Marie Brennan's Blog, page 225
August 31, 2011
Bookday plus one
I neglected to mention before that With Fate Conspire will be a Main Selection for the Science Fiction Book Club's holiday catalogue. That means all four books of the series have been picked up by the SFBC, which makes me really happy.
Woke up this morning to an e-mail containing my Booklist review; I can't link to it, but I can quote Frieda Murray:
Also, I'm featured over at Mindy Klasky's blog, as part of the "Inside Track" feature, wherein authors go "behind the scenes" of their books. If you'd like to see me talk about the waltz I did with dates in this book, head on over there.
Woke up this morning to an e-mail containing my Booklist review; I can't link to it, but I can quote Frieda Murray:
Brennan's research is impeccable, and her pictures of a London not too well known on this side of the pond are first-class, as is the weaving of the human and fae settings. Her characters, both major and minor, are well drawn and memorable. Brennan's own fans, historical-fantasy fans, and lovers of classic fantasy will find this a must-read.
Also, I'm featured over at Mindy Klasky's blog, as part of the "Inside Track" feature, wherein authors go "behind the scenes" of their books. If you'd like to see me talk about the waltz I did with dates in this book, head on over there.
August 30, 2011
Let's get Conspiring!
Thaaaaaaat's right, folks . . . it's the street date for
With Fate Conspire
.
I don't mind admitting that I'm a little nervous about this one. I have a lot of reasons to be: it's the end of the series (at least for now), which always raises the questions of "did I stick the landing?" Also, it's my first hardcover release, which brings extra hopes and expectations. Also also, well, let's face it: this is a rough time for the publishing industry, what with Borders going belly-up. Nobody really knows what that's going to do to sales figures, but it's going to be rocky, that's for sure.
Which is by way of introducing a small plea: if you intend to buy this book, then sooner is better than later and in a store is better than online (unless you're buying the ebook, of course). And if you like the series, tell people about it. (Heck, tell people about it even if you don't like it! My ego will survive.)
Onward to the reviews!
Liz Bourke at Tor.com approves of the working-class and Irish bent of the book.
Cat Barson at Steampunk Chronicle reviews the book for fans of steampunk, and mostly likes it.
Sarah at Bookworm Blues hasn't read the previous books in the series, and also isn't a fan of faerie fantasy, but still enjoyed this one.
Also, I have the Big Idea slot today at John Scalzi's blog Whatever (which previously hosted a Big Idea for Midnight Never Come). And finally, SF Signal has included With Fate Conspire as one of the three contenders in their most recent Book Cover Smackdown.
Now I need to decide whether my professional duty to go see my book in the store is strong enough to overcome the incredible soreness of my quads . . . ah, the downsides of biking for such errands.
I don't mind admitting that I'm a little nervous about this one. I have a lot of reasons to be: it's the end of the series (at least for now), which always raises the questions of "did I stick the landing?" Also, it's my first hardcover release, which brings extra hopes and expectations. Also also, well, let's face it: this is a rough time for the publishing industry, what with Borders going belly-up. Nobody really knows what that's going to do to sales figures, but it's going to be rocky, that's for sure.
Which is by way of introducing a small plea: if you intend to buy this book, then sooner is better than later and in a store is better than online (unless you're buying the ebook, of course). And if you like the series, tell people about it. (Heck, tell people about it even if you don't like it! My ego will survive.)
Onward to the reviews!
Liz Bourke at Tor.com approves of the working-class and Irish bent of the book.
Cat Barson at Steampunk Chronicle reviews the book for fans of steampunk, and mostly likes it.
Sarah at Bookworm Blues hasn't read the previous books in the series, and also isn't a fan of faerie fantasy, but still enjoyed this one.
Also, I have the Big Idea slot today at John Scalzi's blog Whatever (which previously hosted a Big Idea for Midnight Never Come). And finally, SF Signal has included With Fate Conspire as one of the three contenders in their most recent Book Cover Smackdown.
Now I need to decide whether my professional duty to go see my book in the store is strong enough to overcome the incredible soreness of my quads . . . ah, the downsides of biking for such errands.
August 25, 2011
(Re)visiting the Wheel of Time: New Spring
[This is part of a series analyzing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels. Previous installments can be found under the tag. Comments on old posts are welcome, but please, no spoilers for books from Knife of Dreams onward.]
It occurs to me that it's no longer accurate to title these posts "Revisiting the Wheel of Time," since from here on out I'm not re-reading stuff; I'm reading it for the first time. But calling them "Visiting the Wheel of Time" sounds odd, so we'll go with the parentheses approach.
The schedule, of course, has been one book every two months -- but Crossroads of Twilight being the wasteland that it is, and New Spring being so short (it isn't really; it's 122K, which is perfectly respectable, but svelte next to the usual doorstops), I decided to "double up" for this round. It was the right decision; there isn't really enough here to make me feel it would be worth that kind of pace.
It's an odd book, really, and occupies an odd position in the series: a prequel written while Jordan was mired in the deepest part of the bog. It started out as a novella, then got expanded to a novel; I know I read the original version, but don't remember exactly what it consisted of. (Did it start with Lan's arrival in Canluum? I feel like it might, since that starts with a line about "new spring," and it's also where Lan comes back into the story, after being largely absent for the first 200 pages.) Sometimes novellas get expanded by tacking on more material before or after -- and I'm pretty sure that's at least a big part of what happened here -- but I don't know if the novella material also got expanded or altered.
I'm also not sure who the book is intended for. New readers? There's so much in here that doesn't get explained in the least, like who the Aiel are and why the rest of the continent is at war with them; I don't even think the story gets around to explaining what exactly happened to Malkier until near the end of the book. Current readers? There's too much explanation of things that were made abundantly clear long ago, and on the flip side, there just isn't enough in here that's new -- that isn't expansion of things we'd already been told about in the main books.
I read this book in publication sequence for a reason; I wanted to see how it fit in with what Jordan had already written when it came out, with what readers had seen. It turns out that a whole lot of its plot is stuff he had already talked about. I recognize the impulse; you build up backstory in your head, it works its way into the book, then you turn it into a piece of short fiction, or in this case a novella and then a novel. (That's basically the sequence that produced Dancing the Warrior .)
But the risk, naturally, is that your readers say, "I already know this stuff." In this case, we knew that Moiraine and Siuan had been novices and Accepted together. We knew about Gitara Moroso's Foretelling and death. We knew Tamra Ospenya had sent searchers out to find the Dragon Reborn, and was subsequently murdered by the Black Ajah, along with those searchers. We'd even heard about the pond incident between Lan and Moiraine, and of course we knew he would end up her Warder. Furthermore, we knew that unless twenty years elapsed during this book, it was not going to end with Moiraine finding the Dragon Reborn . . . even though that's basically the central plot.
Mind you, Jordan didn't intend for New Spring to stand alone. It was supposed to be the first book of a prequel trilogy; the intarwebz tell me Book 2 was going to be about Tam in the army, finding Rand on Dragonmount, and Book 3 was going to lead up to the beginning of The Eye of the World. So the plot would have gotten resolution eventually. But what's the point? We know where it's going.
This is why the strongest parts of New Spring are the ones that haven't already appeared as backstory in the main text. I don't remember hearing anything before about Edeyn Arrel and her raising of the Golden Crane, her plans to marry Lan to her daughter, all the carneira business, etc. It is, of course, rife with Jordan's usual "lemme make up some weird gender politics" fun, but I still found it the most interesting part, because it was all new.
New not just in plot terms, but also character. Although there's definite entertainment in seeing wee!Moiraine, Siuan, and Lan (or at least less-experienced!Moiraine, Siuan, and Lan), those first two bear a regrettably strong resemblance to Egwene and Elayne, and to a lesser extent Nynaeve. They're all at the same stage in life, and in the same society, which is going to produce a degree of similarity; but really, at its root this is Jordan's usual difficulties with characterization -- by which I mean writing more than one kind of female character. Lan at least comes across as different. He and Rand share a particular flavor of hard-ass-ness, but that's because Lan taught Rand, and Lan's Malkieri upbringing and historical burden make his thoughts distinct from those of a Two Rivers sheepherder. I can't say I'm fond of the way his interactions with Moiriane go -- they're too heavily tinged with all the things I don't like about Jordan's gender politics -- but I do like Lan himself, and his part of the story.
