“I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound- if I can remember any of the damn things.”- Dorothy Parker

I’m finding that my little thing of quoting influential men and women at the beginning of a new post is harder than I imagined. At first, I cheated. I “googled” quotes on whatever subject I was writing about; then a few posts in, I decided I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to recite them from memory. At some point I’m sure I’ll have to go back to relying on the trusty search engine that has become my god. But, with that said, you all get two quotes this week. Both are from the amazing Dorothy Parker.

Before I get to the second quote, I just want to say this is my first book review. Yup, that’s right. It’s the start of ShamelessReviewing. I knew you all would be very excited, and ever if you aren’t I’m pretending otherwise. I hope this is the first of many reviews to come. Yes, I admit it’s because I’m a slacker and prefer to judge other people than come up with topic that you wait for with bated breath.

Either way, whether my reviews are positive or negative, I respect authors, musicians, actually anyone who creates. They are putting a piece of themselves on the line. Anyone who can put a part of their soul out there for all to view deserve respect, even if people think their work is shit. Creators who share have bigger balls than both Ethan and TheShamelessOne combined. Luckily, in this case I don’t have to compliment the author’s anatomy, because the work speaks for itself.

“If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you.”- Dorothy Parker

Living Through the Night is the first official collection of work by Desiree Jensen. The collection of her work takes the reader on a fantastic journey. Whether you are looking for horror, fantasy, or something that spans all genres, this is the book for you. I’m serious too, you bitches gotta read this shit.

The first half of the book is Desiree’s short stories. While most of the short stories can send shivers down your spine, she starts off with a story that I couldn’t place in a genre if you made me. “A Cookie and Stories of Emily” is a heartbreaking look at what anyones life could turn into on a whim of fate.

Honestly I could run a commentary on every story in this book, but I want to leave surprises for you. So, I’ll just mention a few of my top picks. “Dream a Little Dream of Death” and “Road Trip Music” both offer a peek at the amazing quality of what the human mind could be. These horror stories are well written. We all know that horror can easily become horrific writing. I’m glad to say that Desiree knows when to push the story along, or when to slow it down and build suspense. She doesn’t have to slap you in the face with the ending. Regardless of the pace, it flows nicely and tapers off.

My favorite story in the book is “He Wore a Pinstriped Suit”. It’s very surreal and despite the content, it has a calming nature. So much is left up to the reader in this story. There are no clear cut answers as to why or where. You get to choose. There is one line in the story that sticks out into my mind, making me want to find out the answers. “I have tried reading between the lines but the story moves too fast.” Regardless of whatever ever meaning was intended by the author, the story becomes your own.

The second part of the book is poetry. Some are still horror and fantasy, but more than that you can get a peak into Desiree’s mind. You can tell by the way they are written that they were very close to her, and as I said before the baring of her soul is something to respect. I never know how to critique poetry, I just know when something speaks to me and I like it. However, there is a couple in here that I love.

“Knotwork” and “Selfish Healing” are the two that speak the most to me. “Knotwork” to me is part of my heritage, and something that I’ve never forgotten to hold on to. “Selfish Healing”, I relate to. To me it speaks of the desire to do good, to help, to love, to grow, but underneath it all no matter what you say the reasons are, it stems from selfishness. Sadly no one does anything for the spoken reasons, it is all self interest. It’s the nature of the beast. But, that my friends is another BeShameless rant entirely.

I think that this book has something for everyone. I also think you should go buy it right now. Yes, right now… Finish the article and go buy it. Of course, it would help you if knew where to buy it at. So, bear with me while I give you a few links.

The book can be purchased at Desiree’s Lulu Storefront.

Also, every 5th book she sales, the profits from that book are divided up and donated to three charities. The charities are Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, S. June Smith Center, and Vh1’s Save the Music. Information about the charities, author information, Living Through the Night information, as well as an excerpt can be found at Books by DJensen

If you are a myspace whore, you can find Desiree at Living Through the Night at Myspace. Tell her BeShameless sent you. But don’t spam her, you bitches.

Desiree is also the founder of Bending Spoons a literary e-zine. You can find some of her work there as well as other horror and fantasy writers. Hell, you can even submit your own work. I’m sure she’d love that.

Until next time, have you bought the book yet?

autumn

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“Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.”~~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

Sometimes music is all a person has in life. Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to be an “emo” or “gothy” post. In reality, at one point in your life, you feel completely alone and cling to your music for relief. I know several of my friends and I have felt like that a lot in the past year.

That being said, certain songs during your life stay with you. Sometimes they bring pleasant memories, and sometimes the melody can be haunting. People have argued with me over the fact that there is no soundtrack to your life. I can’t accept that thought; music is meant to become part of you, to share the most important milestones in your life.

To test this theory, though, let’s play a little game. Think back to your first love… Remember when it was fresh, new, and you were sure it was going to last forever. Did you have a song? Maybe, not… but lets say a song from that time frame comes on the radio, are you transported back to the that time? Do you relive it a little? Then you and the first love break up, your heart is broken and you decide you will never feel complete again. What song was constantly on repeat? For me, it was Third Eye Blind’s How’s it Gonna Be. For those who are married, I’m sure that you could tell me what the 1st dance song was at your wedding. The same could be said for the 1st time you had sex, made love, had your brains fucked out while listening to music.

Naturally this applies more than just to relationships. School dances, concerts, the pissed off anthem, and the sing-a-long car rides. One of my favorite music memories though is the silly times with friends. I use to have a friend that would hang out with me next to the highway and we’d belt out songs from our favorite bands while cars drove by. Every time I hear one of those songs I can see us sitting on the hill singing the horrid renditions of it. And, while we are no longer friends it reminds me of why she was an important person in my life.

So, my darling readers, these memories are only one of the thousands of reasons why music, no matter who wrote and performed it, belongs to us. I hope you all have a soundtrack to your life, and I hope it grows more and more every day.

Until next time, when this damn song isn’t stuck in my head,
autumn

http://beshameless.net/archives/2006/06/25/sing-sing-a-song/trackback/

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