She talks to wolves...

Now we come to the end: the end of my semester, and the end of the 2009 IAF Auction. I won't regale you with harrowing tales of the four books and ten articles I'm reading, along with the two papers I'm writing. Instead, I'll throw shiny things at you. As usual. Behold the final auctions! Behold beaded bookmark glory and breathtaking jumbled masks and gorgeous pendantry!

Remember, hovering over the image with your mouse will reveal the title of the piece and clicking will take you directly to the auction pages:

For your Black Friday safety and pleasure, I exhort you to stay at home! If you have the need to throw money at shiny things, please consider doing so at IAFauctions.com. Not only will you be bidding on remarkable, one-of-a-kind items, but you'll be donating to a fascinating cause: the transgressing of borders, the breaking of genres, and the creation of art without categorization. I'm a fan of that kind of artistic freedom; aren't you?

Behold the tiny promo-pics of the auctions currently running below! If curiosity moves you, hovering over the image with your mouse will reveal the title of the piece and clicking will take you directly to the auction pages:

And now, to repeat myself from last week (mostly because I have to work all day and the rest of the time I'm neck-deep in a paper about Irish folklore and the Wildes):

In case you needed more evidence that interstitial art is worth the plunge into weird and uncharted seas, remember that you can read several stories for free at the IAF Annex. I never did get to mention the ultimate offering: "Quiz" by Eilis O'Neal, and it was another of my favorites. So, tell me, "Which is harder to get rid of: a wicked stepmother or a frog that insists you keep your promises to it?"

Also, the introduction to Interfictions 2 by Henry Jenkins has been put up over at the IAF's website: "On the Pleasures of Not Belonging." I heartily recommend it as it's quite fascinating.

My friend poisoninjest is awesome: not only is she amusing, engaging, and clever*, but she makes fantastic and affordable jewelry. Even better (if you share my proclivities), they're often inspired by Shakespearean plays or certain well-known vampire melodramas**.

Oh, let me just let her introduce Idol Ceremony in her own (and Shakespeare's) words:

What have kings that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
Shakespeare, Henry V

Idol Ceremony, gewgaws and regalia: My jewelry reflects my passion for all things literary, with many pieces inspired by my favorite written works and the culture of the medieval and Renaissance periods. Gewgaw is an early modern term meaning a bauble, a trifle; something flashy and gaudy, of little value. Regalia, on the other end of the spectrum, is accessorizing fit for a queen. I seek out inexpensive metals and glass in interesting patterns and vibrant colors in order to provide starving philosophers like myself something joyful and shiny at an affordable price.

She really does. Her work is gorgeous and elegant, spanning from the usual adornments to suncatchers and ornaments. Furthermore, she's a consummate sales lady of prompt delivery and thoughtful packaging. (More jewelry vendors should include tiny polishing cloths with their deliveries!)

The striking piece pictured at the above right is "Dracula," all vital blood-red and scintillating silver and murmurs of seduction, death, and Victorian restraint. I'm afraid you can't have it, though - it tripped its way into my jewelry box quite some time ago. I'm not at all sorry to say that the earrings to the left - "the dying year," an arresting moment of the winter come captured in silver and leaves and knotwork - will soon be following suit. But you can have "mo chuisle" - "my pulse" in Irish Gaelic - if you hurry. Or this distillation of the war between the Houses of Lancaster and York or these achingly simple earrings (such perfect evocation of winter) or this fierce pendant, "The Roaring Girl." Or, or, or... sigh.

There's so much more loveliness to be found in her Etsy shop: fly you hence! I wish my purse deeper than it is. (Did I mention she's offering gift wrapping now? Or that she always offers a special bulk offer? Yuletide gifts for everyone!)





* Seriously, friend her as the creator of Idol Ceremony, stay for the hilarious commentary on television and also the Cavendish Cheese Smackdown.

** Yes, that one. With the synthetic blood. No, and the one by the Irish guy. Yep. I know, isn't it cool?

Until recently, I had never read Hamlet. I have still never seen a production of the play: not on stage, not on film. And yet, I am pretty familiar with this particular Shakespearean work. Somehow, throughout twenty-eight years of life, I have accrued knowledge of this play. I knew many lines before reading it (and was surprised by how many more I knew that I hadn't known came from Hamlet). I knew the story and the characters and had no trouble following Stephen Greenblatt's book-length analysis Hamlet in Purgatory before reading the text of the play itself.

I have no idea how this happened. Well, I know how I picked up the lines - Shakespeare's material gets recycled in everything from other works of literature to television shows to magnets and aprons and t-shirts. But where and when did I hear the story of Hamlet in the first place? When did I first learn who Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are? Was it really from seeing part of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead performed at a high school forensics competition? How did I first pick up the tragedy of Ophelia, come to associate her with wilting flowers and pale limbs, drowned?

My mother tells me she told me the story as a child, although I don't really remember this. However, I fully believe my mother was that awesome (and bizarre); after all, suitable bedtime fare was William Blake's The Tyger right alongside Puff the Magic Dragon.

I am incredibly excited about getting to discuss this play under Dr. H, whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for Shakespeare are quite something to experience.

I am almost as excited about the Hamlet-themed event I am planning to celebrate (hopefully) surviving the rest of this semester. See, I am the kind of geek who likes to do things like read books, discuss them with her husband (and other interested parties), and then watch film adaptations or appropriations of those works with a fully themed menu. (The most spectacular occasion of this has been history-themed: Andy and I had an "Axis Friday" a few years ago where we discussed World War II, watched Letters from Iwo Jima and Downfall, and ate German and Japanese food. Not at the same time. We also had an Italian wine at some point during the day. Last December, we had a themed event for Moby Dick, but I fell down on the New England menu.)

So, this December, I'm planning to watch a film production of Hamlet (and also Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead) and am periodically working on a suitable Danish menu. If any of you know Danish food, suggestions are certainly welcome. Yes, I'd like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all to be thematically appropriate.

...yes, these are the kinds of things that keep me sane when two term papers are threatening to eat me. Why do you ask?

To wit, a poll! You're not necessarily deciding this for me, dear LJ Flist, but I do value your opinions.

SEE LIVEJOURNAL FOR POLL.

And let's close this with some funny: one foul-mouthed illustration and a pretty accurate summation of Hamlet behind the cut!

( Cut-tag, thy name is Clicky! )

Fun times. By the way, I'm on GoodReads! If you are too, you should swing by and say hello.


P.S. Regarding the choice of film adaptation in the poll... this is a question of which Hamlet should I watch first because I fully intend to watch several as time goes by.

The Interstitial Arts Foundation's 2009 auction in honor of Interfictions 2 has begun! Bid early and often on marvelous pieces!

Auction #1: A Necklace for Valentines

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(I promise not to spam y'all with a post once every auction goes up - instead, I'll do weekly round-up posts on Fridays. Still, I hope you'll check IAFAuctions.com every day!)

Oh my! Y'all, this week's installment in the IAF Annex is exactly my sort of thing! It is brilliant and evocative and messed up and yes. Seriously, I could plagiarize myself from the IAF blog post and tell you "[t]his evocative interfiction prompts us to reflect on monsters and the liminality of experience," but I really just want to tell you "GO READ IT ALREADY. NOW."

From "Some Things About Love, Magic, and Hair" by Chris Kammerud:

“The thing about Allison is she hated having her name sung to her but loved Elvis Costello. She hated unicorns, too, unless they were bad-ass unicorns that used their horns to impale enemies in the heart. Also, she had hair like the Jersey shore, thick and brown and full of broken glass, among other things. Seashells, gum wrappers, plastic shovels, the occasional condom or lost child. Parts of Allison existed in other dimensions. Her ankle moonlighted as a moonlit hill in one universe, her hip, a smooth fjord in another. She was half-magic, on her father’s side, if you believe her mother. If you believe in that sort of thing at all.”

GO READ IT ALREADY. NOW. (And pre-order your copy of Interfictions 2 - it comes out a week from today!)

Rosemary and Rue by seanan_mcguire is the October book* for Publishers Weekly's Genreville's Book Club. Each month, Rose Fox and Josh Jasper lead discussions focusing on plot, setting, characterization, style, and how well the novel fits into the urban fantasy genre (or the given genre of the chosen book, I presume).

