Picture Perfect

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I first read this novel (Wilde's lone novellular work) in early high school and then again within a couple years of graduating college. I remember my friend Tim mentioning how it was one of his favorite books, which led me to recall how excellent it really was. Please discount any reference to Dorian Gray in the movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Blyuck.

Anyways, I'd consider this a "Gothic Horror" work, being that the setting is nice "turn o' the 20th century" London. You know, when people still had names like "Lord Henry" and stuff. Sherlock Holmesy in nature. Goings see many plays and wearing frills and flippery and all that fancypants stuff. I'm doing a great job of describing it, I know. Wait, I have it: The Late Victorian Era. Voila!

Alright, so Dorian "I'm young AND handsome!" Gray has a portrait painted by an artist, and it turns out quite nice. The artist falls in love with Dorian's beauty. Mr. Gray, meanwhile, becomes enamored with the world view of another character: Lord Henry. Henry ol' chap believes that one should only pursue beauty and pleasure in the world. And Dorian readily jumps on that ship.

This is really a classic and you should read it. And I shouldn't spoil it. So I won't. The book does deal with a few topics, the most important being "Inner vs. Outer Beauty." If one pursues worldly pleasures and looks, he may have to sacrifice his soul in the process.

This is a pretty dark book, as you can see! If you've read the novel, the sketch will make sense to you. And if you haven't then it should make you want to read it, right? Or make you have nightmares. This illustration was done with watercolor and Micron Pen.

On a final note, I will say that I wish it were titled "A Portrait of Dorian Gray," because "portrait" has a stronger connotation than "picture." Especially in this case.

In Y'Orr Dreams

Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin

Have you ever had a dream from which you wake up disoriented, thinking "Yikes, that felt so real!"? And come to find that your dream actually changed reality to accommodate what your mind had created in its sleep? No? Well, then you might not be able to relate to this story.

But you COULD imagine what it'd be like, right? The main character, George Orr, has the ability to dream alternate realities for the world. And he fears it. Because no one can really CONTROL dreams. Not even under hypnosis. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The novel opens up with him being busted for using too much sleep-related drugs to stave off his dreams. He is forced into therapy with a dream psychologist, Dr. Haber. After a few hyno-dreamy sessions, Haber actually manages to suggest something to Orr that changes reality. And it doesn't just change the present day. It changes the whole history of the world, in relation to that dream. And only Haber and Orr know of the change. So now they have two sets of memories.

Haber refuses to believe what has happened at first. Once he comes to terms with Orr's power, he sets out to try to "improve the world" through suggesting things to the hypno-dream-induced Orr. Which never really works out the way it is intended because no one can fully control dreams. What you end up is kind of a genie-in-the-bottle effect:

Say you want to stop your neighbor from blaring loud music at all hours of the night. You want to dream that the neighbor stops playing music. In the dream, that end is met by you not living next to that individual. Instead, you now live across town in a penthouse apartment. Or, your neighbor has been struck by lightening when he/she was ten years old. Now he/she is deaf, and therefor can't listen to music.

Stuff like that.

Well, possibly much WORSE stuff. Lots of huge effects come out of Haber trying to "improve the world" through Orr's latent power.

And Orr just wants to be cured.

About the illustration:
Through a series of events (and dreams), aliens are introduced into our reality. They are nice, and left a good impression in my head. They are about nine feet tall and their perpetually-worn bodysuits make them appear turtle-ish. They are assimilited into society and everyday life, and have become good salesmen (sale-iens?) and shop-owners!

They haven't mastered communication with humans, but they understand the power of dreams and the trouble Orr is having. Near the end, when things REALLY get crazy, they give help to Orr by means of a gift. It's a vinyl of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." And it really is a help! You want me to spoil Lathe of Heaven for you? In your dreams!

Sketch done in Micron pen and inkwash. Oh my, I am proud of this entry's title!

Deer God

Cenotaph is a book of poems by Eric Pankey. Although I wouldn't describe the poems as particularly excellent or earth-shaking, its a nice read. The above sketch was inspired by the poem The Kingdom of God Likened to a Deer Carcass.

