Desert Island

You truly do figure out which books you'd really want on a desert island when you have to pack up all the ones you own for storage, and organize them by which ones will be condemned to storage longest. I'm trying to keep the highest priority books to ones I'll need very soon for reference and ones I haven't read yet but really, really want to. I'm finding, though, that there are some books I just want to have with me, even though I've read them and may not read them again right away. Some are favorite novels, some are books of short stories or essays, some have lovely art, and some are more than one of the above. It's really hard. I have to keep reminding mysef that I'm not losing the books that get packed, that I'll have them back again eventually. (I'm sure to a non-book person, this is complete nonsense--if you're a book person, though, you probably know exactly what I mean.)

It's Really Real Now

Yes, I just went and booked my flight through Air Canada online. The good news is, it leaves Victoria in the afternoon, so there won't be a rush to get to the airport. The bad news is, it arrives in Halifax at 1:30 am.

Of course, there's still the small chance that Visa might decide to decline my card, due to me buying the tix online (like they did when I tried to buy my computer), even though no one but me could use the tickets anyway. We shall see. Now, it's back to mad packing, so everything is ready to be either stored or shipped to me or taken away to use my family and friends.

Edit to add: That is, the flight leaves the afternoon of August 25, and arrives the morning of August 26.

Friday Things

1. The newest page of Fey is up: page 47. More gargoyles. Sorry. I like drawing gargoyles.

2. The fabulous, marvelous, divine Deva--a friend I met in grad school and who lives in Halifax--has decided to make me part of her family and is helping me find a place to live when I get there. I'm going to come up with some very cool way to thank her (suggestions are welcome, as I can't think of anything grand enough). She's got Helena's old landlord's phone number and means to look into things this weekend. I think that should mean it's safe to book my plane tickets now.

3. For a while now, I've been collecting this "constructible stategy game" called Pirates of the Spanish Main. You buy little booster packs, and each one has a couple of sailing ships that you punch out of a plastic card and put together, plus a cardboard island, some treasure pieces, and crew tokens. Then any flat surface becomes the board. It's a cool idea, and to actually play, each player only needs to buy a single pack (unike some CCGs where you have to buy many, many cards to get good ones to play with). I already liked the concept and the way you don't have to buy a lot to play (not that I've actually played against anyone but myself, but I will!), but then I discovered something that made me feel that weird "brand loyalty" thing (or maybe company loyalty). WizKids (the company that makes the game) has an offer going where you can send in your empty packets and receipts and get free stuff! I like free stuff. So few companies offer it any more. I can't tell you how many "Jedi points" I saved from Star Wars stuff, only to find that you couldn't actually redeem them for anything (or if you could, it was US-only). Anyway, so I can collect Pirates packages and receipts, send them in, and get free pirate ships and little mini-busts of pirates (okay, I really only want the ships) that were originally only available as tournament prizes. The last time I got a cool mailaway was The One Box for my Lord of the Rings dvds. The time before that . . . I think it's lost in the depths of history. Maybe back in junior high when I sent away for some exclusive Transformers toys. (Yeah, okay, I am a geek and a big ol' freak, you don't have to tell me.) It's kind of a stupid thing, but it made me disproportionately happy (as you can tell from the length of this babble).

4. Packing goes. It goes slowly, but it goes.

5. Last night I made a delicious pizza. The crust was a little boring, as usual, though it did crisp up nicely around the edges. I put roasted garlic in the sauce, and onion, ham, mushrooms, roasted green peppers, monterey jack cheese and mozzarella cheese on top. Yum! And there's more left for tonight.

Purge

I started the big pre-move purge a while back, with the worst garage sale ever. Then, a couple weeks later, we had another one--this time at my aunt's--and I did rather well (sold a lot of books, oddly enough). Now I'm continuing to get rid of stuff--toys, mostly--with two mammoth eBay listing efforts (see my stuff here). I don't really want to think about the hell that will ensue when the auctions end and I have to pack stuff and mail it (boxes! I need lots of little boxes!). The stuff I listed on Saturday (mostly Lord of the Rings figures) is doing quite well. Just under 1/3 of the items have bids on, some quite a bit higher than I'd expected. Another handful have watchers. Today I listed a pile more (mosty Star Wars and misc figures). I don't expect them to do as well, though I have a couple of things that might go highish. I hope. We'll see.

Friday Fey Update

Happy Friday-before-the-long-weekend! I've added the latest page of Fey: page 46, in which we learn more about gargoyles. Also, I added the missing text from a word balloon on page 45. (Er, how come no one told me it was missing? Does that mean no one's reading it?)

Sad Things

This is the last night my big, silly dogboy Darwin will spend at my house. Tomorrow, he's off to his new home with Heather and Badger-who-used-to-be-Viktor. I shall be very sad, but it would have been unfair to drag big D across the country to live in a tiny downtown apartment with no company but the scary, scary cat for many hours a day. I might cry. There will be ice cream after, and probably books (we're going to Hillside mall after, since we'll be downisland anyway, and I know no better way to drown my sorrows than looking at books, except maybe buying books then spending absurd amounts of time reading them while eating ice cream) (chocolate ice cream, or maybe peanut butter cup ice cream). So.

Name Changes

I forgot to put this in the last post . . .

Some time ago, I wrote a YA novel that I titled Taken, 1941. I never really liked the title. My original idea was to call it In the Fairies, 1941 (the date was mainly to make it clear when the story was set; I keep changing my mind about whether it should stay or not). "In the fairies" is a Newfoundand term meaning something like "pixie-led," or lost and disoriented due to stumbling onto fairies or fairy property. I let someone (I shall not say who) convince me to change it. Since I don't think I ever used "in the fairies" in the book, but I did use "taken," it didn't seem like a big deal. But, as I said, I never much liked that title. So. Not so long ago, I decided to change the title to The Stolen Child. I had since written another YA novel called The Secret Common-wealth, and I liked the idea of using the titles of famous old fairy literature. The Secret Common-wealth has that title for a very good reason (not just because I wanted to steal something well-known to fairy enthusiasts)--it's set in Aberfoyle and is strongly connected to the events surrounding the Rev Kirk's death (Kirk being the author of the original book of that title, ca 1692).

Anyway. I've since realized that I really need the title The Stolen Child for an entirely different novel (yes, another YA with fairies in, which I will probably do for this year's NaNoWriMo). So I can't use that to retitle Taken (and, to be honest, it never felt quite right anyway, but I couldn't think of a better famous-fairy title to borrow, and nothing I thought up of my own worked, either). So. One evening while getting ready for bed, I realized what the title would be. The Coming of the Fairies. The original book was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and concerns the Cottingly fairy incident. While Doyle's book hadn't yet been published at the time my novel takes place (the Strand articles it was assembled from were, though), the events he wrote about had happened (two decades before, if I remember correctly). And another book about Cottingley, E.L. Gardner's Fairies: A Book of Real Fairies (which I think appeared under some other title, too, but I don't feel like looking it up), figures fairly prominently in the story. I'd use that title, but it's just not as interesting.

Therefore:

• Taken, 1941 is now called The Coming of the Fairies (possibly with 1941 tacked on)
  
• Fairy Rings is now called The Stolen Child (and I will starting it all over from the beginning, leaving little or no of the content I've already written, except some of the plot and a few of the characters--it really wasn't working, but I still like many of the ideas)

So there you go. I guess it's a good thing I haven't been sending my mss out much--I keep changing their titles. But no more. I'm happy with the titles. Now if I could ony get the revisions done and be happy with the whole ms. Sigh.

Writing: White Foxes, etc

Last night, when Daily Planet was over and I was waiting for Friday night anime to begin, I sat down and wrote 1,157 words of chapter 17 of White Foxes, Full Moon. That makes 47, 979 so far (or 50, 751 if you count the already-written final chapter which may or may not stay once I get to the end). I'm well over halfway now, but not yet at 2/3. My original outline was for 27 chapters, but I suspect there may be 30 or so by the time I get there.

I also thumbnailed and laid out the panels for pages 50-52 of Fey. I have to get going on the pencils on those today (and see if I can finish chapter 18 of Foxes).

What else? I know there was something else I was going to say . . . Oh, yeah. I find it most interesting how you can earn about characters things you never dreamed of until there they are, in words on the page in front of you (or in pictures). I found out something about Watcher (one of the two main characters in Foxes) yesterday. He was telling Maring (the other main character) a story--a kind of origin story about the island they live on. Turns out he may be older and more powerful than even I suspected (he certainly didn't know; he doesn't remember much about his past).

And a week or so ago, I started to sketch out an drawing to enter in a scholarship (deadline is the end of August, I think). I was trying to draw something elegant and sort of intricate--a portrait of some fantasy character, perhaps. Something that would turn out well, but that I wouldn't mind sending to a contest and not getting back. I started with a face, and made him into a king. The idea of "ancient king" popped into my head, so I tried to make the costume simple, elegant, and rich. I wasn't too displeased--in fact, I kind of liked how it was turning out, even though my attempt to add a dragon didn't work (too fantasy-cliché to begin with). Anyway, I had most of the figure down when I realized who I was drawing. Adding small pointed ears clinched it. I'd just drawn a portrait of the mysterious Gannon, villain (maybe) of Fey. And I think he may have been a king, too, though now he's just high up in Faery nobility, due to various events in fey politics and the like. Weird, though. I created his character as little more than a name to oppose Robin et al's efforts to . . . well, you'll just have to read the comic. Later on, as I was pondering the bizarre pathways of literary and comic creation, it occurred to me that Gannon (Gannon ap Rhys, I think) is very probably the father of Pier (aka Rapier) and Sabre (and also Katana, their half-kitsune sister). Phew. Of course, for all I know, once I get around to telling those bits of the story (if they ever make it in to the main tale) everything might have changed, and I may have learned different things (sometimes, you see, characters can lie to their creators) (really; it's weird).

Fey: Part 3 Begins for Real

While I'm still not as far ahead as I'd like, I do have the next page ready for you all to look at: page 45 (that's page 1 of part 3, if you're keeping track). I'd have had it up sooner, but I had to convince my scanner to play nice with Síog. I discovered that if I set it up so the images opened in Photoshop Elements, everything slowed down so much it might as well have frozen, on account of PE has to run in Classic and having 2 OSs running at the same time takes up a lot of memory. So now everything scans and opens in iPhoto. Once I have it all scanned, I open PE, and edit away. Probably I shouldn't scan at such high resolution (even the Mac gets a little sluggish when I cut and paste the bits together), but I like it that way. Oh well, I'll work it all out. Probably, things will improve some once I get OSX native software.

And in more scanning news, I scanned a couple of slides of arctic terns I was going to enter in this contest. Alas, they were more out of focus than I'd thought (you try focussing a manual camera on a small bird while it's divebombing you). It doesn't look as bad in a small size, so I may post it here later on (it's from my Arctic trip, way back in 1995). I'm going to see if any of my Peary caribou shots turned out any better (they weren't attacking me, but they were rather far away). Maybe I'll find something to enter in that contest yet.

Optimus Keyboard

This is so very cool. I want one. (Link via Scott McCloud.)

Myth Envy

Oh, I sooo want to do this: MythBusters: Design an Experiment Application. I even have an idea that might work. Alas, you have to be a US citizen. Crap, crap, crap.

Pottering

Right, so as of yesterday afternoon, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hmmm. What to say? Really, for a 600-page book, not very much happened, until right near the end, and most of what did happen was easily achieved and without much sense of conflict or struggle. What kept the book going, I think, in the absence of any great conflict, was a general underlying sense of unease and uncertainty, mostly generated by things happening off-camera. All-in-all, I think it was tighter than the last book, even if there wasn't much action. There were a few annoying things (the all-Slytherins-are-evil thing seemed more pronounced, but was at the same time mitigated by at least one sympathetic Slytherin character). There was an interesting depiction of a "pure-blood" wizarding family after many generations of inbreeding, which was a nice contrast to the snooty Malfoys. The writing was the usual fairy mediocre -- it's the characters that are the heart of this series, and definitely not Rowling's writing. I think I am rambling.

Basically, it seemed to me that a lot of the clichés of the series were both reinforced and undermined in various ways. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, but it's interesting.

Ryan commented the other day about how, in the last book, Harry had become a real dick (I think those were his words, more or less). Sue said something like, "Yeah, he's become a teenage boy." (It was amusing, you see, because Ryan turned 16 recently and is, himself, very much a teenaged boy.) Harry is still a bit of a dick, but it's a little easier to see where he's coming from this time, I think.

I could have done without all the snogging, but then I'd probably have loved it when I was a teenager. Same for the toilet humour (not so much of that this time, though; the tone of the books continues to grow more serious).

My only real gripe with this book is that there is one chapter near the beginning (chapter 2, in fact) that really should have been cut (chapter one wouldn't have been missed much, either, really, but it didn't annoy me). I think Rowling needed to write it, so she knew what was going on, but I think it should have gone. The reader doesn't need it. It annoyed me to no end, knowing the information that was in it. And I think the big event at the end of the book whould have had much more power and impact -- much more emotional punch-in-the-guttedness -- if that chapter had not already tipped us off. I'd advise people who haven't read the book yet to skip chapter two the first time through, but I know you're not going to listen to me anyway.

So. Those are my first thoughts on the new Harry Potter. Anyone else got any ideas? Am I full of shit?

Yee Yaw! (Fey and Síog)

So, as promised, the long-awaited Fey: Drawing Borders, Part 3 Cover. The colours turned out a wee bit muddy, because I overcompensated on account of worrying about them being too bright. But, for my first attempt to use my 6-bazillion-colour package of markers, it's not too bad (actually, I think there are 60 colours, and they only cost about ten bucks at Staples, and are guaranteed not to dry out even if you leave them with the cap off for three days) (which I have not tried; I will be happy if they don't dry out until they are actually empty of ink).

And if you are wondering "okay, so that's Fey, but what the heck is Síog?" you shall soon need wonder no more. Síog is my Mac. There is a tradition among Mac people, of naming their machines. My old LCIII was Banshee (notice a trend?). The current machine is very small, so Síog seem suitable (for some reason, I always think small when I see the word síog, though it really just means "fairy"). I tried naming my first pc, but it never really stuck (and I don't even remember what the name was), so I didn't bother with the rest.

Anyway, this (Fey cover 3) was the first page I did on me Mac that needed much editing (or any, really). And I have to say, Holy Fucking Crap, I love my Mac mini. It's not blazing fast, but it does what I ask without complaining, or crashing, or even hiccuping. And the fan is hardly audible. Yes, I am happy. Garage sale tired, but very pleased.

Fey Delay

Because I don't ever seem to be quite on top of things, there will be a slight delay in today's page of Fey. Never fear, you shall soon have the cover of part 3, as promised, just probably not today. If you are pining for a Fey fix immediately, you can go read Faerie or Bust, right here. (You can look at the cover if you want to, but it's not much). This was my 24-hour comic from a few years back. It's kind of . . . odd.

I spent most of the day getting ready for our garage sale this Saturday and Sunday (at my aunt's place on Sears Road in . . . er . . . Cobble Hill, I think). I can't imagine what state I'd be in if I hadn't already been mosty ready from last time. So I am sleepy and just want to sit and watch cartoons and eat ice cream and then go to bed and sleep deeply because I have to get up too early tomorrow. And the iron supplement that is supposed to make me less sleepy doesn't seem to be working. And, though the discs I burned from my old desktop machine read just fine in my Mac, I seem to have negected to save one thing I need, so I have to send it from my laptop, where it lives as a raw tiff scan, instead of a nice touched-up file I can just copy and paste onto my pretty image for the cover and I believe I have begun to babble. The short of it is, I can't face staring at a computer screen for even the short time it should take to put the cover together (plus the time it takes for me to navigate Photoshop Elements in the Classic Environment (aka System 9, which I have to use because my PE version is so old is doesn't run in OSX), and also I have to navigate System 9 itself, which is not so different from what I remember of System 7, but is not so elegant as OSX, and I am babbling again and this is not at all short). I have to go before the nearly non-functional "l" key on this laptop causes me to throw the machine out the window, which would be okay except I need this machine for working in the time between leaving here and getting internet acess (not to mention a place to live) in Haifax. Can you see my brain dissolving through cyberspace? Urgh.

Really long story short this time, I will do my best to have Fey cover 3 done tomorrow, though I may be dead after garage sale, day 1 (this time around). Going now.

Fun With Harry

So it's Harry Potter day (well, really not till tomorrow, but if you stay up till after midnight to buy the book, it's almost like it's today. Or something). The last time a new HP book came out, I wrote a couple of "top ten" articles for work:

• 10 Things Writers Can Learn From Harry Potter: your basic run-of-the-mill trying to teach something about writing from what everyone is reading. It was fun to write, anyway.
  
• 10 Books Better Than Harry Potter: my attempt to get people to read some of the really good stuff in YA fantasy fiction (I do like Harry, but there really is a lot of better stuff out there).

And here (via Making Light) are some of the entries to a recent Guardian contest: The alternative Potter: Dumbledore's death, because someone important is rumoured to die in Book 6 (wasn't that the rumour for Book 5, too?). The fun continues in this Making Light post: Pushing Up Dumbedores (and especially in the comments).

I admit, I didn't read them all, but my favouite of those I did read is this one, in the style of William Carlos Williams:

This Is Just To Say

I have killed
the wizard
who was in
your novels

and whose death
you were probably
saving
for book seven

Forgive me
he had it coming
so beardy
and so old

So, do I buy the new book tomorrow, or do I hope somebody gets it for me for Christmas?

No Go

Pooh! No shuttle launch today: Return to Flight.

The Meddling is Over

Or, the "Meddling Spirits" Fey short is. I just put the last page up. Next week, we'll continue with part 3 of the main story (aka Drawing Borders). Bet you're all really excited!

(Hmmm. The "l" key on my laptop seems to be sticking . . .)

Banished!

After waking me up way too early, one too many times--by chewing on the bars of his cage--InuYasha is now banished outside. He's well-sheltered, out of the wind and rain, and also out of range of me throwing things from bed.

Anyone want to adopt a very cute bunny? (He really is sweet, and if you happen to get up at 6 am anyway, he won't even be annoying.) He comes with a cage and everything.

Bast!

I'm testing out Blogger's new photo feature, so here's pic I took a couple of days ago of Bast, aka Supreme Ruler and Goddess of Everything.



(Interestingly, the photo upload feature doesn't work in Netscape, so I had to do this in Explorer. Bleah! Also, I can't figure out how to get it to tell me how much of my allotted 300 megs I've used.)

Latest Reading: Quickly

I've got so very far behind in blogging my recent reading that I'm only going to put in very brief comments.

