Posts Tagged ‘holidays’

An Idea From A Gift

Posted: December 21, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, short story, Writing
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This weekend I spent part of it with my dad and my sister at my dad’s place. I needed to pick up my suit for a friend’s wedding and I wanted to attend my friend’s aufruf* at his synagogue (plus who doesn’t love spending time with their family? Don’t answer that question). While I was there, I received a Hannukah gift from a friend of the family who has known me since I was a baby. I wasn’t able to get the gift until now because the gift came after I left for campus. I was surprised but happy to get the gift and I wondered what she’d gotten me this year.

This friend, who I’ll call T, always sends a small but very interesting and unusual gift. This year was no different, and it’s by far the most interesting, unusual, and amazing gift I’ve ever gotten from her. A small human heart, made entirely of graphite. A working pencil in the shape of a heart. Take a look below.

graphite heart

I was so amazed when I saw it. It’s so amazing, it’s so macabre, it’s so…me. T knows me, God bless that woman. And I didn’t even know it was possible to carve graphite with such detail. I’m glad to get it. However, I’m not sure I can use it. In fact, I’m afraid to take it out of the box and touch it, let alone use it as an unusual pencil. Still, I think I will keep it. The heart is so my style, and best of all, it’s inspired an idea for a short story. Nothing can be bad if it inspires an idea for a story. I’m not sure what sort of story yet, but I have a feeling a similar graphite heart will be bringing something not human to life. Isn’t that terrifying?

So I’m going to add it to my list of short story ideas (about sixty story ideas so far. Where will I find the time to write them all?), and then I’m going to call up my mother while there’s still time. I need to get T’s contact information (I don’t have it, if that’s not obvious), and tell her that she got me an amazing gift.

Good night everybody!

*Aufruf: a celebration in Judaism the Shabbat before a wedding. The groom (and in some congregations, the bride) are called up to the Torah to do some special blessings and readings, and get a few special blessings in return. Often candy is thrown at the newlyweds after they have finished the blessings and the kids go to get as many sweets as they can get. Didn’t expect to get a lesson on Jewish custom today, did you?

Video Rage: First Third Done

Posted: September 5, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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I love this shot!

Normally I’d be getting ready for bed now because it’s late and I need my sleep for classes. However, I started writing this evening, and I got so much of Chapter Twelve of Video Rage done, I was like, “No way am I going to let this chapter wait till tomorrow to be finished, especially with the amount of homework I’m likely to have!”

And I’m proud to say the hard work paid off. I’m now about one-third of the way through the first draft of Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City. Well, it’s actually a little less than a third, seeing as the book has a planned 37 chapters, but it’s close enough, so who’s going to start a protest over it? Anyway, it’s a third of the way done, and I’m very excited to announce it.

The last couple chapters I’ve written for VR were actually a lot of work. I had to go through 10 and 11 twice before I could leave them alone, And Chapter Twelve had to be written just right so that it’ll have the impact I want it to have. In fact, a lot happens in Chapter Twelve. I bring up Kony 2012 in the story, and it has an impact on the protagonists, the Hydras. Yeah, I know that video, for all its hype, didn’t lead to Joseph Kony getting caught, but it was influential, which is why I use it in the story.

Remember this video? It makes itself known in Video Rage.

I also made a reference in the chapter to an early idea for VR called Bee Colony, in which the Hydras meet a colony of giant man-bees. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, especially when you consider how Doctor Who used the idea with Agatha Christie. I thought so too about a third of the way into the outline, so I scrapped the idea and went back to the drawing board. It wasn’t until I saw Kony 2012 that I had an alternative to the man-bee plot, and it’s worked out better than the original idea, I’m happy to say. And the honeybees make an appearance in this chapter, though they aren’t man-sized or anything.

