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[rushthatspeaks]

Did not get the really cool job. Bleah. On to the next thing.

The weather's been so warm that I've been going into the second half of my winter sleep phase, which means that I've spent most of the last three days unconscious. I hope it doesn't cool down again, because I do not want to do this twice.

On the other hand, I've been having some entertaining dreams. Most recent involved a bizarre scrapbook compilation that had to be done for Diana Wynne Jones for some reason, so I was running about frantically trying to find an authentic photograph of Thomas Lynn. It eventually occurred to me that no such thing existed, since Thomas Lynn is after all fictional, and then I decided that a photo of the guy who played him in the movie would suffice. In reality, there is no movie of Fire and Hemlock, but I'm delighted to tell you that the version I chased down on videotape was a very good adaptation, marred only slightly by the casting of Laurel. Laurel is not meant to be a perky sort of grandmotherly type. It was a really good movie, though, and I'm sorry it was imaginary.

Comments

[sovay]

It was a really good movie, though, and I'm sorry it was imaginary.

This is a complete spoiler for gaudior's current meme, so you may not want to tell her for a day or so . . . My last night's dreams were all fanfiction for Doris Egan's The Gate of Ivory, Two-Bit Heroes, and Guilt-Edged Ivory, which are excellent science fantasy novels* that, if you haven't read, you really should. It's been enough time since I woke up that I can no longer remember anything like a plot, except that there were complicated politics and assassinations (and chocolates, go figure) and I was spending an inordinate amount of time with Stereth Tar'krim, a mild-mannered sociopath and current Minister of Provincial Affairs. He is my favorite character from that series, but I really wasn't expecting him to show up halfway through a dream about vacationing in some (nonexistent) tropical bit of Europe . . .

*By default, they form a loose trilogy; there would have been more, except apparently the author couldn't get enough interest from publishers. Fortunately, each book is independently well-written and so can be enjoyed without an overall series arc; unfortunately, they're so well-written that one does want more. I don't even think there are Ivory short stories. Hence, I suppose, my brain trying to come up with some . . .

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I must put those on my to-be-read list. They sound very cool indeed.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I should totally thank you for the mentions of Vivian Alcock-- The Haunting of Cassie Palmer really was quite good-- and Helen Cresswell, whose Ordinary Jack made very good sickbed reading during my recent Sinus Ick.

[sovay]

You're welcome! (I recommend Vivien Alcock's The Mysterious Mr. Ross as well: it's the kind of book that I can't understand how I missed in my childhood.) I'm also glad to hear that you have recovered; I wasn't sure if you still had a Lovecraftian orchestra living up your nose.

[sovay]

They are narrated by a futuristic PhD candidate in myth and folklore, stranded on a planet where magic apparently works; please put out of your mind any clichés this last phrase may conjure up, because Doris Egan does not fall prey to them. (Hey, she has a website. It hasn't been updated in forever, but since I hadn't known it existed until about thirty seconds ago, I'm still pleased.) Theo's voice is marvelous, wry and edged and occasionally, by her own admission, unreliable, and the author clearly likes her characters complicated. I always consider Two-Bit Heroes my favorite of the three, but I re-read The Gate of Ivory over break and I was surprised at how much I loved it. Definitely put on the list.

[diony.livejournal.com]

I read The Gate of Ivory at an impressionable age (13ish) and have been in love with the books ever since. I occasionally contemplate taking up a large collection in an attempt to convince her to self-publish more books, except of course she has an extremely busy life writing for various TV shows.

She is also on livejournal, as tightropegirl.

[sovay]

as tightropegirl

Cool! I had not known that. Thank you.

I also read The Gate of Ivory around a similar age: my family went to visit some friends in Denver who turned out to be (although I really should have remembered from our first visit, when I was about seven and got a staggering case of poison ivy and read the first four Elfquest graphic novels while slathered in calamine lotion) crazy science fiction and fantasy people, with a library that I can still only envy. I'm pretty sure I read at least Two-Bit Heroes around the same time, because I have memories of Taos, New Mexico, mixed up with the Northwest Sector. Look, plateaus, mesas, all right . . . ?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I think you would like those, but I think you would like the book she wrote under the pen-name Jane Emerson, City of Diamond, even more. If you like, I'll buy you a copy the next time I see one.

[sovay]

I have never read her Jane Emerson novels, although I have read several short stories published under that name—what are they like?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

There is only one novel. It's closer in tone to "The Sweet of Bitter Bark and Burning Clove," her vampire story from Sirens, than to the Ivory books.

It's a sort of intimate space opera set aboard a city-ship. The characterization is great, it's witty, and although it involves a nest of intrigues, lost ancient artifacts, and political machination, the story is really just a framework for the character interaction.

This is harder to describe than I thought it would be. Um, influences probably include Dorothy Dunnett, Ellen Kushner, Georgette Heyer, and possibly Lois McMaster Bujold.

[sovay]

"The Sweet of Bitter Bark and Burning Clove"

I am very fond of that story. I'll definitely have to check the novel out. (For some reason, I thought there were two books—perhaps one was prospective and never came to light? Or I'm just totally confused, which is also possible.) Thanks!

[diony.livejournal.com]

Chocolate drunk in little round cups on balconies facing the street?

[sovay]

Damn you, Tuvin Province, get out of my head!

[gallian.livejournal.com]

dear, you live in massachusetts. we can get blizzards in april.
spring is defined as: sunny with a chance of snow.
if you don't want unpredictable weather from halloween to may day, you'll have to move somewhere else.