scalzi

Here's a couple of questions for all of you hep cats out there in intertube land.

1. Where's the best place in the cities to purchase a shisha and supplies (tobacco, coal, etc)?

2. Do you need tickets to the Autumn Brew Review?  We ended up purchasing 2 more tickets than needed.  $60 bucks for the pair. Yes you save $3.48 versus purchasing them online!  What a deal.

I am pleased to announce that Graff Publishing has acquired the Hebrew rights to Green [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ] for a 2010 Israeli publication.

Originally published at jlake.com.

Book Twenty-six

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

"Hell's Bells" count - 14

It's one year later....

Many things have changed for Harry Dresden, some of it good and much of it not so much. He has family now, in the form of his half-brother Thomas (who happens to be a vampire of the White Court) and a giant dog named Mouse. His relationship with Karrin Murphy of the Chicago Police Department is as solid as it's ever been, and making very tentative exploratory steps into becoming a different type of relationship altogether.

He has a job - a real one, as a Warden - and all the responsibility that goes with it. The job of Wardens is to be the police and foot soldiers of the White Council of Wizards. When a Wizard breaks one of the seven Laws of Magic, the Wardens can act as investigators, judges and, all too often, executioners. The irony, of course, is that the same Wardens used to watch Harry like a hawk, as he had been accused of using magic to kill, thus breaking the first law. He got off light, under a "One strike and you're out" form of probation with the melodramatic name of The Doom of Damocles. The Council needs Wardens, though, and Harry got tapped. Like it or not, he's part of the Establishment now.

As if all that weren't enough, he also has the shadow of a fallen angel in his head and an ongoing war with the vampiric Red Court to contend with. And in the midst of all this, he's given two small, seemingly unconnected jobs to do: find who's been dabbling in black magic in Chicago and find out why the Red Court vampires have been allowed to use the lands of the Faerie to attack the White Council of Wizardry.

They should be simple, or reasonably so. But they're not. They never are.

Someone is using black magic to create fear. That fear is allowing terrible, terrible Things into the world, creatures that feed on fear and take the forms of some of the most terrible movie monsters we know (all of whom are, of course, based upon real characters, with only the names changed to protect Butcher from Lawyers). These creatures have already killed, attacking at a crowded horror movie convention, and Harry is determined to see that the person who called them forth pays for doing so. With blood and pain, if possible.

The discovery of the Black Magician, however, puts Harry in an impossible situation where he has to test his loyalties to both his friends and the Council. Fortunately, Harry being Harry, he puts his friends first and is determined to do the right thing, whatever it takes.

Oddly enough, "whatever it takes" happens to involve storming Arctis Tor, the stronghold of the Winter Faerie Queen, to chase down the creatures that stole off Molly Carpenter - the daughter of Michael, the Knight of the Cross. With his friends by his side, Harry goes off into what is almost certainly Certain Death, knowing that even if he saves Molly, she may ultimately be doomed.

When all is said and done, we get another glimmer of insight into how Dresden's world works. It's not a very nice place, and although the history of Wizarding is something that Butcher has avoided thus far, we get the impression that it was, until recently, a tumultuous profession. Easy to understand, really - you get someone with Phenomenal Cosmic Power, and odds are that he's going to abuse it. Perhaps bend someone to his will, or try to turn some hapless victim into a frog. Even such things as time travel and contacting the Things that live beyond the Outer Gates would be possible, were it not for the swift and draconian execution of the Laws of Magic.

Harry represents an institutional change here - he's someone who's suffered under the Laws, who has seen how the merciless application of a rigid law can do more harm than good. Now, as a Warden, an authority figure, he has a chance to change all that. But it won't be easy for him - wizards are a conservative bunch, by and large, and many of the more powerful ones are not well inclined to the idea of changing with the times. But they will have to change - their numbers are depleted, the war is going badly, and it seems that there is a Black Council out there, well-equipped to fight and destroy their White counterpart.

And of course there's his relationship to the world beyond the Council. As was noted in the last book, Harry has changed. He's become famous, not so much for saving the day and foiling the plots of evil masterminds, but for bringing death and destruction wherever he goes. As much fun as that sounds, it seems that watching people flinch when you raise your voice is not something that stays fun for very long.

And still in his mind is the shadow of Lasciel, a Fallen Angel, the merest fraction of whose consciousness is enough to tempt Harry into greater and greater levels of power - for a price.

