I don’t ever seem to write anything happy, or remotely close to happy. I don’t know if that’s good or not, or says something about me. Most things in life I don’t know.
My novels are very dark and depressing, occasionally offset by flairs of humor, since, as people tell me, I actually am quite funny. Mostly in a shocked and appalled, “Did he just say that?” sort of way. Lacking a filter helps. My written humor tends to be dry or satirical, however, often dependent on character interaction and dialogue. Me loves me some dialogue. In real life, I prefer to play off of what other people say rather than be that “funny guy” who’s usually just annoying. I have always detested slapstick but have always loved absurdity and intelligence. My most successful piece of written work, other than my nonfiction, is incredibly absurd and surreal, and even dark in my opinion, and when I read it aloud to a decently sized audience, it was generally well received. With exception of the older community, since I swore a ton during it. I got to scream FUCKING SHIT more than once, in succession.
It’s a surprising juxtaposition that I’m just now discovering—my nonfiction being more witty and upbeat, I guess more like myself, and my fiction being so dark and gritty, or just plain fucked-up. I like to torture my characters. Perhaps because I’m a masochist?
Maybe it’s because of the authors I read. Bret Easton Ellis is one of my favorites, and if you know anything about him, you know his books are not only dark, but often revolting, depressing, and filled with the most flawed characters you can imagine. Flaws are beautiful. I enjoy his work so deeply I wrote a twenty-five page research paper on him and his novels. Less than Zero is my second favorite novel of all time, and what I love so much about Ellis is that he somehow connects of all his books together, whether through reoccurring characters or places, or themes that randomly appear again and again. It’s magical. I really need to read his new novel.
But what’s my favorite novel? Since I write and mostly read fantasy, one would suspect a fantasy novel sits on top of my list. Actually, no. Feed by M.T. Anderson is by far my favorite novel—even better since he was one of the authors I met during my stay at UConn. Feed is sci-fi, so close to fantasy, and technically a young-adult book. I will not go into details in fear of ruining the novel for anyone, but it is a must read for anyone who appreciates humor and romance and tragedy and satire all combined into one epic tale, or anyone who just appreciates an amazing story. Please read it. If you know me, I’ll let you borrow it. If you don’t know me, you’re probably not reading this anyway.
This blog has no order. Oh well. I don’t want to exclude of my third favorite novel, since it’s an entirely different sort. It’s by Steven King, which may or may not be a surprise; I’ve read most of his work. While The Stand and The Dome are Hearts of Atlantis are all phenomenal, Wizard and Glass is far, far better. It’s part of The Gunslinger series, book four, and shockingly, it’s a love story. By far the best love story I’ve ever read. I love good love stories, as long as they seem real, with real people, and aren’t anything like Dear John. My mother kept telling me to read that “book”, so to shut her up I did, and it was probably the worst thing I ever read. I threw it out a window in disgust at the end. I could rant about it for pages, and all my points are entirely accurate if you understand ANYTHING about people and life and love, but I’m sure there’s enough people out there bashing Mr. Sparks. And to think, I actually read and enjoyed The Notebook. WTF Sparks?! Anyway, Wizard and Glass is nearly a stand alone despite being part of a series, and it’s enchanting, heartbreaking, and beautiful. It made me respect Steven King so much more, which I didn't think was even possible.
So yeah, I had no intentions of writing about any of this tonight. I actually wanted to write flash fiction, but then I got sidetracked.
No comments:
Post a Comment