I wish I felt up to taking part in the discussions, but unfortunately I've either been too absorbed by this semester's classes or fighting the plague (just a viciously bad cold, I hope, I swear). I likewise wish I had been able to write my own review of Rosemary and Rue by this point, but I rather think that will have to wait for December when I'm finished with my classes.

However! If you've read Seanan McGuire's debut novel, you shouldn't hesitate to hie you over and discuss your thoughts! Here, I'll even link each of the discussion posts for you:

Day 1: The Plot
Day 2: The Setting
Day 3: The Characters
Day 4: The Style

Also, in case you haven't heard, Seanan has declared that she will shamelessly make a fool of herself record a performance of the "Hey, Mr. God" monologue from The Middleman (yea, even that short-lived TV show) if Rosemary and Rue is the October best-selling book at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. If you haven't bought a copy yet, therefore, I recommend you go ahead and do so. ;) Borderlands Books accepts telephone and Internet orders. Just sayin'.


* I know! How appropriate!

Given my penchant for vampire literature, I don't know how I continued ignorant of this for so long. I rather wish I had, though, for it would have saved me the righteous indignation I feel out of respect for Bram Stoker and his classic work Dracula.

Dacre Stoker, the great grandnephew of Bram Stoker, and Ian Holt (a self-desrcibed vampire fanboy, apparently, who became obsessed with the fanged creatures via Coppola's 1992 film) have presumed to write an official sequel to Dracula.

Now, I certainly don't mind sequels to classic works. It can be entertaining to read them and I'm always amused to think of them as glorified and publishing world-condoned pieces of fanfiction. I've read a few in my time and I will happily read a few more.

But don't call these works official sequels. They were not written by the original author. They were not constructed from notes and partially-finished drafts hidden in an old coffee can on a high shelf. They're interpretive fancy, plain and simple, based in other minds and imaginations than the original.

Hence my indignation over these literary upstarts, 112 years after the fact, penning an official sequel to the granddaddy of all vampire novels.

An official sequel? Really? Fie upon that!

...of course, I'll read it anyway.

P.S. Okay, apparently the publisher claims that the book is based on notes and plot threads excised from Stoker's original novel. Also, they describe Ian Holt as a Dracula historian. When I have a few moments, I'll try to corroborate both of these claims... but I still think that calling this an official sequel is preposterous.

P.P.S. Fine. Maybe Ian Holt has some Dracula research chops (ha). That doesn't make him or Dacre reincarnations of the long-dead Bram. Sequel claim = still preposterous.

Kelly Barnhill was up last week in the Interfictions Annex, ensnaring readers in a shining net of the natural world and lifelong relationships: her offering is both prose and poetry, true stories and ineffable fancies, about one's relationship with the sacred and the profane.

Read her story, "Four Very True Tales," and tell me: which one speaks truth to you?

Ron Pasquariello's "The Chipper Dialogues" went up yesterday and is perhaps the most challenging interstitial piece debuted so far: told sometimes in haiku, sometimes not, it is the collected debris of conversation between dog and man.

Have any of you been following the Annex from week to week? What have you thought of the stories debuted there thus far?

A new story went up yesterday in the Interstitial Art Foundation's Online Story Annex. If you missed my explanation of this ingenious bit of free fiction offering from last week, allow me to quickly recap here:

"You see, Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak received so many remarkable submissions for Interfictions 2 that they simply couldn't whittle their selections down to only the number of pieces that would fit into the book. And so, in a truly interstitial move, they decided to bleed past the borders of bound paper and publication limitations into the world of digital press. What that means for us is another entryway into the world of interstitial art via a smorgasbord of liminal hors d'oeuvres."

Last week, we were treated to a cruelly sumptuous interweaving of cooking tips and fairy tale from Genevieve Valentine.

This week, we're given the winding together of prose and song, in a compelling and stark combination of lyrics and scenes. There's even musical accompaniment by the author!

"Nylon Seam" by F. Brett Cox

What are you waiting for? (Headphones? Oh, okay. Hurry now.) Click on over to the Annex!