Friends

Seeing as six months have passed, I might as well post a list of books I've read so far, otherwise the list at the end of the year will be really long.

1. Year's best Australian SF & Fantasy vol. 3 (favourite story: Nestor - Simon Brown)
2. Darklands - Liz Williams (weird but cool)
3. Ringworld - Larry Niven
4. Dune - Frank Herbert (I'm 100% sure this is a re-read, but I remembered very litte)
5. The sky warden and the sun - Seam Williams (cool)
6. Dark is the moon - Ian Irvine (this falls in my category of rampant fantasy)
7. Shadow of Tyr - Glenda Larke
8. Unexplained - John Pinkney (non-fiction - about ghost and UFO sightings)
9. Song of the Shiver Barrens - Glenda Larke
10 Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin (too slow for me)
11. Deliverer - C.J. Cherryh ( YAY!)
12. The Storm Weaver and the Sand - Sean Williams (liked this one a lot)
13. Fivefold - Nathan Burrage (book by ex-crit-buddy. Not really my cuppa and suffering a bit from rampant fantasy)
14. The harsh cry of the heron - Lian Hearn (very slow but I liked it)
15. The broken sword - Poul Anderson
16. Simon Coldheart - Georgette Heyer (now here's for something different!)
17. ASIM 32 - favourite story Breeding season by Dave Luckett
18. The prodigal Sun - Sean Williams and Shane Dix (I think I am turning into a Sean Williams fan)
19. The hearts of men - Chris Barker (non-fiction - a book showing how all problems in the world are caused by distant and alcoholic fathers - interpret cynicism at your peril)
20. Iron Council - China Mieville (gave up on this one. Cool worldbuilding but couldn't friggin' understand the story)
21. The next American Century - Nicholas Gyatt (non-fiction, about politics - I really enjoyed this book)
22. The Stone Key - Isobelle Carmody (what?? This isn't the last volume? Can this author EVER finish a series?)
23. The way between the worlds - Ian Irvine (if I start a series I hate not finishing it. I have to say that a lot of the worldbuilding was over my head)
24. Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey (cool characters - the torture scenes are NOT for me)
25. Plunging point - Lance Collins & Warren Reed (non-fiction - about spying - enjoyed this)
26. Nuclear power and the spread of nuclear weapons - P. Leventhal, S. Tanzer, S. Dolley (non-fiction)
27. Looking for life - searching the solar system - Paul Clancy, Andre Brack, Gerda Horneck (non-fiction. Boy, I enjoyed this!)
28. Voyage of the shadow moon - Sean Mc Mullen (there are some really cool elements in the story, but the style came across as clunky to me)
29. Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett (I don't think I'm cut out for this, although some of the ideas are really cool)
30. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (right up my alley)
31. The stars down under - Sandra MacDonald (nice story, found the worldbuilding increasingly unbelievable)
32. War & Ethics - Nicholas Fotion (non-fiction - a lot of common sense disguise as science)
33. Point of Origin - Patricia Cornwell
34. ASIM 33 - Favourite story by Sarah Totton
35. Hammer of God - Karen Miller (enjoyable, but a bit drawn- out)
36. Beka Cooper - Terrier - Tamora Pierce (loved this)
37. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer (loved this)
38. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer (this, too)

Comments anyone?

Mathematics student Nikolai Sazhin, 19, competing under the name "The President'' knocked out a 37-year-old German policeman Frank Stoldt, who served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo until recently.

The loser said he was simply too punch-drunk to fend off checkmate.

We watched Dr Who, and the making of bit afterwards, and I discovered that David Tennant has a lovely Scots brogue. Why then, does he have to use a middle class, vaguely English public -school accent? Who says Dr Who has to be English? Or white? (Adrian Lester would make a great Doctor, though it might be a waste of his talent) Or male? Okay, I'm not sure about a female Doctor. I expect that's one thing that shouldn't change.

Current Mood: curious is my default setting

Every month, AnthologyBuilder features several authors and offers a dollar off if you add a stories by one of those authors to your personalized Anthology. (So the price drops from 14.95 to 13.95 for up to 350 pages of awesome fiction you pick yourself!)

And I'm pleased to be among that number this month!

I have two stories up for sale at AnthologyBuilder:
"The Stains of the Past" is my first published story (Feb. 2006), set in the same 'universe' as several of my other works including my WIP. (In fact, one of the characters in Devil in the Details is the granddaughter of two of the characters in this story.) It's a speculative fiction romance, and is the story of mine that was cited in an article on an academic blog. (I still find that incredibly bizarre.)

