Reading Reccs

Reading Recommendations updated to include a handful of mysteries that impressed me when I read them, and since I'm amassing a longish list, to have the three most recent recc in a separate category at the top in order newest down, and then an old-reccs category with the others from oldest down.

Last Two

I've rounded out my collection of mixes to an even half dozen, and that ought to do it . On "Passion Play" where I was looking for songs which were sheerly about attraction, not romance ...

1. When You're Good To Mama - Chicago soundtrack
2. Free Me - Emma Bunton
3. Once In A Lifetime - Sarah Brightman
4. Get With You - Dian Diaz
5. Lover - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
6. Strut - Sheena Easton
7. Lay Your Love On Me - Emma Bunton / Luis Fonsi
8. Rush - Cherie
9. I'll Be Right Here - Paulina Rubio
10. Love Toy - Gloria Estefan
11. Devil In A Fast Car - Sheena Easton
12. Casanova - Paulina Rubio
13. I Drove All Night - Celine Dion
14. Heaven's What I Feel - Gloria Estefan
15. Remember How We Danced - Dian Diaz
16. I'm Gonna Getcha Good - Shania Twain
17. Tic Toc - LeAnn Rimes
18. Turn My Motor On - Kirsty MacColl (I chose to cut "In These Shoes" because this whole CD was gettin' long.)
19. Sex In The 90's - Gloria Estefan

The other mix is "Foreign Film Dub" (shout-out to Whose Line Is It Anyway?) which contains songs that are partially or entirely in another language. Predominantly Spanish, given my favorite artists ...

1. Times - Lesiem (Latin)
2. Oye - Gloria Estefan (Spanish)
3. Hijo De La Luna - Sarah Brightman (Spanish - I'm pretty sure)
4. Trouble With Goodbye - LeAnn Rimes (Various)
5. Adonde Voy - Linda Ronstadt (Spanish)
6. Seallaibh Curaidh Eoghain - Sileas (Scots Gaelic)
7. Nao Esperando - Kirsty MacColl (Spanish)
8. Tu Y Yo - Thalia (... Spanish ...)
9. Scene D'amour (No actual language - just oohs)
10. Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice) - Gloria Estefan (Spanish)
11. Te Amare - Gloria Estefan (Spanish)
12. Dove L'Amore - Cher (French)
13. Libre - Paulino Rubio (Spanish)
14. C'est La Vie - Shania Twain (French)
15. Fides (Belief) - Lesiem (Latin)
16. Mambo De La Luna - Kirsty MacColl (Spanish)
17. Cursum Perficio - Enya (Latin)
18. Molde Canticle - Sissel (Oohs)

I acknowledge that the language mix-up here is horrible to non-existent. Oh well!

Hour By Hour

Blink and *I* missed it ...

"Hour By Hour" is now up at Abyss and Apex.

In my defense, I've been insanely swamped the past few weeks. Heeeelp!

S&S

Though held for the final cut, my story didn't make it into Sword & Sorceress XXII.

I will probably be scarce here until I recover from the existential crisis of Doubt. I reeeeally wanted this one, ladies and gents.

Fashion Advice

"TV cameras seem to add ten pounds to me. So I make it a policy never to eat TV cameras." -- Kitty Carlisle

Last Lines

The last lines that match with the first ones I posted a few days ago - including the current last full sentence of Flow, which is still a work in progress. I've kind of cheated where the last sentence is dialogue and put the one before it for context.

From Butterfly's Poison (the "he" is addressing Miayde here):

He spread his hands; the game was on, would always be on. “Consider it a promise.”

The Swan Maiden:

We still had things to say, one madwoman to another.

Flow:

Chailyn nodded once. “The rest is up to Kit.”

Polestar:

Then it swallowed him, and she was the only, untouchable light in the darkness.

... welp, that's pretty cryptic.

