#34--Bad Dog, by R.D. Rosen, et al

I found this at a garage sale last month, and hadn’t really planned to read it anytime soon, but last night, I had an itch that couldn’t be relieved with anything that I should be reading.

“278 outspoken, indecent, and overdressed dogs” grace these pages, and several of them made me laugh out loud. Some are in store-bought/ready-made costumes, others in adapted human-wear, and others are simply “in” whatever they got into (like toothpaste). Each dog’s hobby is also included; none of them seem to match their costume, and include:

admiring rock gardens
barking in tongues
designing rubber toys
Motown historian
belly dancing
scrimshaw

From the back cover:
“Mans best friend? Think again. Behind those loving eyes and wagging tail lurks a very different dog. A dog with a dark side. A bad dog.
Here, in all their glory, are hundreds of bad dogs, with bad tempers and bad breath.
Smart-asses, stoners, thugs, cranks, lechers, hellions… makes you wonder what your pet’s really burying in the backyard.”

I am SO doing this next year:

Blogathon

But for now, two of my very dear friends (both of whom just happen to be biker-chick/authors) continue to blog through the night until 8 AM Central time.

Linda's primary theme at Raven's Roads consists of places she's been, or wants to visit. To fill in the gaps, she's written some pretty interesting "7 Things..." blurbs. Aside from the blogathon, she's currently focusing on travel and history, but she's also written a fantasy novel. Her charity is Christian Children's Fund.

ETA: Linda's having a contest on her blog...
the prizes:
A Matchbox HeroCity playset–a garage with a little dump truck.
A Fisher-Price bathtime book. It is vinyl and made for little kids to take into the tub.
Here’s what you have to to win them.

Blog about this site one more time (or for the first time.)
Tell people about the contest.
Come back here and post the link to the plug.
Say why you think one of these two prizes would be great and, if you want, who’s getting the prize.

Phelan at Homesteading Neophyte is focusing on food and blogging for Farm Aid. In her efforts to be published, she's written horror, dark fantasy, and poetry.

Both of them have some pretty cool contests going; some are for sponsorships, others for contest entries. Linda has a copy of her book "A Little Twist of Texas" and Phelan has Willie shwag (yes, THAT Willie).

You don't need to tell them I sent you (there's no contest for referrals, as far as I know), but do introduce yourself. They're exceptionally cool women.

Thursday Thirteen #2--13 books I need to read next

Thirteen Things about Marina 1. Stone Work (audio)--in progress. Renting this from Recorded Books because I want to build something in stone on our property. 2. You On a Diet--in progress. Something's got to give, this weight needs to come off, and I need to learn how. 3. Punk Rock Dad--Review copy from Harper Collins, must post to BlogHer when finally done. 4. Gifts of the Wild--Found in the Green Muse coffee shop, registered on BookCrossing, reading for the Non-Fiction Challenge. 5. Sanity Savers--Review copy from Harper Collins, must post to BlogHer when finally done. 6. How the Irish Saved Civilization--Long time on wish list, reading for Non-Fiction Challenge 7. How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life--Review copy from Harper Collins, must post to BlogHer when finally done. 8. Way of Zen--a BookCrossing trade, finally reading for the Non-Fiction Challenge. 9. The Black Swan--Lackey Victorian/Fairy Tale series, borrowed from friend, really need to return. 10. Molly Ivins Can't say That, Can She?--an extra for the NF Challenge. 11. I Sleep at Red Lights--an extra for the NF Challenge. 12. Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat--an extra for the NF Challenge. 13. The Land Remembers--an extra for the NF Challenge. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Informal Matriarch 2. Rae's World 3. Year of Reading Seriously 4. Lair of the Bookwyrm 5. Will Write For Food 6. Sanctum Sanctorum 7. Saturn C 8. Journey of Writer Danica Favorite 9. Buck Naked Politics

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The Deathly Hallows Experience (non-spoiler, I promise)

I'd been eagerly awaiting the release of Rowling's newest and last offering in the Potter saga, but I wasn't caught up in the frenzy of pre-ordering the book nor any of the release parties held Friday night. I knew that there would plenty for everyone, and it would be folly for any of the major stores to be caught without a copy by the following afternoon. I did curtail my usual online browsing, focusing on comics and blogs of those who I knew would respect the several-day spoiler moratorium for which many others had begged.

