Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 355

Busy busy. Also, cookies!

I’ve had a pretty busy couple of days, though honestly they’ve been the kind of day where you seem to be doing stuff all the time and yet at the end of the day you haven’t got much to show for it. I suppose we all have days like that.

Anyway! Today I wasted an hour and a half driving to a dog show. And an hour and a half back. I was so peeved, because Honey needs just one (1) point to finish her championship, and there were only two bitches entered, so it was a one point show and she just had to beat this one other bitch. And then the other bitch didn’t show up! Aargh!

I’m going back tomorrow, though. Because there are two dogs, so one of them will get a point. If Honey beats the Winners Dog and gets Best of Winners, she would get his point. This is called a crossover point. It’s rather unusual for a young bitch to beat a mature male, but I think it could conceivably happen this time. Neither of the dogs at this show is particularly great. One has no coat to speak of — I can’t think what can have happened to give a male Cavalier such a short coat, he might as well be a Welsh Springer, seriously — and he also has a rather plodding manner in the ring; the other has a nice head and decent body and a showy attitude, but only a snippet of white instead of a full blaze and (more important to me) a very visible movement fault. Now, Honey has white showing in one eye (in Cavaliers, the sclera is supposed to be pigmented, so that’s a cosmetic fault on a par with lacking a full blaze) and, of course, she is still rather puppyish in both head and body. But she has great movement and a charming, lively attitude. So it will all depend on what the judge prioritizes. A head judge will probably put the no-blaze male up, but a movement/structure judge should go for Honey. Or a fault judge, the kind of judge who just puts up whatever dog has the fewest obvious faults regardless of his actual quality, might say “No blaze! White eye!” and put up the plodder. I don’t know about this judge, so I’ll have to show to her to find out what she likes. I will certainly be taking notes about what she does.

Anyway, I really did not feel like working on my current WIP today. Technically I should be revising MOUNTAIN for Navah at Saga Press. And I will! Before Christmas if I am fairly on the ball, or by the middle of January at worst, I should think. But not tonight. Tonight I made cookies, because, you know, priorities.

I don’t think I’ve ever posted this recipe before, and it’s a favorite for both me and my mother, so you may want to try it:

CHOCOLATE ALMOND COOKIES

1 C butter

1 C sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp almond extract, which I realize as I type this, I forgot the almond extract. Well, the cookies are fine anyway. I just ate a couple to make sure. It’s a tough job, taste-testing cookies, but I’m willing to take one for the team. Anyway:

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

1/2 C baking cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 C mini chocolate chips

1 C finely chopped almonds

Additional sugar or demerara sugar

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and extracts. Combine the dry ingredients and stir in. Stir in the mini chocolate chips and chopped almonds. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill an hour or until you get around to baking the cookies. Divide the dough into fourths. Divide into fourths again. Do that once more and you will have 64 little balls of dough. Roll each into a smooth marble and then roll in the sugar or demerara sugar (if you want a slightly fancier cookie and more crunch). Flatten cookies gently with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes. Try not to overbake, but you don’t have to tell me about what a nuisance chocolate cookies can be. Try touching one gently at 6 minutes and seeing if it seems to be mostly set, and if it does, take that tray out. You may want to bake and cool one tray of cookies first and eat a cookie to see how they turned out, then adjust the timing.

Anyway, these are great, even if you aren’t ordinarily super fond of almonds.

An Interview with Tim Powers

So, here’s an interview with Tim Powers.

Where he gets his ideas

Powers’ books start with his recreational nonfiction reading. “I’ll be reading some nonfiction just for fun, a biography or history or a book on sailing or something. And some detail will snag me and I’ll say, well, that’s enigmatic. And then if I come upon one or two more snags, I think there are enough oddities here that there is probably room to hang a book on it.

“And then I’ll start reading obsessively on whatever it is, as opposed to just recreationally. While I’m reading, I’m looking at it as if I’m a cold case detective. Except, while a normal researcher would be trying to figure out what really did happen, I’m looking for an imaginary supernatural story.

