So far this year I have read 119 books. That’s more books that I read during the years of 2004 and 2007. That’s an average of 11.9 books a month.

Pretty good.

A couple months ago I picked up a supernatural fantasy with one of the best covers I’ve seen in a long time, Faith Hunter‘s Skinwalker.

There, see? Isn’t that fabulous? That is not a woman who needs a man to care for her, not matter what life (and un-life) throw at her.

Kudos to Roc who manages usually has very good covers for its fantasy books. But I’m not here to talk about covers–I just like to point out excellent covers when I come across them.

Skinwalker is about Jane Yellowrock, a vampire hunter and a skinwalker–the only one of her kind as far as she knows. She’s been hired by a local vampire council to take out a rogue zombie, lest the reputation of vampires be further sullied. OK, Jane wouldn’t actually use the term sullied, but I like it. Jane is what I love best about good supernatural fantasy: she’s a strong heroine but is far more than a male action hero with breasts (as opposed to heaving bosoms).

Because I enjoyed Skinwalker so much, I decided to pick up Faith Hunter’s “Rogue Mage” series. This series was good, but I didn’t like it nearly as well. Partially because it was in some ways a kissing/boinking book. As much as I liked the story, one of the twists was that mages have an environmental estrus that they cannot control. And of course the main character almost goes into heat multiple times, and at the worst possible moments. That just bugged me. I got over it, and I saw what Faith Hunter was trying to do, but unfortunately it ended up somewhat reducing my enjoyment of the story.

Which is too bad, because it was a fascinating story, set more than a century in the future, after wars and plagues have destroyed a good part of the world.

So the Rogue Mage series was good, but not one of the best I’ve read. I found Jane Yellowrock to be a much stronger character, and the world in which she lived was a bit easier to understand.

Jane Yellowrock: Skinwalker (2009)
Rogue Mage: Bloodring (2006), Seraphs (2007), Host (2007)

Today’s word is…

pink

Weather has been nice and cool, so I decided that not only did I need to use up the last of the summer zucchini, I wanted bread as well.
(more…)

OK, almost everyone I know has been feeling crappy and miserable recently. So I propose a challenge: A Vogon Poetry Slam.

That’s right, give me your worst poetry. And the winner… loser… poem receiving the most acclaim will win… something. No idea what, but something. With a value of a LEAST ONE DOLLAR! ($1.00)

Here’s something to get you started.

For Jeri—

Arky-Sue
Don’t be blue
I’ll stick to you
Like Elmer’s glue
Or gum on your shoe

As mentioned previously, I’ve been struggling to write blog posts. So… What would you like me to write about?

Anyone?

Please?

So. Here we are once again. Face to face with the ugly truth that I’m just not doing as well as I should be.

Why haven’t I been talking about it? Honestly, because I’m reaching the point where I’m starting to feel whiny about it. I should be better, but I’m not. I feel like everyone else should be as tired of this bullshit as I am–so I don’t want to write about it.

I know things are bad because I pretty much spent the month of September sick. Thing about mental health is it affects your physical health, and that’s a vicious little circle, because who feels well mentally when they’ve been sick? And of course it’s hard to exercise when when you’re sick, which creates yet another negative feedback look.

So, no fun there.

Add to that, I keep getting stuck in ruts somewhat of my own demise–computer games (the few I do play) are a nasty suck for me, and it’s been bad recently (I can play solitaire for hours and hours, but I recently added Bejeweled into the mix. Great idea that.) That makes things worse, since I’m then frustrated that I’m not doing things like baking or reading or cleaning the house or… well, just about anything besides playing the damned games.

Additionally, work has been incredibly stressful since May. I kept hoping that as the major project wound down things would get better, but the project seemed to go on forever, and other things kept (and keep) cropping up to exacerbate the situation. I’m doing what I can, but unfortunately, much of this situation is out of my control. But I’m trying to change the things that are under my control, so we’ll see how that goes.

And trying to post here has been unusually difficult. I’ve been keeping this blog (in various incarnations) since 2002, and although I go through phases where I have a hard time writing, it feels like I’ve been struggling since summer. Which is too damned long.

What have I been doing about it? First, my doc and I have been changing my meds around. I’m on Zoloft now, and we just increased the dosage. Again. And I’ve still got room to go up again if this doesn’t do it. I’m finally getting back to the gym (of course yesterday was a no go, because of the game, but at least I walked home).

Am I going to give up writing here? Hell no. This started solely as a writing exercise for me, and I’m not going to give up on it. Will posts continue to suck in the interim? Almost certainly. I just ask that you bear with me, and if you have ideas for posts you’d like me to write, please send them along. I need all the inspiration I can get.

So that’s where things are right now. I’m holding, but hope to get things off the ground soon.