not a lot and too much all at once

I wish I could say that something crazy exciting has been going on, but it wouldn't be true. I've been quite social over the last couple weeks, and really need to cut back on that, for my pocketbook as well as my writing time and my sanity. I am freelance-free for this month, which is exciting, partially just for less to do and partially for having time to finish editing Superheroes, which I'm taking WAY too long to get through. Ah, well. March = birthday and book submission this year. It's cool. and then, because I'm crazy, I'm going to try to novelize Emmelina in April. That's right. One month. Then May is research, and then June is the beginning of writing book one in my witch/ghost series. It'll be a good writing year, if I can make it all work somewhere close to that timeline.

In other news, I'm sick again. Second time this year. The big symptom for this one seems to be total exhaustion and weakness. NOT FUN. But it's slowly getting better. Today is day number three of it, and I think I'll make it through a whole day at work today.

A couple more books to report:

10) Clementine by Cherie Priest. Loved it! This is the third book in her Clockwork Century series that I have read, and they are just solid fun. Alternative Civil war history, spies, mad scientists, stolen airships . . . The action just kept coming. Maria Isabella Boyd is a fabulously tough heroine, and I liked Hainey the first time I read about him. This series is great American steampunk, and I highly recommend it.

11) Titania's Magical Compendium by Titania Hardie. This was a fun book of magick based on the full moons throughout the year. I read it as research for an upcoming series I'm going to write, and while there were some interesting tidbits in it, I don't know that it'll be a keeper once I'm done working on that series. I don't see myself revisiting it. It was fun to read, though.

12) Huntress by Malinda Lo. This is a companion of sorts to Ash, which I read last year. It takes place in the same world, but several hundred years earlier. I enjoyed the characters and the writing and the quest, but (without giving anything away, since this hasn't been released yet!) there's one section at the end that felt rushed to me. Overall though, fun book, a keeper, and I recommend it.

13) The Dust of 100 Dogs by A. S. King. I love the concept of this book. Seventeenth-century girl pirate gets killed and cursed to be reincarnated as a dog one hundred times before finally coming back as a human again, with all her memories intact. I love the dual unfurling of Saffron's story (our twentieth-century heroine) and Emer's (Irish pirate girl). I love the grand love between Emer and Seanie, and the contrast of Saffron's total lack of anything like that. I love the tragic ending to Emer's story, even. But . . . I had some qualms with this one. And no, surprisingly, it wasn't the violence or the rape that bothered me. I mean, those things aren't fun, but they were pretty correct and appropriate for the time that the story was happening in. My qualms were more story related. Here's my big one: Fred Livingstone. He's the crazy guy who owns large swaths of Jamaica, where Emer buried her treasure. Fred turned the corner from unhappy to crazy very quickly. But still just seemed crazy. Then, when he encountered Saffron while she was digging up Emer's buried treasure, all of a sudden he's the reincarnation of the Frenchman who raped Emer. I really didn't feel like there was any foreshadowing of that at all, which frustrated me. And then, what was the deal with Fred's live-in handyman/lover, Winston? I never really understood what he was doing there. Also, I was never really clear if Saffron WAS Emer, or if they were separate entities sharing a body, or what. Both were implied over the course of the book. So, there's that. I enjoyed reading this, and would be willing to pick up something else by this author, but this isn't a keeper for me.

And with that, I should go get some work done. Happy Tuesday, everybody!