Another Comic Aside

     Speaking of comics, I find myself curiously attracted to the history of different comic strips.  Especially the long-running ones, like Blondie, Charlie Brown, Beetle Bailey, and the like. 

     I would love it if there was a place that showed the original, first published strip of these comics.  I think it would be nifty to see how much they’ve changed over the years.  Blondie is a really good example of this since it’s been running since the 1930’s.

     Perhaps other people don’t share my curiosity about these things, though.

     For anyone who’s curious, my other “comfort comic” is Bloom County.  Normally when something I like is discontinued I feel disappointed, but when Berke Breathed retired Bloom County I actually felt hurt. 

Robert Lynn Asprin

Not that I like keeping track of who dies, but it looks like Robert Lynn Asprin died this year, too.  Asprin wrote a lot of books, two of his series being the “Myth” and “Phule’s Company” books.

When I first started reading in earnest, “Another Fine Myth” is one of the books I kept and enjoyed many times over.  It’s sad that he passed away and he’ll be missed by many people who enjoyed his works, and his family of course.

A Letter From The Author

The other day I was rather bored. The topic at work turned towards food, which it usually does when noon approaches, and I began thinking of a section of a book by one of my favorite authors, James P. Blaylock. In this book, actually a series, the main character makes cheeses and ends up on an adventure. This book, The Elfin Ship, I found in a used bookstore and bought on a whim. I had gotten several books that day, but read The Elfin Ship first and regretted it by the time I had finished all of them. I didn’t regret that I read it, just that I read it first. It was the best book of the lot that I had gotten and the rest were not very good. It was my good fortune, later, to find that there was another book called The Disappearing Dwarf, which I bought and read. And, finally, The Stone Giant.

Anyway, food figures fairly heavily in these books, as does coffee. One of the characters, Theophile Escargot, even mentioned eating apple pie covered in cream.

As I said, I was bored and I thought of that and then I thought, “Has James P. Blaylock ever actually eaten an apple pie

covered in cream?” This is a valid question, I think. Many people write about things they haven’t actually done. So, after looking for a way to send him an email I finally landed on a publisher and emailed him. Within minutes I was told that I could send my question to this publisher and he would forward it on to Mr. Blaylock.

Hours later, I had not received any kind of reply. I was expecting a kindly refusal for asking such a silly question. But later that day I saw in my inbox an email from James Blaylock. It turns out that he has eaten pie with cream.

At first I was excited. Someone famous had sent me an email! Answering… a really stupid question. Hmmm. Now, I’m not one to bother famous people. I really believe that their time is their own and any correspondence with them should be limited to, “I really like your [insert medium here]!” So, I sent off asking about coffee made with river water. No, really, it was also mentioned in one of his books.

He did answer again, too. I haven’t written back because, as I said before, I hate bothering celebrities. On the other hand, I know people read this blog and hardly anyone ever writes to me over it. I wonder if I would be flattered if people did, or annoyed at all the people sending me mail. On the other hand, this is just a dumb blog as opposed to a book that gets published and sold.

It is a point to ponder.