the essential kit

extraordinary people

So I was reading something–probably Kate Elliott ()’s fabulous The Omniscient Breasts–and some guy was commenting (to paraphrase), “Why would anybody want to read epic fantasy about women, who basically got married at fourteen and stayed pregnant their whole lives and never went five miles from where they were born?” I find the blindered attitude behind that to be staggering. I mean, unless this guy is working under the delusion that actually every male in history has left home, become a knight, discovered he’s the lost orphaned king of the…

Continue Reading

Let It Bleed - Jeri-Smith-Ready

Recent Reads: LET IT BLEED

LET IT BLEED is book 3.5 of the WVMP RADIO urban fantasy series by my friend Jeri Smith-Ready, and is what happens when the publisher decides they want four books instead of five and the author turns the salient events of book four into a novella to offer her readers for free so she can wrap up the series in a way she feels is satisfying. This is in every way awesome. And the novella is, in and of itself, fine. My problem is with a decision Jeri’s made for…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

Recent Reads: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I haven’t read this in decades. It still works. :) I was a little surprised at the fairy tale qualities that I didn’t remember from childhood, but even so, they were less Fairy-Tale-Weird than most, er, non-invented? fairy tales. I mean, fairy tales make no sense at all in terms of “Oh hey, a glass mountain, oh look, a magic flying saddle appears to help me climb it!” Right, but, er, why did the magic flying saddle appear at all? Where did it come from? This makes slightly more sense…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

shopping! and stuff.

I was obliged to go buy a couple more pinup girl dresses today, due to having a gift certificate that was about to expire. Now I have something to wear to EasterCon. I’ll have to do something about my hair, I expect, but yay fun clothes! :) I am even at this very moment failing to watch new Castle. *sigh* I’ve been remembering all week that the first new episode was on tonight, and at the critical moment, I forgot. Woe. We’re recording it when it re-airs tomorrow night, but…

Continue Reading

Enchanters' End Game, by David Eddings

Recent Reads: Enchanters’ End Game

Turns out ENCHANTERS’ END GAME has all kinds of POVs in it, mostly, in fact, of women. Well, no, not mostly: mostly it’s Garion. But every other POV is a female, because Eddings dips in around the West and visits the queens who are holding the thrones while their husbands are off fighting the big war. Re-reading as an adult, I found that interesting for two reasons: one, it means every POV in the Belgariad that is not Garion’s is female, which–from the adult perspective–is fairly awesome. One wonders if…

Continue Reading