Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 2

Busy Hands, Busy Ears

Mei-Ling Reads

As harvest season kicks in, I have been going through audiobooks rather fast.  Jim found us a collection of Brother Cadfael novels read by Derek Jacobi, who played Cadfael on television. Many of the novels are quite short.  The collection is not chronological but, since I’ve already read the entire series, that doesn’t matter as much.  Books I’m familiar with are particularly useful when part of my attention needs to be elsewhere.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  Finished, with issue 28.

Heroes of History by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  A short survey of history through the Reformation.

Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters.  Audiobook.  As noted above, read by Derek Jacobi.  His choice of accent for Cadfael is interesting, as other readers usually give Cadfael a strong Welsh accent.  However, I can see the value of this choice, since Cadfael has done a lot of travelling which would soften his accent. 

St. Peter’s Fair by Ellis Peters.  Audiobook.

The Heretic’s Apprentice by Ellis Peters.  Audiobook.

In Progress:

The Dabare Snake Launcher by Joelle Presby.  Almost done.  I still like this book a lot!

The Potter’s Field by Ellis Peters.  Audiobook.

Also:

Finished American Archeology.  Reading cookbooks for ideas to deal with cactus pear puree, and also bead books for ideas for holiday gifts.

Liquid Jewels

Cactus Pear Treats

It’s harvest time, so I’ve been processing the cactus pear tunas (that’s what the fruit is called) that Jim picked and froze over the latter part of the summer.  Freezing softens the spines and makes peeling and processing the fruit easier, but this year’s harvest was bountiful, so our big chest freezer is rather crowded.  Preparing the cactus pears gives us a different storage issue, because tins of tunas become bags of puree cubes.

Why cubes?  For flexibility of use.  If I froze six cups in a single container, it would be easier to store, but I would need to find recipes that called for that much—and most call for half a cup or less!

What do we do with the cactus pear puree?  Some of it gets made into jelly, some into vinegar.  In summer, I make a refreshing Italian ice with lemon and cactus pear.  One year some friends made a lovely gelato with some of the puree.  I’ve tried making candy, but can’t find a recipe that will set at high altitude, since I can’t get the liquid up to the necessary temperature.  

A cube or so in a glass of water makes for a drink that is like imbibing liquid jewels.  The puree also makes a vibrant and delicious element in tea—iced or hot.

I’m open to suggestions or recipes, especially those that don’t call for adding lots of sugar, since we try to moderate our use.

Next up will be dealing with the basil, before the frost can ruin it.  Basil is another thing we grow fairly easily.  This year we grew both Thai and Genovese.  I think it will make a nice, spicy pesto.

I sent out a short story late last week, and am mulling over my next writing project.  I even bought a spiffy new notebook, and may compose longhand.  We shall see.

FF: See Earlier If

Cayenne Reads

Cayenne is now approaching seven months old.  As some of you may recall, we’ve had him since he was an estimated five weeks.  He’s a delight in many ways: mischievous and affectionate.  When my recent whatever-it-was laid me low, he cuddled up next to me when I napped.

Some of what I’m reading are long pieces in installments.  I trimmed my entries for them, but if you’re interested in why I’m re-reading Tsubasa again or where I was in the Durant audio, you can look at earlier FF’s.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland.  Book three.  Angel’s personal journey is so very different than many books of this sort where, by book three, the heroine is becoming Very Important and influential.  Angel is just hoping to get her GED.

In Progress:

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  This week, up to issue 21.

Heroes of History by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  A short survey of history starting with a general essay, then moving into the really ancient world.  I’m up to the German Reformation.  Despite the title, not a “great man” theory of history at all.

The Dabare Snake Launcher by Joelle Presby.  I read this shortly before its release and really liked it.  It’s the sort of SF I like.  The focus is the struggle to get a space elevator built, but in addition to addressing the tech problems, it addresses the human element as well.  I’ve read a lot of West African fiction and Presby catches the setting and mindset very well.  There’s a second book due out soon, but this one stands alone just fine.

Also:

Done with the latest Smithsonian.  Now reading American Archeology.  This magazine can be uneven, but this issue has a lot of good articles. 

Let Me Sing Of…

Dappled Maximillians

This week I want to sing out my too frequently overlooked collaborator on these Wednesday Wanderings and their younger sibling, the Friday Fragments.

Who is this collaborator?  My husband, Jim Moore.  Well over ninety-five percent of all the photos accompanying my words have been taken by him.  Sometimes, I give him a theme.  Other times, his photo inspires my words.  Still other times, our chats about something or other will give me a topic.

For every photo you see, he has taken on average, at least six.  When we go somewhere, he carries his camera, just in case.  And let’s not forget how, nearly every week, he convinces one of our feline or guinea pig co-residents to pose with a book or e-reader.  Amusingly, some of that cats are catching on and view Jim and his camera as a chance to get a little extra attention.

