we've cracked the code

It's humid out. I'm a little sleepy, drinking coffee in my living room while I type. And in a few hours my partner-in-crime and I will get on a plane and leave NYC to visit our families. Hurray for a vacation! It's going to be a busy one, though. I hope I get some down time. And I should keep this short, since I need to finish packing. A couple more books to discuss:
20) Ravens in the Library, an anthology created to raise money for Sooj Tucker when she had some medical problems. It was uneven, as anthologies often are, but a keeper for me for a couple specific stories. Terri Windling's and Ari Berk's, specifically. They are two of my favorite writers. Everything they write is magic.
21) Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy by Kage Baker. I adore this book. The writing voice is terrific, it knows when to take itself seriously and when not to, and the characters are a lot of fun. This is related to the Company series, for those of you who are familiar with Baker's work, and I can't wait to dig in to those books.
22) Carpathia by Cecilia Woloch. I love this woman's poetry. Love.
Clearly I've not been reading enough; it's pretty disgraceful that tomorrow is September and I've only read twenty-two books. I'll have to work on that.
Anyway. My hope for vacation is to have some good down time and to get some editing done. Wish me luck, everybody, and I'll see you all on the other side!

tell mama all about it

Last night was not very conducive to sleep. Went to bed around twelve. Had a crazy intense dream. Woke up from that, and was so disoriented it took me a moment to recognize our bedroom, when my partner-in-crime came in to go to bed. I was awake for a while as he settled in for the night. The an hour or two later my darling little Zoe cat decided to go moth hunting. On the bed. Which was adorable, but kept me up for a bit. Then she wanted attention. Then we went to sleep. Then she woke me up later to let me know she was exiting the bed. I went back to sleep. Then the alarm went off to get up for work this morning. *YAWN* Needless to say, not a bad night, but a sleepy day after.
Without further ado, here is the dream:
I was in some sort of giant camp, a semipermanent thing, there were tents crammed together wall-to-wall, and lamps and rugs and such all over the place, and my partner-in-crime was there with me. I followed a path (I think someone was leading me, perhaps?) around and through tents and over other people's rugs, ducking under and around hanging lamps (the light felt very yellow for most of this), and then we came to a particular tent and that's where we stopped. There was an old woman who insisted I open a trunk (I think it was at the foot of a bed?) and put on a particular pair of boots from in there. I keep wanting to call them mukluks. They were definitely leather, with fur around the top and other decorative strips of fur around the ankles. My partner-in-crime copied me with the most similar pair of boots he could find. And then things . . . shifted. We were still in the tent, but it was fey folk and people all mixed together. And we sat down at this gorgeous rectangular (oak? pine?) dining table. I was at the left hand of this fascinating tree-looking man, he had appeared before us when things shifted and corralled all of us into sitting down at the table. (Think Pan's Labyrinth satyr, ish. But more treelike.) Anyway. I did something disrespectful, but it's hazy. Maybe I drank out of his glass? I said something impertinent? I know there was a glass in front of me as well, it was clear, with I think copper accents, and had a green liquid in it. Everyone had a glass like that. Anyway, I did something, he called me arrogant, and called two other fey over (they were tall like him, but hunched over and creepy and less treelike). They picked me up and carried me around the table while pinching me and tearing my clothing in punishment.
And that's when I woke up. I think that'll show up in a novel or short story at some point. Blessed be!

