(no subject)
Okay, the haul:
From Dad:
The Yarn Harlot calendar (that I already have, but oh well)
Love, Actually
Little Voice (VHS--Oh, Dad. You're cute.)
10 Things I Hate About You
8.1 Mega pixel casio digital camera, plus 2gig memory card!!!
The piece de resistance: a giant binder (so big I can't even pick it up with one hand) full of basically...my life. Old photographs, silly things I said when I was three, kindergarten report cards, letters I wrote home from camp....it's immense, and it must have been SOOO much work. It makes me happy every time I think about it.
From Mom:
"Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles" by Mercedes Lackey (OMG NEW VALDEMAR BOOK EXCUSE ME WHILE I SPAZZ ATTACK! I immediately began a re-read of the entire Valdemar series. AHAHA.)
"More Big Girl Knits"
$100 towards whatever I want from a really cool fantasy-ish catalogue
2 balls Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Weight
2 Balls Arucania nature wool (I think it's kettle-dyed--it's LOVELY)
From Grandfather:
A $50 bill in an unmarked envelope
From Darcy:
A bottle of wine (that she probably wanted for herself)
a Monty Python poster (???!!!!!!!!! WHEN DID SHE GET COOL?????!!!!!!!)
That's it so far. We still have a couple days of Christmas left--I haven't collected from seen my Uncle Tom, Aunt Hallie, Uncle Benn, Aunt Kai, Uncle Nick, Aunt Barbara....or Sonora, who I WILL NOT GET TO SEE WAAAH.
And now, a few quick notes about my Valdemar reread:
Have so far made it through the Arrows trilogy, as well as Foundations. Here's the thing. I should have started with Vanyel. But I ALWAYS start with that infernally pretty, silly boy, and I wanted to start with Talia...because I know damn well that as soon as I read the Magic series, I'll just flip to Winds of Fury to find Van and Stef/Lendel's cameo appearance, and then haunt Storm Breaking for the same thing. And that's really unfair to the other characters--ESPECIALLY Firesong. And when I realize that, I'll go back and hunt out ALL of Firesong's bits (which in the Winds series is almost like trying to read only the bits with Savil in Magic's Pawn through Price), and then feel like I need some closure with Falconsbane, and go, "OMG I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE [Skif/Nyssa/Elspeth/Darkwind/Kerowyn/Alberich/An'desha/Karal] and then wind up reading THEIR bits out of order, ETCETERA.
SO I STARTED WITH TALIA. And Christ, there are a lot of typos in the first trilogy! I've seen the world "Well" spelled "We!!" (of which I heartily approve, since it's funny), the word "Goddess" spelled "Coddess," and even "Talia" spelled "Tarlia." There are grammatical mistakes, printing errors, etcetera. And man, Mercedes Lackey has really gotten better as a writer.
FOUNDATIONS: FIrst Impressions
Okay. So, I sort of like Mags. He's growing on me, even if Mercedes Lackey has been rather catering to heterosexuality lately. Her last what, four Valdemar trilogies have been het-based, without even significant shay'a'chern presence? The Owls were really straight (save some appearances by Firesong, who can gay ANYTHING up), the Gryphons were straight humans AND creatures, Alberich is sort of doing a Mercedes Lackey self-insert (who I don't mind at all, despite my grumbling), even the Winds was centered around a straight couple (albeit with a lot of gay from Firesong thrown in), the Storms were about two rather asexually straight dudes (but get a pass because one of them was doing Firesong, and Firesong also gets to hook up with Silverfox), and now Mags gets feelings in his chest when pretty girls look at him. I don't mind that, I've just been spoiled by the lesbians from the Arrows and of course, Vanyel. Basically what I'm saying is that Firesong makes everything better. No, Bad Corinna! What I'm saying is that this is also a really straight book, aside from a TINY mention of Stefen (and of course OMG VANYEL WAS THE BEST HERAD EVAR, which you KNOW I don't mind, because he was. So there.). And this is supposedly set ony 50 or so years after Magic's Price, so...wtf.
