Fantasist's Scroll

I re-read the Science of Breath last week.
For a skinny, little book it sure is packed full of information. Those yogis really pay a lot of attention to the details of everyday physical life. We all breath, but how often do we actually contemplate our breathing? The Science of Breath asks us to do just that. What’s more, it offers the most correct way of breathing for maximum health and benefit. It also gives the yoga student breathing exercises that help revitalize, reinvigorate and recharge themselves on many different levels. I re-read the book to refamiliarize myself with those breathing exercises which, over the years, I have found extremely helpfull in times of stress. As one might imagine, they are very meditative in nature and I found them quite relaxing.
This little, 90-page book is now a bit of a challenge to get, but well worth the effort. (Oh, and don’t be fooled by the other books of the same title. The one to get is the one by Yogi Ramacharaka.)

The title says it all!
Okay, so what I finally decided on was simply reducing the datasets for the troublesome WordGenerator apps. It doesn’t seem to have reduced their functionality at all and, so far, has not resulted in the same server-crashing error. Of course, some of the problem may stem from the immense popularity of the applications. You conlang nuts really hammer those apps!
I suppose I should really figure out how to do it all in a more “modern” language, like PHP, but PERL is still my first web programmging love. And, I can use the same scripts locally on my machine without the restrictions. But, no, I won’t make them available to the general public because I don’t really want to support PERL on your local machine.

One final word on this. Remember, these are free resources, so sometimes they go off-line without much warning. If my ISP has issues, I kill the app first and and questions later. My webhost, Amzia.net, is really patient with me, because he’s a cousin of a friend of mine, but I’d rather not push it. And, if your really, really like the apps, buy something from the Ye Olde Shoppe or at least click on an ad. Anything to show your support. Thanks!

Several people have asked about my Word Generator.
Well, it was crashing the server, so I suspended it, temporarily. Unfortunately, “temporarily” got a little stretched out because of some things in my personal life, as well as a heavy work-load at my “day job”. I do intend to get it working again, though, so please bear with me.
Also, I intend to make any and all announcements about updates to this site via this blog. So, if you’d like to keep up to date, subscribe to this blog with Bloglines! Of course, you’ll have to set up a username and password and all that jazz, but it’s worth it, trust me. Also, check out their notification applets. There’s one for every operating system, so don’t worry that you’ll be left out.
And, with that, I’ll add only “Stay tuned for updates!”

Not one of mine for a change, though.
Nope, this would be Faith In Fiction, which is a blog run by a fiction acquisitions editor at a Christian publishing house. He looks at the fiction publishing world from a view few of us get to see. And, he talks about good fiction, faith and how the two can work together. Really, it’s an interesting idea for a blog.
One of the things I found interesting was that Christian authors deal with all the same issues that non-religious authors do. You don’t get a “free pass” just because you’re writing faith-based work. Of course, I knew that, but I don’t think a lot of aspiring Christian writers think about that. Generally, I get the impression that they think the message should be enough and editors should work out all that details, like grammar and spelling. And plot and characterization. You get the idea. So, it’s refreshing to see someone encouraging Christian writers to write, but to write good fiction, not just anything. I’m sure part of the idea is to cultivate a decent source of publishable talent, but I still like the idea of targeting that particular audience. Hmm, maybe I’ll even try writing for that market segment.

Okay, so I’ve been reading a lot of Christopher Moore lately!
It’s the upside to travelling for work, actually, having all that time to read on the plane or in airports. I took advantage of it to read another delightful tale by Moore, titled The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Obviously, the story is about a large lizard, but it’s not quite what you might think. It’s actually a love story.
The story follows the antics of Moore’s favorite fictional town as the local psychiatrist decides to make up for past apathy by putting all her patients on sugar-pills instead of their regular medication. Throw in a giant sea-lizard, a hidden drug lab, a Mississippi Blues man, and a former B-movie star and you get classic Moore. This time around we get to see some old friends from Practical Demonkeeping, too, like Howard Phillips, occult owner of the local diner and “The Hammer/Nailgun”, super-geek police computer specialist and source of lots of interesting information. Oddly enough, the main “love story” is between the fallen movie star and the sea-creature. Though, there are actually several love stories going on all at once. There’s a little bit of everything in The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and so many sub-plots it’ll make your head spin. But, in a good way.

And again, there’s that underlying current of a spiritual search. A search for meaning and love in a sad, drab world. Surprisingly, despite opening with an apparent suicide and lots of mental anguish, including a somewhat dark look at psychotherapy, it’s really an upbeat and fun book. As always, Moore manages to tie everything together and end on a rather happy note. Again, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is a great book, like everything by Christopher Moore, and I cannot reccomend it enough.

I love Christopher Moore’s writing!
Of course, that’s neither anything new or particularly startling since he’s a best-selling author. He writes mainly light comedic fantasy, which is just what I need these days, so I’ve been churning through quite a bit of his work. One of the things that I like about Mr. Moore’s work is that he always seems to have an undercurrent of spirituality in all his work. Coyote Blue is no exception. The “hero” of Coyote Blue is a severly repressed Crow (from the American Indian tribe, not the bird) named “Samson Hunter”. Though, actually, his real name is Samson Hunts Alone. He’s living in the White world, hiding from a terrible secret he left behind on the Crow reservation. And, he’s one of Coyote’s chosen. Of course, in his “White” persona, a chameleon-like insurance salesman, he denies everything Crow, including his family’s association with the traditonal trickster god.
Unfortunately for him, his shaman uncle is still looking for Samson. And Coyote hears the call. As you might have guessed, when the trickster god takes an interest in your life, things get a little confusing. Not to mention dangerous. It all works out in the end, of course, though someone dies and poor Samson’s life is completely torn apart. Oddly enough, it’s a happy ending.

Well, I won’t spoil the book with too much plot, but Moore takes us on a journey of rediscovery and spirituality. One of the things I liked about the book was that it was a non-standard, non-JudeoChristian exploration of spirituality. And, from what I’ve read of American Indian religion, it’s fairly accurate, too. It’s both fun and funny. Coyote Blue was light-hearted enough to make it a pleasure to read, but deep enough to keep me coming back for more. I heartily reccomend it.

Well, there’s been a bit of a problem with some of the word generators.
Apparently, one of them has been sucking up too much memory on my webhost’s server, so I’ve temporarily disabled it until I’m home from the road and cna deal with it. (Damn! That was one long sentence!) I’ll get it straight sooner or later, but it’ll take a bit.
Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hmm, there have been a lot of rat-brain stories lately…
No, really, there have been a lot of stories about experiments done with rat brains. First, there was the story about the scientists in Florida who got a rat brain to pilot an aircraft. Then, there was a story about the android run by a rat brain. But, when I got really got me thinking was when I saw this article about how rats can tell the difference between two languages.
Taken separately, they don’t seem like a big deal, but, what happens when you combine them together into a single package? How long before we see these freakish things on the battlefield? Truth is stranger than fiction. But, you know what? A science-fiction author predicted this kind of thing back in the early 80’s. Yep, Joe Clifford-Faust, author of “Company Man”. He didn’t get much attention back then, I thought, but he sure seems right on the money with his predictions. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?