Picture of Felicia Felix-Mentor

Here is the picture by Zora Neale Hurston. Here it is in the context of the website. Good Stuff!!
http://www.forteantimes.com/gallery/images/zombie.jpg
http://www.forteantimes.com/gallery/zombie.shtml
-Cody

As Promised...

Here is the link to the Peter Straub recordings. If clicking doesn't work, here's the URL:
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Straub.html
Just copy and paste it into your browser.

Who wants another hit of Miyazaki?

Well, I've bought the newest Miyazaki-san movie to come over the Pacific -- Howl's Moving Castle. Great movie according to my youngest brother, who is totally an anime-fanatic. He also informed me that Spirited Away will be on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for anyone who wants to tape it. I've become addicted to Miyazaki! I need another hit soon!!! Somebody help me!!!

Tales from the City of Seams

When I started on this post, no one had commented on this story, and I just wanted to say a little something. (Liz beat me to it though!) I found the story enthralling. I'm not really sure why. Each subset of the whole incorporated different styles, different techniques, different subjects, different narrators, a wholly different approach. None seemed to carry any significance to the next, but still kept you reading. And where else would you find the "zero room" which connects all parts of the city except the bathroom stall?!? Of course! I just thought this was well written and wanted to share my sentiments with you all.

Also, does anyone know to what the City of Seams refers? I googled it but only returned with a reference to Jerusalem. Does this have any significance, or is there another epithet of which I am not aware?

Tales from the city of seams

This was one of my favorite stories so far. I have rarely read material that came across so vividly in my mind. I love the idea of taking a city and looking at it from so many different, unrelated aspects. I love hearing about what little thing is important in each section. The imagery is amazing. At first I was jealous that I could not actually see the balloon animals or taste the soup, but the descriptions were so amazing that I did. The mermaid story and the man at each cafe were both so intriguing. I think the author did a wonderful job combining these stories in an interesting manner.

Zora

This story almost lost me at the begining because of the difficult language that I was unfamiliar with. I had to stop and look up words, and that broke up the flow for me. Having read the entire story though, the language picked is essential to forming the picture of Haitian life and culture. The story is extremley detail oriented, even down to Dr. Legros's conversation about politics. Once again, this story is given enough details to make it appear real. Even once we learn of the zombie, because of the detailed and realistic precedings, I found myself wondering if this could possibly be true. Andy- Why Zora? What connection do you feel to her? Have you met her? Has she ever really had an encouter similar to this? Have you? Have you ever been to Haiti? How much research did this story take? Is Freida turning the people into zombies? Is Freida representative of Erzulie?I feel that you have included wonderful comic relief, as with the literal interpretation of the road signs. I enjoyed your story- I was never bored, never left without a picture in my mind, and i never would have guessed the ending.

Curse of Isiaso

It's stated that the holder of the chessboard can never lose when playing on the side of the demons, but can they ever really win at anything? I would just like to point out that the converse of "not losing" is "losing", and not "winning". Such actions intended for good (playing the saints side of the board) will always fail, and those involving the expense of another (playing the demons side) will never lose. This seems to be a classic tale of good and of evil with a moral to the story. While good may not always prevail, bad may not always win either. Even if it appears that evil will reign victorious, there are downfalls, consequences, curses.

However, I wonder if Bobby Lennin is cleared of the curse at the end. Assuming that the group of "rough-looking characters" would still work as a group, they probably would've come back together. BUT, the narrator says "I heard a gunshot" and closes. I wish we had more! If there was only one shot, did he have a knife, sword, or bludgeon that could draw blood? Blood must be spilled from all perpetrators in order for the curse to be lifted, yet there was only one shot. Did he just give in to an eternity of pain and torture? Did the aforementioned characters shoot him before he could enact his defense and damn him to a hellish existence? Does he ever make it back to the boat, or does he paddle back to the island?

Certain Events in London

At first, I was completely and totally lost. Now that I understand what the VF are though, I am in love with this story. I love the idea of the fantastical co-existing with our everyday lives. This could be an episode of the X-Files, one of the better ones. I am still in awe of how brilliant this story is. What happened to Edgar? Did he get trapped in the street as it disappeared? Why was Charles so mad at Edgar, and why didn't he share his information with the BWVF?

Lapland, or Film Noir

I really enjoyed Lapland. Like Barbara, it reminded me a lot of Sin City and my TCF 112 class I took last semester where we studied this genre of film. Being from Florida, I want to ask Peter Straub why he chose to put Lapland in Florida? Is there any significance to this? Also, I was wondering about the lapses of the narrator's memory. While writing the story, did you actually have an entire memory thought out and then cover some parts up or did you just make up random phrases after each stretch of dots?

Erzulie

I really enjoyed the concept of a goddess within the culture who is so beautiful and seductive that she can bewitch any man. From a non-believer's point of view this is really interesting. Men are known to be generally the less loyal sex. Why not create a goddess that allows for this? In this way, men can have an affair outside of marriage, women can blame it on Erzulie and then men can come back to their wives. This eliminates the need to place blame on the husband and also the wife's need to know more about the mistress. She can just believe that it was Erzulie. I think this would also cushion the blow to the self-esteem a woman would feel if her husband cheated on her. After all, no man can resist Erzulie, no matter how beautiful/sexy/perfect his wife is.

Also I have a question for the author: When Felicia spells out her message, "Mi haut, mi bas" does she intend for it to help Zora out later with the Sect Rouge later or does this insinuate a connection between the Sect Rouge and Felicia's zombie state? Also, how is it that Zora is able to pass by the Sect Rouge without giving the password?

Wonderwall

When I started reading this story, I thought that it would be about people with whom I could relate... college students, etc. However, shortly into the story I realized that this was way beyond anything I could imagine going through in my own life. I felt sad as I read the story and then was shocked when I went back to the intro to realize that this was her real life! Do you think that the quote about the poet struggling to be a "seer" is what was happening to her during that period of her life. "All forms of love, of suffering, of madness; [s]he seeks them within [her]self." It almost seems that throughout this self-destructive time, she was trying to see how low she could fall, how much she could suffer, and how disoriented she could make her senses. I really thought after the gunshots that they would go somewhere and kind of wake up from their disillusioned lives. However, they instead chugged cough syrup! I just hope her life is happier now. I don't know how anyone could live that way for very long.