Now for the page and word counts. In total, the number of pages I have in this draft so far is 103 (double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in case you were wondering), and the word count so far is 28,039 words. Jeez, this novel’s coming together. I wonder how long it’ll be by the time the first draft is done. Heck, I wonder how long it’ll be when Reborn City comes out in November!

For now though, I’d like to take a little break from writing to rejuvenate and relax, or as much as I can while still doing schoolwork and working 3 days a week. In my spare time, I’ll probably take a few days, read a book, watch my shows, sleep, celebrate the Jewish New Year, edit chapters of Snake when I get them, and make jokes that are funny about thirty percent of the time. After that, I’ll probably write an article for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, and then start on Part II of Laura Horn, the other novel I’m working on at the moment.

Until then though, I’m going to go to bed. Good night everybody, Happy New Year from your friendly Internet Jewish blogger and horror writer, and I’ll write again when I have the energy to do it. See you later!

Review: “World War Z” by Max Brooks

Posted: May 16, 2013 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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I include the “by Max Brooks” part to distinguish this review I will eventually do on the movie (both will probably get a ton of traffic once the movie comes out, I bet). Also, I know I keep saying that I like to put a week’s distance between reviews and it’s only been a few days since I did the review for The Great Gatsby, but this was such a phenomenal novel, what could I do?

As a History major studying the Holocaust and World War II, I read a lot of memoirs by survivors and soldiers alike. As I read Max Brooks’s zombie apocalypse novel, one of the things I was struck by was that it sounded so much like a Holocaust memoir, it was uncanny. And I don’t mean in terms of content–it’s a zombie apocalypse novel, after all–but in terms of how haunted the voices of the characters are. Each section of the novel is a different person’s experience during “The Great Panic” and the war against the living dead, ranging from Chinese to Russian to Chinese to American to South African to Middle Eastern to English and everything in-between. The horrors and haunted tales of each survivor, which are all assembled by a nameless interviewer (Max Brooks in a world that he created, playing the role of reporter, perhaps?) into a single collection of tales, will keep you reading for hours after you should’ve gone to bed.

That’s kind of what happened to me: I was reading late last night, finished the book, and then went to bed. I had the craziest dream afterwards where I lived through my own zombie apocalypse. Just one problem: I didn’t find out what happened to the woman I met in my dream and the baby we were having together! I felt like Dorothy wanting to get back to Oz! Cursed alarm, waking me up in the thick of the battle.

Anyway, another thing I noticed about World War Z was that Brooks thinks of several things that we don’t. I’m not going into detail, but let’s just say that he considers everything from the disadvantages of conventional warfare on zombies, to survival plans foolish and wise, to how the public would react to zombies, and how other people would react to those reactions. It’s so detailed and so well thought-out, you think you’re reading something that actually happened. I’ve read memoirs and history books that have the same level of detail, and it’s crazy how real it all seems. Like Stephen King’s The Stand trying to pass for nonfiction, it feels that real.

A very engrossing read, 5 out of 5 definitely and deserved. I wonder how the movie, which will probably take more liberties than any other book-to-movie adaptation in the history of moviemaking (with the possible exception of Priest), will compare.

Oh, funny story while I have your attention: on Tuesday night, Jews everywhere started Shavuot, one of our more important holidays. During Shavuot, it’s traditional on the first night to have a long study session that lasts late into the night. The study session I attended was divided into two parts, the first consisting of different classes we could take. I took the one on bikkur cholim, which is the commandment to visit the sick but also implies praying and caring for the sick. Near the end of the session and after some lively discussion about the effects of biblical and modern-day quarantine, I asked about bikkur cholim and zombie plagues. The instructor’s answer: “Throw bikkur cholim out the window, and run for your life!” Sounds sensible, doesn’t it?

“The Quiet Game”: A Reading

Posted: February 20, 2013 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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TQG cover

Ah, so many announcements about The Quiet Game, and so few hours in the day! If you haven’t heard already, I created a cover for my upcoming collection of short stories, The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, earlier today and posted it all over the blogosphere, Facebook, and my Twitter account.

