John Hattaway

Posted By smokingpen on January 5, 2009

Well, it is January 5, 2009 and I am still jobless. I did finish reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book last night and started I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. The first book was amazing and I could see someone making a movie out of it because it’s just that kind of a book. While Carter’s book has started off interestingly, but I am not sure it can carry what she is setting up. I say that with full knowledge that this book sat on the New York Times Best Seller list for, like, forever. And yet, I am curious as to how Carter will sustain her energy in this one. There is a second one (I don’t recall the title and you’d think an Amazon book search would fix that…) is out and has also done relatively well on the New York Times list, from what I understand. The point in this, though, is not that I am reading Y/A chicklit (that is what the second book amounts to) but that I am reading Y/A and books oriented toward children and young adults. There are reasons for this.

Living in Massachusetts has been interesting. I’ve started looking for lore for the area I am in. Mostly online. I think it would help if I went to some local historical society and talked to people about the lore and superstitions and history of the area. I was a little perplexed by a website (I didn’t bother to bookmark it or remember how I got to it) that shared New England Vampire lore. I have to tell you, New England Vampire anything is going to be a rip-off of England lore which is an adaptation of European lore. The author thought (at least in the way it was presented) that he/she was presented new and interesting information when in reality the way he/she was describing vampires as being killed after they are burried is pretty typical for traditional vampire stories. Granted, Hollywood and modern vampire writers (Anne Rice anyone???) have done an interesting disservice to the lore, not that I care much for it - other than what Kim Harrison has written about in her series of books, and maybe a little of how Christopher Moore approached the subject in his  book Bloodsucking Fiends, but beyond that I am not all that interested - but to see something so pedestrian being shared as something important and unique to a region of the world where it is not unique is a bit awkward. More, I would’ve been more impressed with a scholarly or an attempted scholarly approach to vampires from a Native American perspective. Interestingly enough, the Native American’s, at least some tribes, do believe in shape shifters, people who can morph into animals and more specifically into wolves or coyotes, and that connects Native American’s to the werewolf phenomenon. Though, in my estimation, it is an interesting if not weak connection.

Regardless… and moving on.

I have, apparently, become a fan of Facebook and have a profile there. What makes this medium interesting (at the very least to me) is the re-connections with high school friends and acquaintances. I’ve been able to get back in touch with different people from way back when as a result of the social networking website. I’ve also gotten back in touch with people I fell out of touch with for various reasons (sometimes intentional) and have found the application to be very interesting especially when people that fell out of touch with me (meaning they initiated it) reconnect to me through the app. I know that at least one of my brothers claims he is on it all the time and updates more there than anywhere else. I guess that’s true as his primary website is no longer active, but still, I don’t think he is as active anywhere as he thinks he is. But, what do I know. Erin is on Facebook as well and is the reason I joined up so she could have her status as being married in the application. It’s taken a bit over a year for me to get the number of friends I’ve got. However, as a result of the social networking site I’ve remembered and found different people that, some months ago, I was trying to remember names and dates and couldn’t, for the life of me, remember any of them. So, you know, life is sweet.

It sounds like Erin and I will be starting an excercise program we can do out of the basement. I discovered, in recent weeks, that I am not happy with the way my body looks and as a result would like to see things change. And I am hoping the 13 week program allows us to feel better, in general, and allows me to feel better about myself. I keep having the thought that stress causes the body to retain fat and makes it harder to lose weight, in general, and that the last six-plus months have been insanely stressful to me (not that job searching isn’t a stressful activity either) and as a result, I’ve let things get too far out of whack. Plus, come the New England thaw I would like to be in a physically fit enough position to purchase and use a road bike for this area. Very green, humid, hilly, and gorgeous.

