Here, Bullet

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, a day on which we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces during times of war. Other parts of the world celebrate Armistice Day or Remembrance Day as well.

In keeping with the day, I thought I'd discuss a book by a veteran of the Iraq War named Brian Turner. Brian Turner earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon prior to serving seven years in the U.S. Army. In 2003, he served a one-year tour of duty as an infantry team leader with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

With this collection, Turner joins the ranks of war poets who have shined a light on the atrocities and small mercies of war through the ages. Some of the best-known war poets were from World War I, and include Wilfred Owens (with poems such as "Dulce et Decorum Est", Rupert Brooke (including the fifth poem of a work entitled 1914, a poem called "The Soldier", which begins: "If I should die, think only this of me:/That there's some corner of a foreign field/That is forever England."), and John McCrae of Canada, who wrote "In Flanders Fields". The poems in today's collection, Here, Bullet, continue the tradition of relating both the noble and base qualities of humankind during war, and are primarily the result of Turner's time in Iraq.

To give you an introduction to the power of Turner's work, here is the title poem:

Here, Bullet
by Brian Turner

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, that leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.


Here, Bullet by Brian Turner was published in 2005. It has won several awards; reading some of the poems makes immediately clear why that is. Turner manages to talk about the war from a variety of viewpoints (no mean feat, I assure you). He talks about the landscape and history of Iraq, its people - those who were happy to see the U.S. forces and those who wanted them dead, and about the realities of war, from changes in perspective to bad dreams to injury and death. The poems include tremendous beauty as well as tremendous brutality (sometimes in the same poem), and enlarge the reader's perspective on Iraq, the Iraq war, and more.

Here's a poem entitled "Alhazen of Basra". A helpful note at the back of the book makes clear that the poem refers to Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, a polymath from the turn of the first millenium who made advances in the fields of physics, among others.

Alhazen of Basra
by Brian Turner

If I could travel a thousand years back
to August 1004, to a small tent
where Alhazen has fallen asleep among books
about sunset, shadows, and light itself,
I wouldn't ask whether light travels in a straight line,
or what governs the laws of refraction, or how
he discovered the bridgework of analytical geometry;
I would ask about the light within us,
what shines in the mind's great repository
of dream, and whether he's studied the deep shadows
daylight brings, how light defines us.

Lest you think the poems are all introspective or contemplative in nature, or not particularly violent, I should alert you that there are poems such as "AB Negative (The Surgeon's Poem)" that describe in graphic terms the death of a single soldier, and "16 Iraqi Policemen" that describe the wholesale explosion of the men in the title, with lines such as these: "The shocking blood of the men/forms an obscene art: a moustache, alone/on a sidewalk, a blistered hand's gold ring/still shining . . . " The book includes other forms of graphic language as well, including the occasional swear word or sexual reference.

Reading this collection conveys an impression of Iraq and what it is to be involved in the war there in a way that news footage cannot do, for the news only has a few seconds of footage to bring you, usually with a voiceover, before the camera's eye turns to a reporter standing in the sun, in the sand, telling you what has happened. Sometimes the news tells us nothing at all of what is going on over there. But these poems pile up like verbal snapshots of moments and incidents and histories, in a way that is compelling and true. Whether they are, collectively, devastating or hopeful, is left to the reader. Whether the U.S. soldiers and their actions are always in the right is left to the reader. Turner turns his poet's camera on what he sees and feels and hears, and tells it true, even when the truth is ugly or hard.

I'll leave you with one more poem from Here, Bullet, and leave it to you, the reader, to decide whether this poem is ultimately hopeful, merely pragmatic, or something else entirely. The notes at the back of the book say that Halabjah is a city in Kurdish Northern Iraq. The Iraq military under Saddam Hussein attacked these Iraqis with chemical weapons. As many as 5,000 deaths have been attributed to a single attack on Halabjah.

Trowel
by Brian Turner

The day before the Kurdish holiday
Hussein and Abid stir the muddy paste
with a shovel and their bare hands.

Because Hussein's arm is scarred
elbow to wrist from the long war with Iran,
he holds the trowel in his left hand, pushing

mud against a bullet-pocked wall, the cement
an appeasement which Hussein pauses over,
waiting out his hand's familiar tremor,

then burying the lead, its signatures
like dirt-filled sockets of bone
which he smoothes over and over.

Here, Bullet is recommended reading for those interested in war and/or military history, those interested in contemporary events including the Iraq War, and those who are interested in war poetry.

What kind of books do teen boys really want?

