FF: Odd Times to Read

Mei-Ling Sniffs

Jim is healing well, and thanks all of you for your kind words.  I’m finding odd times to read, like when he’s in the shower and I’m waiting to dry his back.  It works!

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss.  ARC.  A friend recently recommended Goss’s short fiction, especially her fairytale retellings, so I felt very lucky to score this ARC.  I very much enjoyed.  The collection itself is a new release.

The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Set four years after Warrior’s Apprentice.  Miles is out of the academy, but no better at subordination than when he went in.

Paladin’s Hope by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).  The third of her books about the surviving paladins of the mysteriously deceased Saint of Steel. 

In Progress:

European Travel for Monstrous Gentlewomen by Theodora Goss.  Audiobook.  Excellent reader.

The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney.  Vivid setting, interesting characters, and some fine plot twists.  I scored an ARC of this, but I’m happy to announce you can get it as a new release.

Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).  Re-read before bed because the Cooney can be just a little too vivid for peaceful dreams.

 Also:

The latest Archeology magazine.  Almost done.  As a desert dweller, I enjoyed the long article on water management through many ages and many cultures.

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Motion and Visual Poetry

Vibrant!

Last week, we got a peek at Tom Kidd’s cover art for House of Rough Diamonds.

It features Grunwold (stag), Vereez (fox), and Xerak (lion) with Heru the xuxu flying high guard, and the ship Slicewind soaring overhead.

I always enjoy seeing how an artist will interpret my work, even if it doesn’t match my own vision.  One thing a lot of authors miss is that a cover is not an illustration, it’s a tool.

Let me quote Tom Kidd’s eloquent discussion of the topic:

“I liken book covers to poetry because of their limitations (flat rectangles of colors and type) and the importance of them to communicate. They should capture the feel of the story even though stationary/stagnant images that suggest movement, emotion, and story, something to make a person wonder about the book. Covers aren’t typically scenes from the book but a scene that could happen that says something true about the characters, location, or the action. Sometimes I’m left with something that was never described but had to have happened.”  (FB message, 2-19-23)

When I saw the covers for Library of the Sapphire Wind and Aurora Borealis Bridge, well before I’d ever been in communication with Tom Kidd, this was precisely how I felt.  The art differed in detail, but the spirit of swashbuckling adventure was absolutely right.  And his choices of detail were delightful.  One of my favorites was Peg fighting using her knitting needles.  She never does that, but she absolutely would should the situation arise.

This latest cover is a perfect example of the cover that “could happen that says something true about the characters, location, or the action.”  You can see the trust between the characters, get a feel for how they approach problems.  (Vereez is definitely the most impulsive of the trio.)  I like how Xerak’s mane is groomed, and he would definitely love those arm bracers. 

I also love how Tom Kidd uses fabric to create a sense of motion.  All three of his covers for me feel like scenes in motion I could walk right into.  Given the choice of dully static or vibrant, both Vereez and I absolutely forgive him for putting her in a dress, which would not be her choice of combat attire. 

As we get closer to the release date, I’ll talk more about what House of Rough Diamonds is about, but for now I want to give people a little more time to read the first couple of books, so there won’t be any spoilers!

Racing About

Roary Rests After Racing

This week has been full of racing about as Jim has his two week plus rechecks.  All the medical people seem delighted by how nicely his surgical incision is healing, but it’s really too early to do much with the mobility of the replaced shoulder.  It is great that he can use the hand, though!

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Enter Miles who talks his way out of just about everything and has yet to learn about consequences.  Well, he’s only seventeen…

In Progress:

The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss.  ARC.  A friend recently recommended Goss’s short fiction, especially her fairytale retellings, so I felt very lucky to score this ARC.  I’m nearly done, and have very much enjoyed.

The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Set four years after Warrior’s Apprentice.  Miles is out of the academy, but no better at subordination than when he went in.

Paladin’s Hope by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).  The third of her books about the surviving paladins of the mysteriously deceased Saint of Steel. 

