For the Hyper-Web-Linguist-Historian

Victorian Slang Glossary:

I particularly like “Spreading the Broads”

I consulted this glossary frequently while I was combing the Leslie Klinger Books…This is one of the backbones for my ongoing dictionary efforts check out the copyright announcement below. This guy is just my hero.

Excerpt:

Copyright crap: The author of this thingy retains full copyright of the material, while hereby granting full permission for it to be reprinted in any format whatsoever, with the provisos that his name be forever attached to it, the text of the document be forever unaltered, and if anyone manages to figure out how to make big bucks off of it, the above mentioned author wants a cut. Oh, yes, and lest I forget, this notice must remain attached to the main text.

I. Marc Carlson
IMC@VAX2.UTULSA.EDU
26 January 1994

Published in: on January 16, 2010 at 3:47 am  Leave a Comment  

So Jane Austen and H. P. Lovecraft Marry and have a Baby…

…well what the h-e-double-toothpicks am I supposed to say?

Time to test your favorite Librarian’s insulin levels…not to mention the tensile structure of their arteries.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Paperback)

Co-written by Jane Austen, who has fittingly been dead for quite some time, and a person named Seth Grahame-Smith.  Who knows what they really do in their spare time.

I’ll give you my favorite reviewer’s take on this:

“The literary community should never be too proud to laugh at itself. I own three copies of the original “Pride & Prejudice” plus all the movies, so my husband and I bought this the moment we spotted it on the shelf (and laughed all the way to the register).

Fans need to read this book tongue-in-cheek and prepare to laugh WITH it. If you don’t like zombies or consider yourself a Jane Austen purist, if you admire only the most intricate writing and consider this sort of work irreverent, then you’ll be appalled more than amused. The level of writing IS degenerated from the original but, considering the subject matter, I don’t think “quality” was the forethought of the day. “Brains” is more like it.

On a literary note, the juxtaposition of familiar classic and farcical horror makes for harmless, laugh-out-loud comedy. I applaud this idea and hope the “Quirk Classics” line hammers out more spoofs on stories I love.

The only thing I find annoying is the last line of the blurb: “transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” I’m perfectly capable of enjoying BOTH, thankyouverymuch. (EA Blevins)”

Best quote EVER:

“few thought it worth the expense to dress the dead in finery when they would only soil it upon crawling out of their graves.”

Rarely can one say that the reading of the book reviews is as entertaining and witty as reading of the book itself.  But see for yourself.  Honest, folks.  Austen hasn’t given me such a horror since I saw the identical twins of Austen’s book hiding out in the anarchist forestlands of Ray Bradbury’s movie version of FAHRENHEIT 451.

Fear not, gentle reader, Jane Austen WROTE A SEQUEL…with a little help from her (ghostwriter??) friend Ben H. Winters:

“Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is a multiplayered study of love, sisterhood, and giant octopi.  We hope these questions will deepen your appreciation and enjoyment of this towering work of classic sea-monster literature.”

Let me say in passing, if you page to the back of this book and read the Readerer’s Discussion Guide, please do so without eating, drinking, or attempting to hold a conversation.  It is full of poignant thoughts, such as,  “Have you ever been attacked by giant lobsters, figuratively or literally?”

Oh, heavens.

Published in: on October 22, 2009 at 1:58 pm  Leave a Comment  
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The French Republican Calendar: The Perfect Writing Meme

The French Republican Calendar is no more or less accurate than any other out there, but the sheer brilliance of its design stands out.  Each day of the year has a “name” based on something natural for the season.

Going to the conversion link, Calendar Converter I put in

1929, October 20th

And found this:

The 138th day of the French Republican Calendar, in the season of Vend miaire, (Month of the Grape Harvest),  the ninth day of the 3rd week.

On the Wikipedia page this is called orge, or, “Day of Barley.”

So I am OFF TO WRITE A FIC NOW!

Published in: on October 20, 2009 at 2:04 am  Comments (5)  

Well Here I go

I’m working to move my fic to a less constricted journal form…no offense to LJ! But this is kinder to a dialup computer!

Published in: on October 10, 2009 at 2:42 pm  Comments (2)  
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Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Published in: on October 10, 2009 at 2:03 pm  Comments (1)  
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