Some short crime films

We're in the middle of a move so I don't have a real post for today. I've written about short crime films before. Here some I watched recently.

Getting rid of baggage

by: Joelle Charbonneau

In the midst of writing, running after a 5 year-old and attempting to beat back this strange, unending strain of pneumonia I managed to contract, I a'm also moving to a new house.  The timing is not ideal, but hey—when is moving ever the ideal thing to do.  The house, however, is wonderful.  We’ll have a big back yard and I’ll have an office with a door!  Yeah, I’m pretty excited about that.

The thing I love about moving is that this is a perfect opportunity to purge from my life all sorts of things that have just been hanging around taking up space in my house.  Clothes I haven’t worn in years…old computers that once upon a time we thought we’d have refurbished…6 Christmas cookie jars that have never once been taken out of the box. (3 snowmen, 2 Santas and a Holiday Teddy Bear…um…I like to bake, but not that much!  And does anyone actually put cookies in cookie jars anymore?)

While packing, I ask the question – do I want to move this?  If the answer is no—off to Goodwill it goes.  Hurrah!  Boxes and boxes of stuff that has been taking up space are now gone.  Off to grace or take up space in someone else’s life.

It’s so easy to hang onto things that we don’t need, but after a while those things really do take up more than physical space.  Just seeing clutter or knowing there are lots of things you not only do not need, but do not want in your house can start to wear on your soul.  Because you have to dust it or because you wish you didn’t have it but haven’t found a good reason to get rid of it.  Or you feel you can’t because a family member gave it to you and you don’t want to hurt his or her feelings.  But moving is the perfect opportunity to get rid of just about anything.

And the thing is—the more stuff I get rid off, the better I feel.  I love knowing I have less.  Less clothing.  Less books (gasp!).  Less stuff that I know I don’t need taking up mental space in my life.

So despite the energy and time it takes to pack up our lives and move down the street (well, not quite down the street, but not really all that far from where we are now) I am filled with great joy.  Because with every object or article of clothing I remove from our lives, I feel lighter.  Less encumbered.  Delighted to lose some of the baggage that I didn’t realize was weighing me down.

So, for all of you feeling a little blah or a little weighed down by life – I challenge you to go through your house and pack a box of stuff that you don’t need.  Things you haven’t used in years, but for some reason or another haven’t removed from your space.  Pack it up. Give it away and while doing so give away some of the weight that you feel hanging on you.  I bet you anything you’ll feel better when you’re done.

***And if you’re like me and have lots of books that you’ve read and are ready to pass to a new home—consider donating those books to your local library.  Even if they don’t end up on their shelves, most libraries have used book sales that allow them to fund special programs or buy new books.***

Books That Changed Me

By

Scott D. Parker

(You know, it’s getting rather difficult to follow Russell on Saturdays. Did you read his piece? )

One of my go-to places every day is SF Signal, the science fiction/fantasy/horror site run by fellow Houstonian John DeNardo. If you want the daily rundown of all things SF/F/H, the “Tidbits” feature is a must. Earlier this week, one of the links was to the blog of Helen Lowe. I am not aware of her work, but I was intrigued by her post, “Five Books That Changed Me (Warning: Not An Exclusive List!).”

I was intrigued enough to start me thinking about my list. Now, when I think of “changing me,” my definition of that goes something like this: I was a particular type of reader before I read SAID BOOK and I was different afterwards. As odd as that sounds, that narrows down the list considerably. Excluded are books that are personal favorites, ones that I may have re-read, ones that I have recommended, but, in the end, didn’t change me. Among these are the following: Hyperion by Dan Simmons; Perdido Street Station by China Mieville; Redshirts by John Scalzi; Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; The Firm by John Grisham; Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos; much of what Hard Case Crime publishes, and the good old-fashioned pulp adventures of folks like Doc Savage, Tarzan, and Gabriel Hunt.

Here, then, are books that changed me in some form or fashion, chronologically from the earliest to the most recent:

SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE/A PRINCESS OF MARS—I’ll freely admit that my intense love of science fiction came from watching Star Wars. Granted, I read all things Star Wars related (articles, newspaper pieces, etc.) in the years 1977 to 1980 (and beyond) including the novelization (multiple times). I was tempted to list the novelization, but that’s cheating, really. No, it was a twofer that truly turned me on to SF. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster wrote this first literary sequel to George Lucas’s universe. This was before The Empire Strikes Back and all that came afterward. This fictional world opened up my mind because even though Luke and Leia and the droids are in the story, the environment was new. I had to create space in my imagination. Because of Star Wars and Splinter, I read other SF/F and have never stopped. If Star Wars was the thing that caused me to swallow the hook of SF, A Princess of Mars was the thing that set the hook. Reading Splinter, while with new scenes, still started with a basic template: Star Wars. It was A Princess of Mars that forced my imagination to create whole images and worlds in my mind. The sense of wonder I experienced as a ten-year-old reading this novel for the first time was truly a magical time in my reading life. I’ve never looked back.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES—If you can believe this, the third Sherlock Holmes novel was actually required reading during my ninth grade year. Up until then, I had never read any of the Holmes stories or novels. In reading this novel, my adoration of all things British, including the great detective, started. Ironically, this novel didn’t really turn the screw on mystery fiction.

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS—I’m a lifelong comic book reader and a lifelong Batman fan. This series, in 1986, let me know that comics could change the way you look at something familiar. It also told me, as a middle teenager, that I no longer had to justify my love of comics. It also, more pointedly, came at the exact right time in my life where a transition (from youth to adulthood) started and this story told me that a familiar character that I knew and appreciated was changing, too.

TRUMAN—As a degreed historian, I pull my hair out at everyone who hates history because they had a bad teacher in school (or a coach who didn’t care). History is about people who make decisions and do things and deal with the consequences. McCullough’s biography is as good as a novel but it’s all true. I wrote my first novel with Harry Truman as the main character as a result of this book. Moreover, McCullough’s Truman showed me that, to a certain degree, the audience for history should be the general public, and the best way to do that is to write a book that they’ll enjoy reading.

MYSTIC RIVER—The one, single book that changed the trajectory of my reading and writing. Before Lehane’s book, I rarely read any mysteries or crime fiction (and didn’t realize there was a difference). After reading it in 2001, I knew what I want to write and a whole new world of reading opened up for me. Only now realizing that crime fiction of this nature may not be the kinds of books I write well.

THE BIBLE—Ironically, this is one that I read, cover to cover, most recently, but it’s influence has been with me my whole life. But it wasn’t until I actually read it from front to back that a new understanding of the ancient scriptures dawned on me. I’ll never know it all, but reading the book has certainly helped my journey.

That’s my short list. What about y’all?