Monthly Literature Challenge

[InesF]

17 hours ago, LizEF said:

I don't know why, but some piece of my brain has become obsessed with this pen.  I don't really like the look of it, and the only color scheme that I really like is absurdly expensive and hard (perhaps impossible) to find.  And most importantly (and perhaps the best part, if I'm honest), is that the cap doesn't seal well enough for life in a desert.

Indeed, @LizEF, the Carène is a stunning fountain pen and still among my top10 list. The gold nib is the stiffest nail imaginable but writes beautiful lines. I have a F that writes dry and is suitable for low surface tension inks and this M which I ground to stub to tame its firehose-like behaviour. Now the stub is also a more dry writer which has a problem with high surface tension inks.

Did I mention, fountain pens can keep you busy in finding fitting pairings of nib, ink and paper?

 

17 hours ago, LizEF said:

If you used a converter in the Parallel, in addition to the mandatory rocking and rolling to keep the glitter in suspension, try slowly saturating the feed and then sucking the ink back into the converter - this may redistribute some of the glitter caught in the massive ink collector.

Oh WOW! I didn't know this trick - thank you! Yes, the steel ball in the refilled cartridge is able to disperse the glitter easily, but nothing of it likes to come out through the nib.

I guessed already the glitter may collect in the feed. I will try to get a pilot converter! 😎

[InesF]

15 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@InesFTOTAL bummer about the ink.  But at least it's one in the standard lineup and not one of the "Ink of the Year" colors....  Some of which are now "unobtanium"....

Thank you @inkstainedruth. Diamine Holly is a great ink - mostly because it is teal (EU: petrol) behind its red sheen!

It's an obvious choice for the Christmas season, even if not waterproof. It is fully smear-proof when not written on TR or similar paper.

[InesF]

15 hours ago, TSherbs said:

A story of the superstar doing a 90-minute reading/performance in Boston, and the famous hotel he stayed at as home base for his 5-month reading tour of America: Spoiler link

Thank you, @TSherbs, for the background story!

A good read - and I love the arrangement around the Parker Mirror: very stylish! 👍

[Misfit]

Too late to the last literature post. I knew right after reading Marley was dead.  Very appropriate timing for that one. But all that spilled ink. Did it come out of everything it touched?

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Indeed, @LizEF, the Carène is a stunning fountain pen and still among my top10 list. The gold nib is the stiffest nail imaginable but writes beautiful lines. I have a F that writes dry and is suitable for low surface tension inks and this M which I ground to stub to tame its firehose-like behaviour. Now the stub is also a more dry writer which has a problem with high surface tension inks.

Did I mention, fountain pens can keep you busy in finding fitting pairings of nib, ink and paper?

  Quit trying to enable! The "nail" part doesn't appeal, but it makes sense with an inlaid nib.  Regardless, the poor-sealing cap is a deal killer, so I'm safe.

 

7 hours ago, InesF said:

Oh WOW! I didn't know this trick - thank you! Yes, the steel ball in the refilled cartridge is able to disperse the glitter easily, but nothing of it likes to come out through the nib.

I guessed already the glitter may collect in the feed. I will try to get a pilot converter! 😎

It worked for me in my current review ink, which declined to flow, even after flossing the tines.  Once I primed the feed to the point of ink almost spilling over the section, and then sucked it back in, all was well again.  I can only assume this action dislodged some of the glitter that was clogging the ink channel...  I assume it would also re-distribute the glitter that used to be in the "traffic jam".  Good luck.  And since you're likely to have to go with a CON-40, if you don't already own a Pilot converter, note that compressed air (like air-in-a-can to clean computer stuff) works well to force out ink caught between the cage and the plastic wall of the converter.  It has the added benefit, if you aim it right, of sending the agitator balls whirring in a little tornado with nice sound effects....    (It's possible I'm easily entertained.)

[InesF]

On 12/5/2022 at 3:08 AM, essayfaire said:

So it is, @essayfaire! Thank you for your Co-co-ra-razy-message!

Alle the best for a nice Christmas Eve! 🌲

[InesF]

19 hours ago, LizEF said:

It has the added benefit, if you aim it right, of sending the agitator balls whirring in a little tornado with nice sound effects....    (It's possible I'm easily entertained.)

Once scientist - forever scientist! 👩‍🔬

[LizEF]

44 minutes ago, InesF said:

Once scientist - forever scientist! 👩‍🔬

[essayfaire]

Thank you, @InesF.  These lovely and thoughtful literature challenges are like opening windows on Advent calendars each month!

[InesF]

On 12/6/2022 at 7:52 PM, essayfaire said:

Thank you, @InesF.  These lovely and thoughtful literature challenges are like opening windows on Advent calendars each month!

Hi @essayfaire, thank you so much for your comment! You are highly welcome. 😊 I love the comparison with Advent calendar! 

And sorry for late answer - lazy from me. 😮

[InesF]

January 2023 Literature Challenge

 

I'm glad the site is online again! 👍

However, I can't upload images as of yet. So it doesn't make sense to post the text of the literature challenge. I will come back and try once a day. Sorry for the delay.

