Save the Books!

14 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Well founded paranoia Tags:

There is an alarming trend occurring in our society. More and more books are being committed to a nonexistent state. Some of them never to see life in print. How can we trust humanities greatest literary works to the digital ether? We have organizations to Save the whales and to save this or that landmark but who will save the books?

 I am not tech savvy. Technology hates me.  I will never be jumping on the E-book band wagon. But, you ask, how can a writer who relies on the internet for publication argue against E-Books? A printer I say. I print everything. Hard copy, hard copy, hard copy, that is the key to preservation.

 The greatest achievement in human history is the Book. The printed word. Not this new fad of downloading electronic books onto portable electronic devices. Nothing can replace the feel of a page between your fingers or the smell of aged book paper.

 Technology is fallible. It will let you down. But words safely written, typed, or printed onto good paper. They will always be there. It’s true that paper decays, becomes brittle, grows mold, and yes, it can even burn. But drives can be erased, Information deleted, computers crash and power go out. Both systems have their faults and both, some would argue, offer advantages.

 Books are idiot proof. Somehow even an illiterate seems to know how they work.

Step one open.

Step two stare into it.

Step three turn the page.

Repeat steps two and three until end.

 You never have to wait for a book to charge or boot up or download. They don’t require batteries, headphones or fancy cases to store them in. No extended warranty needed.

Books will never crash or loose a signal or be disconnected from a network. Once the printed word is in your hand you have total access to it. No IP address needed. No 404 errors, no redirection and no passwords to remember.

 I love books. Let’s keep printing books. Let’s keep making lots of copies. Let’s make sure that the next generation knows what Old books smell like.

Never let the books die.

 Here’s a challenge for everyone who reads this post: Go out and find a real life paper version of Ray Bradbury’s classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451. DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT. Go to the library, a bookstore, borrow it from a friend maybe you already own it, just make sure it’s a book. Hold it in your hand. Then read it. If you’ve read it before then read it again. Enjoy it. Learn from it. Treasure it. Save it

Infrequency

06 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized

29th of August

06th of August

25th of July

12th of July

Wow! I didn’t realise how far apart my blog posts were.

Sorry that I post so infrequently. In my defence the word Random is in the subtitle. I am going to try  posting about once a week from now on.

 Yes this does count for this week in case some one was wondering.

I guess the problem is that without more focus I have been waiting for the “Random Musings” to come to me instead of actually putting effort into this project.  I am trying to change though. From now on I will Plan my “Random Musings.” Yes I too can see the problems inherent in the paradox of planned Randomness but I think I can make it work.

So until Next week. Hopefully. Maybe. If I get around to it.

Cathrine 🙂

Shakespeare’s Crossover

29 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Shakespeare Tags: , ,

Some of you may know that I have written and presented papers at the 2009 and 2010 Ohio Vally Shakespeare Conferences.

Both of these papers were based on Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew.  The 2009 paper was about screen adaptations of the play and the 2010 paper was focused on the mysterious “Induction” that is the introduction that actually has nothing to do with the main play which is really a play within the Induction. If you don’t follow my meaning please read the play.

Anyway while reading Romeo and Juliet I found an interesting line. It just wasn’t interesting enough to devote a paper to,  so now you get to read about  it in my Blog. 

In Romeo and Juliet at the end of the ball scene Juliet is asking her nurse the names of many young men in order to learn Romeo’s identity.

Juliet: What’s he that now is going out of door?

Nurse: Marry, that, I think, be young Petruccio. (1.5 127-128)

In case you aren’t familiar with  The Taming of the Shrew the main characters are named Katherine and Petruccio. The plot doth thicken for Romeo and Juliet  takes place in Verona, Italy. It just so happens that Petruccio is also from Verona. His entrance line in The Taming of the Shrew is “Verona, for a while I take my leave.(Shrew 1.2 1)” Thus saying that he lives in Verona but has left there for a temporary visit elsewhere.

That elsewhere is Padua, Italy where The Taming of the Shrew is set.

I am not the first one to make this connection, though, the 2006 YA novel Romeo’s Ex by: Lisa Fiedler included a young Petruccio as minor character in the story of Romeo and Juliet’s demise.