"A Hand for Each" was first published in the Shimmer Pirate Issue (November 2007). The polar opposite of the first offering, it's a sea-faring horror story styled on the writings of Richard Dana (Two Years Before the Mast).*

So, if you're looking for something to read this summer, AnthologyBuilder is the place to check out. And if you buy something of mine, you could save some money as well! (which everyone knows I like)

_________________________________________________
*I like to think of this as a 'guy' story.

http://www.jenniferfallon.com.au/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/7/Done-and-dusted

It is 2:02 AM.

The Chaos Crystal is done.

758 / 758 (100.0%)

 I can sleep now. Oh goody:)

( what words can I put here? ).

(okay body, mind - can I sleep now please?)

Current Location: home, not in bed... K is sleeping and kicked me out
Current Mood: sad
Current Music: "Conversation with God" - Darren Hayes

( !!!!! )

Current Location: home - bed with internets
Current Mood: shocked
Current Music: nil

OMG. ( one line spoiler )

Current Location: home - bed with internets
Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: nil

I'm only two days in, but I know how quickly these things go, especially once one starts factoring in days away visiting family and friends, so, I'm going to be proactive and try to keep on top of things, rather than leaving them to the last minute!

Thusly, so far I have:
* almost finalised ASIM 36 edits/layout etc - waiting on two illos and three bios - otherwise it's proofed, locked and loaded!
* slushed my Shiny subs
* started to fix my ASIM 38 problems
* purchased an anthology from Anthology Builder - no, this wasn't something that was NECESSARY to do, but I did it, it's an achievement!
* similarly, I bought a book from Amazon from Amazon today - genrereviewsblogged about it and I felt I had to have it!
* the mountains of washing that appear in this house in a week with three adults (one of whom hoards a week's worth of clothes while he's away...) and two messy kids is three quarters done and folded.
* house is surprisingly clean - housemate is keeping his end of the bargain!
* Watched two movies with various family members
* played board games and cricket with son
* given and received many unhurried cuddles
* long hand two book reviews.
* initiated discussions with my Aurealis panel


Things to do:
* filing and prepare tax for accountant - they go together because one cannot be done until the other is.
* washing
* ironing
* purchase and post 1st birthday present for nephew
* go to Big W toy sale and layby Christmas and birthday presents for my children and others
* type book reviews
* write about 10 more book reviews owing!
* mark approximately 155 year 9 book reviews. Ack.
* drive to Badgy and visit friends
* take big boy to his 10-pin bowling final league games/presentation (Thursday)
* get WA drivers licence
* sort out boat registration
* edit Shiny issue 4 stories and consider layout options.
* edit New Ceres anthology stories and work on getting artists...
* clean all the crap out of the garage.
* see family
* see friends
* go to public library kids sessions.
* sort out junk in kids rooms (mostly boy's room - girl's room got done last weekend, finally!) 
* sort out books to dump - hey, if I can weed at work, I can weed at home! mortonhallis doing it, I can too!
* get hair done
* get kids haircuts
* have Pixifotos taken (prepping for Christmas)

I'm sure there's more. Holidays? What holidays?! 

Current Mood: busy and productive

Shard and DAMN television shows that think making mothers give up their babies is entertainment! I sat there with tears streaming down my face for five minutes during Private Practice while two mothers had to swap their NINE MONTH OLD babies, one of whom had maybe five years to live, and whose FATHER switched them at two days in the first place. Damn damn damn. Mothers of small children should never have to watch such things.

Or the damn stupid LotteryWest advert that has NOTHING to do with lotteries... 

Current Mood: teary

*is ranty*

( utterly ranty with no happy points at all )

...well, short ish.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: infuriated
Current Music: Batman Begins in the background.

Chapter 18 really sucks. This is my bad-child chapter that I've already revised three times. I suppose it sucks less than before but it still has some way to go. It's one of those Very Important dialogue chapters where our poor character faces another person who wants to convince him to do something. Problem is my character doesn't think much of the other character, and I need to make the dialogue work so that it:
- isn't a slab of as-you-know-Bob conversation
- sounds plausible
- isn't forced
- isn't corny
- has plenty of emotion
- ends up as I want it to while doing all the above.
GAH!