[InesF]

January 2023 Literature Challenge II

 

January 1st 2023, 1pm CET: The Vienna Philharmonic New Years Concert is over – it is time to start writing the text for the January challenge. This concert is something I can’t miss; and I guess halve if not most of Austria is at standstill at this time of the year (for listening or for another reason).

 

Those are the inks and fountain pens for January:

 

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite – in Conway Stewart J.R. Mirage M

deAtramentis Ebony – in Stipula Suprema EF

Sailor Ink Studio 641 – in Kaweco Steel Sport M-stub

Colorverse Sunspot – in Waterman Perspective F

 

I kept the Conway Stewart fountain pen but refilled it with the originally intended Tanzanite. As it is a bit lighter and more greyish than WinterBlue it fits better to the overall theme of the month.

 

Here is the text to identify (I made it less obvious, this time):

 

And here are the sample writings and the pens:

 

No, Ebony is not a black ink; it is a very dark red-brown (with some black in it, I guess). You may see the difference to Sunspot in in the bottom border, in the upper right corner and also in the two lines of text where I wrote one phrase with Ebony in between lines of pure black. Unfortunately, either the camera or my illumination didn‘t allow to capture the fine difference well enough.

 

 

The author is

Spoiler

H.P. Lovecraft

I read in an internet document, he wrote the manuscript of this book with a black Waterman fountain pen. So I decided to copy the first chapter also with a black Waterman pen and to use black ink. Any black ink would have done well, but Colorverse Sunspot seemed to have the best vibe.

Documents written by Lovecraft appear in a variety of qualities in the internet (a simple image search will reveal multiples) but most of them are written with black, followed by brown (sepia) and blue-black ink. However, a thread here at fountainpennetwork also shows a H.P. Lovecraft handwriting with pencil drawing which may have been written with teal ink – I interpreted Sailor 641 to fit it best.

 

The book is

Spoiler

not a book, its a short story within a collection of „Wired Tales‟ from 1928. It is „Call of Cthulhu‟.

I think the overall dark and grim mood of the story is best represented by dark and grim fountain pen inks, such as the four selected – none of them is bright or colourful, all are close to black or have at least a grey undertone.

Let the horror begin!

 

I have not read the book as of yet. I fell behind on my reading list because of „emergency“ reading of one of Exurb1a‘s novels as a requirement for a discussion about wealth, resource consumption and downfall of a society. I'm sure to keep up later, as I have already read the next two novels on the literature challenge list.

 

As always, please feel free to guess the author and the book. You are cordially invited to resolve the riddle by citing the second paragraph of the book in question. Do you have a favourite ink in a colour that may fit best to the content or to the mood of the book? If yes, please feel free to use it.

 

Thank you for participating!

All the best for 2023!

 

 

PS: In the last week before Christmas I removed the ink splatter (the crime scene) the Edelstein Ruby caused on my wooden flor. I spent almost 3 hours on my knees with toothbrush, toothpicks, soap and bleach to get the red out of every pore of the boards. Now that all red has gone together with patina from the last years, the floor looks like new – revealing a pale blotch. Not sure if I’m more happy now.

Message to take home: don’t spill ink over a wooden flor!

 

 

[essayfaire]

I knew the who, but not the which...

 

[TSherbs]

Never heard of the passage, so I looked it up. My response is below:

 

Spoiler

I can't figure out how to put an image inside this spoiler function. Let me try something else...How about this: Response 

 

 

[InesF]

12 hours ago, essayfaire said:

I knew the who, but not the which...

Thank you @essayfaire, I can see you know the authors name! I love your colour selection, it may fit many of the authors stories....

However, now you provided a new riddle, because I do not recognise the text and will have to search for it! 😋

 

 

6 hours ago, TSherbs said:

Never heard of the passage, so I looked it up. My response is below:

Yes, @TSherbs, correct! My congratulations for solving the riddle and for choosing a fitting ink colour!

(I guess, the inability to upload images to a spoiler may be a residue of the server movement?) Last time, I first uploaded the image and then declared the whole paragraph as a spoiler.

[TSherbs]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

 

....Last time, I first uploaded the image and then declared the whole paragraph as a spoiler.

 

Lemme try that....

[TSherbs]

Redux:

 

 

Spoiler

 

Worked! Thanks, Ines...

[essayfaire]

17 hours ago, InesF said:

However, now you provided a new riddle, because I do not recognise the text and will have to search for it! 😋

Ah, turnabout is fair play! Glad to give you a chance, these are fun and your penmanship is much better than mine.

[Misfit]

I saw the new quote, before anyone responded and got excited. Oh maybe I can solve it first, I thought. Then I read it. Nope, no clue. Looked at the hidden information to see. I have not read anything from this author, but I’ve heard of him.  

[essayfaire]

18 hours ago, Misfit said:

I saw the new quote, before anyone responded and got excited. Oh maybe I can solve it first, I thought. Then I read it. Nope, no clue. Looked at the hidden information to see. I have not read anything from this author, but I’ve heard of him.  

So, do the quotes inspire a trip to the library?