The Hobbit, The Tragedy in Newtown, and the Nature of Good and Evil

I had originally just planned to review my first viewing of The Hobbit, but after Friday's tragic events in Connecticut, I felt I had to say something.

As a nation, we have a lot of things to think about. A lot of things to think about as a people. As the human race. There are a lot of hard questions. Gun Control. Mental Health Care. Security measures in certain public places. The media, and how it reports on such events. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers.

But instead of getting all political on the topic, I want to bring it back to my original planned post, and talk about J.R.R. Tolkien, his amazing stories, and what he knows about good and evil. Tolkien served as Second Lieutenant in the British Army during World War I, and without going into too much gruesome detail, suffice to say he saw the horrors of war first hand, and learned of the evil of men in the most horrific ways.

So even though surely Tolkien knew evil was often carried out by men, and surely saw evil deeds done by soldiers on both sides of the conflict, when he wrote, the evil he penned was faceless, and most terrifying when it was an unknown, even ethereal entity (such as Sauron's eye, or the Necromancer in the new film).

I would like to argue that we ought to make evil faceless again. Perhaps even nameless.

The way the media handles events like Friday's tragedy can't possibly help. These sick people, whatever their problems may be, are obviously haunted by what legacy they might leave behind, and when CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC put their names and faces all over the screens that live in all our homes, the next troubled individual thinks that he can be famous too.

I won't reprint their names here, but surely Virginia Tech, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and all other similar such tragedies could have been reduced or even avoided if we didn't make celebrities out of their perpetrators. In our society, in the cult of personality, where being famous is akin to holiness, something has got to change.

There is also a great post about the state of mental health services, over at The Anarchist Soccer Mom. I strongly urge you to read it.

Project Mayhem Team Member Catch UP!

Pure Soapy Goodness!!

It's hard for us to believe that Project Mayhem has become so big! Just recently, we've been listed in the 5th edition of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published as a quality blog for children's writers, and hopefully, there is only more to come! On that note, we wanted to give you an update to all the things that our Team Members have going on! We encompass all stages of the publishing process, from just starting out to books on the shelves!

Hilary Wagner ~ I'm super proud of Team Mayhem's amazing accomplishments! I'm crazy thrilled to announce, my first novel, NIGHTSHADE CITY, just sold to the French publisher Albin Michel. Currently, I'm working on an undersea fantasy about the elusive goblin shark, which releases next year, and then I'll work on the third book in the Nightshade Chronicles series, KINGS OF TRILLIUM. I've also just joined the Bookanistas, which should be loads of fun!        

Dee Garretson ~ It's been a crazy year for me. I left my original agent in the spring and didn't sign with a new one until November, so the months in between were rather nerve-wracking. My new middle-grade science fiction story has been revised, and my new agent is contacting my editor of my other two books to see if she is interesting in reading it, so I'm waiting to hear on that. WOLF STORM, my second book came out in late August and I've been spending a bit of time trying to get the word out on that, but I've decided I want to concentrate more of my effort on writing new stories. I did find out WOLF STORM in paperback will be in the Scholastic book club flyers in the fall, and this bit of news excited me almost as much as seeing my books in our local library. All those years as a kid begging my mom to let me order some books from the flyers, I never thought one of my books would be in them.

WILDFIRE RUN has been nominated for two state librarian/readers awards, in Nebraska and Louisiana. I've heard it's on a third list, but haven't received confirmation yet, so I'm waiting before I announce that.  And because I wanted to try something new, I also self-published an adult historical mystery called THE GARGOYLE IN THE SEINE. That's been an interesting challenge and I'm having fun working on the sequel. All in all, I'm keeping busy!

Dawn Lairamore has spent the past several weeks poring over paint samples trying to decide whether to paint her hall bathroom "Picnic Green" or "Romaine"--and wondering how the heck she's supposed to paint that tiny corner between the bathroom door molding and the linen closet.  Because, seriously, she's going to need a paintbrush the size of a toothpick! She's done a couple of really enjoyable author interviews recently--and Princess Ivy's made some web appearances too--a couple of which you can read here:

Teazurs - TheWriteStuff - The Brain Lair

Marissa Burt ~Writing-wise, I've been working toward STORYBOUND's release on 4/3/12.  This means exploring marketing ideas, trying to complete blog interviews in advance, and stalking people I know have ARCs to see if they liked it - ha!  In other exciting news, Italian rights to STORYBOUND have sold - hooray! - which makes me particularly excited, because my mother's family is from Italy.  I've also been finishingup revisions on STORY'S END (the sequel) due out in early 2013.  Now that those are nearly done, the files in my idea compartment are starting to tempt me, and I'm thinking about beginning a new project.  Besides that, I've been spending a good amount of time with the lovely characters of Downton Abbey and Once upon a Time and catching up on a lot of reading.  Hooray for 2012!

Yahong Chi ~ On the YA side of the Internet, a new e-zine called Sucker Literary Magazine is releasing its inaugural issue this month! Have a lookthrough; you'll find yours truly in the staff credits. ;) On a different topic, the movie The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn came out in December and bleeeeeew my mind. I loved it. Also: you know the hashtag #worstbookever? Let me tell you, the reason it was invented is spelled L-o-r-d o-f t-h-e F-l-i-e-s. But I'm reading The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens and that makes up for it. :)

Michael Winchell recently signed with his new agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident Media. He put the finishing touches on his latest middle-grade manuscript, which is now out on submission with publishers. On a personal note, Mike learned there will be a new addition to his family, as a baby girl is due in May.

Caroline Star Rose ~ is the co-president of the Class of 2k12, a promotional group of debut middle grade and young adult novelists. She's recently become the Schmooze coordinator for New Mexico's SCBWI (and has been christened by the group as the Schmoozista). Caroline's middle grade historical verse novel, May B., debuted January 10th.

Matt MacNish had his vignette Lake Argo published in the online literary magazine Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and is expecting to begin querying his novel WARRIOR-MONKS early this year.

Paul Greci signed with Amy Tipton of Signature Literary Agency this last November. His middle grade novel, Stranded took second prize in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Annual Contest. Other news: This winter he's been shoveling tons of snow, dressing in layers to combat temps dipping to 50 below, and having a ball teaching English as a second language at the high school level.

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin started this year with great news. He signed with Stephen Fraser at The Jennifer DeChiara agency. His MG time travel novel, Shakespeare on the Lam, is going on submission to editors soon. His only other news is that he finally needs to wear glasses all the time.

Shannon O'Donnel recently signed with Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary and hopes to go on sub this March, which she is very excited about!!




Thanks to everyone who has become a reader to Project Mayhem! We love you all and would not be able to spread the word about all things middle-grade without you, so thanks so very much!!! ~ TEAM MAYHEM