Women Writers of Fantasy Book Club

Join. It sounds interesting with intriguing selections.

The Way of Kings

Finally finished the Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. It's 1000 pages. Let me state that this monstrous tome has received near universal praise was sources/critics/blogs that I highly regard. But it's 1000 pages, and really, it's 500 pages too long.

The Way of Kings got off to such a slow start that I honestly wondered if I read the same book as the reviewers. Then I had to remind myself how much I enjoyed Sanderson's other books. Elantris got off to a slow start, too, and he turned it around. Same with Warbreaker. I believed in the author, dammit!

That was at page 125. Getting to page 400 was like pulling teeth. The opening chapter was action pack and exicting. Then a mysterious chapter with characters we never see again. Then a chapter with the standard Sanderson plucky young heroine. She vanished for 300 pages. 300! Then the novel mixes chapters of the past and present for the central character, the ex-soldier/slave. The another new central character, the aging warlord figure. And in between the chapter are "interludes" with random characters never to be seen again. I imagine these are to give a "flavor" for the world.

All the while all this (wild hand gesturing) is happening, I'm hard press to actually describe what happened in the plot. Three central characters, too much exposition and finally, finally, things start to get interesting around page 600.

The Way of Kings ends strong. Sanderson does not disappoint but, man, it was struggle to get there.

I got to say, if I didn't have faith in the author, I would have put the book aside and not thought twice of abandoning it. This is, simply, not a good introduction to Sanderson's work. A lot of the other reviews focus on the elaborate world building Sanderson does in the narrative: the detail, the thoughtfulness. I agree. He's put a lot of thought and time and effort into creating an entirely unique world. However, the world building obstructs the actual story. World building supports the story. Let's not have world building for the sake of world building.

Overall, a fine book with a slow start and a strong finish. Sanderson needs a good editor, however; someone not afraid to tell time to get on with it and stop unnecessary exposition.

Welcome back

Oh, my sweet, neglected blog. It seems I've forsaken you for the flash of Facebook. I'm sorry.

What prompted me to utilize my blog again was NaNoWriJuly...or MiniNaNo. Can't decide. Jenny motivated me to use my unemployment to do some awesome (like write 50k words in month) instead of sitting around the housing, stressing about getting a job.

The job hunting is progressing. I read reports about unemployment figures and it scares me, but I have interviews scheduled. So far the worst ting about being unemployed has been the boredom. I went from working full time, doing an internship and going to school to just going to school. It's like running full tilt and then suddenly stopping. I'm doing nothing with my time and it's driving me crazy.

Clearly, the solution to my excess energy is to write fifty thousand words.

Birthday

I just had a strange conversation with a resident. Today is her birthday. She is now 66. I realized that she was my age when I was born.

It was a little weird.

Bad Chocolate

Sometimes I can get the good stuff, meaning Cadbury chocolate actually made in England. Sometimes, just sometimes, my grocery store actually stocks real Cadbury from England, not the nasty stuff made by Hershey.

Sunday I picked up a Dairy Milk bar. No, I did not read the label. I normally do. I was just lazy. Well, lesson learned. Today I took a bit of the chocolate, expecting rich, creamy dairy milk to melt in my mouth. Instead, I got something waxy, grainy and oddly "chocolate" flavored by not really chocolate. At first I thought the bar was old. I checked the expiration date. Nope. Then I noticed the label. Made by Hershey.

Damn you, Hershey! You have ruined my chocolate for the last time!

Snow Day!

Here you see me looking like a fashion plate with my Harry Potter scarf. And this is my car under six inches of snow.

My apple tastes weird

So, I'm at work, munching on an apple. I'm enjoying it. It's crisp and juicy and bacony. Wait, what?

My apple has a bacon after taste. I kid you not.

Either this is some sort of glorious mutation or genetic experiment that spits in the face of nature. I can't decide.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Day (apparently I don't work on Wednesdays)

This is the second snow day so far this year! And they're both on Wednesdays. Sadly, and maybe this is a sign of my growing maturity, but I kind of needed to go to work today and get some things done. As I was not there last Wednesday (due to the first snow day), I had a big pile of things and rescheduled meetings for today.

Oh well, it will get done when it gets done.

School was canceled last night, which turned out to be a good thing. It meant I got to drive home before the snow started to pile up. 8 inches in Philly. (We only got 3 here, so not so much shoveling to do this afternoon.)

The snow had been coming down all day by the time I drove home, but it wasn't sticking to the roads yet. However, the snow coated the trees and lawns in a rather fetching manner. The snow came down in big, fluffy flakes. The sky was leaden so the world was cozy, glowing white. Rather like a Christmas card illustration. Philly is actually very picturesque in the snow.

It made me a little homesick, simply because snow never looks that way in Kansas. In Kansas, the snow melts a little in the sun and refreezes at night, creating a crusty diamond-like surface on vast expanses of snow. The day after a storm the sky is a bright, bright blue. The snow is blinding and the ice on the trees reflects the light in such a way as to make you certain that the trees are nothing more than elaborate blown glass sculptures.