Tim Powers is one of those uncommon writers whom I like a lot, but not as much as he deserves. I really enjoy his books while actually reading them, but seldom feel any desire to re-read them or pick up more of his backlist. I don’t know. It’s one of those inexplicable things.

Though he doesn’t make my personal top ten favorite author list, as I said, I’m not sure why not, because objectively I think he is probably one of the top fantasy authors writing today. He writes secret history, the kind of story where the real facts about what happened often have unknown, secret, supernatural cause. His books are dense and complicated. I really should put DECLARE on my re-read list. I mean, listen to this:

Philby “had been seen on the Turkish-Soviet border under really unexplainable circumstances,” Powers said. Philby had been very close to his father, who had been an early explorer of the Arabian desert and possibly discovered the lost city of Wabar (also known as the “Atlantis of the Sands“). Both Philby and his father “had a real weird attitude toward Catholicism and baptism.” Philby’s father converted to Islam.

Despite their close relationship, Philby “wasn’t terribly upset” when his father died. But Philby was “devastated” when his pet fox died.

“And the fox used to drink whiskey and smoke a pipe,” Powers said.

“And so I figure, you’ve got a lot of stuff in the Arabian desert, you’ve got the facts of Philby and his father both being very averse to baptism, you’ve got the lost city of Wabar, you’ve got possible reincarnation of the father into a fox.

Obviously, reincarnation of his father into a fox! Yeah, I really should re-read DECLARE.

African empires

Just found several cool posts.

For example, here’s one at Black Gate about medieval civilizations on the Horn of Africa.

Due to its location on the Red Sea, the northern Somali region has always been part of an international trade network. For many centuries, however, the main focus of the trade was in what is now Eritrea, which was the coastline of successive Ethiopian empires that traded with Egypt and out into the Indian Ocean. Two eastern outlets are in what’s now Somaliland, the port of Zeila and Berbera. Trade routes led east from the Ethiopian highlands and crossed a short stretch of desert to get to the coast. … Mogadishu at this time was one of the largest cities on the Swahili coast, with houses and mosques made of coral and a thriving marketplace that controlled the trade in gold from the south. The Sultanate of Mogadishu, which lasted from the 10th to 16th centuries, built elaborate public and private buildings. Excavations have uncovered coins from China, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. A large weaving center made cloth for Egyptian and Syrian markets. Silver coins minted in Mogadishu have been found as far away as the Persian Gulf.

Houses made of coral! How about that? Here’s a detail of a coral house in Mogadishu:

Then here’s another post from Black Gate, about Axum, an ancient empire in Ethiopia.

Axum is a little-known civilization. It didn’t leave much in the way of writing and its sites have not been extensively excavated. Even its capital city has been little explored. We do know that it was founded in the fourth century BC and became a major power by about 100 AD. It came to control most of what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, and then hopped over the Red Sea in the third century to take over parts of what is now Yemen and Saudi Arabia. For a time it controlled trade through the Red Sea and acted as a link between the Roman Empire and India. Axumite coins have been found as far away as China. Greek writers noted Axum as one of the world’s great civilizations.

Here’s a reconstruction of a palace of Axum:

Also, I would bet that the Lion Hunter series by Elizabeth Wein — a great series, my personal favorite is THE SUNBIRD — is set in Axum. That is, it’s set in the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum, and that sure sounds the same to me.

The Goodreads Choice Awards

Oh, btw, were you aware of the Goodreads Choice Awards? I didn’t pay much attention to this last year, but this year I actually clicked through all the nominees and voted. Not in every possible category, because what do I know about picture books?

In some categories I voted for a particular book, and in some categories I voted for a particular author even if I hadn’t read the nominated book.

Apparently last year about 2 million people voted; this year that was up to 3.3 million. Wow.

The SF winter was THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir, which was the one I voted for, so I am happy about that. If you’re interested, you can click through and see the winners in all 20 categories.

An Awful Novel, Annotated

Okay, this is interesting: it seems that Jim Hines has gone back to his (evidently dreadful) first-ever novel, added comments Mystery Science Theater 3000 – style, and published it.

Jim Hines says:

[A]fter publishing ten novels and fifty short stories, I went back and reread Nakor’s story. I cringed a lot. I longed to reach back in time and punch 1995-Jim in the face for his clichés and mistakes and just plain awful writing he spewed out.

And then I decided to publish it. Alcohol may have been involved. If not, it probably should have been. I prepared all 50,000 words, along with an additional 5000 words of commentary, in which 2014-Jim gives 1995-Jim the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment.

Because I think it’s important to acknowledge the bad advice and the awful mistakes. We’ve all written crap. Some of us have written more than others, but none of us are born knowing how to write groundbreaking, bestselling novels.

I hope Spider Goddess will be good for some laughs, and that it might also help new writers to recognize and avoid some of the many mistakes I made.

Brave!

December might be a good month to explore history –

Quite a few really interesting narrative nonfiction or biographical or historical fiction titles have been accumulating on my wishlist this year; I’m starting to feel like it may be time to move them all to my Kindle and dive in. In chronological order:

At just twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of king in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular twenty-two year reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne.

I’ve always been interested in Hatshepsut, as who wouldn’t be? I know a biography that reaches so far back in time has to be fairly speculative, but still, I’m not really interested in doing historical research. Just in reading a good story that offers some plausibility and the flavor of the period. The Goodread reviews for this one by Kara Cooney are a bit uneven, and I see it is a bit less of a story and a bit more of a historical treatise on the topic. But it sounds worth picking up.

Next, here’s a new-this-year biography that sounds wonderful — I’ve always liked Augustus. We glimpse him from time to time in fantasy. For me, working historical figures into fantasy novels makes me a whole lot more likely to be interested in them as people. Do you remember CJ Cherryh’s take on Augustus in her LEGIONS OF HELL? Oddly, this was the only HELL book I ever looked at, though I liked it. Plus, Hatshepsut was also featured in this one — this may be the first time I heard of her. I see now that there are a lot of other books in this universe, though it seems that Janet Morris was the driving force behind this shared-world series and I am not generally that crazy about the kinds of stories she writes. Anyway, Augustus was also important in Gillian Bradshaw’s CLEOPATRA’S HEIR, remember that?

So, a new biography:

In this highly anticipated biography Goldsworthy puts his deep knowledge of ancient sources to full use, recounting the events of Augustus’ long life in greater detail than ever before. Goldsworthy pins down the man behind the myths: a consummate manipulator, propagandist, and showman, both generous and ruthless. Under Augustus’ rule the empire prospered, yet his success was never assured and the events of his life unfolded with exciting unpredictability. Goldsworthy captures the passion and savagery, the public image and private struggles of the real man whose epic life continues to influence western history.

Then there’s 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley, which was recommended at a panel at this year’s World Fantasy Convention.

Now in trade paperback, a gripping exploration of the fall of Constantinople and its connection to the world we live in today The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history, and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley’s readable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.

See that? “Gripping.” That’s exactly what the panelists said. But I don’t know: the fall of Constantinople might make for pretty grim reading, too. Gillian Bradshaw touched on this basic conflict in IMPERIAL PURPLE, though at that particular moment Constantinople won, of course.

And finally, how about Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose

Basing his tale on remarkable original research, historian Alexander Rose reveals the unforgettable story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed individuals who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all, George Washington.

Of all these books, this one has been on my wishlist the longest. I heard of this first from Chelle at Persephone Reads, and it sounds great — like a compelling read as well as a story that to brings history to life. I do think kids would find history far more appealing in school if books like this were worked into the curriculum, though I suppose that not just everybody wants to read a lot of books or reads fast enough, but still.