Jordan was reportedly "disappointed" by how poorly New Spring was received. I sort of wonder how he expected anything else. He was ten books into an ongoing and ever-growing series whose pacing was swirling the drain; years were elapsing between volumes, and less and less was happening in each one. If the series had been coming out reliably, each installment a full meal of exciting plot, and New Spring had come out as a little side dish -- then yeah, fans probably would have loved it. But it felt like something we got instead of the next book, like the story, having stalled into a dead halt, was now going backward. There may be some interest in the other two prequel novels after the series is done, but at that point it's going to feel like the Dune continuations: milking the franchise for the last drops of cash.
I asked in the text of the cut-tag whether an author can fanfic himself. That's what New Spring comes across as, almost: canonical fanfiction. It picks up details from the text and tells a story about how they might have gone, putting flesh on those bones, just like I've seen people ask for in Yuletide prompts and the like. I have nothing against fanfiction (obviously), but in this context, I just find myself wishing this book had put together a new skeleton instead.
And from here we go to Knife of Dreams, at which point, for the first time since January 2003, I will finally resume forward motion through this story.
It occurs to me that it's no longer accurate to title these posts "Revisiting the Wheel of Time," since from here on out I'm not re-reading stuff; I'm reading it for the first time. But calling them "Visiting the Wheel of Time" sounds odd, so we'll go with the parentheses approach.
The schedule, of course, has been one book every two months -- but Crossroads of Twilight being the wasteland that it is, and New Spring being so short (it isn't really; it's 122K, which is perfectly respectable, but svelte next to the usual doorstops), I decided to "double up" for this round. It was the right decision; there isn't really enough here to make me feel it would be worth that kind of pace.
It's an odd book, really, and occupies an odd position in the series: a prequel written while Jordan was mired in the deepest part of the bog. It started out as a novella, then got expanded to a novel; I know I read the original version, but don't remember exactly what it consisted of. (Did it start with Lan's arrival in Canluum? I feel like it might, since that starts with a line about "new spring," and it's also where Lan comes back into the story, after being largely absent for the first 200 pages.) Sometimes novellas get expanded by tacking on more material before or after -- and I'm pretty sure that's at least a big part of what happened here -- but I don't know if the novella material also got expanded or altered.
I'm also not sure who the book is intended for. New readers? There's so much in here that doesn't get explained in the least, like who the Aiel are and why the rest of the continent is at war with them; I don't even think the story gets around to explaining what exactly happened to Malkier until near the end of the book. Current readers? There's too much explanation of things that were made abundantly clear long ago, and on the flip side, there just isn't enough in here that's new -- that isn't expansion of things we'd already been told about in the main books.
I read this book in publication sequence for a reason; I wanted to see how it fit in with what Jordan had already written when it came out, with what readers had seen. It turns out that a whole lot of its plot is stuff he had already talked about. I recognize the impulse; you build up backstory in your head, it works its way into the book, then you turn it into a piece of short fiction, or in this case a novella and then a novel. (That's basically the sequence that produced Dancing the Warrior .)
But the risk, naturally, is that your readers say, "I already know this stuff." In this case, we knew that Moiraine and Siuan had been novices and Accepted together. We knew about Gitara Moroso's Foretelling and death. We knew Tamra Ospenya had sent searchers out to find the Dragon Reborn, and was subsequently murdered by the Black Ajah, along with those searchers. We'd even heard about the pond incident between Lan and Moiraine, and of course we knew he would end up her Warder. Furthermore, we knew that unless twenty years elapsed during this book, it was not going to end with Moiraine finding the Dragon Reborn . . . even though that's basically the central plot.
