First, a little housekeeping note: If anyone has been following me on MySpace (or knows someone who was), they've "updated" their site to the point that I can no longer access it with my current browser. I can't upgrade my browser without upgrading my operating system, and I can't upgrade my operating system on my current computer. Since everything else I need on the Internet seems to work perfectly fine with my current computer, I don't see the need to buy a new computer just to access MySpace, so I'll no longer be posting my blog there, adding friends, or anything else.

Now, about the only thing vacation-like I've managed to do while I've been taking a break is read, I've got a good-sized book report. In chronological order:

Elfland by Freda Warrington -- I suppose this would be an example of "suburban fantasy" that we were discussing in a FenCon panel. It's a contemporary fantasy set in an English village and the countryside around it, so it's not really "urban fantasy" the way the industry seems to see it. It deals with a fairy-like people (called Aetherials here) who fall somewhere in the middle ground between the cute fairies (which I'm admittedly guilty of using) and the punk street gang type fairies of a lot of urban fantasy. The Aetherials are from a kind of otherworld, though some of them live in our "real" world, which is connected via a set of magical gates to the otherworld. But the gatekeeper closes the gates due to a feared threat, and that may rip apart the community. The first half of this book has only the slightest touches of fantasy elements and is more of a drama about two families that are linked while being at odds. Then the fantasy elements become more and more important. The writing is very evocative, and the author managed the impossible: she actually made me end up liking the bad boy jerk character. It looks like this will be the first of a series, and I'm curious about what happens next because this book felt like it had a real, definitive ending. I also thought this book had some of the most beautiful cover art I've seen in a long time. I'm not a visually oriented person, so I usually don't even notice cover art, and I'm not usually a fan of fantasy art because it can get kind of twee -- it's okay for a book cover, but not something I'd want hanging on my wall. With this book, though, I wouldn't mind having a painting of that cover.

Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde -- This would probably fall into the category of "chick lit" in that it's a female coming-of-age story, but it doesn't have the stereotypical chick lit tropes -- urban setting, shopping, gay best friend, etc. Our heroine, Grace, lives alone in an empty old (like, centuries old) home she inherited from her aunt. Her siblings inherited the furnishings (and resented only getting that much) and removed everything that wasn't nailed down, but that was okay because her husband had furniture. But now her husband has left her for someone else, taking the furniture, and her siblings are hounding her to sell the house and give them some of the proceeds that they think they deserve. Grace ends up taking in a struggling young artist who finally got the nerve to dump her selfish boyfriend and her ex's teenage daughter from his first marriage, who feels unwanted after both her parents find new partners. The three of them team up to find a way to get their lives back on track and save the house from dry rot. Katie Fforde's books are like crack for me -- I can sit down to just read a few pages, and next thing I know, it's two in the morning. She tends to cover subjects I find interesting, like restoring old houses, canal boats and cooking. In this one, there's the old house plus cooking, as well as a bit of art. I don't think this is my favorite of her books (I thought it ended rather abruptly), but it's a nice "comfort food" read.

Looking for Andrew McCarthy by Jenny Colgan -- I'd been looking for this book for ages, but her books are hard to find in the US (I first discovered Jenny Colgan on a trip to England), then I found the British edition in a used bookstore here. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to the anticipation, mostly because the plot was so outlandish, in the category of "nobody in the history of ever would really do that, right?" The book is nearly ten years old, so the characters turning 30 were 80s teens, and they realize that adulthood hasn't quite turned out the way they thought it would, based on all those Brat Pack movies. Ellie figures that Andrew McCarthy might have some thoughts on the subject, since his career was so hot in the 80s but he then fell off the face of the earth, so she comes up with a scheme to go from England to America, find Andrew McCarthy, and talk to him, which she's sure will help her figure out how to deal with her life. It turns into a cross-country road trip when she neglected to do even the most basic research and automatically went to LA, since that's where movie stars are, and then discovers that Andrew McCarthy lives in New York. Unfortunately, that reveals some research issues, as you get the feeling that this British author may possibly have been to New York or LA, but has certainly never been anywhere else in the US, so she has no sense of the scope and gets a lot of details badly wrong -- like the book takes place in November, but the characters run into a high school prom at a hotel along the way, and they go to a county fair in Missouri (Texas has a late fair in October, but up north, the agricultural expo type fairs take place much sooner). I guess I also had trouble relating to the premise, in spite of being in the same generation as the characters. I didn't see any of the Brat Pack films until I was in college, so I never really had those people as teen idols. When you're a mature, sophisticated college woman, a high school character is sooo beneath you (never mind that the actor was probably older than you even when the movie was made). The supporting characters and subplots are a lot of fun, reminding me of a lot of those British romantic comedy movies where the main characters are a bit annoying, but the supporting cast of their wacky friends is great. I suppose this was a fun read, but it didn't quite live up to the "I've been searching for this book for ages and finally found it!" anticipation.

