Yesterday, I fed a week-old kitten. Abandoned by its mother and eventually coming into the care of my friend Meredith, this kitten was incredibly tiny. Meredith is the lady who gave us the caterpillars, so as soon as she was settled in with the kitty, she suggested I bring the fellas over for a look at her "newest science experiment."

( Large pictures of a tiny cat under the cut. )

So cute!

Today, I finally posted my interview with "James S.A. Corey" (the writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which I had been attempting to transcribe for-freaking-ever. (I really suck at transcription, and I kept having to stop because it gave me migraines. :P )

In any case, the interview itself was tremendous fun. You can read it yourself at GeekaChicas - Leviathan Wakes: A Chat with the Authors.

It was fun to see how they work together, and how easily they could razz each other. Daniel Abraham's entire body of work has landed right in my To Be Read list. He was very charming, and his list of favorite authors made me very happy. His rants about Urban Fantasy and "weaponized" female characters also had me thinking. His take on the phenomenon I used to call The Buffy Effect helped me clarify my thinking about it.

It also put my protagonist in perspective, too. Lethe is a reaction to the whole "female power through violence" thing, but in a different way. I'm anxious to get back to her.

... but getting closer. :)

I've been a bad webmistress and have neglected my pimping duties. So here's a run down of the recent stuff up on GeekaChicas.

First up, there's Kitchen Jedi's awesome review of Dorkness Rising. Looks like a fun rental, if it's half as amusing as the review.

Then there was Pearce's God Bless Shatnerday featuring the now somewhat infamous Star Trek OS video of Ke$ha's Tik Tok. It was up on Saturday, which gives you a hint how far behind I am on this stuff. Bad Wemistress, no biscuit.

Then, we have a book review from Alpha Lyra, Black Blade Blues - lesbian blacksmith, anyone?. I always enjoy Alpha Lyra's book reviews, even when she's not hot for the book, because she always gives her reasons and is a critic quite capable of considering the role taste plays in whether or not she likes a book.

Then we have a fun Geek Parenting article by Kitchen Jedi, Character Creation Is Not For The Faint at Heart. None of my spawn has done the non-video RPG thing yet, but it will be interesting to see what happens when they do.

Nightsky's I'm Sailing Away touches on the recent teen sailor rescue and the trend of parents pushing kids into stunts, possibly for the media coverage, as well as teh trend to do something just so you can write a book about it later. It's certainly some food for thought.

Last but not least, there is my no spoiler review of the new Futurama episodes airing tonight, Futurama: Good News, Everyone!

***

Whew! That was a lot of articles. Remind me not to get so far behind on my duties again.

Oy! Something doing every single day last week with the home school gang! It was a blast, but I'm worn out.

But, enough about that. ;) I'm hopeful that we'll have some Doctor Who stuff up on GC soon, what with Eleven's debut and all, but for today I have an interesting digression on certain Norse Gods (in keeping with our recent trends). The Essential Thor: Another Geeky Norse Mythology Moment, by Amalia the Savage re-examines the Thor love. Always a blast!

***
( My whinging under the cut. )

I finished reading Kitty and the Midnight Hour, and I have to say that, while it is a pretty typical example of the urban fantasy genre, a few things surprised me. My mind drew some parallels to early Laurell K. Hammilton, which is not a bad thing. Carrie Vaughn has a decent grasp of plotting (I think early LKH may be superior in that regard) and her writing is clear and straightforward. It's not too precious, and it doesn't have the stylistic issues that early LKH had (repetitive phrases, some heavy cheese).

Still, the typical thing is for the kick-ass chick to be, well, kick-ass with monsters but submissive in bed. Kitty does that, too, but in this she seems to be fighting her way out of being a submissive member of the pack, finding her strength. I'm honestly tempted to read more, and see where it goes. If vampirism is the fantastical metaphor for sexuality, then maybe lycanthropy, in these novels, may turn out to be a metaphor for the young adult identity crisis, or a sort of fantasy feminist awakening.

Kitty was tough for me to read at first, slinking through life, not standing up for herself. Whining. I think maybe I saw a bit my younger self in her. In any case, I couldn't really identify with her victimhood, but I could identify with getting pissed off enough to fight back. The tipping point between anger and fear is not really new to me. I've been there, and learned to be strong without benefit of rage.

