babies_stole_my_dingo

The MountainCon ConComm meeting today. Much discussion of publicity was had. Consider this me, blogging about it. Because I'm going to be there, on panels, and we've got shiny shiny guests as well. Consider:

Kevin Sorbo, of Hercules, Xena, and Andromeda fame.

Brandon Sanderson, aka mistborn, who's been pegged to write the 12th and final "Wheel of Time" novel, since Robert Jordan passed away before he could finish it.

Herb Jefferson, Jr., who played Boomer in the original BSG.

I'll probably be hitting the publicity on this one fairly frequently, because we want it to be awesome, yo. Anyone considering coming totally should. I've got a banner on my userinfo page page now.

In other news, I came home to find an ARC of "The Betrayal: The Lost Life of Jesus (a novel)" in my mailbox today, courtesy of ... someone at TOR. No note or anything, just a book in a bubble envelope. It was kind of surreal. But, hey! Free book! I'm not going to complain.

Unless it's crap. In which case I will, loudly. Because you don't mess with my faith, man.

In other other news, as some of you may have seen this morning, we went and saw "Kung Fu Panda" at the drive-in last night, double-featured with "Prince Caspian." Without spoiling either of them, let me just say that I was kind of disappointed in KFP and loved PC. KFP's characters were pretty paper-thin, and so was the story. The animation, however, is gorgeous, enough so that I kind of wish we'd seen it in a "real" theater rather than the drive-in, because you lose a lot of detail at an outdoor theater. It's just not dark enough. OTOH, I loved PC and hope they make the other five books into movies so I can have a shiny shiny boxed set.

*adjusts pimp hat*

The handsome and talented Paul Genesse had a book launch party on Saturday to celebrate the release of his first novel, The Golden Cord. I've read two of Paul's short stories (in the anthologies "Furry Fantastic" and "Fellowship Fantastic") and can testify that he can write. He's going to be in Arizona and Vegas doing book-type stuff for the next week or so.

Also, the handsome and talented kenrand's long-awaited western dark-fantasy novel, Pax Dakota, is now available. Buy it, or ask your local library to get it in?

In writing news, I did my 250 words last night before bed. Let's see if I can double that today. Tripling it would bring me up to around 4000 words overall. Considering I know the next two things I want to have happen, I could probably achieve that...

The lovely and effulgent ellen_datlow sent me a copy of Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, with the understanding that I'd blog about it. Never one to shirk my responsibilities (ha!), this is me, blogging about the book.

First of all, it's third in a series of fairy tale re-tellings and re-imaginings, edited by Ellen and Terri Windling. Second of all, it brings home to me just why it was so difficult for me to figure out a way to make a fairy tale funny for the CatsCurious contest held awhile back.

These things are frelling creepy, y'all.

The main thing I noticed, while reading this book, is that these stories are far richer than the originals. I don't know if it's a function of translation or whatever, but it seems to me that the originals are pretty dry. "He did this, then she did that, yadda yadda." The characters are frightened, but the reader doesn't feel their fear. It's a classic case of telling rather than showing.

These stories don't suffer from that handicap. They range in style from lyrical to poetic (actual poetry, courtesy of Neil Gaiman) to flat-out horror. They're from all over the world, too. So, while we have familiar stories like "Rumplestiltskin," "Sleeping Beauty," and "The Emperor's New Clothes," we also have stories from Russia, Japan, and Czechoslovakia, which are less familiar to us--but still resonate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. And now I want to hunt down the other two. Because I need more books to read...

...is still bringing the blah and the meh.

Seriously, there's not a Bo Bice in the bunch. There's not a single person in the competition this year that I'd be actively upset to see voted off. I don't even have anyone to loathe (Hi, Sanjaya!). I have people I kind of like (Tattooed Chick, Angry Rocker Girl, That Aussie Dude, and the Utah Kid--what, they have names?), but I can't be arsed to remember their names or what they sing from week to week.

I'd love to see someone break out and do something daring, like an a capella song, a song with just one instrument. That one girl tried last night with the (so-called) country arrangement of that one song (see what I mean?), but it was a trainwreck because the music was so bad--it would have worked with her voice had the drummer not been taking methamphetamines or something. Seriously, what was that?

In other news, I just finished reading 1632, by Eric Flint, and it's brilliant. The basic gist is that a modern coal-mining town, and its immediate environs, in West Virginia is transplanted wholesale to 1632 Western Europe, in the middle of the 30-Year's War. They decide that they're going to bring the American Revolution a couple hundred years early, and since they're well-armed and well-educated (compared to the people they've been thrust among)... Well, you can see where that's going.

And it's very pro-America. Which makes a refreshing change.

So, I picked up a book called "Dog Days," by John Levitt, at the library yesterday. Because if you have a dog in there (even if it's not quite a dog), I'll read it.

And it's all right, I guess. It's different enough from Dresden that it doesn't feel too much like a rip-off, although the coattails are fairly obvious to anyone who's paying attention. And there's nothing wrong with that.

My problem is that Levitt has built a world here that requires a good bit of explanation. And it's not that his explanations are bad, or boring, or clunky. His narrator is entertaining enough, after all.

It's just that I'm noticing the exposition.

And I'm at the point where I don't know if I'm noticing it because I'm a writer who hates writing exposition, or a reader who's seen all this before. And it's interfering with my enjoyment of the book.

I used to be able to read for reading's sake. I'm...not sure I can do that anymore. And that makes me kind of sad.

And how she's one of the authors I should be reading. So I picked up "To Say Nothing of the Dog" at the library the last time we went. Cuz, you know, there's a dog in the title, and you can hook me right away with something like that.

OMG, y'all.

This is tasty, tasty crack. I was wondering where the funny SF was, and it's right here. Part Shakespearean farce, part time travel story. I highly recommend this. HIGHLY. Usually in a book with this many characters, I have trouble keeping track of them all, but not in this one. They're all very well drawn, and the plot is fantabulous.

I may have to buy this one.

Right now, I'm reading "Path of Blood," by the lovely and effulgent difrancis. This is the third book in her "Path" trilogy, and it's some pretty heavy material. There's some very dark stuff going on here, and while the book is an excellent read and a fabulous conclusion (so far, anyway; and I'm sure I'm not going to be disappointed later)...but I decided I needed a break from death and torture and scary scary shit.

So I picked up "The Gun Seller," by Hugh Laurie.

Yes, that Hugh Laurie. House MD, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster Hugh Laurie. I don't remember how I found out that he'd written a novel, but I did, and it's been on my "list of things to read" for awhile now. I started it yesterday.

OMIGAWD, y'all.

It's nearly as exhausting to read as "Path of Blood," but for totally different reasons. First of all, it's hilarious. But the man does things with words and phrases and situations that are just...

Well, here. Have a sample.

...she took a cigarette from the packet, but didn't light it. She just played with it slowly, and then pointed a pair of grey eyes at me.

I say a pair. I mean her pair. She didn't get a pair of someone else's out from a drawer and point them at me. She pointed her own pair of huge, pale, grey, pale, huge eyes at me. The sort of eyes that can make a grown man talk gibberish to himself. Get a grip, for Christ's sake.

This story is insane. And hilarious. And is NOT the break I was looking for when I picked it up for a bit of light reading. But damn, I'm glad I picked it up. You can read the first page here. Is that a grabber, or what?

*sigh* Of course, I really shouldn't read stuff like this. I get depressed, because I compare myself to these writers and think "Man, I could never get words to do that for me. I suck." It makes me realize how much I suck at my chosen profession, and that spirals into realizing how much I suck at the profession I've had thrust upon me, and leads into a tornado of suck and blow and meh. That way lies badness.

I can!

We walked to the grocery store today (as we often do), and while the Hubby was washing friendly stray cat off his hands in the bathroom, I perused the book section. I rarely look at the section I was looking at today, because, hello, expensive hardbacks.

However, for some reason I looked today, and they had the new Terry Pratchett book, "Making Money," for 35% off the cover price, which saved me about ten bucks. Since I'd rather buy hardbacks than paperbacks, and $18 is a freaking bargain, you BET I grabbed it.

My Preeeciooussssss.

I'm also reading and thoroughly enjoying the lovely and effulgent difrancis's "Path" series. If you like complex world-building, soul-bonding with animals, and exciting plotting, I'd recommend you pick these up.

Lamest...phishing attempt...EVER.

Dude, if you're going to try and steal my information through Amazon, it might behoove you to change the delivery dates on this stuff I supposedly ordered from February 2007 to something a little more...current?