Mind you, Jordan didn't intend for New Spring to stand alone. It was supposed to be the first book of a prequel trilogy; the intarwebz tell me Book 2 was going to be about Tam in the army, finding Rand on Dragonmount, and Book 3 was going to lead up to the beginning of The Eye of the World. So the plot would have gotten resolution eventually. But what's the point? We know where it's going.
This is why the strongest parts of New Spring are the ones that haven't already appeared as backstory in the main text. I don't remember hearing anything before about Edeyn Arrel and her raising of the Golden Crane, her plans to marry Lan to her daughter, all the carneira business, etc. It is, of course, rife with Jordan's usual "lemme make up some weird gender politics" fun, but I still found it the most interesting part, because it was all new.
New not just in plot terms, but also character. Although there's definite entertainment in seeing wee!Moiraine, Siuan, and Lan (or at least less-experienced!Moiraine, Siuan, and Lan), those first two bear a regrettably strong resemblance to Egwene and Elayne, and to a lesser extent Nynaeve. They're all at the same stage in life, and in the same society, which is going to produce a degree of similarity; but really, at its root this is Jordan's usual difficulties with characterization -- by which I mean writing more than one kind of female character. Lan at least comes across as different. He and Rand share a particular flavor of hard-ass-ness, but that's because Lan taught Rand, and Lan's Malkieri upbringing and historical burden make his thoughts distinct from those of a Two Rivers sheepherder. I can't say I'm fond of the way his interactions with Moiriane go -- they're too heavily tinged with all the things I don't like about Jordan's gender politics -- but I do like Lan himself, and his part of the story.
Jordan was reportedly "disappointed" by how poorly New Spring was received. I sort of wonder how he expected anything else. He was ten books into an ongoing and ever-growing series whose pacing was swirling the drain; years were elapsing between volumes, and less and less was happening in each one. If the series had been coming out reliably, each installment a full meal of exciting plot, and New Spring had come out as a little side dish -- then yeah, fans probably would have loved it. But it felt like something we got instead of the next book, like the story, having stalled into a dead halt, was now going backward. There may be some interest in the other two prequel novels after the series is done, but at that point it's going to feel like the Dune continuations: milking the franchise for the last drops of cash.
I asked in the text of the cut-tag whether an author can fanfic himself. That's what New Spring comes across as, almost: canonical fanfiction. It picks up details from the text and tells a story about how they might have gone, putting flesh on those bones, just like I've seen people ask for in Yuletide prompts and the like. I have nothing against fanfiction (obviously), but in this context, I just find myself wishing this book had put together a new skeleton instead.
And from here we go to Knife of Dreams, at which point, for the first time since January 2003, I will finally resume forward motion through this story.
August 24, 2011
a sewing question for the internets
I keep feeling there's some obvious way to make this simpler, but I don't know what. Maybe you, O Ever-Wise Internets, do.
I have a circular piece of fabric that needs be sewn onto the surface of another, larger piece. The circle is small (diameter ~3 inches) and has raw edges. Dealing with those is the issue at hand. Bonus points for a solution that minimizes the hassle if I have to remove the circle at a later date and transfer it to a new piece of fabric.
Option 1: backing fabric. Sew the circle to a backing piece, right sides together; clip the seam allowance, then flip it right-side-out, press it flat, slip-stitch the gap closed, and sew the entire thing on. Advantages: raw edges are tucked away permanently; patch can be easily removed and transferred at will. Disadvantages: the same problem I have any time I do the "flip and press it flat" thing, which is getting that seam to actually press all the way out, rather than leaving some amount of fabric folded inward. (Basically, making it look like V rather than W.) This is especially difficult on small items, like narrow bands or the aforementioned circle. Does anybody have general tips for making that work better? If there's a trick, I certainly don't know it.
Option 2: tuck the raw edges under. Much like above, except without a backing piece; I clip the seam allowance, iron it under, probably baste those edges into place, and then sew the thing on. Advantages: no trying to stick my fingers into a tiny interior to make things lie properly. Disadvantages: raw edges less well contained -- there may be fraying where I clipped things to make it lie flat -- and less robust if I transfer it anywhere.