So, yeah. Fun fluff. I saw the main plot reveal coming a mile off, which was disappointing, and I'm not running out to snap up copies of all her books. But I will read more if the next book drifts into my path, I think.

The iPad is sexy and hip, and I kind of want one(not to imply that I could afford it). But it would be a damned expensive paperweight, because it really wouldn't let me do half of what it should be able to do. I whine about why in The iPad: My Personal Smorgasbord of Frustration.

I need an ebook reader that will let me upload manuscripts. I may just have to dig out the old palm pilot. *sigh*

***

Well, this week wasn't so bad. I was scared of some of the social obligations, but they have turned out well so far.

The boys had a lovely playdate with a couple of kids in the Unschooling group, and I got to chat with their mom. Her husband teaches at Tulane and they just moved from New York, so our families are going through similar adjustments.

The park day/baby shower was a total blast. A lady who is from NOLA originally but has lived in London for more than a decade came along for the first time. The family is only here for three months, but her boys are close to my youngest's age and share some hobbies in common. Also, their last name is Moriarty, which made me inordinately happy. *hee!*

I think we may try to hit the Beach Day on Monday. Unschooling... well, it's kind of the Free-Range philosophy writ large. I'm not sure I can do it, but these families are so cool... I guess we'll see. :)

***

I got to catch up with my BFF on Skype last night, which is always fun. Rochester is buried under snow. It's so hard for me to grok that it's winter, when I go outside and think, "Do I need a sweater or not?" I'll pay for it in the summer when it's so hot I'm melting and wanting to shave my head. But it's fun now!

***

The hubby and I have another gala tonight, somewhere out in the boonies. This one is business casual, so at least there's that. Then Saturday night M. from the Unschooling group is having an Imbloc feast. I think I might try to make a quiche. Hmmm.

***

We're four chapters away from the end of Half-Blood Prince in our Harry Potter read-aloud. I had forgotten how much I loved that book. It's long, but it lacks most of the flaws of Order of the Phoenix, and by this point in the series her writing style has improved a lot.

I still maintain, for all its flaws as literature, the Harry Potter series is freaking brilliant.

I'm still a tad ill, it seems, so I'm going to be taking it as easy as possible for a few more days. Better that than risk a relapse. Do Not Want!

Over at GeekaChicas, we have the latest from Alpha Lyra (known to some of you as amy34), World of Warcraft and Wish-Fulfillment Fantasy.

There's also a bit of non-fiction from the prolific Amalia The Savage, Impress the Mighty Thor With Your Knowledge of Icelandic! For Free!.

Hee! I'm sorry, but that shite is fun. At least *I'm* having fun. I've decided to write about how syndicated Fantasy TV shows are self-consciously kinky. With lots of screen caps. Should be fun.

***

Spent some time on chat wit a writer from MA that some of you know as Bright. We always talk about books and movies and slash and how people's minds work, and she never fails to give me new insight into characters and things I'm working on, even when she's not trying to help. Last night we talked about books. Some time ago, I got her into reading Fantasy by pimping Lynn Flewelling at her. She had never found good Fantasy before, with deeply relatable characters. She has now out-read me by leaps and bounds in the genre, and always has a rec or two for me. So last night I was glad to be able to send another rec her way, which I will now share with you.

Dudes. You've GOT to read Elizabeth Bear's Ink and Steel, if you haven't already. I'm not quite done with it, but it would take a really uncharacteristically awful ending to make me not love this book. I'm already requesting the sequel on inter-library loan, after which I will likely do the same with the rest of the Promethean Age books, which are, for some reason, quite difficult to find in stock, even in used book stores (and my book budget is *blown* for the year anyway).

Let me start by plugging the latest on GeekaChicas, How to Save the World by Alpha Lyra (aka amy34). This short piece and the article it points to are inspiring and spot-on. If there is one, single way to save the world, this is it.

***

So many famous people have died this week. I knew Swayze wasn't doing so well, but wow. Also, Henry Gibson. My mom used to do little "poetry moments" in his style, for the amusement of all who gathered to hear her. She was funny as well as gorgeous. She never really made a scene, but she was a scene, if you take my meaning.

