This Geek Thing

I've had some thoughts on this whole Geek discussion that's going on, so here they are.

As defined by dictionary.com

geek

 [geek]  Show IPA Slang.

noun

1.

a digital-technology expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often useddisparagingly by others).

2.

a person who has excessive enthusiasm for and some expertise about a specialized subject oractivity: a foreign-film geek.

3.

a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.

Origin: 
 1915- 20; probably variant of geck  (mainly Scots ) fool < Dutch  or Low German gek

I left out the fourth definition. Follow the link if you want. It's interesting if you like getting funnel cake.

For a majority of my life the second two were how I primarily heard the word being used. I can't pin point the first time but it was probably in elementary school. So somewhere in the mid to late 80's. By this point I probably already was the 2nd option. I was very enthusiastic about most cartoons. Especially He-Man and Transformers, or any cartoon with animals.

At age 9, while walking with my sister-in-law to a park, I was talking excitedly about something, and she called me weird. Since it was said pleasantly, I said, 'Thank you!" I embraced that description.

Later I would get into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (something that solidified one of the longest and best friendships of my life.) In middle school I got into comic books (particularly X-Men) and movies. I never stopped liking one thing in favor of another. I just added to my interests.

I was always on the outside. Besides a few friends that had the same, or at least similar interests my only other friends during middle school and high school were my friends from my church youth group. 

Even there I was on the fringe because I always had my backpack with my sketchbook and comics with me, and I'm sure other reasons. At school, being a Christian and into comics had me sticking out like a sore thumb. I didn't care. I didn't like the things I did for anyone besides myself. I wasn't making a point. I just like what I like.

College saw me finally adding the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit offically to my geekhood. I had grown up with the animated movies, but never read the books. So I made sure I read them before the movies hit. Now, they are probably the biggest area of my geek knowledge.

I was in college before I started self-applying the term 'geek.' Before then I was just weird. I wasn't a geek because I was ostracized, I was ostracized because I was a geek. 

Then the 2000's came. Huge successful movies about comic book heroes started getting made. X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman relaunch, Watchmen, and eventually TV shows like Heroes . My particular brand of geek was getting noticed. And I was okay with it! I didn't care that now new people were learning who the X-Men were. Even if they messed them up in the movie.

Being a geek wasn't a status or desirable thing. It was just a broad descriptor for people really into specific things. Geek wasn't pointed at comic books and super heroes alone. You could be a music geek, game geek (now gamers) or whatever.

Next came The Big Bang Theory. A show about 4 geeky nerds who live in LA. It's a funny show. I enjoy it a lot. I don't think it accurately portrays anyone I know that is into comics or other geeky stuff. It got the concept of comics and geeks into a wider pop culture dialogue.

Then Patton Oswalt puts out a blog post about being an 'otaku.' Saying he's not a geek, but was 30 years ago when it wasn't cool. This post kinda made me mad.

Frankly, I'm not of the mentality that being a geek is something to hoard. I'm sorry for all the people out there who were physically/emotionally bullied for having interests in the 'not normal.' As far as I'm concerned being a geek wasn't some sort of anti-establishment, proto-hipster way to like things that weren't popular.

Being a geek means you really like something and have a wide and specific knowledge base in that subject. Geek is a generic term. It is not limited to comic books, or video games or anything. I'm sick and tired of all these people who are upset that what they like is suddenly widely popular. It doesn't change what you like! Unless you only like those things because there was limited interest in it.

I don't know what to tell you then.

Right now there is a trendy fad to be geeky or nerdy. It might last a long time. It might not. Why does it matter to you if someone else claims to be a geek? If you've been a geek your whole life, and meet someone who is just now discovering these things, are they not allowed to consider themselves a geek too?

Why is calling your self a geek some sort of victim of bullying or being ostracized merit badge?

And for all the 'fake' geek stuff. Yes, I do believe there are people who are fake about being a geek. Just like there are people who are fake about what sports team they like, or what their religious beliefs are. Every sub-culture, category, and social group has people who make them look bad, and don't really belong in that group.

