[Skeeter]

Have you read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" at all? If so, what did you think about it?

As for what I'm currently working on, besides Hooray for Gooba! and other little musical projects, I'm putting some time into a potential Question screenplay with Jeffrey. I still need to get my notes all together to e-mail back to you, by the way. Just need to find the time.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Skeeter

Have you read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" at all? If so, what did you think about it?

I enjoyed it, but it didn't stick with me. The things I liked in particular was his depiction of the tribe crossing the Bering Strait and the "new" gods (in name only, since they were personifications). I couldn't tell if his use of the various gods was supposed to be sly, as they seemed pretty obvious from first introduction. I am, perhaps (this is meant with humility) a reader with the same level of mythological knowledge as Gaiman, so he'd probably counter that what were "clues" for the average readers were obvious to me and if it had been about, say, famous footballers I wouldn't have had a clue.

I didn't mind the absence of Greek gods, but it was odd to have Norse and Egyptian gods, given that no immigrants brought the latter over, and the only bringing the Norse were that one group of the Norse in the time before Columbus. It seemed like Gaiman just wanted to play with those gods and wanted to weave a tale of America. In all honesty, more hoodoo/African gods would have made sense, and the general lack of Native American and Judeo-Christian spirits was...weird.

So, in essence, I enjoyed the novel but felt his ideas were undeveloped and the end was a bit unsatisfying. Gaiman, as a British citizen, doesn't understand the American soul as well as he seems to think. Alan Moore nailed us in Watchmen, except for that whole "chewing sugars" thing.

The idea that belief empowers deities first appears in Sandman, but Gaiman seemed to be influenced by Alan Moore's ideas of divinity.

Fortunately, my story isn't going to tread on the same locations and is more Paradise Lost or Orlando Furioso than Sandman.

The gods in my tale appear in a way that would please modern psychology.

[SupaNova]

A friend once recommended American Gods to me, but I still haven't gotten around to picking up a copy. Actually, I haven't had the chance to read any of Gaiman's novels yet.


I've been working on and off on a long, fragmented poetic piece on the themes of I & II Samuel. Think Hebrew narrative meets the spaghetti western. It's an experiment more than anything else.

[JerRocks2day]

I'm working on two series projects. One is entitled, 'Trouble Shooters' [crossover between Superbook/Flying House], and another called 'Space Daze.' [think Talespin in space, but with Organization XIII characters from KH].

I'm looking to expanding the production team and get some more writers, designers, drawers, or anybody else whose interested in joining in. I really could use all the help I can get.

[Jeffrey]

I'm quite a ways into this silly verse novella, but I need a break. It's not sexy enough and I'm worried I'm rushing it.

So I'm working on a rendering of The Epic of Gilgamesh. David Ferry's version is good but in my opinion not so faithful or beautiful to deserve the currency it has -- it's just the only version that isn't full of lacunae and footnotes, focusing instead on the story. Yet it lacks a poetic depth, if I can be so bold. He does have wonderful phrases, but occasionally by deviating from the original text to a point where the poem is too much Ferry's. Ferry can't read a scrap of cuneiform, nor can I (okay, he and I both are familiar with certain words, phrases, and features of transliterated Mesopotamian languages) -- so if he had the guts to go for it, so do I.

I'm using a number of scholarly translations and commentaries and aiming for a simple poetic style that would be easily readable by high schoolers.

I'm done with the first tablet and I'm mentally exhausted. I may post it here on the Seeger.

Really, the impetus is that no easily-accessible public domain Gilgamesh is out there. I can't hope to compete with Ferry's in the marketplace, but I might be able to give folks access to this wondrous work.

[marky20]

I am currently thinking on my 'Poem' . I would like to write a poem for my friend. But,I am still fetching ideas..


I'll keep you posted, whenever I am finish!

[Amanda]

Working out the kinks in a spoken word poem to be used as the call to worship in my church's Pentecost service. Considering tackling something based on the Latin Mass.