Tomorrow I turn 35. I share this because I will (probably, though not definintely) become hard for most people to get a hold of. Would be great if some local numbers (e.g. jobs) decided to call me. Beyond that I intend to spend the day with my wife and child. We were, at one point, going to go to the temple down in Manhattan, but medical issues are keeping us closer to home. I am considering going to some temp agencies and seeing what kind of job opportunities they have going on around these parts and then seeing if there is a local office for whatever Massachusetts calls their workforce services. Regardless, I am sure tomorrow will be more of the same and less of the more and I don’t intend to update. Or be on Facebook. Though, as implied, that could be completely bullocks or rubbish on my part and I will update and get on anyway.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on January 2, 2009

So, a little over a month ago I walked into Borders and purchased a copy of John Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale. Unfortunately, my priority at the time was to finishing up coursework at school and as a result it got set aside with the highest post-college-course-work reading priority of all the books I have to read. As a result, when I was done with college and had my family moved all the way across the country, I was able to pick up the book and start reading it. For those that don’t know, or haven’t been introduced to my opinion of this series of books, I really enjoy them. They are, effectively, cotton candy in the reading category (for me) and as a result, I have a tendency to run out and purchase Zakour’s books when they are released. One of the reasons for this is because I know that many publishing companies base future books off of initial and early sales and as a result, in order to keep my favorite authors publishing what I like to read I have to buy their books. This is also the reason I purchased many of the other books on my To Be Read list and why they are on a shelf to be read. In short, I like what I like and want it to continue and in some cases change and improve.

With all of that out of the way, I decided that Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale would be my first post college read. I was excited for the book. I am excited for the next book and if you are interested in some of Zakour’s thoughts on the process, you can go over to his website and read about it.

However, I would like to state that there were inherent problems with the book. Not in the story telling, but more in the proofing of the book. In many cases, much of the syntactical structure of the story was reversed or completely left out. I read slowly because I enjoy the taste of the words on my brain and in my mind and as a result I notice when adjectives and adverbs and connectors are reversed or out of order. The reason this is important is that the book, in theory, should’ve been proofed by several different people and as a result I think the publishing errors were egregious enough to have been caught and corrected before publication. Because Robert Jordan was one of the first authors I really tried to follow online (though the current Wheel of Time communities were never of much interest to me as I don’t care for the discussion among fans in relation to where they want the story to lead), I found myself interested in his comments about finding mistakes and having them fixed and what printings have what fixed. With all of that said, I think that later runs of the book (most likely combined with another of Zakour’s books) will have most of the problems fixed. Even with that said, it was a distraction for me.

Other than publishing mistakes, I enjoyed the story though I don’t necessarily feel that it rose to the level of writing that Zakour had with his writing partner Lawrence Ganem. Even with that said, I also think that Zakour has taken his protagonist, Zachary Nixon Johnson, in a direction that increases the depth of the storytelling while keeping the nature of the series of books light and easy to read. In this installment, as the story opens, Zach Johnson is visited (in his dreams) by a flaxen haired woman (Natasha) who tells him not to get involved in finding her. From that point throughout the book, Zach is left chasing her from one tourist trap to another starting in Las Vegas and ending in space. The outcome is… well, pure Zakour. It is a kind of mix between optimistic idealism and plainly unrealistic. I am not sure which one, but it felt good.

Feeling good is one of the elements of these books that I really like. In this book, Zach discovers more of the truth behind HARV, his cybernetic assistant as well as the role he plays in the safety of the world. Why this is important is because it marks a distinctive shift in the focus and direction of the books, on top of which Zakour appears to be taking the character and storylines in a new direction. More specifically, he has built a sub-plot of conspiracy and governmental control as a means of advancing his story and as the principle reason his characters are doing what they are doing. I bring this up not to share what you can expect with the story, but more to illustrate that Zakour as sole writer wrote a book that is a sudden and (impossibly) subtle shift away from where it has been going. The basic plot of most of the books has Zach Johnson being approached by someone to help them (often a hot woman) save the world from some other (often hot woman) person who is bent on taking over the world or destroying it. To help him, other than HARV, he has Randy, HARV’s creator, his assistant (and one of the most powerful psi’s on the planet) Carol, his fiance Electra, and GUS (his gun). In most books, Zakour has a cast of supporting characters (often hot women) who step in to help out in their odd and disturbed ways because, as hot women they are also very powerful. In most cases, this book is no different from his other books in that the world is being saved from a hot powerful woman who was cloned from (though slightly altered) Carol as the most powerful psi in creation. Because she is so powerful, no one can do anything to stop her. This does not stop other characters from other books from trying to step in and assist in this and as a result of that assistance several familiar people end up dying.

