amysanderson

I've just sent out the first round of the new short story sub - if anyone has signed up and NOT received it, please let me know and I will send you your fiction asap.

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In other news, it is exceptionally hot. The Levels are lovely - covered in cow parsley and charnock, and there are cuckoos. The house is in some disarray, since Pickle the elder cat (I think) managed to kick a tin of red paint off the shelf, and Lily trod in it, with all 4 paws, then ran through the kitchen. I have just found Pickle sitting in the frying pan.

The past week, foreshortened by recovery and then my mom's birthday dinner and the lecture, has been much about me utterly unable to focus. I didn't know why - my brain WANTED to work, and there is, dog knows, enough work for me to be doing....

And then I thought about what I'd said in an earlier entry, how my apartment didn't seem quite 'right' to me when I got back, and thought about past periods of distraction, and went "oh." Because I'm very smart, but sometimes not so bright.

So today - in between passes of writing - has been all about cleaning and sorting and the usual summertime rearranging of furniture (moving the sofa so it doesn't block the AC, etc). Because I am very fond of CatSitter B, but her staying here had made it not-quite-so-much-my-own-place. And now it's mine again, properly sorted and everything where I want it to be.

I suspect the focus will be much more, well, focused, going forward.


(it had BETTER be. So damn much to do OMG)

Yesterday was even more entertaining that Thursday. I cracked my happy ass out of bed extremely late by my own standards, hit the health club for some time on the stationary bike, then caught breakfast in the Green Room. After some bloggery and email time and whatnot, I had my massage — And how cool is it that World Steam Expo has a masseur on retainer for the pros!? — and then went exploring. This eventually involved use of the hot tub, among other things.

I spent a decent chunk of the day hanging out with the inestimable Howard Tayler, who created a truly impressive steampunk caricature of me. (When I get home, I shall scan and post this, but at the moment it is my badge art.) Howard is his own self hanging out in the Aegis room, which is basically a camp for combat geeks. Inside the Con hotel, these cats have a rappelling tower, weapons training with actual pointy objects, a bunch of Nerf weapons, and a Victorian encampment. They are pretty much a real life incarnation of the Black Briar group in J.A. Pitt's Black Blade Blues [ Powells | BN ]. The Aegis group helped me make a notable entrance to opening ceremonies.

Also spent a lot more time partying with The League of S.T.E.A.M. and a whole bunch of other folks, including briefly running across the few people besides Howard that I actually knew before I turned up here. Specifically, Gail Carriger, G.D. Falksen (who has an important planet named after him in the Sunspin universe) and Evelyn Kriete (who is responsible for me being invited to this convention). I caught the last part of the The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing concert.

I even got a bit more work done on Going to Extremes.

Today I have lunch with Howard, a High Tea to host, and a plan to hear some more excellent performances. A bit more programming tomorrow.

Interestingly, I am way off my normal schedule here, even my normal convention schedule. I'm not sure what clock I'm living on, but it's neither Jay time nor Con time. I'm just going with the flow. Which it turns out is remarkably difficult for me to do. I feel twitchy about not being up at 5 am exercising (hard to do when you're going to bed at 2 am) and why I'm not writing more.

But I'm here to have fun, which I am decidedly doing; and to see and be seen, which I am decidedly doing.

Is this what time off feels like?

Your Saturday moment of zen.



Playground equipment, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Book Review: Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar — A review that includes an interesting comment on my story "Black Heart, White Mourning".

The Nebula Awards 2012: A Look Back And A Look Forward — James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel in HuffPo.

Calvin and Hobbes on unfettered creativity as a writer — Hahaha.

War of the Worlds: The True Story — A new indie flick coming out that looks pretty cool.

Star Wars Turns 35: How Time Covered the Film Phenomenon

Red Planet Becomes Blue In New Mars Image

Astronauts enter world’s first private supply ship

Impacts Spreading Life through the Cosmos?

Colonel Sanders resembles Confucius — Chicken, anyone?

?otd: Charles Darwin: Man or monkey?

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5/26/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (Going to Extremes proposal)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

Book Club Selections

May: Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh; Discussion Date: 05/30/12
June: God's War by Kameron Hurley; Discussion Date: 06/27/12
July: Among Others by Jo Walton; Discussion Date: 7/23/12

All discussion dates are subject to change.

You can find Calico Reaction all over the internet! Just take a look:

1) WordPress
2) Goodreads
3) Facebook
4) LibraryThing
5) Paperback Swap

FAVOR!! When I review a book you've read and reviewed yourself, would you kindly provide a link to your review in the comments of mine? I love seeing what others think, and sometimes I see those reviews when they're originally posted, but don't read them as I don't want to spoil myself on something I know I'll read in the future. The problem, then, is I often forget to go back and read the reviews I missed! So please, if you've reviewed something I'm reviewing, shoot a link my way. :)

Challenges

THEME PARK: Want to receive a monthly notification for what's happening in the 2012 book club? Details are here.

Mount TBR Challenge: Here's my goal for 2012: 25 books. Want to sign up? Click here.

Got a reading challenge you'd like to promote? Please comment. You may also comment to promote giveaways, but those links will be posted on my Facebook page.

This Week

Monday: A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh (maybe. I hope!)
Thursday:
Friday:

Currently Reading: Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

2012 Reading Total: 45 books, 1 DNF, 9 short stories

2012 Comics Total: 236 comics

A vampire story that sucks the blood out of weak-ass YA novels, and will also make you deeply uncomfortable.

Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three-year-old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in daylight, Shori now becomes the target of a vast plot to destroy her and her kind. And in the final apocalyptic battle, her survival will depend on whether all humans are bigots-or all bigots are human.

( Only Octavia Butler could get away with this, and I'm still not sure what she was thinking. )

Verdict: Octavia Butler iswas :( brilliant and I have yet to be disappointed by her, and I loved this modern, highly intelligent take on vampires done in her signature style, which incidentally also happens to be a brilliant subversion of the YA & PNR vampire shit that has been afflicting shelves these past few years, though I don't think Butler intended it. I wish I could shove Octavia Butler into the hands of everyone who coos over the writing in a YA novel. But, this is also a book with some huge freakin' squicks for which it makes no apologies, so be warned.

And boy am I sucking at my Mount TBR challenge. This is only the second book I've picked off of it this year.

Also by Octavia Butler: My reviews of Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.

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My complete list of book reviews.

Seeing me eat sauteed string beans, Boomer has decided that he too, must have sauteed string beans. In order to keep his nose out of my food, I gave him a piece. So far, he has sniiffed, licked, toothed, and otherwise pushed the bean around, but hasn't quite convinced himself to eat it.

But he is still quite interested in what's on MY plate. Because that's got to be better, right?

Trillian found this darling house spider and her eggs in one of the cabinets working hard to guard our food! She is part of our army. I did a few macro shots of her egg basket too -- looks like we're about to have 50 babies!!! Cigars for everyone!

She's about the size of a lentil, her eggs might be the size of pinheads.

( behind this cut to avoid the freaking out of the people who would freak out if there was a spider in front of this cut )

Thanks to whafford for being the voice activated light stand.

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