This is one of those books that sticks with you.

A long time ago, I was having a rough time of it.

I was eleven. My parents are both different sorts of people, neither of which quite knew how to deal with me in a tough point in their lives. I'd been in a religious cult for most of my life. I was socially awkward. My parents had split only two years earlier, and my "stepdad" Bill had just died. I had been told he was murdered. My mom and I were rendered homeless by his death. We had to give away both dogs and all the cats, since we had nowhere to live. I was in the unenviable position of keeping the homelessness issue under my dad's radar and outside his knowledge. My mom was unbalanced. We were staying in a shack in the woods, which belonged to a "friend" who turned out not to be. I wanted to die. I wanted to die every single day.

But in that shack were these two books by Anne McCaffrey: Dragonsong and Dragonsinger. They were very short books, and I read them repeatedly. I was a fast reader even then, but mom never figured out I was re-reading the same two books. Mice ate holes in my last pair of jeans. We were living off sea rations, showering under a tree amidst scorpions, and heating water on a Coleman stove. We slept on the floor. Mom would kick me in the head when I snored. I never knew I snored before then. But I stopped caring about all that, and lived in these two books.

They are about a girl named Menolly, a fourteen-year-old on a distant world, and she loved music more than anything else. The one person who understood and protected her had just died, and her parents were cruel. It resonated with me, as you might expect.

I can't really reveal too much plot, since the books are so short, so I'll say this: since I read these, I have been a life-long Anne McCaffrey fan. I met her once, and I do hope she forgives me for bursting into tears. I certainly will never forget her hugging me, even though she didn't know why I cried. She saved my life, and I just couldn't voice that. These stories got me through when I had absolutely nothing else to look forward to, and I managed to stop thinking of ways to die.

Is there any wonder I grew up wanting to be a writer?















Dragonsinger (The Harper Hall Triology)
The Harper Hall of Pern (Dragonsong; Dragonsinger; Dragondrums)

Reading Books, and the Selection Thereof, and How Such Changes with the Times.

So, earlier this year, my darling Gabriel purchased for us a matching pair of Kindles. For those not in the know, those are e-book readers made by Amazon.com. Just go to the main Amazon page. You cannot avoid them.

"Ebooks?" you cry. "Never! Never shall you steal my precious pulped wood, glue, and leather! NEVER! I shan't submit!"

Yeah, I know, I said that, too. But it didn't take long for us to ditch about 80% of our book collection in a yard sale. Yes, 80%. And one of us is a Librarian (i.e., is paid to work with real ink-and-paper books!), and the other of us is a Pack Rat. We kept the graphic novels (not yet readable on Kindle, which is not a color monitor, nor of sufficient size to showcase the format) and the special hardcovers/cookbooks/coffee table books. We still have an empty forlorn shelf, slowly amassing junk because we haven't turned it into a display yet.

We love our Kindles. I adore mine. Small. Can carry everywhere. Long battery life. Made my last flying trip a dream, as I only had to pack one item, not nine different books! Easy to use. Easy to add content. Oh, yeah, I'm sold.

We bought ours used with very nice leather cases for $200 each. Steep? You bet. But cheap compared to an iPod, iPhone, computer, Blackberry, etc.

To make it better, many titles on Amazon are cheap or free. Most new releases or bestsellers are $9.99! Much cheaper than tromping into a bookstore, even with a massive discount coupon. Also, the Kindle is always connected to Amazon via Whispernet (at least in the U.S.), so you can purchase and download a book anywhere, and you can begin reading it in 30 seconds. Wow. Much quicker than driving to the bookstore, and requires less gas.

In short, I can spend my life hauling around all my beloved books that I reread, or I can have them all in one device and be done with it. Now, In case of fire, I can grab one bag with purse, computer, ipod, Kindle, and hard drive, and as long as I grab one of the cats by the tail while Gabriel grabs the other, then I have everything important out of the house - pictures, books, and loved ones. Wow.

So what has this done for my book-buying habits? I began to be curious.

