Conceptual Frameworks

I have been inflicting my thoughts on my children for many years.  I know the exact age at which a child will sit still [evening after evening] while one reads the entirety of The Hobbit + The Lord of the Rings to them.  It is a just part of the literary ballast that is tucked away in my subconscious.  It is a significant part because I am sure I have read the whole thing solo about a dozen times.

In other cases I gave them books to read.  There was never much discussion about it.  They always preferred to choose their own reading material, which did not overlap with mine.  I believe that they read all those loaned stories anyway.

I have always had an irrational love of books.  Above you can see the final and current size of my hard-copy science fiction and fantasy collection.  I estimate that it is about one third of the books in the house.  It was gathered over many years and carried around from place to place until 1987 when it arrived in its current location.  You can  only see half of them because the shelves are deep enough for two rows of books.  They are arranged alphabetically by author.  I have read all of these books and if you select any of them at random I will be able to say something about each one.  The collection has not grown significantly for at least twenty years.  In 1997 I stepped outward and away into a more actively involved participation in the world.

Michael says that it is interesting how certain stories always come up when we talk.  He has read them all yet they are only a very small part of the total stored away in my head.  I would say that there is about half a dozen of them.  I have put a list of them at the end of this posting.

Tolkein, of course, goes without saying.  I do not have to explain Tolkein everywhere I go.

The first story in the list is first because it specifically relates to what I am doing in this blog.  I am explaining what I do.  The Goblin Mirror is a symbol for what I do in the world.  I take stories and fantasies and work to transform them into reality.  It is beyond my ability to explain how this magical process relates to a conceptual definition of magic.  I do know that the most basic element of magic is the wish.  Anyone can make a  wish and they do so at their hazard.  In Eastern theology all suffering is preceded by desire.  Paraphrased: "When you want something, that is when the trouble starts."

Many of the characters in The Goblin Mirror are self-admitted sock puppets.  Their fate is fixed and their wishes may or may not fit into the narrative that is dictated by the mirror.  Others originate stories and visions, fighting to make them come true.  It may be that ultimately no one has a choice.  Perhaps all our fates are fixed within a narrative that we may not know.

• The Goblin Mirror by C.J. Cherryh
• Casey Agonistes by Richard McKenna
• Arrive at Easterwine by R.A. Lafferty
• Serpents Reach by C.J. Cherryh
• Tales of the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee
• Traveler in Black by John Brunner