I was reflecting on my younger brother's passing, and started flipping through my old books that I got off his shelf 2 years ago. I had this thought that maybe the story that's been trying to get out of my skull might work better as a young adult science fiction novel. That train of thought got me thinking about younger characters, and an amazing thing happened. Everything just started to flesh itself out. I thought about it the whole drive to work and then sat by the elevators in the parking garage and wrote a few pages of notes. Maybe I'll actually Nanowrimo this year. I might not be able to wait that long.

I've been getting frustrated lately with postmodernism. Now IANAP (I am not a philosopher), but basically what's been irking me is the same thing that fascinated me for so many years. Self referential literature and movies. Sequels, novelizations, parodies, sampling, mixing, re-everything. I think it started with Harry Potter. I would very much enjoy the books, but I never read them. Everything I read about them seemed like a reworking of all of my favorite speculative fiction. I did watch the movies, and they were exactly what I expected and I loved them.

It's the same with everything I've mentioned, I love it, but I'm getting frustrated, because it seems so cheap for some reason to be retelling the same stories over and over. I'd love to write something truely original... That's asking a lot isn't it.

I had a roommate in college that insisted that there was "only one story." I'm going to set forth this as the truth, "There are stories that have never been told." My goal in life is to find the people that are telling them, and tell them myself. hmmm...

Today's soundtrack is entitled Viva Mexico, and includes Santana, Maná, Yerba Buena, Julieta Venegas and Café Tacuba.