It is, as with the rest of the books, a very good read. The tone has changed somewhat - it's more tired, more cynical than the early books, which reflects the internal struggles that Harry is going through. But it's fast-paced and exciting, with more than a few very interesting surprises along the way.

Also, because of the movie convention setting, there are plenty of good movie references peppered throughout the book. It makes me feel closer to Harry, since quoting movies was a major form of communication with my friends and me back in college. People here in Japan just don't do it, and I feel the loss.

---------------------------------------
"When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching - they are your family."
- Harry Dresden, Proven Guilty
---------------------------------------

We have another day -- and night -- of thunderstorms ahead of us here...

Over at Big Finish Productions, the official announcement of the new Judge Dredd Crime Chronicles series has been, um, announced.

Here's a snippet:

Big Finish makes a long-awaited return to the 2000 AD universe in October for a brand new series of adventures in crime and space. Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles finds the iconic lawman of Mega City One starring in four new stories where he faces off against foes old and new and, for the final story, partners up with a fellow Judge played by Doctor Who’s Louise Jameson. Officially licensed by Rebellion, who publish 2000 AD and The Judge Dredd Megazine, each story is a dramatic reading, with full sound design and a specially drawn cover by 2000 AD artist Cliff Robinson, and features Toby Longworth as Judge Dredd. John Ainsworth is thrilled, saying: ‘As producer of the first eighteen 2000 AD audio dramas for Big Finish, I am delighted to return to the series with these four new productions and to once again work with Toby Longworth, who is the perfect Judge Dredd'.

As mentioned downblog, I've written two episodes  - the first is Blood Will Tell, featuring Toby Longworth as Judge Dredd as lead voice, with Paul David-Gough as Garris Hale; Paul previously appeared in one of my other Dredd audios, Jihad, as Oz-Judge Hogan.

In Blood Will Tell by James Swallow, a frenzied mutant attack on Mega City One's shield wall is revealed to be the cover for a group of infiltrators, Judge Dredd tells the story of how was forced to face a deadly opponent from his past: Garris Hale, a man whose life he destroyed. Back from exile in the radioactive wilderness of the Cursed Earth, Hale has possession of a dark secret – a secret so explosive that it could plunge the entire city into anarchy and chaos! With his judgement in question and the future of his city in the balance, Dredd must face a lethal enemy intent on revenge at any cost!

The second story is Double Zero, and features the first BF audio appearance of Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson.

Finally, much-loved Doctor Who alumnus Louise Jameson (Leela) narrates Double Zero in the guise of Judge Anderson. On the Mills-Wagner scale of psychic potentiality, the Double Zero rating is ranked as the lowest possible level of human telepathic receptability and/or psionic ability. [See also: mind-blind; mundane; pariah effect, brain burn]. When a strange premonition draws Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson to her fellow law officer, Joe Dredd, what begins as an inkling of something sinister soon becomes a matter of life and death. With telepathic secret agents from a dozen city-states infiltrating the Big Meg in search of a psychic weapon called 'the pariah', Anderson and Dredd find themselves in a race against time to save the life of an innocent child – with the power to start a war.

The Judge Dredd Crime Chronicles series begins in October with four monthly releases on CD or direct download. Blood Will Tell  will be out in November and is available for pre-order Here; Double Zero will be out in January 2010, and is is available for pre-order Here.

Your Thursday moment of zen.



Red rock butte, photographed by me in southern Utah.

Originally published at jlake.com.

The weekend of July 25-26, there will be two amazing events to commemorate the Minneapolis truckers' strike of 1934: the FREE One Day in July Street Festival featuring Brother Ali and more on Saturday, July 25th, followed by a commemorative picnic with speakers including a union leader from the Republic Windows & Doors factory on Sunday. See below for more info - and please pass it on!!!

For those interested in learning more about the strike, see the article from the new issue of Justice: 75th Anniversary of the Teamster Rebellion: When Workers Shut Minneapolis Down.


ONE DAY IN JULY
A Street Festival for the Working Class
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the heroic Minneapolis truckers' strike of 1934
Saturday, July 25th, 2-10 pm - 7th Ave & 3rd St. North
FREE!!!

FEATURING: BROTHER ALI featuring BK One *** El Guante *** Mic Crenshaw *** The Brass Kings *** Ellis *** 2 Tone Runts *** City on the Make *** Best Bitch in Show

Join us for music and memories on the anniversary of the 1934 Minneapolis Trucker's Strike and the bloody police riot that caused the death of two strikers and wounded 65 more.

