It is a bit late…

I am excited for: Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

Goodreads says: On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity’s deepest fears: dragons.

Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she’s breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she’d rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, a secret friendship grows between them—even though the fragile truce that has maintained peace between their two species is unraveling around them. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

In her young adult debut, New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn presents a modern tale of myths and machines and an alliance that crosses a seemingly unbridgeable divide.

Available: March 1st 2010

Publisher: HarperTeen

ISBN: 0061798940

Length: 320 pages

Format: Hardcover

Cost: $16.99

What else Carrie has cooking:

I have a couple of other novels that I wrote after Midnight Hour and Kitty Goes to Washington, while I waited to find out if I was going to be writing more Kitty books.  These are a superhero novel and a near-future end of the world with Greek mythology chucked in novel, and I’m hoping they’ll see the light of day at some point.  I’m also working on the second YA novel, which has time travel and pirates.  I’m cooking a fantasy novel, but I don’t know if anything will come of it.  Right now, after the pirate book and the next couple of Kitty books, I have no idea what I’ll be working on.  But something will come up.  Something always does.

Source: Carrie’s Blog

One book that I looking forward to reading is The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler, a retelling of the Grimm’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Her take on the story looks like it it will be quite different from the retellings I have already read. Mostly because of the addition of a thirteenth princess. The story already suffers from a surfeit of royal females, so what is she thinking with throwing another one into the mix? Well, the king is pretty disgusted too by yet another girl, so in his displeasure, this thirteenth princess is banished to the kitchens, remenescent of Cinderella. So, it will be fun to see where it goes. It is her first YA book. The book actually came to my attention because of the small controversy surrounding the change in covers.

From this to that pictured above. Which do you like better?

My favorite  reinterpretations of the classic fairytale, in no particular order, are:

Jessica Day George’s Princess of the Midnight Ball

Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing

and Regina Doman’s The Midnight Dancers

And be sure to check out the SurLaLune’s page on the original fairytale and find the wealth of other information to be found, including its history, other culture’s versions of the story, more modern interpretations and much, much more!

This month the Cybils nominations opened up, though the winners will not be announced until February 2010. Or thereabouts. But then again there are a lot of nominations to read through. Looking over the nominations, I was pleased to see some of my favorite reads of 2009 there, as well as quite a few of my to-reads.

In the Sci-fi/ Fantasy category, covering both MG and YA, were the following that I have read, my favorites in bold, well liked are starred:

• Darkwood by M. E. Breen
• Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George (Third and final in her Dragon series)
• Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen
• Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter / Knife by R. J. Anderson (2009 Debutante)
• Immortal Fire (Cronus Chronicles)  by Anne Ursu (3 of 3)
• The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan (5 of 5)
• Mousekeeper by Alex Milway
• Roar by Emma Clayton
• Sent (Book 2 of The Missing) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Magic Thief: Lost by Sarah Prineas
• Poisons of Caux: The Hollow Bettle by Susannah Appelbaum
• Sisters Grimm: The Ever After War (7th) by Michael Buckley
• Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R. L. LaFevers

• Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
• Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry (Debutante)*
• Catching Fire (Hunger Games, book 2 of 3?) by Suzanne Collins*
• City of Glass by Cassandra Clare ( 3 of 4 in The Mortal Instruments Series)
• Daughter of Flame by Zoe Marriott
• Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (Act I of III in the Theatre Illuminata Series) (Debutante)*
• Fade by Lisa McMann (Wake, Book 2)
• Forest Born (Books of Bayern, 4) by Shannon Hale
• Hunger (Gone,Book 2) by Michael Grant
• My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
• Once A Princess (1 of 2, Sasharia En Garde) by Sherwood Smith*
• Princess of the Midnight Ball (A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses) by Jessica Day George*
• Silver Phoenix (1 of ?) by Cindy Pon
• The Singing (4 of 4 for Pellinor)  by Allison Croggon
• The Sorceress (The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel, 3 of 6) by Michael Scott*
• Soulstice (Book 2 of The Devouring) by Simon Holt*
• Tiger Moon by Antonia Micahaelis
• The Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, Book One) by Patricia C. Wrede
• Wings (1 of 4?) by Aprilynne Pike
• Wondrous Strange (book 1 of 3) by Lesley Livingston*

To-read from the nominations list:

• Damsel by Susan E. Connolly
• Flight of the Phoenix by R. L. LaFevers (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book One)
• Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass by Erica Kirov
• The Shifter (The Healing Wars, Book One) by Janice Hardy
• Tentacles by Roland Smith
• Arch Enemy (The Looking Glass Wars, Book Three) by Frank Beddor
• Another Faust by Daniel and Dira Nayeri
• As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
• Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
• Betraying Season (2 of 3 of The Leland Sisters) by Marissa Doyle
• Demon Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
• Girl in the Arena Lise Haines
• Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
• The Hollow by Jessica Verday (1 of 3?)
• Ice by Sarah Beth Durst (Retelling of East o’ the Sun, West o’ the Moon)
• Immortal by Gillian Shields
• Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn (Rerelling of Sleeping Beauty)
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• Meridian by Amber Kizer
• My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent
• Past world by Ian Beck
• Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman (About Persephone)
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

And two that were not nominated, but which deserved to be:

• Time Quake by Linda Buckley-Archer (3 of 3 in the Gideon Trilogy)
• The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner (2 of 2 in The French Revolution series)

Put The Big Red Button on your site

“Out of the golden remote wild west where the sea without shore is,

Full of the sunset, and sad, if at all, with the fullness of joy…” Swinburne

“The sea is the consolation of this our day, as it has been the consolation of the centuries.
The sea is the matrix of creation, and we have the memory of it in our blood.
But far more than this is there in the sea.
It presents, upon the greatest scale we mortals can bear, those not mortal powers which brought us into being. It is not only the symbol or the mirror, but especially it is the messenger of the Divine.”

“… All that which concerns the sea is profound and final.”

Hilaire Belloc

The sea hath no king but God alone.  ~Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The White Ship

The free
Mighty, music-haunted sea.
- Anna Katharine Green

On the Sea John Keats

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell
Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell
Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.
Often `tis in such gentle temper found
That scarcely will the very smallest shell

Be moved for days from whence it sometime fell

When last the winds of heaven were unbound.
Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude
Or fed too much with cloying melody -
Sit ye near some old cavern’s mouth, and brood
Until ye start, as if the sea nymphs quired!

Roadways by John Masefield

Leads me, lures me, calls me
To salt green tossing sea;
A road without earth’s road-dust
Is the right road for me.

A wet road heaving, shining,
And wild with seagull’s cries,
A mad salt sea-wind blowing
The salt spray in my eyes.

My road calls me, lures me
West, east, south, and north;
Most roads lead men homewards,
My road leads me forth.

To add more miles to the tally
Of grey miles left behind,
In quest of that one beauty
God put me here to find.

The Edge of the Sea

The scent from the bay
carries something like memories
from the edge of the sea
where the sun goes
at the end of the day.

I inhale the breeze
As I watch the sun retreat
into the edge of the sea, 

and I wonder what’s there,
and why the scents
from the edge of the sea
seem to carry memories,

and whether the ships
moored along the harbor
ever get there.  

—Cristina Montes

The Sea

BEAUTIFUL, sublime, and glorious;

Mild, majestic, foaming, free, —

Over time itself victorious,

Image of eternity!

Sun and moon and stars shine o’er thee,

See thy surface ebb and flow,

Yet attempt not to explore thee

In thy soundless depths below.

Whether morning’s splendors steep thee

With the rainbow’s glowing grace,

Tempests rouse, or navies sweep thee,

‘Tis but for a moment’s space.

Earth, — her valleys and her mountains,

Mortal man’s behests obey;

The unfathomable fountains

Scoff his search and scorn his sway.

Such art thou, stupdendous ocean!

But, if overwhelmed by thee,

Can we think, without emotion,

What must thy Creator be?

Bernard Barton

Sea Voices

O’ER the wintry sea,

Mingled with its tone

Comes a voice to me,

That’s not the sea’s own.

Low and soft it is,

Near and far away –

Sad as winds that kiss

The sea beyond the bay.

Soulless, restless, swell,

O what radiant guest,

Sad, invisible,

Hovers o’er thy breast?

Gray rocks and gray sea,

Stretch of barren shore,

Grief and memory

Claim me evermore.

William Stanley Braithwaite

The Sea Limits

CONSIDER the sea’s listless chime:

Time’s self it is, made audible,–

The murmur of the earth’s own shell.