Let's not become the bullies and jerks we endured. Excluding others just because they didn't go through what we went through. That's a Magneto thing. And despite current alignments. He's a bad guy. You want to keep geekdom different from all the other groups out there? Be accepting!

Your type of geek might be very different from my type of geek. Good! Cause if we all liked the exact same thing...fill in the creepy utopian controlled future story of your choosing!

So lets stop all these rants about how popular culture has killed being a geek. All the things geeks love are still out there. So embrace what you love and let other embrace what they love. And when this trendy fad passes, we can continue on...hopefully with a few more geeks by our side!

Geekfully yours...

grace, peace + hope

-Jesse

What Just Happened? 2013 in Review

It's been a helluva year.

I'm not just saying that about my personal year. It's been one crazy year. There have been mega-highs and ultra lows. The most diffinitive thing I can say about 2013, personally, is that it ripped in like a hurricane and punched out faster than mantis shrimp.

The first half of the year was marked with deaths, loss, and change. Lots of change. My step-dad, his dog, a friend. Moved myself twice before July. Moved mom to Florida, first time she's lived outside the Susquehanna Valley since 1980. My jobs flipped as to which was the predominant job (this is a change I am most happy about.) New car, new phone (finally entered the realm of 'smart' phones.)

The early part of the year saw the beginning of an endeavor almost 25 years in the making. Life long friend, Shawn and I began laying the foundation for Counter Monkey Comics, and what would be our first (and not last) appearance at the Baltimore Comic Con.

Between moving myself, my mom, a family vacation, 2 jobs and all the beautiful insanity of life we reached our goals for the convention and I self published my first comic book. Which is now entirely SOLD OUT! It wasn't a profit winning undertaking, but it was fun and so very satisfying.

The second half of the year, which saw the completion of the comic, it's printing and the convention - also allowed me to settle into a rhythm of sorts in this new normal. Teeth were pulled, literally. And I realized that I was finally entering the goals I had set for myself when I moved back to PA in May, 2011.

A little over 2 years and a lot of unexpected twists and turns and foolish selfmade detours, and I was finally getting to where I wanted to be for this chapter of my life.

I can't be the only one to have realized this. Many times. While perpetually forgetting it: Stop trying to make God's plan for your life something you can plot out and control.

I'm a firm believer in not saying, "I can't." But this is one of those situations where it applies.

I had this vision of what I wanted to do when  I moved back to PA. Then I read inspiring books. Had conversations with wonderful and amazing people. I lost sight of my vision and started following the experiences of someone else.

In a way my step-dad's passing presented the opportunity of solitude and silence to hear something God must have been saying for the year and a half prior.

"Kid, what're you doing? These are good things, but not what you were made for."

Some how I had gotten it in my head that pursuing my dreams of writing/drawing and storytelling were some how selfish and unimportant. No one said this to me. I said it to myself. I had convinced myself that I was not severing God fully if I wasn't immersed in helping people with every waking breath. I filled myself with pride and some sort of ambition to do things I wasn't called to do. I misread situations as signs and direction.

Like so many, I became my own worst enemy. Fortunately God doesn't give up on us. No matter how long it takes, when we truly let our hearts be still, we can hear him. And I did.

Write    Draw   Tell stories   Love God & Neighbors

These are my directives. I can't compare what God has given me to do to what others are doing. I can't map out what roads his leading will take me on, or what people I will encounter along the way.

So, 2013, you were a hell of a year. In good times and hard. You were better to others, and even worse to many more. You're a part of my history now, and I can't change that, nor do I want to. In ending this post, here's one of my favorite quotes from The Fellowship of the Ring:

"Home is behind, the world ahead,
and there are many paths to tread
through shadows to the edge of night,
until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
we'll wander back and home to bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
away shall fade! Away shall fade!"

 Have an incredible 2014. It'll be incredible at times. It will have moments that truly suck. There will be days or hours that seem unbearbale followed by moments that set your soul aflame.

Just put one foot in front of the other, and keep living. No matter what tomorrow brings, only you control how you will respond or react. Strive to respond rather than react.

