Falling off with Daedalus

I am really good at disappearing for insane lengths of time when it comes to this blog aren't I?

However, I return with lovely news. I think that my writers block is disappearing. I came back from vacation and discovered a story I had started with no great ideas in mind began to write itself. I just finished typing up about 1200 words and have a definite ending in mind. Fantastic.

I suppose I should talk briefly about vacation. The majority of my family is in New Mexico. So at the beginning of the month, my parents and I hopped a train and headed down there for a week. We spent a day or two in Los Alamos, and then the whole crew, including my extended family from there, Chicago, and Texas drove over to Colorado to spend a few days at a cabin. We fished, almost died twice, watched Osprey eat fish and in general had a pretty rad time. But now, alas, I'm back in Michigan, working and running, doing my best to figure out what the next part of my life is.

And what better way to celebrate my return to blogitude than a brief review of a nine-year-old book? I certainly can't think of one.

So a few of my co-workers have been gushing over author China Mieville of late. I hadn't heard too much about him so on my trip, on the recommendation of them, I picked up their favorite 'Perdido Street Station'. I'm extremely glad that I did.

'Perdido Street Station' tells the story of Isaac, a scientist in the bizarre city of New Crobuzon who's lover is a Kephri, a woman with the head of a scarab beetle, and who takes on a case to help out a Garuda, a man with the head and wings of a bird-of-prey. Through the course of this work, he manages to unleash a horrifying plague on the city that affects every member of it's citizenry.

Equal parts strange steampunk-pastiche and generalized fantasy novel, Mieville's second book is a truly wonderful work. He takes parts from mythology and nightmares to combine them into a wonderful novel and a marvelous introduction to his work (He just released his newest book 'The City and the City', a murder mystery...sort of). There are a few moments you may see coming, but overall, this is a work by a marvelously talented writer. Best of all, there is a lot of his work out there to consume before you're forced to sit back and wait hungrily for the next marvelous outpouring.

5/5

So there you go. I'm going to call it an evening and brew up some lovely pasta salad. Talk at you soon. Maybe I'll post a bit of that story.