dhalagirl

(The admins gave me permission to post this so please don't freak out.)

I recently, and quite unexpectedly, had to replace the clutch in my car and the cost of repairs ($1,100!) is forcing me to sell some of the stuff in my stash of Brandon-related ephemera. I hate parting with any portion of my collection but I want this debt off my back more than I want to keep these items to myself.

I've put up for sale three sets of the postcards and character cards from The Reckoners. Each set contains: three holographic postcards (one of each city) and three character cards (Prof, David, and Megan). These came from a prize box of promotional items for the series that a friend of mine won a few years ago in a contest. They kept what they wanted and gave the rest to me. These three sets are the extras that I've been hanging on to. I have pictures of everything on the ebay page. Obviously the money I'm making off of these will only pay a small portion of the repair bill but it will help. 

Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/293088644565

It was so amazing! The temperature dropped quite a bit, the sky was a gorgeous, dark periwinkle blue, crickets started chirping, and it was so quiet...until everyone at waterfront park started cheering. The solar flares were so clear and huge! Such an unforgettable experience!

I have two bits of good news. First is...I'm back slontzees!  I've been away from the shard for about 6 years so I could work on my writing career. That brings me to my second item.

My debut novel, The Moonflower, is now out! *Muppet flail* If you want to check it out I have all of the info here on my blog.

I live in the path so I'll be watching (with proper eye protection) from my front porch. If you're in Oregon you're welcome to watch with me. I'm in Salem. PM me for the address.

So...I had the most awesome lunch on Tuesday...with Lee Moyer, his assistant, PDXTrent, my boss, Ken Scholes, and Brandon. I'm still squeeing.

Also, I have five Steelhunt codes to give out at my store. They're so pretty.

I spent most of last month reading Ken Scholes' short fiction. I highly recommend any of the Santaman stories and Of Metal Men and Scarlet Thread and Dancing with the Sunrise. They're absolutely beautiful. I also finally read Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton and it was meh. Now that the big baddie is gone there isn't enough tension to distract me from her choppy pacing.

Right now I'm reading AMoL and I'm taking my sweet time about it.

Forgive me for saying so but 6-7 years isn't very long when you consider the length of time the series has been out. I've been reading it for fifteen years and even then, I'm still a relative new comer.

Last week I took some time to ruminate about how I felt about the impending release of A Memory of Light. The Wheel of Time has been a part of my life for a very long time and in some ways it feels like a dear friend has been given a terminal prognosis and we only have X number of days to say goodbye. I wrote about it on my blog. Feel free to share you feelings in this thread. I suspect that I'm not the only one that's having a difficult time saying goodbye.

Yeah, there Molly didn't have a big visible role but neither did anyone else. This is Harry's story, Harry's dilemma, and everyone else is support staff. Besides, the events concerning Molly's training in Ghost Story plus Molly's page in the 2013 literary pin up calendar foreshadowed the ending of Cold Days. He didn't need to do a lot with her in this book because he'd already set it up.

On a related note, if I remember right there is supposed to be at least one short story about Molly that's supposed to go into her training a bit more, but circumstances out of Jim's control *cough-GRRM-cough* have postponed the release date.

I finished reading Cold Days, the latest Dresden book.

Holy crap.

Ditto. I finished it this morning and...wow! I didn't think he could top Changes, but dang it, he did. I think that book gave me a geekgasm.

In other reading news, I finished Mainspring and it's so darn brilliant. Poison Flower by Thomas Perry is fantastic. He really upped the stakes and it made the book soooo goood.

This month I'm going on a Ken Scholes binge. I read the Santaman stories today (I highly recommend If Dragon's Mass Eve Be Cold and Clear) and I've moved on to his short story collection: Long Walks, Last Flights and other Strange Journeys.

As far as I'm concerned, any Gir fan is welcome.

Let's make buscuits!

I loved The Blinding Knife. It's just as brilliant as The Black Prism.

In other literary news, I've fallen in love with Michael Chabon's writing prowess , I really don't like Stephen Erickson's style , and Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon is a lot of fun . Currently I'm reading Jay Lake's Mainspring and I'm really enjoying it.