Enough about heteronormativity. WHY does Mercedes Lackey not want us to know what the name of the King is??? It is, for once, not listed on the Chronology page. And, every character avoids mentioning it. It's...weird. Logically, shouldn't the current King be the son or grandson of Trevan and Jisa? Trevan was King, Jisa was his Queen, and we KNOW it stays in that family, because Elspeth is descended from Vanyel through them (lol logic I'm good), so I need to know what's wrong with this frigging King, if anything, and why we don't get his name.
Also. Speaking of names. Mercedes Lackey has clearly run out of them. Okay, true, there was a "Karen" in Arrows of the Queen, as well as a "Kris," but she veered away from that with the Vanyel books, and most definitely steered towards more original, fantasy-ish names. Now that we're back, she seems to be just using regular names and changing letters. In Foudations we have "Keighvin," "Amily," "Jak," and even more regular ones: "Lena," "Cole," and "Lydia." Oh, and Amily's father, NIKOLAS. Yeah, that sounds Valdemaran. Bet me on whether or not he comes from up north. Unless Mercedes Lackey pulls an Anne McCaffrey and decrees that Velgarth is Earth in the future, I think she should come up with more names.
Back to Mags--I like him, generally. He does seem to be really formulaic. I also think that Mercedes Lackey has outdone herself at the "GIVE HIM A MISERABLE CHILDHOOD AND THEN SHOW HIM HOW MUCH BETTER LIFE IS WITH THE HERALDS" bit. It was bad enough with Talia, coming from Repressive Polygamist -Town, and Vanyel, hailing from We Hate You Because You're Different -ville, and Alberich from Don't Make Me Kill You For Being A Witch -land, but Mags takes the cake. He's like, the poster child for ending child labor. He spends all his life in the mine and in the sluices, sleeps in a hole in the floor under a ragged blanket, and gets clear soup and barley bread--sometimes. No wonder he gets confused when he gets kidnapped Chosen. Which actually reminded me of Stefen's story, except he was even more ignorant, and less pretty.
I thought that Mags's transition from underground creature to Heraldic Trainee was really well done. And I like his friends. However. I wanted a bit about Mags changing his name. He should have chosen a new name, like Roach to Briar in the Circle of Magic. I firmly believe this.
BUT WTF ENDING. Or should I say, Ending? Because there sort of wasn't one. I've never seen a more obvious THIS IS A TRILOGY sign. SPOILERS A creepy assassin randomly kidnapps one of Mags's friends, holding him prisoner in the Archives, of all places (Mercedes really seems to be humping the Archives lately, doesn't she?), singing to him. Actually, no lie, the singing bit creeped me out hardcore enough that I shivered, and sort of couldn't sleep. Not sure why. But then he flips out at seeing Mags, screams something like "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!" and kills himself. And no one knows why. ESPECIALLY NOT ME.
You didn't have to do that, Misty. I was going to buy the next two anyway. Now I'm just going to be annoyed until they're out.
Also, while I understand the conflict between the apprenticing system and the Collegium one, I'm not sure it's something that Heralds should get so bent up about. And that unnamed Herald being ready to ACTUALLY HIT a Heraldic Trainee?? SORRY NOT BUYING IT.
One more thing--since when do Companions just dump all the knowledge their Chosen needs into his head? I know, he didn't know anything, but neither did Talia, and Rolan stayed the fuck out of her head.
And speaking of Rolan, am I really seeing that Taver was still alive at the end of Price, but somehow died between then and now, and that Rolan has been the Monarch's Own's Companion for a good THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS?? Really? How soft has that Monarch's Own job gotten, hmm?
I think that's all I have to say. All of this, by the way, was overlaid by my incredible joy at a new Heralds of Valdemar book. I mean, I love Darian's Tale and the Gryphons, but I NEED ME SOME COMPANIONS. And...can I PLEASE have some shay'a'chern in the next book? VANYEL SHOULD HAVE SEVERAL GREAT-GRANDKIDS RUNNING AROUND. ONE OF THEM JUST HAS TO BE FLAMING. IT'S THE LAW OR SOMETHING.