Now I have a second announcement: this Friday at my dorm, Jones Tower, there will be a huge Purim celebration. Yes Purim, the Jewish holiday that celebrates our deliverance from the hands of the Babylonian Prime Minister’s plot to murder every single Jew. During the celebration, there will be Hamentaschen, the traditional treat eaten during Purim, masks you can make (it’s basically our Halloween, if you didn’t know), and I’ll be doing a reading from some of my short stories at some point during the festivities. It’s going to be great; I plan on doing a whole lot to make sure it’s so spooky, they may not want to have me read again–

On second thought, maybe I should tone it down a bit.

I’ll try and make a video of the reading and post it on YouTube. Keep your eyes peeled for it.

And if you happen to be in Columbus on Friday night and have nothing to do at 10 PM, please show up. I’d appreciate the support.

Unless of course you’re crazy or want to kill me, in which case I’d like to warn you there are members of the audience who will be attending and who are a part of martial arts societies and groups on campus, and they won’t hesitate to hurt you.

Have a good night, everybody.

To The Love I Have Yet To Meet

Posted: February 14, 2013 in Living and Life, Poetry
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I’m not big on Valentine’s Day. Not only is it Christian in origin and over-commercialized by the candy and card industries, but the whole thing started because an early Christian priest performing illegal marriages in pagan Rome got caught and was fed to the lions for his faith. How romantic.

But even if I don’t care very much for the holiday, and even though I’m not really into looking for a relationship, I thought I’d at least write a poem for the girl who might make me change my mind, settle down, and have a kid or two (though I’m still kind of gung-ho about adopting when I’m ready for kids). So here’s a little Valentine’s Day poem for that girl, wherever she may be. I hope you enjoy it, and Happy Valentine’s Day:

To the love I have yet to meet,
Where you are, I am unsure,
But you will be dear to me.
So dear in fact, that the thought of living without you,
Will take the breath out of my lungs.

Where are you, darling?
Since I am without you, I act like a monk,
Living in chastity without much interest in the opposite sex beyond friendship.
I wait for you to open my eyes, to make me aware of a world I only write about and see,
But never experience.

Oh, when will destiny bring us together?
When will I gaze upon your face,
Converse with you and laugh with you,
And realize that I’m crazy about you?
When will you show me that you love horror movies
(Or at least tolerate them for my sake)
And critique my work with a kind and loving smile?

I wait. I wait, and wait, and wait.
Someday we may meet.
Someday we will know that we are meant for each other and fall madly in love.
Until then, I sit at my computer,
My only lovers the written word and the darkest corners of the human mind.
Until then, my dear.
Au revoir.

It’s The Year of the Snake (Is That A Coincidence?)

Posted: February 12, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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As many of you know, the Chinese New Year was celebrated recently, ushering in the Year of the Snake. As many of you also know, I recently wrote and completed a thriller novel called Snake, which is about a serial killer hunting mafioso. Since Snake will probably be published sometime before this time next year (hopefully), I thought it was a pretty strange but otherwise wonderful coincidence. Of course, the serial killer whom the novel is named after, the Snake, was probably born in the Year of the Rooster like myself, but still it’s a pretty cool coincidence.

And since it’s the Year of the Snake, I thought I’d give you a small sample of Snake, something to let you get a sense of one of my best written works to date (at least in my opinion). It’s from the first chapter, when one of the Snake’s first victims makes contact with the Snake over the phone. It’s creepy and I love it. Enjoy:

            Paul felt a buzz in his pocket and looked down. Through the fabric in his pants Paul could see the light from his phone shining through. Paul reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and dove into a little alcove where he could take the call in peace. Without checking the number he pressed the talk button and brought the phone to his ear.

            “Hello?” said Paul; on the other end all he could hear was a deep breathing. Paul raised his eyebrows suspiciously. “Who is this?” He checked the caller ID, and saw only UNKNOWN NUMBER.

            Suddenly the person at the other end of the phone spoke. “Men in your line of business have no right to be in a church, Mr. Sanonia.”

            Paul stared at the phone, surprised. Glancing quickly around the church, he saw only three people, and none of them were on their phones. How did this person know where he was and how did he get his number? He looked back at the phone and spoke into the mouthpiece. “Who the fuck is this?”

            The man on the other end laughed, a rich, hearty laugh that for some reason chilled Paul’s skin. “When your cousin James Sanonia died, he was shot in the head.” said the man, his voice deep and affected with a heavy Russian accent. “Then several bones were broken all over his body. He was then taken from wherever he was killed and thrown in the Hudson. Dockworkers saw his body floating and pulled him up out of the water. By the time they got him though, there was nothing to identify your cousin’s murderer. Except for one interesting detail, that is.”

            Paul froze, his heart beating loudly in his chest. Who was this guy? How did he know all that? “And what was that detail?” he asked through gritted teeth.

            The man spoke, and Paul froze. “You killed my cousin.” he hissed angrily. “You killed Jamie.”

            “Horrible thing, wasn’t it?” said the Russian man. “I couldn’t get what I wanted out of your cousin. But I’m sure you’ll be much more helpful.”

            Paul was only half-listening; he was looking around the church, trying to find someone—anyone!—on a phone. One of the other worshippers, a teenage girl with a skirt too short for the cold February weather, walked out of the church while texting. Besides her, no one else seemed to have a phone.

            “Where the fuck are you, you crazy shit!” Paul whispered into the phone. “Come on out and face me like a man!”

            “But there is no fun in that.” replied the Russian man. “Besides, you’re so much more amusing to watch.”

            Paul stepped out of the alcove, looking around the church. “Watch?” he repeated.

            “Oh, didn’t I mention it?” asked the Russian man. “I’m right in the church with you.”

Happy Birthday To Islam’s Founder

Posted: January 24, 2013 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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My calendar tells me that today is the birthday of Mohammad, the founder of Islam, and I thought I’d mark this on my blog. Why? Because the main character of my science fiction novel Reborn City, Zahara Bakur, is a Muslim teenager, and one of the thintgs I do with her is try to show a side of Muslims not always portrayed in the media.

Muhammad lived in the 6th and 7th centuries in the Arabian peninsula. Around the year 610, he recieved revelations from the Archangel Gabriel, and began preaching in Mecca, stressing the importance of monotheism and lessening the divide between the very rich and the very poor in Mecca. This and a bunch of other events led to Islam, which means “submission to the will of Allah”, spreading across the Middle East and eventually around the world. Today, there are 1.57 billion people who identify themselves as Muslims, and they all look to Muhammad’s example and preachings in order to live life they believe Allah wants them too.

But what I like most about Muhammad is that while I know he felt obligated to carry out the Divine Will, he was mainly motivated by a desire to help others. In fact, before he saw Gabriel, Muhammad was looking into many spiritual practices and ways in order to better himself and those around him. In fact, the reason he went to the cave he met Gabriel in was because of this desire, though he had no idea he’d recieve a revelation there.

In a way, Zahara is very similar in this desire: although she follows many of the edicts of her faith because she believes it is Allah’s Will for her, she also does it because she feels it makes her a better person. Consequently her view of life, molded partially by her faith, allows her to exact a positive change over some of the other characters over time. Of course, she has to get herself about neck deep into trouble to accomplish this, but it’s a science fiction story, so what do you expect?

The point is though, Muhammad tried to help others in ancient Arabia, Zahara tries to help others in a fictional dystopic world, and billions of Muslims across the globe try and help people just by following their faith and being kind to others, as opposed to the images we are sometimes bombarded with depicting Muslims as dangerous. And it is the factual image stated above that I want to remind people of as Muslims everywhere observe the Prophet’s birthday.