Borders sent me an email saying "We Miss You!" As a Borders Rewards member, they send coupons regularly, and the coupons are tracked when they are scanned at the register - and I hadn't set foot in the Borders near me for months. I adore bookstores. What's changing with me? I work by a Barnes & Noble, and I go there on my breaks for the Starbucks coffee (I refuse to go to the much closer Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf), but I hadn't bought anything there since I bought my Kindle except magazines, coffee, and pastries. Then the B&N manager got snippy with me for eating in the café, so I guess I'll be buying even less.

Torrents exist for all manner of ebooks. Gabriel located some of a size that would make your jaw drop - some that boasted as many as 12,000 books in one download! YOWZA!!! That's a lotta books! Now, doing some research generated the info that 1- most of these books are scanned and not proofread, resulting in ' w311 ' instead of ' we'll ' in the text and so forth, 2- the torrents are in formats that do not translate well to the Kindle, and 3- correcting these for the Kindle to read would be an utter PITA, so 4- it's totally worth just buying the damned file.

I giggled to find out that some authors just find torrents of their books, proofread, and then upload to the Amazon website to sell them, effectively letting the pirates do the scanning work - go, you innovative authors!

I researched all the available ways of getting free Kindle books, and many legal sites exist that offer Kindle format public domain works. A wonderful side effect for me is that I can download all of the works of Alexandre Dumas in the original French in order to practice my translations - for free! Yay! Add Jane Austen into the mix, and I am all good! :D

I surveyed cheap books available directly through Amazon, and discovered the Suvudu Free Library on one of my blogs. These feature books by Del Rey /Random House companies, and are of a Sci-Fi Fantasy nature. Yay! Perfect for me!! The purpose of this free library is to have available at no cost the first book in some long-running series with the hopes of getting you to buy the rest (these are available in other formats on the Suvudu site, in case you don't have a Kindle). Well, one of the freebies was a longtime Terry Brooks favorite of mine, Magic Kingdom for Sale: SOLD!. If you have not read this book, you should. I happily downloaded the freebie version and read it again.

Oh, my. I certainly hope Del Rey / Random House does copyedits more thoroughly on the Kindle books that I'd actually be paying for, because DANG this book has a lot of errors! As in HUNDREDS. Landover Land Over Landower Land-over Land óver and other mistakes are all varying ways the free ebook spelled or misspelled the name of the magic kingdom in question. On a positive note, the freebie brought to my attention that there are not three Landover novels, but six, so those I haven't read are now on my wishlist - but I haven't bought any yet on Kindle due to the distracting errors in the freebie. If they were in a novel I actually paid for, and in this intolerable quantity, I would be extremely upset. And yes, you can return Kindle books to Amazon for a refund.

So I read some other free Kindle books, and I have so far added several must-read authors to my list.

Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon sucked me in, and all of the sequels will be bought shortly. Well done. I haven't been that moved by a novel in a while. I normally hate war stories, I don't much like Napoleonic era stuff, and I am about as sick of dragons as I am vampires these days, but damned if that wasn't a great book!

I downloaded Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt just because it was free, but didn't read it right away. I was only moderately interested by the blurb. Then I saw a blog post about the Hugo nominated art for 2008, and the cover for Poison Sleep was one of the nominees. Stunning cover! I looked it up on Amazon, realized that it was a sequel to Blood Engines, and immediately read what I'd downloaded - and very glad I did, too! I will be buying more of Pratt's work!

Amazon allows you to read a sample of a book before you buy it on the Kindle, so I downloaded a few samples and read them. then I bought some books and then ran out of money on the card I use for my Amazon purchases. oops.

Sometimes the samples were very helpful in NOT purchasing. For instance, the book Seducing Mr. Darcy has a sample that is very punny and fanfic-y. After being smashed with a punsledgehammer and reading a bunch of stilted description, I elected not to buy. I think it was when the author called someone's hair "Adonis-like" that I gave up. I felt like the first few pages were loaded description packed in with a trash compactor. However, I'd bet Sex in the City fans would love this book. I'm just not that person.

