Lists and surviving ADHD...

Instead of blogging about the cats [alas!] or other things, like copyediting or rants... today I'm doing an informational blog post. This is for my reference as well as anyone else, of course. 8)

It's also so I can close more tabs. :b

To the author: kudos!

Dear Maureen Johnson, thank you. I am really glad I found your book in my library, and more -- they appear to have the first three books!

Kittens, Cryoburn, death.

I've been rereading Cryoburn lately, my first reread of it.  It is far easier to read this time around.

The first time, I kept being afraid that the next moment, Miles would get the call.  About Aral.

As Allen pointed out to me last night, the way Miles does get the call is foreshadowed in the book that falls -- in the Vorkosigan Saga timeline -- directly before Cryoburn.

{ Warning:  sadness from death follows.  }

Thoughts for the day.

bright orange for the shroud:  p. 19, Fawcett edition.

' Acquaintance rather than friend.  The dividing line is communication, I think.  A friend is someone to whom you can say any jackass thing that enters your mind. With acquaintances, you are forever aware of their slightly unreal image of you, and to keep them content, you edit yourself to fit.  Many marriages are between acquaintances.  You can be with a person for three hours of your life and have a friend.  Another one can remain an acquaintance for thirty years. '

From Clariel to ConFusion 2015

I find I want to angst about a book I just read.  But if you haven't read the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, possibly you won't feel the same way.

I also don't want to spoil it.  Clariel hasn't been out very long -- since October 2014, Goodreads tells me.  Goodreads is likely not a good place to go either if you want to go in quite blind, as I did.

In case you have read Clariel, enjoy the links here.

Not right.

So I read The Diary of Anne Frank for the first time yesterday.

At one point, I accidentally turned to the reader guide, which was in the middle of this edition.  And I found out what happened to her.

I was horrified. 

I keep thinking it was a Hans Christian Andersen ending. 

I like very few of his fairy tales, partly because he tends to break the contract with the reader.  Also, I honestly think he hated human beings and meant -- or expected -- that they should all suffer.  Yes, that could be due to his upbringing or religion; right now, that's just how her story's end strikes me.

No wonder I enjoy mysteries.  Lois Bujold calls them fantasies of justice.  Because in a mystery I expect fairness.  That suffering will be rewarded, prisoners will be freed...

Or as Oscar Wilde puts it:  "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily."

The bad are punished, not the good -- unless the story's a different sort of tragedy...  Remember that bit in Good Omens, when the authors suggest that perhaps your own belief about tropical fish, and that child growing up happy are preferable? 

I feel like that.  As if I should dream about how her story should have ended.  Getting prizes in school.  Being happy.  Except my mind keeps shying away, afraid that I'll not be able to block out what did happen.  Everyone deserves to be happy... everyone.  I have no words for how deeply wrong this is. 

A favorite anthology: 100 Great Fantasy Short-Short Stories.

Talking to a friend on Twitter... I remembered this book, the anthology 100 Great Fantasy Short-Short Stories.

Edited by Isaac Asimov, Terry Carr, and Martin Greenberg.  I miss you all, guys.  Thanks for collecting so many stories for us all!

I love this antho.  Here's the TOC.


Some of my very favorites:

• "Angelica" by Jane Yolen
• "Apocryphal Fragment" by Edward Wellen
• "But Not the Herald" by Roger Zelazny
• "Controlled Experiment" by Rick Conley
• "Deadline" by Mel Gilden
• "Final Version" by John Morressy
• "Pharaoh's Revenge" by C. Bruce Hunter
• "Some Days Are Like That" by Bruce J. Balfour

I'm fond of an awful lot of them -- my copy pops open to certain pages from frequent reading.  But the book's in storage, so I had to recollect titles from memory.  Some are dark, some are funny, some are wicked, some are clever...

I'd recommend any of these to you.  If you can read the rest, do.  :D  They're like potato chips -- can you just have one??


Thanks to Robert Sawyer for kindly having the TOC on hand!

Variety pack of links.

Nifty links found during research:

Forbes on leadership.  Fascinating.  Do note the bits about hubris!

Two cool links about Bangkok:  24 Hours in Bangkok and, from the Sydney Morning Herald's Traveller section. 

The Online Etymology Dictionary on [executive] washrooms... and tasers.  It was the taser bit that drew me, although I really was looking up "washroom" right then.

