Yesterday I was treated to the most wonderful surprise of my wife purchasing Stephen King’s book On Writing. As I attempt to do what I once thought was unthinkable, and write a novel, this book feels like being handed a sack of gold and like every other wannabe writer in the world, the insights are invaluable even before you reach his advice tailored to the writing process.

Colleen has been beyond supportive of me as I attempt to follow in her path of weaving a story together and I can’t help but think that I’m right to take her up on any insight she has to offer, including finding my genre and consuming as much as I can in it.

For the first time in my life I have learned what I am and that is a post modern reader. This is what I can’t stop consuming and the first person narrative of struggles, fights against injustice, dystopia, and humanizing difficult times or points in someone’s life is the art I am most drawn to.

I always saw myself as a science fiction guy or as a nonfiction biography consumer, but even in those delivery systems it was always a postmodern theme that drew me in. The Drumhead episode of Star Trek The Mext Generation, or the widely adored In the Pale Moon Light of deep Space Nine hit home in a way that disconcerting new aliens or the science of a warp engine never could.

Films like The Last Night or Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind have the post modern elements that make them favourites of mine and it is way even a movie like Red Dawn hits the mark more than say something like Saving Private Ryan hits home for me, although there is no denying the micro and personal levels of that film also resonate with me.

having never been a heavy fiction reader, this seems like an opportunity to dive into some of the classics and to build out my reading list for the summer.

The Slaughterhouse Five seems like a great place to start as Kurt Vonnegut’s voice is one that I feel I will hear clearly and help bring out the best in my writing.

I am long overdue to read On the Road and throughout my life I have crossed paths with this book and failed to pick it up.it will get read this summer.

The Handmaids Tale feels like an opportunity to embrace the Canadian dystopia element of my writing and if it doesn’t fully meet the postmodern elements of what I want to accomplish there will be gems to take away from the hallmark of Canadian literature.

And based on my appreciation for One Battle After Another, giving Vineland a read should also factor into my plans.

While I might be trying to lean into the classics, reading current fiction would do me some good as well. Oraku Girl stands out as an interesting opportunity as it may have some interest to my child as well as me. The internet culture won’t factor into what I am writing but it seems like a potentially fun read by an author who took a similar approach to me in that it is about getting the story out there rather than spending time and effort on publishing .

I am excited for my next trip to the book store and hope to fill this space up with reviews and/or takeaways from what I read.