What’s more, Electra’s mother, a politician, is interested in gaining more power. A General Wall (female, powerful, not necessarily attractive though also not unattractive) has enlisted Zach’s help and does a lot more to advance not only the agenda of her employers (e.g. the World Council), but also her own agenda. We are led to believe that she is a mastermind, though admittedly, I am not certain Zakour effectively introduces the idea of genius into this work to allow the reader to sufficiently follow the logical progression of Zach behing hired to Zach taking down the bad guy. On top of which, there are a sufficient number of red herrings to distract the reader from the principle plot line (e.g. Zach is public enemy number one, Zach goes to Comic-Con, to Zach spends time with his fiance). Eventually, Zach realizes everything he’s not supposed to realize, helps the victim, and then returns home to end yet another adventure

What I think, other than a course change, weighed this story down were a couple of things: first, this was the second book Zakour has done about psi’s and their power. Granted The Blue Haired Bombshell was more overtly about psi’s and the psi ability (and the moon); but this one was designed to set up conflict (me thinks) in the future where the changes that are forced upon the psi’s of Earth and the Moon will play out. More, it seems that almost every villain babe and villain hero have psi power and this book is no different. More, Carol is set up to be very powerful and I think that Zakour is planning something there with her, especially since she’s been growing in importance with every story. Second, Zakour constantly referred to the basic premise of the book, Zach saves the world, and continually points out that the UNIVERSE, about once a year and at about the same time, steps in and places the world back in peril and make it up to Zach to save everything. As a result, this self-recognition of the basic premise of the series felt completely wasted on the audience and drags the basic story down as the audience, in general, doesn’t need to know this information. If a new reader is picking up the book, then the tongue in cheek action will illustrate what is happening and references to other cases as a result of other characters showing up is sufficient to illustrate that Zach has been in this position a few times before; and for established readers (I would like to think I am one of those), there is no reason to re-establish the basic premise since the established reader has been reading for quite a while.

I think the story was well written and since I know that Zakour outlines the entire book before he writes the first page, and since I know that his first chapters are meant to establish a well written book, my only conclusion to the entirety of the story and the way it felt to read was that Zakour was a bit rushed in the writing process. The structure of a really good story exists, but I think that even with the standard elements his execution felt a bit lacking. It feels rushed. I am not sure what Zakour’s process in this book was or what kind of a time frame he had in writing it, but the outcome didn’t feel like past books and even though he has written another good addition to the Zach Johnson universe, the outcome is that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I have in the past. Truth told, I am now waiting for his next book, Sapphire Sirens, to come out to see what he is doing.

Two things happened in recent months, though. First, my father-in-law told me he really enjoyed The Plutonium Blonde (first book) and borrowed The Doomsday Brunette to read because he liked that kind of book, which, in turn, helps me understand what he likes for when I suggest things to read. Second, Erin picked up The Flaxen Femme Fatale and started reading it. She enjoys the chapter length and (against odds) has been enjoying the book. She might even pick up and read some of the earlier books. As a result, I feel confident in suggeting these books as fun and light reading.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on January 1, 2009

I am not fond of New Years Resolutions. I think this is a way for people to say, “This is what I would like to do, but I don’t actually think I will do it.” Of course, this is also what a lot of people, online, have to say about resolutions in general. The problem is not in the semantics of resolution, but in the execution of them. Additionally, the problem is in finding that I am merely following a pack of people who’ve chosen to reject the traditional notion of the New Year Resolution. Admittedly, for some, the resolution is a way of actually finding change in their lives, for others it is a way of reviewing their life and admitting to some faults. For me, it feels hollow and as a result, I focus more toward the goal than the resolution. I am actually relatively good at accomplishing most of my goals; I have not (personal) patience for resolutions.