There will be food and beverage vendors, information, exhibits, all honoring the working class heroes of yesterday and today!

For more information visit onedayinjuly.org

---------

And on the following day, come check out the:

75th Anniversary Picnic of the 1934 Minneapolis Truckers Strike

Sunday, July 26th from Noon to 5 pm
Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis
Wabun Picnic Area - Area No. 4

Come Commemorate the strike that made Minneapolis a Union Town with..
*Speakers, including Armando Robles of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, which led the factory occupation of Republic Windows & Doors in December 2008
*Historical Displays
*Food
*Children's games

Why Celebrate the 1934 Trucker's Strike?

The Minneapolis truck drivers strike is one of the most important strikes in labor history. On July 20th, 1934, police opened fire, shooting 60 strikers in the back and killing two of them. In August the strike was won by Teamsters local 574, a huge victory, spurring labor organizing throughout the region.

Sponsored by the 1934 Minneapolis Truckers Strike Picnic Committee

Don't miss the upcoming Borderlands Books events in San Francisco on 7/18: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

In the same vein, there's an open dinner in San Francisco next Monday: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

Trial of Flowers as a downloadable ebook from Night Shade Books — In case you were jonesing for a Jay Lake novel on ebook.

Publishing, ebooks, Madness of Flowers and Charles N. Brown — jlassen and Rick Kleffel talk about publishing, including various discussions of my upcoming Night Shade Books release.

Steampunk Recommendations — A reasonably solid list from a reader.

The blog subtitle poll

The Genre Artist — The New York Times on Jack Vance. (Thanks to tetar.)

Invading the Vintage — A mash-up of old Swiss postcards and SF imagery. Heh. (Snurched from Drawn!.)

Postage Stamps From the Future — Another nifty feature from Dark Roasted Blend.

tdj on time perception — Wow. (Thanks to both willyumtx and safewrite.)

Why Titan is so exciting — (Nicked from james_nicoll.)

The Curious Link Between Parked Cars and Perched Birds — "Perch the bird in the Harvard yard" just doesn't have the same ring to it, somehow. Still, interesting stuff.

?otD: Are mother rabbits hare-raising?

---

7/16/2009
Body movement: 65 minute suburban walk (Big Papio Trail in Omaha), 10 minutes of stretching and meditation
This morning's weigh-in: n/a (travelling)
Currently reading: Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

Originally published at jlake.com.

A new review for Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies can be found here:

GM with ADD
http://gmwithadd.com/?p=27

Enjoy!

So the nice workiepeople have laid pretty block pavings in the forecourt of my house ("forecourt" actually makes it sound much grander than it is - just this Victorian notion of an area to separate house from street, a wall and a railing and about a yard of ground).

So far, in the last week, they have dug up bits of it twice and relaid them, on the orders of bureaucrats with clipboards and hard hats. (No, there is nothing dangerous overhead, unless they fear the sky's falling.) Now they are doing it a third time.

The bit they're doing now? Is the bit beneath which is buried the cable that provides my life access to the internets, the telephone, the world beyond my door.

Hitherto, they have already knackered that cable twice.

Am I feeling lucky...?

Not so feral after all. She is very happy to nestle under the blanket and against my body, purring. She even played with the laser beam a bit, and if I leave her in the pen covered with a blanket I can hear her going around in there, eating, drinking and doing her business. She's still very scaredy but then she is in a new place. I think in a few days she'll be scampering about like a normal kitten.

It is a bit heartbreaking to see a kitten like her huddled in a corner instead of playing wildly as she should.

July 16 is Comet Day.

On this day in history:

( Go to The List )

to snippy

Maybe a little too late in his career, for my taste, but the NY Times has a recent article on Jack Vance. They do key on Songs of the Dying Earth, the tribute anthology that has been just released, and that I have been gushing about. The author of the article relies heavily on Chabon to help decipher the singular mr. Vance.

Some bits from the article:

Michael Chabon, whose distinguished literary reputation allows him to employ popular formulas without being labeled a genre writer, told me: “Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”

Right about now you might be thinking, Well, if Vance is as good as Simmons and Chabon and Rhoads say he is, and if he refused to give in to the demands of the genres in which he worked, then maybe he would have done better to try other forms that better rewarded his strengths — isn’t it a shame that he confined himself to adolescent genres in which his grown-up talents could not truly shine? But I think that question would be wrong in its assumptions: wrong about Vance, about genre and about what “adolescent” and “grown-up” mean when we talk about literary sensibility.

