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rushthatspeaksI got my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #34 in the mail today, along with my check. Yay! It's my first published prose fiction, and the second time I've been paid for writing. (Mind you, I'm in the odd position of knowing that I could be being paid for my writing more often if I wrote more reviews, but I'm finding it very difficult to review stuff at the moment after having received an ARC of something a while ago that was so bad that I not only found myself unable to review it but gave it to a cab driver I happened to run into; as soon as I can manage to properly document this trauma I'll get back to reviewing. Still, getting paid yay! /tangent.) It's kind of gratifying to see this particularly story of mine, 'The Crying Queen', in print, since it's the first thing I wrote that I ever stared at and said, that's publishable. Upon reread, I'd tighten up the beginning, but overall I think it's got some good stuff in it. If you're interested in getting Not One of Us, which contains, in addition to my story, fiction and poetry by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sovay, Mike Allen, Patricia Russo and others, and is edited by lesser_celery, you can get it at your local fine science fiction bookstore (I know Pandemonium in Cambridge stocks it) or by ordering it (I forget how; bother lesser_celery). Retail price $4.50, and you get a particularly nice cover illo this go-round, too, called 'Nyarlathotep Pachinko'.
... I want my computer fixed so I can get back to the six things stuck in progress on my perfectly fine but presently inaccessible hard drive. Mrowr.
Speaking of copies of other things entirely, I recently received in the mail my copy of Maria Nutick's poetry chapbook Wicked Fairy Apologist, her first collection. Mia's put it out under her own Spiderwise Press imprint, and it's well worth a look-see, especially since each chapbook is individually decorated by the writer. My copy has lovely and intricate rubber-stamped illustrations that complement and play off the text in a really gorgeous manner, and is great to have around as an art object.
As far as the poetry goes, it's quite enjoyable, but has a vague feel to it of 'first collection', which I can't quite pin down; I think this may be because the strength of the individual poems is extremely variable. None of them are bad, but there are a couple I don't find very memorable, interspersed with the stronger ones. The stronger poems are very strong indeed, though, notable for subtly rhythmic language and extremely enjoyable concepts. I find 'Inheritance' particularly noteworthy, a perfectly phrased deviant take on a children's classic, and also 'Beholden', a devastating aftermath and consequences for a Frog Prince; but I think my favorite poem in the collection is 'In the Night Desert', which I'm going to excerpt here. Trickster says to the narrator:
You know, it might not be such a bad thing
giving away your heart piece by piece.
Sooner or later you'll stop having trouble
with those bothersome heartbeats.
This is fine writing, wry, clear, colloquial but still melodic, and not as straightforward as it is initially; the meter is hidden but not absent. It goes coyote-wise. I look forward to more of Mia, after this strong a beginning.
You can find Wicked Fairy Apologist through Spiderwise Press, here, for twenty dollars plus shipping.
Soweirdquark and I have finished testing our first batch of imps-- I'll be finishing writing up the reviews presently-- and have come to our decisions, meaning that we now have a swap pile. Here's the brief rundown on how things came out in this order, so that people can make suggestions and come up with things to trade.
Keepers (the two of us are splitting bottles): Bliss (pure milk chocolate), White Rabbit (black tea, milk, white pepper, ginger, honey, vanilla, linen)
Keeping the imp, but no bottle: Hellcat (hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum, sweet almond)-- imp goes togaudior, who likes the sweetness; Nyarlathotep (hell if I know, but lots and lots of incense)-- imp goes to midnite_phoenix, whether he likes it or not, because it suits him; Eclipse (bitter almond, heliotrope, cinnamon, vanilla, frankincense)-- imp is weirdquark's.
Swap pile: The Red Queen (mahogany, other woods, black cherry, currant, OH GODS GET IT OUT OF HERE), Bordello (plum, amaretto, burgundy, black currant). Titania (white peach, white grape, pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower, snapdragon) would be up for swap if the vial hadn't gone and broken.
Note that the only things that really worked on me were the things for which we are getting bottles. I'm okay with the ones we're keeping in imp form, but don't expect to wear them except under very specific circumstances. Also, I am now avoiding fruit notes where possible, and have no intention of ever going anywhere near cherry or currant ever ever ever again (though I may try other fruits on a controlled basis).
Wishlist:: This is the stuff we intend to order next go-round, so if you can swap for any of it you will make us very happy. I'm listing the perfume, the notes in it, and then the reason we're getting it, so if you have something we didn't specifically mention that's along the same general ideas, please feel free to comment and offer it.
Highwayman (vetiver, rose, cinnamon, leather, gardenia): Weirdquark likes cinnamon. I like rose. We both want to know if we can wear a leather scent.
O (amber, honey, vanilla): Two notes from the worked-really-well-on-us White Rabbit, and a chance to test amber.
Kumiho (white tea, ginger): Again, notes from White Rabbit, but a different tea.
Two, Five and Seven (roses, roses, roses, green grass): I check to see whether I can actually *wear* rose, or if I just like it around.
Dorian (lots of musks, vanilla tea): A note we know works and a chance to test musk, plus a chance to ambush the boy with cologne, which I enjoy doing waaaaay too much.
