Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 125
August 11, 2009
Anna de Noailles, "Verdun"
VerdunSilence cloaks this world-famous name:A boundless morrow wraps Verdun. There French men came, one by one,Step by step, by days, by hours,To prove their most proud, most stoic love.In the stygian test they have fallen asleep.Their trembling widow, immortal Verdun,As if to implore their transcendant returnRaises the two arms of her two high towers.Passerby, do not seek to praise the place
August 10, 2009
Fabricating a Plot-Generating World
The novel I'm currently writing for Harlequin Spice, tentatively titled The Duke and The Pirate Queen, is a sequel to my first book for the line, titled The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.The books are set in a fantasy world that's loosely based on our own; the cultures depicted in The Duchess were mostly similar to eighteenth-century Europe, but the characters also visited a more
August 9, 2009
Pictures - The Palais
These pictures are of the Palais, where most of the Worldcon programming is being held.
Montreal Photos from Up High
View of the river, from the tower atop the Olympic Stadium.View from the tower atop the Olympic Stadium.View from observation area of the archaeology museum in Montreal.
Montreal Sunday
This is the first time I've been able to get through with wireless for a while, and it wasn't easy.Spent Thursday at the Botanical Gardens, five and half hours worth of walking--the picture above is from the Chinese Garden. Friday I did three panels and a reading. Saturday was hanging out and talking to people, including catching up with Wen Spencer about her time in Japan; C. and I also went
Edmund Blunden, "1916 Seen From 1921"
1916 Seen From 1921Tired with dull grief, grown old before my day,I sit in solitude and only hearLong silent laughters, murmurings of dismay,The lost intensities of hope and fear;In those old marshes yet the rifles lie,On the thin breastwork flutter the grey rags,The very books I read are there--and IDead as the men I loved, wait while life dragsIts wounded length from those sad streets of
August 8, 2009
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, "The Fear"
The FearI do not fear to die 'Neath the open sky, To meet death in the fight Face to face, upright. But when at last we creepInto a hole to sleep, I tremble, cold with dread, Lest I wake up dead.--Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
August 7, 2009
Anticipation Schedule - Updated
This is where I am today!My Worldcon schedule, for August 6-10, 2009.Session ID: 269What's New in SF/F for Children & Teens: A discussion of what's new in science fiction and fantasy for kids.Fri 10:00 AM, P-510C, 1 hourSharon Rawlins (mod.), Susan Fichtelberg, Victoria JanssenSession ID: 201Author ReadingsFri 3:30 PM, P-521A, 1 ½ hoursEric Choi, James Cambias, Victoria JanssenSession ID:
August 6, 2009
Wednesday in Montreal
Wednesday was devoted to the Biodome and a trip up to the top of the Olympic Stadium via funicular.Alas, at the Biodome I did not catch a glimpse of the sloths, and also missed the otters. But I saw at the golden tamarins and a baby monkey with its mother, a lynx, many lovely tortoises, enormous fish, ducks, the back of a beaver, and penguins penguins penguins. After all that, we were too tired
