Jennifer Linsky's Blog
October 25, 2022
Don't Hold Your Breath, But...
Talking with Miss OP about a really, really bad LitRPG book I reviewed a couple of years ago, I realized that there's a rather significant gap in the LitRPG genre -- which is to say, female MC stories with female-presenting authors.
Now, for a few years, I've been thinking of writing something along the lines of Tao Wong's System Apocalypse series / setting.
Now, don't hold your breath. I'm still chronically ill, I'm still prone to depression, I'm still highly self-critical. So it may never come to anything.
But I'm considering it.
Now, for a few years, I've been thinking of writing something along the lines of Tao Wong's System Apocalypse series / setting.
Now, don't hold your breath. I'm still chronically ill, I'm still prone to depression, I'm still highly self-critical. So it may never come to anything.
But I'm considering it.
April 2, 2019
Writing...
I wrote the first couple of pages of a new book today. Tentatively to be called Still, Life With Boobs; A Sapphic Memoir. Various people of my acquaintance have expressed interest in stories I've told, mostly on the late, lamented G+ site, about how I became who I am. So... I thought maybe I should mine that.
In the vein of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness , I'm writing it as the script for a graphic novel / manga. Of course, I can barely doodle a stick figure, so I'll need to find someone who's at all interested in drawing the pretty, pretty pictures.
Or, you know... not.
Anyway. The point here? I wrote some words. Yay!
In the vein of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness , I'm writing it as the script for a graphic novel / manga. Of course, I can barely doodle a stick figure, so I'll need to find someone who's at all interested in drawing the pretty, pretty pictures.
Or, you know... not.
Anyway. The point here? I wrote some words. Yay!
September 15, 2018
Saturday Scene, 15 Sep 18
There's a new Saturday Scene up on my official blog. Click through if you'd like to read it!
July 21, 2018
Saturday Scene: 21 July '18
It's just a Saturday Scene, but it's new writing -- click through to read.
March 23, 2018
Saturday Scene
I've written a new Saturday Scene in my official blog, if you'd care to click through and read it.
February 11, 2018
Reviewed!
Erica Friedman of Okazu does a tremendous amount for the literary, nerdy (otakui) members of the LBT community, which includes me. She's been kind enough in the past to publish my guest reviews of various Yuri (L/B) Anime, and now she's written a fabulous review of Flowers of Luna!
Thanks to Erica for the kind words and for feeling the book was good enough to bother reviewing.
Thanks to Erica for the kind words and for feeling the book was good enough to bother reviewing.
January 8, 2018
Wrestling with the Angel
So, I'm wrestling with a concept, and I kind of need some feedback from you, my readers. See, the thing is... one of my reviewers mentioned that he'd happily read Flowers of Luna all over again, if it was told from Hana's perspective.
And I've come to realize that if I had written the book from Hana's perspective in the first place, it would have been a better book. After all, as several people have pointed out, there's little external conflict in the story -- almost all of the conflict is internal to Hana, as she goes through one of the most basic struggles of Japanese literature: the struggle between what's right for her family / social group, and what's right for her.
So, on the one hand, I kind of feel like maybe I should crack open Hana's head and write inside of it. I think Hana's a lot less confident than she tries to appear, and my own anxiety gives me something of a window into that feeling.
On the other hand, I kind of feel like the story is done and told, and I should move on to something completely different -- the long-teased Little Sisters of the Dragonslayer, or The Delicate Art of the Sword, or... something. Anything but more Flowers of Luna.
So... wha'd'ya think?
And I've come to realize that if I had written the book from Hana's perspective in the first place, it would have been a better book. After all, as several people have pointed out, there's little external conflict in the story -- almost all of the conflict is internal to Hana, as she goes through one of the most basic struggles of Japanese literature: the struggle between what's right for her family / social group, and what's right for her.
So, on the one hand, I kind of feel like maybe I should crack open Hana's head and write inside of it. I think Hana's a lot less confident than she tries to appear, and my own anxiety gives me something of a window into that feeling.
On the other hand, I kind of feel like the story is done and told, and I should move on to something completely different -- the long-teased Little Sisters of the Dragonslayer, or The Delicate Art of the Sword, or... something. Anything but more Flowers of Luna.
So... wha'd'ya think?
November 1, 2017
Write-In Campaign!
It's a Write-In Campaign!
If you haven't voted for someone else already, please consider going to Goodreads, scrolling to the bottom of the Young Adult Sci-Fi / Fantasy section, and writing in Flowers of Luna .
No, I'm not under any illusion I'll win, but I could get enough write-ins to get noticed!
Thank you kindly for your consideration!
If you haven't voted for someone else already, please consider going to Goodreads, scrolling to the bottom of the Young Adult Sci-Fi / Fantasy section, and writing in Flowers of Luna .
No, I'm not under any illusion I'll win, but I could get enough write-ins to get noticed!
Thank you kindly for your consideration!
September 22, 2017
Saturday Scene for 23 Sep '17
Dr. Chlamydia Addams is Starfleet's Chief Medical Officer aboard the colossal starbase known as Vanguard. I did not create Starfleet, or the Addams Family, but I did create Doctor Addams.
