I've written over 20 000 words on the New Project this week.

Four new chapters.

Back to the next chapter on the drawing board now - I still have a couple of hours before Plans For Tonight, and then taking the weekend to goof off - I'm allowed. It's my birthday.

I'll do my regular blog over at SFNovelists tomorrow, as I'm due. Unless something spectacular and essential to be shared pops up between now and Monday, that'll be my contribution to the blogosphere for the next two and a half days. Mosey on over there tomorrow for your fix o' writerly maunderings, if you've a mind.

In the meantime, off to write, and then off to celebrate. Y'all play nice, now.

Today is my youngest niece's 25th birthday. While everyone else is debating the birth of the US, I will be giving thanks that she is here to observe this one. She had a kidney transplant (from her Dad) to give her life back.

Not everyone has compatable family members for organ transplant, and some organs have to be donated after death because they are singular constructs.

For those who are Organ Donors, thankyou in advance on behalf of those you will help.

Speaking of my brother, he left a message on my phone yesterday that said "Happy birthday late, my wife has been busy taking care of her Mother who had knee replacement (she takes care of the family calender) and.. I am the Favorite Child, neener neener neener" ... and he is the responsible mature one of the family... grin.

Is this place for real? According to swan_tower, from whom I gacked these photos, everything you see was built without a single iron nail...

So, I've been a bit of a hermit this past week -- trying to catch up on some rest and relaxation because we worked so hard last weekend -- and haven't been logging on to LJ this week, really. I just had a random stab through my flist but if you have exciting news to share, I may have missed it so please do be sure to share?

Now, of course, it is well past my bedtime (have also been going to bed well before 10pm, I live such a glamourous and exciting life!) and I am exhausted. But if that were not the case I would post photos of the Monster Truck that I drove last weekend. 5 foot chick (and a girly girl chick at that), Monster truck. Twas actually quite empowering, in a very out of proportional way.

Will post those tomorrow :)

Fourth of July Fireworks, Bowlus, Minnesota, 2000 Photograph by Richard Olsenius

Fireworks light up the sky over a grain elevator in Bowlus, Minnesota. The volunteer fire department sets off the display every year on the Fourth of July, during Bowlus Fun Days. The daylong celebration is a "big thing" in Bowlus, says Charlie Sobieck, who owns the grain elevator. "We have bingo, a snow-cone stand, cotton candy, polka bands, and a parade with floats. It's a good gathering for people to see people they haven't seen in years."

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "In Search of Lake Wobegon," December 2000, National Geographic magazine)

My learnt colleague Random_Alex recently linked to a kind of canonical list of SF novels; the "classics" if you will...

Of course these things are always highly subjective and canons exist to be torn down but nevertheless I find these lists interesting...

I started thinking today what my list of epic fantasy "canonical" texts would be; the texts I'd teach if were trying to give students an overview of the rise of epic fantasy, for good or bad... (not that I'd ever in fact do such a thing, but hey, it's imaginary).

My list is very male-biased.... mostly because while I've read a lot of fantasy by female authors, very little of it was published before 1990...

So anyway, my overview of the genre would look like this:

The Lord of the Rings... J.R.R Tokien
The Sword of Shanara... Terry Brooks
The Belgariad... David Eddings
Dragonlance Chronicles... Weiss/Hickman
Magician... Raymond E. Feist
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant... Stephen Donaldson
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn... Tad Williams
The Wheel of Time... Robert Jordan
Song of Ice and Fire... George R. Martin

I'm sure those of you who've read more older stuff could work a couple of female authors in there too... Patricia McKillop maybe, or Mercedes Lackey or Anne McCaffrey, neither of who I've read but both of whom have big followings and so presumably illustrate something or other...

The canon I've laid out basically runs like this: Precursor (Lord of the Rings), then the Brooks and Eddings which kind of set up the cliches, while leaning toward greater accessibility/readability and younger audiences, the Weiss/Hickman and Feist as examples of interweaving of fantasy and gaming, while the latter (I think) expands the genre a little... Donaldson and Williams as two authors who take some of the cliches and weave in more depth and challenges, with some post-colonial and anti-hero stuff etc... Jordan as kind of the epic fantasy climax, almost the point at which the genre reached its natural endpoint and started to decline as other sub-branches like romantic fantasy and new weird started to rise to replace it... Martin's series as an example of more recent writing and again, kind of fleshing out the cliches and using them in an interesting and relevant way...

