EXCHANGE INTERFACE

Got the vax Thursday, sore arm at the vax site Friday, achey vax site Saturday, marginal today. A bit more tired than usual, a few pinchy headaches that aren't usual but went away with the application of glasses of water.

I may have spent a couple of days DOING ALL THE THINGS because, well, I'm me.

Also, I am wondering if the psychology of me DOING ALL THE THINGS is because I haven't managed to do the Thing That I Always Wanted To Do which is get published. Of course, I haven't actually managed to finish a manuscript either, so there's that.

I am presently re-reading Meljean Brooks' Guardians series, which is the kind of urban fantasy that I aspire to. Does it sell? I have no idea, but it's right up my alley with the worldbuilding and the arching plots, and the variety of characters. I have bought and am reading another two Midnight Breed books. Which are, as usual, disappointing. They are always disappointing and yet I can't help but click 'buy now'.

Oh, and the period has turned up, which this time appears to mean a slow easing into the bloodletting over two days and then all of a sudden it's 'murder bathroom'time. *sigh*

Finished a scrap quilt last night, have started up my handpiecing project again.

So, a friend gave me the first three books of Nalini Singh's Hunter's Guild and I read them in three days.

I enjoy them; they're "cookie books" - fairly predictable but with enough politics and shifting/changing worldbuilding to intrigue, and so easy to nom nom nom. I prefer her Psy-Changeling series, but this one is enjoyable enough that I just bought the next three books, yesterday at lunch, and by the time I went to bed, I'd finished two more of them.

*sigh*

I do find the way she genders the characters during sex irritating (feminine softness, masculine hardness, etc.) and I would really like one of her women to walk away from the 'heart of darkness' guys, instead of standing by her man. And yes, the "standing by your [insert partner here]" is reciprocal, but I do love my heartless/pragmatic bitch-women and I would really like one of the women to take the "I can never love" guys at his word, use him for sex, and then walk away out of self-preservation, even if her heart is broken at the separation. And yes, I know, traditional romance tropes, etc. BUT.

It's still enjoyable reading.

Also: is anyone else tired of Nora Roberts' obsession with the Irish? I swear, one more Irish sorcerer/witch/wiccan/spirit thingy and I'll just...

I read her most recent first-of-trilogy - something about stars? It was...enjoyable enough, just nothing terribly new.

Also, I love La Nora, but dear heavens are her characters Whitey McWhiterson and don't you notice it! Maybe I've just become allergic to ALL THE WHITE PEOPLE EVER after reading Singh, whose heroes and heroines are white, and black, and everything in between. Although she does tend to describe non-white skin in food terms.

--

Writing

I got Smut Swap and one Ship Swap done. Not quite as good as I wanted, but I still have another Ship Swap and the MCU Rolling Remix to get in before Sunday. And everything wants to go epic right now.

UGH.

Cindy Pon's "Silver Phoenix" - YA, set in China with Chinese myths and Chinese main characters (both of 'em)!

The second book in the series is out now: "Fury Of The Phoenix", and the author cindy_pon is doing contests and giveaways.

Personally, I want the postcards with Ai Ling and Chen Yong. So pretteh! (Although those clothes are very impractical for fantasy adventures...I'm just sayin'...)

Anyway, it's a good read, and I recommend it highly for children, young adults, and anyone who would like to read YA fiction that's a little different...and isn't about a girl angsting over a dark, brooding guy who's supernatural.

Read this month:

1. Hands Of Isis by Jo Graham
2. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
3. More Than A Mistress by Mary Balogh
4. Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts (re-reading)
5. Born Of Ice by Sherrilyn Kenyon (just started)
6. Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mark Shepherd (re-reading)

( book reviews )