Also:

The latest Archeology magazine.  Finished off the AARP mag as well.

Ramifications

Greetings, Dandy Silverstone!

They’ve probably changed the rules by now, but way back in the dark ages (early-1980s) when I started playing AD&D, a human fighter, beginning level, was (according to some table I no longer have access to) assumed to be something like sixteen to eighteen years old.  A half-elf with the same basic abilities was assumed to be quite a bit older, like in their eighties.

This niggled at me until one day the solution came to me: It simply takes elves a long time to learn anything.  They aren’t stupid. (After all, elves are known to be brilliant.)  However, maybe as a result of their very long lives, they have no incentive to learn anything, so they don’t bother.

From this, I came up with one of the most restful characters I’ve ever played: Kymbree Silverstone.  The surname was taken from a then popular alternative to Teflon coating, and Teflon, as you may recall, was famous for being a surface that everything slid off of.

Kymbree was unable to worry.  She lived in the moment.  She sang a lot, and usually remembered to swing her sword when something came after her.  That particular game was a short one, but I still remember Kymbree fondly, both for herself, and because of how she was the solution to a problem of ramifications.

Ramifications are something that, as a writer of SF/F, I think about a lot.  Every story starts as a blank slate, but once you have an element, you’re stuck with all that goes with it.  Kymbree’s shiny steel sword implies that someone, somewhere, is making steel.  Steel takes iron (so someone is mining, or maybe there are meteor tracking groups).   Making steel takes heat, so someone is polluting the air by burning wood or coal or whatever.  (Or maybe they have really big magnifying glasses and focus the sun’s heat.)

Forging the sword means that somewhere there are stinky forges, burly people wielding big hammers.  (Or maybe they’re made by earth elementals who have no sense of smell and smooth out the steel by touch.)

But whatever the answer, you’ve created not just a sword, but all that goes into making a sword.

Or maybe swords drop out of the sky…  But who is dropping them?  Where did they come from?

Ramifications.  They’re part of the writing game, especially the SF/F writing game.  At least they are for me.

FF: Enchantments

Persephone Relaxes

I’ve been pretty tired lately, but stories are the enchantment that recharges my soul.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher.  Book two of the Saint of Steel.  Good re-read for a stressful time.

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Darker than Shards of Honor, as a tale of political strife should be.

Epitaph in Rust by Timothy Powers.  Very early Powers.  “Timothy” on the jacket, rather than the “Tim” of his later works.  In a future LA, androids police an unsettled city and a young monk finds more than he ever dreamed.  Warning: Very high body count in this one.

In Progress:

Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Enter Miles who talks his way out of just about everything and has yet to learn about consequences.  Well, he’s only seventeen…

The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss.  ARC.  A friend recently recommended Goss’s short fiction, especially her fairytale retellings, so I felt very lucky to score this ARC.

Also:

Newly arrived, my university’s (Fordham, in case you wondered) alumni magazine.

Frazzled!

Frazzled Sparrow

A week and a day ago, Jim had complete shoulder replacement surgery.  The procedure went well, and he has started PT.

That said, we’re both rather frazzled.  Jim underestimated how much having only partial use of his left arm would mean in terms of limiting what he can do.  This means an inclination to over-do on his part, which I appreciate until he tuckers out and gets grumpy.

<grin>

Me…  Well, taking over most of his jobs, including running errands, has cut into my ability to separate from reality and write.  I am managing, but it’s harder to get into the zone.

However, weirdly the thing that is disrupting me the most is our current sleeping arrangements.  The number of pillows needed to give Jim appropriate support feel like a wall between us.  I have a whole new appreciation how the custom of “bundling” as a courtship procedure really did provide a sense of separation.

But we’re managing.

What’s amazing is how quickly the cats figured out that Jim’s left arm and shoulder are off-limits.  Persephone in particular likes to sit on Jim’s chest.  After being told to not touch the shoulder, she still sits on him, but she carefully avoids kneading the tender area.