Around The World

Ripped myself another driving CD. I should note my musical requirements for driving are fairly exacting: song must be medium-to-fast tempoed with a strong beat and singable. I've broken this with a few specific songs ("Storms In Africa" is not in English; "Murder in Mairyland Park" is very slow - and as far as I can tell, yes, the i is supposed to be in there), but in general. This one is "Around The World" as all the songs are either titled with or refer to places. My Kirsty MacColl obsession continues to be a dangerous beast. In particular, "Soho Square" is one of my favorite songs. It's mournful in a hopeful way; a sense of maybe-someday that is profoundly sad without directly admitting it. A gorgeous instrumental swell in the middle that reminds me of the prettier parts of the Ladyhawke score.

Anyhow, to make a long story short ("Too late!") here's the list.

1. "Walking Down Madison" -- Kirsty MacColl
2. "Harem" -- Sarah Brightman
3. "Sunset Boulevard" -- Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer - not sure of the singer here)
4. "Orinoco Flow" -- Enya (I think I'm the only one in the world who actually knows most of the lyrics to this song.)
5. "Soho Square" -- Kirsty MacColl
6. "City of Love" -- Martina McBride (okay, this one is stretching it, but it's a place!)
7. "When It Rains In America" -- Sarah Brightman
8. "A New England" -- Kirsty MacColl
9. "Carribean Blue" -- Enya
10. "Wonderland" -- Rachel Fuller
11. "England 2 Columbia 0" -- Kirsty MacColl
12. "Murder In Mairyland Park" -- Sarah Brightman
13. "Drops of Jupiter" -- Train (okay, so this is more "Around the Solar System")
14. "Storms In Africa" -- Enya
15. "Marrakesh Night Market" -- Loreena McKennit
16. "He's On The Beach" -- Kirsty MacColl ("When he called me up one day and said that he was going away, I thought he meant a week in France and not twelve thousand miles to Sydney Bay ...")
17. "Mysterious Days" -- Sarah Brightman ("Springtime in Tangier ...")
18. "Anywhere Is" -- Enya

This one seems particularly bad about having the same artists. Oh well!

First Lines

In the name of randomness, the first sentences of a few of my recent projects.

The opening of Butterfly's Poison, a fantasy intrigue novel set in a world with advancing technology:

Being shipwrecked, the thought rose to the surface of Miayde’s mind, had a dismaying impact on her dignity.

From The Swan Maiden:

The advantage to madness is that it gives the afflicted the potential to be invisible.

From Flow, my contemporary fantasy novel-in-progress:

On bad days, the world around Kit vibrated in sympathy, a stray shudder from the windows or knick-knacks taking a swan-dive off the cabinet.

And from Polestar:

When the star-heiress returned to the city of Gwynora, she was no longer a figure of purity, protected from the touch of any mortal substance.

Quote ...

I'm not terribly religious, but I was struck by this quote. Mentally edit to match the divine spirit of your choice. From the movie "Copying Beethoven" (which, by the way, is both moving and funny in all the right places - I highly recommend it):

"The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man's soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That's what musicians are."

Progress

... no, this isn't a profound essay, sorry. ;-) My very short flash fiction story, Progress, is now available in the current issue of From The Asylum, with a print anthology due to hit in August. (Not April. Had to go back in and edit this.)

Menagerie!

This short story, set in a fantasy pseudo-post-Revolutionary America, was just sold to The Sword Review, who recently released Winged Words. I'm hoping to write more stories about this character in the future - time will tell!

Website Update

Added John Moore's addictively funny The Unhandsome Prince and Heroics For Beginners to my reading reccs. For more details, pop over to the website.

Miss April

Pointless brag time ago - I am April's Member of the Month at F-W.org. Interview at:

http://www.fantasy-writers.org/news.asp#news_242

Which is where anyone who has an overpowering need to ... hear me ramble should go.

Story Up!

"Retirement" can now be read in The Lorelei Signal, along with absolutely gorgeous artwork --

http://www.loreleisignal.com/