Mantissa Etherbright's Blog: Mayhem and Angst

Sanguinity Doesn't Blog Here Anymore

... so I'm blogging for my wife today, and assure you she definitely said it's OK. It's about 9:30 on a nippy morning, and I've had my coffee.

Oh! Another man discovered that women write books, too! And a whole raft of them are written up here, compiled and curated by Mary Ann Sieghart: books by women that every man should read.

Obviously, every reader has their own taste and preferences. I found the above list interesting mainly because it only contains two books that I've read myself. (Am I thus poorly read?) It sticks mainly to highly popular "plain literary works", not genre work or hidden gems. If I weren't so sure of myself, I'd start to wonder if I should go back to the drawing board and replan my reading life. But, no. Sometimes I think people who want to find out more about the human condition should read more obscure work, not just the stuff that's uber-popular and like nearly everyone in the universe has read. (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter!)

Now, having said that, I'll probably have to come up with some examples. Here is a late spring grab-bag of books I liked, in no particular order, except for the first.

Dusssie (Nancy Springer)
Dawn (Octavia Butler)
Small World (Carol Deschere)
Virgin Soul (Judy Juanita)
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Olivia Waite)
Dear Wolf (Kathleen Sully)
Blanche on the Lam (Barbara Neely)
Langue[dot]doc 1305 (Gillian Polack)
The Devil's Grin (Annelie Wendeberg)
Searching for Von Honningsbergs (Rowena Wiseman)
The Cure for Summer Boredom (Katherine Luck)
Who Put Her In? (Jane Jago)

Mantissa's Lazy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone. It's a barely-gray day here in Santa Banana, and nothing is happening. The Head Rodent is currently napping, so I've commandeered his computer for a quick spin around the neighborhood. Darkness and Light (the cats) are both sleeping beside me and their dual purring is like the erotic hum of a Tesla... The stockings are all stuffed with oranges and hang from the mantel, above the remains of last night's Auld Lang Syne blaze.

Last year about this time, in January 2019, I was deludedly trying to give away some imperfect books. That went over like the proverbial lead balloon, so my crystal balls says you won't see that "opportunity" again any time soon. The imperfections are now all gone.

Today, while lying around listlessly drinking absinthe, popping dexedrine, and smoking opium, I did manage to rouse myself for a few minutes. See! Here I am! I finally spiffed-up my profile photograph, as my Grandma Pansy suggested long ago. That is, I re-cropped the original and brightened it slightly to bring out the orange. We'll see if the change helps improve sales. (We have our doubts, and the Head Rodent isn't taking bets: 2019 was another shut-out year for SROP, the third one in a row.)

Sanguinity also says, "Hello, and welcome to the twenty-twenties, where hindsight is going to be perfect, even if the planet burns to a crisp under the yoke of vicious capitalist dictators." Oh, wait... She didn't say that out loud... Did she?

Abra cadabra and tizzly, too.

Mantissa's New Year of Imperfect Books

Happy New Year everyone. I may be late to this party, but I have an excuse. As some of you may know, despite the robust health of my adorable muses, I haven't been writing a whole lot. But I have been proof-reading... And my report about that is a trifle sad. (Not as sad as, for example, the pathetic state of the union under kleptocratic rule, but a bit sad.) I refer, of course, to the sadness of typographical errors in printed books. Oh, alright... They're not sad per se because they're only typographical errors which are an abstraction even in books and they don't have feelings, but the existence of those typographical errors in those books makes me feel both sad and annoyed.

Yes, I have a mild case of typographicalerrorphobia or whatever it's called, and I can't abide having copies of my books on my own shelves if they have known typos in them, no matter how small. Is that weird? Perhaps so, but definitely not as weird as some phobias, I'm sure, but still...

I currently have copies of the following books on my shelves, each with [one or two] known minor typos in them.







Now that I have procured new copies which aspire to be typo-free, I'm trying to give away these imperfect books to good homes, for free. Postage included.