Doctor Chlamydia Addams took a seat behind her desk, and her companion, the Zeta Reticulan spider known as Thing, sprang from her shoulder to disappear behind her. "Have a seat, Lieutenant," the Doctor said, indicating those on the other side of her desk. She tapped the surface of her desk, linking to the files generated by the scan she'd performed on the young woman a few minutes prior. She considered the results again, and looked across the desk at the woman. "You believe your arm is defective in some way?"
Lieutenant Gray shook her head. "I don't know how to describe it, Doctor. It's... it's not real. It's not mine.."
"You can touch it with the other hand?" Addams inquired. "You feel what it feels? In what way is it not real, or not yours?"
Lieutenant Gray held up the hand in question, flexing it, turning it. "It exists, yes," she said, quietly. "But... I left my arm, almost to the elbow, on board a burning freighter. This one...." she trailed off.
Addams made a thoughtful sound. "It's been three years since the incident aboard Sato Maru. In that time, the engineered tissues have undergone apoptosis at a natural rate, and been replaced with your autologous tissue. The muscle and bone are assimilating nicely, and the neurons have completely linked with your own nervous system."
"I know all that," the Lieutenant said with a sigh, lowering the arm again. "But I still can't shake this feeling."
Addams nodded. "What you're experiencing is not physical," she observed. "Which does not mean that you are not experiencing it, or that it is not real. It does mean that I am not the right person to help you. I am therefore writing you a referral to my colleague, Dr. Graves."
"A psychiatrist?" Gray asked, sounding unenthusiastic.
"A shrinker of heads," Addams said. She was tapping away on her desk, presumably writing the referral she'd mentioned. She glanced up, at the top shelf of the glass cabinet secured to the bulkhead, at a curio, apparently a ball of leather with some fiber sticking out the top.
Gray followed her gaze, and realized that the thing was a shrunken head. She paled.
"Usually not so literally," Addams said with a ghoulish smile. She tapped the desktop once more, and Lieutenant Gray's PADD vibrated in her pocket. "I'm sure you will find him quite personable, actually. And if not...." She glanced once more at the top shelf.
"Yes, ma'am," the Lieutenant said, getting to her feet and exiting the office quickly.
Addams sat in silence for a minute after the young woman's departure, regarding the shrunken head. "Ah, Thing," she said at last. "What trouble brains cause us."
Thing, for its part, declined to comment.
Doctor Chlamydia Addams took a seat behind her desk, and her companion, the Zeta Reticulan spider known as Thing, sprang from her shoulder to disappear behind her. "Have a seat, Lieutenant," the Doctor said, indicating those on the other side of her desk. She tapped the surface of her desk, linking to the files generated by the scan she'd performed on the young woman a few minutes prior. She considered the results again, and looked across the desk at the woman. "You believe your arm is defective in some way?"
Lieutenant Gray shook her head. "I don't know how to describe it, Doctor. It's... it's not real. It's not mine.."
"You can touch it with the other hand?" Addams inquired. "You feel what it feels? In what way is it not real, or not yours?"
Lieutenant Gray held up the hand in question, flexing it, turning it. "It exists, yes," she said, quietly. "But... I left my arm, almost to the elbow, on board a burning freighter. This one...." she trailed off.
Addams made a thoughtful sound. "It's been three years since the incident aboard Sato Maru. In that time, the engineered tissues have undergone apoptosis at a natural rate, and been replaced with your autologous tissue. The muscle and bone are assimilating nicely, and the neurons have completely linked with your own nervous system."
"I know all that," the Lieutenant said with a sigh, lowering the arm again. "But I still can't shake this feeling."
Addams nodded. "What you're experiencing is not physical," she observed. "Which does not mean that you are not experiencing it, or that it is not real. It does mean that I am not the right person to help you. I am therefore writing you a referral to my colleague, Dr. Graves."
"A psychiatrist?" Gray asked, sounding unenthusiastic.
"A shrinker of heads," Addams said. She was tapping away on her desk, presumably writing the referral she'd mentioned. She glanced up, at the top shelf of the glass cabinet secured to the bulkhead, at a curio, apparently a ball of leather with some fiber sticking out the top.
Gray followed her gaze, and realized that the thing was a shrunken head. She paled.
"Usually not so literally," Addams said with a ghoulish smile. She tapped the desktop once more, and Lieutenant Gray's PADD vibrated in her pocket. "I'm sure you will find him quite personable, actually. And if not...." She glanced once more at the top shelf.
"Yes, ma'am," the Lieutenant said, getting to her feet and exiting the office quickly.
Addams sat in silence for a minute after the young woman's departure, regarding the shrunken head. "Ah, Thing," she said at last. "What trouble brains cause us."
Thing, for its part, declined to comment.
September 8, 2017
By the Numbers
Well, it's all over now.
1615 people signed up for a chance to receive a copy of Flowers of Luna, and five people were selected... four in the United States, and one in Great Britain.
In the three days when the eBook was a free download from Amazon, approximately 250 people took advantage and downloaded it.
I hope that all of you who received a copy, whether physical or electronic, enjoy it. And I know I've been saying this a lot, but please... take a moment to review it on Amazon as well as here on Goodreads. It does make a difference in how Amazon deals with the book.
Oh, and yes; thank you. My birthday was very nice, also.