I don’t always look for a lot of historical stuff, but don’t these sound fascinating?

SF Titles that are just plain fun

I’m sure there is a wide selection of SF books that offer fun stories with low angst, that don’t take themselves too seriously, that give you clear cut Good Guys and Bad Guys, and all like that. Which is not to say that they can’t offer the occasional keen observation about the human condition or whatever, but basically the point is to offer a fun story where you can cheer on the hero(s) and not worry too much about deeper meanings. And I don’t necessarily mean deliberate comedies such as Connie Willis’ BELLWETHER, which is really funny and if you haven’t read it, you might look it up, but at a deeper level that one is a more serious satire.

No, I mean stories like Bujold’s THE WARRIOR’S APPRENTICE, which is the Vorkosigan book I’d suggest first to someone who was just starting with Bujold’s SF series.

Not to be hyper-critical, btw, but this new cover doesn’t do much for me. Random space battle? Whatever. I’m really surprised LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD can’t get better covers than this by now.

But moving on, moving on. SHARDS OF HONOR is a great book and sure, you could start there, but the whole bit where Miles and friends take over the mercenary troop? That is just so much fun. I think this book is the most fun to read of the whole set — except maybe A CIVIL CAMPAIGN, and that’s a different kind of thing, really a comedy of manners.

Okay, another book that’s fun and definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously is 1632 by Eric Flint.

This is the original book in the extended multi-author series, the one where the small mining town zips back in time to 1632 and stuff happens from there. Lots of highly unbelievable stuff, but it’s delightful to read about, and hey, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden! What a guy! The rest of the series is seriously uneven in quality, which is hardly a surprise for a multi-authored world, but the first one stands perfectly alone and then you can wander through the rest as you like.

Another delightful story that has of course rather fallen off everyone’s radar by this time (it was first published in 1960. Wow.) is THE HIGH CRUSADE by Poul Anderson.

Here’s the summary from Goodreads:

In the year of grace 1345, as Sir Roger Baron de Tourneville is gathering an army to join King Edward III in the war against France, a most astonishing event occurs: a huge silver ship descends through the sky and lands in a pasture beside the little village of Ansby in northeastern Lincolnshire. The Wersgorix, whose scouting ship it is, are quite expert at taking over planets, and having determined from orbit that this one was suitable, they initiate standard world-conquering procedure. Ah, but this time it’s no mere primitives the Wersgorix seek to enslave; they’ve launched their invasion against free Englishmen! In the end, only one alien is left alive; and Sir Roger’s grand vision is born. He intends for the creature to fly the ship first to France to aid his King, then on to the Holy Land to vanquish the infidel. Unfortunately, he has not allowed for the treachery of the alien pilot, who instead takes the craft to his home planet, where, he thinks, these upstart barbarians will have no choice but to surrender. But that knavish alien little understands the indomitable will and clever resourcefulness of Englishmen, no matter how great the odds against them. . .

It can hardly get more fun than that. You don’t want to stop and really ask yourself “Yes, but is this actually plausible?” while reading this story. Of course you don’t. That’s not the point of this book, although in fact if you don’t stop and worry about everything, then the plot does roll out with surprising smoothness. This is probably my favorite book by Poul Anderson.

What are any of your candidates for fun-to-read not-too-serious SF stories?

Pumpkin, reprised

I’m sure you all already have your Thanksgiving menus set, but just in case you have urgent pumpkin needs, here is a post to fifteen pumpkin desserts that are not pumpkin pie! From Willow Bird Baking, a blog which is NOT, I warn you, your friend if you are on any kind of diet, especially a low-carb diet. Nevertheless:

PUMPKIN MAPLE PECAN ROLLS WITH PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE ICING.

PUMPKIN SPICE PULL-APART BREAD WITH BUTTER RUM GLAZE.

DRUNKEN PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD SNACK CAKE.

GOOEY “GERMAN” PUMPKIN SKILLET CAKE.

