Everything Due today is Hereby Pushed Back 3.5 Hours

Mainly because 3.5 hours was the amount of sleep I got last night, after crashing from my post-Mars tension/excitement/celebration. I woke up at 6am, as usual, and had what I termed a Science Hangover - which, considering all I had to drink last night was a few sips of a Celebratory Scotch - is not far from the truth.

So after a valiant attempt to get out of bed failed utterly, I gave in and crashed again for another 2 hours.

And I woke up again still grinning, thinking "MARS! We're on FUCKING MARS!"

Yes, I know it's 'only' a robot, not a manned probe. But this is how it goes - we send machines out to test the wilderness, send back the things we need to know, leave our calling card, and then ponder our next step.

We may not be able to fix things here - too many people with too many differing agendas, all screaming and scrambling for the lead. But out there? Out there, at least for now, it's about Knowing. Finding. Learning. All of us, no matter our color or creeds, focused on discovery.

And the hope that maybe, some day, we'll be able to become real grownups, citizens of the universe.


In the meanwhile, I will drink my coffee, and try to get back on some sort of Monday Schedule...

Boosting Signal

Read this, please.

http://scottlynch.us/blog/2012/08/06/i-will-be-your-dancing-monkey-hat-on-the-table/

One Book a Week, Week Six

Previous week's winner, still unclaimed: Allison Daugherty
Last week's winner: @hookoa


The Fine Print, in normal-sized print:

Summer, everyone knows, is for reading. Well, so are Winter, Autumn and Spring, but especially Summer.

So every week, from here through the end of August, I'm going to be giving away a book*. Some of them may be mine, some of them may be by other people. They may be just-out, or entry-points to an on-going series. It will be a totally random and whimsical choice, to keep things interesting.

How do you get in on this? Simple: you comment here on why you need something new to read. Vacation? Stuck in bed with a bad cold? Totally out of book-buying funds? Captured by aliens who insist on a new story every night or they'll eat you?

Tell me.

(you can enter every week, but only once every week. And you MUST identify yourself in your post, either via log-in or a name and contact point. I'm not going to choose anyone who doesn't identify**.)

Ready? Go.

Sixth Book: The Grass King's Concubine, by Kari Sperring.

So, I read Kari's first book, Living with Ghosts, and liked it so much I sent an email to her editor saying "if you want, I'd love to read her next book for a blurb."  I do this, oh, maybe once every two years?  So yeah, when I got hold of The Grass King's Concubine I cleared my schedule, and settled in.  

This is not slam-bam adventure fantasy, although there's certainly action and fights to satisfy.  If you're looking for a quick and easy read, you might want to move on.  But if you want a book that can pull you in and make you linger over a page, this is it.  This book reminded me of Garth Nix's work, and of Robin McKinley's, and all things lovely and engrossing.  World building that makes you think you've lived there.  Characters who are so real they can piss you off, or move you to tears.

When a wealthy young woman, obsessed with a childhood vision of a magical Shining Palace, sets out with her true love to search for a legendary land, she discovers the devastated WorldBelow - the realm of the Grass King - and the terrifying Cadre, who take her prisoner and demand she either restore the king's concubine... or replace her.

 Living With Ghosts was  a finalist for the Crawford Award, a Tiptree Award Honor Book, a "LOCUS "Recommended First Novel, and the winner of the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer.  So I'm not alone in liking her stuff.

*yes, a real, actual, PAPER book.
**the post will 'open' on Monday, and 'close' on Friday. Winners will be chosen over the weekend, and informed the following Monday