And if the subject line actually had anything to do with the actual email, that'd be just peachy. It's like they just threw everything on there they possibly could:

FIP NOTICE: Amazon Online Confirmation - User Agreement - Abusing Amazon

So, which is it? Am I ordering stuff, or getting kicked off for abusing the service? Make up your mind! According to the body of the email, I was ordering stuff...which should have been delivered eight months ago.

Oh, and if it wasn't addressed to eight other people besides me, that'd increase the verisimilitude of the notice as well. I highly doubt that Amazon sends out mass emails, even if people do happen to order the exact same widgets at the exact same time.

I also have my doubts that Amazon uses MSN as their mail server.

In other words:

YOU FAIL. And have just opened yourself up for mockitude on LiveJournal. Here's your fifteen minutes.

---

I just finished naominovik's latest Temeraire book, Empire of Ivory. And all I have to say is AUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH. That is not an ending, people. That is an unfair cliffhanger of monstrous proportions.

Vincent Kartheiser talks about his role on Angel.

In other news, I picked up the BSG miniseries at the library today, along with discs 3 & 4 of S2 of Doctor Who. And the next books in the Miles Vorkosigan saga--which I was really happy to see the cover of, because it's just that cool that the wolf-girl is still around. *happyflails*

Here's what my TV viewing is looking like this fall:
Monday: 7pm--Chuck 8pm--Heroes
Tuesday: 7pm--Bones 8pm--House
Wednesday: 9pm--CSI:NY (I may check out the Bionic Woman as well)
Friday: 8pm--Moonlight 9pm--Numb3rs

"Chuck" has Adam Baldwin and an intriguing premise. "Moonlight" replaced "Close to Home" (which endeared it to me immediately; GAWD, I hated that show) and had Stephen S. DeKnight going for it before he had to leave for, I believe, health reasons, although it looks like a horrible mishmash of every bad vampire cliche in the book. It will be snerkable, if nothing else. Now, if only they'd replace "The Ghost Whisperer" with something actually good, I could die happy.

We just watched the VeggieTales version of the story of David and Bathsheba. OMG, the people at Big Idea are brilliant.

Writing? What is this writing of which you speak? I should post more pix from Kalispell, too, because my favorites are in the next batch...

*uses Schlock icon because, hey. Who doesn't love Schlock?*

Well, that was certainly...random.

I just got an email in the account that's been moribund for three days.

And it's a scam email from Citibank, telling me that it's urgent that I click on the link and verify my information or my account might *gasp* be closed!

Yeah. I don't bank with Citibank.

FAIL.

Hopefully that means that my email is unclogged. They're moving servers. I may email *that one place* and tell them to please email me at the gmail account, since I really don't have any confidence in my ISP that they'll handle the move in a prompt and competent manner.

In other news, I'm reading Bitterwood, by James Maxey. It's about a war between humans and the dragons that enslave them. The worldbuilding is rich, the characters engaging, the story interesting.

Just one problem.

It's reins, people, when you're discussing the things that riders use on horses and ox-dogs. Not reigns. And they make this error every single time. I kid you not.

I confess: I have never read a Harry Potter book, or seen any of the movies. I know some of the basic storyline and the names of most of the major players through fandom osmosis (the rock I hide beneath is a small one), but it's just... really...

Not quite my genre.

There, I admitted it. I prefer SF to fantasy. Unless it's Pratchett, of course, but Pratchett trumps all. Or urban fantasy, because Butcher is the king of that. Or historical dragon fantasy, because Naomi Novik rocks, despite her overuse of semi-colons. However, her dragons, while (probably) violating the laws of physics on a regular basis, aren't "magical" creatures.

Er. *eyeshift*

But seriously, I tried to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and got totally bogged down (although I loved the movies and finished "The Hobbit" with no problems, go figure). High fantasy is just really hit and miss with me.

This is not everyone's cue to tell me "OMG YOU HAVE TO READ POTTER BECAUSE IT ROCKS SO MUCH." I have a stack of something like a hundred books to go through before I even consider such a thing--and there's new stuff coming out all the time that I'd rather read.

So that's the State of Me, vis a vis Harry Potter. In case anyone cares.