How Stuff Works explains biometrics. 

Other links of interest:

Carol Pearson, author of The Hero Within, a favorite nonfiction book of mine, and her website. 

A collection of Firefly links sent to me on Twitter. 

Related to Worldcon, for Chicon 7 is nigh:

Their writing workshop is taking reservations. 

Also, if you need a cheap ride from the airport to the con hotel, the Hyatt, check out Groupon.  Groupon's last deal ended two days ago, but you never know.

Yes, I'm all Worldcon-is-coming now, of course.  Aren't you?  :D

Read this book!!

There's a book coming out in early 2013 that I want you to read.

Here's the key words you need to consider:

Blade Runner
Minority Report
Tom Clancy
The White Plague by Frank Herbert
The X Files
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick
Shade's Children by Garth Nix

Think these are spoilers or teasers?  Ideally, they should operate as both.   :)

This is the book:  Nexus by Ramez Naam.  It's brilliant.

You want to read Nexus.  Really you do.  Trust me on this.  It's about today and about tomorrow and about things you hate and about things you love.  About potential and people and who we all are... and who we could be.

Have some Nexus, do. You know you want to, you want it so very much for all sorts of reasons.  Because Homo sapiens is that way.


-- Thanks to NYRSF for the subject line, which I might pinch in future for other book recs.

Late night update.

Sorry to have vanished. I began some new projects this month; some things didn't happen as expected; and the 'Net has been very peculiar in this area lately.

I thought our ISP and cable were from the same company -- and we've had increasing problems with cable lately -- but I was mistaken.

Fall is coming, to my delight. September is a lovely month. I had meant to update my rates, but I'll work that out next month... just in time for my work anniversary.

Be well.

Style curiosity?

I've been reading through Ngaio Marsh's mysteries steadily.

Last Ditch has a style variation that appears to be the author's; I don't think it was a house style choice, but I could be wrong, of course. :]

On pages 206-207, there are two styles used:

• "Doctor Carey" when beginning a paragraph of narrative;
• but "Dr. Carey" when otherwise used in narrative

I don't have any examples marked from my own reading for dialog.

Why does this matter? Well, I didn't notice it myself until it was in two pages facing each other. This may have been a house style choice, it may not have, it's hard to say.

But I wonder. If this had been a job, I would have queried this.

Style choices matter. They'll be invisible to some readers, and not to others. Certainly this style question didn't wreck my interest in the mystery, but when confronted by the difference, I marked it. :D


In case you're curious, I read the hardcover edition from Little, Brown (1977).

Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh is incredible. I can't quite put my finger on why I can't stop reading her writing, or how she sucks me in so hard. But she does.

When I told Dad how hard I found to stop reading, he nodded and said it was her pacing. It's excellent. Even her subchapters -- sometimes only a page long -- don't let me stop reading.

I really get impatient near the end, because that's when she very deftly muddles you. I have never read anyone who glued me to the page like this. I think I know who did it, but--!

I'm also curious, if you have read Ngaio Marsh, whether you notice that she sometimes shifts POV very briefly and without warning. Like Elizabeth Bear, it works.

It oughtn't. But she's so good that I notice it, and merely continue on.

Here's a bit from her:

The coroner summed up at considerable length and with commendable simplicity. His manner suggested that the jury as a whole was certifiable as mentally unsound, but that he knew his duty and would perform it in the teeth of stupidity.

I crack up every time I get partway through this. I can't say that Ngaio does this all the time -- if so, I haven't noticed. But when I read the previous page, it's even funnier. That'd spoil the scene, so I can't post that. :D You'd dislike me intensely.

I began with her final novel, Light Thickens. I've read five more within a week's time. I'll be sorry when I've got through all thirty-two... except that wow, what incredible writing.


The quote is from Death at the Bar.

Amy Einsohn.

I like to mention books I love here. Sometimes those are writing books, like E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel.

But today I wanted to mention Amy Einsohn. She wrote The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications. It's a brilliant book. Like my copy of Chicago, my TCH barely ever closes, and it's crammed with bookmarks.

Hence Amy Einsohn and the Making of The Copyeditor's Handbook.

And here's a list of distance courses in editing. :> Note that Amy teaches them for Editcetera.

New Bordertown!

