I've talked about depressing novels and grimdark games (and where the line is) with almost everyone on my f'list, it seems. You should all head over to read Elizabeth Bear's Dear Speculative Fiction, I'm glad we had this talk.

Personally, if I'm reading something novel length, I think there's no excuse for it to be entirely light or entirely dark ( Read more... )

So, I realized I was pretty uncomfortable writing a mostly negative review, and tried to figure out why. I think in this case it's mostly that I know people who know the author ( Read more... )

I'm reading Middlesex. Specifically, I just finished the bit where Dr. Luce is recommending surgery to change Calliope's genitalia to match her female upbringing. And I'm seriously disturbed ( Read more... )

I took Monday off to work on art, webpage, garden, and fiddle, but on Sunday evening while making Okonomiyaki I chiffenade-ed a little piece of my finger into the cabbage, so anything involving dirt, fiddle strings, or left-hand precision was off the menu for my day off. DUMB. I should have gone in to work anyway and taken thursday or next Monday ( Read more... )

So, I've been hiding some amazingly exciting news.

Timberland is having it's "Timberland Reads together", one-book focused program on A Wizard of Earthsea. Author Ursula Le Guin will be reading and taking questions. We couldn't get responses from any publishers on using cover art for publicity, so the Powers That Be decided I could draw whatever ( Read more... )

I found an excellent comment over at pharyngula on the benefits of exploring new fields, keeping your eyes open, and reading widely ( Read more... )

One quibble with Harry Potter, and one quibble with the people reviewing it ( Read more... )

I'm on LJ. I read. Therefore I'm required to write about The Deathly Hallows. Seriously - it's in the contract. Right after the bit about six maximum user-pics.

( Spoilers )

This week I read/finished csinman's Madcat Mountain (hopefully my comments are useful and not too glowing or too complaining, San) and Turn Not Pale, Beloved Snail; A Book about Writing among other things. bluwyngz, I think you should read that one. Some of it's quite, quite dated, but mostly it's a lovely book about sharing the love of writing with kids, about ( Read more... )

I picked up The Sharing Knife: Beguilment, by Lois McMaster Bujold, at Orca yesterday. The plot is definitely secondary to the love story, and it's not up there with, say, Shards of Honor, but it's a very enjoyable read. The characters aren't quite as quirky as her best, and the girl main character is a little naive for my taste, but she does ( Read more... )