My Little Masters Thesis

So, yeah, I wrote a Masters Thesis.  (Is it Master's or Masters?  I'm too lazy to Google it [wow...that is really lazy].)  And you know what?  The whole process was actually pretty cool.  At least I think so.

The thesis was titled Look Me in the Stars.  Strange title, you say?  Yeah, little bit.  It actually derives from a line in Robert Frost's* poem "A Question":

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Are not too much to pay for birth.

That poem has been on my mind for some time, and it sort of worked its own way into the title.

The thesis is a collection of short stories (seven of them, to be exact--no coincidence there) that all treat, with varying degrees of heavy-handedness, the plethora of delightful and crappy things that we all go through in life.  Ok, it mostly revolves around the crappy stuff (hence the titular poem).  The delightful stuff is boring anyway.  Each story also incorporates some aspect of speculation or fantasy, as well; from time travel to the zombie apocalypse, it's all there.  And, well, I'm kind of proud of it.  Look, here it is:

In all its glory!  Pretty cool, no?

For those interested, here are some stats:
Total word count:  38,461
Total page count:  133
Contents:  7 short stories ("Rewind," "The Reception," "On Redemption," "Chronosingularity," "In the Details," "Oneirology," and "Look me in the stars"), Critical Introduction, Abstract, Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, and Title Page
Start date:  This is a tough one.  The first draft of the oldest short story in the collection dates back to 7 Feb 2009, and I suppose that is as good a start date as any.
End date:  Final draft was submitted on 15 June 2012.

Overall, it was a really great process.  Much more enjoyable than the whole Honors Thesis thing (which actually wasn't that bad for a critical thesis...but nowhere near this cool).  And my defense was fantastic.  I was lucky to have three pretty amazing professors ask some really interesting questions amd give some really helpful feedback...and it was actually kind of fun; a far cry from the purgatorial panel I had feared.  I don't know many people who can say they genuinely enjoyed their thesis/dissertation defense, so I'm glad to be part of that elite group.

I'd give you a link to check out the entire document on BYU's Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website, but you can't find it there.  You see, as an MFA student dealing with a creative work that might actually be a source of income (however modest) in the future, I don't have to release it to the public.  So I didn't.  Instead, I'm currently in the process of getting at least a couple of the stories from my thesis published in literary journals, magazines, etc.  And, trust me, as soon as I find a home for any of these stories, you guys will be the first to know.  Okay, maybe not the first.  My wife will be the first.  And actually my parents will be second.  And then I'll have some other friends and family members I'll want to tell right away.  So you guys are maybe five or six down on the list...but you'll get the news relatively soon :-).  Priorities, you see.  You understand.

Also, I think I'll paste the Abstract and the Acknowledgements sections in the next post, just so you can get some more specifics about the project...and because there were a whole lot of people who helped me out with the project, and they deserve all the thanks they can get.

In fact, I think I'll get on that right now.



*  Robert Frost is one of my favorite all-time poets, by the way.

I heart the zombie apocalypse

Confession:  I'm terribly interested in anything that has to do with zombies.  I wish I could say that it wasn't a result of the recent explosion of all things zombie related in pop culture, but, well . . . it probably was.  Anyway, the whole concept intrigues me, especially when crescendoing to apocalyptic proportions.  What could go wrong when you combine survival, preparation for disaster, cannibalism, camaraderie, loneliness, and of course the dead rising?  Nothing!  Nothing at all.

So I've read and watched a significant amount of zombie-related media in the past year or so, but unfortunately because of my quote-on-quote "hiatus," I wasn't able to review anything.  But, because zombies have such a special place in my heart, and because they play heavily into a SECRET PROJECT I'm working on, I'll briefly review some of the highlights.

