitted were too alien for me to comprehend much; I can only imagine that mine were the same to it.

Too surprised to be anxious or disappointed, I drifted in another direction and tried another sphere. Human, from the recent past.

This random chatting was how I established directions - one way for the past, another for the future. Needless to say, the future was empty - it hadn't happened yet, had it? Vacant nodes, waiting for occupants.

But the people I did speak to! Some of the greatest minds in human history; mass murderers; kings, queens, tyrants; philosophers and poets - I spent an age drifting and talking. Fatigue wasn't a factor, or hunger, or thirst. Just a pure, intellectual joy such as I'd never known. A joy that no person could experience before death.

Interrogation

Yes, I got lost. I think my node was up, back, left and later - but it didn't matter. Before I could get seriously worried, I was summoned back. It started as a gentle tug, that soon became an irresistible pull; a pull that had me hurtling down lines and through nodes at a speed that defied comprehension. Yet this was not a physical pull, more of a psychic one.

Then I was back in my node and they started to question me.

This is where it gets stranger still.

The � beings � came to question me. They came from a direction that I can't even begin to describe. A direction that was yet another dimension removed from the three we can see and the fourth we pass through.

They drained me like a vacuum cleaner sucking up dust. All my thoughts, all my memories, feelings, attitudes - everything sucked up and absorbed. And yet I still had all my thoughts and memories left! They took only copies.

From them I learned what was expected of me in this place.

My job was to think on problems they set me; and deliver a solution. It did not matter whether or not the solution was objectively correct - it just had to seem right to me.

Nor did it matter how long I took to arrive at that solution. I suppose the beings reckoned, correctly, that boredom would motivate we spheres to finish one problem and get started on the next as quick as possible. And perhaps time was of no concern to them since they lived in dimensions beyond time. Soon or late; near or far; it was all one to them.

There was no punishment for not answering. You just had that one new thing to think of in the unchanging eternal grid. Sooner or later you would have to provide an answer or go mad from sheer boredom.

They also taught me that there was only one thing that was punishable in this place - leaving my node and wandering, as I had just done. They told me that I had not been punished already, because I did not know any better. But they told me that next time I would suffer.

Strangely, I got the idea that they hadn't noticed my absence for some time - perhaps they had been otherwise occupied? Not infallible or all-powerful beings then. I stored that thought for future reference.

I was allowed to communicate with other spheres by passing thoughts/images/ideas back and forth along the blue lines - but I was not allowed to leave my node.

This started me wondering - why? What was it that we were not supposed to see? Was there something we could do to affect the course of events here?

1. Netherland

I really liked it!

"They drained me like a vacuum cleaner sucking up dust. All my thoughts, all my memories, feelings, attitudes - everything sucked up and absorbed. And yet I still had all my thoughts and memories left! They took only copies."

Very nice :]

More please...

Oh, I almost forgot...What is the back story to your story?

waves Hi to Dee again

Wrote this one to go in another volume of a sci-fi/horror anthology, probably about eighteen months ago, very shortly after I had resumed writing following an interlude of 25 years. As far as I can recall, it was based on a book I was reading at the time (I won't say what,because that would give the ending away) and a programme about ... well, I won't say that yet either;-)

All will be revealed in the next episode!

*gets out a non-pointy stick and starts poking*

So, next question...where is the book?

Hi Dee

I'm not going to start shamelessly plugging my own stuff yet - although I'm sure I will eventually. However, if you go to lulu.com and search for Dark Side of the Sun, the full story is in volume two - but I'll be putting the rest of the story up here in a while anyway. Some of each anthology is by me, most is by Roger Cottrell, also a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ member, and "Phase-up" is probably one of the mildest things in there. The rest of the content does contain strong language, violence, adult themes, and dark visions of dystopian alternate realities.

We are actually going to tidy up and re-release all three volumes of the anthology, this time with ISBN numbers, and the first one should be out around the end of this month, proabably appearing in Barnes and Noble, Amazon & co about the end of March.

Hey Paul,
If you can't plug your writing on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ...where can you?

Please drop me a note when your book is out in March. I look forward to the read.

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

"There was no punishment for not answering. You just had that one new thing to think of in the unchanging eternal grid. Sooner or later you would have to provide an answer or go mad from sheer boredom. "
interesting, i like it, this whole thing is deffiantly not like the others.

2. Lady Chatterley's Lover

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
3) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

3. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
3) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4) A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore

4. Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon

Grady Tripp is a writer, a pothead and a shiftless cheater. He has been working fruitlessly on a monster of a novel entitled Wonder Boys which he has believed for the past seven years to be his eventual saving grace. The story thus follows approximately two days of Grady's life where a series of spectacular mishaps leads him down a path of comical delinquency involving dead pets and stolen celebrity-wear.