PUMPKIN STREUSEL SWIRLED CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE.

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE CINNAMON ROLLS. These look really good and are something I’m likely to make in the (very) near future, though probably not tomorrow.

SOPAPILLA PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE BARS.

LAZY PUMPKIN AND PECAN PIE POCKETS.

PUMPKIN TRES LECHES CAKE.

BROWN BUTTER PUMPKIN CAKE CHEESECAKE WITH SALTED CARAMEL. The name sucks you right in, doesn’t it?

VANILLA CUSTARD-SOAKED PUMPKIN POKE CAKE.

PUMPKIN AND PECAN PIE PASTRY BRAID.

ONE-SKILLET GOOEY PUMPKIN COOKIE CAKE.

PUMPKIN OAT CAKE WITH BROILED COCONUT ICING.

PUMPKIN PECAN STREUSEL BRAID.

Plus a link to last year’s amazing-looking non-pumpkin Thanksgiving desserts. I tell you, that that woman is an overachiever in the dessert department.

Enjoy!

Cool SF Links

Just thought I’d point out a few interesting posts from around and about:

First, at Rinn Reads, a cool If You Like ____ —-> You Might Like _____ post, leading from YA science fiction to adult science fiction. I don’t really differentiate that much between YA and adult in the first place, and not only that, I’m hampered by not having read many of the recommended on either the YA or the adult side of that post. But it’s a cool idea. You could do it by theme:

If you liked The Adoration of Jenna Fox —–> try … what? The Speed of Dark? That one is about what what it means to be “normal” or a “full” person, and about “playing God” by changing people.

Also, here’s a post about virtual reality at Oh, The Books.

Similarly, in Ready Player One, the OASIS becomes a main way of life for much of the developed world. Space is limited, and many people live in stacks upon stacks of trailers — not very comfortable living conditions. So, they step inside the OASIS, a huge virtual universe for them to explore. Many people work in the OASIS, and school is done completely virtually (each student gets a set of school-assigned visor and gloves!).

I’ve heard a lot about Ready Player One. Maybe it’s pinged my radar enough that I should go ahead and add it to my wishlist.

In a guest post at Fantasy Book Cafe a few days ago, Martha Wells recommended some older SF titles. Has anybody but me (and Martha Wells) read Mirabile by Janet Kagan? I really enjoyed all three (3) of Kagan’s books, including Hellspark and her Star Trek tie-in Uhura’s Song. Unfortunately, I don’t think she ever wrote any other books.

Cats . . . sort of

People do sometimes come up with curious hobbies. And luckily (?) thanks to the internet, we are likely to find out about them.

I mean, we all know that the internet is full of cat pictures and kitten videos. Why, I myself have been known to indulge in the occasional kitten video.

But check this out from tor.com:

This is a shark cat! Brynn Metheney, who creates critters for D&D and other games, came up with this concept and has done a whole selection of shark cats. Including a calendar, available (along with lots of other things) from her store. In case you think you might like a shark cat calendar for your office, say. I suspect it would be quite a conversation piece.

On the same theme, sort of, have you ever checked out The Worst Cat tumblr? Here is an example:

Welcome to the Worst Cats. Some people like all breeds of cat. But I think some breeds are just gross.

THINGS PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT The Worst Cats:

“Oh man I don’t like looking at deformed animals” – coworker

“I don[‘t think that’s a cat, Sara. How did you find out about this cat” – cat expert

“It looks like a combination between a cat, a dog and a pig. Is that what they look like when they’re newborn?” – friend

“That’s disgusting. Are you trolling me?” – computer expert

“That is a hippo” – someone who knows nothing about cats

This is oddly funny. I bet it won’t surprise you to know that someone then started a tumbr called “The Worst Hippo.” With, of course, pictures of cats. Some of the cats are pretty peculiar, even for cats.

Okay, I can’t leave you with a hippo, or even a shark cat. Let’s have a proper kitten: