Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
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2:31 am - Book Log...
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"Fairy Tale" by Cyn Balog
So many YA books these days can happily cross over into the adult section. This one, however, falls firmly into the early teen category; football star boyfriends and sweet sixteen parties R-Us. Not a whole lot of creative bridging between the world of human and fey, but still enjoyable.
"Yellow Dog" by Charles DeLint
A limited edition chapbook, inscribed to me by the author at FaerieCon (where he was the Guest of Honor). Obviously I have a strong bias with this one. Let's just say the situation AND the story are SWeeeeeeeeT.
"Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner
Chick Lit. I'm starting to get really suspicious of any book that lists the author's name in letters that are bigger than the title. This book was an exercise in persistence. Simply put: Cannot relate.
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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
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11:08 pm - Hehe. She.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
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6:24 pm - Photo Blog...
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
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3:05 pm - Still at it...
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
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5:42 pm - Further Adventures in Mask Making...
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Monday, November 16th, 2009
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4:33 am - It's all about the leaves...
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Autumnal things accomplished:
* Took advantage of a warm and sunny day to clean the fallen leaves out of the garden and re-pot a couple of things.
* Words in the form of a new poem called The Last Leaf.
* Gathering leaf-shaped goods at the art and craft store to try my hand at making another leaf mask. There won't be a banquet table full of goodies to pick from like there was at FaerieCon and I am very much an amateur with a glue gun, so we'll see what happens...
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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1:34 am - Winged and Wonderful Things: FaerieCon 2009
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Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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2:51 pm - ~*~
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Happy All Hallow's Eve!
'Tis the season of spirit, of endings and beginnings, and of things not entirely of this world. It feels sort of right that my story, "Of Sea and Air," went live at "Flash Me Magazine" today. See it here.
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
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2:06 am - In the Reading Realm
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"The Anthologist" by Nicholson Baker
Protagonist Paul Chowder is a decent poet and an editor with a deadline. On one level, this book is about the ebb and flow of love, art and life. On another, it is simply about catwaxing, minute by minute. "The Anthologist" is amusing and charming by turns, but at times it also feels like you've arrived at an early morning poetry class, without the coffee (or tea).
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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5:57 pm - Fall PhotoBlog
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
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10:44 pm - Happening at Etsy...
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One of my hand-painted drums has found its way into Treasury West. There's a nice collection of Celtic crosses here .
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
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12:14 am - In the Reading Realm
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"The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry
"The Lace Reader" is a multi-layered tale set in Salem, MA. It exudes a richly evocative sense of place that sets the stage for a family of women who can foresee the future by reading lace. Various forms of women's magic, both past and present, echo throughout the story, and mystery, romance and family matters spin through it by turns as well, until everything meshes in a captivating page-turner of a climax.
A lovely book trailer:
Further info can be found here .
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
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8:29 pm - In the Reading Realm...
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"Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Definitely a Hallmark movie in the making, if you like that sort of thing. The premise is interesting: a child's imaginary friend returns when she's an adult and becomes the (altogether real) love of her life. I'd enjoy seeing this idea fleshed out by a talented genre writer; sadly, it limps along on cliches and sentiment in this particular tale. The abuse of proper sentence structure, artistic liberty notwithstanding, won't win this book any bonus points, either.
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Monday, October 12th, 2009
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10:54 pm - In the Reading Realm
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"Lament" by Maggie Stiefvater
Both "Lament" and "Ballad" have a charming mix of music and magic, and both combine traditional folk / fairy lore with a contemporary story line. "Lament" features a harp prodigy named Dee, and the adventures that ensue when her music draws the attention of the Good Neighbors.
While not exactly a love triangle in the classic sense, the main romantic plot of "Lament" hinges on the dynamics of the relationships between (Dee and Luke) and (Dee and James).