• Shaun of the Dead:  Perhaps the single greatest zombie film ever made.  Hilarious, satirical, full of zombie blood and gore, but the film still manages to be very human at the same time.  ******* (7/7 stars)
• Zombieland:  Perhaps the only zombie movie I've seen that can rival Shaun for the top spot.  What I loved about Zombieland: the whole story revolved around the four main characters and their relationships.  While the zombies were still very present in some ways, they took a back seat and allowed some actual acting to happen.  Emma Stone and Woody Harrelson take the spotlight here in my opinion, although Jesse Eisenberg has his moments as well.  And, of course:  the illustrious Bill Murray as himself.  ******* (7/7 stars)
• The Zombie Survival Guide:  Max Brooks' hilarious take on typical "worst-case/survival" manuals, with a zombie twist.  Brooks provides an interesting backstory and history to the zombie pandemic, all the while managing to dispense surprisingly practical advise.  ***** (5/7 stars)
• World War Z:  Brooks' companion novel that essentially provides a narrative for the Survival Guide.  Told as a collection of interviews after humanity has narrowly survived a zombie apocalypse.  The interview format works quite well here, and Brooks manages to make me care about a number of individual characters despite the global sweep of the book.  ***** (6/7 stars)
• The Walking Dead:  AMC's take on the comic book of the same name, season one of this television series might be the only serious attempt at zombie disaster that I've seen on the screen.  The zombies are terrifying, the characters are intriguing, there's conflict everywhere, and I particularly love how they've explored the concept of identity and when exactly someone stops being themselves and begins existing as a ghoul (if, indeed, that particular transformation happens at all).  I'm eagerly awaiting season 2.  ******* (7/7 stars)
• The Reapers are the Angels:  Far and away the best zombie book I've ever read, and the best novel I've read in years, full stop.  Alden Bell's debut novel tells the story of a young girl, Temple, and her way of life in a post-zombie-apocalyptic world--she has never known anything different.  Again, the zombies take a back seat (although there are some wonderfully terrifying scenes) and allow Temple's character and her interactions with others to demand the attention they deserve.  A phenomenal book.  ******* (7/7 stars)
• Feed:  A novel I read in preparation for voting for the Hugo Awards and attending Worldcon this August (Feed is one of the nominees for best novel).  The concepts are interesting:  by finally curing the common cold and cancer, humanity created the perfect petri dish for a zombie epidemic.  Humanity survived the apocalypse intact, bloggers are now the main form of news and entertainment, and when the main character's blogging team is chosen to follow the next presidential campaign, they begin to uncover a shocking conspiracy.  This book surprised me, which is a rare thing these days.  ******* (7/7 stars)

So there you have it:  my year in zombies.  As mentioned above, I'm currently working on a TOP SECRET PROJECT that has to do with zombies, the internet, blogs, and more.  This secret project may or may not play a part in my upcoming graduate thesis, but either way, its coming (fairly) soon.  I'll remain tight-lipped about it for now, but there you have it.

Thats all for now, folks!  May you always delight in the consumption of brains, and may your ghoulish moans resonate uninhibited.

Here Endeth the Hiatus

I won't gush about how its been SOOO long since the last time I posted, nor will I make any promises about when I'll post again next.  I think it's safe to say that there is hardly anything safe to say when it comes to that sort of thing.

All that being said, here is a list of what's been keeping me busy this summer:

• Graduate Thesis, or, more accurately, my "Thesis Proposal" for what will one day be a collection of short stories.  Or so I'm told.  Or so I keep telling myself, anyway.
• Going to Hawaii.  Mostly Kauai, to be specific, which happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  And also Oahu.
• My wife's sister getting married in LA.
• My sister getting married in Alaska.
• Family Reunions...ish...es.
• Reading books.  Unfortunately, not as many as I would like.  I've read about 25ish books this year--woefully short of my goal (around 60).
• Getting ready for Renovation--my first Worldcon, which I'm pretty excited about.
• Starcraft II.  For the swarm, indeed.
• Watching Alias.
• Getting a new computer.  (Which I'm hoping will up my productivity--or, again, so I keep telling myself.)
• Teaching freshmans how to write good.

So there you have it.  Will I post again in the near future?  Only time will tell.  I may talk about my first year of grad school.  I may talk about how my writing is going.  I may talk about Zerg strategies in SC2.  I may even talk about ballroom dancing.  Until then--keep it real, and keep it simple.  Keep it real simple.