Secret continuance sublime

Is the sea’s end: our sight may pass

No furlong further. Since time was,

This sound hath told the lapse of time.

No quiet, which is death’s,–it hath

The mournfulness of ancient life,

Enduring always at dull strife.

As the world’s heart of rest and wrath,

Its painful pulse is in the sands.

Last utterly, the whole sky stands,

Gray and not known, along its path.

Listen alone beside the sea,

Listen alone among the woods;

Those voices of twin solitudes

Shall have one sound alike to thee:

Hark where the murmurs of thronged men

Surge and sink back and surge again,–

Still the one voice of wave and tree.

Gather a shell from the strown beach

And listen at its lips: they sigh

The same desire and mystery,

The echo of the whole sea’s speech.

And all mankind is thus at heart

Not anything but what thou art:

And Earth, Sea, Man, are all in each.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

By the North Sea by A. C. Swinburne

Beautiful piece!

Alike pervaded by His eye, all parts of His dominion lie;

This world of ours, and worlds unseen, and thin the boundary between.

~ Josiah Conder

Fantasy is storytelling with the beguiling power to transform the impossible into the imaginable, and to reveal our own “real” world in a fresh and truth-bearing light. ~Leonard S. Marcus

[I write fantasy] Because, paradoxically, fantasy is a good way to show the world as it is. Fantasy can show us the truth about human relationships and moral dilemmas because it works on our emotions on a deeper symbolic level than realistic fiction. ( it has great emotional power.) So I think that fantasy does show us the truth of our own lives. ~ Lloyd Alexander

And for adults, the world of fantasy books returns to us the great words of power which, in order to be tamed, we have excised from our adult vocabularies. These words are the words which adults no longer use with other adults, and so we laugh at them and consign them to the nursery, fear masking as cynicism. These are the words that were forged in the earth, air, fire, and water of human existence, and the words are:

Love. Hate. Good. Evil. Courage. Honor. Truth.

–Jane Yolen (in the collection Touch Magic)

So, children’s literature has an odd reputation. Somehow it is seen as less worthy and meaningful and artistic than adult literature. Which is laughable, to be sure. But why? If anything, children’s literature is far superior. I read children’s books all the time, picking them at random from bookstores and libraries. However, I never browse through the adult section. I would not pick up an adult book unless I had previously had truly amazing recommendations and reviews from trusted friends. And I have noticed three main differences between the two that explains my preference.

First, children’s books are all about the story. In a sense, they are usually closer to the very essence and purpose of stories, the idea that stories are important because they show us how to live and why. Adult books so rarely have that sense about them. They tend to try and cobble together a bunch of vague, ill defined “themes” and call it a story.

Second, length and effectual use of space and words. Children’s’ literature requires that you get to the freaking point already. Adult literature likes to mozy, take a few u-turns and chase a few tangents and then remembers it was supposed to be telling a story and goes back, only to lose it again. No wonder so few adults read. I won’t put up with such sloppy writing and since kids books are supposed to be off-limits as childish and immature, no one is going to bother reading. I can’t blame them.  But in the best kids books,  there really is an efficiency of storytelling that is  amazing. The depth of characterization, the world building, the emotion are all packed into a very limited space, but with so much more power and efficacy simply because of the increased brevity. Sort of like the difference between a rich raspberry tart and a bag of artificial processed raspberry pastries. One is fresh, with fewer ingredients and less of it, but it tastes so much more delicious. Far more satisfying than the considerably bulkier pastries, with their long list of ingredients and additives. Sounds like you are getting more in that food? More fat, more unneccessary ingredients that ultimately detract from a superior taste experience.

Thirdly, what I’ll call the ick factor. Yes, plenty of YA crosses the line on this, but in general, an adult book is going to have way more immorality and depressing depictions of depravity and horror. Graphic depictions of violence and intercourse. And YA certainly does have its share of violence and wars, coups and revolutions, as well as people in romantic relationships, but by and large, I think it handles it a great deal better.

So, anyway, here are some tidbits from a discussion on writing for children on Sarah Prineas’ blog:

The best children’s books also teach you about being a good person and living in a good world, without ever being preachy–reinforcing things you already know in your heart. fabulousfrock

I think children’s books haven’t yet lost that sense of wonder, of everything being big and beautiful and new, and somehow more there than how adults tend to see it.

