Today, The Best Fantasy Novels You (Probably) Haven’t Read appeared in my RSS feed, so of course I had to click through, and after clicking through and reading, I had to comment.

Mordant’s Need: The Mirror of Her Dreams & A Man Rides Through by Stephen R. Donaldson

This was the only Stephen R. Donaldson I could stomach (I found his other series, Thomas Covenant, vile and horrible), but I quite liked Mordant’s need and I believe the books are still floating around here somewhere.

The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

I’ve bought some of his SF for Michael, but not read any of his fantasy. I think Shawn is reading some Richard Morgan SF right now.

The Bas-Lag series by China Miéville

Yeah, sorry fans, but I can’t stand China Miéville. I get why he’s good, but I want no part his books. I suffered through Perdido Street Station and would probably have been happier if I hadn’t finished it. I find him horrible and depressing and I think I’d rather read nothing than have to read another of his books again.

And I read cereal boxes.

The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin

Really? They think people haven’t read this? I thought they were in constant publication?

I can’t say they’re some of my favorite fantasy out there, but they’re good, and I liked ’em.

The Dying Earth by Jack Vance

With the cover they have pictured, it’s no wonder I never picked this up. Thank goodness for eBooks. Well, and for publishers getting *slightly* better in their covers.

Though I’m not sure anything that makes me think of A Canticle for Lebovitz is something I’m likely to put up. (Have I mentioned how much I do not enjoy dystopias? I do not enjoy dystopias at all.)

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

Oddly, I have this queued up to read. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Michael has some Brandon Sanderson. I think he became popular about the time I stopped reading epic fantasy. No offense to him, but I got deathly tired of huge doorstops of books that went on and on and on with no end in sight. There’s a reason I’m so fond of mysteries: you can pick up any book and be satisfied. If you want to gorge yourself on ’em, you can. But you don’t have to know what happened in the first book that was published twenty years ago to enjoy the book that just came out.

The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I believe I sold off all the rest of my Raymond Feist books, but kept these, because I really enjoyed them. Partially it was the oriental feel of the stories, partially it was the female main character. But I really enjoyed them (and have resisted re-reading, for fear I won’t like them as well as I remember).

Andre Norton, generally

I’ve read some of her stuff, but nothing caught my fancy. I believe I’d read some of her fantasy stories in various anthologies, but that was long before I started by book blog, so it’s hard to remember.

The Secret History of Fantasy, ed. Peter S. Beagle

This I read relatively recently. The collection as a whole, I believe, made my slightly uneasy, but it was still very good. I was particularly fond of the Stephen King story.

Hard to say what exactly where he’s going with it, but I’ve been running Monday’s xkcd comic in the background since yesterday.

To see if I’d missed anything, I popped over to the xkcd forums, and the commentary there is just as wonderful and fascinating as the comic.

I especially liked this:

“I love this comic. It makes everyone just stop and take their time. It’s contemplative. And it’s interesting how many people’s thoughts turn dark when faced with a quiet moment of contemplation.”

Lovely.

There are live updating gifs posted–it looks like this is going to go on awhile, since they last frames in the live updating gifs match what I’m seeing in the live frame.

Like I said before: lovely.

ADDENDUM the First:
Here’s the link to the auto updating animated gif.

Yesterday we walked to town (and back) for dinner, and discovered that the Sunnyside deconstruction is now going full scale.

For those not familiar with Morgantown, Sunnyside is an older residential area that transitioned to student housing years ago.

Any by transitioned to student housing, I mean, turned into an utter slum.

Houses were divided into multiple apartments (in the cheapest manner possible), yards were turned into trash heaps, and the whole place looked like hell.

Which is really too bad, because many of those houses were almost certainly gorgeous at one point. Unfortunately, they’d been neglected to the point of no return, and there was no saving them. So whole swaths of Sunnyside are now being knocked down to create a new apartment / shopping center complex.

What I’d LIKE to see from this is a revitalization of the remaining houses–that they be bought up and returned to single-family homes, but I think that’s blindly optimistic, so I’ll just have to hope that maybe the remaining landlords will clean up their properties.

I’m not holding my breath.

(more…)

And it’s time for the weekly roundup of geek wear.

Weather was lousy, so no shorter skirts–even with leggings.

Monday saw rain, and me wearing my dressy boots. I’ve been trying to get over my reluctance to wear these, because not only are they white and prone to scuffing, but the first time I wore them was to a funeral.

(more…)

This week’s game starts with one of my favorite things: my Dr Martens: boots

So, I think Jeri won the second contest, with her recommendation of Ada Lovelace.