Over the years, Jim’s eye for detail and composition has evolved.  As an archeologist, he often thought of photographs as records rather than art.  Before the advent of digital cameras, he was restricted by the cost of developing pictures, many of which didn’t come out as he’d hoped.

Digital photography has freed Jim up to take self-confessed “artsy” shots, like the one above of our Maximillian sunflowers backed by the lush greenery of the nearby pomegranate shrub.  Sometimes, as with his photo of the Challenges anthology surrounded by wild asters, his use of shadow gives a flat subject like a book cover dimension.

There you have it!  If you see a photo and like it, don’t hesitate to let me know.  I’ll pass your praise along to the person who deserves it!

FF: Moving Along

Cascabel Considers

I’m still in the mending track, but doing better.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.  Audiobook.  I was looking for something else, and came across this and couldn’t resist.  Interesting how Powers permitted himself more linguistic humor (including a sly pun) in this one than in his other books.

In Progress:

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  I’ve read this before, and also watched the anime adapted from it.  Jim gave me several of the omnibus (three original manga per) volumes for my birthday.  When I glanced at them, I found myself pulled in all over again.  Translator William Flanagan’s work is excellent.  His notes about the choices he made, as well as about Japanese culture, are gems.  Last week I was up to the equivalent of issue 9.  This week, up to issue 15.

Heroes of History by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  A short survey of history starting with a general essay, then moving into the really ancient world.  I’m up to the Roman Republic.  Good reminders of people and events I’m already familiar with.  Despite the title, not a “great man” theory of history at all.

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland.  Book three.  Angel’s personal journey is so very different than many books of this sort where, by book three, the heroine is becoming Very Important and influential.  Angel is just hoping to get her GED.

Also:

Almost done with the latest Smithsonian.  The orangutan story made me sad.  Now on Valley Forge.

Challenges Within Challenges

Challenges Among the Asters

Yesterday’s mail brought me my author’s copies of the new Honorverse/Star Kingdom anthology: Challenges.  Although there have been other short stories set in these early days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore—my own “Deception on Gryphon” in What Price Victory? being one such—this is the first anthology to focus specifically on this time period.

Small side note, since I was asked about this by someone after my post last week.  Yes, do I know David Weber.  We’ve been friends for well over thirty years now.  When I refer to him as “Weber,” it’s not because he’s not my friend, it’s because he is.  Let me clarify that.  When David Weber and I were getting to know each other, I had at least three other “Davids” in routine rotation in my life.  I took to referring to David Weber as “Weber” then, and it basically became more or less a pet name. 

Now…  back to Challenges.

When Weber phoned me to ask if I’d do a story for this collection, our discussion went something like this:

Weber: “Your story doesn’t need to be about Stephanie [Harrington] and her circle.”

Me (after thinking for a moment), “Is there anything you’d like me to write about?” 

Weber (so promptly, I wondered if he’d had this lurking in the back of his mind all along): “Well, I’d love a prequel to ‘The Stray’ by Linda Evans.  It covers the second human/treecat adoption, but we never actually see that event.  Linda, of course, can’t write it.”

[Linda Evans died in June of 2023.]

Me (bluntly): “’The Stray’ has continuity problems with treecat/human interactions that drive me up the wall.  I like the basic story, but I don’t know if we want to draw attention to it, because if people go back and re-read it, they’re going to have lots of questions as to why Stephanie and Lionheart and all can’t do what’s done in this story.”

Weber (deep sigh): “Yeah.  I know.  Look.  You write your story.  Follow how we’ve been doing things.  I’ll write an introduction, explaining why there are differences.  Okay?”

Me: “Good.  I can do.”

And I did.  Those of you who are familiar with “The Stray” may guess why this was a hard story to write.  In the end, though, I’m really glad I took on the challenge.  And at least one character I created for the story is set to reappear in the next of Weber and my Star Kingdom novels, which is set about eight years later.

And Weber did write the promised introduction.  It’s well-worth reading as a window into the challenges (ah, that word again!) of writing a complex, multi-layered series that began with a single novel decades ago.

We’re doing a panel discussion for Baen Free Radio with the whole anthology team.  I’ll let you know when it goes live.

FF: Got To Admit

Roary Reads

To misquote the Beatles, got to admit, I’m not quite all better, which peeves me to no end.  However, I am definitely on the right course and hope to continue getting over whatever the heck it was I had!

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

Practicing to Be Lightning by Betsy James.  ARC.   It’s different and very good—I’ll let you know when it’s out. Here’s my blurb for it.  If you’ve ever read my blurbs, you’ll know I rarely praise so enthusiastically: “”Rarely is a novel as solidly grounded and yet mystically fluid as Practicing to Be Lightning.  The characters’ journeys are spiritually profound, yet profoundly human.  I enjoyed this tale immensely, and look forward to deeper revelations as I re-read it in the years to come.”  