I found the Luke & Dee portion of the story to be sometimes enchanting, sometimes redundant. Luke is Hot Guy, the otherworldly character with super-nifty talents who turns up out of the blue and falls madly, crazily in love with plain 'ole Dee. What's not to like about that, right? However, the pattern of...
Hot Otherworldly Guy: I love you, but I am dangerous. Very dangerous.
Earthly Female: I know you are dangerous, but I don't care, I still love you, too.
... occasionally became pronounced to the point of *eye roll.*
Dee's relationship with James happens in small bits and pieces, so that it feels significantly underdeveloped, a factor that renders a good part of the climax and resolution questionable, or at least less believable.
While overall I found "Lament" to be enjoyable, I think that "Ballad" is much stronger, in both character and plot. Stiefvater's strength is in the creative details, the way she puts her own personal spin on traditional folkloric elements. She is an author to keep an eye on, worth watching to find out what she shapes up next.
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12:15 am - Down on the Farm II
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Thursday, October 8th, 2009
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1:05 am - In the Book Realm...
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"Ballad" by Maggie Stiefvater
What this book has:
* A pipe-playing overachiever with a good vocabulary and the ever popular flip sense of bravado as a protagonist.
* Music AND magic (sometimes jumbled together).
* A time and setting perfect for this season.
Well. There will be a proper (or at least a little more articulate) review at some point over at CdF. And speaking of which...
The Cabinet des Fees has now re-opened to submissions. Send us your stories, my pretties :)
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Monday, October 5th, 2009
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4:32 am - This Season...
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The nights are starting to get chilly, and the gardens are flaunting their last stages of summer lush. Most of the trees remain green-gowned, though crimson splashes are showing up here and there, outriders of the rampant orange, rust and ochers that are to yet come. Some days I can still sport a tank top, and the sun will kiss my shoulders until dusk comes, and then out come the sweaters, bulky forgotten things. I'm not sure I am ready for them yet, though I like remembering about hot chocolate, hearty soups with crusty bread, soft blankets. Autumn has become my favorite season, with its beauty-soaked scenery and harvest delights, when spirit feels close enough to whisper in your ear or wrap you in its wings and soar.
Change is in the air. The scent of it is lovely.
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Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
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4:04 am - Reading Realm: In which I was seduced for the first time by a book trailer...
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"Impossible" by Nancy Werlin
One curse, two people in love, three impossible tasks.
This tale is shaped around a folk ballad, sprinkled liberally with traditional fairy tale motifs, and served up with a strong female heroine. It merges the classic with the thoroughly contemporary, fantasy with reality, and it sings. Recommended.
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Monday, September 21st, 2009
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1:40 am - Writing News; short story sale.
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I've sold "Of Sea and Air" (*) to Flash Me Magazine. It will be a part of their "all fantasy" issue, coming out on Oct. 31.
(*) Formerly know as Charms to Old Gods, which is now the title of another WIP.
current mood:  artistic
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12:01 am - In the Reading Realm...
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"The Magicians" by Lev Grossman
This book definitely fits in the *interstitual* category. It contains everything from absolute wonder and magic to philosophical musings and intellectual ennui. The characters are markedly fickle and, despite some spectacular talents, they are very, very human. I've seen the book shelved in both the YA and the adult section of stores, but I wonder what the former would make of the tale. At its core, this book explores the gap between fantasy and reality, childhood expectations and adult matters, both mundane and grand.
"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz
Some books effortlessly encourage suspension of disbelief. This is not one of those books. The plot, characters and narrative voice are all entirely annoying. Guess you won't find me jumping on this bestselling author's bandwagon.
~*~ I was so cranky after closing the Koontz book, I decided I needed some light-hearted ChickLit, and thus:
"How to be Single" by Liz Tuccillo
I'm only half-way through so far, but I think it's safe to say there's nothing earth-shatteringly new here, although it is an amusing romp nonetheless. Not surprisingly, the voice and tone are a direct echo of "Sex in the City," the HBO series for which the author was an executive story editor.
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