I suppose that it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like I can actually prove that Shakespeare meant for it be recognized as the same character. Though I do like to think that it was a special treat that he slipped in for his faithful play goers. On the other hand Petruccio is not the only name that Shakespeare recycled but I would never claim that the Katherine in Henry the VIIIth is the same one as in Shrew. 

I guess it’s up to people with higher degrees than mine to argue about it.

Elementary My Dear Wells!

06 Aug 2011 2 Comments

by C.O. Bonham in Sherlock Holmes, Victorian Fiction Tags: , ,

Lately I have been reading a lot of Wells and Doyle. Probably two of the best writers of the English language. I also admire Jules Verne but as we all know he was French.

 H. G. Wells is best known for his Science Fiction thrillers. Most notably The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine.

 But he also wrote some more realistic novels as well the best of which, I think, is Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll  In this novel the main character Mr. Hoopdriver ( no, I’m not kidding) decides to take a bicycling tour of the English coast for his holiday. Naturally trouble follows him wherever he goes. But what really excites the geek in me are the six or so references to Sherlock Holmes, that well-known creation of Dr. Doyle’s.

 Mr. Wells also wrote a short story titled “The Stolen Body” in which a resident of Baker Street, experimenting with Astral projection, goes missing and his Housekeeper is said to be consulting with “That well known investigator.” That’s all we hear of him though because as I’m sure you can guess possession is 9/10th of the plot and he believes that “No ghosts need apply.”(The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire)

 Wells’s allusions to Sherlock Holmes are really a testament to how wildly popular Doyle’s creation had become in his own time. It’s exactly the same as a modern author referencing Harry Potter or Twilight.

 Or a simpler explanation is that these two Authors knew each other. In the biography Arthur Conan Doyle: A life in Letters  there is reprinted a letter written by H. G. Wells Congratulating Sir. Arthur on his recent Knighthood. It’s on page 503 for those who want to look it up.

 These two authors are really good and have a similar writing style. Very simple narratives with vivid descriptions and beautifully flowing dialog. I have tried to emulate the writing style and have found it a very trying exercise.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has a great body of work in addition to the 60 Holmes stories. I recommend checking out this site http://siracd.com to learn more about ACD. Especially find some his Non-Sherlock Short stories to read. ACD works amazing wonders with the short story format and I think that they’re probably better than most of his longer works. For example Holmes Adventures as compared to Holmes Novels.

 As far as Wells is concerned your local Library should have at least a few of his better known books. Though once again try to find a Short story collection if you can.

Undecided

25 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized

Well it I think it’s obvious to everyone that I am not expert enough at anyone thing  to run a focused blog. So anyone who dares to read this will just have to be content with the random musings of my addled mind.

You may want to know how I spend my time.  Well, I read books. Lots of books. In fact, if you ever see me without a book you should probably ask me if I’m feeling ok. I like reading fiction in a wide variety of genres: sci-fi, fantasy, history, mystery ect.  I read non-fiction too but not as often.

I also write short fiction as my first blog post clearly states. 

Things I am interested in are: Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Shakespeare, Superheros (mostly Marvel), Stage Magic and Theater. There are other Things too but I only have so much space.

That’s enough for now until later,

Cathrine

Hello all

12 Jul 2011 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized Tags:

My name is Cathrine Bonham and I do fancy myself as a bit of a writer.

So while I’m in the process of trying to decided on a topic to blog about I thought you might like to see something else that I have written.

To see a couple of stories that I wrote head over to www.crossandcosmos.com.
Cross and Cosmos is an Ezine that features quality Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories.

Take a look under Past Issues and find issue #4 and #7, these are the ones that my stories are in.

In issue #4 is my story “Souls are Wild” a tale from the days of the old west in which a young man sells his soul for the ability to never lose another game of poker.

In issue #7 is “The Cyborg’s Neighbor” a science fiction re-imagining of the good Samartan.

I hope you enjoy my contributions as well as the many other amazing stories collected within the 1s and 0s of Cross and Cosmos. This Ezine is truly a unique ministry that I am very honored to be a part of.

Until later

Cathrine

P.S. Cross and Cosmos is free to download and read.

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