Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 48
November 21, 2011
Basic Chicken Stock
In honor of American Thanksgiving, I give to you a week of receipes.
Basic Chicken Stock
One really needs a stock pot to make stock. If you use smaller quantities of everything, you can get away with a large saucepan. However, stock takes so long that the time spent isn't usually worth it, unless you're making a large amount. Or you have nothing to do but cook.
Ingredients:
–1 stripped chicken carcass (i.e., you've removed the skin and as much meat and fat as you can). This can be the...
November 20, 2011
"The Volunteer," Herbert Asquith
The Volunteer
Here lies a clerk who half his life had spent
Toiling at ledgers in a city grey,
Thinking that so his days would drift away
With no lance broken in life's tournament:
Yet ever 'twixt the books and his bright eyes
The gleaming eagles of the legions came,
And horsemen, charging under phantom skies,
Went thundering past beneath the oriflamme.
And now those waiting dreams are satisfied;
From twilight to the halls of dawn he went;
His lance is broken; but he lies content
With...
November 19, 2011
On Not Attending
I have a post up at the Novelists, Inc. Blog on Non-Attendance is Also Useful.
November 18, 2011
Philcon 75
This weekend, I'll be at the 75th annual Philcon, held this year at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ. My schedule is here.
Principal Speaker: Cory Doctorow
Artist Guests of Honor: Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell
Musical Guest: S.J. Tucker
If you're attending also, I hope to see you there!
November 16, 2011
Philcon 2011 Schedule
This weekend, I'll be at the 75th annual Philcon.
Here's my schedule:
Fri 7:00 – 8:00 PM in Plaza III
"Story Openings"
Victoria Janssen (mod), Marilyn Brahen, Tim W. Burke, Ty Drago, Michael F. Flynn
If you cannot seize and hold the reader's (or the editor's) attention by the end of the first page, the rest of the manuscript might as well be blank. So how do you do that?
Sat 5:00 – 6:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Three
"It's Time To Play The Music, It's Time To Light The Lights… Meet The...
November 14, 2011
Can't Stop The Business
I haven't been written any fiction since the end of August – this was on purpose, to give myself a break and to read for research and to, well, just read. (I have been writing a lot of nonfiction blog posts.) But the business of writing doesn't really stop. (Unless, of course, you ignore your email!)
1. Soon I should be getting an editorial letter on my Spice Brief, which from initial comments, I think will lead to writing some additional scenes. I've been thinking about that a...
November 13, 2011
"The Superman," Robert Grant
The Superman
The horror-haunted Belgian plains riven by shot and shell
Are strewn with her undaunted sons who stayed the jaws of hell.
In every sunny vale of France death is the countersign.
The purest blood in Britain's veins is being poured like wine.
Far, far across the crimsoned map the impassioned armies sweep.
Destruction flashes down the sky and penetrates the deep.
The Dreadnought knows the silent dread, and seas incarnadine
Attest the carnival of strife, the madman's battle...
November 11, 2011
"Requiescant," Frederick George Scott
Requiescant
In lonely watches night by night
Great visions burst upon my sight,
For down the stretches of the sky
The hosts of dead go marching by.
Strange ghostly banners o'er them float,
Strange bugles sound an awful note,
And all their faces and their eyes
Are lit with starlight from the skies.
The anguish and the pain have passed
And peace hath come to them at last,
But in the stern looks linger still
The iron purpose and the will.
Dear Christ, who reign'st above the flood
Of...
November 9, 2011
Pintos and Pumpkin
I've never posted recipes in this blog before, though I did in my LiveJournal, a while back. This sudden urge to chat about food came from a Twitter discussion.
So in honor of fall, and pumpkins, here is my quick and easy recipe for Pinto Beans and Pumpkin. I like this one because it involves things I keep on hand. I'm not a total wimp; I have cooked beans from scratch; but oh, how I love the convenience of canned, cooked beans.
Pintos and Pumpkin
You might want something to go with...
November 8, 2011
Sarah Tolerance!
I had a new post up at The Criminal Element this weekend, on Sarah Tolerance: Fallen Woman & Regency Private Eye. It's an introduction to the series by Madeleine E. Robins, which has started up again after a hiatus. It's Regency/Science Fiction/Noir Detective. Really!
