FREE BOOK: Jokeboy

You'll find him in the following pdf files:
Print Version: http://skeptlorist.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/jokeboy.pdf

and

PC Version: http://skeptlorist.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/jokeboypc.pdf
The PC Version works best if you click View - Page Display - Two-up / Two-up Continuous

If you like it, please pass it on. If you don't like it, please pass it on nonetheless

I will be making it available in print as well, for those who want. CafePress is looking most likely at the moment, but I might change my mind on that. I'm also planning a small selection of finer print works, possibly handmade in part. ...And a YouTube version

If you want to print it out yourself, you can set your pdf file print settings to "booklet printing". Works best if your printer prints on both sides, but if it doesn't you can solve it by only having 15 pages in the printer and put those same pages in on the reverse side when the printer demands more paper.

WHAT? Giving it away as a pdf? Do you expect people to buy the cow when they can have the milk for free?

This was such a work of joy. If people like this and use it that will be reward enough in itself. Also, I hate buying a children's book/cd/dvd that caught my interest in the store, only to find out too late that it doesn't appeal to me at all or is filled with morals better suited for other people or in some way clashes with my upbringing methods. People's tastes are so different and to avoid people judging my book by its cover I'm giving them a chance to see it all before making up their mind. If you like it, that's great. If you don't, then that's fine by me too. As I said, people are different and one person's treasure can easily be rubbish in the eyes of another.

Still.. free? After all that work you put in?

I'm a single mom and would love it if people like this enough to want to own a printed copy to read with their children. Every bought copy brings me closer to my dream of creating/writing things I like for a living. I've written for a living. And I've created for a living. But not always the things I truly want to write and create. Jokeboy is an example of something I loved working on. So it brings an enthusiastic smile on my face if you like it enough to want to own it.
...If you aren't able to buy it, due to personal reasons or even if it just didn't appeal to you, I would still be very grateful if you could pass it on and tell people about it.

Can't get the link to work have you posted it properly?

Sorry, the links were scrambled in the first post. I was just editing it, does it work for you now?

Well yes and no

I read it and am confused.

Why is the main character called joke boy and yet never makes jokes.

Not to mention an incomprehensible plot about conformity that sounds like Mein Kampf written by Lemony Snickett

Don't worry I don't expect everybody to like it

As for making jokes, he never *tells* jokes because he's not a comedian. He's just a jokeboy who *makes* jokes with his behavior "like the punchline of a joke" (page 12 in PC version).
I'm basing it on joke theories from ethnology/folkloristics (my BA degree) and wider, about jokes being funny because the punchline is surreal, unexpected. And Jokeboy's behavior was surreal, unexpected, at odds with his environment. Hence, Jokeboy.

I'm really grateful for your honesty, the fact that you found this confusing makes me wonder whether I should put in a sentence or two to explain that better, i.e. the punchline surrealism - just to tie it all better together.

The "Mein Kampf conformity" bit you mentioned is based on the endless educational and psychology theories I've read (Diploma in Education and a father who's a psychologist). In my experience, being honest with my child about what kind of behavior I would prefer from her has been the best policy. Being honest means that neither she nor I are frustrated with each other. I do realise that in Jokeboy, the focus is only on "eroding unwanted behaviour" and not on the reciprocal honesty I practise with my daughter. The thought did strike me the other day that the book might be a bit too "onesided". Bah. Now I'm back at the step of rewriting it all again in my head. Does it ever stop? Hehe. But thanks, truly, your comments are duly noted.

"Conform or be eaten"

The child care primer Jeffrey Dahmer never got to write,

Hehe, dude, conforming is a valuable skill, pick up any magazine such as Psychology Today or Scientific American Mind, it's more important than degrees when it comes to securing a good job. And according to some psychological research, sociable people live longer and are less prone to illness. I wish I was better at it. I'm too much of a hermit for my own good.

I liked the pictures of the Grýla.