Since I'd been unsuccessful in buying the stuffed salmon for Sunday's dinner earlier in the week, I figured that I should be able to also pick up a copy of HPDH at either Costco or HEB on Saturday afternoon. Since Costco was the nearer of the two, and I was on a tight schedule (I had a small music event and after-party to attend that evening), I drove there with my son (who fell asleep before we got into the city limits of our town), and had to wait out a particularly hard rainshower before we could dash in to the store. The shopping carts were, of course, all wet, and I was faced with the dilemma of how to get out of the store with an undamaged copy. While I was waiting for the solution to present itself, I carried my one copy (could've had 5--this is a buy-in-bulk store after all) in hand and managed to keep from hitting anyone as we made our way to the meat department in back. Scored a nice package of salmon, and noticed (for the first time--honestly) a roll of plastic bags at the end of the bin. Thanking the book-fairies, I wrapped my book and slowly made my way upstream toward the checkout counters. Apparently, on Saturdays, Austinites use American and British sides of the road.

At the checkout counter, one of the employees tried to get me to upgrade my account, and was about to launch into how much money I'd save, blah blah yada yada. I met her gaze square on, gave her my best Italian-style HairyEyeball, held up my book and said
"See this?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"You're. In. My. Way."
Smart girl got out of said way.

I hadn't eaten anything yet that day, so I had a small lunch at Sonic with what I could scrape together from two pockets of loose change in my wallet. I also had to drop off our car payment paperwork at the post office; by the time I got home, I was seriously pressed for time. My outfit for the evening was a little more involved than usual--my lace-up Pendragon bodice and my leather pants from eBay--so I recruited my husband, and I was out the door 1/2 hour later than I'd planned. No, it's not what you're thinking, you naughty-minded people.

I drove to Things Celtic, scored the last spot in the parking lot, and did a little shoppping while Diane Linn (a regular on the RenFest circuit with 3 albums under her belt) sang trad songs, Janice Joplin, and some of the own work. I picked up a cd, a celtic mood ring, a cat gargoyle for Kimmy's grave, and a butterfly magnet for Anthony to look at during mealtimes. I left a little early in order to pick up a bottle of wine (Twisted Lot merlot seemed a fitting one to bring this hostess), and still managed to be the first one there, as the second set ran late. It was nice to have a chance to talk to my friend S before she had to perform the HostessDance for everyone else. My friend K and I talked about our reading plans for Sunday, and she said that she wasn't really going to be as anti-social as she'd warned in her blog (something to the effect of "don't interrupt me unless your head is on fire"). I told her that I'd have to fit reading in between taking care of my son, which really was my plan.

I finally rolled onto the farmstead at about 2 in the morning. DH hadn't had luck corraling any of the cats, and they weren't cooperating for me, either, so it was about 2:30 before I could think seriously about going to sleep.

But the book beckoned.

I could just read a few chapters, right? I'd get tired enough to put it down and fall asleep quickly, right?

Right. Color me crackheaded.

So, from about 2:30 am until 11 am, with an hour break for feeding and diapering A, I was enthralled by Harry's journey to the last battle. I kept up with the twists, was impressed by Rowling's ability to move the plot along while honoring the age-appropriateness of the school-aged characters, and even giggled a few times. There were a few parts where I raised my eyebrows and thought "she got away with saying that? Wow!" I also availed myself of the kleenex box when necessary.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for a wonderful, frustrating, magical ride. Even though you are rich enough to never again have to write another word for pay, I hope this is not the last we see of your work in print.

