The Awesome Princess Ninja!

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 6 Comments

Whoa. I know I sent you over to the Awesome Blog yesterday (after the purveyor of Awesomeness was kind enough to include me in her roundup), but I want to make sure you’ve all had a chance to meet the Princess Ninja.

Here she is! (And really, what more do you need to see than this to know what a treat you’re in for?)

Created by Amanda Moscou and Antonio Papaleo, the Princess Ninja is so delightful I had to hop over to Amazon to load up my cart. Four copies for my nieces and nephews? Five? Or just go ahead and get ten…?

And guess what? It’s not there! Come on, publishers! Why are you not snapping this up and bringing it to the masses? I mean, just look at this. Here she is saving the prince:

My boys would go for this, and they’re a tough sell on anything to do with princesses (alas – we tried, we tried). If I had girls? They’d probably be the Princess Ninja for Halloween. Every year.

Actually, forget Amazon – why is this not a show? This would be better than anything we watch (though I do have a soft spot for The Regular Show).

Ah well, in the meantime, we are lucky to be able to read three Princess Nina Tales at the Princess Ninja website. Thanks, Internet! (And of course, thanks to the very talented Amanda Moscou and Antonio Papaleo. More soon, please! It’s wonderful!)

Image credits: Amanda Moscou and Antonio Papaleo at http://princess-ninja.blogspot.co.uk/

All Sorts of Grateful

August 30, 2014August 30, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 10 Comments

Wow! Another great day here on the Jacke Blog. Wonderful Reader A.M., curator of the All Sorts of Awesome blog, has included me in her Super Awesome Awesomeness roundup. I’m flattered! And so pleased to hear what she’s been enjoying:

And now, the Super Awesome Awesomeness.

JACKE WILSON! Guys you guys, you have to read his 100 Objects. You have to. They are amazingly well written fictional prose pieces, a series of essays called A History of Jacke in 100 Objects. They. are. awesome.

Thank you!

She singles out a few of the Objects for praise:

His description of the music teacher in this one? Spot on. This one had a really intriguing twist at the end and this one I stayed up reading well after I’d meant to go to bed.

I haven’t read all of his 100 Objects (and he’s nowhere near the 100 mark yet) but every single one that I’ve read has been gripping and insightful.

This is incredibly generous and flattering – my heart is bursting with pride. The little objects! They’re like children to me. I’m proud on their behalf.

The post continues:

I didn’t even realize at first that his work was fiction–the characters and situations he conjures up are interesting and believable: he can make even the most far-fetched moments seem plausible.

Okay, I have to hold back, because I’m practically quoting the whole thing. It’s such a fantastic review I can’t help myself. I’ll stop there. But please go visit the post and the rest of her site too – there is a lot of super awesome awesomeness going on! One last excerpt:

His storytelling ability is jealousy inducing–it reads effortlessly, the flow of dialogue and descriptions and interior monologues and back-stories all flowing together into a very worthwhile read. Nothing feels forced.

I’ve been fortunate with reviews of my books, but it’s nice to see the blog get some love too. My thanks to the All Sorts of Awesome blog, which has made my day a Super Awesome one indeed. And I’ll be checking it out frequently – we need more of this high-spirited, positive energy to keep us going! Onward and upward, people!

Writers Laughing: Sandra Cisneros

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

I know, I know. I hear you! Where’s the content, Jacke? Give us some thoughts about studying abroad. Or your argument for a new translation of Dante. Or tell us all about your dream bookstore. Remember when you pitted two classic novellas against one another in a literary death match? Those were heady days!

Or what about some Objects? You have 75 to go! Get cracking, buddy!

You’re right, you’re right. I’ve spent too much time digging up pictures of writers laughing. Enough is enough! I’ll stop now. Except…

…these are just too much fun!

Image Credit: Deborah Miranda

Writers Laughing: Gabriel García Márquez

August 28, 2014August 28, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 7 Comments

Another big smiler – like Alice Munro, there are a million pictures of him smiling. And smiling broadly, with his eyes crinkly and his mouth slightly open. But laughing? You just know he had to laugh all the time – but whether those were captured in the pre-cell phone era is another question.

I found a few where he and Fidel are laughing, which I decided not to use. Instead, I’ll go with this one:

And then this one, which I love (“writers laughing with small children” is a good sub-category):

Staged for a photographer? Possibly. Do I care? Not at all!

