Stardust by Neil Gaiman

My Rating: 3 1/2 of 5 Stars

I have very mixed feelings about Stardust, I’m afraid. It is a sweet, though short, fable with a mystical touch of fairy magic and a strange assortment of characters. There were surprises here and there that I really appreciated, and the ending was touching. Mostly. Our hero, Tristran Thorne, is off on a mission to collect a fallen star

What Are You Reading?

Yep, it’s time for another What Are You Reading post. Inquiring minds wanna know!

I have just gotten started on Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. I’m not very far into the book, but I am thoroughly enjoying what I have read to date. I can’t wait to see how all these many characters connect to each other, and whether or not the hero’s search for a fallen star, which he intends to present to his lady love, will be fruitful. And if it is, will said ladylove really have been worth the journey, or is his destiny to meet someone else along the way? This is the third book of Gaiman’s I’ve read, and so far, his writing hasn’t failed to pull me into worlds of fantasy and dreams and occasionally, nightmares.  I will be reviewing Stardust as soon as I manage to find time to finish it.

So tell me, my fellow bloggers, what are YOU reading this week?  Let us hear from you!

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars and  A Lot of Romantic Swooning

Let me get it out of the way up front: This series made me “squeeeeeeeeee” like a fifteen-year old fangirl! I admit it. I’m a hopeless romantic, and a growing fan of steampunk, and the series worked for me on every level. It was crazy good, for what it is. Is it “Great Literature?” Probably not. Do I care? Definitely not. Why? Because I was pulled into the world from the very first book, Clockwork Angel, and wasn’t sent back to the merely mundane (pun intended) world until the last page of the last book, Clockwork Princess. And  frankly, I really didn’t want to return to reality at all. I wanted the story to go on and on and on, kinda like the theme song from Titanic!

Where The Heck Have I Been?

 

I don’t know if any of YOU guys have been wondering where I disappeared to, but I find that I have been wondering, myself. I seem to have been floundering in some alternate universe where I can’t even keep up with my blogs lately. That has got to stop. Must. Get. Control.  Or at least fake it well enough that no one knows I’m in freefall, down here. So, here is my attempt to touch base with those of you who are kind enough to follow this blog.

Where have I been? Writing. Yes, writing. Just not blogging. Some of you know I got the wild idea a few months ago that I was finally going to sit down and write a book. An actual book, with wordies on pages, and covers and all, as the Wee Free Men might say. I don’t have any idea of why I decided I was going to do this, except that it was something I’ve wanted to do since I was about five years old, yet never attempted. To my shock and dismay, I realized on my 69th birthday that time was flying by. (“Like sands through the hourglass, so go the Days Of Our Lives”). Soon, writing anything…even signing my own name…could cease to be an option. Do or die time…literally. Consider my writing a book something I wanted to tick off of my pre-Bucket List. (I’m refusing to admit that it might also be time for me to start a REAL one.)

Yesterday, I finished my story. I have written a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and have the Beta readers to prove it. I call it a story because it now needs to be slapped and bullied and mangled into becoming something that could pass for the aforementioned actual book. I have the plot laid out from start to finish, and I have developed my characters to the point that I’m compelled to set extra places at the table for them every night. But it is not a book, yet. Things will have to get bloody before I can claim that. 

Tomorrow, I begin the editing and revision process that I hope will leave me with a finished product I can publish. I will be going back through every chapter with a scalpel…okay, with a machete and a flamethrower…mercilessly hacking away all the stuff that doesn’t belong. I will be a brutal Inquisitioner, demanding to know if each and every line adds anything to the story, and is therefore worth keeping, or if the lines in question are merely self-indulgent crap, clogging up my prose like a hairball in a drainpipe. (See what I did there? We writers can make those sorts of comparisons with impunity, because…well…ummm…okay…you got me. There really is no reason for saying something like that, except that we can!)

Anyhoo…with any luck at all, hacking and trimming and pruning will not be as all-consuming as trying to make the plot come together in a sequence of events that makes sense. Therefore, if all goes well, I should find myself freed up for more reading, more reviewing, and more blogging. At least that’s my plan. Wish me luck!

Slashback by Rob Thurman

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

They’re baaa-aaack! The Brothers Leandros, that is. And despite some misgivings I had during the early pages of Slashback, they are back in style in a way that surpasses the last book on every level, to my mind.

Let me begin by saying

The Old Rope Swing

I thought maybe I’d share one of my poems tonight, from a series I’m working on, featuring a ten-year old boy named Mac, who has grown up spending his summers camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. He’s one of my favorite people, young Mac, and I hope you enjoy reading about him now and then.

The Old Rope Swing

Sailing up, up into
Blue summer sky,
Hot rope rough against his hands,
He shouts with joy, and lets go.
For a crystal moment,
He hangs suspended,
Frozen in time
Like a fly in amber.
All awkward angles–
Shoulder blades and
Elbows, and
Knobby knees,
Painted against the sky,
Heart filled with fierce joy.

Dropping, down, down
Into clear green water
Cold on his skin,
He sinks to the silty bottom
And sits suspended
In an alien world,
Watching  the silvered flashes
Of tiny fish darting to and fro,
Startled by his sudden appearance.
I am a fish, too, he thinks,
And holds his breath
As long as he can.

Finally, he rockets up
Through a stream of
Tickling bubbles,
Breaking the
Surface of the water
With a loud whoop of
Childish exuberance.
All thoughts of becoming a fish
Forgotten as he
Scrambles out,
Shakes the water from his hair,
And, grinning, hitches up his
Baggy shorts.

He’s ready
To do it all again.
Flying through the summer air,
Dropping into the cold water
To commune with fishes
Silvered in refracted light.
Then leaping to the surface,
A boy of ten once more,
Laughing through an endless summer
Made perfect by a cool green pond,
And an old rope swing.

     –Marcia Meara

 

Death’s Rival by Faith Hunter

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

It’s 4:00am here in central Florida. I just finished reading Death’s Rival and am totally unable to sleep. A combination of too many kick-butt pneumonia- fighting drugs, or  an overdose of kick-butt vampire-killing Jane Yellowrock in action? I can’t really decide which. But I figure if I’m wide awake, I may as well use the time for something productive, like reviewing this outstanding addition

Like A Bad Penny, Here I Am Again!

Back home from San Diego, after much sturm und drang, having gotten caught in airline hell on last Tuesday, when American Airlines stopped flying for the better part of the day. Caught in long lines, flight cancelled and rescheduled…THREE times…finally arriving at 2:30am! I was 24 hours in transit and exhausted, but by golly, I MADE IT! And got to spend 4 days of blissful Granny Time with Kaelen. Then I came down with some sort of dread disease that meant I had to wear a mask and not touch him any more! Eeeeep. And more flight trouble on the way home because…GET THIS…two passengers in FIRST CLASS decided to have a FOOD FIGHT, and apparently made such a mess that my flight out of Dallas was delayed for almost an hour while the crew cleaned up the cabin! Can you imagine? First Class JERKS is what they were. So I got home that night at 2:30am, sick and miserable. But you know what? I’d go through it all again to spend those four days with my lovely new grandson. What a sweet baby he is!

I have been quarantined at home by my doctor here, who says I’m teetering on the edge of pneumonia, but she is determined to head it off. So I’m to take my meds and REST. No housework. (Awwww…say it isn’t so!) Just “read, relax, rest, and recuperate.” I think I can do that. And I’m not banned from blogging, so hopefully, I’ll soon be back in the swing of that. I have two books to review here and tons of garden pictures to share on Who’s Your Granny, so I’m good to go. And just so you can see the reason I ever got caught up in all that airline mess in the first place, here’s a little piccie for ya. 

Now tell the truth. If this were YOUR brand new grandson, you wouldn’t regret the Flight From Hell, either, would you?

Be back soon with my next review!

*going off now, tapping my ruby slippers together, and repeating over and over, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”*

Go Granny, Go Granny, Go Granny, Go!

*me, humming the Beach Boys around here, as I finish packing*

Just a quick note to let you all know I’m off to San Diego in the morning, to meet the wise and serene Kaelen. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the little guy for some serious baby-to-granny bonding! I will have computer access and my iPhone, so I can check in from time to time, if I’m not too busy lovin’ on that baby, of course, but I won’t be posting any reviews or the like until I get home next week.  Thankfully, Gramps will hold down the fort until I’m back, but that doesn’t include doing my blogging for me, as I’m sure you understand. Gramps is a lot of handy things, but a blogger, he is not.

Can’t wait to share more photos and adventures, though not to worry. Kaelen will NOT become the focus of this blog, no matter how truly adorable he might be. I swear on a stack of Harry Dresden books, I will be back to my normal reviews and commentary, such as they are, shortly after my return. And the subsequent posting of a few hundred baby pictures, of course.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

(Not really)

Yes, really.

(Shaking head “NO” here.)

(Nodding head “YES” here)

(Nuh-uh.)

(Yuh-huh.)

*sigh*

*pout*

Okay, I’m outta here!

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I have come to the conclusion that Neil Gaiman just may be my Go-To Man when I’m in the mood for Major Creepiness. Capital M. Capital C. Really! I’ve read books that were scarier, books that were funnier, and books that were more convoluted or complex, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything creepier than Neverwhere in my life. And I mean that in a GOOD way, of course.

The story of a secret world beneath London,

Quote #74 – Cole Porter

“It’s spring again,
And birds on the wing again,
Start to sing again,
The old melody…”

                                                      –(from “I Love You” by Cole Porter)

Photo by Dan Williams found online.

Hello, World!

My name is Kaelen. (My Granny would never have seen that coming!) Kaelen is Celtic for Mighty Warrior, and after the way I spent the last forty-eight hours, I think my mommy and daddy called it right. It was a long battle, but I made it! And I think my mommy is a warrior, too! She and I struggled for a long, long time, but she got me here just fine. I met my daddy right away, and he looks like a warrior, himself, so I guess it’s a family thing! I weigh 8 pounds and 11 ounces, and I’m 21 inches long. I’m told that means I’m not only mighty but BIG, too. I can’t wait to get to know all about the world, but for now, I’m just going to take a wee nap. Even Mighty Warriors need their rest, you know. ‘Nite. 

(PS…I’m a boy, btw…I’ve heard it’s hard to tell at my age, but I’ll soon be flexing my Mighty Warrior muscles and performing prodigious feats of Boy-like strength, and it won’t be so confusing any more.)

The Year’s At The Spring – Robert Browning

The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;

The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven -
All’s right with the world!

         –Robert Browning

What Are You Reading?

Yes, you guessed it! Time for another What Are You Reading post. Every now and then, I just have to know what some of you are reading. I find the best books that way. I am currently about halfway through Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and enjoying it very much. This guy can do creepy and weird like nobody’s business. I have a little list where I add authors I have managed to ignore for way too long and am busy catching up with. The list includes Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, among others, and I have thoroughly enjoyed what I have read of each of them, already. Both make me wonder what took me so long to find them.

So what are YOU reading? And what’s next in your To Be Read pile?  Whose pages are you turning today, and what do you think of them so far?

Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

No one–absolutely no one–creates better Urban Fantasy worlds than Seanan McGuire. Her Toby Daye series has proven that to me time and time again, and now her Incryptid Series cements it in stone. The first Incryptid Novel, Discount Armageddon, was a fantastic romp in a world filled with some of the best

Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

My Rating: 3-1/2 out of 5

Let me start by saying that I think Patricia Briggs is a fine Urban Fantasy writer. I have enjoyed the Mercy Thompson series very much over the years, and the spin-off Alpha and Omega series even more. So I am sorry to have to give what would have been

Fog by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Sea Fever by John Masefield (1878-1967)

 

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Fringed Gentians by Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925)

Fringed Gentians

Near where I live there is a lake
As blue as blue can be, winds make
It dance as they go blowing by.
I think it curtseys to the sky.

It’s just a lake of lovely flowers
And my Mamma says they are ours;
But they are not like those we grow
To be our very own, you know.

We have a splendid garden, there
Are lots of flowers everywhere;
Roses, and pinks, and four o’clocks
And hollyhocks, and evening stocks.

Mamma lets us pick them, but never
Must we pick any gentians — ever!
For if we carried them away
They’d die of homesickness that day.

Milestone Alert!

With the publication of my first “Things I Have Learned” verse, I hit 250 posts! Wow! I never dreamed when I started blogging seven months ago that I would grow to love it so much, but it has really become an important part of my life and has been the catalyst for me to start writing for other venues as well…like books! All it took was sitting here throwing around words and ideas and sharing some thoughts and comments with others, and the next thing you know, I’m finally writing for myself again.  I doubt that would ever have happened without the blogging experience entering my life, so I’m especially grateful to be here on WordPress making new friends and enjoying myself so much.  Thank you to everyone who has stopped by here to read and comment. (I especially love it when you comment!!)  You guys make my life so much richer, every single day.

Here’s to the next 250!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Day!

Things I Have Learned #1

TV ads we all endure
Proclaim loudly “We have the cure!”
You try it out, and find it’s good,
Why can’t they leave it as they should?
Beware the label “New and Improved!”
It really means you’ve just been scrooved.

     –Marcia Meara

(Motto: If it ain’t broke, don’t FIX it!)

Fort Myers Book Festival – March 16, 2013

   

Kim Harrison and Jeanienne Frost

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about this event, but I’ve been really swamped the last couple of weeks. My To Do List gets bigger every day instead of smaller, as I’m trying to get ready to fly to San Diego on a moment’s notice for the birth of my first grandson.  Lots to do to be sure I don’t leave hubby in the lurch while I’m away. But finally, I realized if I didn’t take a few minutes to post about the Festival soon,

Quote #73 – Anonymous

“Every time you make a typo, the errorists win!”

     –Unknown Author

Quote #72 – Anonymous

“When comforting a writer, whisper ‘There, their, they’re.’”

     –Author Unknown

Just Thinkin’….

I realized after reading a comment the other day that I haven’t reviewed a non-urban fantasy book in quite some time. Now this doesn’t bother me overly much, as I’m very fond of good urban fantasy and have been in that frame of mind for a couple of years. However, I certainly