writing Archives - Page 2 of 5 -

07 Sep

What does the Fox say?

In writing Sobel’s Skin, the first of the Isobel the Bear-Eater series, I’ve spent a fair amount of time on research. I have a youtube playlist of “Isobel the Bear-Eater – references” , plus a Pinterest board. Many are cultural references, but some of the most helpful are the sounds of nature. It’s a little odd, to be writing things down on paper [er, screen] and needing to know what they sound like. Fortunately, for things I haven’t encountered myself or which I can’t remember well, there’s always the youtubes.* Read More →

09 Jul

Going native

Art by Jennifer Norton

I’m back in Seattle, but before I left Alaska, I spent an evening going to art openings with my mother in my hometown of Homer, Alaska. It’s a bit of a nostalgia thing, really, as she used to cover arts for the local paper, and I tagged along with her to many many openings as a child. Homer is a big art town, so there’s quite a bit to see.

Our first stop was Bunnell Street, a restored building housing a wonderful gallery and a bed and breakfast. Rather than a single artist’s work, their current exhibition is a curated collection by a variety of Alaskan artists.

During the opening, the curator stood up and spoke to the crowd about his experiences coming to Alaska, originally as a seasonal worker. The first question that many people asked him was, ‘how long have you been here?’ Now that he’s lived in-state for ten years, he still feels like there is a line drawn in the sand, and he wanted address that with the show. Here’s his statement on the idea behind the show. Read More →

22 May

Hunting with Golden Eagles

Lady-berkutchi Makpal Abdrazakova, aka “eagle-babe”

Maybe you’ve heard of falconry, the practice of training birds of prey to catch small animals and bring them back to human handlers. Personally, I associate them with medieval Europe. However, the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey informs me that falconry was already popular in Mongolia 3000 years ago, and it’s still practiced in contemporary central Asia. And don’t go assuming that “falconry” is only for falcons, because I got on this track after reading about Makpal Abdrazakova, the only woman in Kazakstan who has been trained as a berkutchi, or golden eagle hunter. Read More →

13 May

Etymological geekout: БОГАТЫРЬ [bogatyr’]

Bogatyrs (1898) by Viktor Vasnetsov

If you’ve spent any time on Russian history, you’ve probably seen this painting before. It shows a classic view of the epic heroes Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, and Alyosha Popovich. If you’ve got the language skills, the Три богатыря [tri bogatyria] or Three Heros have recently been reincarnated as animated children’s films, available on the youtubes. Even if not, humor me and watch this brief trailer for the latest: “Три богатыря на дальних берегах” after the jump. Read More →

26 Apr

Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles

If we could judge authors by the sound of their names, Marissa Meyer would get big points for her similarity to Mercer Mayer, who wrote and illustrated many delightful children’s books, including my favorite ‘What Would You Do With A Kangaroo?’ But I don’t necessarily pick up on author’s names until I’ve read more than one of their books, and when I picked up ‘Cinder’ it was for two reasons: first, it was reportedly a Cinderella retelling involving a cyborg; second, it started as a Nanowrimo project. Read More →

10 Apr

Snowshoeing at Mount Rainier

At the end of December, my taller half and I went down to Mount Rainier to do some snowshoeing. Rainier is a special place for us, and maybe for anybody who spends any amount of time in Washington state and occasionally looks out the window. It’s the tallest peak in the continental US (Alaskan translation: it’s no Denali, but it’s aight.) and it’s visible from most of Seattle and Western Washington. We get down there a couple times a year, and we picked a good day this time, because it was perfect blue sky.