All this is of course based on my very narrow and subjective narrative of the history of Epic fantasy... I'm sure other readers would have their own chronology... how about you???

Thought and Memory

New words: 2,691

Total words: 90,692

Listening/watching: Tea Party - Edges of Twilight

Total words for the year: 264,392

And it’s done.

This draft is now complete. I definitely need to work on the ending, as well as go back and do some minor edits to the earlier sections. But it is finished, and I wrote “The End” with great satisfaction.

I think I’ll set it aside for a few weeks and go back and work on Shaede a little (just doing some minor edits to the beginning as well as proofing it again) and get some queries for that winging their way out into the world. Then I’ll come back to Thought and Memory and do those minor edits and send it out to a few beta readers.

But for now, it’s done.

[cross-posted from my website]

Well hello all you 'we don't need you Brits any more, we're off our own now', you think it was a wise idea?

*winks*

I remember reading somewhere that if we pooled the money from all the nations of the world together in one account, the world would all have the same living standards as Portugal have today.

That's a dream, a dream I would dearly love to happen (and yes my standard of living in Sweden is way way above Portugal).

There's been a  few little shots fired off in my direction that almost feel like anonymous LJ comments, such is the 'I'm not going to mention you by name but make sure you know it's you' tone. Give it a rest. If you want a fight come out and we'll get to it. I'm with Solo, I prefer a straight fight to all this hiding around. Now is not the time to be juvenile, that stuff is for kids (hence the term).

I'm listening to and thinking about a lot of music at the moment, due to a project in process. How would you go about putting together 13 songs that said so much about your life?

I watched the first half of the new Andromeda Strain, last night. It was okay but I'm not really rushing in to watch part two. Then again I don't remember it grabbing me the first time around either...

I totally gave up on Medium after the third season. After being pushed to watch the program (by those in the know), I stuck with the first two seasons and enjoyed them. I have to say on the whole the third season was akin to pulling teeth. If someone really really disliked the third season, is there any argument for watching the fourth?

There's been lots of raving about Russell T. Davies' latest Who episodes and while I agree they are some of his better work, I am not a fan of the man and still maintain that Moffat's two were the best in this series.

Think that's about that for now...

Any questions?

Got dream_labryinth back today because quietselkie had to work, so the sister creature wasnt working so after I got the drop off this morning (and I was up early due to the Damn Cat whupping on me) away we went to the Oregon Coast. We did parts of Seaside, rode the carousel, bought salt water taffy (they had PASSION FRUIT.. woowoo) and some other sugar laden items, then down 101 to Ecola State Park to see the Pacific Ocean. Then Cannon Beach for a walk throught the shops before jetting back to Portland to hand her off again.

I felt like a divorced parent, and I think I acted like one, dropping off the kid without feeding her dinner, and letting her have sugar all day long.

In Seaside, they have a bookstore cat that rivaled Smedley's bulk before he toned up. I found an agate at Indian Beach where its not really agate aggragate. I found a small piece of driftwood that resembled a chicken foot. I had fun. I drove my sisters car like it was a speed race.

I need to struggle with the Damn Cat for supremacy, he spit his pill out 4 times this morning before I just stuck it in his food. His drops are next, if no one hears from me in a couple of days, he won. I guess he is feeling better.

Don't you hate it when you get home from a holiday and two hours later you can't be sure if you actually left the house & didn't just dream the whole thing up? To cheer my returned self up I thought I'd post a couple of review excerpts (the ones mentioning my own contribution, naturally) that have been sighted for the Clockwork Phoenix anthology edited by Mike Allen

The Fix review of Clockwork Phoenix:

In Cat Sparks’s “Palisade,” teenaged Luisa lives in a mansion with her father, imprisoned just like her only companions, the robotic simulacra of her mother at various ages. Luisa’s online relationship with Harmon provides her only escape, until she finds out a shattering truth about her long-distance lover. Delicious nastiness ensues. Sparks’s rich words bring to life the fecund hothouse of Luisa’s prison while also creating a character study of a petty tyrant and his effect on his captives. Beautiful and disturbing, “Palisade” is like a tasty fruit with a memorably bitter aftertaste.

And here's a segment from the Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, PA) staff writer Laurie Mason:

"Clockwork Phoenix" editor Mike Allen describes the anthology as "a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren't afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques." His choices here don't disappoint.

