Torchwood episode 4: I'm in denial. That's all I'm saying.

Also- for those in the rea, Half-Price Books is doing another warehouse sale this weekend, from (go figure) their warehouse location just two blocks away from here. Two days of luscious, cheap media right next door, and I'm not allowed to go grab any. Therefore, all the rest of you must do so.

There is a little girl in the Hope Project in China (an effort to find permenant homes for older children) whose time is about to run out. In a couple of months, she turns fourteen and will no longer be elegible for adoption.

Our agency is asking for prayers that she find her forever home in time.

Ok, obviously, I'm not going to be at Comic-con this year. However, for anyone who is, bring me a set of these, and my geeky heart may just explode in a fit of pure joy:



Yes. Lightsaber chopsticks. I am indeed that much of a geek.

Happy birthday to Nikola Tesla, who, I'm sure, is currently holed up somewhere in Providence, Rhode Island, working on his latest plan for worldwide wireless power. (What? We know he made himself immortal back in '37.)

In case you guys missed the last post (made late last night), there's a new, longer video of me and my six fellow authors getting up to some shenannigans at the last signing over at YouTube! Go check it out for a laugh. And leave a comment!

And now, the review (copied from GoodReads):

I just finished this book last night and after reading the entire series I'm wondering why it took me so long to pick up these books and try them. I know I saw them on the shelf numerous times and almost bought them. But now that I've read them, I'm kicking myself. I should have started reading David B. Coe earlier. But at least he's got a bunch of books out now, so I have something to read next (rather than waiting impatiently for the next book to come out). *grin*

This is a good series and the third volume definitely wraps everything up in a nice way. We get to see where everyone we like ends up, and the resolution to the overall arc is satisfying. I had a few minor quibbles with the third book and the series as a whole overall, but none of those quibbles kept me from enjoying the books in any way.

For Eagle-Sage, it took a good half of the book before the real plot got moving. The first half was set-up, but I couldn't help thinking that it could have been shortened or gone faster. (I didn't spend much time trying to figure out how though.) At the end, I wasn't satisfied with how the Keepers were integrated into the final resolution. I thought they'd play a much more important role somehow, and since one of the themes of the book is that everyone needed to work together to defeat the enemy, their involvement ended up being too minimal, especially with how that ended for them.

For the series overall, my main complaint is that the familiars--the hawks and owls and eagles--were mainly just used as props. I kept wanting to see more interaction between the mages and their familiars. I wanted the familiars to come across as characters in their own right, and I wanted to see a deeper, more emotional relationship between them and thie chosen human counterparts.

But again, there is anough good stuff going on overall, especially in the writing department as well as the unique ideas of the world and how it works, that those quibbles did NOT keep me from enjoying the books. They are solid fantasies that I'd recommend to everyone. As I said, I'll definitely be reading more David B. Coe in the future.

*************


Amazon.com Widgets

Last week we had weather like Australian summer, this week (or yesterday and today at least), we're having Australian winter. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but it is the sort of day I'd much rather be home playing with Emrys or reading a book.

Interesting and exciting things happening, will elaborate later. Or possibly never, knowing my forgetfulness. I still haven't sent my story to sarcade, sorry sarcade.

Juss, coming home from Taekwando: "My heel is my great weakness, like Odysseus."

Mommy: "Er...I think you mean Achillies."

So gakked from wolfma:



Thanks. ^_^

( Girl Genius Comic for Friday July 10, 2009 )<3For news about the release dates of Volume 8 and the reprints, please visit the main Girl Genius comic page. The books will be later than we'd hoped, but they are at the printer. Thank you for your patience! --Kaja <3

Memory of Stolen Fire by =Winneganfake on deviantART

I wrote an amazing entry yesterday about throwing things away, but my blackberry lost it. Perhaps I'll recreate it some day, but not today. Yesterday I was throwing things away to make room for Kayla in my apartment and today the old bank statements and broken picture frames salvaged from the street and ticket stubs and post-it notes have all been hauled away by the trash men.

I am proud of myself, the packrat, who holds on to things after they have stopped being useful (if they were ever useful), for remembering that moving into someone else's established living space is hard. The transition from "mine" to "ours" involves cleaning out the closets and getting rid of piles of papers and finally trading in all those pennies I've been collecting from the street. I am throwing things away and I doubt I will miss any of it.

That was yesterday.

Today I'm thinking of private jokes and the created languages of groups. I'm thinking of how possessive I get of the in-jokes and how when I see something that was MINE that I shared with YOU being shared by all of your other friends, it bothers me. It shouldn't. Language is free, and anyway, I stole the joke or the phrase from HER or HIM, and it was OURS before it was OURS, if you know what I mean. And before that, the person I borrowed it from said, "... really?" and "like you shouldn't know from" and "obvi" to someone else who understood exactly what those phrases meant and lobbed the responses back as fast as lightning.

I'm less possessive of places. I take every person who stays in my house to Tiny Cup, the cafe I first fell in love with with Kim Vermillion last fall. And as much as I will always associate Kim with Tiny Cup, I don't hesitate to take new people there. Sharing the experience doesn't make the original any less OURS.

Language is different for me. A "your mom" joke is less tangible than a cup of tea at a particular table, but I don't mind if you eat cupcakes with someone else as long as you don't use our slang while you're doing it.

But when a relationship ends, I can't take back my inflection the way you took back your favorite sweater.

No one owns words.

Love,
Beth

Aha! The conquest continues with a new--and longer!--video! This is the seven authors of doom . . . oh wait, that should be SEVEN AUTHORS OF DOOM!!!! . . . having fun at the signing last June. Really, getting us together is a disaster in the making. But one that you'll enjoy while you die.

Check it out here!

A couple of weeks ago I had a layover at the Chicago O'Hare airport, during which I purchased this. 



I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow morning, and it WILL be mine again. Oh, yes, my sweet, you will be mine. All mine.

Not that exact one. That would be gross. But one very much like it...or even better.

Oh yes. 

Tomorrow.

That is all.

It looks like I'll be closing the general open submissions for a period.  I have one contract expected back within a few days, and two I'm about to issue.  This should fill my current projected schedule for quite a while.

During the downtime I hope to find someone to handle the primary slush reading in the future.  I need the extra time for handling all the other day to day duties.

Even during my downtime I'll keep submissions open for my friends list and for those I request submissions from.  Just not reading slush.  If you are reading this and you think I don't know who you are, be sure to note your lj nick in the query letter.

Brotherhood of the Sun flyer by =Winneganfake on deviantART

Bit of work done for mskoi's upcoming show. Which brings me to another point- if anyone needs a graphics freelancer for anything, dude, drop me a line, please.

Oh Torchwood, you're killing me! First three episodes of season 3 and I think this is the best the show has ever been, actually. :)
Dark, angsty and good.