Yggdrasil (according to the forums, a lot of woods): Cool name, plus, you guessed it, a chance to test out a different major note category. *g*
Feel free to offer other suggestions; mostly we're note-testing in fairly broad categories, but we're pretty open to swap offers.
And I promise to finish writing up the reviews Real Soon Now, because some of them are fairly entertaining.
This is a really good hobby.
sovay, Mike Allen, Patricia Russo and others, and is edited by lesser_celery, you can get it at your local fine science fiction bookstore (I know Pandemonium in Cambridge stocks it) or by ordering it (I forget how; bother lesser_celery). Retail price $4.50, and you get a particularly nice cover illo this go-round, too, called 'Nyarlathotep Pachinko'. ... I want my computer fixed so I can get back to the six things stuck in progress on my perfectly fine but presently inaccessible hard drive. Mrowr.
Speaking of copies of other things entirely, I recently received in the mail my copy of Maria Nutick's poetry chapbook Wicked Fairy Apologist, her first collection. Mia's put it out under her own Spiderwise Press imprint, and it's well worth a look-see, especially since each chapbook is individually decorated by the writer. My copy has lovely and intricate rubber-stamped illustrations that complement and play off the text in a really gorgeous manner, and is great to have around as an art object.
As far as the poetry goes, it's quite enjoyable, but has a vague feel to it of 'first collection', which I can't quite pin down; I think this may be because the strength of the individual poems is extremely variable. None of them are bad, but there are a couple I don't find very memorable, interspersed with the stronger ones. The stronger poems are very strong indeed, though, notable for subtly rhythmic language and extremely enjoyable concepts. I find 'Inheritance' particularly noteworthy, a perfectly phrased deviant take on a children's classic, and also 'Beholden', a devastating aftermath and consequences for a Frog Prince; but I think my favorite poem in the collection is 'In the Night Desert', which I'm going to excerpt here. Trickster says to the narrator:
You know, it might not be such a bad thing
giving away your heart piece by piece.
Sooner or later you'll stop having trouble
with those bothersome heartbeats.
This is fine writing, wry, clear, colloquial but still melodic, and not as straightforward as it is initially; the meter is hidden but not absent. It goes coyote-wise. I look forward to more of Mia, after this strong a beginning.
You can find Wicked Fairy Apologist through Spiderwise Press, here, for twenty dollars plus shipping.
So
weirdquark and I have finished testing our first batch of imps-- I'll be finishing writing up the reviews presently-- and have come to our decisions, meaning that we now have a swap pile. Here's the brief rundown on how things came out in this order, so that people can make suggestions and come up with things to trade.Keepers (the two of us are splitting bottles): Bliss (pure milk chocolate), White Rabbit (black tea, milk, white pepper, ginger, honey, vanilla, linen)
Keeping the imp, but no bottle: Hellcat (hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum, sweet almond)-- imp goes to
gaudior, who likes the sweetness; Nyarlathotep (hell if I know, but lots and lots of incense)-- imp goes to midnite_phoenix, whether he likes it or not, because it suits him; Eclipse (bitter almond, heliotrope, cinnamon, vanilla, frankincense)-- imp is weirdquark's. Swap pile: The Red Queen (mahogany, other woods, black cherry, currant, OH GODS GET IT OUT OF HERE), Bordello (plum, amaretto, burgundy, black currant). Titania (white peach, white grape, pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower, snapdragon) would be up for swap if the vial hadn't gone and broken.
Note that the only things that really worked on me were the things for which we are getting bottles. I'm okay with the ones we're keeping in imp form, but don't expect to wear them except under very specific circumstances. Also, I am now avoiding fruit notes where possible, and have no intention of ever going anywhere near cherry or currant ever ever ever again (though I may try other fruits on a controlled basis).
Wishlist:: This is the stuff we intend to order next go-round, so if you can swap for any of it you will make us very happy. I'm listing the perfume, the notes in it, and then the reason we're getting it, so if you have something we didn't specifically mention that's along the same general ideas, please feel free to comment and offer it.
Highwayman (vetiver, rose, cinnamon, leather, gardenia): Weirdquark likes cinnamon. I like rose. We both want to know if we can wear a leather scent.
O (amber, honey, vanilla): Two notes from the worked-really-well-on-us White Rabbit, and a chance to test amber.
Kumiho (white tea, ginger): Again, notes from White Rabbit, but a different tea.
Two, Five and Seven (roses, roses, roses, green grass): I check to see whether I can actually *wear* rose, or if I just like it around.
Dorian (lots of musks, vanilla tea): A note we know works and a chance to test musk, plus a chance to ambush the boy with cologne, which I enjoy doing waaaaay too much.
Yggdrasil (according to the forums, a lot of woods): Cool name, plus, you guessed it, a chance to test out a different major note category. *g*
Feel free to offer other suggestions; mostly we're note-testing in fairly broad categories, but we're pretty open to swap offers.
And I promise to finish writing up the reviews Real Soon Now, because some of them are fairly entertaining.
This is a really good hobby.