Witches Incorporated by KE Mills (on LJ, karenmiller) -- this is the sequel to The Accidental Sorcerer, which I read on my trip to New York in August, and I think I may like the second book better. The first book was setting up the situation, but then this one was more of a fun adventure. Our hero Gerald has been tested and trained to be a kind of magical secret agent, and while he's off doing the testing and training and then going off on his first assignment, he hasn't been allowed to see his friends. In his absence, his best friend Monk has inherited a house that gives him room to conduct his crazy magical experiments, and Princess Melissande (from the first book) has escaped her royal duties to go into business with Monk's kid sister and Reg, the witch queen trapped in the body of a bird, in a sort of "No. 1 Ladies' Magical Detective Agency." A seemingly petty case reunites them with Gerald when their paths cross, and he has to decide between following orders and having success with his case by getting help from his friends. I LOVE these characters, and after plowing through this book I immediately wanted more, but the next one isn't out until February 23 -- and it's called the final book in the trilogy. That makes me sad because I felt like this book set up a situation that could run for many books. There doesn't seem to be a major plot arc linking the books, just a character arc, and I'm not yet ready for it to end. There may be pouting. I've said before that it's usually the guys that get me into a book, and while I adore Gerald as a hero and would love reading any book with him in it, I also would be totally willing to read a book entirely about "the girls" (as they're referred to in the story) because they're the kind of female characters who can carry a book for me. "Princess Pushy" (as Reg calls her) is so delightfully stubborn and practical. Reg is a hoot. And the kid sister, Bibbie, seems like the kind of character I'd hate -- basically a Barbie doll, ridiculously gorgeous and seems like an airhead -- but then she turns out to be something of a mad genius who does not like being patronized.

I was surprised when I went to Amazon to see when the next book was coming to find that the reader reviews were pretty negative. I feel like these books are the closest I've found to being along the lines of what I write -- that scratch that particular itch -- without me having to write them. The setting is different, but I think the tone and characters are similar in style. Gerald, Monk and Owen would totally be best friends (and the world might not be safe if the three of them teamed up), and Katie might fit in with the girls, even if she did want to knock their heads together every so often.

Now I'm in the mood to read more of something like that, and there isn't really anything that I've found, so I don't know what I'll read next. My parents have the new Dick Francis book, so I'll be reading that over the holiday, but now I have to figure out what to read today and tonight. I have hundreds of unread books on my shelves, but I'm not really in the mood for any of them.

The good news: I think I've figured out what I need to do to improve the plot of the book I'm revising.
The bad news: It will require rewriting pretty much the last five chapters. A few scenes can sort of stay in a different context, but I think for the most part everything will change. Ack.

I made my second vat of soup of the season, since I'd already eaten my way through the first batch. I pretty much live on this stuff at this time of year. I'll have it for my lighter meal of the day (sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner) or have it as a vegetable side dish with the heavier meal. Someday I ought to do a cost analysis, figuring out the cost of all the ingredients and dividing by the number of servings to see how it compares to just buying soup in a can, but I think this tastes better, there's probably more nutrition in it, and I know there's less sodium because I don't put any salt in it and canned soup is really, really high in sodium. Keeping a batch of soup handy is also part of my flu prevention strategy. I only seem to get sick when I have no good "sick" food in the house, so I figure if I've got several servings of vegetable soup in the freezer, I won't get sick.

I have done a bit of reading while doing the writing/banging my head against the wall.

First, I managed to get my hands on the new Terry Pratchett book, Unseen Academicals (Mom, it's due on the 14th, and if I get the book done in time, I'll bring it over so you can read it, but work has to come before travel). This one wasn't my favorite of the series, but I can't really say if that's because of anything to do with the book or if it was because it was a book that didn't focus on my favorite aspects or characters of the Discworld. I suppose this would be classified as a "wizards" book, though the major characters are all newcomers, with the wizards mostly in the background. I have liked other books where the main characters weren't series regulars and the series regulars were in supporting roles, but I wasn't overly fond of at least one of the main characters here. She's the kind of person Pratchett usually skewers, and while she did come in for a bit of skewering and learned a few big lessons, I spent most of the time leading up to that point wanting to slap her silly. At any rate, I'll have to re-read this one to really judge how I like it, and it may take reading the next one to put it in context, but this time around I may have been distracted from the story that was actually there by my wondering where Vimes and Carrot were and what they were up to, or if Moist von Lipwig was running the tax system yet.

The plot was essentially about university athletics. The wizards at Unseen University have discovered some fine print about a major bequest requiring them to field a football team, and if they don't, they lose the money, which might trim back their snack allocation. Problem is, football is rather frowned upon and is something generally played on the streets as part of a rivalry between neighborhoods. But then the Patrician decides to legalize and formalize football, imposing rules and order, and the university's team will play in the first big game. Meanwhile, there are things going on among the university's below-stairs staff, including a bright young man who seems to be a minority of one (no one's entirely sure what he is) but who may be smart enough to help mold the wizards into an actual team. And there are a number of other little subplots, including one about modeling and ambition. I plowed through the book in one afternoon, and it had a number of laugh-out-loud moments, plus the usual insightful social commentary, but I tend to have to read these at least twice before all the details really sink in.

Then there was Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, which is a young-adult, post-apocalyptic steampunk adventure. In the very far future on a devastated earth, cities have become mobile, roving the earth and scavenging smaller cities or towns, with airships used to scout out prey. And I have to say that this concept is utterly cool -- so cool it was almost distracting because I'd pause in the reading to imagine what that would be like. Dallas wouldn't get very far because the different parts of the city would all want to go in different directions, so it would just sit there, rocking back and forth. But I can imagine that Fort Worth would either absorb or ally with the Mid-Cities, and then it would go rollicking across the prairie, six-guns blazing, with a mighty "Yee Hah!"

