Insumatt, ooma, just groshing.

Tanith Lee:  oh, one of my most favorite authors as a teen.

And I still love those favorite books.  Such as Drinking Sapphire Wine.

In 2008 Jo Walton did a review of both books in that sequence.  If you want to see part of why Wine so caught my attention -- and my love -- go read her review.  The first half-page of Wine is there.

Links from work: November.

I was checking ribs, and found this image from Wiki.  8)

Explore Forensics on Examining the Body.  Be warned, this may be too much information for some, so keep that in mind when reading it.

From the Absolute Write forum, how far can you walk in a day?  Includes the definition of a league.

All About Snow.

A new word I learned, pantler.  It is a real word.  Isn't it nifty?  Serendipity is a wondrous thing.

Military terms.  I'm not sure about this website; it's interesting, but I found it when another site didn't work anymore... so YMMV.

Garbl's Long Word Replacements.  To help you cut the fat from your writing.  Discovered via my favorite grammar website.

Writing: November 2013.

It's NaNoWriMo time.  Which I never remember until the writers around me either vanish... because they're writing away for NaNo... or because half the Interweb lights up with people talking about their NaNo goals.

I'd like to invite folks, as an alternative to NaNoWriMo, to join me in writing in every spare second, every day, for the rest of your life.

— Myke Cole (@MykeCole) October 16, 2013

Open Door 2013 is still going on at Angry Robot.  Hurry, you have until the end of the year!

Are you writing yet?  Have you submitted yet?

Oh, c'mon now.  I wanted you to get done so I could hold your book in my hands.  (Like these AR authors, some of whose books I have indeed held in my hands.)  And read the books, of course.

How much longer do I have to WAIT????

Yeah, I really said that, and it is how my reader-mind works.  Doesn't yours?

P.S.  I know some of the Inkbots, fka the Anxious Appliances. I met several at Chicon 7.  8)

Six favorite authors.

Pamela Dean, who wrote The Secret Country series.  (And Tam Lin too.)  8)  Here's the text of a talk she gave in 2008.  Includes quotes from my favorite books!


J.F. Lewis, who wrote the Void City series.  The first book, Staked, has one of the best first lines ever.

Somewhere in the middle of my rant
it occurred to me that I'd killed
whoever it was I'd been yelling at,
so arguing was no longer important.

Emma Bull.  I pretty much love everything Emma's ever written.  I reread them frequently, but the ones I read the most are Finder, Bone Dance, and War for the Oaks (Green Man review).

Hell, War... is one of the ones I've memorized whole pieces of, the way I have with The Secret Country books.  And Zelazny's Lord of Light... and...

Finder, it should be noted, is part of the Bordertown shared-world mythos.  Which you should also check out.


Patricia A. McKillip (a fan-run site here).  First discovered through her The Riddle-Master of Hed series.  [Mom bought me the second book, thinking I'd like it; she was entirely correct].  I can reel off favorite books of hers the same way I can with Diana Wynne Jones:  effortlessly.

Start practically anywhere, except for Winter Rose.


Kelly McCullough, who wrote the WebMage series -- link will take you to story synopses, so be warned!  I adore this series.  If you loved the Amber books by Zelazny, odds are strong you'll love these too.  Sass and snark levels:  high.


And Steven Brust.  :)  Because I do love his writing.  By choice, I didn't get a replacement copy of Agyar until I had the original cover (thanks to my mom's searching).

I love the Paarfi books ["The end made me cry, Steve!" "That's what Pamela said..."] and Cowboy Feng, and Vlad, and To Reign in Hell... well, you get the idea.

Considering that I finally read Steve's novels after I began working for him...  I'd only read one.  But I'd read half his short fiction before, and I knew he was a favorite author because nearly all the Scribblies are favorites of mine.


All of these series are named for the first book in said series.  Unless I've said otherwise.  And all of these authors are currently living as of this writing.  Unlike the mystery authors I read.

The Business Rusch: Submissions and agents. Also publishers...

Kristine Kathryn Rusch says:
August 13, 2012 at 12:17 pm 

All publishers accept submissions. They don’t dare not to. They have to look. (They don’t want to miss the next Harry Potter.) Check out Dean Wesley Smith’s blog, Killing The Sacred Cows of Publishing. Start with this one, but look at the TOC as well. Good luck!

Yes, this is from her 2012 post on The Business Rusch: The Agent Clause (Deal Breakers 2012).

Check it out if you're writing. In fact, read as much of The Business Rusch as possible. It will help you understand current publishing, the past of book publishing, and a great deal more. I cannot tell you enough; just go.

In fact, here's her latest, The Business Rusch: Unintended Consequences. Her blog posts on Thursdays.