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1. My own website won’t recognize my login! This makes me worry. The CMS is nice in many ways, but I am starting to realize how vulnerable I am now that I rely on something beyond the hand-coded html I can make myself.
2. I’ve been using this free file-hosting service Dropbox, and I think it’s great for document management—I keep all my works in progress, as well as other stuff including teaching materials, in my Dropbox folder. That means I can access them on all my computers and on my iPhone and have changes automatically updated across all my devices. It’s good for joint writing projects for the same reason. You get 2 gigs free, [ETA: I've maxed out on free space, so I'm not asking anyone else to sign up via me any more. I still recommend the service though]. I’ve been using the service for nearly a year, I’m highly satisfied, and I only get email from them when I’m near to filling my space. So anyone interested in trying the service/helping a girl out, I encourage you to check it out.
3. I’m also on Google Wave now, though I still don’t know what it’s for. I’m rivkat and if you want an invite or if you want to connect there, let me know!
4 etc. Realms of Fantasy has made its Feb. 2010 issue available as a free download on its website. Aside from the skeevy naked-girl art from Frank Wu, I found the stories largely entertaining; Harlan Ellison, Leah Bobet, Euan Harvey, Aliette de Bodard, and Ann Leckie are the authors represented.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach, The Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse: This is the end of the TV series, so WW and Noser look like I want them to look. It’s exactly what you’d want from a Middleman episode. I admit I think it’s hysterical that Manservant Neville was based on Mark Sheppard even before the TV show; he’s beloved of a certain category of show, isn’t he?
Wild Cards: Inside Straight, ed. George R.R. Martin: Ah, so this is the volume I missed before the last one I read—it actually gives the story of how the American Idol-esque American Ace competition produced some actual international heroes/colonial imperialists (depending on your perspective). It’s a good enough Wild Cards adventure, but it does make clear that the authors know that sending a bunch of Americans and a German (whose Ace is ghost armor and is known, I kid you not, as Crusader) to the Middle East raises a whole lot of problematic issues; they just don’t care/are on the side of the Americans anyway. I’m sure the earlier Wild Cards books would give me the same kind of conniptions now if I reread them.
Ginn Hale, Wicked Gentlemen: Original slash, set in a city dominated by the Inquisition, which focuses its wrath (and its corruption) on Prodigals, descendants of demons/fallen angels. Belimai is a Prodigal with an unusual talent and an addiction to painkillers brought on by earlier torture by the Inquisition; Harper is the Inquisitor who needs his help to save Harper’s sister. They fight crime! The worldbuilding is intriguing but a tad underdeveloped for my taste, like the romance, but I could see trying Hale again.
M.J. Pearson, Discreet Young Gentleman: Regency-ish(?) original slash, all dramatic coincidences and longing and hot sex, plus bonus only semi-fetishized prostitution. (The non-POV main character, Rob, is a gentleman for hire; the POV character is a noble with a significant cashflow problem and a newly broken engagement, courtesy of an unexpected encounter with Rob.) I don’t read much in this vein, but my sense is this is exactly what the term “original slash” is for, and it was charming.
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue : October (Toby) Daye is a half-fairy PI with a young daughter and a loving fiance—until an investigation gone wrong turns her into a fish for over a decade. When she’s freed, she has nothing left and just wants Fairy to leave her alone. Of course it won’t, forcing her to go back to the corrupt lover she left, the court whose knighthood she wants to forget, and obligations enforced by magic. And also, her sovereign’s son-in-law is flirting with her, except that his wife is crazy, possibly because Toby screwed up that investigation all those years ago. It’s a good debut, giving information at the right pace and creating an engaging urban fantasy world. I’ve seen criticism that Toby isn’t much of an active force—things basically just happen to her at a pace she can barely survive—and that’s true, but given the plot, just being able to hang on is a virtue. Plus, she starts out with a pretty damn good reason to be depressed, reactive and angry. Try it out for the worldbuilding, and maybe Toby will take more control of her destiny in later books.