in these rags of wind

That's how I feel right now. Ragged. Summer usually does this to me. It just gets so busy, so full, and flies by. I can't wait for autumn. For cool nights at home, for sweaters, for a quiet couple of months in the company of good books and cups of tea. I also can't wait to see my family in September; it'll be a most welcome change of pace.
Three books to talk about:
17) Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs. This series is one of my absolute favorite things happening in urban fantasy right now. Mercy Thompson is a well-fleshed-out character. The secondary characters are also well-done. The werewolf pack politics are believable, and the complicated relationships between the different kinds of fey as well as between fey and humans are spot on. This is book four. At the beginning, Mercy is still recovering from the trauma she suffered in book three, and I found her reactions to things and her panic attacks to be on the money. I can't wait to read the rest of this series, when I get my hands on it.
18) Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cherie Priest. An older title by a long-standing favorite author of mine. This is one of the Eden Moore books, and I have to be honest: While I did enjoy it quite a bit (Southern Gothic ghost story!), it's been so long since I read the other two Eden Moore books that I'd forgotten some of the pertinent information from them. Nonetheless, this is a keeper for me, and recommended to all of you. (I just need to work on reading series titles closer together!)
19) Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. This book made me really angry. It's about a woman named Claudia, who doesn't want children. She's happily married to Ben . . . until he decides that he DOES want children. They divorce. Claudia spends time being depressed. Meanwhile, every other woman in the book treats her like she's an alien for not wanting babies. And every other woman either has kids, is trying to have kids, or is going to have kids. Claudia keeps wondering how she and Ben didn't work out if he's her soul mate. At one point, someone says to her, "He wasn't your soul mate. If he WERE, you'd do ANYTHING to keep him. Even have his baby." And that is Claudia's lightbulb moment. Her "Being with Ben is more important than my desire to not have babies" moment. And as a woman in her thirties who doesn't want children, this infuriated me. This female character decided that having her man was more important than her own wants and needs, more important than her own decisions about her body and career and etc. What. The. Hell? Every woman makes whatever decisions they make, and that's cool, but the overwhelming message I got from this book is "Ladies, you should want babies, and if you don't, there is something wrong with you. If you don't, you will lose your partner and be sad and lonely and pathetic for the rest of your life. So start making babies!"I'm angry enough at this book that I won't read any more of Emily Giffin's work, and I'm no longer recommending her to friends.
Have any of you ever read a book that made you angry? Do tell.
And on that note, I have to get back to work, it's piling up. Happy Monday, everyone!

i used to sail the deep and tranquil sea

Gosh, it's been a month again. Sorry about that. I've been busy, but work is finally starting to become more manageable, so that's good. The flip side of that is that I've taken on a bunch of freelancing again, so my evenings are more full than they were. The writing has taken a bit of a backseat, although I did recently pound through a project that will get its own post sometime soon.
Today, I want to talk about two books I read, and then two writers who I admire.
15) An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire. I love this series, the October Daye series. Love love love. Toby is an empathetic character. I love how the fey and the human worlds interact. The writing is great. And this one in particular was terrifying and beautiful and overwhelming all at once. Blind Michael, the bad guy, really creeped me out, and I am constantly in awe of how far and how hard Toby pushes herself to take care of those she loves. I need the rest of the series ASAP so I can find out what happens.
16) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Yes, it came out a week ago. Yes, I've already read it. And loved it. Deliciously creepy, this one, with many, many brilliant moments in it. I won't say anything at all about characters or plot, in case any of you darling people reading this haven't gotten your paws on it yet. I adore this book, like all of Neil's work, but I don't think it'll be my favorite. For as much as I loved it, I don't think I was in the right place for it. Which is a failing not of the book, but of mine.
And the authors: First up is Erin Morgenstern. I have rambled before about how great she is, and I really think that she is one of the best new authors I've read in the last several years. Her debut novel, The Night Circus, blew me away. I enjoy her blog on a regular basis. Last week I watched her interview Neil Gaiman at Symphony Space and she was charming and engaging. (And has great taste in boots!) Please, everyone, if you haven't done so yet, please pick up her novel. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Second up is Kat Howard, who hasn't even had a novel published yet. Five years ago she attended Clarion, a writing workshop. Since then she has sold several short stories, some of which she has links to on her blog, and I believe she has a novel under contract. I love finding authors this early. I love watching them grow. I love their excitement as their career takes off. It's so uplifting and heartening, and I love reading about Kat's journey in particular (she blogs here) because she's so honest and upfront about things.
I would love, in my heart of hearts, to take both of these women out for tea sometime and just ask them questions about their writing habits, about what books they love and why, about how they grew into the writers they are today. And maybe (fingers crossed!) someday, I too will be a writer new on the scene, so vibrantly excited about things and alive, just as they are now.