I don't know what else to say about it that the title doesn't already explain. Its a short poem that describes the deer's sun-bleached bones to the ruins of an abandoned church, whose pieces are subject to destruction by carrion birds and wild dogs. While I could probably dissect the poem for symbolism and hidden meanings, etc., I just thought the image of a deer skeleton as a church was sort of neat.

Not all of the poems are morbid, but most are sort of dark and resentful of certain things like parents and lovers and religion. There is one about spring, but that one didn't have any distinct imagery that stuck in my head. Besides, I already knew what a deer skeleton looked like.

Brautigan Again!

The Abortion is another Brautigan work. I'm sure that frequenters of this site are becoming quite familiar with Brautigan's work and if he were still alive today, perhaps he would be grateful for so much publicity. I digress...

Despite the controversial issue of a title, The Abortion: A Historical Romance 1966 is a sometimes light-hearted, sometimes pleasantly sad, mostly happy story about a couple traveling to Tijuana for an abortion in 1966. The woman, Vida, is a woman so beautiful, that men have been killed trying to stare at her. She hates her curves and good looks because she doesn't feel like she fits her own body. The man, whom Brautigan modeled after himself, I think, is one of the only men that doesn't stare at her lustily...so they fall in love. She finds out that she's pregnant and they make the decision to have an abortion in a very calm and cool manner and make a very non-regretful trip to Mexico.

They met at a library where the man (if they say his name at all in the book- it's not often and I don't remember it if it was indeed mentioned) is the librarian. He never leaves the library and has lived there every hour of every day for the past several years. The concept of this particular library is that all of the books in it were brought in at any hour of the day, by any author, and about any subject the author desires. One man wrote an entire book about the history of leather clothing on a leather bound book made entirely of leather, a five year old wrote a book about his tricycle, another teenage girl writes a book about her cat- and all are admitted into the library and placed on whatever shelf the author chooses. Once every few months, a man named Foster comes down from the desert in his van, picks up a number of books, and brings them to the "caves" for storage. None of the books are ever destroyed and the whole operation is funded by this organization called "The America Forever, etc.", which is never really seen.

The sketch is inspired by the opening chapter of the book, which introduces the kooky nature of the library. An old woman rings the doorbell at 3 in the morning to submit her book, "Growing Flowers by Candlelight in Hotel Rooms". She's described as old, approximately eight, and very shabbily dressed. She lives in a hotel and walked three hours all the way to the library as soon as she finished after five years of writing her book- in crayon, complete with illustrations. As she turns the book in and its registered, she tells a little story of her life and how she loves to grow flowers- but her hotel room has no windows. After a short chat, her book is registered, she places it on a shelf full of mostly children's works, and leaves at 3 am for her three hour trek back to her hotel home.

I think that this part of the story struck me for several reasons. First, I have a soft spot for old people, especially those that live alone. The old woman seemed to have such a sad life, living in a hotel room with no windows and whatnot. The book that she'd worked on for five years seemed like a sort of validation and a great triumph for her, even though probably no one would ever read it. Her book, like many of the others brought in to the library, was something that meant volumes to the author, but most likely wouldn't matter to any other person. The librarian's job is to make certain that it does matter, or at least make the various and quirky authors feel as though their work mattered. I think thats nice and fuzzy.

So, as the sketch shows, I pictured the old lady sitting all alone in a dark hotel room tending to her flowers growing by candlelight, feeling proud that she'd written an entire book about them. I think that the image inspired by the description of the old woman and her book set the tone for the entire story: a little bit sad, but pleasant and satisfying at the same time. I read the book from cover-to-cover in one sitting, as I've done with a couple of other Brautigan works. Having said this, I will declare this as one of my favorite Brautigan works. Then again I would probably say that about all of them. I will still declare it a favorite, however.

Starting On The Wrong Foot

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Continuing my lighthearted illustration streak, I decided to booksketch from one of the nine or so Vonnegut books that I have read. Going through my library, Cat's Cradle was the first one I happened upon, so here you go.

