1. Immortality by Kevin Bohacz
2. Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer
3. Voyager (Outlander, #3) by Diana Gabaldon
4. Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2) by Diana Gabaldon
5. The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass
6. Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
7. Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
8. Destiny Kills (Myth and Magic, #1) by Keri Arthur
9. The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3) by Dan Brown
10. The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke
11. By Heresies Distressed (Safehold, #3) by David Weber
12. By Schism Rent Asunder (Safehold, #2) by David Weber
13. Daughter of the
14. Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
15. Off Armageddon Reef (Safehold, #1) by David Weber
16.
17. Lost: A Novel by Gregory Maguire
18. The Web Between The Worlds by Charles Sheffield
19. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
20. Axis by Robert Charles Wilson
21. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
22. Fragment by Warren Fahy
23. Territory by Emma Bull
24. The Little Giant of
25. Hounding The Moon (Tess Noncoire, Book 1) by P.R. Frost
26. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in
27. Rift in the Sky (Stratification, #3) by Julie E. Czerneda
28. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
29. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
30. To Trade the Stars (Trade PactUniverse, #3) by Julie E. Czerneda
31. Ties of Power (Trade Pact Universe, #2) by Julie E. Czerneda
32. A Thousand Words for Stranger (Trade Pact Universe, #1) by Julie E. Czerneda
33. Riders of the Storm (Stratification, #2) by Julie E. Czerneda
34. The Birth Partner, Second Edition by Penny Simkin
35. The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss
36. The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by James Gustave Speth
37. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
38. The Shadow Year: A Novel by Jeffrey Ford
39. The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
40. Heroes Arise by Laurel Anne Hill
41. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
42. The Vacant Throne (Throne of Amenkor, Book 3) by Joshua Palmatier
Last night, with thanks to Jarucia for pointing it out, we watched "Alice," on SyFy. I love Alice in Wonderland, and this was a fun version of it. It was cool watching Colm Meany and Kathy Bates rip it up as the King and Queen of Hearts. Both of them are good at playing casually cruel people.
We also watched "Wolverine." Eh. I really like the X-men movies, but this one never got above the level of noise, lights, and explosions. It did, however, have Hugh Jackman, so I'm not complaining very loudly.
Books: I am, at last, working my way through Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series. You'd think I would've gotten to this sooner, considering her agent favorably compared my writing - and TTJ: Shipbuilder - to it. This was about 2007 or something. But while I had read "Outlander" several years ago, I never got to the rest of the books.
Until now. And I'm quite happy with them. I wish I was that good. Something to work toward.
Exercise: I've been consistent with the new Wii Fit. 'Course, we've only had it a week - I *should* be able to last that long. It's fun to do. I might be doing too much - I'm a bit sore. But it does provide a way to move around and burn some calories. I'm never going to lose weight any other way. I already watch what I eat and keep my calories pretty low. But at my age, metabolism is nearly non-existent, so I need to kick-start it.
That means exercise. Must. Burn. More. Calories.
My weight has been on a steady increase for years, and the rate of increase shot up this year. My BP is getting higher and cholesterol has creeped up a bit. These are genetic problems for me and I'd be an idiot to ignore them. So the Wii is one more attempt to get it under control.
And I'd like to wear my clothes.
It is the holidays, though. I have cookies to make. But I know I can be sort of good, and the exercise can only help, right?
"I have to keep this anonymous because I work for a Walmart.com supplier. However, I would like everyone to fully understand the implications of "Lower Prices". What this means is that in order for manufacturers to sell their products at the Walmart demanded price, they have to cut quality. I will tell you in all honesty that we make 2 sets of products, the crummy Walmart version and the nice version that everyone else gets, and I am sure we are not the only manufacturer who is forced to do that." (Emphasis mine)
There, you see?
Cheaper is not better. It's not even equivalent.
But we're so hooked on consuming, that we must have cheaper prices, so we can keep on consuming. Otherwise, we'd have to ... oh, I don't know... choose between one thing or another, instead of having it all.
I admit I don't like clutter. I'd rather have a few very nice ... whatever... than a houseful of crappy stuff. I'd rather have things I actually use and enjoy. I'm not interested in the rest. And believe me, there are things I'd like to have, but I can't afford them, so I don't have them.
But since I'm just that way, I suspect it's not fair of me to shake my finger at other people. If someone doesn't give a damn about quality, why should I care?
Another commenter explains it:
"... It is a tactic Walmart has used for years. They place an order for a product that requires a minimum quantity from a supplier. Said supplier ramps up production (for goods, this means that they may invest in capital equipment and take out loans to do so). Walmart's buying power is such that their order may easily be 40-50% of the suppliers sales for the year. Great.
Next year, Walmart says "We'll order the same amount as last year but this year we are only going to pay you 60% of what we paid you last year. Take it or leave it." Supplier now has to take a bath in excess inventory or live with it. In a former professional incarnation I saw more than one small vendor lose their shirts doing business with Walmart..."
That's why.
These companies don't have the cash to build for Walmart and build a better-quality line for everyone else. So they either go out of business or just build the crappy stuff.
Which frankly, makes everything else MORE expensive for the rest of us, since there are fewer manufacturers to build the good stuff. Add to that, the fact that I want to buy from a manufacturer who provides livable wages and benefits for the workers. Oh - and who also is not dumping his polluted waste water into the river or burying his mercury-laden slag where it seeps into the groundwater.
Damn. Don't I realize how much I have to PAY for that product? What the hell is wrong with me?
Granted, I'm not sure how this problem will affect books. After all, you can't get much cheaper quality than a paperback book. Worse binding, I guess. Paper that tears, ink that smears. It could get worse. Or the publisher will just lay off all the copy editors and the books will be laced with grammar and spelling errors, and with typos.
Oh. Wait.
Well never mind that. I will confess that I have a library that's half full of paperback books. So in this case, I'm already buying the cheapest product. (The other half of the library is - yes - hard covers. But I have been known to "wait" for the paperback version to come out before buying).
What will happen is what Eric points out in his blog post: small bookstores, and even the big stores like B&N and Borders, can't compete with $8 books from Walmart, Amazon, and Target. They'll go out of business and we won't have ANY bookstores anymore.
But the publishers will lose tons of money when Walmart demands a discount. Can the product be made more cheaply? Can the publishers all move to China? Or do they already print the books there?
I don't know. It's possible that if Walmart makes the discount demand, the publishers will just shrug and walk away, returning to the bookstores as distributors. That will be all right, provided the bookstores have held on long enough. But Walmart can hold out a lot longer than the bookstores, methinks, before demanding that discount.
So what happens? Do the publishers just go out of business?
Then what?
- Mood:
cynical
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jpsorrow is posting the first six chapters of his novel The Skewed Throne. If you've never read this series, go! look! Then buy!(Highly recommended)
Skewed Throne: Chapter One
- Mood:
happy
redpimpernel for showing the way. NOTE: You have to roll your mouse over the book cover to see the title/author, and click to move between pages. Seems like a lot to ask you to do just to see what I've read this year. Bleh.
But I don't have to keep two separate lists. And this is cool: Goodreads gives a running total: I've read 27 books, so far this year!
- Mood:
geeky
Maybe it's because I'm Gemini. Although I don't believe in astrology.
I can confuse myself.
What brought this on was a request to mention my favorite book. I simply can't do that. I'd have to leave too many other books out. But as I thought about it, I decided that I can come up with a favorite category, just like a favorite cuisine. I started by figuring out my criterian, and yes, I think there is just one.
What books have I read over and over, as if I could live in that world, among those characters?
Ah now, that I can come up with. But not in any particular order. Don't think the first on the list is my 'favorite.'
Anne McCaffery's Pern series
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden series
Julie Czerneda's Species Imperative series
That's enough. Each of these series feature people I could live and work with, and a setting I'd love to run around in. I get to know everybody. I can imagine other stories with them. Reading these books is like coming home and relaxing with your family.
When I was a young teenager, I read a book called "Calico Palace" by Gwen Bristow. I read that book a hundred times. It fits into my criteria, but it's a misfit. Normally, the setting is something I would have no interest in - San Francisco during the Gold Rush.
Eh.
Yet the characters were people I longed to know. Marny, with her card sense and wild spirit. Kendra, with her pride and independent streak. Pocket, with his empathy and charm. Hiram, with his integrity and sexy good looks. I can still picture them, still hear their words, still see them escaping from the third fire in two years, and watching everything they have burn down again. Watching as they start over again, always looking out for each other.
That one is not science fiction, is it? Amazing. But really, it's all about the characters. Even an incredibly detailed, amazing world such as what we find in the Dune series, isn't enough to do it for me. Dune is too gritty, the characters mostly unpleasant. Even the good guys are manipulative and bitter. So as much as I admire the setting and the skill it took to create it, I never wanted to read those books more than once. I could never picture myself in that universe, with any chance of happiness.
And that's what I want from a book. Even the ones I write.
- Mood:
contemplative
jpsorrow (Joshua Palmatier)In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
I've been going over "The Time Travel Journals" with the proverbial fine-tooth comb. I am officially cross-eyed, but I've found and changed lots of little things like changing 'a' to 'an', or adding 'he' to a sentence that was missing it. I've done some bigger changes, too - rewriting a few scenes, noticing places where I did too much "telling" (thanks Josh!), and even deleting a few scenes. The word count is now in the 145K range. That's down from the 153K it was at, but still up considerably from the 120K it was before an interested agent pointed out the sub-plots were lacking.