Fiction:

11. Shinju by Karen Joh Rowland. A historical mystery set in Japan that completely absorbed me. Not bad for 25 cents from the library discards. I've got another in this series to read, too.
    
12. The Dragon Path by Kenneth Morris. Lush, beautiful short stories by a Welsh Theosophist. I've got one of his novels on my shelves. Probably I'll get to reading it sooner, now.
    
13. Mr Doyle and Dr Bell by Howard Engel. A novel about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that puts Doyle in the role of Dr Watson alongside Dr Bell (apparently the real-life inspiration for Sherlock Holmes). It was well-enough written, but just Sherlockian enough to make me wonder why I just didn't read a Sherlock Holmes novel instead.
    
14. Salt Fish Girl by Larissa Lai. A strange, literate mythic-past and near-future novel. I couldn't resist the title, and now I'll be watching for more of Lai's work.
    
15. The Great God Pan by Donna Jo Napoli. I started out disappointed that Napoli chose to make Pan the son of Hermes (as he is in some of the myths, though Pan himself actually pre-dates most of the Olympian gods). In the end, though, I was very pleased with the way the novel ended. Napoli's books never seem to be quite as good as I'd like them to be, but they're usually worth reading once.
    
16. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. One of those YA/children's classics I've been meaning to read for ages. Quite a lovely book, though I rather wish it didn't have a cover from the movie adaptation.
    
17. The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman. A good read, but I really wanted more of the alchemical items from the title, and their story and how they affected the present day. Still, I like the way the past narratives and ongoing present story were interleaved and intertwined.
    
18. In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip. Whenever I become disillusioned with fantasy fiction (which is often--the genre seems to have more than its share of crap), I only need to read McKillip to have my faith restored. She manages to transplant folkloric elements to fantasy settings and make them seem perfect. Plus her writing is beautiful. In this one, I especially liked the fantasy version of Baba Yaga.
    
19. Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. A fun read written by the two authors exchanging letters as if they were their characters. The result is a delightful story, and really, really makes me want to try this. Anyone want to write fantasy character letters with me?
    
20. Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip. More gorgeous McKillip writing. This one's got a huge, ancient library, which is one quick way to my heart.
    
21. The Beekeeper's Pupil by Sara George. Bees! I love bees. This novel is written as a diary, and is as much about scientific discovery as about people. Go, read it. (Personally, I would have titled it The Beekeeper's Assistant, since The Beekeeper's Apprentice was already taken. "Pupil" is just sich an awkward, unlovely word. And it's a lovely book; I've already requested George's other book from the library.)

Non-Fiction:

16. At the Water's Edge: Macroevolution and the Transformation of Life by Carl Zimmer. How did mammals evolve from aquatic animals to land animals, and then back again? Cool evolutionary science in a very readable style.
    
17. A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit by Alan Lightman. I'd have liked to read more about the author's experiences as both a scientist and a novelist--the clash of art and science and all that. Some of the earlier essays were kind of slow, but about halfway through I was totally absorbed and finished the rest at high speed.

Sequential Art:

32. Fruits Basket volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya. I think I'm in love with these characters, and I'll definitely be adding this title to my must-read list.
    
33. Hellsing volume 2 by Kohta Hirano. More stylish occult action.
    
34. 9-11: Artists Respond. A wide range of styles and themes in this fundraiser. Worth reading, but not something I need to own.
    
35. Elfquest: Wolfrider by Wendy Pini et al. I used to be a big EQ reader, but eventualy drifted away. Our library is well-stocked with EQ volumes, so I thought I'd pick up a few I'd missed. Uneven art and stories when Wendy Pini isn't in control of her creation.
    
36. Rurouni Kenshin volume 2 by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The usual delightful mix of fun and serious.
    
37. Elfquest: Kahvi by Auklandus et al. See notes on Wolfrider.
    
38. Rurouni Kenshin volume 3 by Nobuhiro Watsuki.
    
39. The New Comics Anthology edited by Bob Callahan. New being the 1990s, if I remember correctly. Quite a lot of the stuff in here really didn't appeal to me, but then quite a lot did. It was worth reading, though, just to see work I'd missed when I read little other than Elfquest. A interesting mix.
    
40. Rurouni Kenshin volume 4 by Nobuhiro Watsuki.
    
41. Elfquest: Shadowstalker by Auklandus et al. See notes on Wolfrider.
    
42. Elfquest: Wavedancers by Pini et al. See notes on Wolfrider.
    
43. Rurouni Kenshin volume 5 by Nobuhiro Watsuki.
    
44. Dark Shadows: The Comic Strip Book. I've never seen any of the cult-tv series, but picked this up on a whim when I saw it in the library. Fun reading in a campy sort of way.
    
45. Demon Diary volume 1 by Kara (art) and Lee Chi Hyong (story). Pretty art and a not-too-bad story. It won't be at the top of my to-read list, but I'll probably pick up others in the series. Might not buy any more, though.
    
46. Amphigorey Also by Edward Gorey. It's Gorey. Need I say more?
    
47. PhD: Phantasy Degree volume 1 by Son Hee-Joon. I got this for Selena for her birthday, and then read it before I gave it to her. [insert evil laughter] Does my "best auntie" award get revoked? It's a cute, humorous (mostly) series. I'll probably read more, though I don't feel the need to own copies.
    
48. Naruto volume 1 by Masashi Kishimoto. A high-energy shonen series about a village of ninjas and the outcast kid who is determined to be the best ninja of all and so gain the villagers respect. Well-drawn, too.
    
49. B.B. Explosion volume 1 by Yasue Imai. Not really my thing (it's a bit too girly), but I did enjoy reading this story about a girl determined to make it as Japanese idol singer. I might get more from the library, if they happen to be on the shelf, but I won't go out of my way.

Also read: Book by Karen Brookfield--one of the Eyewitness series with lots of pretty pictures with explanatory captions. I might like to own this one, just because of the excellent photographs of books and book-related items; The Sandman: King of Dreams by Alisa Kwitney--short essays on each story arc of Neil Gaiman's renowned comic series. I learned a few things, and enjoyed reading about the series as a whole, but it's not really something I must have; assorted issues of Wired, Discover, Nintendo Power (yeah, sometimes I'm a game geek), and probably other magazines I've forgotten. I could go look on the finished magazine shelf, but I'm too lazy.

Games:

8. Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls (pc). Not quite as good or absorbing as the first game, but still an excellent adventure game. There were a few really annoying puzzles that I couldn't wrap my brain around (yeah, I resorted to a walkthrough a couple of times), but all in all, it was pretty good. A good thing, though, that I'm really good at tangrams, 'cause there were a whole lot of them.

So, for once I've read more fiction than non-fiction. Hmm. Probably because I set aside the most recent dinosaur book to concentrate on the stack of libary books. Oh well.

Page 7

New page of Fey here.

Pink!?!

Er, so yesterday I went down to Langford with Sue to pick up Ryan, and we went to WalMart to buy underthings. It is a necessary evil, this buying of underthings. I don't know why, exactly, but I really don't enjoy it. But I managed to pick out two sports bras and one "good bra," a package of undies, and a whole lot of black socks unscathed. Then I found a decent pair of jeans on sale, and a couple of plain tank tops (for exercising in, probably). Then I found this t-shirt. Why it appealed to me so much, I really don't know. It has a picture of Elmo (from Sesame Street, for the culturally-deficient readers out there) and says "Tickle Me" (you know, cuz that "Tickle Me Elmo" doll was so popular a few years back). And it's pink. Very, very pink. Barbie pink, in fact, with baby pink sleeves. I hate pink. Pink is my very, very least favourite colour. And yet, I love this t-shirt. I'm sure that must say something about me. Reveal some deep character flaw, maybe. So, yeah, I now own a pink t-shirt with Elmo on that says "Tickle Me."

Writing: White Foxes

Phew! Chapter 17 is, at long last, done. 2,843 words (not all of it written today, though a fair portion was). I was moping about, not feeling like doing any of the gazillion things I need to do before heading to Halifax, and on a whim I opened the chapter 17 file and started to write. And now chapter 17 is done. Only about 16 or so more to go . . .

Sometimes . . .

. . . I love being Canadian: Canada will become the third country in the world to officially sanction same-sex marriage.

Fey: "Meddlesome Spirits" Page 6

Here.

We're all scambling around getting ready for our big TOY SALE (and yard sale) this weekend. There are gaps on my shelves. It hurts, but I know I'll be happy when it's all gone and I have some cash in my pocket instead. Anybody need some Star Wars toys? Lord of the Rings? Toy Dragons? Harry Potter? Books? Everyone needs books. Anyway, that's how I'll be spending most of my weekend.

Look! Up in the Sky!

It's the summer solstice today (longest day/shortest night), and the lowest-hanging full moon in eighteen years. Read more here:
SpaceWeather.com.

Fey: "Meddlesome Spirits" Page 5

There it is.

Some days, I wonder why I bother. I look at what I've drawn, or what I'm trying to draw, and think, "What crap!" Other days, I feel pretty good, and think, "Hey, I kind of like that!" (Though I still wonder if anyone else will actually read it, and if they read it, if they'll see what I thought I was making, and not something else entirely.) Lately, I've been thinking more along the lines of "What crap," but that could just be because it's the middle of June and still cool and rainy (except when I want to go for a long walk--then it seems to be too frickin' hot).

Oh, and I'm not looking for sympathy, or praise, or any of that. I'm just babbling. And making making excuses. Or something.