Our hero, an apprentice historian, finds out that things in London aren't quite what they seem when he saves the life of the city's most famous historian, only to get himself shoved overboard by the man he just saved. Soon, he's on the run with a young radical who lives for revenge, and they get captured, rescued, captured again, enslaved, escaped, etc., in a series of adventures as they travel on airships and pirate suburbs in their attempt to get back to London. Meanwhile, the engineers of London have discovered a piece of ancient technology from the last war that they think is just what they need to take over the world.

This was shelved in the teen section of the library and the main character is 15, but the writing style struck me as more of a children's/middle grade book, except then a lot of the events were probably better suited for more mature readers (it gets really violent and there are a lot of pretty horrible deaths, including some major characters). That made for a slightly disconcerting mix, to be reading something that at times seemed almost childish, only to come across something a little too intense even for me as an adult. That's a fair warning for parents because I'm not sure where I'd say the target audience would be -- it's a little immature in a lot of places for teen readers, but probably too intense in places for younger readers. Which means it's just right for adults who no longer care whether what they're reading is too "babyish." I will be grabbing the sequel because I was really intrigued by this world and I liked the characters who actually managed to survive (did I mention the number of deaths?).

On a television note, the new version of V premieres tonight. Sci Fi was running the miniseries on Sunday, but I found I could only stand to watch a few minutes of it (I recall being very into it when I was a teenager). I'll be taping because I have ballet tonight, and then I don't know when I'll get around to watching it. It may get moved to my Friday line-up, before the ritual mocking of Stargate: Universe.

Speaking of Terry Pratchett and Friday-night television, I've decided that White Collar is essentially "Sam Vimes and Moist von Lipwig team up to fight crime." And now I want to read that book.

I mentioned that I spent Sunday afternoon curled up with a good book. I've actually done a fair amount of reading lately, so I've got a Book Report!

First, there was My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent, the first book in her Soul Screamers young adult series. I'm too big a weenie to read her werecats books, but this one was right up my alley, since it focuses on a mythology/folklore that I find interesting. Teenager Kaylee doesn't understand why she has these freaky panic attacks where she gets the weirdest feeling that someone's about to die. It's even freakier when that person actually does die. She learns that this is because she's a bean sidhe -- a banshee -- and she has to come to terms with her heritage in time to find out why teenagers are suddenly dropping like flies, for no good reason.

Then I read Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire. Words cannot express how refreshing it was to read an urban fantasy book without a single vampire or were-anything (though I'm holding out for the were-giraffe) and that couldn't ever be mistaken for a paranormal romance. This one was much closer to a hardboiled detective novel, only involving the world of faerie. I had fun with this because that's a subject I've been reading a lot about, and I liked that the author was pretty disciplined in sticking to the one area of mythology instead of taking the "if one paranormal thing exists, then they all do" approach (aka "Vampires, wizards and demons, oh my!"). There were a few moments when I felt like she was trying a bit hard to make the heroine seem tough and to have a chip on her shoulder, but I suppose that comes with the territory in this genre and I may as well give up on having perkier main characters in urban fantasy unless I write them. Who knows, maybe I'm the only one in the universe who wants an urban fantasy heroine who wears pastel florals. This one was a real page turner with some intriguing world building.

For something completely different, my Sunday-afternoon reading was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which is currently burning up the bestseller lists, and I can see why because it was an absolutely delightful book, what I'd fit into the category of comfort food reading. It was utterly predictable -- just a few pages in and I had pretty much predicted everything that would happen and who would end up together, and I'd even figured out the big revelation about one character because it's practically required by law that all characters of that type will be that way -- but it was predictable in a good way in that these were for the most part the things you wanted to happen, and that meant the book was satisfying and a feel-good read. It's definitely not one of those that suddenly has to pull the rug out from under you and give the main characters an unhappy ending in order to appear literary. The story involves the residents of one of the Channel Islands during World War II, when they were the one part of Great Britain occupied by the Germans throughout the war. It's told entirely through letters and other written forms of communication as a British journalist right after the war gets a letter from a Guernsey farmer who had bought a used book with her name and address in it and who wants to know if she knows more about that author (I guess that's what people did before Google). The letter references the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and she's intrigued, so she writes back. Soon, she's corresponding with the people of the island, who tell her about their wartime experiences, how their group was formed and how books and reading helped get them through the war. Eventually, she travels there herself to research a book and gets caught up in their lives. I alternated between laughing out loud and weeping, and it's the kind of book you close with a sigh and a smile. It would be a great choice for a multi-generational book group because it might spur some discussion about wartime memories. It hit a number of my buttons -- involving books, England and WWII, told through letters, and involving a hint of romance. Add a dragon and a sword fight and it could be one of the best books ever. I've always found the idea of the Channel Islands intriguing, and now I want to go there.

In other news, Amazon says that they have one copy of Enchanted, Inc. left, with more on order, and it's been that way for a few days. I really wish someone would buy that one copy because it's bugging me. It makes me realize that not even one copy a day is selling, and that's depressing.