Take Australian writer Cat Sparks' "Palisade," for example.

This beautiful and unsettling tale of a sad girl living with her father in an opulent compound protected from the carnivorous insects and other horrors that live outside by an electrified fence is part science fiction, part romance and, ultimately, horror:

"Already the jungle has begun its steady creep towards my father's house. Liana vines entwine themselves around my father's butchered corpse. Within a week the marble steps will be cracked and broken, no longer visible from above. Within two, it will be impossible to tell what kind of structure once stood here. The grasses will thicken with tentacles and roots, the soils seethe and churn with carnivorous microbes.

"I have freed my father's slaves. Some of them have ransacked the house and run into the jungle. A few of the hardy ones may survive this time. The others have joined the servants in commandeering the Vazquenadas' silver ships. I watch their contrails blaze across the sky as soft flames of dawn kiss the horizon."

You can buy the book here.

Here is the Publisher's Weekly review:

"Author and editor Allen (Mythic) has compiled a neatly packaged set of short stories that flow cleverly and seamlessly from one inspiration to another. In "The City of Blind Delight" by Catherynne M. Valente, a man inadvertently ends up on a train that takes him to an inescapable city of extraordinary wonders. In "All the Little Gods We Are," Hugo winner John Grant takes a mind trip to possible parallel universes. Modern topics make an appearance among the whimsy and strangeness: Ekaterina Sedia delves into the misunderstandings that occur between cultures and languages in "There Is a Monster Under Helen's Bed," while Tanith Lee gleefully skewers gender politics with "The Woman," giving the reader a glimpse of what might happen if there was only one fertile woman left in a world of men. Lush descriptions and exotic imagery startle, engross, chill and electrify the reader, and all 19 stories have a strong and delicious taste of weird." (July)
-- Publishers Weekly (May 12 2008)

if not for the active input of some good friends today, I'd either be totally silent or ranting. Because I do have good friends I realise life is pretty good, despite the bad stuff, and am sharing with you guys a) a link to my taste testing of some of the Prohibition cocktails being considered for the banquet: http://www.foodpast.com/ & another email gem.

So thank you to my firefighting friend, for dousing my pyromaniacal tendencies.
Thank you to the friend who is keeping the slaves in line for me,
Thank you to the friend who sent me this. I've read it before, but it still makes me giggle. You all know who you are, and thanks. *hugs*

In case you need a laugh: Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one, but never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a 'Gripe Sheet' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute Descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious..

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Yesterday P and I headed back to Jerusalem to do the "other" stuff. I woke to my mother's several emails worried that I had been in J the day before when some dude went crazy down Jaffa Road in a bulldozer killing 3 people and injuring like 40. Hmmmm... had to decide if we should still go. But, this is Israel and if you don't do stuff for that kind of reason, you'll never do stuff here. But I did like the way we thought it through ... well, it was just a crazy guy, not a terrorist (as though they aren't crazy) so we'll go. I liked the politicising of "crazy" for some reason.

We did well I think to navigate ourselves to the bus station, to the sherut and then from the sherut stop in Jerusalem to the Jaffa Gate in the Old City. Then we wandered a little and stopped for coffee just inside near the first of many Souks (markets).

My cappuccino:


The day I think can only be explained either by the fact that I was wearing my Kabbalah red scrap of yarn on my left wrist, or my Grandmother came along and guided us. Because P and I had absolutely no idea - of what we wanted to see, of how to read the map, of how to get out of being lost inside the Souk. So... we found the nearest coffee shop we could for the above refreshments. Then we decided to find the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which looked to be a bit of a walk to the other side of the block we were on - like a 10 min walk or something. We come out of the small square where we had coffee, turn left and walk three shops up and what do we see? The sign labelling the Holy Sepulchre. We've caffeinated in the shadows of:



To be honest, it was a bit underawing. It is the place of worship for 6 different strands of Christianity and is overflowing with people speaking different languages and stopping to say quick prayers at different corners of the church. In every nook and cranny there is a different, ornate altar but you can't really see anything cause there are no lights on. So in between all the lavish little corners, there's like falling down building in darkness. I thought it was weird. Nonetheless, P found her appropriate location (will right up the photo when I get back tonight):



And ... here is the stone upon which they prepared Jesus for burial:



Obviously after this we needed coffee. Instead we decided to shop in the Souk for chachkas until lunch. Well ... we certainly covered a goodly amount of ground in the Souks. We figured out that what we thought were little alley or laneways were actually streets and eventually we got our bearings. This was when we did the shopping where I got the candlesticks, in the Cardno and in a sort of more upmarket little row of shops right before you get spit out into the Jewish Quarter. And then we were exhausted (a tour bus came through the shop just as we were trying to buy our candlesticks - P bought the set I originally fell in love with in green but I prefer the little blue stones in the set I bought).