I Am . . .

You are Ava Gardner in THE KILLERS


Which Film Noir Femme Fatale Are You?
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(Via Poppy Z. Brite.)

Good Dreams and Bad

So, like most people, sometimes I have dreams I like, and sometimes I have dreams I really wish I hadn't had (or didn't remember). I especially like the ones where I'm the MythBusters intern, even though I always end up re-doing old experiments. A couple nights ago, I got to help bust the killer quicksand legend. It was very cool. (Though I admit, the one where Jamie Hyneman and I were trying to escape from bad guys was truly strange. You try walking down the street dressed a la Pirate Mod, arm-in-arm with a walrus-mustachioed man wearing a beret, and try to look inconspicous.) ("Fly casual," as Han Solo would say.)

I really don't like the dreams where I wake up wanting to see an old boyfriend again. Those ones always make me feel very, very glum. Luckily, I don't have them very often.

Thank You, Popular Science

Thanks PopSci, for showing me more things I want to spend money on.

First, this extremely cool robotics kit. I've been wanting to tinker with robots for ages, and this would make it sooo much easier.

Second, a subscription to Popular Science itself. I was looking for something techy to read, and the store was out of Wired. PopSci turned out to be exactly what I was craving. So I've signed up for the two free issues, and am probably going to end up subscribing. How often does one find a magazine that makes one exclaim things like, "Oh, cool!" or "Holy crap, that's so cool!" every time one turns the page? (Never thought I'd ever want to read anything with "popular" in the title, though.)

Niko Buys Music!?

If you've known me very long, or ever been to my house, you may have noticed how . . . outdated my music collection generally is. I don't know why, but I just don't buy new music very often. Possibly it's largely because I don't listen to the radio (I have yet to find a station that doesn't quickly annoy me into turning it off), so I don't get to hear much of what's new. Lately, I've been getting sick of the music I do have. There are a few things I still listen to regularly, but I find myself listening to the same stuff over and over.

So I was at WalMart the other day, and they had the new Nine Inch Nails disc for cheap. I'd read about it on Caitlín R. Kiernan's blog. So I bought it. I'm on the second listen-through and quite liking it. Of course, buying the new release of a familiar artist isn't really the same as buying something totally new. I'm open to suggestions. I've read a few places online that The Decemberists are very good. Anyone got any other recommendations for someone with a rather . . . eclectic (and sometimes strange) taste in music? I especially like stuff that mixes traditional with contemporary--celtic rock, for example (Ashley MacIsaac's Hi, How Are You Today is still one of my faves, along with Capercaillie's Beautiful Wasteland and everything by the Pogues). But I also like more industrial sounds, and, er . . . stuff. Anyway.

Edit: I'm also fond of punk and its offspring (been listening to the Clash a lot lately . . .).

Ow Ow Ow

A while ago I mentioned that my doctor recommended a cortisone shot to collapse the tendonitis-related ganglion in my right wrist. So Thursday I went in to get said shot. Apparently, a shot where I had it is less painful than the usual sort of cortisone shot that goes right into the joint. Dr Fretz said, "This is going to hurt," or something along those lines. My response, when she stuck in the giant needle (to remove the "goo" before injecting to cortisone) was, "Oh, yes, that does hurt rather a lot." I'm pleased to say that I didn't cry or scream or faint or even flinch. I guess I must have a fairly high pain tolerance. Or something. I wondered aloud to Mum afterwards about why the doctor'd made me lie down before giving me the shot. Apparently, a lot of people pass out during that sort of thing.

It didn't hurt that much.

So it may or may not actually work, this gangion-collpasing. I might have to have surgery instead. So far, my wrist still bulges as much as before, though doc did say it could take a few days, and it would probably ache. Actually, it mostly doesn't bother me at all, though handwriting feels a little awkward. Anyway, now I wait and see if it works.

Fey!

Here's "Meddlesome Spirits" page 4. In the meantime, I work on part 3 of Drawing Borders. Slowly.

Which Famous Homosexual Are You?

Which Famous Homosexual Are You?
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How Would You Fare in Ambergris?

FATED TO SEE (AND DIE BY) SQUID


While strolling along the banks of the Moth, huge
tentacles emerge from the oily river and pull
you to a watery grave. Only your shoes are
found, floating further downstream.


How Would You Fare in Ambergris?
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If you don't what the heck this is about, go read City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer. Or else go here. (Via VanderWorld.)

Early Fey

"Meddlesome Spirits" page 3 is now up for your viewing enjoyment. Or something. You may recognize the bookstore proprietor--and the bookstore--if you read my Three Sisters holiday chapbook from last year (that is, the 2003 holiday season, not the one that passed most recently).

Small Technical Glitches

I've noticed the odd thing about this blog that doesn't quite work. First, I managed to post the same comment twice, but couldn't delete it. As far as I could see, the little trash can icon I should have for deleting just wasn't there. Course, I just now figured out that I can do it from the "Post a Comment" window. Next, I noticed that the stats for my blog are waaay out of date. It's said I have three hundred and something posts for . . . well, months anyway. And all the "recent posts" that show up in my profile are from November last year. There was something else, too, but now I can't remember what it was. Also, there is no space between the end of the post and its comments--probably I can tweak that in my template code. Anyway, I'm wondering if it's because my template is one of the old pre-updated Blogger ones. I like it, though, and I won't switch to a new one unless too many things go wrong.

More Birthday Goodness

I'm just back from birthday tea at Mum's, with a whole pile of prezzies. Here's what marvels I got:

• a card with beads and sparkly butterflies, with money inside, from Gramma Staniforth. Thanks Gramma!
  
• a whole pile of books from Sue and her offspring; they are:
  
  
  • Sabriel by Garth Nix. I had the worst beat-up ex-library copy of this ever; now I have a very nice one. I love this book.
    
  • Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia by Nancy J. Turner. Part of the Royal BC Museum Handbook series. I've wanted this since I used it a couple of years ago for a Creative Non-Fiction assignment.
    
  • Gladiatrix: The True Story if History's Unknown Woman Warrior by Amy Zoil. This'll go nicely with my Amazon and female pirate books.
    
  • The Cook's Guide to Asian Ingredients by Sallie Morrus and Deh-Ta Hsiung. At last, I can figure out what all those interesting things are that I keep seeing at the grocery store.
    
  • Love in the Asylum by Lisa Carey. One of the few times I've ever made my mother read something I'd just read was with Carey's first novel, The Mermaids Singing. This is her most recent one, I think.
  Thanks Sue and Selena and Ryan!
  
• an HP Photosmart digital camera, camera dock, and acessory kit (camera bag, mini tripod, cleaning stuff, etc) from Mum and John. Woo hoo!! Thanks Mum and John!

Now I have to figure out how to attach these new wonders of technology to my computer. And, I can do slideshows on tv straight from the camera, using the dock (though I don't think my primative tv has the right pluggy-inny bits) (yes, that was a technical term; haven't you heard it before?). Now I have much reading and picture-taking to do. Expect photos to start turning up on this blog, once I figure things out.

Chicken Legs

Here's the first bit of an as yet unwritten story I found in my notebook while looking for my notes on White Foxes:

After so many centuries in a mobile home, Baba Yaga was tired of broken crockery.

It was inconvenient, she thought, to live in a house perched on chicken legs, however scary the neighbours might find it. Not that neighbours ever lasted long.

I wish I knew how the rest of the story went.

Toonjitsu

Wow: Toonjitsu.com: The Artwork of Dave Daniels.

Happy 33

Yep, well, here I am. 33. And, like every other year, I feel pretty much the same as always. Not that I expected that to change.

So what have I planned for my birthday? This morning, I did some work, and read some blogs. I've got a comic page I want to finish, which won't take long. This afternoon, I'll probably do some writing; White Foxes is waiting impatiently for a new chapter. I have to finish getting my Mac all set up--I haven't tried connecting it to the great online world yet, which I have to do before setting up the scanner, since I need to download drivers. Then, sometime after Sue and Selena get home, there will probably be tea and the opening of presents over at Mum's. I'll finish the evening with Daily Planet and another part of the "Walking With" series. Last night I watched the whole Walking With Dinosaurs series (6 half-hour episodes). Tonight it'll either be the Making Of and the Allosaurus special, or else Walking With Prehistoric Beasts. After that, I'll probably crawl into bed with a book.

As I mentioned somewhere back there, I got a couple of cards already--last week. So here's the beginning of my things-I-got-for-my-33rd-birthday list:

• a flowery, mushy card from Gramma and Granddad Silvester--I think it's in the rules somewhere that grandparents must give mushy cards (and usually flowery ones to their female grandchildren). Thanks Gramma and Granddad!
  
• a funny card and a Bolen Books gift certificate from Dad and Cat--books, books, books! Thanks Dad and Cat!

Proper thank-you emails and letters to follow.

I Rule

Last week, Selena came home from school all excited about some bones she and her friends found in the bushes at the edge of the schoolyard. She wanted me to drive her back to school so we could collect them. Why me? 'Cause I'm the coolest auntie ever, of course. Plus, I used to be a zooarchaeologist, so I know stuff about bones.

Said bones were in a nice little pile (mostly), and were quite clean, so all we had to do was pick them up and put them in a bucket. (Well, they had dirt and plant bits on them, but no flesh or hair or other icky stuff.) To my delight, Selena et al were absolutely correct in their guess that they were baby deer bones.

