Angela Carter is a writer that is the perfect illustration (see what I did there?) of someone whose books are just crying out for full illustration. If you haven’t read her books or stories, you’ve probably seen The Company of Wolves. She is a gorgeous writer, and I would very much recommend picking up The Bloody Chamber, if nothing else.

Why don’t we see more illustrated books for adults? Of course there are graphic novels, but I’m talking about something that has story at the heart of it, with art to complete the experience. After all, much of the books that people would have read once upon a time were illustrated – Dickens, etc. Why has that fallen totally out of fashion, and would a modern version work?

One of the old projects that I always wanted to do was a pillow book of sorts…not specifically in the Japanese sense, but as something very dark and romantic that an adult would read (or, more to the point, that a couple would read to each other in bed). Sensual dark-fantasy stories and poems and art – a book that you would give to a lover in hopes of reading it together. That one is still on the list. :)

So, would a modern illustrated book sink, or swim?

I happened to be in the Teen section. Aside from my lamentable taste in vampire fiction, I am firmly of the belief that you find some of the best fantasy books there, just because they’re afraid to market them to adults. I have no problem whatsoever with buying kids books. And what do I see?  A very, very Twilight-esque cover. On Wuthering Heights.

Oh, come on – that’s funny. The Amazon blurb (because I yoinked the cover image from them) was also very funny: 

One of the greatest love stories ever told, beautifully repackaged for a modern teen audience. Love the Twilight books? Then you’ll adore Wuthering Heights, one of the greatest love stories ever told. Cathy and Heathcliff, childhood friends, are cruelly separated by class, fate and the actions of others. But uniting them is something even stronger: an all-consuming passion that sweeps away everything that comes between them. Even death!

Even Death! hahahaha….

For instance, yesterday I read King Rat by China Miéville for the first time. I think he’s a gorgeous writer, but I haven’t read many of his books – Un Lun Dun and The Scar only so far. King Rat was lovely, with a nice political twist at the end. On the commute in this morning, I mentioned the book, and P. and I had a conversation about the book, Miéville’s left-wing opinions, and socialism. I realised that aside from some vague recollections from school that socialism was “for the workers” or “for the people” or something (hey, I said it was vague!) I didn’t actually know what it was. So I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, Socialism is:

Socialism refers to the various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended.

Well, there you go. All the reference libraries of the world at our fingertips. This morning I also googled “david lee roth california girls” to settle the question of what familiar voice was featured on that cover on the radio. That kind of information is priceless, I’m telling you!

Anyway, back to China Miéville – if you haven’t read his books, do so because he’s an extremely talented writer. How can you not love someone who once described Tolkien as “the wen on the arse of fantasy literature”?

I think a lot of good fantasy novels (pre Harry Potter, anyway) were marketed for the teen market because they didn’t think they would be as successful if marketed for the general market. So you make some wonderful finds if you’re not embarrassed to haunt the kids’ section.  :)

One of the books that I got was Kamira: The Sky Village, a sort of post-apocalypse fantasy of a balloon village floating over a futuristic China where beast, meks and humans fight in epic battles. It’s very much worth reading.

The other one was Before I Die, which I’m only half way through. It’s a gorgeously written book about a girl who is dying of cancer. She has a List of things that she would like to do before she dies, which so far includes having sex (“I want to feel the weight of a boy’s body on mine”), saying yes to everything all day long on one single day, committing a crime, and so on. It’s a beautiful book.

It made me think about my own list. There’s a universe of stuff out there that I’ve never done. If I knew that I was dying, what would I do?

1. Swim nude in a pond or lake at night, under the stars.
2. See the Northern Lights.
3. Go to Ireland. I wanted to go with my family for the first time, it would have meant a lot to me – but now I just want to go.
4. Travel. So many places I want to see. Egypt, for one. Greece. Although that makes me think of Shirley Valentine saying “I want to drink a glass of wine in a country where the grape is grown”.  :)
5. Compete in a three day event.
6. Be kissed in Paris.
7. Write, illustrate and publish a children’s book.
8. Get the celtic knotwork bands tattooed around my arms just above the wrists which I’ve always planned. They will indicate being bound to a path, and I haven’t been serious enough about it yet.
9. Do something completely mad…my Thelma and Louise experience. Which hopefully won’t end with a car and a cliff. But even so.

Ok, I’m going back to reading. Because you know?  Life can’t be ALL horrible when you have good books, a fireplace to read them by, and cats to keep you company. That’s enough for tonight…it’s pretty damn fine, actually.  :)

Part of why I love the games, books and movies that I do has to do with the “secret door”. One of the most intense fantasies of my childhood was that someday I would find the door (or the wardrobe)  that would open into a magical land. I wanted this with every part of my being, and I would have stepped through with hardly a thought for what I would leave behind.  I’m not entirely sure that I have given up that fantasy, to be honest. And yes, even today, I would step through without a thought.

This is, in part, what leads to my love of Warcraft and other fantasy games, my deep and abiding love of books, especially fantasy or science fiction, especially portal fantasy. Portal fantasy is a plot mechanic where a character from our everyday modern world finds a doorway that allows them to sideslip into a different world. It’s Narnia and Alice in Wonderland and Neverwhere and Un Lun Dun.

Until I find it, I’ll live in my books, and in Nagrand, Winterspring, and Azshara. :)

So, instead, I want to write about vanity pets, which is what Kit is currently collecting. Daily quests have gone by the wayside (I’ll never be able to afford that epic flying mount, anyway). With the Valentine’s quest comes Peddlefeet, the quite scary-looking goblin cupid, who lookes as though he would prefer to jab someone in the ass with an arrow rather than shoot them with silver bolts like your more polite, decorous putti. He’s so evil, I really have to have one.

The trouble is, I seemed destined for the Lonely Hearts Club in Azeroth. Every character that I try to give love tokens away on gets her heart broken, without fail. I fail at love, evidently. (In game, of course…yesterday I got a very lovely bouquet and a superb steak and champagne dinner, followed by cuddles in red satin sheets.) The evil goblin of love continues to elude me as I make my pathetic, cheap-cologne-sodden rounds of the guards in Stormwind.

I’m also trying to grind Sporregar rep for the Tiny Sporebat pet. Having totally skipped Sporregar while levelling on Kit, I was just barely into Neutral, so I’ve been killing Boglords and so on. Although I don’t hold much hope of getting one, I’m trying to make this time do double pet-grinding utility by also killing all the Bogflare Needlers I can in hopes of getting a Firefly drop. What pet would be cooler for a rabid Firefly fan that that? :)

One of my favourite pets is the Sprite Darter Hatchling. It’s not a pet that suits the no-nonsense Kit, but Ravven is usually with hers.

And aside from grinding for pets? A bit of raiding, and a lot of personal time taken off recently for chilling with a DVD, or reading. I’m reading Stephen King’s newest at the moment (Duma Key) and really enjoying it. It’s so nice to see him really back again after the accident. It’s not the same type of book that he normally writes, and in all honesty he may never be that writer again. But it’s a good book, and it was worth buying in hardcover. And that, I suppose, is the test of a book? Would you buy it, and keep it? Does it deserve a home, so that you can read it again some time? It does, and I very much welcome one of my favourite writers back again.

Well, back to work. It’s Friday, and I’m looking forward to being off work, chilling in my reading chair by the fire with a glass of wine. And maybe, just maybe, tonight I’ll be lucky in love and those cold-hearted guards won’t just laugh at me and break my heart. I tell you, it’s like being in highschool all over again. :)