Steve Shilstone's Blog, page 30

Why isn't 'earhear' in the dictionary? 'Eyesight' is in the dictionary. As far as I'm concerned, 'earhear' is a perfectly good word, and I intend to use it in my writing and in my every day life from this day forward. Do you have good eyesight? Do you have good earhear? As for me, my eyesight isn't so hot, but my earhear is okay. In conclusion, let me say, "Hear! Hear! for earhear!"

A young cartjagger named Avado,

off on a secret quest she did go.

Through a Skrabble rock cave,

o'er a mist shrouded wave,

a treasure of answers she soon would know.

Here are quite a few of my Boadlian characters hanging out on my fridge. Let's see, there are two sets of twins, one set of triplets and more than a few characters pictured both as youngsters and oldsters. Only one dragon, though.

Here is the Oz corner of my library. Left to right are Kabumpo in Oz, The Wonder City of Oz, The Gnome King of Oz, The Shaggy Man of Oz, Lucky Bucky in Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Royal Book of Oz, The Road to Oz, and The Annotated Wizard of Oz. Stacked on top are All Things Oz, Glinda of Oz, and Finding Oz. The oldest edition, The Road to Oz, is from 1909. My favorite Oz book as of right now this minute is The Gnome King of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson. My favorite as a boy was Lucky Bucky in Oz. I'm very glad to still have these books from my childhood. My own fantasy world of Boad owes more than a little bit of thanks to L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson, and Oz illustrator John R. Neill.

A creature called Raspy the Sprite

glows with an eerie blue light,

lives under sea,

aids the garl for free

by lighting its way through the night.

I haven't seen the movie of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax yet, but seeing it advertised reminded me of what was my very favorite Seuss book when I was a youngster. Yes, it's that one up there, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Oddly enough, it wasn't written in rhyme. I enjoyed the hats getting fancier and fancier as Bartholomew kept failing to uncover his head. Later, of course, in another book, he had to deal with oobleck. And you know how messy oobleck can be.

Patiently suffering Dodden of Jom

faces her fate with an air of calm.

Never a stranger

to facing danger,

she vows to succeed with an open palm.

Young Quen Nim was often heard

muttering her favorite word.

What did she say

day after day?

"Ridiculous," she stoutly purred.

I'm always happy to add an annotated children's classic volume to my library. So far I have: The Annotated Hunting of the Snark and The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Annotated Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and The Annotated Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. All of them tell how the stories came to be written and include fascinating biographical information about the authors. They are definite treasures for any library. My thanks to Rev. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), Mr. Barrie, Mr. Baum, and Mr. Grahame for their stories and inspiration.

There once was an Acrotwist Clown

who set off to capture a Crown.

Nobb was his name,

villainy his game.

Don't be charmed by his rainbow swirl frown.