To be honest, I remember liking it, but couldn't recall anything but the ending. So, flipping through the book helped refresh my memory. Like how the story is narrated by a fellow who wants to write a book about the direct kin of the man who (fictionally) helped invent the atomic bomb. Through investigation, he learns that this scientist had also invented a deadly substance called "ice-nine," which turns all water it touches into solid form at room temperature, by means of a molecular chain reaction. As you can imagine, this would be bad news if it were real. Well, in the novel, it is real. Deal with it, Earth!

Trying to track down more information on the substance, and ice-nine itself, our narrator is lead to a third-worldish island that is run by a dictator. This dictator wields a hook. Which was my initial booksketch thought. But the island isn't ALL dictator-centric.

On the island is an interesting religion called Bokononism. It focuses on people working together as a group (karass) to do God's will. And to spread love in general.

And finally coming to the illustration:

One way the Bokononians spread love is an intimate ritual that involves rubbing the naked souls of the feet together.

I know, right? The narrator participates in this ritual, boku-maru, with a rather captivatingly beautiful woman (who happens to be the daughter of the island's dictator, I believe). She was offered to him as a wife, should he wish. But because of culture clash, he instantly demands she cease foot-loving anyone else and only share her love with him. This, of course, goes against her religion and hurts her.

Kind of a jerk thing to do to a potential wife, eh?

Anyway, I thought it'd be kind of humorous to just draw the woman in an alluring foot-love pose, and just allude to a male's presence. Maybe he's shy. Or has his doubts. Or maybe he's already done!

Well, whatever you pull from the sketch, I think it stands on its own feet.

This illustration was done using a Micron pen and Copic markers.

A Chirp in Time

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

After posting my first illustration from Einstein's Dreams, the wonderfully well-read Alison Moon mentioned that she'd like to see a drawing from the chapter that features a world where Time is embodied in the form of nightingales. I hadn't yet gotten to that part, but anxiously awaited it. Of course, it turned out to be the final chapter (except for the short epilogue, of course)!

So, picture a world where people are able to pause any moment in their life. How do they do this? Well, they trap nightingales under a bell jar. Nightingales in this world are the embodiment of Time, and if one catches one, Time is caught as well. This freezes the moment, and the trapper can essentially live out one happy moment for a good while.

In an interesting note, elderly people can't catch the nightingales because they are just too slow. Which is rather unfortunate, since the elderly are the group that most desires to hold onto moments. Children really have the best chance of trapping the time-birds, but they don't really have a will for it. What need do they have of pausing Time? They just want to play and such.

There is one more important point to the chapter, but I will not go into it. I'd rather not spoil the entire world for you, right?

Additional Thoughts

This book was a brain-massage. It makes you think about all of these short little "what if" universes, but doesn't require you to analyze much or dive into research or theory. Lightman just flows the ideas over you, and you can wade in them if you'd like.

I'd like to add a little time-world theory of my own for you. Well, I guess mostly for Alison, since she suggested this book to me, haha.

Imagine a world in which Time moves like the turning of a page.

In this world, people live their life in sections, much like a page spread in a book. While your life is open to a certain page, you can view everything that has happened on the two pages facing you. You can skip around and revisit anything on those two pages for as long as they are visible. You can reread parts over and over, or skip whole paragraphs if you'd like.

Time moves in brief spurts, so you are free to "reread" parts from your life that are open. Re-experience graduation, or getting a raise, or spending the night with someone you love. Experience everything you've felt when your son scored three goals in his soccer state final, or how good you felt when someone you've had your eye on complimented your sense of humor.

Gloss over any parts you wish, as well. Who would want to experience a nasty bout of food poisoning again? Getting rejected while asking a crush to a high school dance is no fun (at least I assume... I never asked anyone). When your long-time pet passed away, just leaving you with a few pictures and a memory.

But eventually the page would be flipped. You would not be able to revisit anything from the previous page of Time, because Time decided it was time to have another spurt. Now a new spread is open for you. You can look ahead and see what will happen a few sentences down. You can begin to read through, or even reread passages once again. Don't be afraid to try new things! If they turn out well, you'll be able to experience them often. If you fail at something, you'll be able to pass over it in memory.

This world would make passionate readers of us all.