i wanna hear what you want

Lately I've had a difficult time with the blogging. I get here and I'm not sure what to say so I just natter on about unimportant things. To-do lists and weather and etc. Or I get here, I stare at the blank space on the screen, and then I leave again because I just don't have it in me that day. I want this blog to be a space I spend regular time. I want to talk about my writing, and what I read, and weird dreams I have. Maybe it'll pick up for me after this weekend. I'll have more free time again, I think. Is there something more or different I can do to facilitate more comments and discussion here? I know there are a few of you lurking out there reading my entries. Longer book reviews? More about my writing? Fewer weird dreams? Let me know. I like to think that a blog can be a good place to foster community and interesting discussion, if we want it to be.
A book: 14) Bloodangel by Justine Musk. I thought this book was great; it really got under my skin. It's paranormal fiction, dark and edgy and a little bloody. It's not your typical vampires and werewolves and etc. It's about a young painter with strange dreams, and a teenage orphan, and a washed-up guitarist, and how their lives intersect. The language is great, and it's well-balanced between action and introspection and exposition. I'd recommend this one to anybody who likes paranormal fiction; I enjoyed it enough that I looked around for other books by her.
Time to get back to work. I'll be back next week to talk about what I want to do in June. Blessed Be!

you're the prayer here inside me

Another two weeks of me being silent. Sigh. Well. Even though it's not obvious here in blogland, progress is being made. I finished the first draft of the short I want to use for my application to Viable Paradise. It's off being read by a few people right now so I can get some feedback. Work has slowed down some. Still busy, though. Summer is rapidly approaching, for which I am thankful. Mostly because of summer Fridays. While at the new job I get half-day Fridays instead of every other, it'll still be nice to have lengthier weekends. I'm really trying to keep the freelancing to a minimum, and still working away at my non-freelance to-do list. I want very few commitments this summer other than to write and make music.
Anyway, two books:
12) The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. This is such a good ending to the Infernal Devices trilogy. Everyone suffered, some expected things happened, some unexpected, and in the end I'm happy with how things worked out for Will and Jem and Tessa.
13) The Poison Eaters by Holly Black. This is a collection of short stories by one of my favorite writers. Holly knows how to craft a good story and interesting characters. That said, I felt like the collection was a bit uneven. None of the stories were bad, but I found some of them much more interesting than others. But it was a good read and a keeper.
And now back to work. It's taken me half a day to peck this out around work things. Blessed be, everyone!

drive another nail in

Remember me asking the universe to take it easy on me? Well. I came down with a sinus infection RIGHT after that. Really, April has not been my month. 2013 hasn't been my year. But I'm determined to not get bogged down in negativity. To keep trying to make things better.
The new job is still good. I'm moving into a slightly bigger office tomorrow, so that's exciting. I'm working on some fun books. I still think everybody's nice.
As far as the April to-do list goes, I have done some brainstorming on the next novel. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I have a start. There's more I need to suss out before I can actually start writing it, but that's fine because I've got another draft of the ghost/witch project to get through first. I've worked on the short story and the synopsis, but not the query letter. Maybe I can get to that this weekend. The first draft of the short story isn't done, but all I really need is a day or two with some solid time on it and I'll have a draft. Still proofreading, so that copyedit will wait until May. And I've made a lot of progress on the spring purging, but not so much on the cleaning. I've sorted/organized pretty much everything in my office. One or two more evenings on that, and then I'm moving on to the bathroom cupboard. Very exciting!
A book for you: 9) The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. This is book two of the Infernal Devices trilogy, and I don't want to get spoilery for those of you who are intending to read these eventually, so I'll just say I feel bad for Will, and am cheering for Jem, and am frustrated with Tessa. Good books, if you like YA and/or urban fantasy, you really need to check out Cassie Clare's work.
I need to get back to work. Things to do, and I need to get organized for switching offices tomorrow. Happy Monday, everyone!