I know it's hard to get a large novel published, especially for first-time authors, but this agent was right. So why isn't he my agent? The book just wasn't going in the direction he wanted and we agreed I should look elsewhere. Mind you, I would have loved to write what he wanted, but I just couldnt figure it out. I couldnt' see the book the way he wanted it.
If it just doesn't get picked up, I may do as he predicted, and go back to page 1 and start over. It's a good story, and timely, too. But for now, I'll enter it in Amazon's contest and see what happens. I'm hopeful that if I can get past the pitch requirement, and the novel gets to actually enter the contest, that it will get at least as far as the quarterfinals. That's into the top 500, and the full manuscript gets a professional review.
That would be cool.
Cooler if it gets to the semi-finals, though. I haven't given up on other agents, either. Once it's polished for this contest (which has forced me to really look at the thing for the first time in nearly a year), I'll send it out again.
Never give up.
- Mood:
determined
Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
1632 by Eric Flint
Reap the Wild Wind by Julie Czernada (can I have the next one, please?)
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier - end of series!
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb - that finishes the series!
The Meri by Maya Bonhoff
Omega by Jack McDevitt
Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear
Duainfey by
rolanni (Sharon Lee) and kinzel (Steve Miller)Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Cauldron by Jack McDevitt
The Skewed Throne by
jpsorrow (Joshua Palmatier)The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy
Debatable Space by Philip Palmer
The Other End of Time (Eschaton) by Frederik Pohl
Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier
Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier
The Cracked Throne by
jpsorrow (Joshua Palmatier)- Mood:
accomplished
Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
1632 by Eric Flint
Reap the Wild Wind by Julie Czernada (can I have the next one, please?)
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier - end of series!
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb - that finishes the series!
The Meri by Maya Bonhoff
Omega by Jack McDevitt
Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear
Duainfey by
rolanni (Sharon Lee) and kinzel (Steve Miller)Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Cauldron by Jack McDevitt
The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier
The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy
Debatable Space by Philip Palmer
The Other End of Time (Eschaton) by Frederik Pohl
Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. And yes. It's on our bookshelf.
Good book. I recommend it.
- Mood: amused
Takes place in London? New York? Can't remember. Can't remember the characters' names, or anything useful. I do remember that most of the members of her band ended up being fairies of one kind or another. There was a big battle in a public park - was it Central Park? Putting it in New York?
It's hopeless. We do remember we liked the book. It's probably on one of our shelves, but I don't know where to start looking.
Any ideas?
Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
1632 by Eric Flint
Reap the Wild Wind by Julie Czernada (can I have the next one, please?)
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier - end of series!
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb - that finishes the series!
The Meri by Maya Bonhoff
Omega by Jack McDevitt
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
1632 by Eric Flint
Reap the Wild Wind by Julie Czernada (can I have the next one, please?)
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
But the books were great. I resented it every time I had to put them down. In case you're wondering, no, I did not get anything done. No writing. I just read.
Whew. Glad that's out of my system. Now that I've confessed to y'all, I can get on with the weekend.
No plans for us, on account of Rick was planning on having to work all three days, but his big meeting next week got postponed, and by golly, he's taking the whole holiday weekend OFF!
We'll come up with something to do.
Well, yeah, that. But we'll do other things, too.
- Mood: complacent
But in the meantime, I'd received the first book in Juliet Marillier's Bridei Chronicles and I started it, because I thought it might be helpful for the writing of Moon Over Donamorgh. But I didn't have books 2 and 3, so I decided to head back to Hobb's. Except I couldn't find the second book. Weird, I could have sworn we had it and Rick was positive that we did, because he had bought all three to give to his son. But it was nowhere to be found.
So I started reading Cauldron. Which, as it turns out, is at the end of the McDevitt series that I didn't know was a series. So I put it down and went in search of the other books. I found Deepsix, the second book in said series, so I happily began reading it. In the meantime, I find the second Hobb's book on my desk, under half the paper in North America.
Sigh. I've finished Deepsix, but I can't find the rest of the McDevitt books. It's possible we simply don't have them and I'll have to resort to the library. In a spur-of-the-moment decision this morning, I started on the second Bridei Chronicle book, which arrived a few weeks ago.
Oh wait. Four series. I've read Julie Czernada's Reap the Wild Wind, but this time I have an excuse for waiting to finish the series. The second book hasn't been published yet.
Finally up to date on SOMETHING. Except, of course, Moon Over Donamorgh. Time to go write my own book.
- Mood: amused
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Halting State by Charles Stross
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Queen's Own (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall) by Mercedes Lackey