Get Off Your High House

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

I don't know if you're a fan of science fiction (or science in general). I am, but then again, I own a Star Wars belt. You don't really have to love sci-fi to really enjoy this book, since it is really more about thinking than testing laws of physics and whatnot.

Actually, I haven't finished the book yet. Immediately after soaking up the chapter that inspired this booksketch, I broke out the inks. Einstein's Dreams is a delightful collection of short chapters where the author kind of just bounces these neat ideas off of you. What if time in our universe was just one big loop, and we'll forever repeat our joys and sorrows? What if there were two sorts of "time?" What if there was a city that worshipped the flow of time?

One chapter mentioned how scientists measured that time actually is ever-so-slightly slower at high elevations, and quicker nearer the Earth's core. The author poked my brain when he suggested that in an alternate universe, people took this idea and ran with it (or climbed, rather). They began to migrate to the mountains and build their houses on tall stilts as to prolong their lives. Height becomes a status symbol. People hate lowering themselves to the Earth's surface to run errands. So when they have to do that, they really RUN errands. As fast as they can.

Height matters, I guess!

Invisible Ink

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

This novel kicks off with a surreal bang, with our "invisible" narrator going around and busting heads because his invisibility grants him freedom from being held accountable. He wants to explain how he became this way, and the majority of the rest of the novel is his story.

Starting out as a young and exceptionally talented speechmaker at a southern university, the narrator relates to us the trouble he gets into as a young black man dealing with racial issues, catch-22s, and tradition. After a particularly disastrous incident involving one of the rich white university trustees, our narrator is first admonished for fouling up the reputation of the university and then sent out to New York to work.

Having always looked up to Dr. Bledsoe, the university administrator (and also one of the few black men that the narrator has seen in a position of power), our narrator is crushed to find out that he was actually expelled and exiled from the school. Facing his anguish and anger, he decides to strike out into New York by enlisting in a paint-making factory.

After another incident, this time involving an insecure mentor figure at the factory and pressurized machines, our narrator ends up at a hospital. His mind and identity gets erased due to an experimental treatment by white scientists.

Let loose upon the streets, he is taken in by a wonderfully kind older black woman named Mary. She tends to him and won't hear anything about taking rent money until he can find a job.

Well, he does find one, eventually. After making a potent speech at the site of a rather public eviction, a man approaches him and asks our narrator to join up with a Brotherhood, which fights for the unity of all people, regardless of race. The rest of the novel tells about the narrator's struggle up the ladder, his success, ideas and thoughts, cautions, betrayals, and much more. Dark humor, provoking thoughts and actions, and excellent plots abound.

So, only at the very end does he explain what it took to make him realize he could be invisible, and what that means for him and society.

This sketch is of the character Ras the Destroyer, an powerful speaker who embraces his African heritage and spurns oppression. At the end of the novel, he changes his name from Ras the Exhorter to Ras the Destroyer because he's done preaching his words and starts tearing down society as he sees fit. Throughout the book, Ras has opposed the Brotherhood that our narrator has championed. He staunchly believes that since the Brotherhood was started by white people, it was only a sham and affront to black people everywhere. In his eyes, the only way to help his race was to fight those that always brought the boot down upon them.

Amid an all out race-riot, Ras leads an army while mounted upon a great black steed, brandishing a shield, spear, spurs, and pistol. Very visual, isn't it?

Other issues that are explored:
- Women's sexuality as a tool/danger
- Manipulation and deceit under the guise of "good"
- Using emotions and ideas to unite people
- The creative and destructive power of organizations
- Destiny in relation to class/race
- How different societies see thing in variation
- Trust and Betrayal
- Action as opposed to religion


On a side note, the majority of the book takes place in New York city, which is where I read the last third of the book! I just happened to be on vacation and visiting friends up there, and I got to walk on some of the same streets the narrator walked on! Haha!

Barred Window Chords

The Music of Erich Zann by H.P. Lovecraft

A couple of days ago I found the urge to do an illustration featuring violin. Mostly because violin takes up a nice chunk of my time these days. So I racked my brain to think of something I've read that included a violin, and I remembered a wonderful short story by Lovecraft that I lit upon when pouring over a collection of his works.