[#33 for this year]

Thursday Thirteen #1--Favorite Female Authors

(in no order whatsoever)

1. Sue Grafton
2. Marion Zimmer Bradley
3. Anne McCaffrey
4. Mercedes Lackey
5. J.K. Rowling
6. Janet Evanovich
7. Susan Wittig Albert
8. Laurell K. Hamilton
9. Earlene Fowler
10. Barbara Kingsolver
11. Madeline L'Engle
12. Alice Hoffman
13. Nevada Barr

[if I had the time at the moment, I'd hyperlink to their websites and figure out my ratios of read/available books, but I gotta go get the babyitter so I can do the grocery shopping in peace. I wonder how many of these women wrote and published while their kids (if applicable) were toddlers? If so , how did they do it?]

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Terra Satirize
2. Year of Reading Seriously

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Writer Fred Saberhagen passes

Here's the obituary:

http://www.lcsun-news.com/latest/ci_6297837

I came late to the party with this author--I've read from only one of his series (Books of the Gods)--but I plan to catch up when I can. I'll make an effort to find a book from his Dracula series for Carl's Readers in Peril Challenge this fall.

Once Upon a Time Challenge, completed

I wish I could remember exactly how I found the Stainless Steel Droppings site (BlogHer, maybe?). Carl's work there sucked me in, and before I knew it, I was signing on to read 5 books in less than 3 months. At least, that's all I thought it would entail. To read and review that many books was not the hardest part of the challenge, it was keeping up with all the extra (and very special) activities.

If I am remembering correctly, one of the first contests was to visit and comment on all the other participating blogs. It took me a while, and I found myself adding several to my daily read lists. Then I started reading the posts on the review site, and I started adding books to my wish list. Carl's book prOn posts didn't help, either. Have I mentioned the poppets? I need poppets now. Blue ones.

Thanks, Carl.

ETA: here's a list of questions I've ganked from "carrie_k", which, when I answer them, will should wrap this up with a little more detail...

What was the best book you read for this challenge ?

[x]

What book could you have done without?

[x]

Did you try out a new author this spring? If so, which one, and will you be reading that author again?

[x]

If there were books you didn't finish, tell us why. Did you run out of time? Realize those books weren't worth it? Did you come across a book or two on other participants' lists that you're planning to add to your own to-be-read pile? Which ones?

[x]

What did you learn -- about anything -- through this challenge? What was the best part of the Once Upon a Time challenge? Would you be interested in participating in another reading challenge this fall?

[x]

A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare

In my hands is a copy of MND, a Signet Classic published in the early 60's. This won't be my first read, nor will it be the first time I've read this story on Midsummer Night. Off I go to snuggle into my comfy chair to finish this before the midnight hour, and post to the review site to mark the time.

finished reading--11:56 pm
review/commentary to follow

Silver Birch, Blood Moon, by eds. Datlow and Windling

This fairy tale collection is the fourth in this series; all stories are modern versions of the tales we grew up with (Disneyfied or not). Many of the authors included within have reached back to lesser-known originals to tell their tale. The editors define this subgenre of fantasy as "tales about mortal men and women in a world invested [or infested, depending on your viewpoint] with magic." They go on to bemoan "the great loss to our mythic, cultural, and literary heritage that we've allowed such tales, passed on for centuries, to be turned into sweet, simplistic pap [or, IMHO, something else that rhymes with it]." Gwen Straus's take on the appeal of ancient tales to modern writers is also quoted (in the introduction): "...each [primary] character is compelled to turn inward. Though each confronts different issues--fear of love, shame, grief, jealousy, lonliness, joy--they have in common a time of solitude. They are enclosed within a private crisis... and are given a choice to change."

All three of the above concepts define the reasons I read (and write about) fiction, and why, when given a choice, I gravitate towards the fastastical and mysterious. Perhaps it is a mental failing on my part, but I seem to need the trigger of stories to work various things out in my head. Yes, I admit to being a freak of nature who retreats to a world of bound and inked paper while many others in the world are content to listen to/watch others yammer about the problem-of-the-week.