Chabon contrasted Vance with Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, British dons who shared a grandiose “impulse to synthesize a mythology for a culture. There’s none of that in Vance. The engineer in him is always on view. They’re always adventure stories, too, but they’re also problem-solving puzzles. He sets up these what-ifs, like a syllogism. He has that logic-love like Poe, the Yankee engineering spirit, married to erudite love of pomp and pageantry. And he has an amazing ear and writes a beautiful sentence.”

It's a pity Chabon didn't contribute to Songs, since its clear that he understands and loves Vance's work. He gets it.

Another entry from the "end-of-second-year-of-residency" California trip: this one celebrating friends, geekery, and friends. :-)




It turns out some of the tallest hardwood trees in the United States are right on the Berkeley campus. Neato!







These eucalyptus trees were originally planted in the late 1800's, imported from Australia. Absent their usual fuzzy predators, these trees soar to nearly twenty stories high, taller than everything but their conifer cousins across the bay (Land Beneath the Trees). And while their introduction to California turned out (for many reasons) to be a bad ecological idea, this isolated grove in the heart of the Berkeley campus, introduced to us by Berkeley native A., made a cheerful post-dinner walkabout to carry on a merry gathering of friends...






I didn't know A -- Jesse's old friend, with whom Jesse was staying. But the other revelers who first gathered that evening at Berkeley's Kirala were all old friends of mine -- from three totally different circles of my life, until now. :-)

From the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, just over exactly ten years since that story began came dscotton, my host many previous times I had come to the Bay and brother-in-arms. From rasfwr-j also came scifantasy, a modern geek bard (filker) extraordinare who could craft witty lyrics at a drop of a hat. scifantasy, whom I'd first met online on rasfwr-j when he was still in high school. Whom I'd first met in person years before in the grasslands of Calontir. Who kindly showed me around the offices where as an NYU law summer intern he was helping fight for our freedoms in the digital age.

Jesse, the mischievous friend of many adventures whose birthday -- and years of friendship -- was just celebrated in this Journal; she just happened to have come into the city to visit her friend A that very same evening. And dawntreader42, dear friend from college days in the Geek House, with whom after a eleven year gap we'd picked right back up getting into mischief, including the California adventures we too had arrived that evening in San Francisco to begin. Geek friends from three separate circles of my life -- rasfwr-j, Markland and Lindgren days -- and by sheer luck and coincidence, in one evening I had the chance to introduce everyone to everyone else for a rolicking evening on the town in Berkeley. Huzzah!

We'd started the evening at Kirala, the famous Berkeley sushi restaurant -- dscotton told me, if I understand correctly, it was the exact same restaurant at which he introduced missysedai to sushi. The sushi and sashimi were indeed excellent, as was the conversation. And we spilled out from there to grab sinfully good gelato, and then hanging out admist the eucalyptus woods. It was delightful and silly and a tone-perfect way to begin dawntreader42 and I's travels in San Francisco...












For all her globe-trotting ways, dawntreader42 had never actually been in San Francisco before. So I was the lucky one who got to share with her all the touchstones for which the city is famous. From sharing a cheesecake with makeshift chopsticks in the Castro (they were out of plastic utensils, but long coffee stirers did very nicely) to sourdough and clam chowder on Fisherman's Wharf; from watching the fog roll in under the Golden Gate to the echoing cellblock halls of Alcatraz; from ferries racing across the harbor waters to the nighttime lights of San Francisco seen by Cable Car; sights and sounds others had so kindly introduced me to over the years, I now got to unveil for dawntreader42; and through the streets and over the hills we chatted and laughed.