Image credits: GM Family Archive

A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #25: The Equation

August 27, 2014August 28, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 17 Comments

My mother appeared in the doorway and my stomach fell. What was she doing at my algebra class? In my high school, in the middle of the day? This was exciting—it was my mother, she was here to see me—but it also felt dangerous.

Years earlier, my best friend’s mother had shown up one day wearing the same expression. We had been in gym class then, playing bombardment. From across the gym, I watched my friend jog toward his mother and disappear around the corner of the stage. Where was he headed? Somewhere cool?

No. He missed school for the next four days. Our teacher mentioned that Bobby, sadly, was attending his grandfather’s funeral.

And now this: I was in the ninth grade, my mother was here, it was me who walked out of the normal world and into the unknown. In the hallway she confirmed my worst fear. My grandfather had had a heart attack. She and my father were on their way to the hospital. I should go home by myself and wait there until they got back.

“Will he be okay?” I asked.

Continue reading →

Writers Laughing: Carson McCullers

August 25, 2014August 21, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 3 Comments

Not all cafes are sad, apparently!

Writers Laughing: Philip Roth

August 24, 2014August 21, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 4 Comments

Not my favorite author, but it’s still nice to see him young and full of pep:

100 Objects Special: Back to School Week!

August 22, 2014August 20, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

Summer’s almost over! Back to school time! This year I thought I’d celebrate the week with a tribute to all hardworking teachers and their achingly confused students…

Jacke Wilson’s Top 5 Stories Celebrating Teachers

Object #7 – The Keyboard*

I started on “Three Blind Mice.” I stopped halfway through. For some reason it sounded terrible.

“There must be something wrong with the piano,” I said.

Miss Steiner reached forward and for a second I thought she might choke me. Instead she seized her clipboard and flung it halfway across the room. It bounced off the top of a kettle drum.

“THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE PIANO,” she shouted. “IT’S YOU—YOU CAN’T PLAY!” Read the whole story

Object #10 – The Spitwad

In other classes, the teachers released this energy with a few little quips now and then, letting the students laugh and tease and push back, so the air would clear and the business of learning could begin. It was like the quick open-and-shut of a pressure valve.

Not in Mr. Ward’s class. In Mr. Ward’s class it was all pressure, no valve. For months. Something had to give.

Which brings me to the glorious day when Mr. Ward told a joke. Well, sort of a joke… Read the whole story

Object #14 – The Bass Guitar

I was in a band with my son. A real band. A rock band. Who knew where this would lead? His younger brother liked to bang on things and claimed his favorite instrument was the drum. His mother had a beautiful voice. We wouldn’t be Van Halen or anything, of course. But maybe a few local gigs…? Not now, but maybe in a few years…? Read the whole story

Object #15 – The Coffepot

I had not realized how much courage this was going to require. Ms. Laporte, who was sitting in a student desk at the center of the room, reading words one at a time out of a notebook she kept locked in her desk, was an imposing figure in normal times. When running a bee, she took her intensity to a new level. Her straight black hair was pulled off her forehead and secured in a tight bun, exposing her forehead, which was lined with the permanent anger she kept just below the surface at all times. Read the whole story

Object #23 – The Passage

It was left to the wise professor to provide the comment that took me into a whole new world of literary possibility. Not, in other words, literature as what-have-you-read-I’ve read-that-too. Not lists and check boxes. Something else. Read the whole story

*The Keyboard comes with a special followup, in which I hear from an old friend whose artistic father memorialized the music teacher in a fantastic painting.

Onward and upward, everyone!

Writers Laughing: Seamus Heaney

August 20, 2014August 20, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 15 Comments

Still working up the next Object. In the meantime, let’s enjoy a bit of mirth with the great Seamus Heaney, caught here in the act of extreme laughing:

That’s the kind of raw exuberance that makes his translation of Beowulf so good! Here’s a more natural one:

And here’s one with a special guest star… Continue reading →

Writers Laughing: Alice Munro

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014 ~ jackewilson ~ 7 Comments

Okay, sometimes these are a little hard to find. But there’s no shortage of photos of the amazing Alice Munro laughing (and a million of her smiling). I like this one for its spontaneity and joy…