So then we stopped for lunch - falafel. And then we tried to figure out our way to the Rock, Dome of the. We did get wincy bit lost but eventually found our way - people in the Souk are really very helpful directing you, the trouble is remembering that the laneways are *streets*! We finally found the Western Wall again, skirted it - it is still so very very beautiful to me - and then we stood in the line to go to the Temple Mount.

So ... I went up onto the Temple Mount. I debated it for a while - in the context that Jewish people are forbidden to go there by the Torah ... and then I went. My curiosity got the better of me and the Temple is not going to be rebuilt in my time and I kinda wanted to see the Dome.



Me not looking my best, in front of the Dome - see how crap I look? Remember this for the next section of this tale:


And some of the tiles which I got to see up close:


I still have no idea why it is so hard to get into see the Mosque - queuing, it was only open for an hour and you have to go through security and bag scan to go in and then, you can just exit straight back out into the Souk with only 2 policemen just casually hanging about. Meanwhile, we were back in the Souk armed only with our chachka lists to fill. We did yet more shopping. This is when things started to go awry, I think. We found one little shop and were looking and the son decided to serve us and either took a shine to me (I am going to stop wearing pink I think) or thought being exceedingly flirty was a good way to sell stuff. It was so hot in their shop that I was sweating like a pig (in pink) and he is all sidling up to me ... for you, a special price because I love your eyes... and then he totally freaking touched my boob! Are you single? Are you married? ... It was ... horrible! And then he continued to call me "honey" in this coy manner. I wanted to be sick. I bought some stuff to make him go away and then waited as lowkeyed as I could for P to finish her purchases. It took like 10 minutes and I felt revolting the whole time.

So then I didn't feel nice and it was hot and I was tired and all the shops were looking the same and I just wanted to get out of the Souk and it's little streets and people calling out at you all the time. P was done too so we decided to high tail it down some of the Via Delorosa and out. Well we did like maybe one station of the Via Delorosa, bought some chachkas (hey, it was a good price!) and suddenly, for some unknown reason (and luckily cause I can read Hebrew) found ourselves spat out the New Gate and back into the New City.

Phew!

I think at that point, I started to shut down. I had been very alert cause of being extra careful in Jerusalem. We found a toilet stop and then decided to skip coffee and get back to Tel Aviv. Somewhere around this time, P describes it like a switch in my brain and I just froze and was basically nonfunctional. We got a taxi to get the sherut and I had no recollection of where it was and how we caught it last time and would have stood on the street waiting for a very long time. P saw that I was not there anymore and took over and got us on a sherut out. I even fell asleep on the way back to Tel Aviv and just felt rotten. We got back to TA, I skipped coffee and went back to the hotel to shower (off the gross man from the Souk) and had a 2 hour nap. I do not nap. Not ever. So I don't know what happened. Even P who has only known me this week was like: you switched off and it just doesn't seem to be like you.

I am supposed to drink 3 L of water a day according to my trainer and I didn't do it yesterday. I think that was part of the problem.

Today I am going to be drinking lots of water but we are also visiting relatives in Haifa which should require less energy.

Things like THIS are pretty rare out here...

Good music, (bad) singing, phelmy gone mostly, coffee in front of me, nice and relaxed, got attacked by a massage monster (he was trying to make me stop singing so loudly to Queen...bah! Like anything could stop me!), and website going well.

All feels good like the fluffiest pair of socks I own.

Kitty tried convincing me she wanted to go outside and play in the grass...with the rain. And then she told me that apparently "MRR" is in season today. :P

Mmm heater....

http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/2008/07/news-booksurge-host-webseminar-on-self.html

Amazon's on-demand print brand BookSurge are hosting a free seminar for writers considering self-publication.

AUTHORPRENEURSHIP 101: Achieve Success through Self-Publishing

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
5:00 - 6:00 pm Eastern Time
Fee to participate: FREE!

Presentation Host

- Richard Ridley, author marketing specialist and multi-award winning self-published author of The Oz Chronicles, a fiction series including titles such as The Takers and Delon City

Why Attend?