When we got them home, I got 'Lena working on cleaning them with antibacterial soap and water (I usually use a little bleach or peroxide in water, but I didn't have either). The next day, she had most of them clean and carefully packed to take back to school to show her class. When Ryan came up on the weekend, she had to show him, of course. He asked her why she'd picked them up. "Because," she told him. "I'm going to start a collection, just like Auntie."

See, I totally rule. Bow down before me, ye lesser Aunties and Uncles.

Sneks!

We went out this evening to get the pool set up in preparation for filling with water tomorrow. While Mum was straighening the outdoor carpet that's there to help keep dirt out of the pool, what we though was a rather large salamander went scurrying out, and under another piece of carpet. I didn't want it to get stepped on (and I can't resist amphibians and reptiles), so I went in chase, only to discover that there was also a little garter snake under there. It was a pretty yellow-striped black one, and probably one of this year's babies (under six inches, anyway). Imagine trying to catch a fast-moving salamander with one hand (the other being occupied with the snake). I finally realized it would be easier to catch the one if I let the other go, so I freed little snake in the brush where the cats wouldn't be likely to find him. The supposed salamander had moved along under the edge of the carpet, so I followed, only to be distracted by another snake, also a small one, but a draber brown with olive stripes. I caught him (snake number two) and let him go in the brush. Mr Salamander, meanwhile, scurried into the basket of toys, and Mum began to straighten the carpet I'd messed up. She lifed up the end, only to find . . . yes, more snakes. Four or five of them. Snakes in all directions and me in the middle trying to catch them all (we wouldn't want any to get stepped on, now would we?). They ranged in size from a brand-new three-inch long baby to a big ol' grandfather snake (well, maybe a middle-aged snake). Of course, "big" for a garter snake is maybe not even an inch thick at the biggest part, and maybe not much more than two feet long. He was a pretty fellow, with bright blue stripes.

All the snakes caught and safely let go in the bushes (or chased there) (there were cats lurking about), I turned my attention back to Mr Salamander, maybe. He'd come out the other side of the toy basket and was heading for the brush, but I had to catch him anyway. I'd never seen one so big (around five inches long, at a guess). I did catch him, and he sat quite calmly in my grip, with his prickly little claws on my fingers. And he wasn't a salamander. Mum and I both had assumed he was, since we see salamanders fairly often (though mostly I've seen wee little two-inch red-backed salamanders, and one slightly larger rough-skinned newt). This fellow was something I hadn't seen before, though I knew they were around--a northern alligator lizard, our only native lizard on Vancouver Island. It was pretty cool. We had a good look at him (I say "him" only because he kind of looked like a boy; could very well have been female), and then I let him go in the bushes.

After that, I walked around grinning like a fool and giggling. It was very cool.

Fey, Once Again

Here's page 2 of "Meddlesome Spirits." I decided to post it as written. I may re-do and expand it some time in the future, but not just now. In the meantime, I'm trying to get ahead on Drawing Borders part 3.

One Week to 33

You know, for some reason, I have it stuck in my head that I was born on a Thursday. I don't know why. I looked it up a long time ago, and can't remember whether it turned out to be true or not. Perhaps I shall go look now . . .

Hunh. Apparently, it was a Friday. I wonder why Thursday is stuck in my head.

Anyway, this year my birthday is on a Thursday. Next Thursday, in fact. I kind of like the idea of having two threes in my age. Some remnant of my superstitious self that knows threes are important in Western European myth and lore. That bit of myself also knows that Thursday is named for Thor:

Thor is the wielder of Mjollnir and the defender of Asgard. He is described as a massive red-bearded champion wearing iron gloves and a belt/girdle of might, Megingjardir. He is the only god forbidden to cross Bifrost, for fear that his lightnings could destroy the bridge or that he would set it aflame by the heat of his presence. Thor rides in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngniost (Toothgnasher) and Tanngrisnir (Toothgrinder). The rolling of the wheels of this chariot is said to create the thunder that rolls across the heavens.

What this actually has to do with anything, I leave up to you.

Friday, of course, is named for Freya:

The goddess of love and fertility, she came to Asgard with her brother, Freyr, and her father, Njord. Freya was exceedingly beautiful and many fell in love with her, including giants, dwarfs and men. Freya is said to have a talent for witchcraft and it is said that when she came to Asgard she instructed the gods about magic charms and potions. Freya also has a warlike side and shares Odhinn's love of battle. She and Odhinn share the slain heroes between them, so that some go to Valhalla and others are chosen by Freya to be entertained at her hall, Sessrumnir. Freya's boar, the gold-bristled Hildisvini, was a symbol of war. As well as a boar chariot, Freya had a chariot pulled by two gray or black cats. She had a falcon skin that she sometimes donned to fly away. She lent the falcon skin to Loki in the stories of Idunn's Apples and The Theft of Thor's Hammer. Her most precious possession is the Brisings' Necklace.

(Some people think Friday is named for Frigga, but then some scholars says Freya and Frigga are two aspects of the same goddess.) In Diana Paxson's book Brisingamen, Freya's two cats are marmalade tabbies (or maybe just golden coloured), and are named Beegold and Treegold (well, the Norse equivalent)--Honey and Amber. Kennings are cool.

Right. Already I have received two birthday cards, but I won't describe them or their contents until my actual birthday, since I am not supposed to have opened them until then. Also, next Friday or Saturday there will be barbequeing going on. Some kind of ribs (bbq or sweet and sour), stuffed potatoes, corn on the cob, grilled veggie salad, and probably something involving a lot of chocolate for dessert (maybe a Baskin Robbins Chocolate Mousse Royale ice cream cake, but I don't know if there's a BR near enough by to get the cake here without melting). The point is, if you actually know me (and maybe even if you don't), you're invited, but RSVP so we can make sure there will be enough food (it's genetic in the Staniforth female line--must make sure there's enough food, which generally means we can feed several times the number actually attending, unless there are Staniforth males among the guests--it's genetic among them to eat a lot of mashed potatoes and then take home the leftovers).

Yee Haw!

As I was just settling down to watch Myth Busters, a white car with "Ken Evans Ford" on the side (I think that's what it said) pulled into the driveway and someone got out with a box. They went to Sue's door. For some reason, delivery people nearly always go to Sue's door, but then it's hard to tell where the front of the house is, since it's actually backwards on the lot. Yay! It's my keyboard. Now I just need a USB cable for my cheapie new printer, and a USB hub so I can plug everything in (only two USB ports on the Mac, plus one on the keyboard--for a brief moment I thought there were two on the keyboard, but then I realized that one of them is for plugging in the cable the other end of which plugs into the computer). So now I finish playing Shivers 2 tonight if it kills me. Safecracker can wait for some upcoming rainy weekend when I feel like plugging the crapmachine back in.

Edit: Erm, it turns out I was right the first time. The Mac keyboard does have two USB ports, which means I won't need a hub right away.

Urgh

No keyboard yet, but email has been sent to customer service. And it is a long weekend. So I spend the delay playing Shivers 2, which is alternately very, very good, and rather frustrating. And I discovered I also have Safecracker in my to-be-played-and-actually-works-on-my-machine pile. Don't know whether or not I'll get to it. I may hold off on taking the old machine apart, and set it up some weekend to play on. Or I might just not bother.

Success!

Instead of fighting crowds of bargain-hunters and Victoria Day parade-goers to go to Value Village's 50% off sale tomorrow, we decided to hit VV in Victoria today (I remembered the advice of a MUN professor who said the best day to go to a VV sale was the afternoon or evening before--sure, you wouldn't get half-off, but you'd get your pick of the stuff they just put on the rack for the sale the next day). After loading down the cart with something like 15 assorted pairs of pants, I ended up with three. One pair of khaki green corduroys, one pair of brownish-blackish jeans, and one pair of black sort-of corduoy pants (which are on the rather snug side, but I'm on the way to not being so thick around the middle, and I expect they'll fit better fairly soon). Plus I also found a nice top, another belt (this one black with big silver grommets in), and a few more books. Two I won't mention because they're for my nephew, whose birthday is in July, and An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks. Then there were New York Fries, mocha frappuchino, and a chocolate peanutbutter oat bar. And home again.

Good Things and Annoying Things

Good Thing #1: Much to my surprise, a nice delivery man appeared yesterday with my new baby in hand. The box is very, very small. I am now hurriedly finishing playing Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls so I can get the old clunker off my desk (and strip it of everything I can sell on eBay), and the lovely new piece of industrial sculpture (that doubles as a very nice computer) on my desk and working. It really is a pretty thing, and it even came with Tiger (that's Mac OS 10.4) which only just came out. Yay! I am a Mac Person again!

Annoying Thing #1: Upon inspecting the receipt from the courier much later, I discovered that there should have been two boxes, not one. The other one, presumably, would have my keyboard in it. I had simply assumed that it shipped later for some reason. Obviously, I should have looked at the thing I was signing more closely. So now I'm hoping they either showed up today and left it with Mum (I left a note on the door telling them to go next door if no one was home), or that they'll still show up. I'll have to check with Mum (I just got home from Value Village in Nanaimo). Otherwise, I'll have to look up the phone number of the Victoria office online (it's not on the receipt), and call them. I really, really hate having to call people. Especially about things I shouldn't have to be calling them about in the first place. Urgh.