13-year-old Max Leone gives us his opinion in Publishers Weekly, arguing that "[t]he reason we read so little in our free time is partially because of the literary choices available to teenagers these days."

So what kind of books does Max think should be published?

All his points are worth a read (seriously, this is one entertaining guy), but my favorite is this:

Vampires, simply put, are awesome. However, today's vampire stories are 100 pages of florid descriptions of romance and 100 pages of various people being emo. However much I mock the literature of yesteryear, it definitely had it right when it came to vampires. The vampire was always depicted as a menacing badass. That is the kind of book teenage boys want to read. Also good: books with videogame-style plots involving zombie attacks, alien attacks, robot attacks or any excuse to shoot something.

(via)

The Saints of Augustine

Sam and Charlie’s lives are both spiraling out of control, but they aren’t aware that the other is in trouble. Sam and Charlie used to be best friends, but about a year ago, Sam abruptly ended their friendship, and they haven’t talked since. In that year, Charlie has lost his mother to cancer, and worries about losing his father to drunken oblivion. He escapes by working hard to save up for a car and by smoking more and more pot, which his dealer says he now owes him $500 for. Charlie’s girlfriend is increasingly frustrated with his smoking and the erratic behavior it causes. Sam’s family is also breaking apart—his mother and father are divorced, his father is now living with a man, and his mother has taken up with a homophobic jerk named Teddy. And Sam thinks that he might be gay. Charlie and Sam could each use their best friend about now, but they’re both increasingly isolated from everyone around them. As everything is falling apart for both of them, they meet up by chance and learn that the power of friendship isn’t in making all the bad things go away, its in making each other feel like they’re not alone.

P.E. Ryan's The Saints of Augustine is told in alternating chapters from both Sam and Charlie’s points of view. The scope of each of their situations is slowly revealed, and you’ll want to keep reading just to find out how things turn out for them. It may seem that both Sam and Charlie have too many problems, piled one upon the other, but we’ve all had times in our lives when it seems like one bad thing just leads to another, with seemingly no end in sight. Even their romantic relationships—Charlie’s girlfriend wants him to choose between her and smoking pot, and Sam has been spending time with a new guy named Justin, but isn’t sure whether to call their outings dates—provide more frustration and confusion than comfort. There are no easy answers to their issues, which makes this book feel more realistic and a good portrait of friendship between guys. It was easy for Sam and Charlie to be friends before, but getting back to a place where they trust each other takes some none too easy admissions from both of them. Charlie needs to know the reason why Sam ended their friendship so quickly in order to forgive him, and he needs to tell Sam what it was like to lose his mother and not have anyone to talk to about it. Sam had his first hints of his sexuality in his attractions to Charlie. He knows Charlie is straight, and is over the attraction now, but will admitting this ruin their fragile new alliance as soon as its forged? “Honesty is the best policy” may seem like a cliché, but this novel shows that it is also the only path to true friendship.

The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second -- Drew Ferguson

Upon being asked about what I was reading by a couple of guys my age:

Me: Oh, it's called The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second. I'm about half-way through. Not much has happened yet, except that Charlie just got his first boyfriend. Other
than that, there's been a masturbation scene on, like, every other page.

Guy 1 and Guy 2 look at each other.

Guy 1: How old is this kid?

Me: He's a senior in high school.

Guy 1 and Guy 2 look at each other again.

Both guys, in unison: Yep, sounds about right.

Charles James Stewart, II -- Charles the Second, not Charles, Jr., even though his father bears the same name -- is known as Charlie to his friends, as Chip at his running-for-state-attorney father's press conferences, and as Smart-Ass at home. He's never particularly fit in at school, drives his parents crazy (the feeling is mutual), lusts after his unfortunately straight best friend Bink (and Bink's brothers, for that matter), has failed his driver's test six times, can't seem to get his college essays written, and has never had a boyfriend.

That last part is about to change.

The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second is not an action-packed book. It's about a guy in high school. There are no car chases,government conspiracies or evil geniuses. He is not a vampire. So if that's what you're looking for, you'll probably want to look elsewhere. But if reading about a Midwestern, Lutheran, gay Adrian Mole sounds attractive, you're in for a treat.

It had a fantastic opening paragraph:

Okay, so maybe getting my scrawny ass pushed into the back of a Crystal Lake cop car wasn't the smartest thing I've done, but Dana's party last night--it sucked. She should thank me. The only thing anyone'll remember about the party is me being busted.

but it still did take me a little while for me to get into the book. Once Charlie won me over, though, once I was invested, I didn't put the book down -- I just sat where I was and read the whole thing in one go.