The world is what you make of it, so let's make it better this year.


grace, peace + HOPE
-Jesse

90 - You've Come to Journeys End

The final song.

It has been a journey my friends.  I hope you have enjoyed it!

This song has been picked out and waiting for this day for almost 3 months.  And now it's here.  It seemed a fitting song all things considered.  At least for me.

It's a song that carried me off to sleep countless hundreds of times.  It is ethereal, haunting, and beautiful.  It was the last song in the last film of an incredible trilogy.  The movies defied all my expectations.  Well, most of them.  And this song was the perfect way to wrap out the franchise.

Song 90/Day 90        "Into the West" sung by Annie Lennox from the Academy Award Winning* motion picture soundtrack, The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King.

*The Oscar was for this song: music and lyrics by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox

This song comforts me and brings tears to my eyes at the same time.  It's a bittersweet lullaby.

In it are words used in the film when Gandalf tells Pippin what happens when they die.  It's beautiful imagery taken in part from the final chapter of Tolkien's book.  The song was written as a lament from Galadriel.  And with that in mind it's even more enchanting as Cate Blanchette's performance as that figure is stunning and breathtaking.

This song just chills me in the most positive of ways, down to my core.  I love falling asleep to it.  It's not a song I think that can just be listened to for "fun."  At least not for me.  There is a weight and responsibility that comes with it.  Almost like someone carrying an ember to the next village in a time when fire was the gold men longed for.

The simplicity of the music in this song, the horns, and her voice just thrill the mind.

I couldn't think of a better song to say farewell to this series, and the season I love so much.  It's cold, damp, and wet out as I write this.  But this song kindles the fire of hope and "what is to come" in my heart and mind.

Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say: "We have come now to the end"
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

82 - We Must Away Ere Break of Day

This one isn't playing fair.

I've heard it for the most part months ago when a certain movie trailer first hit screens.  Then yesterday, I was thrilled to find it on the score to the film.  So it's the most recently heard song in my list, it's also one that feels the oldest.

And in some ways it is.  The original lyrics were written barely two decades shy of 100 years ago.

But the way this song is done for this movie, makes it feel like an ancient song of a people seeking their homeland.  Well, that's exactly what it is, and that's what gave me chills when I saw the trailer.

Song 82
       "Misty Mountains" from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
                                            - Composed/Orchestrated/Conducted by Howard Shore

I get actual chills when I listen to this song.  The cast did an impressive job at singing it, the gentle music background is wonderful.  There is such longing and history laced in the words, and the performance.  I cannot wait to see it on the screen tomorrow night!

I was excited when the first  trailer for Hobbit came out.  As ran I just got more and more excited.  Then this moment came when Thorin (the lead dwarf) begins to sing with this deep rumbling voice.  Then some of the other 12 dwarves stand, and join in the song until they are all in.

It just moved me.  And the whole Autumn  thing should be obvious now.  Autumn, adventure/fantasy, and the fact that this sends shivers of wanderlust and heartache down my spine and to my heart just compounds it all.

Also, Howard Shore has to be one of the most talented composers out there.  I listed all the things he does, because I was told years ago that it was rare that a "Hollywood" composer would do all of that.  Especially for three massive movies, now six.  Between The Lord of the Rings and now the Hobbit Trilogy.

Go enjoy.  Also, I really like the "Blunt the Knives" as sung by the Dwarf Cast on this album as well.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

48 - How 'bout the Power to Move You?

Every now and then a song comes a long that just clicks.  I can't remember when I heard this particular song for the first time, but I know it was awesome.  It was before I moved to Illinois at the very end of '05.  So...that's it for the vague part.

This song just takes me to that place of "awesome."

I also remember jamming out to this in vehicles with one of my brothers from another mothers, Mark Jahnke.  Yeah dude.  (I totally just name dropped you!)

It has a lot of the common themes from this list.  Light, guitar pick intro.  Build into a grand finale.  Inspires imagination and adventure.  It's just a fun song, that has surprisingly good talent.  I was surprised to learn that this actor was really a musician.

Song 48
        "Wonderboy" from the musical styling of Tenacious D on their self-titled album.

Epic.  That's what this song is.  That word gets thrown around a lot, I'm almost ashamed to use it, but it truly fits this song.  It's quite comical too.  As it tells the story about how the very band formed, but with quite the embellished spin.  Jack Black is himself, Wonderboy.  While his musical partner, Kyle Glass, is named in the tune as Young Nastyman.

The music video for it is also amazing.  Very Lord of the Rings, in style and imagery.

What makes me associate this with Autumn, is mainly the aforementioned common themes.  But really, the video is the kicker.  While  the lyrics of the song paint an almost superhero vibe, the song takes it to fantasy adventure.  The duo on some mysterious quest in the woods and mountains.  Prime recipe for my wanderingly imaginative noggin.

So, do yourself a favor.  Follow the link to the album above, download the song.  Or, if you are afraid of that strong a commitment, look it up on the video search of your choice.

Wonderboy.

Mucky, muck.

Yes.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Old Threads

    “How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back?”  -Frodo The Return of the King

This is Frodo’s narration as the final scenes of The Return of the King, and the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy play out.  He’s returned to his cozy hobbit hole at Bag End after his incredible year long journey from Hobbiton to Rivendell to Mordor and back.  He and his fellow hobbit companions are changed people.  They aren’t the simple fun loving, song singing, drink sharing folk they were the year before.

Sure some of those elements are still there.  But there are things that will never be the same.  How do you compare the height of the White City of Minas Tirith to the earthy colored walls of a hobbit hole?  The places they have been may have only strengthened their love of all things hobbitish, but they cannot un-see the places they have gone.

No more than they can un-experience the battles they have fought, the brutality of war and destruction that it brings.  They cannot un-shed the blood they themselves have shed, be it their own or their enemies.

Nor can they un-meet their other companions, or other characters they met along the way.  They can’t un-speak the conversations about life and death and all the rest. 

Forever. 

Those places, experiences and people have altered their lives for all time.  Just like the places, experiences and people that have come into my life have altered me forever.

For ever.

After nearly 14 years I have returned to my hometown.

Funny how the ending of one chapter can sometimes take you back to a place where a previous chapter started.  It’s the same place, but the environment may or may not have changed slightly.  Usually the characters have changed or seen things that would alter their perception of this familiar setting.

And that’s where I am.  New chapter.  Same story.  Previous setting, different perceptions.  New familiarity.

You see, you cannot pick up the pieces of an old life.

Not possible.

Because whether we like it or not, things change.  Maybe it’s us that changes, maybe it’s our surroundings, but something is always changing.

You can’t pick up an old life because that old life is affected by what has led to the new or different life.

The new life that is, exists because of the life that was.  It may be minor changes, but they are there.  The way we look at a sunset because of that one we saw in that one place.  Or the way we think about a book or movie because of that conversation with what’s their face.  It’s different.

Hopefully it’s better.

I know for myself it is better.  I’ve come back a different person.  For me many things are similar, but every thing is better.  (Except the stink bugs, seriously.  Thanks China!)  My relationships with my parents are better.  My walk with God is better (but there is always room for improvement there!)

The threads of my old life can’t be picked up.  Nobody’s can.  Because they are part of the tapestry that is their entire life.  You can trace those threads back to where you ‘left’ them, but they are woven into who you are now.

Just because you can’t “go back,” doesn’t mean that sadness and despair are the result.  There is a sadness to Frodo’s words.  But that sadness doesn’t touch Sam.  Sam does have a sadness in part, but for him, life is better on returning home.  He has courage, strength, he gets married, has a family and lives a long and happy life.  He does back to his same house, doing what he used to do, but he is changed.

A good friend shared the song “For Good” from Wicked on my facebook page after I moved from Illinois to PA.  I’ve not seen the play but I get the concept of what it’s about.  And these words go hand in hand with this post.

“Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better…

Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good...”

Old threads can’t be picked up.  They can only continue on.  Because our old lives make us who we are today.  The old becomes the new.  We move on.  We grow.  Every day, every life, every moment contributing to the next.

Grace, Peace and Love
 -jesse

The Teller of Stories

Where would we be with out stories or the ones who share them with us?

A pale dismal place devoid of hope or dreams I should think.

Stories are the common thread through every human culture. Stories of hope, despair, valiant heroes and cunning villains can be found in every tribe and creed. But what is a story without someone to tell it.

"Australian Aborigines say that the big stories—the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life—are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush."
~Robert Moss, Dreamgates

The story teller is a person who chronicles the history of a people. They capture the hopes and fears of their way of life, and embody them in fantastic tales. Sometimes they are colorful retellings of true events. For what story teller can resist making that one moment more dramatic or diabolical?

Other times the stories are complete fabrications of the storyteller's imagination. But in it's telling truths can be found that are more deep than any you'd find in a court of law. Like the stories Walter's uncles tell in "Secondhand Lions."

Sometimes, it's a fabrication of the truth. A clever disguise of real events told in a fictitious way. As in Hamlet's play revealing he knew the truth about his uncle.

Whether the story is factual or fictitious is irrelevant if a truth can be gleaned from it's depths.


Stories are meant to teach.

If we can learn to be compassionate from a tale about a talking bear, so be it. In growing up I heard stories from many places. Whether I believed they were stories of true events or not didn't matter. It was what those stories taught that was important.

While I hold the stories from the Bible to be true, and Aesop's Fables to be clever tales, the lessons I can take from each are as powerful. The Bible taught me not to kill or steal (and many other things) Aesop taught me things like using common sense and perseverance. Both helped me grow.

There are fundamental truths in these stories, and in others I've never read, that if we take the time to understand them, they help us grow into healthy adults. This is what Uncle Hub (from Secondhand Lions) tells Walt this after he was asked if any of the stories were true,

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."

Stories are meant to entertain.

Ancient story tellers would gather their people around a fire in the dark of night and weave incredible tales of might and valor. Today we sit in darkened movie theaters. But the same story told over a fire and projected on a silver screen carries the same lessons, and adventures.

Books, movies, songs and poetry can take us, however briefly, from our daily life to another place. We can escape into an world so unlike our own and disappear for hours at a time. Richard Adams takes us down into the grass with the rabbits of Watership Down and leads us on an amazing journey full of outer trials and inner strength.

JRR Tolkien invents a whole other world and fills it with languages and people that have never been seen before. In this world of Middle Earth, we find that they too have stories of their own. Stories that make their story so much richer and vibrant because

If a story told in whatever form can remove us from a problem for a time, give our mind a chance to disconnect, we can approach it with a fresh innovation. Stories can make us laugh or cry, or they can strike a cord so deep that something will stay with us for ever.

"Lord! when you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book. ~Christopher Morley

Stories are meant to endure.

Some stories are so specific in time that they may not live out the decade. But real stories. Stories that inspire, teach and entertain last forever. Just look at works like the Iliad, the Odyssey, works of Shakespeare, Poe, and Dickenson. Some stories grow and add new chapters as time goes on, others stand strong on their own.

Some, like the Battle of Thermopylae, become huge retellings of ancient achievement, and modern retelling. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Narnia all continue to pull in young readers and minds, because they are so versatile in their craft. The stories told, while specific, are also universal. Selflessness, right and wrong, trust, friendships, the strength of family...

All these things are in stories. They are also in our everyday lives. Our lives are stories. Sometimes they are too big or close for us to realize what we are experiencing. So step back and listen to a story. If you can't listen to one, then tell one. For without stories we are nothing. 


Stories are Powerful.

Nations rose out of stories. If our nation's stories are hopeful, we can be hopeful. If they are barbarous and depraved...we become likewise. If you need proof of that look at America. But that is a rant for another day.

