The JK Vision - Geek, Film, Gaming & Foodie Blog: dane cobain

I was excited when I found out Dane Cobain was going to send me a copy of another one of his new books after I throughly enjoyed reading a reviewing his Subject Verb Object anthology of short stories. This time, however, Cobain delved into his maiden voyage of non-fiction writing in the form of The Lexicologist's Handbook.

The Lexicologist's Handbook is, as self-described, 'a dictionary of unsusal words'. Cobain wrote this over the coruse of 10 years where he would write down any curious and interesting words he thought of whilst going about his day to day business. These words have been collated into a book of pronunciaations, definitions and examples.

This book at first seems like a dictionary that you may only reference to as and when needed but the true entertainment in this book, to me, comes from the often comical examples Cobain chooses to further explain the words. Never before have I described a dictionary as a 'page-turner' but this truly did capture my attention for prolonged periods of time.

Through my experience of reading large exerts of this book I have discovered new meanings of words I was already familiar with as well as many words I had never heard of before. Cobain challenges the reader to take a new word from these pages and incorporate it into their everyday conversations. I have highlighted some of my favourite new words below (along with some that made me laugh).

Flapdoodle

Pronunciation: Flap-do-dull

Definition: Nonsense

Example: Dave thought that the poliotician's big speech was a load of old flapdoodle. He didn't believe a word he said.

Crampon

Pronunciation: Cram-pon

Definition: A plate of spikes that's fixed to a book to help the wearer to transverse difficult terrain like ice or rock.

Example: Sir Edmund Hillary asked santa for a new crampon for his next trip up the mountain.

Unbirthday

Pronunciation: Un-birth-day

Definition: Any day except one's birthday; a neologism coined by C.S. Lewis.

Example: I didn't want to make Joseph a cup of tea, but I felt like I had no choice when he told me it was his unbirthday.

I won't spoil any more for you but there are some real gems in these pages which I'll leave for you to find. If you pick yourself up a copy of this book, come back and tell me in the comment (or on Twitter) what your favourite words were.

I've decided to take on the challenge to incorporating some words into my everyday speech. With the upcoming UK election, I expect flapdoodle to become much more prevelant.

I can highly reccommend this book to any fan of the English language, lexcologists, or anyone who can read. You can pick up a copy here.

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I was asked by author Dane Cobain to review this book called Subject Verb Object. Subject Verb Object is a self-proclaimed "Anthology of New Writing". It is a collection of short stories and poems from 18 different new-style authors. The whole concept and idea of this book is a format that I've found myself to love. Each of the included writers was asked to submit a short writing prompt which included a Subject, a verb and an object (e.g. Philip picked up the magnifying glass). These prompts were then shuffled and randomly assigned to the writers who were then tasked with creating a short piece of writing based on that prompt. The pieces in this anthology range from love to tragedy, mystery to discovery. Here are a few of the stories I enjoyed the most.

Dane Cobain - When The Mirror Clouds

Prompt: "Jay Pulled At The Mirror" (J.G.Clay)

One of my favourites came from co-editor Dane Cobain. One of the first things I enjoyed whilst reading this was how literal Cobain took the prompt. A few of the authors use the prompt as a kind of metaphor for their writing which can be fun to try and figure out how the story stems from it but can also prove to be frustrating. Cobain's story, on the other hand, simply includes a character named Jay and a Mirror. Simple. This passage follows therapist Jay's struggle with spectrophobia, a disappearance and "the weirdness".

Eileen Maksym - The Judgement Of Little Bug

Prompt: "A Dog Takes Umbridge" (Clive Whitelock)

This short story is probably my favourite out of the whole anthology. If I had to write my own blurb for this entry I'd put "A mysterious sci-fi entry, taking a real life event and adding their own twist on it. The Judgement Of Little Bug follows "The Watchers" as they observe humans developing through time until they do something they never thought any form of life would be capable of". I'm a big fan of sci-fi media so this story was immediately a hit for me. Add that to the excellent writing style of Eileen Maksym, the speed that the story takes is ideal to follow, and I would be interested in reading a novelized version of this concept. Come on Eileen, give the people what they want!

Heba El-Husseini - Tom Ate The Cheese

Prompt: "Tom Ate The Cheese" (Oli Jacobs)

My third and final favourite entry into this anthology is Tom Ate The Cheese. First impressions of the title and prompt made me think "oh, this will just be a silly, comical story" but I was wrong. Without giving too much away, a 3 word summary of this story would be regret, conflict and decision. Such an eye opening piece about how the wrong decision can greatly affect your life. I wouldn't want to say much more because this is one of the shortest stories in the book but one of the best.

So would I recommend this book? Yes, without a doubt. It's great for both major and casual readers alike. With a whole range of writing styles and topics, you are bound to find a few that you just adore. A lot of these stories I would love to see made into a full novel. Especially The Judgement of Little Bug.

Grab your own copy here!

If you read it, come back and let me know your favourites.

Flapdoodle

Crampon

Unbirthday

Dane Cobain - When The Mirror Clouds

Prompt: "Jay Pulled At The Mirror" (J.G.Clay)

Eileen Maksym - The Judgement Of Little Bug

Prompt: "A Dog Takes Umbridge" (Clive Whitelock)

Heba El-Husseini - Tom Ate The Cheese

Prompt: "Tom Ate The Cheese" (Oli Jacobs)

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