Quote: Eydis @ February 6 2011, 12:40 AM GMT

Hehe, dude, conforming is a valuable skill, pick up any magazine such as Psychology Today or Scientific American Mind, it's more important than degrees when it comes to securing a good job. And according to some psychological research, sociable people live longer and are less prone to illness. I wish I was better at it. I'm too much of a hermit for my own good.

View original

Socialising is very good for mental health.

But Ben you've got loads of mates and you're a complete mental?

I'm a happy nutcase.

Quote: sootyj @ February 5 2011, 11:56 PM GMT

Not to mention an incomprehensible plot about conformity that sounds like Mein Kampf written by Lemony Snickett

View original

Having just read the book I would agree with the above comment.

It gets a bit weird from page 36 onwards. I feel like I'm stealing a sneaky look at someone's therapy notes.

I also liked the Gryla.

Quote: Eydis @ February 6 2011, 12:40 AM GMT

Hehe, dude, conforming is a valuable skill ...

View original

Yet the book does not conform to the widely held notion that great children's books should dispense with the hero's normal parents as soon as possible, such as in numerous books by Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Mark Twain and J.K Rowling.

Ooops, I may have left this on the back burner a little too long. Out of sight, out of mind?

Quote: Kenneth @ March 9 2011, 5:05 AM BST

Yet the book does not conform to the widely held notion that great children's books should dispense with the hero's normal parents as soon as possible, such as in numerous books by Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Mark Twain and J.K Rowling.

View original

Yes. The fairytale syntax, Vladimir Propp's motifs. Hero leaves "home".

It also happens to break William Bascom's theory of allowing the story's hero to escape from the consequences of their actions... like jokes, you know, where there is no social structure. No police. Like that Aristocrats joke. The police never shows up to arrest the family in the joke.

It does however conform to the traditions of fairy stories, esp. Irish and Icelandic, where bad behaviour is swiftly punished. That's a bit more where I was coming from, with this. Cautionary tales. Pay heed to your environment, or else... sort of thing. Tales that were used to conform behaviour, instead of saying "don't go play near the pond, you might drown" going "beware of the pond, a big monster lives there". I'm not saying it's necessarily psychologically/educationally the best way, it has its pros and cons.

I saw Jokeboy as an epitome of a joke. An analysis in the form of a character. And just imagined what would happen if a joke met real life. Because we constantly joke in real life, with surreal observations, making jest of the banality of things.. but would a tr00 joke survive. If it were a person, would it survive in society. Yes, maybe that's a weird thought for a book/short story, but it got in my head and I just wanted to make it

Now that I think about it, to a degree it might even conform to Bridget Jones kind of storytelling, constantly getting her comeuppance. Not losing weight because she doesn't eat right, making a fool of herself in public because she's too insecure/self-focused, getting her heart broken because she trusted the wrong guy, etc, etc. The obvious difference of course that Bridget Jones is a likeable character, purposely made likeable, whereas Jokeboy isn't supposed to be likeable (would be more difficult to kill off a likeable person). Or the sort of sitcom where the worst possible scenario happens, like Bottom, Father Ted or Fawlty Towers, even the Simpsons the storyarch picking up from some sort of blank canvas each time, totally oblivious to what has come before. Like a sort of living-with-alzheimer's kind of presence/ambience. Only Jokeboy not meant to be funny that way. But this part is all an afterthought, really.

Quote: Badge

It gets a bit weird from page 36 onwards. I feel like I'm stealing a sneaky look at someone's therapy notes.

I also liked the Gryla.

Hehe, I know, I know.. maybe I tend to be a bit too analytical sometimes. This whole post a case in point But I like doing that... analysing, observing and contemplating things reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle, trying out different pieces, seeing which fit and which do not. Therapy notes? Well. My father is a psychologist and I'm a ethnologist... so it's the way I've been brought up to think, speak and write Can't help it

Alas, I've got so many stories in my head, on various pieces of paper, in various text documents, better stories, worse stories, less weird stories, more weird stories... I wish I had time to enjoy fiddling with them. I'm hoping I'll have more spare time in the autumn. They might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I like them, for whatever they are