This was another case of I loved the writing style but was only mildly impressed by the story itself. I seem to have come across a lot of these types of novels lately. MC has a gift. He has the ability to lump together a joke, a moral, a sermon and an epithet all in one sentence and throw it at you like a brick. I was in stitches half of the time and the other half I was left pondering..

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
3) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4) A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore
5) Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
3) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4) A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore
5) Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
February:
6)Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
7)Double Cross by James Patterson

5. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram is the partially autobiographical story of a man who escapes from prison in Australia and finds himself in India. At first he is bewildered and taken aback by the sheer scope of the country and the numbers of people. However, he quickly falls in love with India and the various characters he meets while he travels to a tiny Marathi village, when he works as a doctor in a Mumbai slum, while he moonlights as a goonda for an infamous Muslim gangster. This is truly an epic tale of one man's transformation and his infinite love for a beautiful nation.

This is my second time through this novel and I found it just as inspiring and heartbreaking as my first time through it. Lin Ford is a good man just trying to find a way to atone for his past life and to scour his heart clean in a nation that so willingly embraces him. The way the author describes India is breathtaking, as cliche as this sounds, I honestly felt like I've traveled there and was immersed in its rich and vibrant culture.

My one complaint with the book is that Roberts tends to get a little too flowery with his passages and descriptions. I never thought I'd say that, but there's a limit to the number of obscure and grandiose statements he can make. I mean come on, the book is already over 1,000 pages long

6. Paint it Black - Janet Fitch

The author of White Oleander brings a new novel of despair and longing in a dreamy, hazy Los Angeles. Josie has lost her boyfriend through suicide and she struggles to pick up the pieces of her life, but his estranged mother Meredith insists on insinuating herself into Josie's life. Josie gives up trying to forget Michael and instead finds herself inexplicably extricated in Meredith's posh lifestyle, so foreign from her own grimy, punk-ish origins.

This was a very well-written book. I read the advanced reader's copy which means I read the version that hadn't been fully edited, and I couldn't find much to pick at. JF is excellent at conveying the utter sense of loss and despair that poor Josie suffered through after Michael killed himself. You begin to ache, understanding Josie's desolation. Los Angeles is a perfect setting for such a story. You can never really feel whole in LA. You can surround yourself with dozens of friends and go out to dinners, soirees and concerts, and still feel yourself a ghost in a city filled with other like ghostly souls.

My complaint with the story is that it ended rather abruptly. I didn't feel like there was enough meat to the story. Maybe a novel like this can't really fully tie itself together but I was left feeling rather unfulfilled.

January:
1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
3) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4) A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore
5) Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
February:
6)Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
7)Double Cross by James Patterson
8)His Illegal Self - Peter Carey

7. The True Story of the Kelly Gang: A Novel - Peter Carey

This is a fictional account of the life of Ned Kelly. Carey separates the stories into "parcels" and writes in the voice of Kelly writing to his young daughter, who he never got the opportunity to meet. Ned's life is a difficult one to say the least. He is hounded by the police at every turn and eventually he is driven to the end of his tether. Through his albeit brief acts of rebellion, he made a name for himself as one of Australia's most infamous folk heroes.

Carey stayed true to form and researched the language and even grammar of Kelly's speech style. The end product is a somewhat irritating read but it can't be denied that Carey's assiduousness leads to a novel that just reeks of history. I was fascinated by Ned's early years...his fierce dedication to his mother and siblings, his seeming ambivalence toward his shiftless father, the time he spent "bushranging" with Harry Power across the sere landscape of western Australia. I expected to be even more enthralled when Ned would finally get around to defying the authoritarian stranglehold that had his family in its grip. But sadly no, I was bored. I'm really not sure why, the acts that led to his infamy really brooked no interest for me. Perhaps Carey should have spent more time on Ned's thought process behind his rebellion. It just seemed like Ned fell into the role of hero by accident. Which, in retrospect, could honestly have been the case...buut, for me, the latter half of the book fell flat and I was disappointed.

8. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse is the third installment of the Twilight saga and the least entertaining book of the series yet. The Cullens have returned to Forks and life is back to "normal" for Bella except that due to Edward's return, she has lost the valuable friendship of her...shall we say, unique friend Jacob. As per the previous two books in the series, Bella continues to be hunted by other sadistic vampires and everyone rushes to her aid in a final climactic blow-out.

A remarkable amount of NOTHING happened in these 629 (!!) pages. At least in the previous two novels, Meyer manages to throw in a lot more action and entertainment but man, in this book..it took her nearly half of a thousand pages for anything remotely interesting to happen. The first three quarters of the book is literally Bella whining about how she's no longer friends with Jacob and dissimilating with Edward about marriage and her eventual state of vampirism. Woof.

I'm determined to finish the series, however. It's a compulsion. I read all five installments of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, one right after the other because I HAD to. It must be an OCD thing.