I forced myself through another full free book and it made me question what editors have been telling authors for ages: "Show, don't tell." Um, this book did a lot of telling. a LOT. Oh, and I loathe most first-person work, so that didn't help. And the voices of the characters fluctuated too much. I felt like I was watching a poorly-filmed movie about fairies. The premise and voice were great, but I'll be damned if I want to read another. Horrid writing, I thought. I'll spare you the author's name, although he/she is very published, as in there are many titles out by this person. The dilemma over what this means for writers will have to be another post. Again, others will probably love it, and buy the subsequent titles.

So what does this boil down to? I've actually spent MORE money on books since I bought the Kindle than I was when I was Kindle-free! I'm plowing through entire series and I am discovering new authors. Other authors that I have considered before, but did not have the cash or space to store the trade paperbacks, are now on my reading list. Kindle's / Amazon's suggestions for me related to previous purchases have been dead-on, and I've been reading like a maniac. I want to upgrade to the DX, which is a larger-format Kindle, and hopefully many of my textbook providers will start offering Kindle versions. Believe me, I'd love for my back and wrists to hurt less during the school session.

There is also an app for the iPod touch and iPhone that you can put your Amazon books on, and the text looks lovely on the backlit screen. Apple is also supposedly coming out with a large-format version of the Touch soon, and it is predicted to be a Kindle-Killer. I'm not so sure, but I'll sure have a look! Since the Kindle's main purchasing audience is over 40 and iPod's main purchasing audience is younger, I think both markets are being approached appropriately, and as the books are easily purchased on either piece of hardware, it may even out.

I suppose the absences of certain titles are conspicuous. For instance, none of the Harry Potter titles are available legally as ebooks. Please note the term 'legally' - illegal versions abound.

Open Note To J.K. Rowling: please release Harry as a Kindle title. That way, I do not have to hear Gabriel exclaim at me reading one of your titles AGAIN. Also, Half-Blood prince does not fit in my purse. Harry requires one inconveniently large shelf in his current format - please set him free!! Love and thanks, Jenna

Despite that, as long as there are books to read, I'll read them. And stay tuned, since I'll be putting some out on Kindle/Amazon myself!

But what finally got me in the Borders again? Martha Stewart's book on cupcakes. As a baker, I needed to see/compare several cupcake books, and cooking/baking books are just not on the Kindle yet. Understandable, but I hope that changes eventually.

Huh. Never thought Martha would steer my purchasing decisions, especially after the way she's steered some of her own. ;) Then again, cupcakes are delicious little devils. I don't suppose that anyone can blame me.

In which life has happened...

Good God, life just happened and I've forgone blog-posting! Thanks to Richard for reminding me!

Um, ok, Finished the novel, kitty (Schmendrick) went missing, kitty was found, renamed (now Count Albus von Schmendrick) after his third brush with death. Yes, third. In four months. He's only about 7 months old total. He's a cuddle monster with a furry death wish, and he's scared of Isis, our queen cat. She needs only a short name to embody her majesty. Be afraid!

I injured my back while reaching for a doorknob. Yes, it is possible. Keep up on your spinal health, kiddies. Sake works wonders for easing stress. Use it.

I read Mists of Avalon for the first time. Funny, it broke a lot of rules that I've been told you shouldn't break when writing a novel.

I saw the Twilight movie. It wasn't awful if you're a fan of the book. If you're not a fan of the book, then it was awful. The girl who played Bella did a great job. Robert Pattinson is lucky he reminds me of Gabriel, who is hottness itself. Yeah, that's right. It's spelled hottness, bitches! Some of the characterizations and casting I totally didn't get. The guy who played James seemed miscast. Some of the clothing was a bit, er, vampy. It was almost campy vampy if you follow me. As in not very fresh in approach to vampire fashion. It looked sorta lame. The girl cast as Rosalie is ten thousand percent NOT what I pictured. The guy who plays Jasper is equally so. I mean, he's supposed to be from the Civil War as in from the 1850's, not Civil War as in the Marvel Comics crossover megalith from earlier in the year. I couldn't tell if he looked 2008 or 1798, but he sure as hell didn't look 1858. Ah, no.

However, the script was ok, and the few variations from the book were actually well done, with respect for the text (unlike that HORRID Eragon film. Gah!), and in keeping with the tone and fanbase. The special effects were kind of awful. The cameo of Stephenie Meyer in the film was cute and unexpected. I doubt I'll get the DVD's but I'll probably see the next film when it comes out.

Currently reading book 2 of the Darksword Trilogy (Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman RULE!). I'm enjoying it!

Reread Watchers by Dean Koontz. Such a great fucking story, even 22 years later. It barely seems dated. I read it with a new appreciation, since I now live in SoCal, where the book is set. I'm familiar with most of the places in the book, so it felt cooler somehow.

Read Water for Elephants. Great book, highly suggest it. It's a unique telling of a man's life in the circus and his relationships with people and an elephant. It was riveting! Totally unlike anything I'd ever read.

Bettie Page died today at the age of 85. Long live the Queen of Curves!!!

Finally saw Juno. It was cute. It wasn't as punishingly punny as I thought it would be, thank God. Turns out the writer has another film coming out in the next month, and the poster for it looks exactly like the HBO series True Blood poster. Hmmmm.

Speaking of True Blood, I read all the Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire novels by Charlaine Harris. Go for them. All 8 of them. NOW. I just wish Sookie would pick someone to fuck consistently.

True Blood was a kinda awesome show, but ended kinda poorly. I couldn't figure out where the hell they got half the season from, expounding on nonexistent shit from the novels. Still, they were fun to watch. And you get to see boobs, most notably of Anna Paquin and (very briefly) Michelle Forbes. (yes, Ensign Ro. THAT Ensign Ro. You wanted her boobs, you got 'em. But if you blink you'll miss it.)

I finally watched the last 3-part episode of the last season of LOST. For Fuck's sake, I have no idea how I'm gonna wait 6 more weeks to find out what happens!!! AAAAARARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! Come on, January 21st....

Uh, I think that's it. Working on the rewrite, holiday parties, workworkwork... c'est tout.

Until next time!

Memorizing Harry Potter doesn't count!!

Things running through my head lately...

I was looking at the Clarion 2008 workshop and realized something: I have no frigging clue who half of the instructors are, and have only read works by one of them. (faculty list here) Same for the who's who of their previous faculty and alumnae.

I read this list. It features 15 sci-fi novels that you must read. I, a supposed author of sci-fi/ fantasy have read only 6 of these 15 novels. 3 of them were read more than 15 years ago. I have not read even one of the items listed in the response comments to this post I've linked to.

Seems like I should at least read something of *all* past & present SFWA presidents. I haven't.
Seems like I should read something by every Hugo or Nebula award winner. I haven't.
Hell, I haven't even read half the novels on this list of authors/books that won BOTH the Hugo and Nebula. Not even close to half, actually. Want to know how many off this list I've read? TWO. I'm also astonished at how many I've heard of, but as movies, and as movies, they sucked.

I found this list of 100 great works, and then references to a book to BUY to read about books to read, which is kinda depressing. (the 1001 things to do/see/read/be before you die books depress me. I've got that much time OR that much money. not both. Makes me feel like my life isn't worth living if I'm not wearing Prada and I'm a size 2. I've got Hollywood and the fashion industry to make me feel bad about myself. I don't need to buy books that do that, too.) Maybe I'll check that list/book out from the library. Not sure it's worth the cash.

However, I did find this fabulous rebuttal post which makes me feel a mite better.

Anyway, here's the thing: I always say how much I like to read and how much I've read, and how I like sci-fi and fantasy... and apparently I'm a liar and a fraud. Memorizing Harry Potter and the Anne McCaffrey Pern novels doesn't count. Reading Jane Eyre a billion times doesn't matter. I'm not trying to release a novel in England in 1847. I need to know what's up with the market NOW. A.C. Crispin said so at a workshop that I took ages ago!! You need to know the market you're writing for -- and for a number of reasons! Why haven't I?

I know I'm broke, but money shouldn't be a deciding factor. I know what a library is, and how to use one. I'm less than 2 miles from 3 branches, and my boyfriend IS A LIBRARIAN. I know the "read it in Barnes & Noble to see if it grabs you" trick. I've even used it. Then why haven't I read more sci-fi??

Maybe because I got wrapped up in those multi-writer worlds for a while (Dragonlance is primary suspect), and I realized that all the decent works in that world were written by only a very small portion of the writers (Dragonlance: 190+ novels/ 12 by the "originators" that don't suck. That means 6%.). Turns out that those worlds are plotted by the finance group of the publishers, and they want the big bucks, and they're gonna milk the cash cow 'til the cow drops dead. Not exactly an enticement to read them.

Whatever the reason I'm not so well-read, I'd like your thoughts on the matter.

I'd also like to know your must-read list! Hit me!!!

New Celebrity Sighting, Southern Food madness, and a new place in L.A. that I like

Ok, Normally, I don't get too tweaked by celebs... until Ed Asner and Abe Vigoda walk in...
O_o

I made shrimp and grits. They were nummy. If you've never had shrimp & grits, you're missing out.

I made fresh strawberry shortcakes, and forgot to take pictures before Gabriel & I demolished them. They were also tasty! For the biscuits, I used a recipe like this, except for some changes:
1- added sugar (evaporated cane sugar, the good stuff from Trader Joe's) about 1/4 cup
2- added molasses, about 1/4 cup
3- added 1.5 tsp of Vanilla Paste, also from Trader Joe's.
4- No buttermilk. Half & half, lemon & skim milk mix (out of buttermilk, but not wasting the amazing fresh strawberry opportunity!)
5- didn't roll & cut. Instead made a squareish dough shape and cut 4 squareish pieces with this scrapey-measurey-knifey-spatulaey thingy I got for free at a yard sale. (Mine is cooler. It has a ruler etched on the blade. Very handy, though. Get one!) I guess I took the scone approach, which made for a nice, light texture.

I then mixed some diced fresh strawberries, raw sugar, more vanilla paste, water, and a touch of cornstarch to make the strawberry sauce. I left it very chunky, and poured it over the split biscuits, added more fresh berries, and added Fair Trade Vanilla Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Yes, you should be envious. Except that my oven sucks, and the bottoms were burnt. :(

I got the strawberries at the Grand Central Market, which has been open since 1917. I walked out with 2 large bags of produce for about $8. I got fresh cherries and lovely red potatoes and fava beans ($.69/pound! They're $2-$3 at my farmer's market!). Nabbed grape tomatoes, cilantro, and other yummies, too.

Had the most amazing fresh horchata there, which you must try if you never have. Most Mexican restaurants/cafes/stands have it on tap alongside the Coke in the fountain. The fountain stuff is OK, but get it fresh if you can! Technically, horchata could be any of a variety of melon or fruit waters, but the main one is milk, rice, sugars, and cinnamon. Good cantaloupe water is bomb, too!

Funnily enough, the huge fresh horchata cost as much as our entire lunch! We each had a single soft taco that took up an entire large plate! They came with extra tortillas and cost only $2. And they were gooooood! Horchata? $4 for the big one!

I have Kathleen Duey to thank for turning me on to the market. She posted about it on her blog on the June 1st, 2008 entry. I met her that day at Book Expo America, where she was signing her National Book Award Finalist book Skin Hunger. I must say that the book was wonderful, and I'll review it in the near future. And I'm not just saying that because I got a free autographed copy, honest!

Book Expo, and a review

So, I'm frigging tired.

The McDonald's southern chicken biscuit is a pretty tasty Chick-Fil-A ripoff, turns out. You can even taste the pickle juice in the batter. Oh, and so far 3 out of 3 locations near me do NOT have sweet tea. Bastards. Not nice to do to a Southern girl at 8 am on her day off.

I got a CRAZY amount of free stuff. I'm not kidding. The bags of books filled the entire backseat and floorboard of the car. I'll post a photo when I have it handy. Aprons, mints, postcards, books, bookmarks, ads, brochures, books, bags, books, frisbees, books, a whoopee cushion, books.... did I mention books?