The story is only about ten or so pages long, so it is hard to explain the booksketch without giving away major points. But I'll try my best not to ruin the story for you, should you want to read it.

A university student in a European city finds a cheap apartment on a strange little street. He meets another one of the residents, a lean, bent old man named Erich Zann, who plays violin in a small cheap theater orchestra nearby during the day and cranks out some eerie/mystifying notes at night.

The student is intrigued and eventually befriends Erich. One evening he gets invited in to Erich's room for a bit. The conversation stops as a distant musical note enters from the curtained window. Erich Zann immediately zones out and breaks out his violin, as if to compete with the approaching ghostly music.

I'm going to stop there. Lovecraft considered this amongst his favorite works produced, and I can see why. While many of his works tend to go overboard in ghastly detail of supernatural (and just plain other-wordly) creatures, The Music of Erich Zann is more subtle, and it strikes an especially eerie note. No pun intended. Ok, maybe a little one.

The illustration above is of Zann playing feverishly to fend off what waits outside his window.

Num num num

Blood Relatives is a short story from the book The Littlest Hitler by Ryan Boudinot. I bought it because the synopsis online for the title story was about a little boy and girl who dress up as Hitler and Anne Frank for Halloween and become friends. The actual story (and book, for that matter) is much more depressing and dark and sometimes funny at the same time. This is OK though, because the short stories are also completely awesome, for the most part.

Blood Relatives is actually a combination of two stories involving a family member being a serial killer. The first story (pictured above) begins with a mom and her son shopping for food with the usual happenings. He asks for sugary cereal, she says no, he wants pizza pockets for dinner, she says no, etc. The mom is somewhat of a health nut, but only cooks a meal from scratch on Wednesday nights. This meal is labeled "the fancy meal."

The story sounds normal enough in the beginning, but we soon find out that the "fancy meal" involves ax wielding and the phrase "go fast...my mom used to run track." Ultimately, the crazy antics end with everyone living life as normal, as though the crazy and morally inept "fancy meal" is business as usual. A very entertaining little story! The second story is equally dark and comedic and also involves more dark humor.

Note: no. She is not doing the "Rock-out hand" while holding the ax. I just thought it looked really dainty for her to have her pinky out.

Chalk Up Another One

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

My second imagining of a section from Trout Fishing comes from a chapter where our narrator recalls the time he was a sixth grader. He and a posse of his classmates devised a plot (out of boredom) to write "Trout Fishing in America" on the backs of all of the first graders they could find at recess.

So, armed with pieces of chalk and a sixth-grader mindset, they set off on their tasks and swept the playground. Complaints started arising from the campus, as well as confusion. What did this phrase mean, and why was it on the backs of every first grader? Was it some sort of evil plot? Who did it?

Well, the principal eventually got around to grilling the sixth graders. I won't spoil the outcome for you, though. I will, however say that I loved the paragraph that you could tell which of the students' mothers didn't feel like washing clothes every day. The day after the mass-chalking, you could still see the faded remains of the graffiti on some first graders' backs!

Brautigan books are chock-full of fun imagery, so you can expect more booksketches from them!

Watership Drown

Watership Down by Richard Adams

It was brought to my attention that I had a nice bleak illustration streak (rhyme!) going there, so I decided it'd be best for everyone if we brought some color back into the equation. And bunnies. Easter just passed by, so why the heck not? The title of this particular illustration is purely for pun purposes, so don't get all worked up about the rabbits' welfare. They're fine. Well, most of them. My rabbits do look rather sleepy. Well, what do you expect! They're tired from laying all those Cadbury eggs.

And the best bunny story I know is Watership Down, hands down. This is my second booksketch inspired by it. The illustration actually was supposed to be much simpler, but I kept adding things because the rabbits and the watercolors were giving me a tough time! But I think it turned out pretty interesting.

At one part in the novel, Hazel and company are hastily escaping down a river when their small raft becomes stuck, and they have to swim for it. So, there you have it. Rabbits swimming!

Rabbits = cuter than rats = cuter than post-apocalyptic cannibals?

You decide.

The Road Ahead

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Oh, I've been wanting to do an illustration about any McCarthy novel for a while now. But it has been a meandering road, and I've only just gotten to it.

