Marie Brennan's Blog, page 252

another question for the dog people

I know there are a lot of factors that will influence the answer to this question -- dog breed, environmental conditions, etc -- but as a generalized thing, how long after a trail is laid down can a dog follow it by scent?

10 days, and helping Pakistan

Ten days until A Star Shall Fall hits shelves. The last pre-publication goodie will come in a few days, but I have something else for you: another Onyx Court secret history auction. The help_pakistan community is raising funds for relief after the flooding over there, so I'm offering "authorial fanfic" of the Onyx Court series; you pick the historical person or event, and I tell you what the faeries had to do with it.

(Confidential to CEPetit: if you want an actual story about that thing you...

Holy Boggan Deathmatch, Batman!

Spent most of this evening working on a sekrit costume project.

In all those hours, there was only one outbreak of profanity.

Dude, this never. happens. Normally I'm swearing before the first hour is up. But I was probably a good four hours in before I busted out the four-letter words, and it only lasted a few seconds, and the thing is almost done, and it looks awful perty, and if the one thing I'm really worried about doesn't happen then this will have been the most successful Boggan Deathma...

Return of the Littlest White Belt

Started kobudo today, which means I'm a white belt again. We began with sai (class always begins with sai, I think), and I went off to the side with a brown-belt senpai to learn the basics; then a little while later, the sensei had everybody switch to bo -- except me. Which was fine: I said, and I meant it, that I was perfectly happy to spend the entire class in the corner practicing yoko-buri, the basic flip-out-flip-back move. I have to get that down before I can do anything else compete...

tarred with a single brush

Fred Clark of Slacktivist hits the nail on the head, with a rocket launcher: "Please forgive me for the actions of extremists I have never met who commit acts of violence that I have never advocated."

Happy 90th Birthday, 19th Amendment

As someone who wouldn't have been able to vote before your passage, I'm very grateful for your existence.

Onyx Court discussions continue

The third question in the Onyx Court dicussion series has been posted; this time, it's about mortal and faerie love.

Previous questions (time and pov and the role of London) are still open on the sirenscon LJ.

The Littlest Green-and-White Belt Gives the Gimpy Feet the Finger

Despite the broken toe, I went to my belt test on Friday. Yeah, possibly that wasn't the best idea, but I'm annoyed enough by the time I missed due to the ankle surgery; the thought of waiting until September to test because of my stupid pinky toe was just not acceptable. (Not to mention that missing class Monday and Wednesday to let the bone start healing produced a noticable downswing in my mood; I'm book-stressed right now, and need my exercise to counter.)

I was particularly eager for th...

more review bouncy

Marissa Lingen on A Star Shall Fall.

I've already admitted to her in private, and don't mind repeating here, how relieved her review made me. Why? Because she's a scientist, and I've been biting my fingernails over how the way I handle science in this book will be received. I've got at least two major factors complicating it, one being that I'm actively trying to grapple with the issue of how magic and science interrelate (or don't), and the other being that I'm doing it in the context of e...

This is your friendly neighborhood 16th calling

Over at SF Novelists, I get my rant on again, this time about subjects ranging from armor in Dragon Age to Wonder Woman's lack of pants: T&A on Parade.

As usual, comment over there; no registration is needed.