radio silence

Sorry about that, guys. Internet at home = intermittent, and work has been mad busy. But here I am for a brief shining moment before I head home. Several books to touch on, but I'll just hit two today.
First, The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. It's about an older Sherlock Holmes who makes friends with, and apprentices, a teenage American girl named Mary. This book was everything I hoped for. Good story, sharp writing, brilliant banter between Sherlock and Mary. Just great stuff. I'm looking forward to reading the other three books in this series. (Disclosure: I proofread one of them a year or two ago, so I probably won't be blogging about that one.) Anybody who likes a good mystery, fiction that takes place in the earlier part of the twentieth century, or just a good story, go get this book!
Second, Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. I picked up this book because it was published by Small Beer Press, and I've really loved some of their quirky, distinctive fiction. This one I enjoyed, but it's not a keeper. It's about a man in Texas who, to be honest, is a loser, who can see ghosts. It's about the trouble he gets into when his life derails a bit after a cousin asks him to get rid of a ghost haunting his garage. I enjoyed the story; it was well put-together. But I had a hard time really empathizing with any of the characters. If you like quirky ghost stories, you'll probably enjoy this, but it wasn't quite right for me.
In other news: I joined a symphonic band. (I'm sure most or all of you already knew that.) And I'm loving it! After so many years of playing my clarinet in my apartment alone, it is a great feeling to make music with a room full of people who are all there because they want to play. We have a concert in mid-November; let me know if you're interested and I'll send you a link through which to buy tickets. I'm really excited to perform! (Disclosure: It's an LGBT organization. Just thought I'd let you all know that before you rushed out to buy tickets. You never know who may be weird about that sort of thing!)
One more thing. I had the strangest dream last night. I was in a town, it felt college-town-sized, or so. It was evening, I think, but not dark yet. Late afternoon, that might be more accurate. There was this really big outdoor sale, like a flea market only it was just one family. I think I rode my bike to it. And they had all these musical instruments so I was digging through those. I found this piccolo, it was oddly shaped with strange keys in strange places, but in the dream I somehow knew it was a Lamberson piccolo even though the imprint on it said Merzhorson or something, and asked this college girl how much it was so I could buy it for my sister. I also asked if I could borrow it briefly to show my sister to see if she'd be interested and the girl said sure, and she would sell it for the usual sauna price. (Yes, sauna price.) So I went trudging off up this hill to find my sister. I went inside this building (castle/keep on a hill) to look for her, but she wasn't there, so I left and was wandering around looking for her. Then I went to this bar that my partner-in-crime and I were helping my friend P run after it was willed to her by some relative, only my sister wasn't there either. I set the piccolo down and was doing something bar-appropriate, washing glasses or putting them away, and started getting these weird flashes of visions. Two teen boys, one girl, best friends, only they get into some weird stuff (like you do when you're a kid). Drinking beer, whatever, only then the boys started drugging the girl by putting something in her beer. And when she went all blissed out and semicomatose, they were doing things like taking a little of her blood (needle in the arm). And then I saw this silver spoon with this weird viscous substance clinging to the tip, and then flashed back to them and she was drugged again and only wearing this white shift dress and the boys were sort of cradling her between them and taking the dress off her over her head. She had very white skin. Then I heard her scream and I knew it had to do something with the spoon, and my partner-in-crime heard it too and released this sort of protector spirit, sort of a man with a bear head and long gangly limbs, from the back of the bar to go save the girl, only when the bear got to where he needed to go there was a guard at the gate (door?) who wouldn't let him by, and the bear was trying to explain that he needed to save the girl, but the guard was being argumentative. And then I woke up, and was really confused.
I feel like there may be a story in that muddle. I also feel like I'm forgetting something at the beginning of it. I should really start writing down/blogging my dreams in the morning, not in the late afternoon.
And now it's time to head home. Happy evening, everyone, and I'll (hopefully) be back here in the next couple of days!