I enjoyed it as well. I really hope the T.V. series takes off. The guest star possibilities (for new aspects) are endless.

Yay! I'm a happy panda again. Subterranean shipped mine today.

I'm a sad panda. Subterranean hasn't shipped mine yet.

Yeah, it's kinda scary how close that is to the cover art. All it's missing is a shardbearer.

This, so much this, I enjoyed Night Angel, but The Black Prism blew me away! So looking forward to The Blinding Knife, 11th of September if you didn't know!

I did know. I'm going to the launch at Powell's. It's going to be awesome!

The Black Prism was fantastic. It's sooo much better than the Night Angel trilogy! I can't wait for The Blinding Knife!

Last night I finished Born of Silence by Sherrilyn Kenyon and it was meh. Definitely sub par for her. Since there's still a couple weeks until The Blinding Knife's release and I'm still waiting for Legion to arrive, I'm reading Count Zero by William Gibson.

I'd like to announce that I sent in my first Writers of the Future submission. For the next three months I'll be a nervous wreck as I await the results for this quarter. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't want to call it an illness (it didn't feel right) so I sided on disorder.

My friend says that to her Mistborn is a bit more blue and grey and still tasting very much of rhubarb. If I was a rich genius I'd do a study as to why the colors are slightly different, but since I'm neither it'll have to remain a mystery.

Last month some friends and I had dinner with Dan Wells after his signing at Powell's in Portland. (Don't panic. This isn't in the wrong section) PDXTrent requested one of my homemade pies, specifically, Rhubarb pie. Since he was going to be at the signing and dinner, I brought it with me and we shared it with the group. While we were enjoying the delicious pie, the conversation ended up on the topic of synesthesia. It so happens that a member of the assembled group has synesthesia. Dan, having an understanding of the disorder, asked this person "What does Mistborn taste like?" Their answer, oddly enough, was that Mistborn tastes like my Rhubarb pie.

Because of that, Dan named the pie: Mistbarb pie. Here's the recipe for the filling. I'm not including my crust recipe because it takes years to master. (Seriously, it does.)

MISTBARB PIE

4-5 C chopped rhubarb

1 1/3 C Sugar

6 TB all-purpose flour

1 TB butter (optional)

2 TB Cinnamon (approximately)

A pinch of Cardamom

2 pie crusts (store bought or homemade)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. Put one of the pie crusts in a 9 in. pie plate. Wash, trim, and cut the rhubarb into bite-size pieces. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom in a small bowl. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the sugar mixture in the bottom of the prepared pie crust. Place the rhubarb in the crust and top with the rest of the sugar mixture. Place the second crust on top and seal well. Cut a couple of vent holes in the center of the pie. Place the pie on the lowest oven rack and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees fahrenheit and bake for another 45 minutes.

*Be sure to place a baking sheet or aluminum foil under the pie plate. The pie will bubble over*

Wow! I hadn't realized it had been so long since I last logged in. Ok, to sum up:

The Hollow city is definitely Dan's best book.

Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon is the my favorite book in The Chronicles of Nick, so far.

I Was a Teenage Bigfoot by Jim Butcher had me rolling on the floor. Absolutely hilarious!

Next on my reading list is The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. (Shhh! Don't tell him I haven't read it yet. He thinks otherwise.)

I finished reading it yesterday and I loved it. I agree with happyman. The balance between the honest portrayal of schizophrenia and speculative fiction was fantastic. He managed to have an unreliable narrator that we could still trust and sympathize with. I loved the ending. It was very sweet and poignant.

Apparently Brandon read a portion of chapter 1 of AMoL during his spotlight at SDCC. You can read it here.

It's beautiful. I may or may not have cried a little inside.

(Tor also posted highlights from the spotlight itself, if you're interested. I'm not going to post a link to it since the content of that has little to do with this particular thread.)

Last night I went with some friends to Dan Well's signing at Powell's. He was kind enough to join us for dinner afterwards. It was an awesome evening. Especially since my car has now been graced by his presence (I gave him a ride back to his hotel). Oh yeah, he also gave me an awesome thank you gift.

You have my permission to be insanely jealous.