Liz Williams's Blog, page 59

Sea dragons of Avalon

Via jaylake, for which much thanks:

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/05/sea_dragons_of_avalon_2009.php

I'm still re-reading Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON and am at the bit where Pellinore goes off to slay a long wyrmy slimy dragon. I know this is in the Arthurian canon, but always found it a rather odd mention in the MOA series, which is heavy on deities but not on beasts. No more am I unconvinced! Pellinore's dragon is clearly an ichthyosaur.

A day in Tintagel

We've been down to Cornwall for 24 hours - wild and windy, with thundering seas off the north Cornish coast. In Merlin's Cave, the whole cave floor was covered with a shivering mass of foam, like something out of Dr Who, and when the wind changed direction, it flew out of the cave mouth in gobbets. We stayed at the wonderfully eccentric Castle Hotel, which you can see here:

http://www.camelotcastle.com/

- about as close to the sea as you can get without falling in. This morning, we headed up onto

Good luck....

....for the launch today! You know who you are.

Mid-week

Most of my day has been spent in Bath on an induction session for the new job, which all seems to be going smoothly. It's very damp out, however - most of Bath was lost in the mists.

Other than work, my week has seen a conversation with Geoff Ryman about revisions for a short story he's publishing, and if anyone's been wondering what's been happening with DIARY OF A WITCHCRAFT SHOP, the synopsis has gone off to a potential publisher. We'll see what they think and take it from there. My writing ti

Star Trek

A fistful of spoilers, soMcCoy was very good. In fact, all the cast were pretty good. I am entertained that Uhura and Spock are one another's love interest rather than Kirk. I was very amused indeed by the chase sequence on the planetoid, bringing to mind an old cartoon in OMNI which featured a multi-tentacled thing in pursuit of a multi-eyeballed thing and a passer-by remarking "It's just one goddam thing after another these days."

The plot? Yes, well. As we say in this household, we will speak

Tall Stout Man

Anyone interested in Stonehenge might find this of interest:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1180243/The-king-Stonehenge-Were-artefacts-ancient-chiefs-burial-site-Britains-Crown-Jewels.html

OK, this is partly why...

...I've never had any urge to have children:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/newsbeat/newsid_7961000/7961224.stm

Red hot salesperson

Obviously, we want to sell stuff. We try to be attentive to our customers, but I don't like doing the hard sell - it's not suitable to what we are about - and occasionally, I just have to talk someone out of buying something.

Like the young man who just came in with a small child in tow, who decided (despite the words 'medicinal' and 'magical' being deployed) that the herbs must all be for cooking. His choice for culinary experimentation? Wormwood.

I have had to say: trust me. You really DON'T..

F-list

Quite a number of new folk on the f-list, so do feel free to introduce yourselves if you wish.

I must also apologise to some folk whom I thought I'd friended, but hadn't.

And another photo

...the unspeakable truth about what lurks beneath a Morris Man's skirt: