Public libraries are easily my favorite use for tax money. Well, aside from the fact that tax money also pays my salary. I tend to forget about that part. Anyway. I've read some extraordinarily good debut novels in the last month or two, and thought I'd share.

( cut for MASSIVE tl;dr )

Lots of publicity out there for Hephzibah Anderson's book Chastened: The Unexpected Story of My Year Without Sex. I saw a blurb on MSN, and my eyes rolled so hard I got dizzy. I mean, seriously? Apparently the author got tired of casual sex without intimacy or love, and took a twelve-month vow of "chastity". ("Quote marks" because everything but ( Read more... )

Heh. Story is still just in my head and on index cards at this point, but the primary antagonist has motivation now. I knew who he was already, but had to sit down and think about why he'd do what the plot needs him to do and how he'd get away with it. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to figure out. He now has a personality beyond just being a ( Read more... )

Seriously considering trying to write a novel. This is insane, because I've hated writing fiction since grade school.

Unfortunately, once in a while a scene, a few characters, and (if I'm lucky) the vague outline of a plot or setting will pop into my head without warning. The last time that happened, the story desperately wanted to be a graphic ( Read more... )

Apparently today is Day of Rage. Yay. Anyway, I grabbed some books at the March of Dimes book sale Friday, just to have something to do over the weekend. One was a collection of Christmas-themed romance novellas. Okay, so sue me. :P It looked cute, and I've actually found four or five romance novelists who write good stuff. (Though they're mostly ( Read more... )

All right, I don't usually link to fanfiction because I figure most of you could really care less, but this one is AMAZING. A Doctor Who crossover with Sense and Sensibility, and yet everyone manages to stay in character. I loved it!

Relatives and Relativity

Halfway through Jon Pertwee's first episode as Doctor Who. Liz Shaw is totally a slightly older Martha Jones, y/y?

Also I need to find Fables somewhere. Fractured fairy tales are awesome... but graphic novels have a tendency not to show up in the local library system if they're the slightest bit non-kid-appropriate. :P

Am having a major low energy episode lately. It feels like it takes twice as long to get anything done if I can muster up the motivation to do it at all, and I keep catching myself just staring into space. *sigh* Don't know whether it's just seasonal demi-hibernation or whether I need to up my meds. At least for now there are "slow" things to do ( Read more... )

Just watched the trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I've been fairly excited about it... the teaser pics looked decent, and I have a lot of respect for Robert Downey Jr.'s acting skills. (Seriously, he made Iron Man.) In the trailer, it looks like Downey's Holmes is channeling Hugh Laurie as Dr. House, which I can live with. Had a strong ( Read more... )

Watchmen is stellar. Not the movie - still haven't seen the movie - but the book. A fascinating dark psychological SF. Brilliant, three-dimensional characters, an intriguing alternate-history 20th century, engaging and twisty interlocked storylines, and especially creative formatting. Hghly recommended if you're not squeamish.

Also saw Revengers ( Read more... )