I love the idea of the joy of discovery, of embracing the sense of wonder. This really isn’t a tool for a toolbox; it’s not a writing approach; it’s a whole life philosophy. Which is kind of awesome. sp

“Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth. They accept almost without questions, anything you present them with, as long as it is presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly.” E. B. White

Madeleine L’Engle: “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

But the younger the audience, the stronger their bullshit detector, and at the same time the more willing they are to believe, to be transported, to be swept away, to be moved, to be touched. They also have the gift of years ahead and possibilities; the future is so darn shiny when you’re young. Lisa Mantchev

I do think kid readers are more willing to BELIEVE. It’s a true act of the imagination. It makes the books as much the readers’ book as it is the writer’s. Sarah Prineas

I’m going to throw in my two cents as an editor as well as a reader. Clarity. Conciseness. I believe kids will close a book much faster than adults on too much background information, too many internal thoughts (unless they’re in a really fantastic voice), and too much just plain old narrative. I think the best writing for kids and adults has a spareness to it, has that quality of using just the “right” phrase or word, but I think the requirement for this to be in a kids’ book is stronger. beckylevine

I see a sort of layering of sophistication in good kid’s books, so that it reads well at multiple ages or reading levels. orbitalmechanic

SOURCE

Every person’s Life is a Fairytale written by God’s fingers ~ Hans Christian Anderson 1805-1875

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do ~ Ben Franklin

You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity ~ Richard Feynman

“You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.” Dave Barry

“It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.” Dickens in Bleak House

Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere ~ G.K. Chesterton

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people ~ G.K. C.

Si tollis hostem, tollis et pugnam
Si tollis pugnam, tollis et coronam
Si tollis libertatem, tollis et dignitatem

“Without an adversary, there is no conflict;
Without a conflict, there is no crown;
Without freedom, no honor.
Saint Columban

How can there be evil if God exists?
How can there be good if He exists not?
Boethius

“There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”
Dickens “The Pickwick Papers”

In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum.
“Into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Not all who wander are lost ~ Tolkien

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wildflower;
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
William Blake

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice

A set o’ dull, conceited hastes (dunderheads)
Confuse their brains in college-classes,
They gang in stirks (go in young bulls)
And come out asses, plain truth to speak.
Robert Burns

“The society of girls is a very delightful thing.”
Dickens in David Copperfield

“Three may keep a Secret, if two of them are dead.”
Benjamin Franklin

In principio mulier est hominis confusio.
Medieval Latin Proverb

True happiness demands courage and a spirit of sacrifice, refusing every compromise with evil and having the disposition to pay personally, even with death, to be faithful to God and His commandments.  J.P. II July 2003

Today Christ asks the baptized: “Are you my witnesses?” And each one is invited to question himself sincerely: “Do I live a strong, serene and joyful faith, or do I portray the image of a Christian life that is falgging, marred by compromises and easy conformity?” J.P. II

Sometimes I think about time. That the star that I am looking at is that star as it looked a hundred or four hundred years ago. That when I stand here, in this time, and look at that star, I am not just looking at space. I am looking at time-at another time. That fascinates me. ~ Madeline L’Engle

One has a high form of meditation when the mind, lively by nature and richly gifted, penetrates deeply into the truths of faith, pondering them from all sides, as in a dialogue with oneself, developing their rational consequences and discovering their intimate connections.  Sister Theresa Benedicta/ St. Edith Stein. See her Woman, Prayer of the Church, Life and Letters, and  Mystery of Christmas

All earthly things age, decay and die and thus any attachment to a beautiful thing must inevitably cause sorrow because one will sooner or later be separated from it by the ravages of time. Even a child can intuit the basic cause of sorrow in this world, the passing of beautiful things. Think Tolkien, Lewis-this is a theme well rehearsed in literature. There is this sense of mournful sweetness or wistfulness for that which was or will pass away forever in this time but which perhaps may be reclaimed in eternity.

