Quotable Quotes by BJ Neblett

Quotable Quotes by BJ Neblett

Interesting that writers as myself go about our job with the intent of having the words we pen reach out and touch others in positive and uplifting ways. And yet, we are always surprised when we find ourselves quoted by those very same readers. I have once again been honored to have a quote from one of my stories find its way into public speech. It was just the other night, and the occasion was that of the Charlotte Business Journal's Women In Business Lifetime Achievement Award. The lovely recipient, Carol Lovin chose a line from my short story George to punctuate how we are all indeed the sum total of our experiences. You can read and learn more here: https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/02/25/photos-inside-cbjs-celebration-for-the-2020-women.html
However, this latest accolade reminded me of just how many and different and varied lives writers touch in so many different ways without really realizing. We can count our success in book sales and seller rankings. But is that really what motivates great story telling? I think not. An author may write a 90,000 word novel. But to have one single line touch a person in such a way as to remembered and quoted and passed along to others is the true sign of a job well done.

I am often asked to publish some of my quotes and their original sources. Here are just a few from my published books and stories... and a couple from works yet to come! Enjoy.

“We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.”

            From George by BJ Neblett

“Man is a malcontent; a disaffected sojourner, seeking Elysium. Someday, when we can freely move in time, through space, even into the other dimensions, I’m afraid we will be disappointed. Like Alice, man, too, will discover life isn’t any better – or worse – through the looking glass, only different.”

                        Collin Crowly from Elysian Dreams by BJ Neblett

 “The things we keep hidden deepest inside are often those that need most to be released.”
                        Princess Haylee from Princess Haylee by BJ Neblett

 “Love knows no boundaries, seeks no guidance; obeys no rules.”

                        From No Boundaries by BJ Neblett

“We’re all victims of our rearing, carrying the sins of our fathers like so much baggage; fearful of the demons inside escaping.”

                        From No Boundaries by BJ Neblett

“I am just a roadside attraction on your journey down life’s highway, a place you stop briefly before moving on. Years from now, in a long forgotten box of memories, you’ll come across one of my souvenirs and think of me. And maybe you’ll smile.”

                        BJ Neblett

More to come......

BJ 

“Love knows no boundaries, seeks no guidance; obeys no rules.”

                        From No Boundaries by BJ Neblett

Limited Time Read BJ Neblett For $1.00!

Read My Short Story Collection For Just $1.00!
by BJ Neblett

It's March again and the other kind of madness is here. I'm referring to the Smashwords promotion, their 11th annual Smashwords Read An Ebook Sale. Beginning March 1st and continuing for just one week, you can stock your e-reader with fabulous titles from your favorite authors for as little as .99! Some titles are even free!
Here's your chance to pick up a copy of my short story collection, Wouldn't It Be Funny If... From things that go bump in the night to modern tech gone crazy, here is a set of Fantastic Tales for Fantastic Minds. And its available for just $1 by following this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/896015
Wouldn't It Be Funny If... is available in all ebook formats, including PDF and plain text. So, you have no excuse! Just click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/896015 But hurry, this sale lasts for just one week!
And check my other titles available on Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=bj+neblett
Thanks, and happy reading!
BJ

Post Modernism Or New Millennialism Part Two by BJ Neblett

Examining Modernism, Post Modernism And New Millennialism

by BJ Neblett

February, 2020

            Sometime back, before the world went crazy – my world that is, although the rest of the world is… well, that’s a topic for another dozen blogs – I started a blog about a term I coined to help define what I see as a trend in writing away from traditional, Modernism and Post-Modernism: New Millennialism. (See this blog, February 16, 2019) Simply put New Millennialism is, “Thrusting cutting edge technology, concepts and ideas into the very core of classic human situations." You may quote me on that! Ok, so what exactly does that carefully crafted jumble of words mean? Good question. To understand, let’s look at previous literature groupings. Class is now in session.

Modernism

            Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Alright, enough Wikipedia babble. People in the late 1800’s started to tinker, asking, “Can this be done easier, better.” This led to inventions. The discovery of large deposits of oil led to more advanced inventions. These inventions led to factories. Factories helped propel the large shift in the populace from rural to urban areas to work in these factories. And all of this led to what we now call the industrial revolution: inventions begat more employment which begat more products and higher salaries, and the whole thing begat more leisure time for us to stop and breathe and think. Ironically, something Victorian peoples had plenty of time to do, but seem not very adept at doing.

Now we all know what thinking leads to… people, Americans and Europeans in particular, began a conscious desire and effort to overturn tradition. In short, the birth of Idealism in literature: Modernism. The horrors of World War One contributed to a world-wide reassessment of the ideas, ideals and morals of society: ie, people were fed up and wanted something new. Idealism, remained popular, accompanied by more cynical thoughts and beliefs, soon manifesting themselves in works of art, music, architecture, philosophy and more. We will concentrate on literature.

            Some outstanding proponents of what would become known as the Modernism Movement in literature include: Virginia Woolf; James Joyce; Gertrude Stein, and poet T. S. Eliot. They presented works in a less illusionary and more realistic vein. What is, what could be and what should be became catch phrases for writers desirous of shedding the oppressive restraints of the Victorian Era. A ‘Let’s be happy and gay,’ mindset carried the world populace through the roaring ‘20’s. Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby examined what we think we are and desire to be, passing the torch to authors like John Steinbeck and William Faulkner and William Carlos Williams who examined who we really are and strive to be, through the depression racked 1930’s and the war torn 1940’s.

While traditional wisdom states that Modernism began fading post 1940, many modernists continued to publish beyond, and indeed, into the 1950’s. These include Faulkner, Wallace Stevens, Hermann Broch, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Samuel Beckett. Most have been described as ‘later modernist’.

            Rather than bore you with further hotly debated theories on who is and who isn’t, and what is and what isn’t, let’s just look at some outstanding examples of Modernist Literature.

            Joseph Conrad                         Heart Of Darkness                    (1899/1902)

            T. S. Eliot                                The Waste Land                                  (1933)

            James Joyce                            Ulysses                                                (1922)

            Virginia Woolf                        To The Lighthouse                              (1927)

            William Faulkner                    As I Lay Dying                                    (1930)

            Djuna Barnes                          Nightwood                                           (1936)

            Ralph Ellison                           Invisible Man                                      (1952)

            Samuel Beckett                       Waiting For Godot                             (1953)

            Any of the writers and their works mentioned here will give you a more insightful look into Modernism in literature than my simple prose can offer. Enjoy. Next time we’ll tackle Post Modernism on our way to figuring out what the heck is New Millennialism. Hint: it’s more prevalent in today’s literary sci-fi/fantasy fiction than you might think!

Peace,

BJ Neblett

(See this blog, February 16, 2019)