A story told can not change a life. But what is gleaned or inspired by one can. Look at the greatest storyteller who ever lived. Jesus. He told complicated lessons about God, and life. His lessons weren't 3 point sermons with power point and video inserts. (not that there is anything wrong with that) but he told stories. And if he needed to he explained them.

So what greater thing could we aspire to than to be storytellers ourselves? If you are a follower of Christ, there should be no less than two stories always ready in your mind. His story, and yours.

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
~CS Lewis

My Favorite Reads

In preparation for my next blog, I thought I'd leave a list of my all time favorite books.

Jurassic Park - by Michael Crichton
I read this book when I was in the Dominican Republic on my first youth missions trip. It was amazing to read this amidst the lush island that was so similar to that of the book. The movie was on the verge of coming out and I just could not wait to find out what the story was all about. I've gone on to read many other Crichton books, and at least one other will appear on this list, but JP stands out as the first taste of a more visceral world. A story about the illusion of control, and how we truly have very little of it. Terrifying.

The Lord of the Rings - by JRR Tolkien
Wow. These books have been such an inspiration to me. Even before I'd ever read them. I had older brothers and later friends who had read them and thus impacted me. But I read them the summer before the movies hit. I remember my oldest bro telling me to make sure I read the chapter "The Council of Elrond" in one sitting. The depth and life Tolkien gave to his characters and world will never be outmatched in my opinion. A world and story to exist on it's own. Amazing.

The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Again I waited until adulthood to read the whole series. It was again the summer before "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," hit theaters. Simply yet satisfying on a level that didn't knock me off my feet. The world vibrant and full of life and symbolism. While we all have to grow up at some point, it does not mean we have to loose our innocence. Moving.

Harry Potter - JK Rowling
Read books 1-6 right after I read Narnia, and book 7 two years later the day it came out. Another amazing series full of difficult choices and trials. A hero quest in a "modern" setting. The thing I love about this series is how Rowling incorporates almost every human emotion in the series. Love, hate, fear, vulnerability...all permeate the entire series, and culminates in an amazing climactic battle, hinged on a singular choice. Brilliant.

Eaters of the Dead - Michael Crichton
A very intriguing version of the Beowulf story. Crichton takes an outsiders approach to the ancient world of the vikings. Almost an anthropological study this story is incredible in it's detail of a culture I knew very little other than the typical stereotype. And his spin on Grendel and the overall approach to the Beowulf aspect is incredible. It gave me chills as the images came to life in my mind. Savage.

Hood - Stephen R Lawhead
This is an amazing new interpretation of the classic Robin Hood story. It tells of selfish young Bran and how he must rise above the loss of his father and land to become what his people need him to be. It speaks of responsibility and duty and other concepts lost on many people today. The transformation of Bran is the central theme of Hood, the first of 3 in the "King Raven" Trilogy. I can't wait to read Scarlet and Tuck. Redeeming.

The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
These five books; The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King, are quite simply my favorite books of all time. This series focuses on the hero quest of Taran, a simple Assistant Pig-Keeper. How he longs to become a hero, and the difficult challenges he faces that lead him to that fate, that curb the desire to doing what must be done. I don't know how many times I've read this series, but it inspries me anew every time. It is full of lessons and truths that I've only encountered in small amounts elsewhere. While this maybe geared towards younger audiences, I think that any adult can enjoy them. Adventureous.

Other Recomendations:
-The Pendragon Cycle:
Taliesn, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, Grail - Stephen R. Lawhead

-Patrick - Stephen R. Lawhead

-The Song of Albion Trilogy:
Paradise War, Silver Hand, The Endless Knott - Stephen R. Lawhead

-Congo, Sphere, Lost World, Prey, State of Fear, and Next - Michael Crichton

-The Hobbit, Silmarillion, Children of Hurin - JRR Tolkien

-Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath - Cornellia Funke

-Watchmen - Allan Moore

-Stardust, Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

-Tales of HP Lovecraft - HP Lovecraft

Well, if you've made it this far I congratulate you. Welcome to the world of my rambling blogs. If you want to know more of what I think on these books, just email me. The address should be somewhere over on the side. Let me know what you think of these books if you've read them!