Charlie's smart and sarcastic and frustrated and funny, but some people might find his voice off-putting -- his descriptions of sex (whether, to use his term, "making knuckle babies" or with a partner) are pretty graphic and his descriptions of other people, while vivid and probably apt, can be somewhat cruel. I, personally, really enjoyed him.

The sometimes prickliness of his voice helped to make him more real for me, and by the end of the book, I felt more like I'd read a memoir than a novel. Charlie felt that real to me. And, of course, it helped that the dialogue was very well done, that I loved the secondary characters -- especially Bink and his family -- and that the situations Charlie would find himself in (sometimes through his own doings, sometimes not so much) always seemed within the realm of everyday life.

By the end of the book, I had to physically restrain myself from cheering for Charlie. (I was in public.)

--Crossposted at Bookshelves of Doom--

Book Review- Soulless by Christopher Golden

Soulless by Christopher Golden
From the back cover:

"Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window -- just a few minutes -- to send a final message to their grieving loved ones. Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed -- catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....

The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover. They are soulless. The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living -- shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes -- two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard -- is making its way to the center of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness."

As you may or may not remember, I posted a review of Golden's other new YA book Poison Ink last month, and wasn't completely enthralled with it. Reading this book COMPLETELY changed my opinion of Golden and his writing. This book gripped me from the first page, and kept me reading. I found it difficult to put the book down. It's much more gory than Poison Ink since zombies are involved. It's a fast-paced book, which I thought Poison Ink lacked, and events happen right away in this story, compelling the reader along. I also loved the variety of characters that Golden talks about- he does a great job fleshing all of them out and giving them unique personalities, and all of them come from different walks of life, yet they band together to end this horror because they have a common goal. The ending is unexpected and a fitting way to conclude this horrific story. This is a fantastic novel, and one that will not leave you once you finish and close the book.

Oh, and be sure to read this with the lights on. And during the day. Otherwise, you'll be up all night.

Apocalypse 2012 by Lawrence Joseph

Change has been on everyone's lips recently. Americans voted for it yesterday. Unfortunately not all change is for the better. In Apocalypse 2012 Lawrence Joseph writes about a number of disasters that might befall the earth, changing (or wiping out) life as we know it. Asteroid strikes, super-volcanoes, and maganetic polar shifts are just the beginning.

Mayan astonomers predicted a great change would occur on December 21, 2012, a date which marked the end of a 20,000 year era and signified the beginning of a new one. Some have interpreted that as the end of the world, others a shift in consciousness among the people of the Earth. Lawrence Joseph was going through a divorce and so he wrote a book leaning towards a bleaker outlook.

Apocalypse 2012 is not a fantastic book, but it is a fascinating one, if a bit depressing. Joseph talks about the Mayan culture and investigates they way they thought about history as well as chronicling the doom of the human species via catastrophe. Some might argue that 2012 might usher in an age of peace and understanding, a shift to a higher consciousness, or the Rapture. Joseph doesn't argue against any of those things, simply states the case that the Earth is overdue for violent and drastic change, and does so in a pretty interesting way.

Enjoy being a male, a human male anyway

It's election day and I expect we're all tired of politics. So instead let's talk about sex.

If you're a young man--the intended audience of this site--it's possible that you've been thinking so much about sex that you've barely noticed an election was going on anyway. Having once been a young man (I'm still a man) I know how it is. It's enough to drive you mad. There's the sex drive, combined with a debilitating fear of potential mates, combined with feelings of inadequacy around other males . . . well, that was me anyway.

If you've got problems like this you could call into a sex talk show on the radio like Dr. Drew's Lovelines, or you could read Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice for all Creation. If you take the latter route, you may not get actual advice for resolving your sexual concerns; Dr. Tatiana, after all, doesn't specialize in human sexuality and in fact mentions humans only in passing. But by reading the advice she offers to creatures as diverse as fruitflies, sponge lice, honey bees, fig wasps, lions and chimpanzees you'll definitely get a different perspecitive on sexuality and its place in the world.

Dr. Tatiana is the alter ego of evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson. In Dr. Tatania's Sex Advice for All Creation she responds in advice columnist form to the sexual concerns of animals of all sorts. Here's an example of a letter she might receive:

Dear Dr. Tatiana,
I'm a queen bee, and I'm worried. All my lovers leave their genitals inside me and then drop dead. Is this normal?
  Perplexed in Cloverhill

or

Dear Dr. Tatiana,
I'm a yellow dung fly and I've heard rumors that in my species sperm are actually chosen by the egg. Is this true, and if so, what can I do to make my sperm more attractive?
  The Dandy on the Cowpat

Reading these accounts, and the good Doctor's responses, can be, for a human, a strangely comforting experience.