From Dad:
The Yarn Harlot calendar (that I already have, but oh well)
Love, Actually
Little Voice (VHS--Oh, Dad. You're cute.)
10 Things I Hate About You
8.1 Mega pixel casio digital camera, plus 2gig memory card!!!
The piece de resistance: a giant binder (so big I can't even pick it up with one hand) full of basically...my life. Old photographs, silly things I said when I was three, kindergarten report cards, letters I wrote home from camp....it's immense, and it must have been SOOO much work. It makes me happy every time I think about it.
From Mom:
"Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles" by Mercedes Lackey (OMG NEW VALDEMAR BOOK EXCUSE ME WHILE I SPAZZ ATTACK! I immediately began a re-read of the entire Valdemar series. AHAHA.)
"More Big Girl Knits"
$100 towards whatever I want from a really cool fantasy-ish catalogue
2 balls Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Weight
2 Balls Arucania nature wool (I think it's kettle-dyed--it's LOVELY)
From Grandfather:
A $50 bill in an unmarked envelope
From Darcy:
A bottle of wine (that she probably wanted for herself)
a Monty Python poster (???!!!!!!!!! WHEN DID SHE GET COOL?????!!!!!!!)
That's it so far. We still have a couple days of Christmas left--I haven't collected from seen my Uncle Tom, Aunt Hallie, Uncle Benn, Aunt Kai, Uncle Nick, Aunt Barbara....or Sonora, who I WILL NOT GET TO SEE WAAAH.
And now, a few quick notes about my Valdemar reread:
Have so far made it through the Arrows trilogy, as well as Foundations. Here's the thing. I should have started with Vanyel. But I ALWAYS start with that infernally pretty, silly boy, and I wanted to start with Talia...because I know damn well that as soon as I read the Magic series, I'll just flip to Winds of Fury to find Van and Stef/Lendel's cameo appearance, and then haunt Storm Breaking for the same thing. And that's really unfair to the other characters--ESPECIALLY Firesong. And when I realize that, I'll go back and hunt out ALL of Firesong's bits (which in the Winds series is almost like trying to read only the bits with Savil in Magic's Pawn through Price), and then feel like I need some closure with Falconsbane, and go, "OMG I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE [Skif/Nyssa/Elspeth/Darkwind/Kerowyn/Alberich/An'desha/Karal] and then wind up reading THEIR bits out of order, ETCETERA.
SO I STARTED WITH TALIA. And Christ, there are a lot of typos in the first trilogy! I've seen the world "Well" spelled "We!!" (of which I heartily approve, since it's funny), the word "Goddess" spelled "Coddess," and even "Talia" spelled "Tarlia." There are grammatical mistakes, printing errors, etcetera. And man, Mercedes Lackey has really gotten better as a writer.
FOUNDATIONS: FIrst Impressions
Okay. So, I sort of like Mags. He's growing on me, even if Mercedes Lackey has been rather catering to heterosexuality lately. Her last what, four Valdemar trilogies have been het-based, without even significant shay'a'chern presence? The Owls were really straight (save some appearances by Firesong, who can gay ANYTHING up), the Gryphons were straight humans AND creatures, Alberich is sort of doing a Mercedes Lackey self-insert (who I don't mind at all, despite my grumbling), even the Winds was centered around a straight couple (albeit with a lot of gay from Firesong thrown in), the Storms were about two rather asexually straight dudes (but get a pass because one of them was doing Firesong, and Firesong also gets to hook up with Silverfox), and now Mags gets feelings in his chest when pretty girls look at him. I don't mind that, I've just been spoiled by the lesbians from the Arrows and of course, Vanyel. Basically what I'm saying is that Firesong makes everything better. No, Bad Corinna! What I'm saying is that this is also a really straight book, aside from a TINY mention of Stefen (and of course OMG VANYEL WAS THE BEST HERAD EVAR, which you KNOW I don't mind, because he was. So there.). And this is supposedly set ony 50 or so years after Magic's Price, so...wtf.