Option 3: edge it with something. The question is, what? My machine can do overcasting, but that doesn't create a finished edge, just one that's less likely to fray. A ribbon or other such edging won't lie flat on a circle this small, so I'd have to take teensy little pleats or something, which, just, no. Whip-stitching the entire edge by hand seems like a pain in the ass.
I really do feel like there's a smarter way to do this, but my sewing experience is limited enough that I don't know what it is. Help me, o internets; you're my only hope.
I have a circular piece of fabric that needs be sewn onto the surface of another, larger piece. The circle is small (diameter ~3 inches) and has raw edges. Dealing with those is the issue at hand. Bonus points for a solution that minimizes the hassle if I have to remove the circle at a later date and transfer it to a new piece of fabric.
Option 1: backing fabric. Sew the circle to a backing piece, right sides together; clip the seam allowance, then flip it right-side-out, press it flat, slip-stitch the gap closed, and sew the entire thing on. Advantages: raw edges are tucked away permanently; patch can be easily removed and transferred at will. Disadvantages: the same problem I have any time I do the "flip and press it flat" thing, which is getting that seam to actually press all the way out, rather than leaving some amount of fabric folded inward. (Basically, making it look like V rather than W.) This is especially difficult on small items, like narrow bands or the aforementioned circle. Does anybody have general tips for making that work better? If there's a trick, I certainly don't know it.
Option 2: tuck the raw edges under. Much like above, except without a backing piece; I clip the seam allowance, iron it under, probably baste those edges into place, and then sew the thing on. Advantages: no trying to stick my fingers into a tiny interior to make things lie properly. Disadvantages: raw edges less well contained -- there may be fraying where I clipped things to make it lie flat -- and less robust if I transfer it anywhere.
Option 3: edge it with something. The question is, what? My machine can do overcasting, but that doesn't create a finished edge, just one that's less likely to fray. A ribbon or other such edging won't lie flat on a circle this small, so I'd have to take teensy little pleats or something, which, just, no. Whip-stitching the entire edge by hand seems like a pain in the ass.
I really do feel like there's a smarter way to do this, but my sewing experience is limited enough that I don't know what it is. Help me, o internets; you're my only hope.
August 22, 2011
photo organization software
Dear Internets,
What is your preferred program for organizing photos on your computer?
('Cause I need something better than what I've been using, stat. What I have been using = uh, nothing, actually, just the Windows file system.)
Thanks,
Nearly One Thousand Photos From Japan
What is your preferred program for organizing photos on your computer?
('Cause I need something better than what I've been using, stat. What I have been using = uh, nothing, actually, just the Windows file system.)
Thanks,
Nearly One Thousand Photos From Japan
August 19, 2011
Tadaima.
<is back>
<iz ded>
At some point -- when my brain has congealed once more out of its current liquified state -- I will post not only about my trip to Japan (which will likely take several posts) but about bilingualism and the difficulties thereof. Because I am freaking exhausted, y'all, and only part of it is the jet lag; a much larger part is the effort of spending twelve days attempting to function in a language for which I have only marginal speaking/listening ability and even less reading.
(A lot of you probably have the same impulse I do, which is to read any text put in front of you, because it's there. You wind up wishing you could turn that damned impulse off when the text is in scribbles the average local five-year-old could read more quickly than you. But you can't. Or at least I couldn't.)
Short form: Japan was indeed, to borrow a phrase, "oh-kamis-why-is-it-so-humid-melty-death-hot," but also awesome. I got to revisit a few places from my 2002 trip, and see a lot more new places, and there will, of course, be pictures. Major, major thanks go to![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380451598i/2033940.gif)
starlady38
and
kurayami_hime
, who served as our interpreters and guides, which I think is the only reason my brain didn't go into full-bore shutdown from language fatigue; both of them are hella more fluent than I am, and also guided me and
kniedzw
to an abundance of sights and experiences (the light-up at Kiyomizu-dera! Punk kaiseki! Beach party! Takarazuka!) that we would not have found our way to alone. We are grateful little ducklings.