And of course, there was the geek glory of the Exploratorium, the granddaddy of all the great hands-on science museums. The same place I had first romped with my parents and Gauss the very first time I came to SF; the same at which I had been so lucky to geek out with prophetkristy at just two years earlier. Many of the famous standby exhibits, but so many new ones as well. And where the last time was with prophetkristy the biologist, this time was with dawntreader42 the old physics hand. A different spin on a grand, glorious, run and jump and spin and whirl and think and geek sort of place. Never gets old. :-)










And then there was the last Sunday night at the Rincon Center, the great skylighted courtyard entirely taken over by the wedding reception celebration. Over two hundred of Alvin's family and friends from Harvard, from Stanford, from UCSF -- and us old friends from college days. Alvin, as I noted in entries before, is a man who loves fine food and celebrates his friends. For his own wedding, he pulled out a show-stopping Chinese banquet comprising ten separate courses. We're not talking little avant-garde place settings here with a tiny morsel artfully centered on a plate -- we're talking the traditional Chinese banquet with platters groaning with spectacular food. Giant crabs were followed by sea scallops, Peking duck followed by whole lobsters followed by Chilean sea bass, all washed down with round after round of open bar. And that's not counting the soups or the rice or the buns or the puddings. (Alvin even thoughtfully provided sparkling cider for those like me who don't drink champagne.) We ate and we drank and we laughed and we ate some more, until we were stuffed silly and happy and aglow with friendships almost a half-lifetime old.

1996	May 2003 August 2003

The four of us gentlemen had been in adjoining dorm rooms on the same floor for most of our college careers. Had built friendships just as close as that proximity. And in the years since, we had met, again and again, at the successive weddings of each of us. At Emjay and Christine's wedding, the story begun in Bond Chapel Bound. At Jason's wedding, the very same weekend as my magical first-ever Maryland Renaissance festival. Alvin and I had, in fact, been at all three weddings -- Emjay's, Jason's and then Alvin's own.

Thrice I have been deeply priveleged to share in the happiest of days with old friends trusted and true. Thrice I have been the honored guest while each of the others took his place as the host; now, of course, it's up to me to close the circle. I look forward to and hope very much for the honor of that day. And the grand gathering of the most pivotal of players you all have "met" in the pages of this Journal, the gathering of the dearest of friends with whom I have been so lucky to share my life, which that day will bring. :-)




huān yán de suǒ qì /
měi jiǔ liáo gòng huī.

And glad I was to have a chance to rest /
And glad of a chance to drink with my friend.

- Li Bai (701 - 762 AD),
"Down Zhongnan Mountain"

The doctor says it doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt the doctor.

Thanx to Majikthise.

Here's some pictures I haven't put out before. This is a detail from over the door of the little church in Azay.



The Church itself. I so would like to go back to take pictures with my 12MP camera now.



Pure charm.


A change of pace: the view of the gardens from the tower of...God, which chateau was this? Villandry! You could simply wander in a happy daze from chateau to chateau, mouth agape, stunned by the perfection, the elegance, the simplicity.....





And for dessert....a dessert! I think this was called "La Religieuse" because it was supposed to look like a fat little nun in her habit. In fact, this is called this because you take one bite and then just moan "OH MY GOD" before falling over in the throes of a foodgasm. Yes, I probably spelled it wrong. If it pisses off my spellchecker, I'm happy.

Oh, here we go, sort of: an outbuilding at Villandry. I don't think I got a good picture of the chateau itself.



The ceiling in a princess' room at Villandry.

Pat Buchanan: Republicans not racist enough.

Thanx to Shakesville

Gen. J.C. Christian presents men with huge forearms holding long, hard, rigid shafts of steel, the Mormon way.

From: rj_swashbuckler
Date: 7/15/09
Subject: I am bringing home tons of carrots!
Content: (blank)


Domestic life in these parts is occasionally more "strange" than "bliss."

::wracks brains for carrot recipes::

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I think they have leaped over some sort of large aquatic creature.

Don's hand is apparently getting worse. Called workplace. Not going in today, because I'm going with him to the doctor. Wheelchair still broken. I have forgotten how to sleep.

A very happy birthday to la_marquise_de_, and a fabulous weekend...

*sulks at not being there*

...to yesterday's question, as gareth_rees was first to get: the nth number in the qsequence is the lowest integer with n divisors.

1
1, 2
1, 2, 4
1, 2, 3, 6
1, 2, 4, 8, 16
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48

so

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60

etc.

So, I spent ALL of my play time today leveling my fishing and cooking from 0 to ... 190ish for fishing and 275+ for cooking (without buying stuff to do it), and starting mining and JC for her, and ladies - I am SOOOOO in hate with low level professions!

HOW do you grind through the beginning levels of professions without driving yourself batshit nuts? I mean, I'm enjoying being able to go through empty lowbie zones and grab stuff (always making sure no one's around the ore - I remember hating high levels who came in and mined out the vein I'd just killed my way almost to...) whilst everything that isn't too stupid to survive totally ignores me... that was worth a giggle for, oh, about two minutes? Maybe?

