Guest Post: “Confessions of a Four-Color, Benday-Dot, Super-Deformed, Ultra-Compressed Science Fiction Writer” by Paul di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo is the author of Wikiworld, a great science fiction short story collection, which was recently published by (now award-winning) ChiZine. To celebrate the release of his new book, he has written the following piece about comics and their relationship with literature, and his own experiences as a reader and writer…

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My first reading, beyond the typical picture books of my era, such as Harry the Dirty Dog and Hop on Pop, consisted of comic books. Lots and lots of comics. I recall the very first comic I ever read, in 1961, in the summer between first and second grades. It was Mighty Mouse in Outer Space, and it blew my primitive juvenile brain to flinders. (I recently tracked down a copy on eBay, and had lots of fun revisiting it.) I’ve never been the same since. You might very well say that this comic was my first introduction to the literature of fantastika, and set me on the course to becoming a writer of same.

After this soon came the hard stuff. Batman, Superman, and the strange new antiheroes from Marvel. Alas, though I read them fresh off the drugstore stands, I retain no issues of Fantastic Four #1 or Amazing Fantasy #15, or similar lucrative titles. I concentrated on buying DC, while my pal Stephen covered the Marvel stuff, and we shared issues for mutual reading pleasure. Stephen, wherever he may be these days, got rich, and I got Lois Lane #53.

“The Shining” by Stephen King (Hodder)

Perhaps King’s most famous novel. Review by a first-time reader.

Danny Torrance is only five years old, but in the words of old Mr. Hallorann, he “shines” with an exceptional psychic talent. For most of Danny’s life, his clairvoyant abilities have helped him to puzzle out his parents’ troubled relationship, but when his father accepts a position as the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel high in the Rocky Mountains, the little boy’s visions spiral into the realm of nightmare.

As blizzards isolate the Torrances, the hotel seems to develop a sinister life of its own. At night, unseen revelers ride the elevators and even the animal-shaped hedges of the topiary prowl the hotel’s grounds like threatening predators. But when Danny meets the woman in room 217, he discovers that the hotel’s phantom guests are more than shadows. Like Danny, the Overlook shines, but the energy it emanates is deadly.

The Shining is one of those novels pretty much everyone knows about. And I wouldn’t be surprised if, like me, they know many references from it without having ever read the book. True, some will know about it from the Kubrick movie (which Stephen King is not too fond of) – although, I haven’t seen that, either. When I got my hands on the novel, I was certainly eager to see what all the fuss was about, and fill in this important gap in my reading history. It is, of course, brilliantly written. But. While it is a fascinating read, there were a couple of things that didn’t quite click for me. I would, however, agree that this is essential reading.

“The Eyre Affair” by Jasper Fforde (Hodder)

The first Thursday Next novel

There is another 1985, where London’s criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave’s Mr. Big.

Acheron Hades has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.

Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn’t easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays.

Perhaps today just isn’t going to be Thursday’s day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again...

It has certainly taken me a long time to get around to this series. I’ve always hesitated as a result of my general ignorance when it comes to many of the “essential” classics, fearing that many of the jokes in the series will just be over my head. However, as part of the Hodderscape review project, I finally got my hands on a copy of this novel. It’s pretty good, but also suffers from some debut issues.

The Unwritten, Vol.2 – “Inside Man” (Vertigo)

Writer: Mike Carey | Artist: Peter Gross

Tom arrives at Donostia prison in southern France and falls into the orbit of another story: The Song of Roland. Unfortunately for Tom, it’s an epic that ends with a massacre…

This series is going to be a real pain in the ass to review. There’s almost no way to write about it without throwing out spoilers left right and centre. Therefore, I shall keep my reviews of this and subsequent books as succinct as possible. Needless to say, this second collection continues the excellent story of Tom Taylor’s surprise, literary-fantasy quest. This is fast becoming a firm favourite of mine.

“Let us trespass at once. Literature is no one’s private ground.”

Something rather different from CR’s usual fare. But I was inspired today, by the review I refer to below. Hope people find it interesting.

I’ve been reading the latest issue of The Atlantic, which is probably my favorite magazine: the mix of politics, history and arts features is excellent, and the quality of the articles usually of the highest quality. I came across an article about Virginia Woolf that stood out for me. “The Education of Virginia Woolf”, by Benjamin Schwartz, is a review of The Essays of Virginia Woolf, Volume 6: 1933-1941, the final collection (edited by Stuart N. Clarke) of the author’s writing leading up to her suicide in 1941. Strangely, I can’t seem to find any evidence of the collection being published – recently or in the near future – in the United States, but it is available in the UK, published by Random House.

I have never read anything by Woolf (much to my detriment, it seems). I do, however, seem to be surrounded these days by Virginia Woolf scholars and aficionados (Alyssa is both, for example), and frequently coming into contact with articles about or that reference the author. Schwartz’s review is well-written – if a bit thin, but I suppose there’s not a whole lot one can do with a volume of collected papers, unless it’s ground-breaking or scandalous). The piece does, however, contain a couple of nuggets of information about Woolf’s thoughts on reading, as well as the story behind a couple of the articles in Essays...Vol.6.

“The Unwritten” Vol.1 (Vertigo)

“Tommy Taylor & the Bogus Identity”

Writer: Mike Carey | Artist: Peter Gross

Tom Taylor’s life was screwed from the word go. His father created the mega-popular Tommy Taylor boy-wizard fantasy novels. But dad modelled the fictional epic so closely to Tom that fans constantly compare him to his counterpart, turning him into a lame, Z-level celebrity. When a scandal hints that Tom might really be the boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a mysterious, deadly group that’s secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, to all the places in world history where fictions have shaped reality.

I knew nothing about this series before I picked up this book. My local comic store was having a decent sale for graphic novels, so I decided to try something new. Given the amount of praise that has been heaped on The Unwritten (much of it printed on the front and back covers of this book), I figured I was on to a good thing. I was not wrong – after a start that wasn’t encouraging, this took off into directions I hadn’t expected and that were inspired, original, and absolutely gripping.