That pun is the only lighthearted thing that will be ever be associated with this book. Be forewarned.

The Road is a gripping, haunting post-apocalyptic story about survival, humanity and the lack thereof.

To start off the novel, the main character learns that America has just been nuked in various places. He immediately goes fill his bathtub up with water. That gave me an indication of what lay ahead. Without rules and something in place to keep everything in check, things basically go nuts.

When most of the crops fail, when all the energy goes out, when food goes scarce, what will become of society? This book paints a pretty...bleak picture, but you can pretty much believe it. Heck, I believed it instantly after that bathtub was filled with water, turning it into a large canteen.

I'm trying to give you the impression that this book is a brutal account of a man and his young son trying to make their way south to the Gulf of Mexico while traversing a dead, bleak, dismal and dangerous land. It is always cold in this world, because the sun is blotted out. Very cold. You have to scrounge for whatever food you need to get by on (I remember one part when they find shriveled, pathetic apples, and they are SO relieved and revived). Shoes are very important, and you should worry about their condition. People are dangerous because, well, they might be cannibals. There are several scenes and situations which push this upon the reader.

But what makes this book, and Cormac McCarthy, so genius is that it's not REALLY about all that bad stuff. It's about digging through it and finding the hope and humanity. The dialogue (all done with no quotation marks) between father and son is startlingly straightforward and heartfelt. Here's a sample that takes place right before the section that my illustration is from:

(son speaks first, then father, then you can follow from there)

We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
No. Of course not.
Even if we were starving?
We're starving now.
You said we werent.
I said we werent dying. I didnt say we werent starving.
But we wouldnt.
No. We wouldnt.
No matter what.
No. No matter what.
Because we're the good guys.
Yes.

You read this book and you sigh relief along when the characters when they find respite from their environment. They find food one day, and you smile because they smile. In the illustration above, they by chance happen upon an underground bunker/storeroom behind some abandoned house. And it's like heaven. And it is heartbreaking when they have to leave it to continue on. Because, as the father says, everyone else is looking for the same thing, and it wouldn't be good to be caught unawares there.

Upon finding the bunker, they are cautious about opening it. When the father finds that it is chock-full of supplies and empty of hazards, he can barely contain himself. And when he tells the boy to come on down, the boy hesitates. Which is the moment I tried to capture. I can picture him just looking around and checking to make sure no one is watching them. They had just come from a rather traumatic encounter in another house...

:shudder:

This is probably one of the "happier" moments in the novel. I've also read Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses, both of which have that same wonderfully dark, dangerous feel to them. Bad things happen. Good things happen. Really great stuff. Must have more.

Year of the Rat

1984 by George Orwell

Ah, the dystopian genre. While definitely not uplifting (at all), these bleak looks at humanity and society and control are often great works of literature. And, being a great work of literature, 1984 has been promoted on high school reading lists for a while now. So, it's pretty interesting how many people you know that might have read it!

I actually didn't experience it in high school; I waited until I was somewhere in the middle of my college branding. To make matters more dystopic (I love messing with words), I read Brave New World right after that. It was a very bleak period! Hahaha.

Anyway, this novel is about how the world is divvied up under the control of three huge super-powers. One of these, Oceania, is where the novel is set. Specifically, in London. The government tells everyone that they are at war with one of the other super-powers, and that terrorists are constantly trying to sabotage daily life. Big Brother watches every citizen's ever move. Oh, you just have to love hand-in-fist propaganda. Whatever the government deems "unsafe" is permanently deleted from every record, and thus from history. This is one of the tasks assigned to the Ministry of Truth.

Yes, the Ministry of Truth. There's also a Ministry of Love that... well... makes people like the government. By any means necessary.

One citizen, Winston Smith (who works at the Ministry of Truth) ends up straying from the set path and finds out all sorts of chinks in the machine. This leads to a whole mess of events, one of which may involve rats and psychological "conditioning." Definitely stuck in my mind!

So yeah, if you are deathly afraid of rats, I apologize. And you probably will want to skip a chapter or two of this book. On second thought, just take my word that it's a good book (KIND OF a downer), and go get some ice cream.

