Downton X-Men

Not that I need anything else to do in my Copious Free Time, but last night I wasn’t even thinking about my Downton Abbey/X-Men mashup (did I mention that? the other day I had an X-Men/Downton Abbey dream and thought, damn, that could work. WWI-era superheroes, that is, more than actually fitting Downton Abbey to the X-Men (which could also work but I don’t see getting to do that any time soon :)) and I realised I could use that world to do Evil Hat Fred’s “World War G” idea,…

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Recent Reads: Edwardian Murder Mysteries

Last fall sometime I read MC Beaton’s SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE, which I enjoyed very much (as I do nearly all of Beaton’s historical romancs) and asked for the rest of the quartet for Christmas so I could finish them all before doing a Recent Reads on them. A couple weeks ago I picked up the 2nd book and found it…incredibly disjointed. There was no flow from book 1 to book 2, and while it had been a few months since I’d read the first, I didn’t think it had been…

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I need a TARDIS.

I don’t know what happened to January. I mean, yes, I know what happened to January: we had the flu, or something like it, and totally lost a full week or more to being sick. And then Ted had a week off and somehow I got a lot less work done in that time than I imagined I was going to, and now it’s the end of the month and I’m sick again. For God’s sake. I’ve gotten…15K or so done on MAGIC & MANNERS, which is pretty good, but…

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Recent Reads: The Paradox Trilogy

As mentioned in last week’s post, I got Rachel Bach (Aaron)’s military sf/space opera last year on the strength of her Eli Monpress books, and, in my quest to get through my TBR shelf in order, read them this month. They’re not as easy to fall into as the Monpress books; Devi Morris, the main character, isn’t as charming or delightful as Eli Monpress. Then again, she’s not supposed to be, so frankly that speaks to Aaron’s strengths as a writer. Book one found its footing after a few chapters,…

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so many conventions

Argh, there are so many conventions I’d like to go to this year. I’d like to go to EasterCon, because Jim’s going to be one of the guests of honor and it’s the perfect place for seeing UK-based friends. I’d like to go to WorldCon because it’s West Coast this year and so loads of people I know will be there and so will Daniel Keys Moran, who doesn’t go to cons and who I would really, really like to meet. And I just found out WFC is in Saratoga…

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