Eseme's Den

Things are still busy, but the insanity has died down, for now. I've got less free time than I am used to, an important project that I've got to work on.

I'm reading more now, thanks to a new Kobo Arc which is lovely for reading ebooks (I am going through my Smashwords collection) and decent for surfing the web. It is terrible for LJ comments, sadly. I need to hop on my laptop and post some reviews on Smashwords, but I've read a bunch of short stories and collections, and it is great for reading in short bursts.

I've gotten to the beach already, and hope to go back several more times over the summer (once it stops raining).

I'm trying writing again, I think, though I am all stuck at the ending of what could be my first novel if I could just finish the thing. I'm going to try working on a silly self-indulgent project for a while, as it's been so long since I've written regularly that I think I need to get back in the habit, then work on the novel again.

It is possible that we may grow tomatoes this summer.

Things are good, and I will make a friends-locked post with more details tonight or tomorrow.

March and thus far in April's reading:
Issues of Smithsonian : 1
Issues of Scientific American : 1

That issues of Scientific American, February 2011, has a great article on language and how it affects the way we think. "How Language Shapes Thought" on pages 62-65 is well worth reading for any author, but particularly those in the speculative fiction genres.

Another Book!
Side Jobs by Jim Butcher
A short story and novella collection.

I have read most of the stories in here, though not all of them. I was most interested in "Aftermath," of course. Particularly after reading the first chapter of Ghost Story. I'm rather concerned that Jim just finished writing Ghost Story only a couple of weeks ago. The publication date is in July, which means there is going to be no time for editing the book, as it need to get to the printer's pronto. I'm really not thrilled about buying an unedited book, especially after the two "what the heck, that contradicts the map and storyline" moments I had in First Lord's Fury.


January and February:
Issues of Smithsonian : 3 (I read all of this magazine, and love it - I am hoping to subscribe this year)
Issues of Scientific American : 4 (not cover to cover, I do skip some articles outside my areas of interest)
Issues of Mother Earth News : 1 (I read most of this one, though there are some articles or letters to the editor which are not of interest)

Books:
Pale Demon by Kim Harrison


Walking
Last time, I was at 62.4 miles to Rivendell.

Since then I walked 1 mile on April 2 (I had hoped that the 12 inches of snow would have been plowed, instead I trudged through 4 inches of very wet slush and was forced to turn back early when my boots began to get soaked through). Last weekend I walked 2.15 miles each on April 8, 9, and 10. Then yesterday I walked with my Mom into Hallowell and stopped at a local bakery for dessert. The bakery is on the far side of town, so that was about three miles round trip.

That is 10.45 more miles, for a new total of 72.85 miles! I am planning to add even more this weekend, but I wanted to add in my efforts thus far. So... I wonder what has happened? Did we make it to the Ferry?

When last we saw or brave adventurers, they were skirting Farmer Maggot's fields. After a turnip field we find a stout gate to a rutted lane, edged by hedges. This leads us to the farmer's house and buildings: brick with thatched roofs, surrounded by a high wall cut by a wooden gate from the lane. He is kind enough to give us food, and w leave at full dark. The farmer's lane meets the Causeway to Buckleberry Ferry, and we ride in a wagon. There is boggy land all around and it is foggy. Merry meets us at the Ferry landing.

DUDE, I made it to the Ferry!!!

As we reach the other side of the river, we can see a Black Rider on the west shore. Gosh darn it, they are everywhere. Taking the main road north from the Ferry, Buck Hill is on the left and Buckleberry on the right. We take a lane to the right, and climb up and down into the country.

I've got her latest book, The White Road But haven't started it yet. Mostly because I know it will CONSUME days of my life.

She's also got a chapbook coming out sometime in August, which sounds neat:
http://otterdance.livejournal.com/400572.html
http://otterdance.livejournal.com/402784.html
http://otterdance.livejournal.com/404008.html

Notice how the stories change as she writes them (she's added some stuff).

And then there is the cruise. She did a writing cruise this year, and has another one planned for October 2011. In New England, with an excursion to a place where she was inspired for the big epic battle at the end of Stalking Darkness. Sadly, I am relatively sure that I will not have an entire week of vacation time (and if I do, there's this thing called a honeymoon which should happen one of these days), and also unlikely to have the money for it.

But is does sound extremely cool, and is over a year from now, so who knows?
http://otterdance.livejournal.com/404376.html
http://connectiontocruise.vacationport.net/OfferDetail.asp?PriceId=1992821&TripId=463603&EmailId=&ReferralType=3&ReferralId=463603/

There are a couple of authors that I am reading online, and enjoying. I still prefer print, but since both authors publish onlien in a serial format, I get updates faster this way.

Most of you probably know about Addergoole, as the author is a mutual friend. In case you don't, it's mysterious boarding-school/college story, and the subtle strangeness of the place is revealed slowly, which keeps the reader's interest. The story does get rather sexual at times, so if that is not to your taste, look elsewhere. It updates twice a week (occasionally once a week if the author's life is unisually busy). Friending addergoole will get you updates as they happen.

I'm really enjoying the recently started Spots the Space Marine story/novel/script: This link is to the most recent episode, but it has a link at the top to all episodes (scroll down or go to previous entries with the tag to get to the earliest stuff). haikujaguar is well worth reading - she is an artist and writer, and her work is varied and always interesting. She also wrote the Aphorisms and Admonisments of the Kerdishar, two sets of short stories which can be found on her website Stardanger.org and on Amazon. She also publishes daily updates on her life and that of her young daughter - her observations of her baby at 21 months are very interesting (she notices things like the first time her daughter displays imagination, makes new sentences, and the various times she puzzles out the world around her). Friending her LiveJournal provides for interesting, near-daily reading and artwork (she has thousands of images up in the gallery on her website). Oh, and she just started a Zazzle store, which can be found here - I want stuff! Those interested in selling stuff with their artwork or logos on it may want to check out her initial post on Zazzle as there is a conversation comparing it to CafePress.

September has been a sad month for genre fiction.

First Madeline L'Engle passed (for info, see http://www.madeleinelengle.com/news/ )

Today, Robert Jordan did. His blog takes an extremely long time to load, given the many fans trying to get to it, but a very heartfelt statement can be read here: http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/

While I haven't read Jordan, having had a friend tell me that the apacolypse takes too long, I have a great deal of admiration for a man who would work so hard to finish a series whilst going through chemotherapy. A Wrinkle in Time was a comforting book for me as a child, it being about smart kids who do important things and manage to deal with schoolyard teasing. I didn't like some of the later books due to the religious overtones, but that first one is a gem.