W O R D S 1

Alan Moore's The Courtyard: Awesome. This is a 48-page reprint of a two-parter. I'd read the second half of it many moons ago and was always looking for more of it. I couldn't even find the book I'd originally read (it had gotten misplaced, is still missing now) to look it up by name, but I knew it was vaguely about a narcotics cop looking into a new drug. After reading the first half, it's no wonder I didn't understand that the story was over in that part I'd read. The whole story is actually about a cop who's looking into a serial killing spree that has three different perps, but all with the same exact M.O. This detective is an anomoly theorist or something and pulls together seemingly random details to, for lack of a better phrase, make order from the chaos. His investigation then leads him to a drug. The drug is called AKLO. But in the end, the drug ends up being not a physical drug, but a primordial language. The language, when heard while under the influence of a minor hallucinogen Moore calls DCM 7 or something, causes hallucinations of great intensity. All three perps had heard the language. And after the cop hears it, he ends the story by committing a murder in the same style as the other perps. It's not totally obvious, cuz there's no pictures of it in the story, he's just sort of describes it and we're looking at the cop. It also refers to the beginning of the story, which, as I said, I didn't read. Despite all that, I was very struck by the first part of the story, which was why I was looking for it for so long. I'm so glad the reprint came out.

Garth Ennis writes an intro for the book and he commends Moore for being so brief for such an interesting concept, and I have to agree it's commendable. It was such an interesting story and I didn't want it to be over. But it made sense since the main character was kind of psychotic at the end.

Jacen Burrows illustrates this book and, especially with the illustrations of the AKLO-induced hallucinations, it is pretty damn awesome. I wonder if Moore was satisfied with them, because one of his verbal descriptions in the narration didn't quite match the panel, but the illustration was still very very cool.

Brian posted at 1:12 PM.

I'm half way finished with the 2nd part of Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire. There were a couple especially good moments. The thief/girl, who has assumed the identity of Usin, is walking through the "willage" and noticing how far from nature society is becoming. The metaphor Moore used was really poetic. She said, "we cook the blood from the earth and let it scab to crowns and daggers." I think it's great that he made a character living in the bronze age (maybe?) feel like she is living in a society that's too advanced. He did it in such a way that it was convincing, which then made you wonder if we would feel just as backwards a hundred years from now, thinking naively that we were somehow "advanced" in 2004.

There's more later where the son is talking about having no use for his father's way of life. I am wondering if evolution is going to be a continuous theme for the book. I hope the answer is yes, as I'm interested in that. It also seems vaguely congruous with Wilber's stuff.

Brian posted at 3:50 PM.

I've begun reading Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire. The premise is very good, I think. It incorporates several characters spanning over 6,000 years all living in the same area in England (I forget the actual name of the area and the book's not near me, but it's where Alan Moore actually lives). I've only read the first part and most of the second part, and both of the stories are pretty violent. It's kind of unnerving. Considering the purity and beauty of Promethea, I guess I wasn't expecting something so dark from him, but there it is. I guess he encompasses a real continuum of emotion.

I read another feature about a different writer in Poets & Writers. Pat Barker, who's written several novels. Her first novel was published when she was 39, so I feel better about not being too published yet myself. Her latest novel, Double Vision, sounds really good (they all do, but I think I may start with that one and if it's good, continue on the bibliography).

Brian posted at 8:03 AM.

I read a cool article in Poets & Writers today about the book First There Is a Mountain, by Elizabeth Kadetsky. The book is about a woman's journey to India to discover Yoga in its originating environment. But it's about a lot of things. The author was anorexic. She also struggled to get the book published, which is what this article was mostly about. The book started out as an article, but evolved into a book trying to balance esoteric spiritual content with personal narrative and as well as historical background of B.K.S. Iyengar, the guy who originally brought Yoga to the west. It sounds very interesting and I think I will read it.

Brian posted at 3:56 PM.