Swimming in the Pensieve

There are some products of authorship that I’d like to take the time to point you toward, if I may.

Firstly, head on over to Baen Books and read the thoughts, set forth by Author/Editor, Eric Flint. He should definitely be an Open Source advocate, if he isn’t already.

Now, take a look at the Author Listing and find a couple of names: Michael Z. Williamson and Ryk E. Spoor.

As to Michael Z. Williamson, read through Freehold. If you like it, buy the book (check Amazon) or buy the electronic Webscription version.

In the case of Ryk E. Spoor (I really don’t know if he is, or not), please read through Digital Knight and Diamonds are Forever. DK is a definite favorite of mine, as Ryk weaves the fabric of a world that subtly forks from our present reality, and takes you off in directions that are quite joyfully difficult to predict. Please purchase any or all of Ryk’s works, available through Baen, HERE.

I was compelled to do a bit of looking around, to see if I could hunt-up any sort of follow-on to Digital Knight but found out a bit more about Ryk, himself, than I expected.

For instance, Ryk maintains an author profile and Web Log, at Amazon.com, as well as a web log over at LiveJournal.com. He also has a LiveJournal community for ‘beta’ testing his latest wordcrafting efforts, the link to which I cannot post at the moment, because I’m booted into a distro that doesn’t have that particular email available to me, at the moment.

Follow-up: Here’s the link to Ryk’s LiveJournal ‘beta’ community: http://community.livejournal.com/rykspoor_beta/.

As you might guess, Ryk is surprisingly responsive to his readership. I posted a comment on his LiveJournal one day, and the very next morning, he had emailed me through the email link on this website, to give me a very gracious reply to what I had written in his space.

Nobody has ever done likewise, in similar circumstances. Obviously, Ryk knows which side of his toast is buttered.

Last thing, with regards to Ryk: He’s a fellow dad, and simply looks like an all-around nice guy, with an edge of ‘geek’ to him (a compliment, where I come from)…

She’s an absolute doll, Ryk. Get her started on Linux while she’s young; and we’ll swap ‘Daddy war stories’ together.

These folks are, by no means, the only enjoyable authors on the Baen Free Library. They are simply the first ones I’m telling you about. I urge you to explore for yourself, discover the works which tickle your fancy, and support those authors with your purchases.

Next-up, a psychologist turned author/screen-writer, back in the 80’s and gave us this unforgettable gem…

…which hit the silver screen with the same name…

…starring Peter O’Toole, Virginia Madsen, Vincent Spano, David Ogden Stires, John Dehner, Karen Hopkins, Kenneth Tigar, Elsa Raven, and Mariel Hemmingway.

Believe-you, me, the book (By Jeremy C. Leven) has much more texture to it than the movie (unfortunately) was graced with; yet, this is the eternal quandry of rendering written works in celluloid–something must, ultimately, be cut in order to keep the audience in their seats long enough to see the ending credits.

The book desperately wants you to read it but, get the DVD for this reason: The score, an obvious labor of love by Sylvester Levay, has to be one of the greatest efforts of, and since, that decade. I have yet to find it on CD–though not for a lack of looking.

If you do take the trouble to immerse yourself in the production, looking past the artifacts of the era of its genesis, you will find yourself enchanted in the story that is told to the viewer. Do read the book, first, though.

As far as my stack-ranking of love stories goes, Creator comes-in at second place; very close on the heels of the Gold Medalist: EverAfter - A Cinderella Story.