I fully admit that one of the reasons I really love reading MC Beaton’s books is that I can read two of them in less than 3 hours, which makes me feel like I’m getting Lots Of Reading Done. :) I’d been reading Agatha Raisin books, but I got a couple of Hamish Macbeth books for Christmas. Agatha one likes despite herself, but Hamish is really incredibly charming and more fun to read. So I blew through the first two books, DEATH OF A GOSSIP and DEATH OF A CAD,…
I’m having one of those days where I’ve got a bunch of things bubbling away and none of them are ready to talk about and so what I’m left with is just wanting to seize people and say “I KNOW SUCH COOL PEOPLE OMG LOOK AT THEM, THEY’RE SO COOL!” because I can’t be more specific. Except in a few cases I can. For example: my long-time friend Ellen Million’s coloring book for so-called-grown-ups Kickstarter is heading into its last week and only needs about another $1K to make 10x…
I read CITY OF BONES in a deliberately deconstructive manner. I wanted to see what worked and why. So this is perhaps an unusually, er, structural, review thingy. First off, Clare nearly lost me on page three, where the POV character did something to the effect of “my flashing green eyes scanned the room,” which, well, how damned often do you say, “My clear blue eyes lifted to the heavens,” even if you’re deliberately describing what actions you took? The color of your eyes is not likely to come into…
Dear Brain: Please stop suggesting Kickstarters I could do. The list is already longer than my arm, I do still have a book under contract and two more verbally contracted, plus a bunch of short stories to write for people. I also have to, at some point, actually write new proposals for my editors. I’m just sayin’. Love, Me.
Fairly early yesterday afternoon, my friend Pádraig posted on FB to say that after a sudden turn for the worse, Iain Banks had died early yesterday morning. I didn’t repost until I saw it confirmed elsewhere, because although there was really no chance Pádraig was wrong, I was still holding out a tiny thread of hope. Honestly, I have no business being so saddened by his death. I met him at a small convention in Belfast over the course of a weekend, and was completely charmed by him. I still,…