She died in September, see, and her ghost has felt very near me just lately. It seems outrageously unfair that she's gone.

***

I'm excited to learn that the Nightrunner series has been optioned for a movie. As the author says, it's early days yet, but it's exciting news. It's an odd thing, this excitement about a beloved book getting made into a film, yeah? Luck in the Shadows was awesome, yet in my heart I know no movie will ever do it justice. Movies don't often manage to supplant the books they visualize, though I'm sure it has happened.

***

Time to get the schooling going, and see if I can squeak in some time for the re-writes. ;)

Things are hoppin' at GeekaChicas again! For starters, I've just got Alpha Lyra's take on The Time Traveler's Wife. Book and movie both, sort of mashed together.

I'm of two minds about going to see it, myself. On the one hand, the book put me to sleep repeatedly. I gave it an honest effort (and I admit it was well-written - can't fault the style at all), but it just wasn't for me. The dude was boring, even naked and traveling through time, and the chick was so painfully dull I wanted to bitch slap her from the beginning. Maybe I just didn't stick with it to that magical place when I would start to care what happened to them. Which it really should have done by 50 or so pages in, if it was going to, IMHO.

On the other hand, Eric Bana. Eric Bana, naked, love-sick and hurtling through time? This must give us pause. Also, I see that Ron Livingston has a part in it, too. Hmm. I might have to give the book another go, because visualizing Eric Bana might help stave off the nap attacks.

(I know -- I'm one of those weirdos who can read Victorian novels with great relish, but gets horribly frustrated with passive characters in modern novels and the modern literary tradition of writing pretty words for their own sake. But I'm a grown up now, and no one is forcing me to read anything, ever again.)

***

Went on an early walk with the hubby this morning, which was lovely. Am nearly to the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the read-aloud project with the boys. They are really digging it, too. It was a lot of fun to hear them talk about the first Harry Potter movie. "Oh, they left out..." and "Why'd they cut x or y?" It was like hearing a dramatization of the forums at the time. *g*

See, my big boy was too young to get into the Harry potter books when they started, and by the time he was old enough, he'd seen a couple of the movies and my copies of the books had been moved to storage. He wasn't all that impressed.

But now that they are actually hearing the books read aloud (this is my plot to spend time with them and re-read the books myself) they've been bitten by the bug.

"Never judge a book by its movie," quoth Wee Boy.

Sooo sleepy. Big Boy home sick today. Some English guy keeps trying to call me on Skype. I did talk to him once, when Wee Boy accidentally answered while playing a game -- it was a charity solicitation, and I was pleasant because there seemed no need to be rude, and I just wanted my kids not to talk to strangers on the computer, even by accident. But, no, I don't want to chat and no, I won't be giving to your charity, at least not until after my kids get their dental visits and eye exams, thank you very much.

Our own loverly hominysnark has a great review of ccfinlay's new book, Patriot Witch up on GeekaChicas called "Anything's better than going to Ohio." It's very amusing, and made me anxious to get hold of the book myself. Sounds like fun.

I think it might be nap time.

Or, "Seuss Day" as some of the kiddies call it. *wink* It's my absolute favorite unofficial holiday.

I have a Green Eggs and Ham T-shirt that I used to wear quite often when the kids were smaller. On the front it has Sam-I-Am proffering said comestibles, and on the back it has an excerpt.

I wore it to a birthday party of one of Big Boy's preschool classmates, back in the day, and one of the parents present was rather shocked by it, I think, just seeing it from behind. You know, "I will not, will not with a goat... etc." can sound rather different if one is not familiar with the source material. *smirk*

The fellow's father was American but his mother was British, and he'd spent most of his school years in boarding school in Belgium, I think. So I can't really blame him for wondering what naughty thing it was that my shirt proclaimed I wouldn't do on a boat, or in the dark, or on a train.

The entire text can be found here:

http://boe.berk.k12.wv.us/217/dr.htm

And you can see the famous reading by the Rev. Jesse Jackson here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPy2alWEZ-U

(I couldn't embed it, but it is worth going to see, I promise.)