Terri Windling has News from Bordertown. (And More News too.)

I grew up on Bordertown -- but I didn't, not really; that is, the inner me was all there, but I'm not sure when I found the stories first. When I found Finder some years ago, I was in alt. And then, of course, I found Elsewhere and Nevernever.

Considering that Emma Bull can never go wrong, and Will Shetterly matches her every moment with Wolfboy -- you are so in for a fabulous ride. That'll make you hungry for the rest.

Let me tell you about Bordertown...



First, some amazing authors have written stories there. Even if you start with the novels, above, you'll want to read all the stories. Get the anthologies. Cherish 'em.

If I'd been a teen when I read these, I would have run away to B-town. End of story. Despite knowing that running away doesn't always solve your problems.

But for some kids, at least in B-town, running away does solve your problems. Normally I wouldn't say that.

Kudos to my friend Wolf, the first person I'd ever met who also loved Bordertown.

Thanks to Christopher Barzak, who has a story in this lovely new anthology... I wish I hadn't missed it at WFC!!! Thanks for spreading the word, Chris!

... And yeah, I would have mugged somebody for a copy of the ARC. Probably best all around that I didn't know about it. =whimper=

2011: Read this!

Ahhh, at last -- I can update what I was talking about a bit ago. I'd really wanted the cover, but it wasn't posted yet.

Dark and engrossing... Continuing where we left off in Edge: Point. Amazing book, and Point is my candidate for best book of 2011. No spoilers, but I think you should read Edge first.

A good book...

A new penpal got me into J.D. Carr mysteries. My second novel was The Crooked Hinge.

It's really really good. I sat down and didn't get up, except for a drink of water, and then sat back down and read it straight through. Amazing.

I haven't found the detective, Dr. Gideon Fell, as engrossing as some others -- say Joe Leaphorn, Miss Marple, Mr Campion, Ellery Queen [you knew I'd mention Ellery!]. I like listening to Fell. He's nice.

But Carr's writing is engrossing. :>

Next week: World Fantasy!

Best new urban fantasy.

I'm really behind on my blogroll. Bloglines had to email me and explain that they were going away. Sad news! I liked having all my Blogger sites in one place.

But my friend Jeremy posted his newest book cover. Crossed will be my favorite 2011 book in UF, hands down. I know this because Staked and ReVamped were my UF faves. I thought Staked was the best debut novel too. EVER.

I like wit. I love it when someone can mix wit, humor, and great story. And excellent writing.
And pacing that won't let me stop reading! Have I mentioned that I love the voice yet?

My favorite 2010 book.

is EDGE. Dark sf.

I've been waiting for Edge to come out. And next month it's out here in the US; you can already buy Edge in the UK, it's been out since February. You should buy Edge. You really really should. An awesome book.

Plus, I have a strong contender for my best book of 2011, which is the sequel, Point. Been raving about that 'un... :D

Status report: late July

Sunday night, 25-July, I delivered another historical mystery... and then I was asked to do galleys on a book I proofread earlier in 2010. That's all done and delivered now.

So mentally I was elseworld. :>

I have a reprint coming up later this summer. Also, I plan to be at ConText later this month.

Right now I'm the house guard on the roomies' cat, Meester, who got an eye infection. He's stuck inside to make sure he gets his medicine. I'm pretty sure it's a matter of time before Meester gets past me; he's generally an indoor-outdoor cat. At least he's not a kzin! :D

Status report: May

Where have I vanished to?

Well, after Penguicon I fell straight into the next book gig... and my latest obsession. Ahem. Yes, I am now addicted to Ellery Queen mysteries. You are lucky indeed to miss any details of the latest one I've read -- by email or in person.

Yesterday I tried to divert myself with Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader. It's an anthology. And the challenge? Ah, well, you are to guess the sleuth's real name.

Although I haven't read many of the Golden Age authors included therein, EQ did not "conceal" some detectives' names well enough. =sigh= Annoying. Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence clued me in on at least one sleuth. :>

Thus far, I think I like Dr. Thorndyke. He is much nicer than Holmes, I must say. Also, Arsène Lupin is delightful -- definitely my kind of rogue.

So now you know. Hide while you still can! You have been warned....

(I really must snag the other three incarnations of Ellery, EQ Version Three novels get a little... depressing.)