If, for instance, you've learned that your girlfriend is cheating on you, Dr. Tatiana will help you understand that in the animal kingdom you have plenty of company. Early in the book, Dr. Tatiana dispels completely the notion that philandering a primarily a male activity. In nature, it turns out, it's quite the reverse. There are any number of reasons for females to seek multiple mates. They might, for instance, be looking for genetic variety, or may want to encourage competition between sperm or may want simply to make all the males in their community suspect that some of their children might be theirs which helps limit infanticide (nice, eh?). It turns out, according to Dr. Tatiania, that promiscuity among females makes a species more robust.

What Dr. Tatiana (or Olivia Judson through her) does so well, though, is not just present and describe the sexually odd and unusual, but describes how such varied sexual practices have evolved via the competition between individuals to pass on ones genes. Male members of species with promiscuous females, for instance, quickly evolve ways to limit promiscuity since every other male a female mates which reduces each individual male's chances of passing on his genes. Thus, after copulating the stick bug male coplulates with the female for over six weeks, preventing rivals from getting to her; the house mouse actually seals off the female's reproductive tract with an impenetrable plug after he deposits his sperm, creating a sort of chastity belt; even bolder the the spiny headed worm Moniliformis dubius can not only seal off the female's reproductive tract with a kind of cement but can even use its cement to seal off rivals' penises. This is not the worst thing to happen to a male in this evolutionary battle. Some species of bees actually explode after mating with the queen, leaving only their penises behind to block the way for rivals. A particular species of slug, Dr. Tatiana mischeivously reports, often gnaws off its own penis after sex to acheive something of the same end. The fruit fly Drosophila bifurca grows a sperm with a tail twenty times its own length. No one knows exactly why, but it may be to knock rival sperm out of the way.

See, fellow human males? See how much worse it could be?

There seems to be no end to what males in nature will do for a chance to mate. The natural world is a veritable treasure trove of highly inventive and often downright dirty tricks. Dr. Tatiana tells the tale of the sponge louse, whose males come in three varietys. The alpha males, as their name implies, are big muscular brutes who preside over complete harems. The harems, however, are infiltrated with beta males, a smaller version which looks just like a female and, posing as a member of the harem, has its way with the females behind the alpha males back. It gets weirder. There are also gamma males, who are even smaller and disguise themselves as the alpha male's offspring, also in order to sneak a few special moments with the females.

And you thought the dating game in high school was bad.

It goes on and on. Offering helpful advice to insects, arachnids, a variety of bacteria, numerous mollusks and jellyfish, and the full range of vertebrates, Dr. Tatiana cheerfully exposes the weirdest sex tales in all of creation.

And then she asks the most frightening question of all: "Are Men Necessary?" I bet you can guess the answer.

Calm down. For now, at least, human men are most definitely necessary. Enjoy being one.

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Last week, I asked author Helen Hemphill how she felt about writing for guys and writing from a male perspective. This weekend, I posed some of the same questions to author Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, whose newest novel for kids, The Floating Circus, involves an injured orphan boy, a freed slave, an elephant, and a circus boat.

Do you approach your stories differently depending on the gender of your protagonist?

I'd like to say no, but when I wrote The Floating Circus I really concentrated on what my 12 year-old son, Cole, would like to read and I know that influenced my choices to make it feel more adventure-novel than historical.

Do you feel comfortable writing in a male voice? What are the challenges you face when writing in a male voice - and/or writing for boys?

As a writer, I get to access that part of myself which is more masculine, and that's lucky because in society we don't allow ourselves much wiggle room in this arena without serious social repercussions. I will tell you that the cadence, word choice and rhythm of Solomon's words is based off the way my dad speaks. I hear his voice whenever I read Solomon's words.

Your first and second novels (Reaching for Sun, 42 Miles) were narrated by girls, your third (The Floating Circus) by a boy. Do you feel as though there are 'girl books' and 'boy books?' Do you, like me, try to get those gender-based divisions out of the minds of readers?

I think girls have the advantage here because they don't feel self-conscious about reading whatever books they want. Anything I can do as a teacher to expand wider appeal, I try to do. I'm always pushing books on kids no matter their gender!

The Floating Circus is your first prose novel, as the two which preceded it were verse novels. Was Circus ever planned to be poetry? Did it feel strange (for lack of a better word) to write in prose?

