One Giant project completed

I finished the GIANTS entry for the Encyclopedia of Themes in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and with only a little bit of hesitancy, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. This one took longer to write than I'd anticipated, mainly because life kept intruding, but when I finished it up, the piece was only 38 words over the length limit. Not too shabby. Particularly when you consider the fact that a 1,000-word limit is far, far too short a space to do justice to any particular subject.

Still, I think I've managed to give a good outline of giants' mythological origins and use in contemporary fantasy and science fiction literature. Terry Gilliam fans will be happy to note that I did include references to both Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (someday I'd like to write a story titled The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Across the Eighth Dimension, but I suspect that's simply begging for trouble). Other films referenced include the Fleischer Superman shorts, The Iron Giant and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Books you may have heard of include Harry Potter, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and Ballard's super-duper cool short story "The Drowned Giant" to name a few. Books that I couldn't manage to fit in were Goldman's Princess Bride (Fezzik's more of a giant in the movie, anyway, which, incidentally, didn't make it in either) and Farmer's Riverworld (which stinks, because I like the whole titanthrops concept).

Now, I get to throw myself full-bore into finishing the INSECTS entry, which is going easier since the topic naturally breaks itself into fantasy and science fiction sections. Hive minds galore! H.M. Wogglebug, T.E.! Brother Termite! Starship Troopers! Hookah-smoking caterpillars! I'd probably have the whole thing finished tonight if I weren't off to see The Incredibles. I'd probably have it finished tomorrow if we weren't going to Riverdance for Lisa's birthday. I'd probably have it finished Sunday, if it weren't for Wurstfest. Uh oh. Looks like I'm running out of weekend...

Now Playing: R.E.M. Out of Time