November 2011
28 posts
A Good-bye note to Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011) →
sf-fantasy.suvudu.com
Anne’s books were not the best I’d ever read. In fact, I spent more of my time criticising them than I’d like to admit, as time passed. But I loved them, and her, fiercely.
I was a lonely, sheltered, chronically teased 12 year-old browsing the adult SF-F stacks at the satellite library down the street. I picked up Dragonquest, pulled in by the tropical technicolor of Michael Whelan’s cover illustrations, and my life changed.
It wasn’t even the first book of the series — it started out in media res, I had no idea who anyone was or what was going on, and I didn’t even care. I didn’t care, because a stranger — an Irish author who I would never meet — had just that moment reached through time and space and delivered the revelation that dragons don’t die when you leave childhood. That worlds you know in your mind were no less real and vital than the worlds around us that we touch and look at every moment without truly seeing or knowing. That imagination was worthwhile.
Oh god, and here I am in my office, my productivity completely derailed as I type this with tears in my eyes and people are starting to give me that “oh god she’s crying what do we do” eyebrow, and you know what? I still don’t care. Because right now everything this woman ever showed me is painful in the back of my mind and the back of my throat and it needs to be said.
Anne McCaffrey taught me that anything could be real if it could be felt. Anne McCaffrey taught me that imagination and words steeped in Irish grit and determination were truly formidable instruments. Anne McCaffrey taught me to write. Not how to write, but to write. Period. Take the stories in your head and share them and if some don’t agree, or if some criticize, it means you’ve made them care.
Imagine. Don’t ever stop imagining. To imagine is to give life. The voices in your head, the lives, the ideas, the green skies and twin moons and the flying beasts are real. Don’t ever for a moment believe they’re not. Let them live with you, as Anne did. As I swear to always do.
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be at your back
May the sun shine always on your face
May the rain fall softly on your field
Until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand
Fly high, Anne. Rest in peace.
“
Beneath my hands
your small breasts
are the upturned bellies
of breathing fallen sparrows.
Wherever you move
I hear the sound of closing wings
of falling wings.
I am speechless
because you have fallen beside me
because your eyelashes
are the spines of tiny fragile animals.
I dread the time
when your mouth
begins to call me hunter.
When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.
I want them
to surrender before you
the trembling rhyme of your face
from their deep caskets.
When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want my body and my hands
to be pools
for your looking and laughing.
Leonard Cohen (via bohemea)
((Two long-ish text posts in a row. I’m in that sort of mood.))
Buuuh. <3
(via aetherbox)
Very clever, but it's turtles all the way down.: Panel Layouts →
atmilliways.tumblr.com
pastanomicon asked you:
I’m starting my own comic and, three pages in, I’ve been realizing how much paneling can affect pages. I was wondering if you had any tips or resources that you like for paneling in general. Your comics flow so naturally! Do you have any advice?…
Sydney Smith Sketchbook: Process Advice for Illustrators and Creators Alike →
sydneydraws.tumblr.com
this is wonderful stuff from the amazing Jillian Tamaki.
Idea GenerationOct 19th, 2008
[Below is a handout that for a little talk I gave on concept generation for my class at Parsons. I thought maybe you would enjoy it, since Frank seems to get a great reception when he gets all…