Happy Samhain

Happy Samhain, everyone! This is the pagan New Year, and we'll be celebrating in style with a nice dinner and a quiet ritual at my partner-in-crime's apartment.
Samhain is also the time of the year when the veil between the worlds is thinnest, so the dead can visit the living. We'll be saying some words for a couple loved ones who departed this year, and may well set places for them at our meal as well. This is the final harvest festival before we really dive into winter, so dinner will be seasonally appropriate food, along with some wine and/or mead. Milk and honey offerings for the fey folk, and carved pumpkins outside to frighten evil spirits away. Samhain is one of my favorite sabbats.
Blessed Be, everyone!

dreamscape

Twice recently I have dreamed of Neil Gaiman. The first time, I was leaving a reading he gave. I loitered around the door until I caught him coming out, and said something harmless like "I love your work," and he said thanks. I loitered a bit more and then approached him again. I can't recall what I actually said the second time (something about sushi, perhaps, since he has a fondness for it, or maybe just something brilliantly insightful about writing) but he told me to hang around the gift kiosk and pick a few things out. I could have them for free, and then when he was done speaking to people we would go have dinner. So I wandered the kiosk. I picked out a stuffed bear based on one of his books, and several graphic novels that don't exist in this world that he wrote. (I wish I could remember their titles, that would've been fun.)
The second time, I can't recall exactly. But I know it was about him again. Clearly, he's been on my mind. I'm reading The Graveyard Book by him right now, and it is so good! He really has this way with language. I just love it. I think I need to reread some of his other books soon.
Other things I've dreamed about lately: Books (specifically YA, shelves of them, the only two I can recall were called Under Brooklyn and Styx). A weird male teacher having an inappropriate relationship with four of his students (two boys, two girls). Don't think I'm too weird, please; the kids in my dream were into it. Last night in my dream my partner-in-crime was sleeping with one of my coworkers. My work spouse shows up semi-regularly, as does what-if boy. I dream often about looking for someone/thing, and sometimes about runnign from someone. I also dream about houses a lot. Really a lot.
I'll try to remember that other Gaiman dream. Any thoughts from anyone else on how brilliant he is? Or, if you have other opinions, please share those!

Yes!!

This afternoon, I finished my novel!! It's done!! PHEW!!! This book was a good two years of my life. Hundreds of hours. Four drafts. I feel really good about it. And now I can start planning my next project.
But first, on to the query letter. . . .

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!

two more books

Here we go with the daily recounting of two books I've read recently. . . .
First: Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. I had a really good time with this one, as I do with all of Caitlin's books. This is the first in a new series about a junkie/punk rocker/mage, and a female cop named Pete. The storyline is solid, the action is good, the British accent that Jack wields like a weapon reads wonderfully. And yet, for all my enjoyment, I like her other series, about Luna Wilder, better. Somehow Street Magic felt rushed, somehow. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book. I just wonder what it would've been like if Caitlin had worked on it for another month or two, if she'd stretched it and deepened it a bit. Still. If you like dark urban fantasy, this stuff is great. Give her a read! Highly recommended.
Second: The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer. This is YA fantasy set in Venice with magic mirrors and stone lions and mermaids in the canals. I really enjoyed it; the story is quite original, and the charactesr feel authentic. The only issue I really had was the translation. This was originally publsihed in German, and in just a few places you can tell that the translator didn't quite know how how to articulate the action in English, which leaves it feeling stilted. Most of it flowed very well though. This is the first book in a trilogy, and sad to say, I don't own the other two. I'll be on the lookout for them at Strand! I recommend this one for anyone who enjoys dark fantasy wfor younger readers.
And now, I'm off to my weekend. I'll try to come back here tomorrow. We'll see if the internet cooperates! Good night!

Happy October!

I love the fall. The weather cools, the air smells of fallen leaves, the night comes creeping in a little earlier each day . . . love it.
Just briefly before I go home, two more books. First, on Monday I finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. (Yes, I finished it the day it was released. Don't look at me like that. I got an early review copy at The Strand.) It was beautiful. The writing is lovely, the characters interesting, the setting a silent character of its own. But. The main characters are identical (mirror, actually) twins. And just like in The Thirteenth Tale, which I read last spring, they act like two halves of a whole. They do everything together, dress alike, talk alike, don't date. Now I know that my perspective is a minority one. But being a twin who has always strived to be different than mine (and she's done the same), I have a problem with twins who are content to be treated as one unit. It drives me crazy! That said, the plot did some interesting things and I got over my distaste fairly quickly. All of the history involved, in and around Highgate Cemetery, was utterly fascinating. And the ending . . . oh, I cried. Absolutely. I highly, highly recommend this book.
Second, The Sex Life of Food by Bunny Crumpacker. This book is all about how deeply food is intertwined with every other aspect of our lives. I found it interesting, but it was a couple weeks ago and most of it has already faded from my mind. It's a good read, and if you dig nonfiction food-oriented boosk then you should check this out. But it's not a keeper for me.
Off to my freeelancing, have a good night my sweets!

books

Somehow I've read nine books since the last time I posted here. NINE. In the midst of the million freelance projects I've been working on, I still managed to read that much! I'm a little astounded at myself. Sadly, I don't have time to discuss them all right now, so I thought I would do two. I can talk about two books in five minutes or less.
First, in 2005 a book was released called The Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics, & Manga. I read it a couple weeks ago. It was more frustrating than anything else, as it was all excerpts from larger pieces. And you couldn't always figure out what was going on, because of the missing information. Maybe if a book like that is done again it should include plot synopses or something. Some of the art was great, but . . . not a keeper.
Second, Smoked by Patrick Quinlan. Fun. It's another action-movie-in-a-book. I liked the characters; they were pretty well developed. Especially Lola. I love her. She kicks ass. And Smoke, well, what can I say about him? He's made of awesome. But now that I know how everything turns out, I'm not going to keep it. It's definitely worth reading. I just probably won't reread it. But I definitely recommend this one to anyone who doesn't mind a little violence in their exciting fiction. Good stuff!
And now, off to band rehearsal. Oh, I don't think I've talked about that, have I? Well, out of time, so tomorrow. I'll be back. Good night!