As such, one of my goals for 2008 was to complete all of my coursework for my bachelors degree. I did so. Other goals have included, perpetually, to write and read a lot. The goal Erin and I shared at the end of 2008 was to move from Utah to Massachusetts and for a bit we didn’t know exactly how that would happen. Other goals, through the years, have been to be paid to write professionally, earn in excess of 50k in one year, get married, and start a family. These are just some of the goals that have existed that are top of mind.

Goals for 2009:

• publish - this goal will be measured more toward short fiction and not a novel, though as a sub-goal I want to have written a novel.
• get an agent - this actually requires a very well written draft of a novel to get an agent. I actually have one in mind that I want representing me, but understand that my desires and the agents ability to take on new clients may not match. However, I do want to be represented by an agent by the end of the year.
• write a second and maybe third draft of In the Light of Water - this is a play I wrote for my Cowboy Literature class (incidentally my best grade of all my classes). I would love to see this reviewed, maybe work-shopped, somewhere.
• apply for and get into an MFA-Writing program - I want to apply to several Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing programs and get in to at least one. The key to these is in the writing sample. I have one, it needs some work and I need to figure out what I want to do with it.
• get a good paying job - honestly, I would prefer this in academia, but am focusing more on a defense contractor than the different academic institutions in this area.
• buy a piece of house with some property - Erin and I want to buy a house and move in to it. We also want some property.
• acquire a couple of horses and tack - this is actually a longer-term goal than just this year. I want a couple of horses, Erin wants a couple of dogs, I am not sure what CAMPER wants (because he can’t tell us yet) but all of these things seem to want to come together.

For the moment these are the goals I am going to focus on in 2009. If anyone wants to yell encouragement, go for it.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on December 31, 2008

2008 is officially over in a few hours and it occured to me that I have not written a whole lot in the past few weeks in part because I was finishing a semester at BYU. The year, though, started with me starting a semester at BYU and then two summer terms ending with the Fall semester. This has been a rather interesting and somewhat productive, in the realm of education, year for me. I went from looking at April 2009 graduating to December 2008 and then only if I completed by December 2008 otherwise the department I was a member of (English in the School of Humanities) would make me try one more time to complete a second language requirement (I tried French and Spanish at BYU and American Sign Language and before BYU I took German and in line with the Spanish and French I did Old English which is closer to Old Norse than modern anything and discovered that German syntactic structure is parallel with English syntactic structure and, in theory, I should more easily be able to learn German over anything else - rant over). As a result, instead of, say, taking a break somewhere in the middle and working full-time and maybe playing part-time with Erin and co. I ended up not and going to school for twelve months straight when the world conditions you to do nine months and then three off was a bit tough.

To start the year, though, Erin got pregnant. We don’t know exactly when, but there is some debate as to the early part of January. The outcome is that she spent almost ten months pregnant and most of that not feeling well on top of starting a master’s degree at Westminster College in Salt Lake City (a degree she decided she did not like and that the professors were not challenging enough). The combination of the pregnancy and work and school was a little more than she wanted to handle, especially since coming on summer we ended up asking her mom to come out and help take care of her. Which she did. She had a couple of plane tickets home and ended up staying until CAMPER was born, which was a great blessing. Her mantra and focus was to make sure I had the time to focus on completing my degree and about two weeks after CAMPER was born and after Erin’s dad flew out to spend some time with his new (and only) grandchild, Lisa went home and Erin and I got to figure out how to be parent’s on our own.

Preceding our knowing Erin was pregnant was Erin being called in to work one day to have her [insert nasty colorful metaphor here] of a boss call her into the office on a Saturday and fire her for reasons that, a year later, still feel and sound like they were piles of dog-doo left out too long in the sun and just ripe enough to make your noise crinkle and your eyes water. On the one hand I was glad Erin was out of the environment and honestly needed her to move on but she wasn’t ready to and the two dip-sticks she worked for ended up causing a lot of problems and I am sure they feel completely justified to do what they did to Erin and one of her co-workers. Honestly, I hope they burn in hell. This caused me to have to work longer for the company I’d started working for the previous summer (until February) as Erin looked for a job. She got a new one in the accounting department of a web-hosting and design company and really enjoyed the camaraderie that went along with the experience. She quit that in September after hiring and training a replacement and then (definitely) after having CAMPER. After Erin got her new job and I was hired to help work on the School of Education’s website at BYU, I quit the other job and focused more of my attention on school.