Aasalam Ailakum, and thanks for reading.

Writing as an Exorcism

Posted: January 1, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
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“Help, I’m stuck in a human body! Call a priest!”

Lately I’ve come to see the act of writing in a whole different light. Yes, writing for me is sharing my twisted imagination with the masses, that’s always been a fact. And writing is certainly a creative outlet for me. However, writing for me is also a form of exorcism. What do I mean by this? Allow me to explain:

When I have a story, until I start to write it down the story stays stored in my mind. However, in the ever-present chaos of my mind, the story takes on a fluid quality. Ideas and aspects for the story change every second, with some things being added in, others being taken out, and others evolving or taking on a new shape. Frankly, it’s a little annoying that the stories stored in my head can’t stay in the same shape for much longer than a day or so.

But when I start to outline the story, especially when it’s a novel, the story starts to calm down a little. And when I finally write it down, the story starts to solidify, to take on a definite form. Finally the story, once written out, is now concrete, immutable. The only thing that can change the story now is my will or the suggestion of an editor, and that is not experimental change like in my head, but change that is meant to improve the story once it has been enacted.

So in a strange way, writing for me is a two-part exorcism: I am exorcising the story from my head and onto paper, through which I can share it with as many people as I want, and it is an exorcism on the story, taking out that mercurial aspect and allowing the story to harden into a definite form that doesn’t change on me or the readers. And since I’m constantly coming up with ideas for stories, I have plenty of exorcising to do!

So in this new year of 2013, I hope to exorcise plenty of stories and share them with you. Wish me luck, and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas (Even Though I Don’t Celebrate It)

Posted: December 25, 2012 in Living and Life
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Hello people following my blog or just happening upon it. How are you this fine day? I know it’s Christmas, and you want to just spend time with your family (or possibly away from it), but I thought I’d give you all a couple presents, and you can only get these presents by reading the rest of this post. So I’m giving you 4 videos for Christmas! Yay!

The first video is called Rewind YouTube Style 2012, which features a bunch of YouTube stars (most of whom I don’t know) getting together to do Gangnam Style and Call Me Maybe together. It is hilarious and I think you’d like it, especially because Psy and the Annoying Orange are in the video.

The second video is by The Piano Guys, doing their version of Star Wars: Cello Wars. It’s very well done, both with the music and the SFX. And watch what Darth Vader does during parts of this video, because he is certainly a highlight in this awesome music vid:

These last two videos go together, so you can’t watch one without the other. It’s the Addams Family Christmas, from the original television series of the 1960s. Wednesday and Pugsley Addams are told by their Scroogey neighbor that there’s no Santa Claus, and the adults of the family work together–or maybe not so together–to bring the Christmas spirit back to the house, with surprising and hilarious results.

Well, I hope you like these gifts from a not-so-Grinchy Jew. I wish you a Merry Christmas (or solstice if you’re a Neo-Pagan) and in the immortal words of Cousin Itt, “Bedehh bububa pfft heheh nigbooyu heheh!”

Oh Look, The World Hasn’t Ended

Posted: December 21, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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I’m not going to say “I told you so” to the people who were expecting earthquakes and meteors and gods attacking and whatever. Instead, I’d like to quote Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory: “I informed you thusly!”

Let’s face it, the world has been predicted to end several times over the past 2000 years. It’s not going to end, at least not on some prophecy. If it does end, we won’t see it coming. Luckily, I don’t expect the world to end, so I’m not too worried about something happened. We just need to start a revolution in Iran to elect a true democratic government, bring preace between Israel and its citizens, and I think we’ll be fine.

However, some people believe that the date the world ends isn’t for another ten days, on New Year’s Eve. So unless the ball in Times Square is laced with explosives, I think I’ll ignore this date too and just spend time with the family.

So Happy Solstice, and I hope the worse weather you’re having is some snow. That’s what I’m getting, and the worse it’s doing to me is keeping me indoors.

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