Trent : Reading

He gobbled books - in the fifteen minutes between classes, in the canteen, on the bus, in coffee shops, in the park, at intervals, in waiting rooms, backstage sometimes, and on one notable occasion throughout the entire second half of La Boheme, although his mother had been furious when she realized. He'd read more or less anything in a pinch, even Vo's crappy chick lit books, but his favorites were sci fi and private eyes.

Classic pulp noir just had that something about it. Sci-fi he liked mostly with a twist - he'd plowed through the requisite Asimov and Anthony, but give him Gibson or Grimwood any day - fucked up futures and ugly-beautiful visions. Like with fantasy - if you're going to churn out elves and fairies, do it right - either Poison Elves style, or dirty, urban fantasy. He'd pick Anita Blake over Lestat, no contest. Ian M. Banks was right up there on his list, the Dune books weren't, and Stephenson was somewhere in between. Neil Gaiman he mostly loved, De Lint got a bit too hippie-dippy sometimes though, and when he re-read Robert Asprin he wondered why the hell he'd liked them so much, even if he had been 14 at the time

Crime and Punishment had blown him away, and he'd devoured Notes from the Underground, but abandoned The Brothers Karamazov about half way through for the lure of short stories, all periods, all genres, and that had, in turn, brought him round to magic realism. He teased Ru by lumping Clive Barker and Stephen King together, and bugged Cameron by reading Russian fairy stories for fun, and not just for assignments. He loved borrowed Ru's comics and graphic novels, but he didn't feel like he should just sling them in his bag to read anywhere, and he'd never quite made the jump to buying his own on any kind of regular basis.

There was a second hand book exchange two blocks past the library, where he stopped off every couple of weeks to trade in the stuff he didn't think he was going to read again for credit against the ever-changing shelves. When his Gram sent him a random card and a handful of magazine articles she thought he might like, and three twenties folded in with all the rest of the paper, he'd take off to the four story bookstore, and browse until the staff had to throw him out at closing time.

Seeing as his parents paid the account at Arabesque, the dance supply store, and so far his mom hadn't complained that the bill included ’Photography of the New York Ballet’or biographies of Nureyev, he picked through the shop's narrow Shaker shelving unit of books. Most of the time he passed them onto Vo or Robert pretty quickly. Whenever he went in for tights or shoes of whatever else he needed, he'd pick up a complete set of the magazines, including the imports.

Other times he would flick through magazines in the book store - sci-fi stuff that was mostly talking about tv shows he didn't have time to follow, or more interestingly, music fanzines, and photography and lifestyle magazines. None of which he could never buy because he felt like there was a thought bubble floating over his head broadcasting 'only buying it for the half naked male models', or 'wannabe - poseur'depending on the title.

***** ***** *****

Originaly posted for World Book Day 2003. Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

Trent : Reading

He gobbled books - in the fifteen minutes between classes, in the canteen, on the bus, in coffee shops, in the park, at intervals, in waiting rooms, backstage sometimes, and on one notable occasion throughout the entire second half of La Boheme, although his mother had been furious when she realized. He'd read more or less anything in a pinch, even Vo's crappy chick lit books, but his favorites were sci fi and private eyes.

Classic pulp noir just had that something about it. Sci-fi he liked mostly with a twist - he'd plowed through the requisite Asimov and Anthony, but give him Gibson or Grimwood any day - fucked up futures and ugly-beautiful visions. Like with fantasy - if you're going to churn out elves and fairies, do it right - either Poison Elves style, or dirty, urban fantasy. He'd pick Anita Blake over Lestat, no contest. Ian M. Banks was right up there on his list, the Dune books weren't, and Stephenson was somewhere in between. Neil Gaiman he mostly loved, De Lint got a bit too hippie-dippy sometimes though, and when he re-read Robert Asprin he wondered why the hell he'd liked them so much, even if he had been 14 at the time

Crime and Punishment had blown him away, and he'd devoured Notes from the Underground, but abandoned The Brothers Karamazov about half way through for the lure of short stories, all periods, all genres, and that had, in turn, brought him round to magic realism. He teased Ru by lumping Clive Barker and Stephen King together, and bugged Cameron by reading Russian fairy stories for fun, and not just for assignments. He loved borrowed Ru's comics and graphic novels, but he didn't feel like he should just sling them in his bag to read anywhere, and he'd never quite made the jump to buying his own on any kind of regular basis.

There was a second hand book exchange two blocks past the library, where he stopped off every couple of weeks to trade in the stuff he didn't think he was going to read again for credit against the ever-changing shelves. When his Gram sent him a random card and a handful of magazine articles she thought he might like, and three twenties folded in with all the rest of the paper, he'd take off to the four story bookstore, and browse until the staff had to throw him out at closing time.

Seeing as his parents paid the account at Arabesque, the dance supply store, and so far his mom hadn't complained that the bill included ’Photography of the New York Ballet’or biographies of Nureyev, he picked through the shop's narrow Shaker shelving unit of books. Most of the time he passed them onto Vo or Robert pretty quickly. Whenever he went in for tights or shoes of whatever else he needed, he'd pick up a complete set of the magazines, including the imports.