Annoying Thing #2 (because I want to save something good for last): Sue and I ventured up to Nanaimo to go to Value Village (and also a couple dollar stores and the Sally Ann). I was in search of pants and a belt. I did find a good belt (though the one I really liked was too short). I tried on many, many pairs of pants. I even ventured up into the size 14s (at my plumpest, a 12 is usually big enough). Nothing fit! Some were too tight in the thighs, but fit elsewhere. Some didn't go over my butt. Some did go over my butt, and even did up, but there's no way I'd be able to sit down. The ones that actually did fit (all two pairs) were at least two inches too short. Is there no one . . .

Annoying Thing #3: Somehow between previewing and correcting this post, I managed to chop off the rest of the paragraph above, plus a big, long bit about all the books I got (which was Good Thing #2). Rather than re-type everything, for I am too sleepy, I'll just plug in the titles and authors. You can try to figure out why I chose the books I did, if you feel like it.

Good Thing #2: Books.

Fiction:

• The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones.
  
• The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson.
  
• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster.

Non-fiction:

• Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print by Lawrence Block.
  
• Search for a Living Fossil: The Story of the Coelacanth by Eleanor Clymer.
  
• The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner.
  
• Words from the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing edited by Stephen Trimble.
  
• My Life in 'Toons by Joe Barbera.
  
• Information Graphics: Innovative Solutions in Contemporary Design by Peter Wildbur and Michael Burke.

Magazines:

• Nature, 13 April 2000.

Argh, Part 394 (or so)

I really, really was going to start posting part 3 of Fey: Drawing Borders today. I intended to finish off the cover (all I needed to do was plop the art into a file and add the logo and text). I did not count on my [insert rude adjective here] computer. After restarting multiple times (including 3 just trying to make the file smaller so the logo would be the right size) I gave up.

So, instead of the cover for part 3, featuring Jack in the Old Country (and, naturally, the Old Days), you get page one of the first Fey short I wrote, Meddlesome Spirits ("Fleeing Arcadia" was the second one I did).

I kind of meant to revise this one, but I'm not sure now if I will. On the one hand, I probably could make it a better story, but on the other, I'm rather fond of it as it is, awkward bits included. I haven't decided what I'll do yet. I'll probably have a look at the notes I made when I was first thinking of revising it (mostly extending the lead-in, actually). I may add some pages, but will probably leave the rest as-is. We'll see. I will keep trying to get that stupid cover for part 3 done, too.

"Argh!" I say.

Avast! More Birthday Ideas!

First, there's puppets. Marionettes, especially, though the Manhattan Toy Company makes some gorgeous dragon hand puppets.

And pretty much anything from this store: PirateMod. I especially like these skirts and these pants (especially the shorter ones), but all the t-shirts are cool, too (the girl-shaped ones, that is). I'm probably a size large these days.

Two 3s are 33

Crap! I managed to close Netscape after finishing this post once already (except for the last few links). So here it goes again (probably a lot shorter).

Right. So I'm going to be 33 in a little over two weeks. I thought I'd make a list, in case anyone wanted to get me anything (but leaving off the expensive stuff, 'cause probably no one's going to get me a PSP). Here are a few things (not in any order, really):

• cool Peter Beagle stuff previousy mentioned (pretty please?)
  
• here's my Amazon.ca wishlist--many odd things, big range of prices, things in no particular order
  
• the usual bookstore gift certificates (good bookstores on the Island: Bolen, Munro's, Haunted Bookshop, Tanner's; good bookstores online: Powell's, Bookcloseouts)
  
• other sorts of gift certificates, like video/electronics shops (Roger's, EB Games, Futureshop, Blockbuster) art supplies (Island Blue or ArtWorld), etc.
  
• magazine subscriptions--things I've been reading lately) or would be if I could find them) include Discover, Scientific American, New Scientist, Wired, Skeptic, Skeptical Inquirer, Locus, Free Inquiry, and I saw an intriguing-but-pricey one called Mac Design at Bolen Books the other week (it looks like something that would be very, very useful in my upcoming graphic design adventures)

And I'd better stop now, because it was while looking up magazine web pages that I screwed up this post last time. 33 here I come . . .

Which Science Fiction Writer I Am

I am: James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon) In the 1970s she was perhaps the most memorable, and one of the most popular, short story writers. Her real life was as fantastic as her fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

(Via Making Light, where there's an interesting discussion about this very test.)

Computer Woes

If you ever decide to buy a computer online, make sure you phone your bank and have them pre-authorize the transaction on your credit card. I didn't think to do that. Naturally, my card was declined (which would have been very nice, if it was someone other than me trying to use my card). So I phoned the bank, explained things, got transferred to the authorization department and was told by the nice young man that the transaction should go through now. Perhaps I should have been worried that he said "should." Next day, I got another email from Apple saying my card is still being declined. So I phone again (this time I go directly to the authorization department, since I got their number last time). The woman who helped me seemed rather more informed than the young man the last time, and after some rummaging in my file determined that said young man had only noted that I'd phoned to check my balance or something. He did nothing about authorizing the transaction. Now, after much irritation and me thinking that online computer shopping may not be so convenient after all, the transaction should go through (and yes, I am aware I said "should"). If it doesn't work this time, I'm cancelling the stupid thing and going to Compusmart to see if they can bung some more memory in a machine and sell it to me in person. Sheesh!

Beagle's Unicorns

Hey, could somebody please get me this for my birthday? (Yeah, I know it's coming out in June, which makes it a little late for my birthday, but I don't care. I'll wait. Peter Beagle reading The Last Unicorn, plus a signed, limited hardcover of the brand-new sequel!! Pretty please? With sugar on? And a cherry?

Fey Part 2 Concludes

Yep. I just posted page 44, which brings us to the end of part 2. It also brings me to the end of pages-already-drawn, because I have slowly but surely managed to lose the 8-week lead I gained when I subjected you all to "Fleeing Arcadia" between parts 1 and 2. I might have to pull a stunt like that again--I've still got the 8-page "Meddling Spirits," but it really needs to be re-written and expanded. I might do that next, instead of moving on to part 3 (or at the same time as)--part 3 is only in the rough outline stage at the moment, and I'm not sure I'll be ready to draw it soon enough (except the cover, which recycles one of the first drawings I ever did of Jack, and which is half done now).

There's still an awful long way to go on this story, and an awful lot of things banging around in my head that need to happen. I so wish I could create this thing faster. I need to get it done so I can go on to the next project (also a Fey story, but shorter), and the next one . . . Being less sleepy would help. Having better time management would help. The second I can work on, but the first I just have to hope will improve with more exercise and less caffeine.

And speaking of exercise, I've decided to ask my doctor to inject cortisone (or whatever it was she mentioned) into the ganglion on my right wrist, which will--hopefully--collapse it. I can't bend my wrist all the way, which makes doing pushups awkward and quickly painful. It doesn't hurt so much I can't do pushups, but I don't want to damage myself any more than I already have.

More Fey

Er. I fixed a few more things, and now page 43 is up. And as of today, I've finished with part 2 (though there's still one more page to come for those of you who are reading it). I'm going to try to get the cover for part 3 done today--at least the non-computer parts. Right now I'm going to eat something, because I seem to have forgotten lunch.

Fey at Home

I finally started moving things from my old Geocities site to my very own domain. There's not much there yet, so don't get too excited. Fey's got it's own subdomain, here, but right now it just looks like the Geocities site. Next task is to stick redirects up at the old site, then get some nice graphics going so fey.whiteravenarts.com actually looks like it contains a comic you might want to read. After that I'll move the rest of my junk off Geocities. The good news is, though, that I'm now in no danger of running out of webspace, and it's possible to read everything in one sitting without running out of bandwidth. Now, I'm off to finish up this week's page.

Edit: Erm, yes. I fixed the file name/file path errors in "Fleeing Arcadia," so if anyone was trying to look at it, it actually works now. And if you happen to encounter any dead links, missing pictures, or other screw-ups, pleasepleaseplease let me know so I can fix them.

The Atheist

This article is worth clicking on for the graphic alone. It made me laugh, and then chortle. And chuckle. I think I'll make it my new desktop wallpaper. Also, it's a good interview of Richard Dawkins:

It's said that the only rational stance is agnosticism because you can neither prove nor disprove the existence of the supernatural creator. I find that a weak position. It is true that you can't disprove anything but you can put a probability value on it. There's an infinite number of things that you can't disprove: unicorns, werewolves, and teapots in orbit around Mars. But we don't pay any heed to them unless there is some positive reason to think that they do exist.

"Teapots in orbit around Mars." Heh. I usually use the example "invisible pink elephants dancing on my front lawn," but I like Martian teapots better. (Oh yeah, it's worth sitting through the ad to get the whole article.)

And the fact that my life is finite, and that it's the only life I've got, makes me all the more eager to get up each morning and set about the business of understanding more about the world into which I am so privileged to have been born.

(Link via Bookslut.)

NSCAD Admissions Essay

I have always wanted to create books. Since I first learned that pencils make marks on paper, since I first discovered the alphabet, I have been making stories with pictures and words. When I first started university, I was going to study creative writing and visual art, but I soon learned that I needed to know more about what "story" is before I could feel comfortable creating my own stories, my own books.

By studying archaeology, I discovered the stories of who we humans are as a species, the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and our many distinct cultures. I learned how to pass on the stories archaeologists tell about the past in pictures -– in drawings and photographs -– as well as in words both academic and popular.

From there I went further into the depths of "story" when I chose to do graduate studies in folklore. I learned not only what stories are told, but what those stories might mean to the people who tell them. And those stories, too, are passed on by means other than words. They are passed on in gestures, in the pictures painted on the sides of blanket boxes, in the names and shapes of boats, and the way particular foods are prepared.

