Posted on

World Day Book meme

(Via [info]mrissa) I will add my monthly reading list later today.

The book I’m reading: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, which is enjoyable, but very old fashioned in tone and sentiment. I’m also reading The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You, a lovely book of poetry by Caits Messner and Tishon that I got through their kickstarter project, as well as Z: Zombie Stories, a young adult story full of exactly what the title says.

Books I’m writing: I’m inching along with the Untitled Werewolf Novel, and the way things are going with my Fay Fairburn stories, I may just end up with a novel out of that.

The book I love the most. There are so, so many books I love, but a couple of new favorites are Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma, and The Probability of Miracles, by Wendy Wunder.

The last book I received as a gift: I think it was a cookbook of simple, low-cost recipes that I never actually use.

The last book I gave as a gift: I bought The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, by Mitchell Fink, from the $2 bin at B&N for my sister, cause she likes that sort of thing, but I haven’t given it to her yet.

The nearest book: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, which is currently sitting in my purse, along with an issue of NANO Fiction.

The book I want someone else to please write for me: Oh, goodness, I don’t know.

[Cross-posted to my livejournal.]
Posted on

Book Review: A Rope of Thorns, by Gemma Files

A Rope of Thorns, by Gemma FilesA Rope of Thorns is book two in a trilogy, so if you don’t want any spoilers, I suggest you stop reading and go devour A Book of Tongues first.

Book two has Reverend Rook and his Lady Ixchel constructing “Hex City,” built on blood and carnage, but also the only place where hexes can live in peace with one another. Meanwhile, Chess, the red-headed little man of grit and violence, barely in control of his new abilities, seeks his revenge against his former lover, Rook, while avoiding the attacks of angry hexes, Pinkerton agents, and other darker creatures, with Ed Morrow along for the ride.

As the middle book in the trilogy, A Rope of Thorns widens the the scope of the story, interweaving new characters and plotlines into Gemma Files’ vision of a blood soaked west.

As always, violence follows Chess wherever he goes, as well as a strange new red weed that is spreading through the desert in the wake of his footsteps. But Chess has changed. He still laughs at the world and it’s brutal misery, but his laughter is more bitter and without glee. The unfolding of Chess’s character that began in the first book, continues in the second. His layers are stripped away and the profoundly human that lays at his core is unveiled. I’d be madly in love with him, if it weren’t for the fact that he is fictional, gay, and unlikely to take my affection kindly.

The addition of Yancey Colder into the story is wonderfully refreshing. She’s a spiritualist with her own unique power and is drawn into Chess’s circle of violence. She’s a strong female character, one who knows how to act quickly and smartly in the face of threat, and who manages not to be crushed under the weight of disaster that transpires.

Morrow, too. I find I’m even more fond of him in this book, because for all that happens, he stays loyal and true to his friend, Chess. He’s a good brave man, who knows that justice isn’t always what’s written down in legislature books.

Most every one is given a wider breadth in this one, though the Gods that are playing board games with the world remain somewhat one-dimensional. Though, as they are far from human, I suppose that’s to be expected.

Like the first book, there’s plenty of sex and gore in gripping, graphic detail, and the story moves along at a fast pace. I’m looking forward to reading the final book, A Tree of Bones. Based on the ending of book two, I can’t even imagine the carnage that will have to take place.

[Cross-posted to my livejournal.]
Posted on

I got my new business cards in!

Business Cards

I ordered them on recommendation from a friend from moo.com. I had no idea when I ordered them that they would come in multiple colors (I though I was just getting the teal), but it’s a nice surprise. ^_^

If you can’t read the card, because of the crappy cell phone pic, is says:

Andrea Blythe
Poet & Writer
of SciFi/Fantasy
———–
andreablythe@hotmail.com
———–
www.AndreaBlythe.com

Bird Collides with Window

becoming a dark
hieroglyph
on the dimpled
blank page
of the snow

originally published at a handful of stones

I feel all ready now to go to my first conference. ^_^

[Cross-posted to my livejournal.]
Posted on

Monthly check-in – Jan/Feb

It’s been a good month (see last month’s goals), despite some slow and lazy weekends.

Fiction: I successfully completed each of the therealljidol prompts that came up, resulting in four new Fay Fairburn posts and 6,114 new words. I’m enjoying working on this project and meeting the weekly deadlines is a fun challenge and is great at keeping my work count up. However, I’m starting to find that the addition challenge of reading all the other entries each week is starting to wear me out. A part of me wouldn’t mind if I didn’t stay in the competition much longer (another part of me really, really wants to get into the top 100).

I did not complete draft zero of my new story as I had planned. I have, however, been making progress with about 2,500 new words (I think). I have several random scenes laid down right now and I’m not sure how they all connect yet.

So, 8,614 (ish) words of fiction written over the last month brings me to about 12,474 (ish) words for the new year, which when seen all stacked up like that makes me feel pretty awesome.

Poetry: A few new incomplete tidbits of poetry have been laid down, and three poems have been published this month: Comfort at Last, The Teeth that are Teeth, and Bird Collides with Window.

Other: A new youtube video was posted for Valentine’s Day, called A Love Poem for the Books of Stephen King.

And in terms of exercise, I’ve slacked. Big time. I haven’t been doing my morning yoga the last couple of weeks and my back is definitely complaining because of it.

Thinks to do in the coming month:

  • Complete the draft of the new short story. This is absolutely necessary, as the deadline for the anthology is coming up.
  • Complete the LJ Idol prompts (i.e. Fay Fairburn chapters) as they come up, which is necessary if I want to stay in the competition.
  • Edit and submit “White Noise”
  • If possible in between everything else, get another 3,000 words of the Untitled Werwolf Novel down.
  • Write two new letter poems
  • Compile and submit some poetry
  • Put “Shaking Hands” up on my website
  • Do the damn morning yoga 5 days per week.
  • Buy a house plant and frame the art I have in an effort to make apt more homey.
[Cross-posted to my livejournal.]
Posted on

A Love Poem for the Books of Stephen King

Yesterday, I read a blog in which someone wrote a love letter to The Great Gatsby in honor of Valentine’s Day. I loved the idea of writing a love letter to a book, and I immediately started thinking about what book or books I would want to write a love letter, too. There are many, many possibilities, of course, many books I’ve loved.

But its the books of Stephen King that hold a certain nostalgia for me, because I connect them so clearly with high school. I was obsessed with his books during that time, and I read them one after another, whole days and weekends vanishing as I climbed into King’s bizarre worlds. It just made sense to me that those books deserved a love poem.

[Cross-posted to my livejournal.]