2. I’ve been using this free file-hosting service Dropbox, and I think it’s great for document management—I keep all my works in progress, as well as other stuff including teaching materials, in my Dropbox folder. That means I can access them on all my computers and on my iPhone and have changes automatically updated across all my devices. It’s good for joint writing projects for the same reason. You get 2 gigs free, [ETA: I've maxed out on free space, so I'm not asking anyone else to sign up via me any more. I still recommend the service though]. I’ve been using the service for nearly a year, I’m highly satisfied, and I only get email from them when I’m near to filling my space. So anyone interested in trying the service/helping a girl out, I encourage you to check it out.
3. I’m also on Google Wave now, though I still don’t know what it’s for. I’m rivkat and if you want an invite or if you want to connect there, let me know!
4 etc. Realms of Fantasy has made its Feb. 2010 issue available as a free download on its website. Aside from the skeevy naked-girl art from Frank Wu, I found the stories largely entertaining; Harlan Ellison, Leah Bobet, Euan Harvey, Aliette de Bodard, and Ann Leckie are the authors represented.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach, The Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse: This is the end of the TV series, so WW and Noser look like I want them to look. It’s exactly what you’d want from a Middleman episode. I admit I think it’s hysterical that Manservant Neville was based on Mark Sheppard even before the TV show; he’s beloved of a certain category of show, isn’t he?
Wild Cards: Inside Straight, ed. George R.R. Martin: Ah, so this is the volume I missed before the last one I read—it actually gives the story of how the American Idol-esque American Ace competition produced some actual international heroes/colonial imperialists (depending on your perspective). It’s a good enough Wild Cards adventure, but it does make clear that the authors know that sending a bunch of Americans and a German (whose Ace is ghost armor and is known, I kid you not, as Crusader) to the Middle East raises a whole lot of problematic issues; they just don’t care/are on the side of the Americans anyway. I’m sure the earlier Wild Cards books would give me the same kind of conniptions now if I reread them.
Ginn Hale, Wicked Gentlemen: Original slash, set in a city dominated by the Inquisition, which focuses its wrath (and its corruption) on Prodigals, descendants of demons/fallen angels. Belimai is a Prodigal with an unusual talent and an addiction to painkillers brought on by earlier torture by the Inquisition; Harper is the Inquisitor who needs his help to save Harper’s sister. They fight crime! The worldbuilding is intriguing but a tad underdeveloped for my taste, like the romance, but I could see trying Hale again.
M.J. Pearson, Discreet Young Gentleman: Regency-ish(?) original slash, all dramatic coincidences and longing and hot sex, plus bonus only semi-fetishized prostitution. (The non-POV main character, Rob, is a gentleman for hire; the POV character is a noble with a significant cashflow problem and a newly broken engagement, courtesy of an unexpected encounter with Rob.) I don’t read much in this vein, but my sense is this is exactly what the term “original slash” is for, and it was charming.
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue : October (Toby) Daye is a half-fairy PI with a young daughter and a loving fiance—until an investigation gone wrong turns her into a fish for over a decade. When she’s freed, she has nothing left and just wants Fairy to leave her alone. Of course it won’t, forcing her to go back to the corrupt lover she left, the court whose knighthood she wants to forget, and obligations enforced by magic. And also, her sovereign’s son-in-law is flirting with her, except that his wife is crazy, possibly because Toby screwed up that investigation all those years ago. It’s a good debut, giving information at the right pace and creating an engaging urban fantasy world. I’ve seen criticism that Toby isn’t much of an active force—things basically just happen to her at a pace she can barely survive—and that’s true, but given the plot, just being able to hang on is a virtue. Plus, she starts out with a pretty damn good reason to be depressed, reactive and angry. Try it out for the worldbuilding, and maybe Toby will take more control of her destiny in later books.
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