“The key is beauty. If the world is merely a complex and efficient machine, beauty is not required. Beauty is in fact superfluous. Therefore beauty is a gift to us. If we were soulless machines of meat, the survival instinct would be all we needed to motivate us. The pleasures of the senses-such as taste and smell- are superfluous to machines in a godless world. Therefore, they are a gift to us, and evidence of divine grace. The older I’ve gotten, the more beauty, wonder, and mystery I see in the world…”

“Catholicism permits a view of life that sees mystery and wonder in all things… I feel about Catholicism as G. K. Chesterton did-that it encourages an exuberance, a joy about the gift of life. I think my conversion was a natural growth. Even in the darkest hours of my childhood, I was an irrepressible optimist, always able to find something to fill me with amazement, wonder and delight. When I came to the Catholic faith, it explained to me why I always had – and always should have – felt exuberant and full of love.” Dean Koontz

1) What author do you own the most books by?
J. R. R. Tolkien

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Lord of the Rings, followed by Pride and Prejudice, The Blue Castle and Crown Duel.

3) What book have you read more than any other?
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery.

4) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Sworn to Silence, though I ended up skimming it more than reading it as it became increasingly intolerable. Ick.

5) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Best new book: Academy 7, by Anne Osterlund. The Immortal Fire by Anne Ursu was great, but it is also the conclusion of a trilogy and you need to read the rest.

6) If you could tell everyone you know to read one book, what would it be?
Tough and cruel question. Again, The Blue Castle, by L. M. Montgomery.

7) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Hmm. The Federalist Papers took me almost two months to read, longer than any other ever. Though The Red Badge of Courage took almost as long.

Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Shakespeare, hands down. Milton comes in a close second though.

9) Austen Or Eliot?
Austen.

10) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Lot of serious reading, like essays and such, get shoved aside as I take longer to read them. I like to savor them, so I often just put them off.

11) What is your favorite novel?
You’d think The Blue Castle, right? But no. I cannot choose a favorite. I have favorites. About 50 of them. I’ll get a list up one of these days…

12) Play?

“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde.

13) Poem?

Can’t decide.

14) Essay?
“On Fairy Stories” by JRRT.

15) Short story?
Something by O’ Henry.

16) Memoir?
Autobiography by G. K. Chesteron

17) History?

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States
18) Mystery or noir?
Mystery.

19) Science fiction?
Sure, though I tend more toward fantasy…

20) Who is your favorite writer?

J. R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Jane Austen, Regina Doman, Patricia C. Wrede + Caroline Stevermer,  Anne Ursu, Lloyd Alexander, Helen Cresswell, Jessica Day George, Meriol Trevor, Hilda van Stockum, Constance Savery, Eoin Colfer, Linda Buckley-Archer, Julia Golding, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, O’Henry, Anne Osterlund, Sarah Beth Durst, Sarah Prineas, L. M. Montgomery, and that is just a few.

21) What are you reading right now?
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

Bonus:

Favorite NEW foods: Toffee. Chai. Pine nuts. Starfruit. Swedish Tea!

Favorite day of the week: Fridays!!!!!!

Favorite Car: 1967 Impala.

Quote of the Day: You can only be young once, but you can always be immature.  ~ Dave Barry

Last year Fox (the network most likely to give a series a chance and then kill what has the makings of a phenomenal show) debuted Fringe, a darkly intriguing show from the minds behind Lost, Alias, and Transformers.

Officially: FRINGE returns for a second thrilling season that will continue to explore the unexplained phenomena and terrifying occurrences linked throughout the world – known simply as “The Pattern” – in pursuit of a larger, more shocking truth.

Set in Boston, the FBI’s Fringe Division formed when Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (Anna Torv) enlisted the help of institutionalized “fringe” scientist WALTER BISHOP (John Noble) and his son, PETER (Joshua Jackson), to save her partner and lover from a mind-bending death. Through unconventional and unorthodox methods, the FRINGE team imagines and tests the impossibilities while investigating unbelievable events, macabre crimes, and mystifying cases involving pyrokinesis, neuroscience, cryonics, genetic engineering, astral projection, and other fantastical theories. When the unimaginable happens, it’s their job to stop it.

Agent PHILLIP BROYLES (Lance Reddick) guides the group, while by-the-book Agent CHARLIE FRANCIS (Kirk Acevedo) and Junior Agent ASTRID FARNSWORTH (Jasika Nicole) provide support and depth to the team. Underscoring the unfolding mysteries, enigmatic Massive Dynamic executive NINA SHARP (Blair Brown) asserts that the advancement of technology is changing the world of science, and conversely, the science of the world.

