Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 32

Working Wednesday, April 17, 2024

When I get so tense I can’t think straight, I pick up a crochet hook and do something ridiculously easy, something that’s all one stitch, and I get lost in the rhythm and that repetitive motion calms me down. In this case, it’s a sweater I’m making from an antique bed jacket pattern. It’s all double crochet in the back loop, and the only places I have to pay attention are at the back turn where I have to do two double crochets three times to make the turn, and the front edges where I put the double crochet in both loops. Just miles and miles of simple double crochet. Better than valium. I still have a long way to go on this one, but below is one I made twelve years ago, during another tense week. Great pattern.

What did you work on this week?

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/theo...

Argh Author: Deb Blake’s Wickedly Magical and Wickedly Dangerous

Our own Deb Blake has two reissues coming out. As she explains, “This month I’m releasing the prequel novella to my Baba Yaga series, “Wickedly Magical” [for only $.99], and the first novel, Wickedly Dangerous . . . . The remaining books will be coming out one at a time, every other month. Ebooks everywhere, and print on Amazon.”

Wickedly Magical: Long ago, in Russia and its neighboring countries, legends told of a witch named Baba Yaga. Some of the stories portrayed her as a frightening old crone who lived in a log hut that stalked through the forest on chicken legs. Others said she was an elemental goddess who was guardian over the natural world and the doorway into the mystical Otherworld.

As with all stories, some parts were true and others … a little less true. The Baba Yagas were powerful witches; that much the tales got right. But there was never just one, and they were neither good nor evil. Just very, very powerful. And very dedicated to doing their jobs, no matter who got in the way.

These days, the United States is home to three Baba Yagas: Barbara, Beka, and Bella. Each of them powerful, beautiful, and magical, and each with her own story – for of such women and deeds are legends made …

WICKEDLY MAGICAL is the prequel novella that introduced the world Barbara Yager, the oldest and most powerful of the Baba Yagas. Along with her dragon-dog Chudo-Yudo, she travels the Eastern United States in an enchanted Airstream trailer, fulfilling her duties as a Baba Yaga and avoiding normal humans, until one comes to her with a request she can’t turn down. See how it all started, in this story of debts owed, promises kept, and justice administered the Baba Yaga way.

Wickedly Dangerous: Known as the wicked witch of Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not one woman, but rather a title carried by a chosen few. They keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world, but don’t make the mistake of crossing one of them…

Older than she looks and powerful beyond measure, Barbara Yager no longer has much in common with the mortal life she left behind long ago. Posing as an herbalist and researcher, she travels the country with her faithful (mostly) dragon-turned-dog in an enchanted Airstream, fulfilling her duties as a Baba Yaga and avoiding any possibility of human attachment.

But when she is summoned by a woman desperate to find her missing child, Barbara suddenly finds herself caught up in a web of deceit and an unexpected attraction to the charming but frustrating Sheriff Liam McClellan.

Now, as Barbara fights both human enemies and Otherworld creatures to save the lives of three innocent children, she discovers that her most difficult battle may be with her own heart.

Buy at
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple

Author Links:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/deborahblake
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debor...
Newsletter: http://dld.bz/dWEQs
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/deborahblake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborah.blake
Blog: http://deborahblake.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deborahblak...
Website: http://deborahblakeauthor.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Bio
Deborah Blake is the author of the Baba Yaga Series from Berkley (Wickedly Dangerous, Wickedly Wonderful, Wickedly Powerful), as well as the Broken Rider Series, the Veiled Magic series and the cozy mystery Catskills Pet Rescue series. She has written over a dozen books on modern witchcraft with Llewellyn Worldwide, along with a tarot and an oracle deck. When not writing, Deborah also works as a tarot reader, and energy healer. She lives in a 130-year-old farmhouse in rural upstate New York with various cats who supervise all her activities, both magical and mundane.

Crusie’s Guide to Art, Lesson 3

Ironically, this was part of a wedding present in 1430.

“The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (The Hours) was commissioned for Catherine, Duchess of Guelders and Countess of Zutphen, upon the occasion of her marriage to Arnold, Duke of Guelders, on 26 January 1430.”
“Its 157 miniatures are by the gifted Master of Cleves (active ca. 1435-60), who is named after this book. This manuscript is his masterpiece.”

But to really appreciate this, you have to see the entire illustration:

More Happiness–Kali–and Admin

Happiness: Jan’s Kali

Admin: I am having massive computer problems, so if I am absent or get behind on posts, no worries. I’ll figure it out.

Happiness is Perspective

I’ve been in what has felt like a constant state of panic stress, and last night I just hit the wall. After I picked myself up, I had the first really coherent thought I’d had in a week:
What if I didn’t do any of the stuff I was trying to do?
Would I get arrested? No. My accountant files an extension and I get the tax stuff to him this week.
Would I go bankrupt? No. None of this has to do with finances or anything legal. Except for the taxes. See above.
Was anybody going to die? No. Bob would scream about the books, but he knew the job was dangerous when he took it.
So basically, I was freaking over being late on stuff and having a complete lack of organizational skills and focus, i.e., my life as usual.
Yeah, I stopped panicking and read an old Agatha Christie country house murder because I have a big chunk of my Christie homage already written. So I was working. Kinda.

Happiness is gaining some perspective.

What made you happy this week?

Flashbacks: Why You Should Never

So aside from dealing with taxes and trying to rescue stuff from my screen-defunct computer, I’m also working on cleaning up my stuff in Rocky Start which is all detail work so I still don’t have stuff like the Egg Cups transferred over. But I did find one of our discussions about flashbacks which lays out why Bob loves them and I hate them, and I thought you might be distracted by picking a side and wading in.

Crusie’s Guide to Art, Lesson One

This, of course, is St. Lucy or St Lucia, patron saint of writers, among other things, painted by Francesco Del Cossa, sometime in the 1400s (nobody’s sure). One of my favorite paintings ever of my favorite saint.

This is a Good Book Thursday, April 11, 2024

This week I read the instructions for a Janie Crowfoot afghan, a lot of cashew chicken recipes, and started reading the screenplay for Good Omens.

What did you read this week? For pleasure, I mean. (I really enjoyed reading those cashew chicken recipes.)

Working Wednesday, April 10, 2024

This week I cracked my laptop screen, had a new laptop overnighted, tried to get everything transferred over (the Egg Cups of the Damned series did not m make it over. Yet.), worked on Rocky Start, and tried to talk Bob out of dragon zombies. I’m exhausted.

How did work go for you this week?

Crusie’s Guide to Art, Lesson 2

So a long time ago–2014–I put up a series of classic paintings with captions and I just found them again. I put the first one up on Facebook last week, and now, by a miracle, I managed to transfer them to this new computer (which is fabulous and I’m loving it although my savings account took a hit) so since I’m putting them up on FB, I figure I should put them up here, too. (I’ve also found some other things, writing stuff, that if I can wrangle them into blog posts, I’ll put up here. Assuming anybody is still interested in anything I have to say about writing. By now, you’ve heard it all, I think.)

Where was I? Right. Here’s my interpretation of The Vision of Catherine of Aragon by Henry Fuseli.

I’ll put the first one up later this week (Saturday?).