Oh, and if anyone thinks cats are committed to order, they’re nothing to guinea pigs.  Our guinea pigs have two domiciles: smaller for night, larger for day.  In order to accustom them to both of us handling them, I move Dandy in the morning, Coco in the evening.  Jim does the reverse.

Well, obviously, right now Jim can’t safely move either one.  Coco in particular made a tremendous fuss to inform me that YOU HAVE IT ALL WRONG!!!  It took a week before she’d settle for sulking rather than kicking and running in circles.

So, a frazzled household, but coping, and grateful that frazzled is all we are…

FF: Get Going

Roary Wonders What’s For Dinner

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  Me?  I tend to read, and with Jim’s surgery this week, I have done a fair amount.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  From reading the Miles books, I know much of the “what happened,” but I’m finding the details of the “how” more than enough to keep me interested.

Dinner at Deviant’s Palace by Tim Powers.  Before he became renowned as the master of “secret history” tales, Tim Powers wrote this strange take on post-apolcalyptic LA.  I haven’t read it for years, but I’ve been sucked right in.

Veni Vino Vegas: I Went, I Got Drunk, I Got Married by A_N_D from Archive of Our Own.  Clever Good Omens Romance/FanFic.

In Progress:

Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher.  Book two of the Saint of Steel.  Good re-read for a stressful time.

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Darker than Shards of Honor, as it should be.

Also:

Reading the most recent Vogue.  Amid the fluff and stuff, a very interesting article about foods grown/created from algae, some of which are apparently already in stores.  Interesting.

Life and Writing

Mei-Ling Contemplates

Above, a sneak peak at the mass market paperback of Library of the Sapphire Wind with its elder sibling, the trade paperback edition.  Oh…  And a very smug Mei-Ling.

As for why I’m thinking about the life and writing balance…

Earlier this week, my husband, Jim, had a total shoulder replacement.  This is his third joint replacement.  He had one knee done in 2018, the other in 2020, and now this…  Archeology, especially for those who get out there and dig, as well as write papers, is really not kind to the body.

When Jim had his first knee replacement, I lost about two months writing time, not only because he needed help, but because I had to take over all the chores and errands that he usually does—which are quite a lot. And, well, I did tend to hover anxiously…  I’ll admit it!

When he had his second knee replacement, I didn’t lose as much time for a variety of reasons.  We had the routine down, so we’d been more efficient in our pre-planning.  The pandemic shutdown meant that we’d already pared down our errands and outings.  However, having Jim laid up still ate both my time and my emotional energy, even though I wasn’t hovering quite as much.

This third joint replacement has already impacted on my time, since I’ve been going along to pre-op visits, so both of us know what is expected.  Jim and I have spent a lot of time working out logistics for how he will sleep, and whether we can manage both of us in the same bed with him supported by lots of pillows, and stuff like that.

So, how do I think this most recent surgery will impact my writing?

Well, in anticipation of disruption, I’ve already immersed myself in my current writing project: SK5, aka the yet-untitled fifth book in the Star Kingdom series I’m writing with David Weber.  From past experience, I know that I find it easier to continue a project than to get started on one. 

We’ve also been doing a lot of cooking in advance, so meals will be easier to do.  Yes, Jim does some of the cooking.  He also makes almost all our salads, and we’re still figuring out if he can do that with one arm in a sling.

We’d washed a lot of laundry, and made sure all the routine chores are taken care of, so there wouldn’t be a backlog.  Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that there will be a lot less time for me to write.

But I’m okay with that.  As I noted, Jim and I celebrated our 26^th wedding anniversary last week, and part of the deal is that whole “sickness and health” thing.   We’ve had at least two friends lose their much-loved spouses in the last couple of years, and another have a narrow miss.  How can I not be glad to interrupt my writing because Jim’s here to fuss over?

Therefore, I’m off to go see what he might need, then to write!