Rock Credentials Validated

Never Mind The Pollacks by Neal Pollack

A fictional account of a the world's greatest unknown fictional rock critic. Funny, lewd, zany, rockin' and most definitely rolling something at any given point in time. Usually followed by smokin'.

Alright, enough with me trying to be witty in describing this book. I'll just paste the disclaimer from the copyright section of the book. It does an excellent job of giving an idea of what this book is like to read.

This is a work of fiction. References to real people, including the author's friends whose lives have been ruined by major label record deals, as well as events, establishments, organizations, or locales, are intended only to let you know that corporate rock still sucks. They are all used fictitiously or satirically, but especially the stuff about Kurt Cobain. All other characters and all incidents and dialogue are drawn entirely from the author's fertile imagination and are not to be construed as real, even if they, against your will, stir up unbearable waves of sexual desire.

After I finished the book, I went back and pored over the copyright page and all the credit information for little gems like that. It's something that I'm pretty sure a lot of people glossed over. It's like in great comedies (like my personal favorite, Top Secret) they'll hide funny stuff in the credits for people who look for that sort of thing. Well, yay.

Never Mind the Pollacks is an over-the-top helping of rock culture, served up to you by a journalist searching for the true story behind Neal Pollack, infamous rock critic. We find out a million unbelievable things about Pollack, such as being run over and befriended by Elvis. And giving many now-famous and well-known artists their start. Like getting the Velvet Underground their first gig. And letting Iggy Pop find is identity. And being in the Ramones for a short time. And becoming a father figure of sorts to Kurt Cobain.

It's a book that's purely for entertainment, by means of a satirical kick in the teeth. Laced with vulgarity and outlandishness for comedic effect.

This booksketch illustration has a little conceptual twist up at the top. Hope you like it! Ahhhhh, rock.

The Morel of the Story

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

I found out about this novel from a friend. He suggested The Invention of Morel to me because he had heard it had a similar feel to the spectacumondously awesome television show LOST. Since I'm a huge fan of that show, I ordered the novel on blind faith.

I chose it as a booksketch inspiration because on the "Eggtown" episode of LOST, one of the characters happened to be reading the novel in one scene! I also sent Ben and Ralph over at the Dharmalars LOST Podcast an email saying that I'd try to do an illustration inspired by the book.

And it was excellent. I can't really tell you anything about what happens, without giving anything away. The entire 90-or-so page novel builds up mystery and mood until the ending. I guess I should try to explain a little so I can justify doing a sketch about it, right?

OK, so the main character is a fugitive who has been hiding out on a deserted island. The island is made up mostly of swamp and marsh, but has some high land, on which a museum, chapel, and swimming pool sit. There are tales of some mysterious disease associated with the island, but the fugitive doesn't really have a choice of better living conditions.

One day, he finds that some strange tourists appear on his island. He doesn't want to be seen (and maybe turned over to the authorities), so he hides and spies. He observes numerous weird and puzzling things, and as the novel progresses, details are revealed pertaining to the nature of the "tourists."

A scientist, Morel, is among them. He seems to be their leader, and it is revealed that he has invented a great machine. I refuse to tell you what the machine is; no spoilers allowed. I don't believe they ever really described the invention, just various parts and workings of it and related inventions.

This sketch is my imagining of Morel's invention.

Also, if you like LOST, you'd probably like this book. And probably the Dharmalars podcast! Check 'em out.

Oh my, God.

God is Dead by Ron Currie Jr.

When I was given this book, it was actually described to me as a comedy- so I decided to look past the title and give it a shot. The premise of the story is that God comes to earth as a starving Sudanese woman in search of her brother. In his/her travels, he/she ends up murdered (hence the title).

The humorous part is that the world doesn't know quite how to deal with the revelation that God is dead so all sorts of wacky things start happening. The chapters are ordered in a short story fashion so each one is about some different wild and crazy thing that goes on because of God's death. For example, adults start to worship their children and the animals that ate God's dead body start speaking in tongues, etc. I actually haven't read it all yet, but so far it's fairly interesting and it gives you the opportunity to tell all of your religious friends how hilarious things would be if God were dead.