I have made it approximately 1/4 of the way through my projected first draft on the book, but I suspect that the first draft will come in longer than projected, as it's not so much of a "draft" because I keep tinkering along the way. My process seems to change with each book. On this one, I have a big-picture outline that the story seems to be sticking to, but everything in between is making it up as I go, and I keep discovering things along the way that subtly change everything. I am trying to plan each scene ahead of time, just before I write it, so that I have a sense of the character's goal and what the conflict is and I don't end up with just a "doing laundry" scene, and sometimes a scene will require me to go back and tinker with what came before. This seems to be more of a subtle, complex and layered book than I've written before, and it's really stretching me as a writer. I'm curious to see how it all comes out.

I haven't done a books post in a while, other than talking about my likes and dislikes, but I have been reading. I just haven't read a lot that has spurred me to talk about it, or else I've been busy talking about other stuff. So, here's a quick round-up of titles I've read recently that I have something to say about.

Stalking the Unicorn by Mike Resnick -- I've been on a few convention panels with Mike (and boy, does he make me feel like a slacker), and I'd read Santiago, but I hadn't read any of his fantasy. This book was published quite a while ago (in the 80s, as I recall) but has recently been reissued, and it's urban fantasy from before urban fantasy was cool. It reads like a hardboiled detective novel from the 30s or 40s, only this private detective has been hired to find a stolen unicorn in an alternate fairyland version of New York on New Year's Eve. This book has a lot of the things I tend to look for in books. Our hero is an Everyman without any particular magical powers. He was hired mostly because he was the only detective still in his office late on New Year's Eve. It's a through-the-portal story, and it's urban fantasy in the sense of a mixing of real-world and fantasy-world elements, with enough darkness to give it heft but still with a sense of whimsy. It looks like there are more books about this character, and I'll have to read Stalking the Vampire in spite of my vampire aversion because I suspect he'll do something different with the trope.

On an entirely different note, I read the new Sophie Kinsella book, Twenties Girl, and I had really mixed feelings. Normally I don't talk about books I don't recommend, but in this case it's not that I don't recommend it. It's more that I recommend it with some cautions. There's a lot to like about the book, but most of that comes in the latter half. In fact, I wouldn't have reached the point where it got good if I hadn't seen an online reviewer whose taste I trust talk about the first part being a slog but then the story picks up. In this book, Kinsella enters the paranormal realm with a ghost story. Our heroine is at the funeral service for a 105-year-old great aunt she's barely met, who's been pretty much uncommunicative from a stroke for ages. Just before the cremation, her aunt's ghost appears to her, begging her to stop it because she has to have her necklace. Our heroine (sorry, can't recall her name) has to come up with a way to stop the cremation, then track down the missing necklace, all while dealing with her aunt's ghost, who's reverted to her youth as a flapper and who wants one more chance to live it up vicariously through her great niece. This whole quest ends up unearthing a lot of family secrets. I loved the ghost story premise and the interaction between the heroine and her great aunt. There were some nice messages in there about the fact that old people really were once young and about the idea of appreciating the life you're living while you can. I ended up loving the back half of the book, but I almost didn't get there because the first half contained a lot of chick lit cliches and comedy tropes I hate. There's a lot of embarrassing situation/humiliation humor, and the heroine spends most of the first part of the book trying to get her ex boyfriend, who dumped her and who has moved on, back in a way that makes her look really pathetic. I'd reached the point where I just wanted to know how it ended without having to slog through it all, so I skipped ahead to near the end and liked the ending enough to go back and read, but I still skipped a chapter in the middle to get to the point where it got good. I guess you sort of have to read the beginning to know what's going on in the latter part of the book, but while I ended up liking the book on a big-picture level, I can't recommend it without warning that there's something seriously wrong with the beginning (otherwise, you'd read the first few chapters and think I'd lost my mind).

Then, on recommendation from readers after my "what I like in books" post, I pulled Castle Perilous by John DeChancie off my to-be-read pile, and that was a lot of fun. I liked the way the characters came together, as well as the mystery of the castle. However, I think I've learned my lesson about waiting nearly twenty years after buying a book to read it because now I seem to be intrigued by a series I will have a hard time finding. My library doesn't have any of these books, and they're all out of print, without even a lot of used copies on Amazon. I have no idea why this book languished on my shelves for so long. I remember buying it when I was in college, but I don't think I ever even started reading it because not even the first chapter seemed remotely familiar, so it's not like I started it and then put it down. Normally, I don't shelve books I haven't read, but I guess this one got moved often enough to be shelved, and so it skipped my notice as a to-be-read book.

I think I'm almost recovered from the trip. Even the blisters are fading. But this is why when I need a vacation for resting and rejuvenation, it almost has to be a "staycation" because I utterly exhaust myself if I actually travel. The only way for me to travel and come back refreshed would be to go to an utterly boring place where activities mostly involve just enjoying being there. I think I could come back rested and relaxed after spending time in a cabin by a lake in the woods, where I might do a little hiking or take a canoe trip, but otherwise spent most of the time lying in a hammock with a good book. Otherwise, I'll wear myself out exploring. That's why my planned vacation this fall will be an at-home vacation.

One good thing about travel by plane is that it gives me time to read, and for this trip I brought two books I've owned for a while but that I was saving for this trip.

Those of you who've been around a while may remember that earlier this year (back in March or so), I talked in vague terms about a book I'd heard about that sounded perfect for me and used it as proof that the marketing efforts of the publishing industry don't work, since I only learned about the book when I was on that publisher's web site and saw something about the sequel, which made me track back to the first book. It sounded exactly like the kind of book I've been looking for, and I'm someone who actively seeks out information about books. I read dozens of publishing and book review blogs and spend a lot of time in bookstores, and yet I'd never seen anything about this book. If someone who actively seeks out information on new books hasn't heard of a book that's exactly the kind of book she wants to read, then how can they hope for books to find their audience?

Now that I've read the book in question, I can talk about it. The book is The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills (aka Karen Miller). I found this book when I was reading the publisher's blog, looking for posts by an editor I was going to meet, and saw information about upcoming releases, which included a book called Witches Incorporated. I tend to notice anything that involves something to do with magic combined with the "incorporated" concept (for reasons that should be obvious), so I zoomed in on it, learned it was a sequel and backtracked to learn about the first book. It took me a while to find that first book in a store, in part because I don't go to bookstores that often these days and in part because when I did go (on my last trip to New York), this book was never there. But I did finally find it and read it on the plane on this trip, and yes, it was pretty much just the kind of thing I like. The book is about Gerald Dunwoody, a junior-grade wizard relegated to bureaucratic work. When things go horribly wrong during what should have been a routine inspection and he loses yet another job, he jumps at the opportunity to be the court wizard in a far-off colony. Of course, any job he could get with his track record has to have some drawbacks, and in this case, it's because that kingdom hasn't been able to keep a court wizard for very long ever since the new young king took the throne, and there's a good reason for that. Gerald soon realizes he's in way over his head, and he discovers that the horrible accident that cost him his job wasn't a fluke -- it's not so much that he's a terrible wizard, but rather that he's more a different kind of wizard, and that puts him in grave danger.

This is what you could call an "otherworld" fantasy, in that it's set in some alternate world that isn't directly related to our world. But what's different is that it's a more or less contemporary otherworld, where most of them tend to be rather medieval. This is a magical world with cars, electricity and telephones, so it fits into what I would have considered urban fantasy before I saw what the publishing world was calling urban fantasy. I really enjoyed this book, and it was the kind of thing I've been looking to read. I liked the good-guy characters -- Gerald, his genius best friend, the very practical princess, the butterfly-obsessed prince and the smart-mouthed bird. There's lots of subtle humor, though I wouldn't classify it as a comedy, but then there's also some pretty intense action. Some of the reviews I found considered this a drawback -- that it seems like a light book, but takes a dark turn. It does get pretty dark and intense in places, but I don't think anyone who's watched Joss Whedon's TV shows or the current version of Doctor Who would be shocked by the shift in tone. In fact, it does feel like a Doctor Who episode, with fun characters, a bit of silliness, and then horrible things happening (and considering that the acknowledgments page includes thanks to Russell T. Davies, I don't think I'm off-base in seeing the connection. It also mentions David Tennant, so I found myself picturing the main character as played by David Tennant, which is not a bad thing at all). I will be getting the sequel the next time I find it in a bookstore (the Newark Airport Borders didn't have it), and I may take a look at the author's other work, which is more traditional epic fantasy. Based on her blog, which I've started following, I get the feeling we may have been separated at birth. At least, she seems to watch all the same TV shows I do.

I switched gears a bit for my return trip airplane reading, with Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan. I met Marie at Conestoga last year, where we had a long conversation about the conditions that inspire writers. She's a solar-powered creature, while I'm water-powered. Then I saw her book on a table at an airport bookstore when I was on the way to WorldCon. I made a mental note to buy it when I got home because it looked like something I'd enjoy, and then WorldCon happened, and I couldn't for the life of me remember that book I saw in the store and really wanted. I've heard booksellers say that when customers come in looking for a book, but they don't know the author or title, all they can ever remember was that the cover was blue -- and it always seems to be a blue book that people are looking for. Well, this was a blue book, and that was all I could remember. Gradually I was able to play mental association games to recall that the author was someone I'd met, and then Marie posted something to the Fangs, Fur, Fey community and I suddenly remembered.

The book is yet another variation on what might be called urban fantasy, but the "urban" is London during the reign of Elizabeth I. It turns out that Elizabeth survived her half-sister's paranoia and came to the throne with a little help from the faerie realm, and her ascension came along with the ascension of a new faerie queen. Now a disgraced member of the faerie Onyx Court has one more chance to restore herself to favor: she has to find out what one of Elizabeth's closest advisors knows, and to do that she disguises herself as a human and attaches herself to a young courtier. But then they discover that there's something more sinister going on, and all her loyalties are put to the test.

That's always been a time period I found interesting, and it made for a great setting for a fairy story. I liked the characters and found the plot gripping enough that, exhausted as I was, I couldn't sleep on the plane on the way home because I didn't want to stop reading, and I stayed up late that night, even though I practically had to prop my eyes open with toothpicks, because I wanted to finish it. This is also a first book in a series, and I'll definitely be looking for the next one.