I did end up having to take a few classes that matched BYU’s Languages of Learning credit (essentially higher math classes) and ended up doing Logic, both Deductive Logic and Predicate Logic, over the four months between the end of Winter Semester (other places refer to this as Spring) and Fall Semester. That was interesting and required a lot of dedicated time to the gods of studying and logic and frustration. But, in the end, I passed and moved on.

As stated, Erin was pregnant and there was an entire week where things got bad and I (pretty much) had to pull myself out of school and work for a week so I could take care of her. After Lisa came out, Erin didn’t drive herself anywhere until after Lisa went home. Of course, passing out in the grocery store affects what people allow pregnant women to do. In this case, driving was out.

Since this year marks (at least for me) the longest year of school EVER I am happy to note that I am now done. Sure, I’ve said it, but I finally got to gaze at my grades and I actually did make it. There is a surreal feeling about being done and thinking that something special should mark the end. The fact is, I am done and the day switched to night that switched to day and other than acting like a complete retard around my little (Hattaway) family. On top of which, the day after I finished my classes Erin and CAMPER and I were in a truck, accompanied by Erin’s brother and Auntie (thanks Auntie) and driving due south and east and then east first on US 6 and then I-70 toward Massachusetts. We spent the better part of four days in a car and moving van driving, took a day off, and then spent a day unloading the truck before it was taken back in light of the Christmas holiday. We turned it in two hours after the Penske place was closed and still had someone move it out of the way for us.

We also set up the office (I am thinking of taking a series of pictures or maybe running film on the lair or loft space or whatever we are calling it and posting it under the title, “Where I Do What I Do.” If I do and you come back to the site I am sure you will see whatever it is I do. Of course, with everything set up I need to plug in and launch my external harddrive to make sure it is working. I am also thinking of replacing my other external hard drives hard drive because it died in the house fire and that was very sad for me. On top of which, I probably ought to have at least one external harddrive doing Time Machine to make sure my stuff is being backed up.

I think, if I take the time, I will look and see how many posts I did over 2008 and maybe do a review of what I wrote about and the elections. Anyway, my year, in recap, has been filled with school, Erin, pregnancy and CAMPER, and moving to Massachusetts. It’s been a good year and I hope to write the chronicles of the drive from Utah to Massachusetts.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on December 30, 2008

The first of my grades and the class I was worried about failing came in today. I passed. It wasn’t pretty, but it happened. Can you say, “Whoooo!” and, “Thank God.”

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on December 27, 2008

I note that it has been a while since I’ve posted. Honestly, I know exactly why and where the time has gone. More, I realize that I am trying to figure myself out on this side of the country (for those that didn’t know, Erin, CAMPER and I moved from Utah to Massachusetts… if you need the new address you should probably email me) and figure out work, life, living situations and etc. We are currently staying with Erin’s padres. That is nice. Especially since they set aside the upstairs for our little family giving CAMPER his own room and Erin and me a room to sleep in and a room to work in (that is two separate rooms). As for the drive across the country… well… I will have to consider what I want to say about that. I am sure if you go to Erin’s website you can check out her comments on the trip.

That’s it for now. More later. Maybe.

Oh, and I think I found a couple of templates I may play with look wise, so… the site will probably change around a bit.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Posted By smokingpen on December 16, 2008

Erin and I are trying to pack a house and move. On top of which I am trying to study for a couple of finals and actually pass. As a result of that and the move it may be sometimes around the 24th or 25th of this month before I sit down and post anything. Then again, I could sit and post something before then. So, you never know. Though, as an adendum, I do intend to update on the trip to Las Vegas with Erin’s brother (complete with pictures maybe). Til then, have a good holiday season.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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Category: Erin, codename: CAMPER, family | No Comments »
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Posted By smokingpen on December 12, 2008

I am messing with some themes and so the site (and features) may come and go. Expect CALENDAR to be broken for a bit.

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