Author: etoiline

[Fiction] Friday #46

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[author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating][author-post-rating]from here.
[Fiction] Friday Challenge for March 14, 2008:
Backstory: Tell about your characters feelings toward animals, and why she feels that way.


Aislinn is a character in my 2007 NaNo novel. She is the daughter of a king, and knew she was destined to give her life to the forest surrounding the castle since she was a young girl. She rides the forest often, loves her hunting horse, notices the little people and especially the groom in the stables. Since the world I set this novel in is your typical quasi-medieval sorta English countryside (it was supposed to be real England once, but I lost the time to do research), people know how to hunt. They use bows and spears, but I’d like to think that they do somewhat like the American Indians did: they thank their deity for the animal that gives up its life so that they might live. Aislinn has never had a pet, not unless you consider a horse a pet (and she doesn’t, not when her mare derives as much joy from running as she does), but there were always dogs racing around the great hall, scrounging for bones. She tolerates them but makes sure they don’t follow her to her rooms.
She has a soft spot for deer and rabbits.

snow angels

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…at least, that’s what I’d like to be doing right now, and not be at work. It’s too pretty of a snow to be inside. And then run inside to hot cocoa and other warm things to get rid of this sore throat. Damn winter and low humidity.
And bugger cars that need repairs. At least some of the repairs are covered by warranty (because of a nice serviceman, I suspect) but there are other things that need fixing that are required normal maintenance, so I just get to eat that. And it’s fun to know that somewhere along the way I lost an oil cap. Shows you how I didn’t look under the hood.
Eh. I didn’t need to drive today anyway, and excess money just means I buy books. I’ve still got a fair amount in savings, even though I won’t like losing the extra I was planning to put forward for Worldcon in August.
Gotta get cracking on that book, then.

the sky is falling?

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Yesterday I was assaulted by an idea for a SF story while I was processing samples. I couldn’t just leave the samples there to write the idea down, so I had to keep repeating the opening line to myself while I finished the set. It kept growing, too, so soon I had a paragraph to remember.
This is why I write things down, so I don’t have to remember them.
Anyway, SF is not my chosen genre. Yes, SF and fantasy get lumped together in one section (usually a small section; the library near work has less than one aisle of the two combined) but to me, they’re very different. I like science, yes, I like mechanical workings and how things are put together, but vast starscapes bore me sometimes. Not to look at, of course, but I wouldn’t want to see them for years on end. And yes, I’m aware that I sound like a contradiction.
So when I announced the idea assault (after a guy in the group mentioned something he had written that was out of character for him), the ceiling was examined for signs of collapse.
I know whose fault it was: I had to read a short story and crit it for the writing group, and it was futuristic SF with a human side. And I know what was at fault too: after snowing all morning, the sun burst out with a vengeance, shining off the mirror glass of the windows of the building across the construction site outside the lab. Ruminating on SF story+sunlight=story idea, I guess.
Counting this one, that’s four separate stories that I’ve got rattling around in my head since January (well, November, if you count the big still-needs-to-be-finished NaNo 2007 novel). Seems a lot to me. Probably isn’t to famous authors, but it makes me want to write. I want to know where these stories go. I want to know why the ideas made themselves known so forcefully, and I want to share them. When they’re finished, of course.
Oh yes. Happy half-birthday to me.

Renewal

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Gung hai fat choi! Welcome to the year of the Rat.

A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find.

(from here.)
Here’s hoping it goes well for you.

Super Fat Tuesday

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Joyeux Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps roulez!
Don’t forget to vote, for all of you in states with primaries today. I’m still a little unsure of who I’ll vote for, but I know I’ll be declaring as a Democrat.

I hope

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When I think about him, I smile. I know he’ll smile when he reads this.
First snowfall of the year, and it’s a beaut. I was basically told that there was no excuse for us techs not to come in to work tomorrow unless the University shuts down (unlikely) because we have those wonderful free Metro passes. Hopefully it will stick around long enough for snow angels but not interfere too badly with Mardi Gras/Super Bowl (whose idea was that? Gonna be quite a few people calling in sick on Monday, I bet…)
stay warm.

yep, that’s my name on the cover

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toastedraviolibook.jpgSo if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might know that the writer’s group that I participate in has written an anthology of short stories based on landmarks of St. Louis. I’m in it, with a modern day faerie tale that takes place at the Muny (the Municipal Theater in Forest Park, the oldest and largest outdoor amphitheater in America, with trees growing out of the stage…)
And by golly, the book is out! You can check out the page at www.toastedraviolibook.com (though there’s not much there at the moment) which has a link to buying the book online, do a book search on Amazon for Toasted Ravioli, or (the best way) ask me for a book in person. That way you get a discount and a signed copy and I (or the group) gets more money.
Or better yet, come to our first signing this Saturday (tomorrow, eek) the 26th of January at Legacy Books, 5249 Delmar (at Union) from 12 pm to 5 pm. All the authors will be there, so you can get a full complement of signatures on your new book, and the authors will read from their work. There should also be a Q&A session for the curious.
I hope to see you there!