It looks like the short story is finished. Now I have to decide What To Do With It. I find that really hard, especially if I really, really like the story. I write perhaps three or four stories a year that take a special place in my heart. I want to submit them strategically. So... a magazine or WOTF? I dunno that I have the patience for the latter. The quarter has just finished. Maybe I'll send it to a magazine I consider a challenge. I should get the yay or nay on that within three months, and then I can still send it to WOTF if it's still available? I dunno.

http://www.jenniferfallon.com.au/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/6/Back-on-line

This morning I went to the market and in a few minutes I'm Confluxing. I was supposed to rest in between, but my phone was turned on so I lost all but 20 minutes of my rest time to people who felt they needed to call, and Phill had to come a bit earlier to pick me up because he has family obligations, and I decided it was better to blog in these last minutes, take pain killers to tide me over till I'm drunk and save all my unsober messages for my food blog, where today I actually chronicle the progress of the alcohol. Just as well I'm Jewish and Sunday isn't a day of rest for me, because I've had about 15 minutes without stuff to do since I woke up at 7.30 am.

I am *so* not a morning person. I babble, as you can see. It's worse than usual because I ran out of coffee, last night. I drank two cups at the market, but I have none for now, when it really counts.

The good news is that I have wonderful stuff in my fridge, so it will be a good week: roast chicken tonight and then goat curry later in the week. Lambs' hearts must wait till I feel ghoulish. Then my coffee order will come (probably Tuesday) and then I'll stop whingeing about the no-sleep thing - but it was quite cold last night - less than -3 - and so I kept waking up to turn the heater on for a few minutes and I had *interesting* nightmares and.... do you think anyone will notice if I sleep during the meeting bit this afternoon and just wake up for the drinks?

I will reclaim shaped sentences when I'm more awake. In the meantime, I have five bunches of daffs unfolding in my kitchen and they make my life joyous and help my eyes stay open. I'm not quite at the stage where I'm eyeing them off for caffeine content.

Oh! I just realised!! I have Ethiopian coffee to tide me over. No use for a quick cup, because it needs to be dry fried (Ethiopian roasting method the nice lady at the restaurant taught me) but if I dry fry it tonight I have have the world's oldest bean type for breakfast. Or I could make coffee from coffee shells, but that has way too little caffeine and takes a while because of the spices. Likewise the coffee and chicory is just not strong enough, though it would normally be massively tempting. Truly, I'm not a caffeine junkie. Well, not on other days - just today.

My loungeroom has to be draped in wet sheets before I go, so I'd better make a move.

Some low-life broke into the student housing at Clarion West and nicked some laptops.  This is heart-breaking, and an unnecessary interruption for these guys during what is possibly the most important event of their writing lives.  I feel the fury, and wish I could catch the thieves, delivering retribution in the form of a pillow-case full of door-knobs.

If you can assist in any way, please contact Neile Graham or Leslie Howle at info@clarionwest.org

more here and here

This is an incredible story - that should be shared:

http://www.irenasendler.org/thestory.asp

From part of the story:

They found that Irena Sendler, as a non-Jewish social worker, had gone into the Warsaw Ghetto, talked Jewish parents and grandparents out of their children, rightly saying that all were going to die in the Ghetto or in death camps, taking the children past the Nazi guards (in body bags, saying they were ill, or using one of the many means of escape from the Ghetto-the old courthouse for example), and then adopting them into the homes of Polish families or hiding them in convents and orphanages. She made lists of the children's real names and put the lists in jars, then buried the jars in a garden, so that someday she could dig up the jars and find the children to tell them of their real identify.[sic]

Current Location: home
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: nil

Jul. 5th, 2008 09:53 pm For stephbg

Again as with previous entries for the interests meme :) Comment if you'd like to play.

( again for length )

Current Location: home
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "Void" - Darren Hayes

I edited and re-posted Santiago Dawn. I lost about 700 words and don't think I can trim much more. Word says it's a bit over 3800 words. OWW says it's 3660 words. There are a lot of hard returns. I always feel Word counts those as words. Not sure if that is correct, but I always notice that Word seems to be further out with submissions that have a lot of one-line paragraphs.

Yes, husband and I managed to escape sans children yet again, this time to see Hancock on our ownsome. Hey, is it MY fault there happens to be so many grownup movies I want to see when I happen to have a built in babysitter? :) We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although it was in no way what I expected - I think that made it even better. I LOVE that the trailer material I've seen has had zilch in the way of spoilers, which made it all the more cool. My twist radar must be down, cos I couldn't pick it at all!

Highly recommended, especially with a burly bloke to keep you warm and snuggly beside you (or, for my male flisters not of that particular persuasion, insert appropriate female figure there) :)

Current Mood: content