And now I have to tackle the massive to-do list, as well as get groceries, since my cupboards are pretty bare after back-to-back trips and I don't think I can face another frozen pizza. We'll see if I can manage to put shoes on.

In the "fun with Google alerts" category: One popped up today about a site where you can download the Enchanted, Inc. movie. Which doesn't exist. Even on that site, it has a release date of 2011. And yet there's a "download now!" link. I suspect that clicking on that link would get you a virus or spyware of some sort. They did list producers, but I don't know how accurate that information is, though the writer and novelist info were right. It was very strange. Who would be dumb enough to click on a "download now" link for a movie whose release date is two years away -- even if you didn't know it's only in development at the moment? It's bad enough that my books get pirated. Now the movie's being pirated before it's even been made.

I mentioned last week that I really wanted a good chick lit book, and I mentioned that I bought a book for my birthday. The book was a British import that's finally made it to the States, Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (a pseudonym, as that's actually the name of the character).

There are a lot of parallels between this book and Bridget Jones's Diary. Both books started as newspaper columns and both are told in non-standard narrative forms. Bridget Jones's Diary is told entirely through Bridget's diary entries, complete with a running tally of calories, weight and cigarettes. Holly's Inbox is told entirely through e-mails. There are even some plot element similarities, including the gay best friend, the slutty, foul-mouthed best friend, the smooth-talking guy at work, the guy from her past, and the bitchy co-worker.

But they're still different books with entirely different themes. Holly's Inbox may have all the chick lit cliches or elements of classic chick lit, but that's why I liked it. I've been wanting to read a book like that for ages, rather than what's been available in that genre lately. What little is left of the genre has been more along the lines of "Being a mother is hard" and "My perfect life fell apart when my husband left me." No thank you. Give me a single girl in the city with an annoying job, crazy friends and trouble with men.

I think the plot might have been a bit stale if told in normal narrative, but the fun thing about limiting it to e-mails sent from and received by the heroine as she sits at the reception desk of a financial services firm (with a couple of dips into other people's inboxes) is that you sometimes have to read between the lines to figure out what happened. She gets interrupted while writing messages and has to spread the story out over the day, or she may tell different aspects of what happened to different people and you have to piece together the story. I think my favorite parts were the messages from her grandmother, who's just discovered the Internet access in her retirement home. It's a massive monster of a book, but it reads pretty quickly because the e-mail format means there's lots of white space.

I've always loved books written in diary, journal or letter form, and I've even tried it, but the form doesn't lend itself well to plot-driven books with lots of action because it's all telling and loses the immediacy. If someone's writing this stuff down, then you know the crisis has to be over. The focus has to be on the character and the character's voice. I'd love to see a book done in blog form, complete with comments. I've read one that was supposedly a blog, but it was written as though all the events had passed and now the character was telling them in her blog through daily installments, with the comments mostly stuff like "tell us more!" What would be really fun would be a blog playing itself out day-by-day, with the commenters as secondary characters and really interacting. Or maybe I should start a blog like that and see if it gets sold as a book. It's happened for non-fiction, so why not for a fictional blog? Like I have time for that sort of thing ...

I feel like I've been working on the ending of this book for weeks. I wrote about 3,000 words yesterday, most of which are total replacement for what I had, and I think I have at least that much more to go. Maybe I'll get it done today, but it seems like it keeps expanding as I get closer to the end. I know I'll have to do some tinkering with what I've done because right now I'm mostly focusing on the choreography, just the who did what, when and where. I'll need to add things like description and emotional reaction. But I do think all this tinkering is worth it because this may be the best I've written, and I'd like it to see the light of day. It won't if the ending doesn't hold up to the rest of the book. So, after I post this I'll be hauling the computer downstairs and forcing myself to work the rest of the day.

I do think I've discovered the right trick for the early-morning walk: eat breakfast first. When I walk before breakfast, I end up tired and starving all day, but today I ate first, and I seem to have more energy while not being nearly as hungry.

Meanwhile, I had yet another one of those coincidences happen where I encountered something I've been thinking about elsewhere. Last week, I was talking about happy endings and how I define them, with one of my examples being the movie Casablanca, which I think would have actually had more of a downer ending if the couple had ended up together, and them making the right choice was what made it a happy ending for me. Well, more than a week ago, I found out that the city library system had a Connie Willis book I hadn't yet read, one I'd never seen in stores, and I put it on hold to pick up in my neighborhood branch. I read it late last week, and it totally fit the discussion of happy endings.

The book is Remake, and it has a semi-cyberpunk sensibility to it. It takes place in a near-future Hollywood where they don't make movies anymore. They just remake the same movies over and over again, making digital changes, recasting with digital versions of other actors -- like Sylvester Stallone starring in Ben Hur. They also digitally change movies to remove things that have become offensive, like smoking. And they can give old movies a happy ending. Casablanca is cited as one that gives them problems in that area because everything they do to make the couple end up together ends up ruining the movie (one version has Nazis storming the airstrip and killing the husband, so Ilsa can go off with Rick -- which doesn't really work as a "happy" ending). The story kicks off when a girl arrives in Hollywood with stars in her eyes and a big dream. She wants to dance in the movies. Never mind that they don't make movies with live actors anymore, and no one wants musicals. There aren't even any dance teachers anymore, because of this. That doesn't dim her hopes at all, and she finds a way to do it.

