Castle of Wizardry, by David Eddings

Recent Reads: Castle of Wizardry

Not, as it turns out, my favorite of the series, despite Ce’Nedra’s taking the helm in many ways. I remembered it more fondly. And there’s nothing particularly wrong with it, except it largely feels like a filler book: this is where Garion gets crowned and Ce’Nedra raises an army, and that’s sort of all that happens in this ‘un. It’s entertaining enough, with laugh out loud moments like all of them have, but not the strongest of the series. Looking forward to finishing ’em up, though, because I /have/ been…

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Mountain Echoes by CE Murphy

words on the page

Thanks to my mother’s good graces, I’m starting to get some traction on SHAMAN RISES. And let me just make this Note To Self here and now: Dear Self: Next time you write a 9 book series with plans to have EVERYBODY RETURN in the last book, don’t make it a first person POV series. Mmkay? Love, Me. Seriously. 9 chapters in and I still have 3 characters to get on screen. Jo’s thought of something clever and I have to make it all go horribly wrong. Momentum is beginning…

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Magician's Gambit, by David Eddings

Recent Reads: MAGICIAN’S GAMBIT

! I had forgotten there were scenes and sections in MAGICIAN’S GAMBIT that were entirely from Ce’Nedra’s point of view. I knew there were in CASTLE OF WIZARDRY, but I had no recollection of it in MG. This endears the book(s) to me as an adult even more than as a teen. I was not one of those female readers who as a child felt left out because all the stories were about boys and I wasn’t a boy so therefore couldn’t relate. Yes, well, there wasn’t a magical passageway…

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Stormcloud sunset

Hope is the creature with wings.

A to-me-fascinating takeaway line on this article on climate change is this: There’s a small but non-trivial chance of advanced civilization breaking down entirely. My climate change trilogy would be meant to be a thing of hope. That said, hope is the creature with wings; it is difficult to catch. The idea of writing another trilogy post that, a farther-future-set story where some things have gone right but a lot has gone desperately wrong is really appealing. Apparently I’m suffering from the urge to reinvent myself a SF writer when…

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the essential kit

Lent

Since, as my mother said, we couldn’t be in New Orleans last night, we had pancakes for dinner instead. Actually, Pancake Tuesday is a totally new-to-me concept since coming here. Or not *totally*, because when we lived in California with a British friend on hand, she would do pancakes on Fat Tuesday. But aside from that, totally new to me. Is it something people other places in America do or am I right in thinking of it is a European(British?) tradition? (I was making maple syrup for the pancakes, and…

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