I think if the guy hadn't been doing stuff on his toon so we could chat about that while I was boring myself slowly to death I wouldn't have made it nearly as far through as I did, and I know I still have a frustratingly long way to go yet. *shidder* I don't remember it being *this* much of a pain leveling those skills along the way along with weapons skills and just *leveling*. O.o

Any brilliant ideas? heck, any half-baked ideas? I'm about half-baked mentally, from grinding, so that'd totally work! =)

Oh, and on a separate note - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the mention of the sprite darter pet! I ran down and picked one up this morning, and for the first time since I started playing it dropped within the first 8 kills! The guy is having a horrid time trying to get it to drop, so I feel kind of bad about that because it's usually me with the insanely bad drop rate, but - SQUEE!!! I got it!!! =) I would never have thought of even trying for it had it not been for you ladies, so I really appreciate it.
*happydance*

CdF's reading period is now closed until September 15. I'll be dealing with unread submissions and sorting out the remaining contracts this week and next, Slow going. I'm a mess, and today my mood is reaching new depths of foul. I spent a half hour looking for a computer cable that I put in a safe place. You know, the place you put things so you can later find them. I couldn't find it, so I ranted at the houseplants for another half hour about the hormone-driven infantilism so prevalent in the world today (which has nothing to do with the cable, no) and then I broke down in tears. That's right. Just like an infant. It's all flu and my being sick of being sick and of having a body that dared to succumb to being sick in the first place and I just can't fucking breathe. I thought I was more functional today, but now I'm purely exhausted. I can't write this day off, no, but I'd like to. I did that yesterday, pretty much gave up the ghost in the afternoon and slept again, got up to cook the worst tea (supper, dinner, tea, whatever you want to call it) in the known universe and then got angry at a point and click video game. Fallout 3 eventually served my purpose and I took out much frustration on ghouls and super mutants with my favorite combat shotgun before sleeping again. I could sleep yet again right now if I let myself. What a life, eh?

Flu. Don't get this one, peeps. It's rubbish.

I just got my copy of Turn Coat so I'm re-reading the series. I didn't realize how short and, honestly, incomplete these reviews were. Plus I want more people to read The Dresden Files. So there we go....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

"Hell's Bells" count - 13

While I was on my long commute to work (not so bad, as it affords me more reading time), I wondered what the Harry Dresden from Storm Front would have made of the Harry Dresden from this book. I imagine he probably would have been scared. And to be honest, I don't think I would be able to blame him.

There's necromancy afoot in Chicago, and as much as he doesn't want to be, Harry is in the middle of all of it. He's been charged by one of the most dangerous vampires in the world, Mavra of the Black Court, to find the missing volume of a series written by one of the most notorious necromancers in human history. When the necromancer Kemmler was alive, it took nearly the entire fighting force of the White Council of Wizards to stop him. Now his disciples are all hunting for the book, trying to be the first one to kill everyone in Chicago and become a god.

It's a mission he can't refuse. If he should do so, Mavra has evidence in her possession that would destroy the career of one of the people closest to Harry - Lt. Karrin Murphy of the Chicago Police Department. In the previous book, Murphy helped Harry take out a nest of Black Court vampires, killing several humans who had been enthralled to the vamps. These Renfields were human only by technicality, but a photograph of Murphy blowing one's head off would still be damning evidence. Should Harry not do what Mavra wants, the pictures would be released, and the one things that Murphy truly loves would be gone.

The point of this book, broadly, is Harry discovering that past actions still have present consequences, and that the choices he has to make are not always good ones. While Harry does save the day, he does so at a cost.

Harry has become legitimately scary by this book. His friends and his allies aren't sure about him anymore, either his motives or his sanity. The people who have stood steadfastly by him now find themselves afraid of him, and what he might do. And for good reason, really. Harry's been through a lot in the last few books. He's lost the woman he loves to the Red Court vampires, he very nearly lost his hand fighting Mavra and he's now absolutely terrified of using fire magic as a result. On top of all that, he's discovered that being someone's brother doesn't automatically mean you get to understand them. Or like them. Or be able to live with them.

