From 9e9cc1c2edc4300f40360b15708e2a43087748c1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "brian m. carlson" Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2019 11:53:47 +0000 Subject: Remove extraneous frontmatter --- an-orange-in-flight.dbx | 120 ---------------------------------------------- whence-the-earth-came.dbx | 14 ------ 2 files changed, 134 deletions(-) diff --git a/an-orange-in-flight.dbx b/an-orange-in-flight.dbx index d1979a2..cc5f15d 100644 --- a/an-orange-in-flight.dbx +++ b/an-orange-in-flight.dbx @@ -63,127 +63,7 @@ 2010 brian m. carlson - - - Exceptions - - The author is, in general, willing to grant specific exceptions to the - above license for original, tangible, non-digitizable forms of art - which include copyrightable portions of this work. Please write to - him to ask for specifics and discuss the matter. - - - - A Request from the Author - - Although you are not required to do so by the license, the author would very - much appreciate it if you would use good taste when modifying this - collection and when distributing such modifications. - - - - - - Dedication - - - To N.G., D.B., N.N., F.E., and all others similarly situated. - - - - - Acknowledgements - - I wish to thank Jama Shelton, Barbara Bickart, Sixto Wagan, and all the - artists associated with DiverseWorks, for teaching me the essentials of - discovering my place in art and artistry. - - - It would be impossible to acknowledge all of my artistic influences, so I - will not try, but I wish to sincerely thank the writers, musicians, and - other artists whose work has made such a profound impression on me. - - - I also want to acknowledge Deb Murphy, a friend and mentor, for giving me - the benefit of her wisdom while still allowing me to make my own mistakes. - - - I want to thank the Debian Project, for all the software that allowed - this book to be typeset, and all the other Free Software projects that - made it possible for Debian to make everything just work. - - - I want to thank Sam Duplechain, for providing an interesting phrase which - is the basis for Thus and Not - Thus. - - - And finally, I want to send my undying thanks to all my friends, who have - provided insight and perspective in my life. Y’all know who y’all are. - - - - - Preface - - - One of the things I’ve always thought important was to have good tools - with which to do your job. In this respect, writing is no exception: one - needs good ideas, good background, good experience, and good writing - materials, including the ultimate essential, the pen. - - - There’s a reason I’m so obsessive about my pens. I think it’s because - I’ve always had an ambivalence about writing. I love writing, not just - the creation and manipulation of ideas, but also the physical act of putting - pen to paper, making tiny, barely legible marks with real ink. - At the same time, I am so slow at actually doing the physical writing, and - it drives me crazy. So, I have to have a pen which will deliver the ink - quickly, almost instantaneously, but which will still produce a distinct - shape on the page. And, of course, it has to be a real ink rollerball - pen. None of this ballpoint crap: I’m expressing an idea, not filling out - some stupid form in triplicate. And anyway, no other type of pen, whether - ballpoint, fountain, or gel rollerball, can deal with the speed associated - with my rendition of the letter J. - - - And I think it’s interesting that J is my most - distinct letterform, which I guess is appropriate in some sense, since I - have so many friends whose names start with J: - Joe, John, Justin, Jonathan, Jesse, and tons of others whose names I have - forgotten at the moment, but will remember tomorrow. - - - That’s another thing: I’ve met so many people that I have forgotten more - names that most people will ever remember. And at the same time, having - met numerous Davids and Chrises, I’ve learned so much about people, - humanity, and life on this planet. - - - I have, for example, learned that people instantly recognize their own - names, even in peripheral conversations that they didn’t even realize were - happening around them. And that above all else, people will protect their - names above everything else, and rightly so, or they’d just be a series of - meaningless numbers: birthdates, ages, social security numbers, drivers - license numbers, heights, weights, and densities. - - - I’ve also noticed that people do strange things: things that are - irrational, unreasonable, and harmful by any objective standards, but make - sense in some twisted way to them. And here, I am no different: I have - my own peculiarities, quirks, insanities, and perversions. But these I - will not share so easily; you’ll have to discover my secrets on your own. - - Elemental Dreams diff --git a/whence-the-earth-came.dbx b/whence-the-earth-came.dbx index ba222f6..6e62ea0 100644 --- a/whence-the-earth-came.dbx +++ b/whence-the-earth-came.dbx @@ -59,20 +59,6 @@ brian m. carlson - - - Preface - - This is a collection of very rough works that have undergone some - work, but not enough to qualify as really stellar. It is designed - to provide a draft-quality representation of what these works might - like in the future, both in content and in presentation. - - - The reader is therefore requested to be forgiving and to deliver to - the author any criticism due. - - -- cgit v1.2.3