I wanna be a Time Lord

I just realized that I can earn a Time Lord badge in City of Heroes.

Words are not enough to express how much I long for that badge.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Jenny and I (and Andy) rang in the New Year at the They Might be Giants concert. It was fun. And loud. And crowded. And Standing Room only. (If I had known that, I might not have gone. The tickets has seat numbers! Numbers!) But mostly it was fun. And now my feet hurt.

Pictures will follow.

Proper pronunciation

Philadelphia is in the middle of a nasty budget crunch. It's not pretty. Rec centers and a few libraries are closing. People are upset.

Closing a library is always a bad idea. Always.

But I am sick to death of listening to people on the radio pleading, "Don't close our lie-berries!"

For the love of the baby jeebus, learn to fucking pronounce the word "library". It makes me think that Philadelphia doesn't need libraries but speech therapy.

Merry Christmas

This warms my bitter, bitter heart.

Christmas Plans

Sunday morning (the same day as the ice storm) I awoke with a strong desire to drink fruity, pink wine on Christmas day. Not great wine, cheap wine. I'm not paying more than $5. And it should be strawberry. Yeah. Fantastic.

I know, you're thinking that's disgusting. I know Jenny and Clare like wine. But I'm really not that great a drinker. I don't like strong alcohol. And I really like the booze that tastes like candy. Call it an unsophisticated pallet, but I like what I like.

So I went to the state store to by the above described pink wine. One bottle was $3.99, the other $4. 99. Perfect.

However, I was sorely tempted by the Elvis Blue Christmas wine, $19.99 a bottle. Fortunately, I was able to resist.

Hrothgar and the Ice Storm

Sunday mornign we had a minor ice storm. Nothing terrible but just bad enough to make you glad it was Sunday morning and not Monday morning. Hrothgar, however, was determined to go outside on the back porch.

He pleaded.

He whined.

He pawed at the back door.

He made a pest of himself, generally.

After hours of this, I was ready to relent. "Fine. You'll see its horrible out."

Andy said no. If we let him out in the ice storm, he'd gain some super power and be like a Frost Giant or worse. I feared an ice armor clad battle cat napping on my couch. Nope. Hrothgar can not go out in an ice storm.

Sad Shopping

The other night I went to my favorite store, Lane Bryant, for undies and such. It was so sad! The mall, first off, was nearly empty. The store itself was empty. Physically as well as with shoppers. The clerk told me I was the first costumer since lunch. Sad. And there wasn't the same amount of merchandise on the floor, giving it an empty feeling.

Blogging from the Benefits Bank

Hey. I'm stuck at this training this morning, listening to the presenter go on about various benefits, like food stamps, PACE, LIHEAP. Basically, things I already know.

So they want me at work to use this software to determine is people are eligible for benefits. Hmm. I can read the instructions on an application form and use to a calculator to figure that out. If the software completes the actual applications, then I can print them out, THAT would be nifty.

I'm still on the fence if this  training is a waste of time or not. On the bright side, they do have free wifi.

Catch up reading

Today I will catch up on my reading of everyone's Nano stories. I've read the first two chapters of Clare's Kali. And I read the first five of Jenny's. ANd I like them both. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day! Live it up.

nanowrimo 08

National Novel Writing Month 2008

The Road Two – An extraordinary Sequel

By Melissa Hensley and Jennifer Mathis (mostly by Jenny this year).

The Great Space Ship Robbery

It was a cunning plan. A plan so fraught with cunning it was beyond mere hyperbole and was literally the most cunning plan in the world.
"I prefer to think of it as a cunning dog positively rabid with cunning," Turkish said.
"It's a stupid plan," Portia said.
"Fine. Spoil my fun"
Portia fidgeted with her parasol. The lights framing the view screen cast a warm amber glow, tinting her hands and clothing in a vaguely jaundiced light. "Is this wool?"
Turkish ignored Portia and pointed to a distant point on the view screen. "There she is."
"It's itchy."
"She's a grand ship."
"I told you wool makes me itchy." Portia scratched her upper arm. There her shoulder.
"I don't know what the material is. Larissa gave me the fabric."
"You told her no wool, right? Because she's got a stockpile of the stuff she's been trying to get ride of for twenty years."
"We'll get you a new dress on the ship, all right?"
Strangely, this appeased Portia and the itchy became tolerable. "I just can't think when there's a spot in the middle of my shoulder blades that I can't reach," she said.
Turkish dutifully scratched the spot in the middle of her shoulder blades. Someone to scratch the hard to reach itches was simply the best part of having a significant other.
"Thank you. But it's still a stupid plan."
"No. It's an outlandish plan. There's a difference."
A large luxury star cruiser slowly filled the view screen.