That JLA fic? She took it down. We'll have to see if she posts again, or if I've crushed her little writer spirit. I hope not; that wasn't my intention, and I really tried to keep the snark to a minimum. Still nothing in my inbox by way of reply.

ETA: And it's back. Still one big block o' text...but now it's double-spaced! I don't know whether to throw my hands up in the air and give up, or just flat-out offer to beta it for her. The problem is, her "plot" sucks so badly that I don't think I could save it...and it's not my fandom anyway. She incorporated the question mark I told her about, and she fixed the "hays," but she obviously has no idea how to format it so it's halfway readable.

She's trying, dammit.

In other news, I'm reading "The Warrior's Apprentice" by Lois McMaster Bujold, and enjoying it tremendously. It's well-written and the characters are drawn very realistically.

Da Boy is in bed; the Hubby is off at work until late tomorrow night. I should write. Especially since I have the info I need on the bees.

*cracks knuckles and whip* Okay, fuzzy-butts. Let's go.

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to the moms on my flist! :)

So, they say read the genres you're writing in, right? So I've been poking through the "Story Collections" section of the library, hunting for short SF and Fantasy, when I came across this book:

Women Writing Science Fiction as Men.

So, I picked it up, and I've read it. And it's fine, I suppose. But now that I'm done with it, I find that the premise rather annoys me--especially since women have been writing science fiction as men for as long as women have been writing science fiction. It feels like a step backwards.

And the thing is, I don't see what's so remarkable about a woman writing a story from a male viewpoint. This may be because I've been doing it since Day One, but, dude. Not that hard. Really. Of course, I realize that what may be second nature to me might be tougher for other people, because me /= everyone else--but, we're science fiction writers. Getting into the head of someone of the opposite sex should be easier than getting into the head of an alien, right?

So, I just discovered (via the Amazon search I did for this book) that the same editor did a collection of stories where men write science fiction as women. And it's sitting at my local library. I shall plan on going and getting it tomorrow.

Erm. *eyes stack of books* Maybe...NEXT time I'm scheduled to go to the library. Yeah.

I also grabbed a werewolf anthology published by the good folks at Asimov's SF magazine. So, that means they take werewolf stories. Therefore I can send the Werewolf Fic to them. Yay for a market I hadn't actually considered for the thing!

Speaking of Asimov's, I should be hearing from them soon on the BeagleFic. I keep chanting "Contract! Contract! Contract!" at the mailbox...

Because I had coupon-age. 25% off one regularly-priced book, 40% off a regularly-priced DVD box set. Shiny, sez I, I can get mecmouse's prezzie from the Hubby, and see if anything catches my eye in the sci-fi section.

So I grab Da Boy and off we go. I hunt for the third book in naominovik's Temeraire series, but it's not there. They have jimbutcher's "Dead Beat"...but... eh, think I'll wander a bit more.

There's no Farscape to be had in the DVD section, alas and alack, so I'm a good girl and buy my sis's prezzie instead. Wander through the kids' section, nothing really catches my eye that was any better than the clearance stuff they had in the foyer when we walked in, so, back to the sci-fi section, looking at hardbacks and oversized stuff this time. Maybe they'll have some of Neil Gaiman's "Endless" graphic novels...

Nope, nothing, nothing, nothing, we're looking, and poking and

WHAT'S THAT I SEE???

Why did no one tell me that Stephen Lawhead (oooh, pretty music) had a new book? In addition, why did no one tell me that he's doing a trilogy about Robin freaking Hood?

DUDE.

Okay, Lawhead is one of the few authors out there that I'll actually shell out full price on a hardback for. His King Arthur series is one of the best in the business, IMO, I love The Song of Albion series beyond all reason, his Dragon King series is made of awesome...basically, the man can do no wrong in my eyes--other than the fact that it'd been so long since he'd updated his webpage that I quit looking.

What's really weird is that this thing, along with most of what he's done in the last, oh, ten years or so, has been historic rather than sci-fi. Patrick, Byzantium, the Celtic Crusades series...not really fantasy, definitely not sci-fi. And yet all his books get put in the SFF section of the store. Which is a good, because otherwise I'd never find them. But it's weird.

So, sorry, Alan Dean Foster, but the third book in Journeys of the Catechist, while I was looking forward to starting it tonight, is going to have to wait a bit.