Other times he would flick through magazines in the book store - sci-fi stuff that was mostly talking about tv shows he didn't have time to follow, or more interestingly, music fanzines, and photography and lifestyle magazines. None of which he could never buy because he felt like there was a thought bubble floating over his head broadcasting 'only buying it for the half naked male models', or 'wannabe - poseur'depending on the title.

***** ***** *****

Originaly posted for World Book Day 2003. Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

Trent : Bedrooms and busses

Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

***** ***** *****

Somewhere in the past two years his bedroom at his parents house had stopped being home. His mom hadn’t touched anything, except to clean and dust, and yet somehow when he did end up spending the night, it still felt like a hotel room. The posters on the wall were no longer his heroes and the bookshelves were so much storage. He knew he had whined and pleaded until his mum had had the wall behind his bed painted a rich royal blue before they’d even moved in, but he couldn’t remember the desire behind the begging any more. The disbelief and pride that had received most of the awards on the mantle shelf he did remember, but it was strange how faded and distant some of the ribbons and medals looked now.

He’d never been much of one for nostalgia. They’d moved every year, every eighteen months or so throughout his whole childhood, so there was no box of childhood exercise books and nursery drawings sitting in the attic. He wasn’t even sure if his parents had his baby photos somewhere – it had never occurred to him to ask. His Gram – his dad’s mother – had one of his very first ballet slippers preserved in some kind of bronze-a-like that always reminded him uncomfortably of Lucite.

Fortunately that was all the way over in Maine where he only had to see it once in a blue moon. She had handprints from all three of her sons, and creepy sculpted body parts from all his cousins. It was a toss up which house he liked to sleep in less, Gram’s with all the baby – bodies, or Uncle Robert’s with all the stuffed dead things. The first time he’d watched Lost Boys it had taken him a couple of minutes to calm down enough to explain to Ru what was so funny about the grandpa. Uncle Robert’s place also had the dubious enticements of sharing a bathroom with Kara and Shelly, his two elder cousins, whereas most of the time Gram’s place meant sharing the guest room with Tam – Uncle Simon’s son – who was only six, and wriggled. Uncle Simon and his wife would have the pull out bed in the living room, which meant they got the ring side seats for the baby freak show. You had to be grateful for small mercies when you were stuck with a weeks worth of family togetherness.

( people watching and music and other such thoughts )

Trent : Bedrooms and busses

Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

***** ***** *****

Somewhere in the past two years his bedroom at his parents house had stopped being home. His mom hadn’t touched anything, except to clean and dust, and yet somehow when he did end up spending the night, it still felt like a hotel room. The posters on the wall were no longer his heroes and the bookshelves were so much storage. He knew he had whined and pleaded until his mum had had the wall behind his bed painted a rich royal blue before they’d even moved in, but he couldn’t remember the desire behind the begging any more. The disbelief and pride that had received most of the awards on the mantle shelf he did remember, but it was strange how faded and distant some of the ribbons and medals looked now.

He’d never been much of one for nostalgia. They’d moved every year, every eighteen months or so throughout his whole childhood, so there was no box of childhood exercise books and nursery drawings sitting in the attic. He wasn’t even sure if his parents had his baby photos somewhere – it had never occurred to him to ask. His Gram – his dad’s mother – had one of his very first ballet slippers preserved in some kind of bronze-a-like that always reminded him uncomfortably of Lucite.

Fortunately that was all the way over in Maine where he only had to see it once in a blue moon. She had handprints from all three of her sons, and creepy sculpted body parts from all his cousins. It was a toss up which house he liked to sleep in less, Gram’s with all the baby – bodies, or Uncle Robert’s with all the stuffed dead things. The first time he’d watched Lost Boys it had taken him a couple of minutes to calm down enough to explain to Ru what was so funny about the grandpa. Uncle Robert’s place also had the dubious enticements of sharing a bathroom with Kara and Shelly, his two elder cousins, whereas most of the time Gram’s place meant sharing the guest room with Tam – Uncle Simon’s son – who was only six, and wriggled. Uncle Simon and his wife would have the pull out bed in the living room, which meant they got the ring side seats for the baby freak show. You had to be grateful for small mercies when you were stuck with a weeks worth of family togetherness.

( people watching and music and other such thoughts )

Trent : an index

Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

Bedrooms and busses
Pas de Deux class
Reading
Living on campus
Thanksgiving
Ghost stories
Phone call - Outreach Ballet Class
Teasing - set two weeks after Outreach Ballet Class.
Mirror Work - set another couple of weeks after Teasing
Phone Call
Snap
Breath
Shelter
Escape

Home Alone

And a little out-of-timeline but spoiler free fun with Mal : Never kissed a girl? and a spoiler-filled ficlet for cicirossi, Free

* these are written and will be posted soon.

Trent : an index

Trent is a ballet student in Eden. You can find his best friend, Ru, over at runeden, and, of course Eden belongs to the talented cicirossi, who very kindly invited us to play there.

Bedrooms and busses
Pas de Deux class
Reading
Living on campus
Thanksgiving
Ghost stories
Phone call - Outreach Ballet Class
Teasing - set two weeks after Outreach Ballet Class.
Mirror Work - set another couple of weeks after Teasing
Phone Call
Snap
Breath
Shelter
Escape

Home Alone

And a little out-of-timeline but spoiler free fun with Mal : Never kissed a girl? and a spoiler-filled ficlet for cicirossi, Free

* these are written and will be posted soon.