And now to finish getting crap out of the way, so I can go to bed when this current spate of energy runs out.
<iz ded>
At some point -- when my brain has congealed once more out of its current liquified state -- I will post not only about my trip to Japan (which will likely take several posts) but about bilingualism and the difficulties thereof. Because I am freaking exhausted, y'all, and only part of it is the jet lag; a much larger part is the effort of spending twelve days attempting to function in a language for which I have only marginal speaking/listening ability and even less reading.
(A lot of you probably have the same impulse I do, which is to read any text put in front of you, because it's there. You wind up wishing you could turn that damned impulse off when the text is in scribbles the average local five-year-old could read more quickly than you. But you can't. Or at least I couldn't.)
Short form: Japan was indeed, to borrow a phrase, "oh-kamis-why-is-it-so-humid-melty-death-hot," but also awesome. I got to revisit a few places from my 2002 trip, and see a lot more new places, and there will, of course, be pictures. Major, major thanks go to
starlady38
and
kurayami_hime
, who served as our interpreters and guides, which I think is the only reason my brain didn't go into full-bore shutdown from language fatigue; both of them are hella more fluent than I am, and also guided me and
kniedzw
to an abundance of sights and experiences (the light-up at Kiyomizu-dera! Punk kaiseki! Beach party! Takarazuka!) that we would not have found our way to alone. We are grateful little ducklings.And now to finish getting crap out of the way, so I can go to bed when this current spate of energy runs out.
August 10, 2011
Also!
Almost forgot this. (Technically it's now the 11th where I am, but I'm pretty sure it's still the 10th for most of you, so it isn't exactly late.)
The last excerpt from With Fate Conspire is up; one last scene apiece for our protagonists. You can read those, or start at the beginning and read the whole thing.
(But be warned: the excerpt skips over some intervening bits, so as to focus on Eliza and Dead Rick; when you pick up the book, don't overlook those!)
Twenty days and counting . . . .
The last excerpt from With Fate Conspire is up; one last scene apiece for our protagonists. You can read those, or start at the beginning and read the whole thing.
(But be warned: the excerpt skips over some intervening bits, so as to focus on Eliza and Dead Rick; when you pick up the book, don't overlook those!)
Twenty days and counting . . . .
a quick open letter from the land of vacation
Dear Dad,
Thankyouthankyouthankyou for teaching me how to do the whole f-stop adjustment thing. OMG. I'm finally able to take the kind of artsy, short depth of field pictures I've been trying to achieve since, oh, 1997 or thereabouts. And some of the results are AMAZING.
Love,
your now exceedingly trigger-happy photographer-daughter
(P.S. to everybody else: if you have to come to Japan during the summer, aim for Obon; the special events make up for the way you melt to death in the heat and humidity. If any of my shots from the light-up at Kiyomizu-dera come out, they alone will have been worth all the suffering.)
Thankyouthankyouthankyou for teaching me how to do the whole f-stop adjustment thing. OMG. I'm finally able to take the kind of artsy, short depth of field pictures I've been trying to achieve since, oh, 1997 or thereabouts. And some of the results are AMAZING.
Love,
your now exceedingly trigger-happy photographer-daughter
(P.S. to everybody else: if you have to come to Japan during the summer, aim for Obon; the special events make up for the way you melt to death in the heat and humidity. If any of my shots from the light-up at Kiyomizu-dera come out, they alone will have been worth all the suffering.)
August 6, 2011
ジェットで出るの
So many icons, and yet none that are appropriate for Japan. Well, have Neuschwanstein instead.
Heading out tomorrow morning for vacation. Like, an honest-to-god, picture-taking, sightseeing, hang-out-with-
starlady38
-and-
kurayami_hime
kind of trip. We'll be hitting Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Nagasaki, and I will find out if I've buffed my Japanese language skills up to survival level or not (my guess: not), and it will all (I hope) be lovely.