So yeah, Harry's had it rough. With most humans, it's hard to see change from the inside, and I'm sure Harry doesn't think he's changed all that much. He knows he's gotten a little angrier, maybe a little more solitary, but from his point of view it's a logical progression. For people who aren't with him all the time - Billy the Werewolf, Mac the World's Best Tavern Owner, for example, the changes are drastic. And truly frightening. Harry's still a good guy, don't worry about that.

He's just not a nice guy.

This book is awash in general awesomeness, and introduces a lot of good new characters, both on the good and bad sides. My favorite is Waldo Butters, the Medical Examiner for the Chicago PD. He goes from being a slightly quirky ME who kind of believes in the weird and unusual (he spent 90 days under psychiatric evaluation when he refused to classify vampire remains as human). By the end of the book, he becomes positively heroic, and is a very good avatar for The Reader. We all like to believe that we would take the world of the supernatural, if it existed, in stride, but we probably would have reacted just like Butters did when he first saw things he was not prepared for - denial, disbelief and then abject terror. He comes around, though, as I'm sure all of us would.

We also get to meet a few of the remaining Wardens of the White Council. The war has gone very hard on their numbers, and there are very, very few available to fight a group of mad necromancers in Chicago. The Red Court has dealt them such heavy blows that it's not unreasonable to think that there's a mole in the White Council somewhere. Who it is, though, will have to wait for another book. Their numbers have been slashed, and they need every able-bodied magic user they can get. The deal they offer Harry for their assistance is a surprising one, but makes perfect sense. And it will play heavily into the books that follow.

There's also one genuine "Holy Shit" moment in this book. I won't tell you what it is, because that would just spoil the whole thing. All I can say is that it's at the end of chapter 38. You can't miss it.

From here on out, this is going to be a very different series. Bigger, darker, as if that were possible, building on the foundation of the previous books to make something far more elaborate and interesting. I can't wait to see what it ends up being.

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"Polka will never die!"
- Waldo Butters, Dead Beat
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People keep asking me when I'm moving. I don't bloody know. What I do know is that the solicitors continue to appear incompetent.

They asked me to suggests dates some time ago and I said 15th August would suit me, I recognised it might not suit everyone in the chain and so offered a backup date in July. Both were Saturdays and I specifically referred to how weekend dates would be much more preferable for me as I work full time.

I heard nothing. So yesterday I chased in email, asking if the date of 15th August which I'd previously suggested was all right for others in the chain, and stating that I assumed as the July date is rather close now I assumed that would not be happening.

I got a reply that said they would recommend going for an August date given that there are things still outstanding, and was there any particular date that would be my preference? Note that the response QUOTED my own email in which I referred to 15th August.

So I stay polite and calm and restate this date, reiterating that a weekend date will suit me best. The response comes back fairly quickly again. It tells me that they can't do weekends as they are closed "and so are the banks".

1) My bank bloody ISN'T closed at weekends.
2) Why is it only NOW mentioned that a weekend is unsuitable?

This is a bloody pain in the arse as it means I'm much less likely to be able to rely on getting friends to help me out and will probably need to pay a real removals firm. She has suggested working towards 14th August, but has not yet replied to my email asking what that means - I don't know at what point I find out if the date we're "working towards" is actually my moving date. I don't know how long it will be until we're at the exchange point, which is when I assume the completion date is set in stone. I can't give notice on my broadband, or book a removals firm, or ask friends if they're available until the date is real. I need to have at least a fortnight between the date being set and the date arriving and with these incompetents I feel like they're going to turn around on 12th August and say "yep, completion will happen on 14th" or something. This is all really damn frustrating.

la_marquise_de_. I trust your day is totally splendid.

Only since we've had several roll through this week.


Yes, you may advertise here, with these caveats:

- The item(s) must be something you made yourself, or something that has been made for your shop. We give love and squeezes to artists, artisans, and those who employ them.

- If the item does not meet one of the two above criteria, fear not: it belongs in steamy_stitches, where it will probably be gleefully snatched.

- If you are promoting an event, the event's city and state/country should be in the subject. Free admission + plane ticket is no free admission at all. T__T


And that's it! Just trying to keep things tidy. <3

Word count: 60,301
LBR census: There will be blood. (Pity I hated that movie . . . .)
Authorial sadism: Aw, shut it, Irrith. The lunatic hasn't attacked you. Yet.


The tens of thousands matter. More than a week's work, unless I'm having a pretty fast week, and there's few enough of them in your average book that they feel like real milestones.

Also, the next one will be the official "halfway point" of the book, in the hopes that I'm right about it being 140K in total.

