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Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
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5:17 pm - RIP Anne McCaffrey, 4/1/26 - 11/21/11
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According to Wikipedia, Random House, and tweets from a few writers, Anne McCaffrey died yesterday.
Whatever else one may say of Pern, Ballybran, the universe of FT&T, or any of her other settings, AM had a gift for creating worlds in which people wanted to play. Her characters were larger than life in their virtues and their flaws. I didn't know how I felt beyond generic sadness until I saw Sharon Lee heading a blog post with 'And her dragon gone between.' That's when it hit me. I didn't like it when Anne sent Moreta off to Pern Heaven, but now I hope she's found that heaven for herself, and that Robinton and Killashandra and the rest raise a glass of Benden Red to her there. Or Yarran beer, if she would prefer.
current mood:  sad
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| Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
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3:46 pm - Kind of Dumbfounded, Really
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Y'all, I just finished my first novel.
That meant, today, writing--I don't know, about 500 words? It wasn't a mammoth accomplishment today. I'm not sure the stuff I did today is good at all. But overall... after most of a lifetime of writing off and on I will always be able to say, from now on, that I have written a book.
It needs a lot of work; still awfully short and goodness knows polish is required and there's this scene I need to take out and another I need to put in and a stitched-up thumb should really matter more to my heroine.
But I wrote a book.
I finished one. I made it all the way through to the end.
Death Calling or Death In Sight or Whatever the Publishing House Wants To Call It If I Should Be So Lucky is my first novel, whether in five years I'm happy about that fact or not. ;)
Tonight there will be Lindor orange chocolate.
current mood:  indescribable
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| Friday, September 5th, 2008
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6:00 pm - Wouldn't It Be Nice To Stay In One Place?
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I know, I know, haven't posted in an age, am not posting much now, but I have to ask y'all to weep along with me: we're moving again. Probably within the month. To West Virginia. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
(Disclaimer: I think I'm going to like West Virginia, but if I never had to box up all my belongings again and then be Internetless for weeks it would be okay by me. ;)
current mood:  distressed
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| Monday, November 26th, 2007
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6:53 pm - Lawful Good? Seriously?
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This is both delightful and hard to credit:
I Am A: Lawful Good Elf Wizard (2nd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-11
Dexterity-11
Constitution-11
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12
Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.
Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.
Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
current mood:  amused
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| Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
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6:57 pm - Sporty Spec!
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I'm a little late in announcing that Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic is now published and available for purchase, in part due to NaNo and in part because I wanted to read my copy through so that when I talked about it I wouldn't have to say, "I bet the book is awesome," but could instead assert, "The book is, in fact, rather awesome!" And it is. I'd never seen a Lulu product, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The cover is glossy and gorgeous; the whole thing smells like a book, which I found unaccountably thrilling.
As for the contents, Erin Kinch's "Mutiny" and Daniel Ausema's "City of Games" are my two favorite pieces but I could name a half-dozen others I particularly enjoyed. If anything I wish in some cases the stories were longer--but the flash form has a virtue, too: I didn't dislike anything in Sporty Spec. I can recommend it to anyone who likes speculative flash and poetry, whether they're big on sports or not. I'm not and still had fun!
And of course it includes a story by yours truly, reason enough to buy right there! (Yeah, I'm having trouble typing that with a straight face. ;)
current mood: cheerful
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| Friday, November 9th, 2007
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3:59 pm - Random Elizabethan Meme
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| Saturday, March 31st, 2007
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6:21 pm - Eat Your Heart Out, Bob Ross
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Let's be honest: the results I got couldn't be more wrong. However, I am very tickled with my click-and-drag landscape and want to show it off!
What does your drawing say about YOU?
It's unfortunate that the stretch of clouds looks so much like bacon, though.
current mood: amused
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| Thursday, February 15th, 2007
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4:07 pm - If You Don't Know Me By Now
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| Sunday, December 17th, 2006
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12:19 am - Carol Meme!
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| Friday, August 18th, 2006
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8:10 am - A Letter To Amazon.com
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Dear Amazon:
What happened to you? You used to be user-friendly when it came to your search option. No longer. You know, when I'm trying to hunt down something on your site, I probably do not want to search inside the books for references. I'm trying to find Touched By a Beneficial Antelope, not books that refer to Touched By a Beneficial Antelope. Furthermore? How about putting an exact match for the specified title, when it exists, up at the top, instead of burying it four pages deep in the results, long after such things as A Thousand and One Ways To Cook Antelope or Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me: the Janet Weiss Story.
I would also like you to stop purging negative reviews of books upon request from the authors or random persons, plzkthnx. That's pretty low. Y'all should be above such behavior. Look, I'm not saying that review of Murder On the Orient Express that repeated 'monkeyman monkeyman likes cheese monkeyman' over and over again needed to stay (or needs to, in the frankly horrifying circumstance that you have not removed it yet), and furthermore any review in which the reviewer admits s/he hasn't actually read the book in question should be dragged out into the Information Superhighway and shot. But people have a right to think Anne Rice's Blood Canticle is garbage. And don't even get me started on Kenneth Eng.
So, in closing, would you please see the error of your ways soon? I love you with a deep, strong love, but I would love you more if I could trust books with five-star ratings are really that way because everyone loved them and not because any negative opinion has been erased. Oh, and if I could find my books about antelopes that would help too.
Love,
Kisanthe
XOXOXOXO
current mood: wry
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| Monday, July 31st, 2006
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6:53 pm - Schools Galore
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Out of pure boredness, I'm fiddling a little with my LJ info; I just added a complete roster of schools I've attended to my profile. So if you want a glimpse of my slightly random education, you know where to go! Watch out, world. Next I might actually put up interests or something.
current mood: cheerful
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| Thursday, July 20th, 2006
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10:58 am - I'm Okay, You're Okay
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Hey, y'all--in case any of you have heard about the storms and power problems in St. Louis, I thought I'd mention that we're all right; our power did go out at 7pm yesterday, and was out until about 5am today, but given that they're making noises like some people will still be powerless over the weekend (while it's expected to be over a hundred degrees today) I find it hard to complain. The storm tore off a massive branch from one of the big trees nearby, but no one was harmed and that's the extent of damage visible from my doorstep.
(For those who haven't heard, it was--is? I'm not sure how much power has been restored--the largest outage in St. Louis history, with 400,000 people losing power and 60-70% of the stoplights not working. Apparently getting gas was a special nightmare.)
current mood:  relieved
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| Monday, July 3rd, 2006
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10:20 am - Trumps of Doom!
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| Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
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7:41 pm - Farthing Issue Three!
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Behold! Farthing, the magazine which gave me my first professional payrate acceptance, has just updated its website. Information about Issue Three is now available, including a picture of its lovely cover and--most importantly!--a link which allows one to purchase a copy of their own.
The first four stories, I would categorize as science fiction; the latter three, fantasy. It's a pretty even split when it comes to page length. Apparently Ursula K. LeGuin thinks the magazine is cool, and Lois McMaster Bujold thinks it's shiny, so don't take my word for its worth! ;)
Seriously, it's a good magazine and SF/fantasy readers could do far worse. If any of y'all do buy it, I'd love to hear what you think; about the whole issue, about "Labor Day" in particular, about anything. I'm really jazzed about it, and pleased to have had a chance to work with the editor.
Now, let's try out some of these nifty advertising toys:
current mood: pleased
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| Sunday, June 4th, 2006
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6:33 am - ...I Love These Things
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Which Character Are You? Find out Here!
I think my heartfelt desire for long black hair helped. ;)
current mood: amused
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| Thursday, April 20th, 2006
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4:52 am - Recommendation
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I don't do this often, but I'm going to recommend a story as something that almost everyone I know (online, anyway) should read post haste if they haven't already: Kelly Link's "Magic For Beginners," a finalist for the Hugo and the Nebula this year. (I'm not a big follower of the awards, but I've seen the Link story mentioned so many times as the almost-certain win that I got curious.)
This is beautiful. It's brilliant. It's not perfect--to be perfect it would have to continue on and on; it's not nearly long enough, as long as it is. I got to the ending and couldn't believe it was the ending. The entire thing is a glittering, tangled mass of threads that never get picked up again, never resolved in any way, but that's probably a part of the magic as much as it frustrates me. I read this and I wish I could write this way. I'm in love. I want to find her short story anthology immediately.
There aren't a whole lot of authors anymore who can make me crave their next novel as soon as I put down the last--Jim Butcher can do it with the Dresden books (but not the Aleras), Barbara Hambly, and sometimes Pamela Dean. Now I may have found another. O frabjuous day! Calloo callay!
current mood:  giddy
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| Thursday, April 13th, 2006
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3:51 am - Though a Crane May Stand By Balance, You Will Never See One Dance
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| Thursday, April 6th, 2006
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3:55 am - Good Grief
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| Friday, March 31st, 2006
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4:36 pm - Positive Review Number Two!
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Who would've thought that a 100-word piece I submitted to a nonpaying, charity fundraising market would see more critical response than anything else I've ever done? It goes to show that you can't gauge exposure given by money received, I suppose. Shadow Box was reviewed again, this time by Australian Specfic In Focus. Most of the stories get a brief mention. "Dark Waters" was deemed "wonderfully prophetic," to my delight, and escaped the cutting comments a few of the flashes received (ouch).
It interests me to see how different the opinions of two reviewers can be; by and large, I agree more often with the Tangent reviewer when it comes to which stories are weak and strong. But I feel happy for the authors whose stories were panned by Tangent but praised here. Intellectually you know that just because one person doesn't like (or does like) a story, that doesn't mean no one does or will; but evidence of this has to be welcome regardless. I intend to cling to that thought when the inevitable bad review of one of my pieces appears. ;)
current mood: pleased
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| Thursday, March 30th, 2006
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5:10 pm - Wouldn't It Be Better With Ketchup?
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A quick update for the interested: I'm in St. Louis, I'm alive, I haven't even had my head chewed off by Mom yet (although it's been a bit nibbled on ;), and someday perhaps I will be more forthcoming with details. But not now. Because Morrowind has eaten my soul. When I'm not working or experimenting with hamburgers and wine coolers, I'm doing jobs for Aengoth the Jeweler and Edwinna Whatserface. While watching Game Show Network in the background--oh, GSN, how I've missed you!
I'll probably post more often sometime in the future, but until this game releases its Satanic hold I can make no promises. ;)
current mood: amused
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