The really interesting thing is that this book was published in 1995 -- before the Star Wars special editions that had Greedo shooting first and before the federal agents in ET were suddenly holding walkie-talkies instead of guns. It may have been written around the time that Forrest Gump managed to interact on film with a lot of historical figures (but given Connie's writing pace, it's possible she was already at work on this book before that movie came out).

We may not yet be at the point of digital mashups instead of new films, but there aren't a lot of movies these days that aren't remakes of some kind or another -- sequels, comic book adaptations, remakes, remakes of comic book adaptations, amusement park ride adaptations, sequels to amusement park ride adaptations, toy adaptations, book adaptations, etc. (Though, as someone who stands to potentially make a lot of money if a certain book is adapted for film, I'm all for book adaptations.) Interestingly enough, the movie with the most original story this summer was digitally created, so it's not the technology that's to blame. It's the lack of imagination.

Anyway, it's nice to see that I'm not alone in thinking that Casablanca has a happy enough ending without any help, and I now have a strange urge to watch a lot of old movie musicals with great dance numbers.

My productivity slowed yesterday, as I found myself a little stuck on what should happen next, so I went back and re-read the previous 100 or so pages and fixed a few things to set up the rest of the story. Now I think I'm poised to rock and roll today. I also made it through the homeowners' association meeting with only one homicidal impulse, which may be a new record (it's amazing how people seem to see that meeting as an opportunity for the Airing of Grievances, even though they can contact the board and the management company at any time to discuss their petty little problems, and it's amazing the things some people seem to see as a priority). I managed to restrain myself from acting on the homicidal impulse, and even with the petty gripe session the meeting ended early, so yay.

I haven't done a book report in a while, so I need to catch up here. A lot of my recent reading has been in young adult fantasy, so here's a rundown:

Flora's Dare by Ysabeau Wilce -- This is the sequel to Flora Segunda, which I read last year. I think this was an even better book with better pacing and more going on. What I've loved most about this series is the world building. It's really rather unique, in a sort of alternate-reality San Francisco that could be considered kind of steampunk -- horses are the main form of transportation, but there are mosh pits at the night clubs where the kids go to hear bands. The world is fully developed, down to a slang lingo among the kids, a fairly complex political situation and an interesting magical system. I'm assuming there will be another book because this one ended with a big twist, and I can't wait to read the next one.

Nation by Terry Pratchett -- I already mentioned this one, and I think it's utterly brilliant, a uniquely Pratchettesque spin on the post-disaster story with plucky kids rebuilding a society. It's funny, suspenseful and manages to be both heartbreaking and hopeful. This is the kind of book that almost makes me want to have kids so I could share it with my kids.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones -- I love the concept of this book: A magical world is forced to play host to tour groups wanting to play out the ultimate live-action role-playing game, and the world has to mold itself into fantasy stereotypes to do this. They're getting tired of all this, and when an absent-minded farmer wizard is chosen to play the role of "Dark Lord," it could either mean disaster or the way to end these games once and for all. I was initially expecting this to be a comedy because it does spoof a lot of the fantasy novel tropes, right down to the place names and character types, but it ended up being more of a dark, serious book. Once I got over the "but this isn't that funny" disappointment, I decided that darker tone was actually pretty appropriate because there were real consequences to this world. People did die, everyone had to disrupt their lives, towns were destroyed and the landscape was ruined, all to allow people to play out an epic Lord of the Rings type fantasy game. I'm not really sure why this was classified as young adult (or maybe that's just my library) because the wizard who is one of the main characters is an adult. The other main character is his teenage son, but it seemed like a lot of the threads and themes were more adult in nature -- not "adult" in the sense of sex and violence, but things like taking care of the family, looking after the children, worry about the marriage surviving, etc. You don't usually get a lot of young adult books with significant amounts in the viewpoint of an adult who's worried that his marriage is in trouble.

At any rate, this managed to be a good combination of classic fantasy tropes and new twists, so I definitely got the "same, but different" vibe -- same enough to be comforting, but different enough to be interesting, and the "same" stuff was done with a knowing wink because the whole point of it was that it was what these fantasy fans expected to find in a fantasy world. I seem to have seen something somewhere (how's that for concrete and specific?) indicating that this was the first book in a series. The main plot is wrapped up nicely in this one, so I'm assuming the series is more about the ongoing development of the characters.

Last call for writing post topics. I may have to pull something out of thin air. I'm also in the phase of writing where I feel like an utterly talentless hack, so who am I to tell people how it's done (that happens during every book, when the wonderfully magical things going on in my head don't seem to make it onto the page).

I may have mentioned that I have a to-be-read pile that I could probably use to build a house. Some of these are books I bought because they struck my fancy at the time but that I haven't managed to read. Most are books that I got from publishers or at conferences or conventions. They aren't books I'd choose for myself, but I keep them because I hate the idea of getting rid of a book I haven't read. What if it turns out I like it and discover a great new (to me) author? Because the pile has become rather intimidating, I've set a goal this year to try to weed through it. I have to at least try to read some of these books, and if they don't really grip me, then I'm giving myself permission to donate or sell them.