After many years, I had developed a certain confidence in writing free verse poetry and I was uncertain whether I could reach this milestone in prose. Cheerleading from my writing partner, Julia Durango and my editor, Melanie Cecka, really helped when my insecurities had a carnival inside my head.

The title of The Floating Circus changed at least once, didn't it? Did the storyline or ending ever change?

It was originally titled The River Palace but we thought the word "palace" might not appeal to boys (see, that gender issue again) and Shannon Hale's River Secrets was on the same list. That was one too many rivers!

The appearance of Little Bet was as big a surprise to me as it is to Owen. When I revised the story I weaved Little Bet more completely into earlier scenes. This was one of those magical moments that kept me chained to my laptop!

Were they transported into present-day, what do you think Owen or Solomon would make of our contemporary world?

I think Owen would be enthralled with all the technology (and probably love YouTube like my own son) in the same way he was astonished by the Palace’s technology of that time. Solomon, I hope, would meet only people who deserved to know him.

Do you prefer to write in first-person or third-person? Is that decision influenced by the gender of your protagonist?

I really struggle with point-of-view in my books. I like how immediate first-person feels (though this is one issue that has nothing to do with gender) but I think it is confining. Third person has that wonderful storyteller’s distance but can sometimes make the reader feel removed from the main character.

When your kids were little, what were their favorite books?

Abbie LOVED anything by Lisa Wheeler. Here is a link to her 'reading' her favorite one at four. Cole loved classic children's lit stories like Corduroy, Goodnight Moon, and Harry the Dirty Dog.

What do they like to read now?

Now Abbie likes, and I quote here, "pretty much anything by Cynthia Rylant." Cole may be Margaret Peterson Haddix's biggest fan.

----

The Floating Circus is now available in stores and libraries everywhere.

Read my 2007 interview with Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.

Visit the author's website.

Why Vote?

(This is from the 57th section of Carl Sandburg's "The People, Yes.")

LINCOLN?
He was a mystery in smoke and flags
saying yes to the smoke, yes to the flags,
yes to the paradoxes of democracy,
yes to the hopes of government
of the people by the people for the people,
no to debauchery of the public mind,
no to personal malice nursed and fed,
yes to the Constitution when a help,
no to the Constitution when a hindrance,
yes to man as a struggler amid illusions,
each man fated to answer for himself:
Which of the faiths and illusions of mankind
must I choose for my own sustaining light
to bring me beyond the present wilderness?

Lincoln? was he a poet?
and did he write verses?
"I have not willingly planted a thorn
in any man's bosom."
"I shall do nothing through malice; what
I deal with is too vast for malice."

Death was in the air.
So was birth.
What was dying few could say.
What was being born none could know.

He took the wheel in a lashing roaring
hurricane.
And by what compass did he steer the course
of the ship?
"My policy is to have no policy," he said in
the early months,
And three years later, "I have been controlled by events."

See you at the polls!

"The Skull Of Truth" by Bruce Coville - Cemeteries, Magic, and Creepy Fun!

Charlie has a problem with the truth. Nobody believes him anyway, so he's gotten used to lying all the time. And while he's no thief, when he sees the skull in Mr. S.H. Elives' Magic Shop, he's compelled to swipe it.

Turns out it's not just any skull... It talks to Charlie in his head, tells jokes, and oh, yeah...

it's cursed.



The curse forces Charlie, and anyone near the skull, to tell the truth. What do I mean?

Like everyone in his family revealing they hate his aunt Hilda's green Jell-O and cottage cheese salad.

Like family secrets about his Mom and his favorite Uncle Bennie that were in hiding and are now blurted out.

Like mortifying Charlie himself when his best friend, Gilbert, who has lost all his hair to cancer treatments, asks Charlie if he really looks that bad and Charlie answers truthfully:

"I think it looks totally doofy," he said. "And I hope to God it never happens to me."

This stupid Skull of Truth is ruining Charlie's life. And it won't shut up!

But maybe there's a way Charlie can fix things with Gilbert, deal with the bully Mark, and even stop developers from paving over the swamp he loves... If he can just figure out what to do with the truth!

I really loved this middle grade book - it's spooky without being completely scary, and for a book with a lot of laughs and thrills, Charlie has a huge heart and we really want him to figure it all out. Even the "villains" are three dimensional, and nothing's quite as good or evil as Charlie thinks it is at the beginning of his journey.

There's also a subplot about Charlie finding out that an adult in his life is gay. It's a shock for him, and his coming to terms with that truth about someone he cares about is handled beautifully.

Truth can be complicated, and after a great fun ride, "The Skull Of Truth" left me with lots to think about.

Happy Halloween from everyone at Guys Lit Wire!