(Ir)Regular service resumes
Jun. 23rd, 2006 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbProgress notes for 22 June 2006:
"The Queen’s Mirror"
New Words: 325
Total Words: 904
Darling du jour: Witches cast no more reflection on the future than they must.
Like cats, they are tricksy creatures.
Untitled novel #? aka the pilots story
New Words: 689
Total Words: I dunno. This has been in progress a very long time, accumulating words in drips here and there, so maybe 8,000? Really, I dunno.
Darling du jour: N/A
"Untitled #3" aka the very strange angel story
New Words: 466
Total Words: 1040
Darling du jour: The Liffey is running high, languid and dark beneath the metal arch of the new footbridge. The Sean O’Casey Bridge: streetlights reflect from its nameplate. There’s an itch in my spine and an oppressive feeling in the dark: something’s out there tonight. or maybe: The angel was still in my apartment when I left, glowering at the walls and leaking blood on the furniture.
Books in progress: Robert Gildea, Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France during the German Occupation; Nicola Griffith, The Blue Place.
Exercise: Running, reps, kata.
Before starting work, I spent Monday in a panicked, last-gasping fit of reading. It’s my reaction to the intrusion of unpleasant realities: retreat to book.
Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint is a marvellous, deft book. Alec and Richard are wonderful, imperfect characters, and the tenor of their relationship -- well, it hits the right note to be real, anyway. Also, Alec Campion? So believably self-destructive, and so right.
My only gripe with it is that it feels unfinished. Not just a dangling ending, but unfinished. Still, this could just be because I wanted more.
The Firebird Deception, by Cate Dermody (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mizkit) lacks the quality of deftness which made Swordspoint so enjoyable. This wouldn’t matter, except that it also lacks the freshness and slightly snarky humour enjoyed by its predecessor, The Cardinal Rule. The Cardinal Rule was a breathless, helter-skelter ride of a -- well, spy romance, for lack of a better term. The Firebird Deception is also breathless and helter-skelter, but where its predecessor made those qualities into virtues, here the book merely feels rushed. Meh. It’s not bad, just a bit skimpy on character, and relying a little too heavily on the popular perception of spies to cover its shortcomings. It didn’t push the right buttons for me.
David Drake’s The Master of the Cauldron is another solid instalment in his Lord of the Isles series. Nothing particularly new to speak of -- it follows pretty much the same pattern as preceding volumes -- but fun nonetheless. Drake writes good character, good battle, and good magic. His worldbuilding is the next best thing to note-perfect. Yep, definitely fun.
I am holding out on readingnaominovik’s Black Powder War because I know there are no more yet published, and it’s nice to have some Temeraire to look forward to. Sometime, when I’m feeling really down, I’ll treat myself to a good read of this book. But not yet, precioussss. Not yet.
Incidentally, there are paperback copies of Temeraire in the bookshop in Dublin Airport. So I guess Naomi Novik isn’t doing too badly, at all, at all.
"The Queen’s Mirror"
New Words: 325
Total Words: 904
Darling du jour: Witches cast no more reflection on the future than they must.
Like cats, they are tricksy creatures.
Untitled novel #? aka the pilots story
New Words: 689
Total Words: I dunno. This has been in progress a very long time, accumulating words in drips here and there, so maybe 8,000? Really, I dunno.
Darling du jour: N/A
"Untitled #3" aka the very strange angel story
New Words: 466
Total Words: 1040
Darling du jour: The Liffey is running high, languid and dark beneath the metal arch of the new footbridge. The Sean O’Casey Bridge: streetlights reflect from its nameplate. There’s an itch in my spine and an oppressive feeling in the dark: something’s out there tonight. or maybe: The angel was still in my apartment when I left, glowering at the walls and leaking blood on the furniture.
Books in progress: Robert Gildea, Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France during the German Occupation; Nicola Griffith, The Blue Place.
Exercise: Running, reps, kata.
Before starting work, I spent Monday in a panicked, last-gasping fit of reading. It’s my reaction to the intrusion of unpleasant realities: retreat to book.
Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint is a marvellous, deft book. Alec and Richard are wonderful, imperfect characters, and the tenor of their relationship -- well, it hits the right note to be real, anyway. Also, Alec Campion? So believably self-destructive, and so right.
My only gripe with it is that it feels unfinished. Not just a dangling ending, but unfinished. Still, this could just be because I wanted more.
The Firebird Deception, by Cate Dermody (
mizkit) lacks the quality of deftness which made Swordspoint so enjoyable. This wouldn’t matter, except that it also lacks the freshness and slightly snarky humour enjoyed by its predecessor, The Cardinal Rule. The Cardinal Rule was a breathless, helter-skelter ride of a -- well, spy romance, for lack of a better term. The Firebird Deception is also breathless and helter-skelter, but where its predecessor made those qualities into virtues, here the book merely feels rushed. Meh. It’s not bad, just a bit skimpy on character, and relying a little too heavily on the popular perception of spies to cover its shortcomings. It didn’t push the right buttons for me.David Drake’s The Master of the Cauldron is another solid instalment in his Lord of the Isles series. Nothing particularly new to speak of -- it follows pretty much the same pattern as preceding volumes -- but fun nonetheless. Drake writes good character, good battle, and good magic. His worldbuilding is the next best thing to note-perfect. Yep, definitely fun.
I am holding out on reading
naominovik’s Black Powder War because I know there are no more yet published, and it’s nice to have some Temeraire to look forward to. Sometime, when I’m feeling really down, I’ll treat myself to a good read of this book. But not yet, precioussss. Not yet.Incidentally, there are paperback copies of Temeraire in the bookshop in Dublin Airport. So I guess Naomi Novik isn’t doing too badly, at all, at all.