Are you considering self-publishing, but not quite sure if it's the right fit for you? This webinar will help answer your questions and lead you to make an informed decision on your publishing path. Whether you're a first-time writer just learning the ropes or an established author considering self-publishing for your next project, this is a presentation you won't want to miss.

During the workshop, you'll learn about:

• The differences between the publishing options available to you - including seeking a traditional publisher, starting your own publishing imprint, and self-publishing with a third party provider like BookSurge
• The advantages of self-publishing your work
• The logistics of print-on-demand vs. offset printing
• What it takes to become an "authorpreneur" and some specifics about the BookSurge self-publishing process
• Advice and tips for success once your work is in print

Source: Booksurge/Amazon

http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/2008/07/news-random-housezogby-poll-on-reading.html

Zogby International recently conducted a survey for Random House, seeking information about the book-buying habits on Americans. Pollsters surveyed 8000 adults.

"Despite the growing availability of other formats for reading-such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA-- the vast majority of readers still like to read the old-fashioned way - 82% said they prefer to curl up with a printed book over using the latest in reading technology... Women (85%) are more likely than men (79%) to say they prefer reading printed books. Reading printed books also has greater appeal among older respondents, although it is by far the preferred method among all age groups."

A comprehensive breakdown of results is available in the Press Release at Zogby International.

Source: Zogby International

Last night I threw caution to the winds and work to the winds and everything except chocolate cake to the winds* and I dogged the footsteps of Conor and Mik** and spent the evening watching Grapeseed***.

I like the second movie in particular. Contemplate a James Bond post-apocalyptic zombie superhero movie and you'll have about 50% of it. I'm hoping I'll come up with the missing adjectives on Sunday, when the Great Cocktail Test is happening****.



*The chocolate cake is almost all eaten now, so it would have been futile to waste any on the winds. I saved just enough for Donna's thingamjig tonight. I suspect I might be leaving Donna's early tonight, because there's Batman anime and I will have the chance to do the patter-patter thing again. Anime with excellent company is something not to refuse.

**They're both very tall, so all they really knew of it was the patter-patter of my feet trying to catch up.

***OK, so it was Appleseed. My mind, however, has decided it was 'Grapeseed' and it takes way too much effort to remember what it was actually called.

**** If you don't hear from me on Sunday, blame the Prohibition. Also blame twelve cocktails.

PS I need to replace the book in my handbag (by Stephen Hunt - I don't think we know each other, but he keeps sending me curious things on Facebook) with something educational, because otherwise this pretence of me being erudite will fail entrely, given my lifestyle this week.

I don't know that I'm going to start writing regular updates every Friday, but I just saw I haven't written anything for the past few days. I guess it's because nothing much newsworthy has happened. I haven't finished anything, started anything new, got any brilliant ideas, just kept plugging on with the WIP.

I've only received a single communication about a submission, which was neither an acceptance nor a rejection. What's that? NO rejections this week? Probably has a lot more to do with the northern hemisphere holiday season than my writing ability.

The weather is cold and horrible. OK, I know that for some of you arctic types, summer temperatures don't even reach levels we're at now, but then again, try keeping warm in this blustery cold weather when you have no winter clothing, most buildings have no heating, and cracks between windows/doors and their frames are big enough for a decent-sized mouse to run through without ducking. In fact, most far-northern hemisphere types who visit here in winter say they've never been so cold in their lives. Europeans and US-ians turn up heating a lot, no, A LOT, higher and tend to keep their houses stuffy and hermetically shut.

OK, so this week:

- I finished the second pass through the WIP, and started over with chapter 9, and have progressed to chapter 16.
- I got three reviews on the short story
- did three reviews on OWW
- attempted to mitigate the above-mentioned lack of rejections by sending another four queries. Nope. No luck. Still no rejections.
- Because of the previous point, I now have 15 submissions outstanding
- One short story is still in the jar, but I'm waiting to send that to a magazine where I can't send it right now.
- I've finished reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, I read New Moon by the same author, and started Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman. I enjoyed the Meyer books. I'm about 100 pages into the Friedman book. It's a bit early to say what I think of it, other than that the style and/or subject matter doesn't put me off so much that I won't finish it.
- I've had some annoying computer problems
- We've been to watch our middle daughter perform in the Grease musical at school.
- today is the last day of school term. Kids will be home for the next two weeks.