"Coriolanus" from the Donmar Warehouse

So I've just gotten back from my viewing of Coriolanus through a broadcast from the Donmar Warehouse through National Theater Live. I've thought about what I would say throughout the drive home, and I find that I'm more than a little flabbergasted about what to say and how to put this thing. In simplest terms... it was breathtaking.

I'll be honest and say I wanted to see the play because Tom Hiddleston and Mark Gattis were in it. But I made myself read the play before I went to see it, and I found a new play in Shakespeare's repertoire that I could come to love. Just reading the play was brilliant, but seeing it performed, even on such a small scale as the Donmar, was wonderful.

The setting was grungy, but in the best possibly way. It was visceral and raw, and it captured the spirit of the play beautifully. There wasn't anything unnecessary on the stage or anywhere in the costumes or props. It was a play stripped down to its bones, and it was beautiful. I think it was perhaps the best way to do this play because that's what Coriolanus was. The story is about blood and pride, envy and the violence of battle. The stripped down bareness of the play made it more real and pulled me easier.

And while the play is billed as The Tragedy of Coriolanus, there were plenty of comedic bits in the play. Tom and Mark played up every chance they could to get a laugh, and it was often at a time to break up a great feeling of tension in the play. It was also a way for Coriolanus to present his scorn of the people, and it was enough to set the entire theater to laughing.

The staging, the casting, the interpretation of the words, everything was beautiful and perfect. It was Shakespeare done the way it was meant to be. Not flashy and on a scale that takes away all imagination, but as the Bard himself would have done it. Simple, yet powerful beyond imagining.

I had thought my favorite Shakespearean production from Tom was Henry V. But Coriolanus gives Hal a run for his money.

My Writing Heroes

I'm a huge reader. I love to read just about anything and everything. While I prefer young adult and historical fiction, I can read just about anything that you put in front of me if I can get interested in it. But there are three writers who I will never turn down no matter what.

Perhaps my favorite writer of all time is J.R.R. Tolkien. I read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit once a year every year, and try to read his other works at least once ever couple years. He is a master of fantasy, and he wrote so wonderfully. One of the things I love about Tolkien's work is that there's a little bit in there for everyone. And he made his characters so real. Every bit of his world was so real that it seemed to jump off the page. The languages and the races that populated his world are amazing and beautiful. When I write fantasy, I always think of how Tolkien would do it. Because that's the gold standard for me.

I also love to read just about anything written by Richelle Mead. She is amazing at urban fantasy and paranormal stories. While it was the Vampire Academy series that drew me in, I've read just about everything she's written. I'll be honest and say that I'm about burnt out on vampires, but she does them so well that they aren't broody or whining. They're real people and real creatures--maybe scary and maybe swoon-worthy. her way of writing drags the reader in and doesn't let go from the first page to the last. It's like you are the main character rather than just reading about them. She's a master of perspective.

When it comes to science fiction, I'm a sucker for Beth Revis. Her Across the Universe trilogy was brilliant. It inspired me to write my own futuristic space novel. I loved her way of writing, of bringing this world that didn't exist to life--this new technology, new words, new people. She is an amazing designer of new worlds and beautiful characters. I can read Across the Universe a thousand times and never get bored.

Maybe I'm being too lofty in my aspirations, but one day I'd love to be on someone's writing heroes list. And it'd be really cool if, someday, one of my favorite authors has my book on their must read list.

Why "Sleepy Hollow" is My New Favorite Show

I'm a huge television fan. Maybe you've figured that out by now. And for as long as I can remember, I've loved ghost stories and other things like that. When I was a kid, my favorite television shows (that weren't science related) were Scooby Doo and Buffy. I loved stuff like that.

As I got older, I started watching Angel, Roswell, and Supernatural. I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead (did you SEE that midseason premiere on Sunday?!). See a pattern here? I love things that are scary, that are supernatural and unusual. I like things like that.

So it came as no surprise when I fell in love with Sleepy Hollow, the new show on FOX that just had it's season finale a few weeks ago.

It's a brilliant show with two great protagonists--Abby Mills and Ichabod Crane. It's such a fantastic story about the secret war that goes on in the world between the forces of good and evil. The best way I can describe it is that it's like Supernatural and the History Channel had a baby and it came out made of awesome.

Plus Tom Mison is really cute.

There. I said it. Don't judge me.

The stories are so intricate and the story arch is beautiful. It pulls in pieces of Washington Irving's original story and weaves it into this modernized world of Sleepy Hollow. It's a Revolutionary soldier lost in a modern world with only a police lieutenant to guide him. Their fast friendship, easy camaraderie, and romantic tension are more than enough to keep me watching every week.

Let alone the machine gun toting headless horseman.