Rowena - I felt the same as you do about finishing a series I had started. After the Twilight Saga, I started another vampire series by Jennifer Rardin. Although I didn't particularly like the first one, I kept reading. Three more books later, I still didn't like the series any better than the first book! I loved the Twilight series, so I hope it gets better for you with Breaking Dawn.

Haha thanks Amber, I'm glad someone else understands the compulsion!

March:
7)The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

9. The World According to Garp - John Irving

The World According to Garp begins with the decision of Jenny Fields to have a child in a most unorthodox manner. She's indifferent toward men and derives no pleasure from the thought of married life. Therefore, she endeavors to impregnate herself in a manner where she will never again have to contend with a man. And thus, TS Garp is born. Garp grows up to be a writer. The rest of the novel is peppered with a few of his "short" stories meant to give the reader insight into Garp's own peculiar intuitions.

My lame "synopsis" really didn't do justice to this amazing novel. I first read it at 18 and now at 25, I find that the book has much more meaning and substance. The best thing about Irving's writing is that he's so blithely WEIRD. His characters say and do the strangest things, however, Irving is probably the only author that writes so true to life. Garp and all the other main characters are almost painfully real and you can't help but form a keen attachment to them.

As Irving says in his introduction, this novel is his way to express a father and husband's many fears. Death, loss, sorrow, rape, infidelity are all wrapped up in this whopper of a novel but it reads at a truly wonderful, breakneck pace.

Rowena wrote: "9. The World According to Garp - John Irving

The World According to Garp begins with the decision of Jenny Fields to have a child in a most unorthodox manner. She's indifferent toward men and deri..."

I should really read this. I loved the movie and get the sense that it just scratched the surface of all that the book entails. Though I would always be picturing Robin Williams as Garp.

Hi Molly, I've never seen the movie and I definitely should. But yes, read the book. It'll knock your socks off :)

March:
9)The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
10) Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

10. Heyday - Kurt Andersen

A great period novel based in 1840's Paris, London, New York City and California. The story tells of the adventures of 4 people, thrown together by circumstance, but bound by their love of freedom. From the French Revolution to the California Gold Rush, Heyday covers some of the most significant events that formulated the United States' beginnings.

I'm always one for a good, swashbuckling historical read and this novel didn't fail. It was so clearly well researched that style of dress, lingo and descriptions of locations seemed to pop out of the pages. The characters were a bit one-dimensional and the plot predictable, and the entire section when they arrive in California seems stilted and odd -- but I didn't read this book to be astounded by it's literary capacity. I just wanted a nice, historical tome that I could completely immerse myself in and forget that real life exists, ha.

Rowena, I must say I have the same opinion... in first two books there is some action (besides the neverending whinning of Bella).. I read it in Czech (my mother tongue) and thought that it's caused by terrible translation.. but then I tried to read it in english - and in Eclipse - there was no change at all.. (other books were better readable in english - the translation was really bad..).
Now I'm reading THe Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and must say that it's better..

Persephone, I've heard a lot of good things about "The Interview with the Vampire" so that's definitely going on my to-read list.

Twilight in Czech...that must be interesting!

11. The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes

Gemma, Jojo and Lily are three women with entirely different lives, but they are coincidentally joined by the world of publishing. They each have their story to tell, replete with career disasters, comic romantic escapades and not so comic heartbreaks.

I read Marian Keyes when I need a good dose of escapism -- and it works every time. This is maybe the third time I've read through this book and it's still just as humorous and pleasurable as the first readthrough. To my knowledge, Marian Keyes is the best storyteller I've ever come across. While her content may be considered a bit "fluffy" and chick-litty, she really knows how to keep the reader interested and invested in the characters' lives. Each woman is made all the more human with her idiosyncracies, her manners of speech, her pettiness, her ambitions, her joys, her sorrows. As cheesy as all of this sounds, I feel like I owe MK a debt of gratitude for always keeping me entertained and distracted, especially during life's little low points.

March:
9)The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
10) Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
11) On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

12. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky

This is the tale of Prince Muishkin who returns to Russia from Switzerland, where he was being treated for his epilepsy. Although still prone to his fits, Muishkin returns to society, only to find his gentle and naturally kind nature beset by the greedy, argumentative, petty turmoils of society.

This was my first introduction to romantic Russian literature and I'm not sure I'm a fan. I like my classics to be light, witty, humorous...a la Thackeray...Alcott. Dostoevsky is a phenomenal writer but his plot was really very ponderous and steeped in jealousy and tragedy. A little heavier than I would have liked, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. My main complaint with the book is that there was not a single character I liked. No, not even Muishkin who is supposed to be "good" and "noble." What good can goodness do when innocence fails in such a depraved society?

thumbs up for your first ten!