. . . I don't feel remotely ready. But as I've been telling various people, I think that's because my brain's baseline standard for international travel has become "London trip," which is not a good comparison at all; by the time the fourth one of those rolled around, I could pretty much do it in my sleep. Last time I was in Japan was 2001, and it was for five days. Also I speak, like, 1/1000th of the language. So yeah, it looks less manageable. But I remind myself: so long as I have my passport and a credit card, most problems can be surmounted.
Back on the 18th. Until then, blogging will be sporadic at best, though I'll do what I can. And there will be pictures afterward, oh yes, there most definitely will.
Heading out tomorrow morning for vacation. Like, an honest-to-god, picture-taking, sightseeing, hang-out-with-
starlady38
-and-
kurayami_hime
kind of trip. We'll be hitting Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Nagasaki, and I will find out if I've buffed my Japanese language skills up to survival level or not (my guess: not), and it will all (I hope) be lovely.. . . I don't feel remotely ready. But as I've been telling various people, I think that's because my brain's baseline standard for international travel has become "London trip," which is not a good comparison at all; by the time the fourth one of those rolled around, I could pretty much do it in my sleep. Last time I was in Japan was 2001, and it was for five days. Also I speak, like, 1/1000th of the language. So yeah, it looks less manageable. But I remind myself: so long as I have my passport and a credit card, most problems can be surmounted.
Back on the 18th. Until then, blogging will be sporadic at best, though I'll do what I can. And there will be pictures afterward, oh yes, there most definitely will.
August 4, 2011
Signal Boost: Return of the DDoS
Originally posted by
deathpixie
at Signal Boost: Return of the DDoSFor those wanting to know more about the recent DDoS attacks, yes, it looks like it was the Russian government trying to shut down the dissidents again.
As I said last time, while it's frustrating not to have access, LJ is a lot more than a social network platform. From the article:
"LiveJournal isn't just a social network. It's also a platform for organizing civic action. Dozens of network projects and groups mobilize people to solve specific problems — from defending the rights of political prisoners to saving endangered historic architecture in Moscow."
So while I know many are considering the move over to Dreamwidth and other such sites, supporting LJ is a way we can help support those who use it for more than a writing/roleplaying/social venue.
Also, as a FYI, LJ is giving paid users effected by the outage two weeks of paid time as compensation.
(I don't know if my addendum is going to get carried over with that "Boost the Signal" button -- which, btw, is a beautiful little device -- but yeah. While I am likely to be fiddling around with my blog setup in the near future, I am not abandoning LJ, and one of my reasons is what's described above. This isn't a situation of "LJ sucks," it's "LJ is used heavily used in Russia for political activism, and those who don't like it keep attacking their platform." Perversely, therefore, every time they attack it, I get more determined to stay. I will likely set up something on my own domain, because I really ought to have my own blog directly under my own control, but right now, I have no intention of leaving LJ.)
deathpixie
at Signal Boost: Return of the DDoSFor those wanting to know more about the recent DDoS attacks, yes, it looks like it was the Russian government trying to shut down the dissidents again.As I said last time, while it's frustrating not to have access, LJ is a lot more than a social network platform. From the article:
"LiveJournal isn't just a social network. It's also a platform for organizing civic action. Dozens of network projects and groups mobilize people to solve specific problems — from defending the rights of political prisoners to saving endangered historic architecture in Moscow."
So while I know many are considering the move over to Dreamwidth and other such sites, supporting LJ is a way we can help support those who use it for more than a writing/roleplaying/social venue.
Also, as a FYI, LJ is giving paid users effected by the outage two weeks of paid time as compensation.
(I don't know if my addendum is going to get carried over with that "Boost the Signal" button -- which, btw, is a beautiful little device -- but yeah. While I am likely to be fiddling around with my blog setup in the near future, I am not abandoning LJ, and one of my reasons is what's described above. This isn't a situation of "LJ sucks," it's "LJ is used heavily used in Russia for political activism, and those who don't like it keep attacking their platform." Perversely, therefore, every time they attack it, I get more determined to stay. I will likely set up something on my own domain, because I really ought to have my own blog directly under my own control, but right now, I have no intention of leaving LJ.)