The sketch is God as the Dinka woman. When I first showed it to my friend that gave me the book, she was appalled that I pictured her happy and bubbly (and white) since the story is set in Darfur (seriously, this book is a comedy) and goes into the atrocities that are occurring there. However, I wasn't quite in the mood to draw a lady getting raped with a torch or something like that. I also felt that no one would really be in the mood to view any pictures of a lady getting raped by a torch, so I decided to go with the happy, bubbly lady instead.

Rocketman-oh-man

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

As I mentioned in the post below, this is one tough cookie to read. Not that you read cookies. Anyways, there are 400+ characters and countless subplots and tangents, so it is basically like reading 15 different books at once. Which isn't the best for a straightforward storyline, but is quite good for illustrating!

The aforementioned Slothrop is rather special: Apparently, whenever he "gets intimate" with a female, a bomb strikes whatever location the action took place soon afterwards. This "ability" sets off a number of things, one being that people want to keep tabs on him. Another is that he gets dubbed "Rocketman" and sort of has a superhero status.

I'm sorry, I don't think I mentioned that this takes place during World War II, and Slothrop is a young (and promiscuous) lieutenant in the British army. There we go; consider it mentioned.

People send him off on various missions. The sketch above depicts Rocketman, in his Rocketmannish attire (a white Zoot suit and a helmet made from the nose cone of a rocket), stealing a bag of hashish for one of his fellow soldiers. He runs into Mickey Rooney there, in a comical scene where nothing is said, and pretty much nothing happens. But how random is that? Imagine stuff like that for 800 pages. I didn't draw Mickey Rooney because I really don't know what he looks like. Or what he looked like during World War II.

All that being said, I think I might have one more Gravity's Rainbow sketch in me. It will be from a very small part in the book (maybe three pages) that made me laugh out loud. Think three stooges, but in fighter planes. Check back soon!

Wait, What?

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

If you manage to read this book, you automatically enter an elite brotherhood (sisters welcomed, too). As soon as you flip over the final page, sigh, and ask "What the hell?" a courier arrives with a shiny medal emblazoned with a flaming book. This signifies your burning love for literature.

Gravity's Rainbow has been hailed (by some) the 20th century's greatest postmodern work. It has also been branded (by some others) as "unreadable." And while there are over 400 characters, oh-so-many plots and subplots, uncountable references to science and culture and history, you could get your kicks out of just reading the wonderful prose (and not actually trying to draw anything from it.)

It is about 800 pages of...topsy-turvy this-and-that madness, topped with humor and crazy scenarios and images. It is the hardest book I have ever read. I have also read Pychon's The Crying of Lot 49, which I found was a little easier. Maybe that was because it was a LOT shorter?

OK. So, anyway. This sketch is from one of the few scenes that I was actually able to retain. One of the main characters, Slothrop, aka "Rocketman," aka a bunch of other things, drops his harmonica in a restroom at a ballroom. He really doesn't want to lose it, so he dives in the toilet after his beloved harmonica. He enters a world inside the toilet, with all sorts...toilet world things. There are all sorts of symbols and parallels and what-have-you down there. The movie of Trainspotting even pays homage to this with a similar scene!

Ah, my head hurts just thinking about this book again. But as I type this companion text to my sketch, I look up at my coveted Fiery Book award, and smile proudly.

A-SPIRING Holy Man

The Spire by William Golding

When I found this book (hardcover, great condition from Alexander Books) I thought "Well, Lord of the Flies was excellent, so this will be also." While it was a good, psychological book, I didn't fall in love with it. It kind of drug on and wasn't quite as tense as you'd think.

It might help if I summarize the novel. Jocelin, the dean of the cathedral, receives funding to build the largest spire ever. Everyone sees that it cannot technically be built (without collapsing utterly), but Jocelin drives them onward. As the story progresses, he becomes sick and starts having delusions, thus only adding to his fanatical drive to see his impossibly tall spire built. I recall several parts of the book where the construction workers say that they can hear the walls singing and screaming under the pressure of the spire above. Creepy!

The sketch is just an imagining of the spire, near completion. I am not an expert on architectural drawings, as you can see, but it is pretty fun to make up stuff as you're going along.