I’ve heard comparisons to shows ranging from X-Files to CSI and none of those labels due the show justice. Not only is Fringe its own unique self, when people see it likened to another show so constantly, it gives a misleading expectation of what the show is and so they go into viewing it with preconceived notions that affect how they see it, often spoiling it from trying so hard to fit in into the vision of what they thought it would be rather than just watching it for itself. And when one does that, it shines on its own merits.

It had a slow and stuttering start, and was a bit touch and go as the show found its path. But by mid-season I found myself quite intrigued and the show did not disappoint.

Olivia has a poise, a grace under pressure, that makes her excellent at handling these impossible cases and which also makes you hope that she comes out of this entire mess all right. She is quickly hired by Broyles, who knows way more than he is saying. Nina Sharp knows more as well. Just how much is still vastly unclear. Olivia’s step-father was a psycho and is likely going to come after her at some point. (I certainly hope that they do not drop that subplot!) Olivia has a very accurate memory, is adept at connecting things, almost preternaturally so. She never forgets a face. She also never forgets numbers as well. We find out that she was dosed with the drug Cortexiphan (sp?) as a three year-old child by Walter and William Bell. It is a drug that works on “perception” and appears to be able to basically give people any ability. All the other children that we have encountered that were given this drug have come to deadly ends and tragic circumstances. There was Nick, who was Olivia’s partner in the drug trials, who ended up becoming so dangerous to himself and others that he was put into a coma indefinitely. And pyrotechnics Susan Pratt and her twin sister, one of whom blew herself up and the other narrowly avoided the same fate. It is obvious that the drug has been affecting Olivia, esp. the issues with the tank and John’s consciousness. And the thing with the lights and the bomb in “Ability,” which was glossed over in the following episodes. Olivia seems to be better than the other children, but is she really? It seems clear that she killed/ injured someone when she was three. Do we have any real idea of what she is capable? And just how important is she supposed to be? At the end of the finale, she was stuck in the parallel world/ dimension with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy), who appears to have been hiding out there.

Peter has an I.Q. of 190. He is brilliant, cynical and sarcastic. The son of a mad genius scientist, he has lived on the shady side of things and is in number with any number of people. At first he wanted nothing to do with his father, but then he becomes personally involved and decides to stay in order to find some answers. This is a man who has cared about no one, never really had friends, no real family. He starts to connect to his father for the first time. That connection between father and son, so off-kilter and unusual given their background and individual issues and demons, is very interesting. Also, he is starting to care about Olivia, and Astrid. He is finding a family and maybe even finding he wants that responsibility of caring for others and being there for them. And I do see Olivia and Peter as family – brother and sister with their wacky father figure Walter, who has harmed them both in the past but genuinely cares for them now. So, Peter has quite a past that may well cause problems for him, as well as being in the dark about where he comes from…

Walter is a madman. He is perfectly frightening and can be equally perfectly frightened by his own behavior. He swings from periods of lucidity to muttering, confused asides, to furious rants and temper tantrums to complete obtuseness, often obsessing about a food or beverage. He can be a sweet, vulnerable old man and the next moment he is a soulless, disturbed scientist who will do anything to attain his objective. John Noble plays it so brilliantly. Walter loves Peter, but also grows very angry with at times. We find out that Walter lost Peter to an illness when was seven years old and this loss so consumed him that he was driven, with the aid of William Bell, to travel to another dimension. Walter brought back the Peter of that parallel universe back with him. Which explains a lot of Walter’s cryptic remarks about Peter’s health records to Olivia toward the beginning, the fact that Peter rarely recalls the childhood incidents that Walter brings up and why occasionally it seems Walter is a different person. Question is what happened to the other Walter? Why doesn’t Peter remember? At what age did Walter bring him back? When will Peter find out and how will this impact him? And his relationship with Walter? And just why exactly is Walter so messed up? His memory loss? Is that all from the drugs or is there something else going on?

And what is up with the Observer? He saved Walter and Peter from drowning, even though he is not supposed to interfere, but merely observe. He should not have been there, but he was. Why? And does he have a connection to the boy from “Inner Child”? Are they connected or was he merely observing him?

EW’s Fall Preview Issue w/ Fringe on the cover, an interview and a great video.

“I see Peter and Olivia more as a brother and sister with a truly bizarre father figure – three broken people, coming together as a dysfunctional family,” says Jackson. Adds Torv, “I hope they don’t put us together. That would be so conventional.”