[no offense is meant to those who prefer to purge entertain their brain cells with the Big One-Eyed Demon]

It was difficult to choose a small number of favorites, but these are what rose to the top of my list...

Loved

--Carabosse (poem by Delia Sherman): Sleeping Beauty is “cursed” with a choice “... a spell that would sort her suitors... for a man that would be her mate, Not her master.” Scandalous.

--Wild Heart (Anne Bishop): Another version of Sleeping Beauty, this time with a different take on what makes a woman whole. “Nothing hobbles a good story as much as the truth.”

Other good stories

--Precious (Nalo Hopkinson): A girl “blessed” with the ability to create jewels and flowers with speech escapes from the inevitable downside. “Sometimes I wonder wheter that old woman wasn’t having a cruel game with both of us.” “I am not your treasure trove, and I will not run anymore, and I shall be nice if and when it pleases me.”

--Sea Hag (Melissa Lee Shaw): Who is the Sea Hag to the mermaids, really?

--Frog Chauffeur (Garry Kilworth): Frog Prince meets the science of genetics.

--Arabian Phoenix (India Edghill): A modern Scheherazade escapes a life under fundamentalism and gets the opportunity to change the future of her country.

--Skin So Green and Fine (Wendy Wheeler): Beauty and the Beast, voudoun version.

--Locks (Neil Gaiman): A poem about a father telling the “Goldilocks” story to/with his daughter.
“...we make our own mistakes...
It is our right. It is our madness and our glory...
We owe it to each other to tell stories.”

The recommended reading list at the back is a very good source for other collections, non-fiction, and fiction inspired by fairy tales, definitely enough to keep the dedicated reader going for a few years [I’ve read 3, and own 10 others].

Next in the series: Black Heart, Ivory Bones

Other Datlow/Windling collaborations:
Salon Fantastique
Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers
The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm
The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest.

Greenmantle, by Charles de Lint

Up until this point, I'd read only one of de Lint's books (Forests of the Heart), even though I've been collecting what titles I can find at used book stores. Now that I've finished, I'm not sure what to do first: kick myself for not reading this (and the rest) sooner, or vow a one-de Lint-per-month-read-until-I'm-out-of-material promise to the Universe (in a sacred circle, natch *wink*). So, the point... not only is the book good, it was good for me.

*takes hit off imaginary cigarette*

I was reading someone else's review (posted on Amazon.com), and they'd mentioned someone else's suggestion that de Lint's stories really don't belong in the fantasy genre because of the urban setting.

Quoi??

I must certainly disagree with this (unfortunately undocumented--by me) assertion. Was that person trying to say that the Fae, the Gods, etc. don't exist everywhere? That "man" is so strong (or so willfully clueless) that they've been corralled into our shrinking open spaces? I posit that this belief is wrong, IMHO.

The protagonists of this story are each (and separately) taking advantage of a "do-over" from the universe. Their projects meld as two subplots collide: Diety/Nature reaches out to the mundanes in order to live, and Greed/False Honor pursues and torments said mundanes in order to add a few notches to their Boom-Stick cases. This conflict reminded me of discussions I've had regarding "power within" versus "power over." Big difference in dynamic, big difference in outcome.

Another thread in the story (that I found to be inspirational)--equally important to the one described above--was that of Ali's developing views of the world in regards to spirituality. While Ali's mother and the neighbor/potential love interest struggle with those who would take their resources (and lives), Ali wrestles with two interpretations of Diety that would have her mind and soul.

Now isn't all this scads more interesting than stories about blowing things up (actually, this story has some of that), racking up debt with new purses and shoes, or vampire hunters? [wait, I like that last one] There's much, much more depth to the story than what I've written here; but it's the sort of tale that speaks so personally to the (listening) reader, I can't do it justice. Suffice to say, I'll be reading many more de Lint books.