First off, it appears I was counter-tagged by Steph. I hope this isn’t revenge for the shredding we did to each other’s writings :3…

This meme isn’t particularly riveting and probably thrown together by someone who barely has a grasp of the English language, so here’s the deal: I’m not going to tag anybody on this (partly to avoid a potential tag war/riot). But if you would like the torch to be passed on to you anyway, post a reply stating you’d like to do this meme and I’d be glad to link to your pertaining post at the tail of this one.

I guess the goal of this meme is to answer questions starting with letters of the alphabet. How clever! *shudder* I’ll do my best for Steph, though, cuz she’s just awesome.

A-Attached or Single? I am neither siamese nor single.
B-Best Friend? My wife.
C-Cake or Pie? Sorry, I’m not gonna go all LOLCATS or make a pi joke here.
D-Day of Choice? Daniel Day-Lewis.
E-Essential Items? Water and to a lesser extent, food.
F-Favorite Color? Grey. I like how greytones can potentially make an image more interesting.
G-Gummy Bears or Worms? Hoo boy.
H-Hometown? Though I’ve moved 13 times, I was mostly raised in a very small town: Elmwood, IL.
I-Indulgence? Writing.
J-January or July? October.
K-Kids? Hopefully eventually.
L-Life? The board game or the cereal?
M-Marriage Date? May 26th, 2007. This is easy to remember because it goes 5-6-7, and the 26th of October happens to be my birthday. Which leads me to another thing about me: I always use mnemonic devices to try to remember things I have to remember. :P
N-Number of Siblings? One little brother.
O-Oranges or Apples? In economics, these are considered ‘substitutes’.
P-Phobias or Fears? Bees kinda freak me out since I’ve never gotten stung and hope it’s not my only allergy or something. Other than that I overcame most of my other fears by facing them (giving speeches, heights, pain).
Q-Quote? “They’re all necro-nerds and Sandfreaks. They think death is romantic. Death is hard and cold and ugly, not some cute chick.”
R-Reason to Smile? Camera.
S-Superman or Wonder Woman? Neither.
T-Tag 5 people. This part’s up to you guys.
V-Vegetables? -_-;
W-Worst Habit? Procrastination.
X-Ray or Ultrasound? is the single most stupid question yet.
Y-Your Favorite Food? I’ve always answered this as ‘Unagi’ ever since I played Earthbound.
Z-Zodiac Sign? Scorpio.

Call me crazy, but I won’t be adding this questionnaire to the ‘about the author’ page. And the letter ‘U’ is mysteriously missing. BTW, if you haven’t visited there lately, I got around to adding a picture so curious minds could see what I look like.

So I was checking out fantasy book review sites, and I came across a review where this blogger really gushed about a book I’d never heard of. I mean, ‘glowing’ was an understatement in comparison to all the other reviews I’d read all day. He made comparisons to the likes of George R. R. Martin and Gene Wolfe. But what was most interesting was that this was the author’s first book. It came out in 2007. And he’s only six years older than me. His name is Patrick Rothfuss.

My curiosity piqued, I checked out Amazon.com’s listing for the book since they have reviews built right in to the product pages, and there are 307 more reviews, 5/5 stars. I was honestly expecting maybe 12 reviews. But this guy seems to have single-handedly rocked the fantasy reader/writer world with his debut book: The Name of the Wind. People were talking about how it was so unique and refreshing, and even the few trolls that rated it low didn’t seem to have much of an excuse.

Since it was just published in 2007, I started searching around for a blog. Well, it’s still right here and has entries dating back to before NotW was about to ship out to the stores. I would have to be lying to say I wasn’t completely absorbed in reading about his tellings of his first book signings, his first time going to a convention as a guest of honor, and even reading his Email correspondences with his new agent. He’s obviously the ‘pay it forward’ type, sharing lots of good inside information. My favorite kind of writer!

Yeah, so I’ve not read his book. Yet. But I love what he has come to represent->
He…
-managed to write a truly captivating, riveting fantasy novel even the critics adored on his first try.
-dared to go against the established fantasy clichés and play by his own rules.
-is still very down to earth about it all.

So I figure I’ll try and get his book(s) from an independent bookseller instead of some megaconglomorate book farm to help support him (yes, there’s a difference), and if I like it as much as I think I will, I’ll definitely recommend him to as many friends as I can. Maybe even call the local libraries and have them order copies.

Well, it was a shot in the dark, but Pat (he actually goes by Pat) really pulled it off. It’s hard not to applaud that.

What else…
Ah yes. Life’s been good. But renting is the pits. So my wife and I found a house. We close on July 11th.

And I alluded to it a bit earlier, but I officially critiqued a piece of literature. It is an amazing thing to have another writer entrust you with their work. It’s much like saying, “I trust you enough that I know you’re not going to steal this and you truly want me to be a better writer, and I would really like and value your feedback.”
‘Tis a beautiful thing, that.

For suffering through this meme and my meanderings, a present!

random fantasy cliché!
Come across a dragon (or other large monster-thingie) ravaging a village and aww Poor thing! There’s just a thorn in his foot. He’s just being a Grumpy Gus – all bloodthirsty for peasants cuz his footsie hurts and he can’t get the thorn out himself. I’ll just pull it out for him and- Ah! That’s better. He’s regained faith in all humanity! Now he’s my bestest happiest friend in the whole wide world and will fly me wherever I want! lalala.

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