Which, if I continue the theme, means I should have a second scientist name.

Here’s a list of possibilities, which do you like best?

Florence Nightingale
Jane Goodall
Rosalind Franklin
Marie Curie
Shirley Ann Jackson
Wang Zhenyi
Barbara McClintock
Lise Meitner
Emilie du Chatelet
Emily Warren Roebling

I’m leaning towards Rosalind Franklin or Emily Roebling.

And a wrap up of this weeks Geek Wear (and from whence it came)!

Victorian House tights from Carousel Ink on Etsy

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For some reason, everyone seems to think Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken’s siblings are boys, because everyone is suggesting boy names.

That’s silly.

They’re obviously chicks. Awesome chicks.

Names I’ve been considering:
Lady Day
Rosemary Clooney
Ella Fitzgerald
Dinah Washington
Aretha Franklin
Mae West

Today’s word association will start with my favorite name so far for the new baby metal chicken: Dean Martin

So, as those of you who’ve been around here for awhile may know, we’ve been taking Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken with us when we travel. (Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken also enjoys visitors.)

The problem is that Ricky Martin is somewhat large and definitely unwieldy, and not easy to take places.

I decided I wanted a smaller metal chicken we could more easily take places. As in, something that might fit in my camera bag.

Thus, I found Yardbirds. And placed an order for siblings for Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken.

Yes, siblings, plural.

One of these adorable hatchlings will travel with us for our weekend trips, and when we walk and see things of interest. (Never fear, Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken will still travel on the trips where we visit people.)

The other one, will go to someone else. Maybe you!

Here’s what you have to do.

You must comment (here!) about what you would do with one of Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken’s siblings.

The winner will be chosen by me (and perhaps Michael), and go where we think this teeny metal chicken will have the best home.

Additionally, I am lousy and giving things names. (Which is why his furriness is named Kat.) So, some other random (as yet to be determined) prize will be given to the person who comes up with the best name for Ricky Martin’s younger sibling.

This contest will remain open until I decide it is closed.

And remember: I am completely and totally open to bribery.

I’d forgotten I’d taken these pictures of house down the block from us being demolished. I won’t say I was sorry to see those houses go. They–like many houses in Sunnyside–are beyond recovery.

Mind you, the building in the background is another brand new apartment complex, but I guess we really can’t have too much new housing around here.

(more…)

Temperatures got into the 70s today(!) so Michael and I took a short hike around the Arboretum.

Looks like the plants have recognized it’s warm as well–won’t they be sadly surprised when it snows on Wednesday.

(more…)

Yes, it’s the 10th of March, but I just today decided to start doing this: a monthly digest of what I’ve been reading.

Fantasy

Midnight Riot (2011) Ben Aaronovitch (Rating: 8/10)
Moon Over Soho (2011) Ben Aaronovitch (Rating: 8/10)
Thomas the Rhymer (1990) Ellen Kushner (Rating: 9/10)
Swordspoint (1987/2003) Ellen Kushner (Rating: 10/10)
Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs (Rating: 8.5/10)

Young Adult

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (2011) Kady Cross (Rating: 7/10)
The Girl in the Steel Corset (2012) Kady Cross (Rating: 5/10)
Heaven’s Net is Wide (2007) Lian Hearn (Rating: 10/10)
Across the Nightingale Floor (2002) Lian Hearn (Rating: 9/10)

Mystery

The Sleeping Partner (2012) Madeleine E. Robins (Rating: 8/10)
The Dance of the Seagull (2013) Andrea Camilleri (Rating: 8.5/10)

Comic / Graphic Novel

Madame Mirage (2008) Paul Dini and Kenneth Rocafort (Rating: 9/10)

Anthology / Short Story

Teeth: Vampire Tales (2011) edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Rating: 8/10)
Companions to the Moon (2007) Charles de Lint (Rating: 9/10)
In Sea-Salt Tears (2012) Seanan McGuire (Rating: 8/10)
The Kidnapping () Charles Todd

Links are to my review for that book. Within the review, the title link will take you to Amazon, and the author link will take you to my compilation of all the books I’ve reviewed by that author (listed in series order, if applicable.)

Random Reading Statistics
Anthology: 1
Comic: 1
Fantasy: 12
Mystery: 6
Romance: 3
YA: 4

Paperback: 1
Trade Paperback: 4
eBook: 11
Hardback: 0
Re-read: 3

Yay! Snow! Probably the last storm of the season, so I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Today’s word is: flake