Only then did I feel ready to tell my own stories. I returned to the city of my birth to study writing, bringing with me all the things I'd learned about storytelling in school and from moving from place to place all my life. Victoria –- Halifax -– Virginia Beach -– Toronto -– Ottawa -– Beaver Creek -– Calgary -– Resolute Bay -– St John's. Through stories I sought to find an answer to that question everyone asks: "So where are you from?"

I have improved my ability to tell stories with words, but now I need to go back to my beginnings, to where I made my stories -- my little books of folded paper -- with words and pictures together. And I want to discover new ways of telling stories, of communicating. Can I tell a story with a sculpture? Can a single image be a book? What other ways can I put text and images together? Is there a way to make a story out of an advertisement for someone else's product?

It's time for me to close the circle and make books again, books I always imagined I would make, and books of kinds I never knew existed -- or could exist. That is why I'm applying to NSCAD. I think it's the right place -- it feels like the right place -- to find that last piece of "story."

Oh Yeah

I have a student number! Hee hee.

Holy Crap! Or, I Did It, I Did It, I Did It!

Here's something from today's mail (the actual physical, comes-in-an-envelope kind):

Dear M. Nicole Silvester:

I am pleased to inform you of your acceptance to the Foundation Program of NSCAD University for the semester that begins Fall 2005.

There's more, of course, but it's all details about how to accept the offer of admission, and how much of a deposit to pay and all that. But holy crap! I got accepted. Now I need to celebrate. I think I'll go order my Mac. (And then start listing my worldly goods on eBay to pay for it.) Holy crap!

Of course, now I just have to figure how I'm going to get me and my essential effects to Halifax, find a place to live (that allows cats--Darwin can stay with Sue, but Bast doesn't play well with others of her species) (oh, and does anyone want a pet rabbit?), and pay my tuition. I plan to keep my About job as long as I can manage it, so that should take care of most of the day-to-day expenses. I guess it's time for a trip to studentawards.com to see what free money I might qualify for.

Aaah! (Did I say "holy crap!" often enough?)

Writing: White Foxes Back on Track (I Hope)

Suddenly faced with a rainy Saturday and nothing planned but to start playing Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls and watch an episode of MythBusters I taped last night (and not liking to play games or watch tv before evening), I decided to get back to some of my own writing. My REAL writing. A few weeks ago, I'd written what I thought was probably a chapter of White Foxes, Full Moon longhand in my notebook. A little while later I started typing it into Word, but didn't get very far. So today I've finished the second draft of chapter 16, and I'm about to sart chapter 17 (I have a little handwritten, but then it'll be all new from there). Yay! (Dance of happiness, etc.)

Word count, chapter 16: 2021
Word count, total so far: 43, 979

The total so far doesn't count a final chapter I wrote, but which will likely change by the time I catch up to it. Counting that, White Foxes, Full Moon is 46, 751 words so far. Now to take the dog out, and then venture into the murky past of one shapechanger named Watcher (of which past even he knows very little, though I suspect I'm about to make him remember a lot more).

The Answer is 42

Well, it's page 42 of Fey, anyway. And look, it's not the middle of the night yet!

A Bit of Bunk

I was boogieing around the living room a moment ago, trying to decide on the layout for this week's page of Fey, flourishing my notebook about, when a folded piece of lined paper fell out and fluttered to the ground. I picked it up to stuff it back into the notebook, but of course I had to read it to see where in the notebook it should be stuffed. On one side are some notes for "Great Skerry" (a Cobbleshore/Vinland/Friesland story I've written but not yet revised), and on the other side I found this converstation between the two main characters of my novel-that-only-exists-in-my-brain (and a few notes), Bunk (Wakelyne and Fawkes are magicians and debunkers of seances in Victorian London):

Fawkes: We need something to make us different. Exciting.

Wakelyne: Oh? What do you suggest?

Fawkes: We could do a show with wild animals. Tigers, maybe.

Wakelyne: Are you insane? No one is going to pay to be menaced by giant cats. And what would we feed them?

Fawkes: Well, what if we did a show with jokes? People like to laugh.

Wakelyne: Jokes?

Fawkes: A part of the act.

Wakelyne: I'm not good at telling jokes.

Fawkes: That's fine. I'll talk, you could just make faces. You're good at that.

Wakelyne: Hrumph. I still think the mechanical pig is the better idea.

Well, it made me laugh. And the best part is, I have no memory of writing it. I love when that happens. (Oh, and ten points if you can spot the references to two other magician teams.)

The Annual Visit to the Doctor

So once a year I go to my Doctor for a physical, because she won't renew my Triphasil prescription if I don't. Actually, I had a bunch of other things to ask her, and Mum made me make a list so I wouldn't forget anything important.

Item 1: Repetetive stress injury. I told her about my wrist/hand getting sore when I write a lot, which I've always figured was tendonitis. I showed her the lumpy bit on my right wrist and she said "Oh, you've got a ganglion." It's something that can be treated if I want, or not, since it doesn't bother me except when the tendonitis (which is, indeed, what I have) flares up. Otherwise, she said I must be as ergonomic as possible, and switch to keyboarding instead of handwriting as much as possible, since it doesn't bother be nearly as much. So my writing notebook must now be only for notes, and all my stories must be composed on the word processor. I've never noticed much difference between the things I write on the computer and the things I write longhand (except longhand gets edited as I type it onto the computer). It's annoying, but not a big deal.

Item 2: Excessive daytime sleepiness. Yes, that's a medical term--EDS for short. I've got it bigtime, and it's starting to affect my ability to get things done. I had assorted bloodtests done last year, which came back normal. This time, I suggested a sleep disorder. My doctor didn't think it very likely; it's usually obese people who snore who get sleeping disorders, she said. I have read quite a bit about sleep and the lack thereof, since I've been sleepy for a long time (though it's only been this bad for a few months--gradually getting worse since I last saw my doctor), and there certainly are sleep disorders that are usually only found in obese snorers, but there are others that have nothing to do with breathing. Like narcolepsy. Anyway, more blood was drawn for more tests, and my doctor said to avoid caffeine after noon (I'd been avoiding it after 8pm, and since I turn out the lights at midnight, I thought that was a pretty good margin). Also, she prescribed a minimum of an hour of exercise 3 or 4 times a week. I'm too sedentary. I knew I needed to exercise more, but I didn't think it would help the sleepiness much (and you try exercising when you feel like you're going to fall asleep standing up). Anyway, I shall be a good girl and do as she says and see if it helps. If I don't notice a difference in a month or two, I'm go to go against character and make another doctor's appointment, and ask her if maybe she could send me to the sleep laboratory at the Jubilee Hospital. If nothing else, it would rule out sleeping disorders.

Serenity

Go watch this (if you're on a Windows machine, you'll need to download and install iTunes, but it's free and cool, and the Serenity trailer's worth it, so just go do it). (Link via Making Light.)

Latest Reading: Comics

Here's what little (compared to my usual rate of consumption) I've been reading lately:

24. The Demon Ororon volume 1 by Hakase Mizuki. I got this in an eBay lot. The story is that a half-angel who doesn't know her father was an archangel helps a demon and they (sort of) fall in love. All hell breaks loose, naturally. This isn't a must-read for me, but I do rather like it, so it'll go somewhere on the "to read once I've read all the important stuff" list. The art is mostly stylish and appealing, but sometimes awkward. And for some reason, I kept thinking the main character was really a boy that the editors had turned into a girl to make the story more socially acceptable. I'm not sure why. She was wearing a skirt in one scene, so changing things would have meant a lot of trouble (which means I'm probably wrong). Probably it's just becuase the character was so androgynous. But anyway . . .
    
25. The Demon Ororon volume 2 by Hakase Mizuki. The series in only four volumes, as far as I can tell, which makes it more likely that I'll finish it than if it were fifty-seven volumes (or even fifteen).
    
26. Suki volume 1 by CLAMP. The sheer cuteness and innocence of the main character sometimes threw me, but I like this series very much. CLAMP has managed to very skillfully reveal only a little of the backstory at a time, continually making each character more and more intriguing. The art is standard CLAMP: well-done, and full of pretty girls, elegant women and beautiful men. This is one for the "important stuff" list.
    
27. Suki volume 2 by CLAMP. The middle volume of three, and the tale only becomes more mysterious and intriguing.
    
28. Hikaru no Go volume 1 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I got this as a freebie (long story). It's one of the few stories I really enjoy when I borrow Selena's Shonen Jump every month, and I liked this first volume even more, as I could see how the story developed (I've only read later installments in SJ). The art is polished, with lots of blacks and whites (not so many greys).
    
29. InuYasha volume 21 by Rumiko Takahashi. Yay! More InuYasha.
    
30. The Vision of Escaflowne volume 1 by Katsu Aki. Another eBay book, from the same lot as the ones above. This book really didn't grab me at all. I think I would probably like the anime, but the manga simply felt too shallow. I didn't know the characters enough, or learn enough about them over the course of the volume, to care at all what happened to them or their homelands. That's what I get for trying another manga-based-on-an-anime. I thought this one might be okay, though, because it's supposed to be much fleshed out (and I liked the volumes of the manga-fleshed-out-from-the-anime Neon Genesis Evangelion that I got from the library). Oh well. Into the pile of stuff to sell on eBay it goes.
    
31. Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma. I got this from the library, to try on a whim. It's more like a series of comic strips (only vertical instead of horizontal) than a standard manga or comic book (though a few sections are the more usual manga layout). It's amusing and charming, but not something I need to own. I'll get more volumes from the library, though, assuming our library ever gets them in.
    

So now I've got the first volume of Fruits Basket to try, the second of Hellsing, the fifth of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, some assorted other odd volumes, and a whole pile of Lone Wolf and Cub to tackle. Some are recent purchases, and some are eBay scores from ages ago that I haven't got to yet. I have yet to find more French comics in translation at a decent price. Back to eBay, I guess. But first I have to sell more stuff. (Speaking of which, anyone in the market for 1/6 scale martial arts wear? I've got a set of hakama and gi listed on eBay.)

Well, I Was on Time

Until various stupid things happened. But here is page 41 of Fey (and page 40 now has the proper page number). Now I must go to bed, because tomorrow is Official Yard Work Day. At least Mum is making chicken and potato salad for us all to feast on after. I'm gonna need it. Ooh, and strawberries for dessert. Mmm.

Free Comic Book Day Approacheth!

Holy crap! I didn't realize it was coming up so soon. Free Comic Book Day 2005 is in just two weeks! I counted at least ten books I wanna get my hands on, plus a handful of others that might be cool, too. My favourite's gotta be Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edwin Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology (just so happens I'm reading a book on this topic right now, called The Gilded Dinosaur). Yay! Free comics!

(Maybe this year I'll get around to reviewing all the books I get.)

Latest Reading: Fiction and Non

While I haven't been reading that much fiction lately, I have been reading a fair bit of non-fiction (you'll notice a certain . . . trend in my non-fiction reading). I guess I'm just in the mood for non-fiction. I haven't even been reading much in the short story book I have from the library, and I've already had to renew it once (and it's really good, just not what I feel like reading right now). This whole non-fiction dominance thing has been going on for quite a while. Eventually, though, I'll probably want to read nothing but novels. Or maybe short stories. (Or poetry, but that's fairly unlikely.)

Fiction:

9. An Antic Disposition by Alan Gordon. Gordon returns to Shakespeare in the latest jester mystery. This time, something's rotten in the state of Denmark. I'm quite addicted to these books. They're well written, literate, and fun (which isn't to say they aren't also serious). Oh yeah, and sharp, witty, and a bunch of other stuff. Just the idea of a secret society of jesters working behind the scenes to influence world politics appeals to me.
   
10. The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman. I wasn't going to buy any books at the remaindered book sale in the mall the other day. I didn't even know there was a sale until I walked out of WalMart with my bag containing a bright orange chew-stick for rabbits, a package of GameBoy game cartridge cases, and something else I no longer recall. They have these sales every now and then. Usually I end up buying something, but I was resisting gallantly, until I found a copy of The Shadow in the North. It's the second book in Pullman's YA mystery series (though, really, the YA designation is only somebody's idea of good marketing; these are all-ages books and grown-ups will enjoy them, too). I loved the first one (blogged not too far back). I will read the others. (Oh, and thanks, Mr Pullman. You made me cry. Twice. Not many books can do that anymore.)
    

Non-Fiction:

12. Dinosaur Lives by John R. Horner (with Edwin Dobb). I was watching Daily Planet (pretty much my only regular TV these days, besides InuYasha and the new Dr Who--I watch it instead of the news every weekday). There was a very, very cool story about finding soft tissue in T. rex bones. Soft tissue! It was flexible, once they'd removed the rock (blood vessels, they think). So they interviewed Jack Horner, whose former graduate student had extracted the tissue. Afterwards I thought, "I think I have one of his books." So I started to read it. And it's very good. It combines narrative about excavating dinosaur bones in Montana with explanations of what some of the things they discovered mean. There's a lot of stuff about discovering eggs and the possibilities of dinosaur parenting. I enjoyed this one so much it sparked off a dinosaur-reading streak (these reading streaks happen from time to time, when I get caught up in excitement about some topic or other and proceed to read every book I own on it).
    
13. Tyrannosaurus Sue by Steve Fiffer. Horner's book had briefly mentioned the discovery of the world's largest T. rex and the subsequent legal circus, so I decided to go on to this book next (I got it from the discount section at Chapter's in Nanaimo). While the book has a very journalistic style that I found tiresome in large doses, there was so much interesting stuff in here that I enjoyed it anyway. Fiffer supplemented his investigative tale of the events surrounding Sue with historical detail about dinosaur collection and the development on palaeontology in the US.
    
14. The Science of Jurassic Park and The Lost World or, How to Build a Dinousaur by Rob DeSalle and David Lindley. I heard about this book on Caitlín Kiernan's blog; she recommended it. It's a book for a popular audience, which shows in the writing style. The authors take the whole dinosaur-reconstruction thing and go through it step-by-step, from finding sources of DNA to finding a suitable place to keep the finished dinosuars, and point out how the movies got it wrong. Then they explain how it could have been done, maybe, if our technology was better and the scientists were really, really lucky. Maybe. There were some things about those movies that always bugged me, and now I know I wasn't wrong. Plus I know a bunch of other things I didn't know before.
    
15. Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions by Charles Gallenkamp. Something Jack Horner mentioned in his book (above) was the Gobi Desert and the amazing fossils it has turned up (including lots of dinosuar eggs and an Oviraptor incubating a nest). I remembered I found this book at a dollar store in Nanaimo. Part biography, part travelogue, part history of science, this book describes Roy Chapman Andrews and his explorations--especially the ones in the Gobi Desert--in the 20s and 30s. Some people say Chapman was the model for Indiana Jones, though George Lucas says not (and remember Chapman was a palaeontologist and Indy was an archaeologist--and if you don't know the difference, go find out right now) (annoyingly, the book I'm reading now--also on the early days of dinosaur digging--was categorized as "social science/archaeology" by its publisher) (aargh!). Anyway. Adventure, romance, international politics, bandits, unexplained and suspicious deaths, and very cool science.
    

See, I'm making up for not taking palaeontology in university. I wanted to, but at U of C all the palaeontology courses were upper-level bio courses, and I'd made the mistake of not taking any sciences (aside from phys anth). Even though I had the highest score on the Biology 12 exam in my school (or maybe in the school disctrict or province; they never actually made that clear--but I don't think it was quite high enough to be highest in the province). They should have had a palaeontology for non-biologists, like they have "rocks for jocks" and "stars for . . ." er, I can't remember. Astronomy for non-astronomy students. Poetry for non-English majors. Etc.

I Am . . .

A Bright: info here.

Comic Life 1.0

Okay, now I have to get my Mac asap.

New Fey

It's that time of the week again. Page 40 is up.

Imperialism

Imperialism can be defined as a system for obtaining other people's Cool Stuff for less than you ought to pay for it.

(from Making Light)

Cross Your Fingers

Or do whatever it is you do to attmpt to influence the workings of the universe.

Friday I mailed off my application and admissions essay (and application fee) to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Yesterday I mailed my portfolio and arranged for transcripts from UofC, MUN and UVic. (Cost of one official transcript from UVic: $8. Cost of one official transcript from UofC: $4. Cost of one official transcript from MUN: $0.) Now I wait.

Sue seems to think I'll get in for sure, but I'm afraid I don't share her confidence. I look at the stuff I've done and see all the things wrong with it. Plus, I realized--after I mailed my portfolio--that I never did say anywhere that both the portfolio and the sketchbook were hand-bound by me. I suppose they might be able to figure it out (I did include photographs of one of my hand-bound books in the portfolio), but still. I meant to write it somewhere. And I worry that maybe I didn't put my name clearly enough on each piece (it says in the brochure to label everything clearly with your name), and that I maybe didn't put enough information on the labels. Not getting accepted won't kill me, but waiting to find out might.

Also, I've just emailed some preliminary bits of book proposal to a prospective non-fiction agent. I'm less nervous about that. It's a book I'll write anyway, eventually.

Fey on Time

Page 39. Yep. Going to go read now.

Fey: Only A Little Late

Page 38 is now up, late because I got behind and then went to Victoria to buy art supplies (and, I hoped at the time, a computer, but the usually-helpful staff at CompuSmart all seemed to be either busy or uninterested in making a sale, plus there weren't any Mac mini boxes among the boxes of iMacs and eMacs and Power Books and big ol' G5s so I didn't feel motivated enough to attempt to attract anyone's attention).

So today's page features Robin (slightly pissed, in more ways than one), Jack, and three "snooty bastards" (aka Gannon's lackeys). (I still don't really know quite who Gannon is, except that he is Somebody Important in Faery politics. I also have no idea what he looks like.)

Lackey number three looks like he might be taking on a somewhat larger role, and may at some point cease to be a lackey (none of this is really evident on the page, it's just things I realized as I was drawig yesterday.) He also seems to be Pier's younger brother (Pier's the odd black-coated elf from a few pages back), and is apparently named Sabre. (Their father is a Royal Weaponsmaster or some such grandiose thing, who thought naming his sons after swords was a good idea--Pier is short for Rapier, in case you hadn't guessed. They have a half-sister, I think, also named after a sword. She's called Katana, and her mother is a Japanese kitsune princess, or something.) Of course, these are all random thoughts and could very well change by the time I get to a point in the story where such things could be revealed. One thing is certain, though: Sabre is snooty (but not, technically speaking, a bastard), and he doesn't get along with his big brother very well.

Right, enough of things that may never be.