I've even read one already. It's called Life Sucks, and it's a graphic novel from First Second. So far, I've loved EVERYTHING this company has put out. Life Sucks is no exception. It's about a boy who works at a convenience store who falls in love with a Goth girl. Problem: he's a geek. Another problem? He's a vampire with a very cruel master. That's why he works at a convenience store. the night shift, obviously. Think Clerks, but undead. It's a very awesome title. I wanna be published by First Second when I grow up! Also check out Vampire Loves. This is also the same company that put out the award-winning American Born Chinese. If they publish it, I'm very likely to buy it. I can't say the same for any other publisher, be they comic book, graphic novel, traditional, or otherwise.

I've had a nap. Now I want to sleep. Later!

Still here, exhausted and busy!

Getting off my ass now. I promise!

Since last post:

Learned to loathe LAX. A LOT. Not as much as if I'd been flying out on Airtran, tho. That particular terminal really blows. I got spoiled when I lived in Atlanta, because the airport makes sense and has a wide variety of excellent food options. At LAX, you are screwed!

All tomatoes? Dead. Tarragon? Dead. Most of herbs? Dead. Thanks a lot, random 105-degree heat followed by 45-degree nights. Yeesh. I lost over $75 worth of plants and WEEKS of work. That mint I've been nursing for 8 months? GONE. But the garlic is doing well (in the wrong place)!

Turtles are huge! more than 3 times their original size, and still growing! Lorenzo got put back in his teeny bowl for fighting with the turtles. Dude, they're TURTLES. they have snappy beaks! no wonder you're missing scales! relax!!

Ran into 2 old pals online that I missed a lot: Greg (from elementary school! WAY old history, and glad to have him back in my life) and Richard (from GA Renaissance Festival). Also caught up to Brenda, Nita, Eric, & Calvin from high school. I also found out that 2 of my old high school pals Heather and Andy just got married!

Further developed some of the stickier points in Tuesday and The Moon. Realized while talking to Hilary (Pingle. awesome actress pal from work. rising star, dawgs!) that I have GOT to get cracking. In order for people to test-read Tuesday by October, I need to have a first draft done in the next 6 weeks or so! GAH!!! Gabriel got a new job (YAY!), and is taking a trip to celebrate, so I'll have a week of being bored that will be excellent time to write. Wait, did I say bored? I'll have a car in L.A. for a week.... I could create a LOT of havoc. Of course, I probably shouldn't write that in my blog, because he might be suspicious at 8000 new miles on his car in a week... ;) Just kidding, baby, I'll be good! Truth be told, I probably won't go very far at all. Maybe to Chick-Fil-A. Which reminds me...

McDonald's now has sweet tea nationwide to go along with their southern style chicken biscuit and sandwich. The sandwich features 2 pickles. Cap on Chick-Fil-A much, assholes? Get your own damn idea! and keep the nationwide sweet tea forever, please! (The ONLY way this is acceptable is if the biscuits are made from scratch again like they used to be when I worked for mickeydees back in the early 90's. If these are those damn ready-mades, then I call DOUBLE whackitude. Ya heard that Ray Kroc?) OK, maybe I'm just bitter because I have to drive 30 miles if I want Chick-Fil-A. But I do it because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Southern Gal. But I welcome sweet tea near me. I just still call shenanigans on the golden arches for their ripoff, and rightfully so.

I have refined my grit-making technique. Bought grits (roughly 8 lbs. worth) while in South Carolina for Ginny's wedding to Roo. (YAY Ginny and Roo!) While there, I also had shrimp & grits 3 times in 24 hours. Life was real tasty there for a minute. Been pining since I got back. Thank god I can cook. I make a mean fried green tomato, too! Muuuuwahahahahaha!!! When I figure out the essence of the Flying Biscuit's Side of Love recipe, I will officially dominate breakfast. I still kick ass on my biscuits, though! (all butter, no shortening. Live free!)

Tomorrow, Book Expo! Yay! I'll miss the farmer's market 3rd week running, but what the hell. I'll be able to buy fava beans next week. This week, I'll hopefully be getting killer loads of free books! Just think, me with more reading material to gloat about!

Speaking of reading, I picked up Stephenie Meyer's new title, The Host. What a unique and enthralling tale! I was captivated the way I haven't been in a long time. Gone is the fanfiction-y feel of her Twilight series novels, and present is gritty, real drama delivered beautifully. Go! Read!

Ok, I'll report back on Book Expo digs soon!