If this is inappropriate to post, just let me know and I'll remove it (or a mod could delete it); I'm not sure of the protocols for posting lists of books I haven't read.

The World eBook Fair is offering a collection of over 2 million ebooks, mostly in PDF format, until August 4th. (Most, perhaps all, of these are available on their original sites; right now, World eBook Fair is hosting all of these. After Aug 4, they'll be scattered again.)

The following collections include many, sometimes all, authors of color:
( ACIP, BuddhaNet, e-Asia collection, eBooksBrasil, ETANA, Classic Chinese Literature, Himalayan Academy, Islamic collection, Japanese collection, Logos, Project Madura )

Behind the cut are Readercon reports collected in the last day (about).

( con reports )

Stage One: Getting There. Featuring the Million Dollar Highway, the Grand Canyon and stargazing at the Mojave.

Stage Two: Because I'm All About Side Roads. Featuring Highway 1 up the California coastline, a night with Serene & Co. and coffee or such with Stef and Aahz.

Stage Three: Seeing Home With New Eyes Featuring more mountains, Mount Rushmore, and sweeping fields of grain. And home.

Hey, so I am thinking of going to see that Harry Potter movie today! Anybody up for the 19.00 show at Finchley Road Vue (about thirty seconds away from Finchley Road Tube)?

So years ago, teeka was visiting and she bought the dogs a green rubber squeaky ball with feet and a dinosaur tail, in the hopes that they would annoy me with it. Which plan pretty much failed because my dogs ignore it and have for years.

Last night, Dexter found it. Squeak squeak squeak. Squeak. Squeaksqueaksqueak. I took it away from him last night so I could sleep. He tracked it down and got it back out this morning. Squeak. Squeaksqueaksqueak.

I'm sending it home with him, because that's how much I love rozae.

We had another instructor for this session – the previous instructor, who is better will be there for the remaining 4 lessons. Also, Aaron showed up, as well as another student, for a total of four students. I managed to learn another move and can do everything we've been taught except the backwards version of one move. I also discovered that some of the moves that I tried tonight caused the cords of the poi to scrape the second joint of my first finger on each hand, so the skin on each of those fingers will need to heal and I'll be wearing band-aids on those fingers to the next class. Becca once again excelled – Aaron had never done it before and while he was not excellent, he was close to my level by the end of the class. Of course, he's also had vastly more physical training that I have. In any case, clearly this is not something that I excel at. However, I do have a fair amount of determination. Also, as I mentioned in this post, practicing with my hands alone is by far the best way for me to learn a move – once my hands know the pattern, doing the same pattern while holding and swinging the poi is not all that difficult. In vivid contrast, Becca has a sense of the movement of the poi through space that I greatly envy.

After a very long hiatus my boyfriend and I are looking for a guild. We will be looking at joining a guild within 4 weeks as both of our computers will be finished being built.

We are currently searching for;
A non-hardcore raiding guild. 3-4 nights a week preferably. 7:30/8pm until 11pm.
Time zone: Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10).
Faction: Alliance.

( A little bit about us :o) )

How do you ladies deal with achievements when rerolling from a major main character? I'm all fascinated by my priest alt again (this exact thing happened during mid-TBC too) and been finding hunter pretty dull to play in raids/pvp. I think I could get gear to actually get myself ready for real raiding if/when my guild needed a priest, but the thing is...

My hunter has lots and lots of achievement points, and my priest doesn't. This bothers me, but I'm also annoyed that it's proving to be such a major thing for me. I'd just want to reroll and be DONE with it without crying over some dumb points that have no concrete value whatsoever.

Has any of you girls and guys rerolled from a major character? How did it feel like? Did you regret it or did you just go and get all those points back? I'm at the point where I feel like I'm in a relationship that I started as a teenager and now I'm 24 and the relationship is still going on, but is nothing like how it felt when I was young and madly in love, and I'd rather already get out... But am worried that I may not like the end result and things won't work with a new partner so maybe I should just stay for convenience and comfort's sake. xD

(Yes I know forgive me for the awful metaphor.)

( Read more... )
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We're two people with a room in the Delta(party hotel), looking for two more roommates to lower expenses.Room is currently booked 3rd-13th, but we will probably shorten it to 5th-13th unless we get two people who need space before the 5th.

I can be contacted for details by email on Flash119is at yahoo dot com or in the comments.