If you want one, just PM me and let me know where I can send one or more of them, as long as you don't live on the moon or somewhere else that would result in peculiarly high postage costs. The books are all in perfect condition, except that the typos are marked in pencil and they've been scarlet lettered on the lower edge. (The scarlet marks aren't visible when they're sitting properly on a shelf, only if they're slouching.)

Any of these mildly imperfect books that haven't found a new home by Valentine's Day will be torn apart and shredded before being burned at the stake.

Poetry in April

Hello my lovelies. Are you having a good spring so far? Mine is fabulous because the sun is shining and it's nearly 80 degrees Fahrenheit here in beautiful Santa Banana.

Anyway, the Head Rodent over at SROP told me I should make at least a small token effort to entice people to read my book of poetry during the month of April. Why? Because April is National Poetry Month, and also corporate censorship is in the air, so this might be your last opportunity to read anything like My Afternoon of Squeezing Persephone's Pomegranates. And also, I couldn't sell or give away any copies last year, so I'm totally in the rat house this year. Sad face.

Like all SROP books, EPUB or MOBI copies are absolutely free for the asking. Not sold in any stores! Get it hot while electrons last!

Waka of the Day

Walking in public
just makes me feel like I'm stoned;
I cannot maintain.
   I should walk more in spring rain.
   Maybe that will wash my head.

Free Poetry and Other Stuff

We are coming upon National Poetry Month and my publisher says I'm required to offer half a dozen free copies of my books to people who write in and request them. So that's what I'm doing. You don't have to ask for My Afternoon of Squeezing Persephone's Pomegranates, any of my books will do. If you want one of something please seek the Head Rodent at SROP and tell it Mantissa sent you. Apparently, physical copies of my work are so rare they must be ordered ahead of time so I can sign them. And apparently if I don't sign them lickety-split, they'll be burned on Beltane, May First.

The clock, she is ticking.

The Next Little Book is Light as a Feather

My next book is little. It won't have many pages at all, but it will have a handful of beautiful illustrations in it. It's just a few stories that are not about Greenpoot or anywhere else quite so modern. They take place in the remote mythological past. The title is projected to be How the Feather Sisters Came to Rule the Night, which is also the title of one story, so it has the subtitle and other tales of Lumeria.

Unfortunately, I have no idea when the book will come out, so please don't hold your breath! However, today the friendly and furry-faced folks at Smashed-Rat-on-Press revealed the tentative cover, which was news even to me. You can click on the little image to get a picture of the bigger image!

The Princess Has Landed!

Today is Beltane! My long-awaited princess has finally arrived... Now all my fans can buy thousands of copies! The paperback ended up being 84 pages, which is kind of long, for me. The Princess on the Rock is now listed in the Smashed-Rat-on-Press catalog for only $2.93, and the e-book version is also available for only a dollar... But I've heard that anyone can inquire at the speakeasy for free copies if they know how to contact the Head Rodent.

Have a wonderful May!

I Can Hardly Wait for Beltane!

The friendly and furry-faced folks at Smashed-Rat-on-Press have just announced the tentative publication date for my upcoming book! It's scheduled for release on Beltane, if you can believe that! (I think that's a really good omen for success.)

It's not a very long book, more of a novelette, really... But still, I'm so excited I can hardly stand still! You'll want to grab a copy right away, because this is going to be one of the grand 40th Anniversary special editions.

My Upcoming Thing Comes Closer and Gains a Cover

This is sort of a "meanwhile, back at the ranch" posting.

Just in case anyone is interested, the fabulous furry faced folks at SROP have just revealed the tentative cover design for my upcoming (very) short book, The Princess on the Rock. It is indeed related to The Maiden Who Turned to Water which was published earlier this year.

I've only finished the first draft and these guys already have a cover concept! How does that work? Well, honestly speaking, this kind of thing only works because the cover concept, title, and photo all predate the story itself. ;-) And just wait until you see what's inside.