13. The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst

21-year-old Nick Guest has graduated from Oxford and is moving in with the Feddens, a wealthy family of London society, whose patriarch is a member of parliament. It is 1983 and Nick is venturing shyly into homosexual forays while avidly pursuing and admiring the glamour of high society.

This book is astounding. From Hollinghurst's complicated spill of sentences, the reader is introduced to the glittering, yet sickly superficial world of the London elite. Nick is at the center of it all, at first as a shy and awkward naif, and then transformed into a preening "don" as he learns to mimic the airs and graces of the wealthy. He fondly believes he is pursuing this "line of beauty" by become one of the elite, but is unaware of the inherent crassness of these people. He is blinded by their charm, their false lustre.

While reading this book, it came upon me suddenly that the pursuit of beauty is an admirable thing, no matter what you believe beauty to be defined as. However, it cannot be denied that beauty cannot and will not return the favor. What you find to be beautiful is generally aloof, cold, and far-and-away. Think of a vista of sweeping mountains, a moving song, even a beautiful person....you're never very warmed by the beauty..in fact it almost provides a cold chill -- it is deeply alluring, yes -- but still heartbreaking in the knowledge that it is unattainable.

This was the message I gleaned from Hollinghurst's wonderful story. And never did I feel preached at...Hollinghurst wrapped his conceptioins in gossamer layers of wit, subtlety and delicious humor. A book worthy of many re-reads and most certainly worthy of the Man Booker Prize.

I love how well-rounded your choices have been, Shary! Hats off to you!

14. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer

(SPOILER BELOW)

The final installment of the Twilight series. Bella and Edward marry, they have an unbearably adorable half vampire half human child, Bella becomes a vampire, then follows 400 pages of insatiable nothingness, then about a grillion vampires meet in some crazy summit in Washington state, aaaaand nothing happens.

So based on my summary, I'm sure you can tell that I couldn't wait to finish this blasted book. Thank goodness it's the last in the series. It's like Stephenie Meyer ran out of steam after the first 100 pages and decided to haphazardly write whatever came into her head at very moment with no thought for the plot. Ugh...it was terrible!! I won't lie, I did enjoy the first three books but for this to be the series finale was a total disappointment. I want my money back. Okay well I borrowed the book, but I want my time back at least.

Mary Todd wrote: "thumbs up for your first ten!"

Thanks! I'm getting there!

Leshawn wrote: "I love how well-rounded your choices have been, Shary! Hats off to you!"

Thank you Leshawn. I'm usually all over the place when it comes to what I read.

March:
9)The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
10) Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
11) On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
12) The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks

15. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

This is the dark story of Humbert Humbert and his obsession with the young "Lolita." Humbert, from an early age, exhibits unusual proclivities, namely the sexual, hungering desire for very young girls -- "nymphets." They're not necessarily very pretty or bright, but to HH, they exude an aura of come-hither disingenuity that he finds impossible to turn away from. Dolores Haze (Lolita) is such a girl and through a series of accidents, finds herself in the inescapable grasp of this desperate older man.

Nabokov, you did it again. I read a series of your delectable short stories a few months ago and thus I turned to Lolita in eager anticipation. I am not disappointed. Despite its extremely disturbing plotline, Nabokov draws you in with the seductiveness of his language. Each sentence is so rich, it's like biting into a particularly succulent apple...you know the kind. I went back and read certain sentences over and over, simply for the sheer visceral pleasure they gave me.

And because his writing was so forceful...it made the outre plotline that much more vivid and disturbing. Reading into HH's almost painful honesty made me squirm but also hunger for more...to delve into the mind of such a man who was capable of such atrocities.

April:
13)The Road - Cormac McCarthy

16. The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe

New York in the 80's really isn't much different from New York today. Is that a depressing thought? I think so...This novel follows a year in the life of a Wall street bond trader whose life is shattered following a particularly stupid and tragic accident. Sherman McCoy had it all and he knew it. The Park Avenue "palace," the million dollar job, the luscious mistress. After an incident in the Bronx, Sherman's life is unraveled to the world, including a status-hungry DA and the cynical cops who hound the case.

I absolutely loved this book. Wolfe is unstinting in his painfully honest portrayal of New York scoiety. Whether you're a Wall street bond trader or a Bronx beat cop, you have the satisfaction of your own righteousness. I am utterly fascinated by the sheer ARROGANCE of these people. The belief that they cannot be touched simply because they have money or pride. What this book reveals is that no one is infallible. If you believe that you are, you're living a deluded life and I believe that many people in New York do so. This city engenders that "superman complex" of you-can't-touch-me presumption. It's both understandable and sickening at the same time. This novel takes place in the early 80s, yet I felt that any of the events could have happened today. In fact, what happens to Sherman McCoy is eerily similar to the Bernie Madoff story of today. Read this novel if you want a relevant and truthful presentation of New York

17. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

18. Empire Falls - Richard Russo