Enough about heteronormativity. WHY does Mercedes Lackey not want us to know what the name of the King is??? It is, for once, not listed on the Chronology page. And, every character avoids mentioning it. It's...weird. Logically, shouldn't the current King be the son or grandson of Trevan and Jisa? Trevan was King, Jisa was his Queen, and we KNOW it stays in that family, because Elspeth is descended from Vanyel through them (lol logic I'm good), so I need to know what's wrong with this frigging King, if anything, and why we don't get his name.
Also. Speaking of names. Mercedes Lackey has clearly run out of them. Okay, true, there was a "Karen" in Arrows of the Queen, as well as a "Kris," but she veered away from that with the Vanyel books, and most definitely steered towards more original, fantasy-ish names. Now that we're back, she seems to be just using regular names and changing letters. In Foudations we have "Keighvin," "Amily," "Jak," and even more regular ones: "Lena," "Cole," and "Lydia." Oh, and Amily's father, NIKOLAS. Yeah, that sounds Valdemaran. Bet me on whether or not he comes from up north. Unless Mercedes Lackey pulls an Anne McCaffrey and decrees that Velgarth is Earth in the future, I think she should come up with more names.
Back to Mags--I like him, generally. He does seem to be really formulaic. I also think that Mercedes Lackey has outdone herself at the "GIVE HIM A MISERABLE CHILDHOOD AND THEN SHOW HIM HOW MUCH BETTER LIFE IS WITH THE HERALDS" bit. It was bad enough with Talia, coming from Repressive Polygamist -Town, and Vanyel, hailing from We Hate You Because You're Different -ville, and Alberich from Don't Make Me Kill You For Being A Witch -land, but Mags takes the cake. He's like, the poster child for ending child labor. He spends all his life in the mine and in the sluices, sleeps in a hole in the floor under a ragged blanket, and gets clear soup and barley bread--sometimes. No wonder he gets confused when he gets kidnapped Chosen. Which actually reminded me of Stefen's story, except he was even more ignorant, and less pretty.
I thought that Mags's transition from underground creature to Heraldic Trainee was really well done. And I like his friends. However. I wanted a bit about Mags changing his name. He should have chosen a new name, like Roach to Briar in the Circle of Magic. I firmly believe this.
BUT WTF ENDING. Or should I say, Ending? Because there sort of wasn't one. I've never seen a more obvious THIS IS A TRILOGY sign. SPOILERS A creepy assassin randomly kidnapps one of Mags's friends, holding him prisoner in the Archives, of all places (Mercedes really seems to be humping the Archives lately, doesn't she?), singing to him. Actually, no lie, the singing bit creeped me out hardcore enough that I shivered, and sort of couldn't sleep. Not sure why. But then he flips out at seeing Mags, screams something like "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!" and kills himself. And no one knows why. ESPECIALLY NOT ME.
You didn't have to do that, Misty. I was going to buy the next two anyway. Now I'm just going to be annoyed until they're out.
Also, while I understand the conflict between the apprenticing system and the Collegium one, I'm not sure it's something that Heralds should get so bent up about. And that unnamed Herald being ready to ACTUALLY HIT a Heraldic Trainee?? SORRY NOT BUYING IT.
One more thing--since when do Companions just dump all the knowledge their Chosen needs into his head? I know, he didn't know anything, but neither did Talia, and Rolan stayed the fuck out of her head.
And speaking of Rolan, am I really seeing that Taver was still alive at the end of Price, but somehow died between then and now, and that Rolan has been the Monarch's Own's Companion for a good THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS?? Really? How soft has that Monarch's Own job gotten, hmm?
I think that's all I have to say. All of this, by the way, was overlaid by my incredible joy at a new Heralds of Valdemar book. I mean, I love Darian's Tale and the Gryphons, but I NEED ME SOME COMPANIONS. And...can I PLEASE have some shay'a'chern in the next book? VANYEL SHOULD HAVE SEVERAL GREAT-GRANDKIDS RUNNING AROUND. ONE OF THEM JUST HAS TO BE FLAMING. IT'S THE LAW OR SOMETHING.