I gave myself an easy start with books that I bought. I figure that if I chose them, then there had to be something about them that appealed to me.

Believe it or not, I had a Terry Pratchett book on the TBR pile. It hadn't been there long, just a few months, and I mostly hadn't finished it because it was one of the books about the wizards, and those can be chaotic, so they take a fair amount of concentration to read, and the time I started it was in one of my low-attention-span phases. But this time around I was in the perfect mood for it. The Last Continent is essentially about the Discworld version of Australia and had the usual number of laugh-out-loud moments. I'll probably have to re-read it to catch all the details.

Then I picked up one I've had for a little more than a year, after having it recommended ages ago. When I first met Connie Willis, she told me she was sure I'd love Dorothy L. Sayers and wrote out a recommended reading list for me, in the order I was supposed to read them. The first book on her list was Strong Poison, and wouldn't you know, that was the one my library didn't have. I finally found a copy at a used bookstore (I have no guilt for buying books by dead authors at used bookstores). I was waiting to be in the right mood for an old-fashioned mystery on the proper kind of day for it, and we did get a rainy spell, so I finally got to it. And I loved it. I have a minor literary crush on Lord Peter. I also now get more of the references in To Say Nothing of the Dog. The library does have the next book on the list, but as luck would have it, it's currently checked out. The next one after that is on my TBR pile after I found it at a church garage sale, so working my way through this series will help me narrow down the pile.

There was another one I tried but still haven't managed to get to the 100-page mark, I think because it's written in third-person present tense ("she goes, she does") and that's difficult to read. I may give it one more try before finally giving up. (And I don't name books until I've read them and can recommend them.)

Finally, there was a book that's languished on the TBR pile for about 19 years. I first found Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille the summer after I graduated from college, and the title and cover made me think it was sort of Douglas Adamsy (a la The Restaurant at the End of the Universe), but it wasn't, and since what I wanted was something Douglas Adamsy, I put it aside. Years later, in the post-Firefly phase, I pulled it out again because it sounded sort of Firefly-like (what with the mix of Western and Chinese), and it's sat there, mocking me, ever since. The cover describes Cowboy Feng's as a pub that offers the best matzoh ball soup and Irish music in the galaxy, and it travels around in time and space, always just ahead of nuclear destruction. It sounds kind of funny and quirky, but it's more of a serious book -- in tone almost like if Charles de Lint wrote science fiction (including the focus on traditional music). On that level, it was an interesting book that became a real page-turner. But I have to admit that I still really want to read the book that the cover seems to describe, and I would have liked it better (and probably read it sooner) if the cover and cover blurb hadn't promised something so different from what was inside. Then again, I'm not sure how you'd describe a book about traveling through time and space in a cross-cultural pub without it sounding funny and quirky.

I went to the library this week for the first time in about a month, so the TBR pile is getting a temporary break. This summer I'm looking forward to more TBR reading, since those are perfect swimming pool books.

I think I'm more or less back to what passes for "normal" around here. I'm almost caught up on TV I taped while I was gone, I've waded through all the e-mail and I think I'm even caught up on rest. The new walking shoes seem to have worked because I did a lot of walking without any blisters, and I came home without being all that sore. I also owe American Airlines a thanks for their greedy policy to charge for any checked bags because that forced me to travel lighter than I usually do, and that worked out very well. I didn't feel like I lacked anything, and it was nice not having to wait for bags. Plus, being so lightly burdened made it easier to get around. Normally, I take the subway from Penn Station (after taking the train from the airport) to the hotel near Times Square, but I arrived right at rush hour and didn't love the idea of being on a packed subway with luggage, so I thought I'd give walking a try. It was closer than I realized, and probably even easier than the subway because my bag's on wheels and just rolled along the sidewalks, while doing the subway means hauling the bag up and down stairs.

My airplane reading on the way to New York was the third Dresden Files book, Grave Peril, and while I really liked the first two, I LOVED this one. In fact, I was almost done with it at the end of the flight, and as soon as I got to my hotel, I sat down to finish it. I love Harry Dresden as a character because of his crazy chivalry. I'm a sucker for a guy who will always try to do the right thing, no matter what the cost may be, and especially if he's well aware of the cost and maybe even reluctant to do the right thing, but knows that he couldn't live with himself if he didn't try. But throw in Michael (was he in the earlier books? I don't remember), and wow. It's a trick to create a character who is so utterly pure and righteous and pious and not make him come across as a prig. He's a real person who is good through and through and still fun. I suspect a complete devouring of the rest of the series may be on the horizon.

My return trip reading was The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. My favorite Discworld story line involves the Watch, and I think I've now read all the Watch books to-date. And I think I'm even more in love with Carrot -- come to think of it, yet another pure and righteous character who manages to still be interesting. With him, I think it helps that his supposed simplicity makes him impossible to read, and he's usually presented from someone else's point of view, so you're never entirely sure what's going on with him. I love characters where you get hints of a lot of strength and power that isn't necessarily being used all the time, hidden behind a bland facade.

And, as usual after reading a Terry Pratchett book, now I find myself re-reading ones I read earlier that come later in the chronology than the one I just read because now I understand the references and it all takes on new meaning for me. That doesn't help with digging my way through the to-be-read pile.