*drools*

The lovely and effulgent naominovik was brought to my attention via this wank, wherein the notorious Lee Goldberg, fanfic hater extraordinaire, misinterpreted a quote of hers in the NYT. As usual, he got his head handed to him in the debate.

However, I think I'll choose to be grateful to him in this instance, because otherwise I wouldn't have heard of Naomi's Temeraire series. Yes, I am woefully out of touch when it comes to new books, especially since I have so many old ones in my basement waiting for my attention. However, I just picked up the first book in the series, "His Majesty's Dragon," and I'm having a hard time putting it down.

The basic premise is, we've got the Brits and the French going at each other in the Napoleanic Wars. With dragons.

Yup. She's taken history and tweaked it by adding something utterly fantastic. And so far, sixty-some-odd pages in, it works. Her characters are engaging, the plot fascinating.

Her style is...interesting. Does it count as semi-colon abuse to have four of them in one paragraph? I try not to have more than one per page; seeing four in one paragraph was, um, disconcerting. Especially since I got a note from my (also published) Mom once saying "Don't use semi-colons in fiction." But, hey. Naomi's published, and I'm not. So who am I to complain?

Also, Peter Jackson has optioned the books and wants to make movies out of them. HOW COOL IS THAT???

WHY HAS NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT THIS???

Dude, a sci-fi novel with NASCAR references scattered throughout. A protagonist named Rusty Wallace. A planet called "D'Earnhardt."

MUST. HAVE.

In other news, I have a beginning to my cya_ficathon entry. Go, me? I'm completely stalled on the HNC story. I guess I'll just format it and give it to my writing buddy on Wednesday. Both versions, perhaps. I guess I could send it to my Mom...

Well, the library didn't have "Academ's Fury." Apparently a transit request hit the system before I could get to the book.

On the other hand...

*headdesks again*

We all know that most of the Buffy and Angel novelizations suck big green mossy rocks, right? The writing style is dull, the characterizations are off, the dialogue is lame, and the villains are boring. They're not BADfic per se, but they're not very good either.

That being said...

The library was selling off a bunch of them. For a quarter apiece. So I bought them.

Seventeen of them. All Angel tie-ins, even though they had some Buffy tie-ins too, but it's time I admitted to myself that the only reason I watched Buffy was for Spike, whereas I liked Angel for everyone. So, yeah. They also had the two "Unseen" BtVS/AtS crossovers I was missing (I bought the middle one at another library without really looking at it and only found out when I got it home what it was), so I grabbed them as well.

So, I don't have Jim Butcher-y goodness. But I have plenty of AtS...badness?

*headdesks some more*

The random_urges fic-o-doom has a finis at the end of it. I just need a title and a last-minute edit, and to format it into chapters (because, dude...7000 words). Go, me!

Da Boy requested "The Incredibles" tonight, and I was only too happy to oblige. OMG I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

In writercon news, I went to the bank and got some usable money, so that's taken care of. And another fic came in for the Writer's Salon...so I have to go to Wally World and pick up another folder for it. I still haven't critted the other four. *wibbles* I also need to pack, but that shouldn't really take long, because I'm a very light packer.

And why did no one tell me that Alan Dean Foster had written a trilogy of books wherein a guy gets kidnaped by aliens so they can sell him as a pet because he's a "cute" alien himself? And there's a talking dog! DUDES!

Also, I just finished jimbutcher's first "Codex Alera" book, and it was made of awesome. OMG I love that man. As a writer, of course.

WriterCon in two days. *flails*

ETA: LICORICE ALTOIDS. *flails some more* Someone check my pulse; I think I just died and went to Heaven...

So, I took some of my duplicate "Famous Horse Stories" books to one of the local used bookstores, hoping to get some extra walking-around money...and they didn't want a single one of them. They're not in awful condition, in fact for their age they're in awesome condition, but they don't have the dust jackets. *sigh* He offered me a buck in store credit for my duplicate ERB John Carter books. [deadpan] Whee.

So...I'm debating putting them up on eBay. That won't help me with my immediate cash flow problem, however. Which means I'll be pulling money out of the anteater for my train ride tomorrow so I can go to the Firefly Meetup, and a Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks is right out, unless I have a particularly weak moment and want to pay for it with change. Woe.

( In case anyone cares and wants to take them off my hands, here's a list of what I have... )