the well written - thomas pynchon

Death has come in the pantry door: stands watching them,
iron and patient, with a look that says try to tickle me.

- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

By Charlie Quagmire

book covers - amazon's top 10

For your consideration: the book covers for Amazon.com's
top 10 science fiction & fantasy books of 2012, based on sales. 
Looking at these through the lens of the recent book cover 
design post, they play to many of the "good design" theories
mentioned such as combination theory, maximization, ju jitsu
theory, though most use encapsulation theory, where the image
and typeface are unified and easy to understand at a glance.
Would you buy any of these based solely on the cover?

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

illustration - asahinoboru

These are from a series by deviant artist asahinoboru entitled
"I Wanna Be a Witch" and they're absolutely amazing.  Along
with each addition is a little statement that she connects to that
particular witch like, "I wanna be a witch who is serious about
living."  It's all pretty wonderful, drawing you in to not only the
stories of her witches, but to the story of their maker as well.

I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between
the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its
heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.
- Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch

a dreamer's wisdom - ursula k. le guin

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives
me all the world and exiles me from it.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, Harper's magazine, August 1990

By Gabriel Pacheco

on writing - joss whedon

Whedon's 10 screenwriting tips - authors have given similar 
advice, so I'm posting it here, where we can all learn from it.

1. Finish it
Actually finishing it is what I’m gonna put in as step one. You 
may laugh at this, but it’s true. I have so many friends who have 
written two-thirds of a screenplay, and then re-written it for about 
three years. Finishing a screenplay is first of all truly difficult, 
and secondly really liberating. Even if it’s not perfect, even if you 
know you’re gonna have to go back into it, type to the end. You 
have to have a little closure.

2. Structure
Structure means knowing where you’re going ; making sure you 
don’t meander about.  I’m a structure nut. I actually make charts. 
Where are the jokes ? The thrills ? The romance ? Who knows 
what, and when ? You need these things to happen at the right 
times, and that’s what you build your structure around : the way 
you want your audience to feel. Charts, graphs, colored pens, 
anything that means you don’t go in blind is useful.

By Manuele Fior

 

the well written - albert camus

It was quite like old times; a lot of young people were in the swimming 
pool, amongst them Marie Cardona, who used to be a typist at the office. 
I was rather keen on her in those days, and I fancy she liked me, too. 
But she was with us so short a time that nothing came of it. 
 

While I was helping her to climb on to a raft, I let my hand stray over her 
breasts. Then she lay flat on the raft, while I trod water. After a moment 
she turned and looked at me. Her hair was over her eyes and she was 
laughing. I clambered up on to the raft, beside her. The air was pleasantly 
warm, and, half jokingly, I let my head sink back upon her lap. She didn’t 
seem to mind, so I let it stay there. I had the sky full in my eyes, all blue 
and gold, and I could feel Marie’s stomach rising and falling gently under 
my head. We must have stayed a good half-hour on the raft, both of us 
half asleep. When the sun got too hot she dived off and I followed. I 
caught up with her, put my arm round her waist, and we swam side by 
side.  She was still laughing. 

- Albert Camus, The Stranger
 

By Matthew Richardson

from unexpected places - toy stories

Some amazing stories are centered around toys - The Velveteen 
Rabbit, the Toy Story franchise, even The Dollhouse Murders,
if you want to go a darker route.  In this series, Much Loved, by
Mark Nixon, teddy bears are the main characters.  Nixon took
photographs of old and much loved bears and collected the
stories behind them.  Have a look at the photos and anecdotes
and walk down memory lane with your own teddies or polly
pockets or gigapets, and so on.

You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen
often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who
have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real,
most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and
you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't
matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except
to people who don't understand.

- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Teddy (age 22)

Teddy Tingley (age 45)