pedanther

Fiction books
Padraic Colum. The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles (e)
Tanith Lee. The Dragon Hoard (re-read)
John Masefield. The Midnight Folk (re-read)
Tamora Pierce. In the Hand of the Goddess (re-read)
Gene Luen Yang. American Born Chinese
Roger Zelazny. A Night in the Lonesome October (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Liavek
Bram Stoker. The Jewel of Seven Stars

Non-fiction books in progress
Alain de Botton. The Consolations of Philosophy

In hiatus
Barbara Sher, Barbara Smith. I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
John Masefield. Odtaa

1. I have achieved one of my occasional victories against clutter, boldly slaying the mess on the desk in my study. It started with just sorting out the Pile of DVDs To Be Watched (no small task in itself), but that left one small tidy corner of the desk that nagged at me until I tidied the rest of it too.

The Pile of DVDs To Be Watched was bidding fair to be taller than me, and had become completely useless because I'd lost track of what was and wasn't in it. It's been replaced by a proper DVD rack next to the desk, where I can see everything it contains, with positions of prominence given to the remaining discs of the six TV series I've started and not finished.

My next job might ought to be the back corner of the study that's been eaten by the Pile of Things That Might Come In Handy Some Day (which is not quite as tall as me, but makes up for it by taking up more floorspace than me-lying-down). That would make room for another bookshelf, and also proper shelves for my CDs and the rest of my DVDs.


2. When I call work to let them know I'm off sick, I always feel slightly awkward if whoever-it-is uses "How are you doing?" or something like it as a greeting. Taken at face value, it's an obvious opening to explain that actually I'm not doing at all well, and that's why I'm calling; but greetings aren't always meant to be taken at face value, and I've know people to get confused if their polite question receives an actual answer.

(I'm much better now, thank you for asking.)


3. The Rep Club's final production each year is traditionally a bit of knockabout dinner theatre in a pantomime vein. I usually beg off on the grounds of having too much to do at this time of year; I still have too much to do (if anything, I have more to do this year than usual) but I've somehow ended up roped into this year's show anyway. This year's show is a version of Snow White; I've been cast as the heroine's father, who in the usual way for fairy tale fathers if they're not actually dead is well-meaning but basically useless. It's been a while since I've done any acting in a broad comic mode; hopefully it'll come back to me.


4. I've finished reading The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, and immediately began re-reading The Dragon Hoard, Tanith Lee's comic fantasy novel featuring a protracted spoof of the Quest for the Golden Fleece (with the eponymous Dragon Hoard in place of the Fleece). It's one of my favourite books since childhood, and it's still just as good as I remember.


5. Further field notes from Starship UK:

- The character model for Liz X has arm articulation that none of the other characters have, specifically so that she's capable of doing the "Basically, I rule" pose.

- Characters who speak entirely in cryptic verse: rarely a good idea. (I'll give 'em this, though: A valiant effort on fitting the obligatory technobabble into the verse scheme. There can't be very many rhymes for "quantum entanglement".)

- Other characters in Starship UK include women named Sladen and Tamm. And also Tamm's friend Caroline, who I assume is part of the set despite not fitting the pattern, because if she did she'd be named John, which you can see why that might have been confusing.

Fiction books
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener. Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War
Neil Gaiman. Absolute Sandman volume 3
Tanith Lee. The Dragon Hoard (re-read)
Alan Moore, Zander Cannon. Smax
Adam Rex. The True Meaning of Smekday

In progress
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
S M Stirling. The Sky People