Connections

I remember when Abby was about four, and she asked if Ariel and Hercules were cousins, "because their dads look like brothers".

Of course she was right, because not only were they most likely drawn by the same artists, but Triton is clearly an expy of Poseidon, so... yeah.

And yeah, the story of Hercules has been Disneyfied out of all recognition, but I find that I don't really mind that with myths as much as I do with Pocahontas history.

We were initially going to watch The Princess and the Frog, because Lizzy and I are currently reading Magic Treehouse: A Good Night for Ghosts, wherein Jack and Annie help Louis Armstrong share his (musical) gifts with the world. 

So we were in a Jazz Age kind of mood. 

Couldn't find our copy though, so we went on Netflix (for which I daily thank Google, because we can't afford to buy dvds all the time, or buy movies from Comcast or Amazon Prime) to see if it was available. 

It's not, at least not right now.

So in a Mommy Moment, I had a tiny parental tantrum; I am not going to watch any of the shows we've seen a bajillion times, and recently at that. I gave them a choice for our Movie Night:

• Hercules
• Atlantis
• Treasure Planet
• Tarzan

We have seen all of these (though I don't think Lizzy has seen Treasure Planet) but it's been awhile.

(And I didn't realize until just now, but none of these are Princess Movies; they all have men as the heroes). We're watching Hercules, which inspired this post.

Then our own hero came home and Oh. My. Google.

We have the proof copy of his BOOK. Copy Me and Other Stories.

I've talked about his books before; these two are available on Kindle and the anthology of them is available in paperback too.

But this book - this book is available in paperback and it's only his,. Not anyone else's stories, just Laston's. That's a Big Deal.

It's not out yet. But it will be. And it will be glorious. I mean, listen to this jacket copy: "Laston Kirkland is a visionary writer; both creative and scathing..."

That's huge.

And while he writes lots of stuff, this particular book has my absolute favorite of his short stories; "Coming Out." It also has one that I can acknowledge as some of his best writing (although I don't care for the content), which is called "Third Time's the Charm."

Further than that I will not speak because when it comes out I want you to read it for yourself.

I'll let you know.