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  One of Tey’s strengths is characterization.  Flawed, yet powerfully caring Miss Pym is very different from cool, detached Allan Grant.

In Progress:

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  I’ve read this before, and also watched the anime adapted from it.  Jim gave me several of the omnibus (three original manga per) volumes for my birthday.  When I glanced at them, I found myself pulled in all over again.  Translator William Flanagan’s work is excellent.  His notes about the choices he made, as well as about Japanese culture, are gems.  I’ve re-read omnibus volumes one and two, and just started three.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.  Audiobook.  I was looking for something else, and came across this and couldn’t resist.  Interesting how Powers permitted himself more linguistic humor (including a sly pun) in this one than in his other books.

Also:

Almost done with the latest Smithsonian.  Reading about Cormac McCarthy makes me wonder about whether I’d like to have eidetic memory or not.

To Harvest a Book

Fava and the Harvest

To have a harvest, you need to plant, to tend.  This as true—even more true—about writing than it is about gardening.

The photo above shows Garden Inspector in Chief, Fava O’Pig, with our most recent garden harvest.  Much of this was picked on Monday morning, although the beans were picked over a number of days, and the squash at the end of last week.

Last week also featured David Weber and myself on the phone, working out the details for the sixth Star Kingdom novel.  As I cut eggplant on Monday morning, I found myself thinking about the similarities between planting and tending a veggie garden so you get a good harvest, and writing a complicated series of books.

With the Star Kingdom series, some elements were planted long before the first book was written.  These shaped all our future decisions, just as with a veggie garden knowing where the sun will hit, which plants need extra shelter, and other details shapes the eventual harvest.

There are also the “moisture” and “nutrients” that Weber and myself have each brought to the project.  Weber has an enormous amount of Honorverse material packed in his head, as well as a lot of “real world” history, technology, and science.  I contribute a tight focus on this particular series, as well as a lot of knowledge about history, technology, science, although often with a different emphasis than Weber’s.  This is a definitely a case where two heads make for a richer growing medium than one.

Weber is more likely to have madly wonderful “shiny” moments.  I’m the one who is better at seeing how the elements need to be fit together.  Not that either of us doesn’t do both jobs.  In fact, one of the times I have the most fun is when we both see how disparate elements are weaving together into something we hadn’t yet seen.

These planning sessions don’t happen just once, any more than a garden magically grows from a seed poked into the ground.  There’re lots of watering, occasional replanting, and even pruning.  But in the end, we’ll have an abundant harvest of rich and enjoyable story.

Or that’s the idea…  We’re still in the final stages of outlining and arranging.

Those of you who read my FF know that last week ended with me catching something or other that  left me rather sick.  I’m still achy but on the mend, and certainly all this fresh produce—garden and creative alike—should help me along the way.

FF: One Good Thing, I Guess

Cascabel (Now Six Months Old) Reads

This week was not at all usual.  Monday was my birthday, so Jim and I went out.  Tuesday was filled with all sorts of appointments.  Wednesday, late morning, I had a violently bad sore throat.  I went to the doctor, on Thursday, and now have the reassurance that it’s not strep.  I also have some drugs to help with the symptoms, since quantities of tea and throat lozenges were doing nothing.   One good thing, I suppose, is between not feeling well and time waiting, that I had a lot more time to read.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers.  E-ARC.  So far, I’m hooked.  Due out in early December but, if like me, you can’t wait, you can get an advanced reader copy from Baen Books.

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Perhaps her best-known.  People either hate it for being slow or are fascinated by the complex plot—which has less to do with Richard III than with how quickly people jump to conclusions based on minimal evidence.

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland.  Good plot, expanded setting, fun characters.

The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Published posthumously.

In Progress:

Practicing to Be Lightning by Betsy James.  ARC.  I’m liking so far.  Quite a bit!

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Not an Allan Grant novel.  The first half sets up the problem so this reader finds herself feeling she knows that place.

Also:

A few odds and ends came in that have kept me from the latest Smithsonian, but I’ll be back to it.

Friendly and Flowers

Just Glorious

This past week, to celebrate my birthday, Jim and I went to the local botanical gardens.  We’ve been visiting there since it was first opened, so it has a special element above and beyond have become an extraordinary facility.  Remembering when the trees that now shade the central green were slender and leggy give an additional delight to seeing them spreading shade all around.

There have been changes, as any place created around living things will have.  Overall, we like those changes.  Newest to us of all this visit was the recently re-opened Heritage Farm, which has grown astonishingly since that days when, to provide interest in a bare area, they marked out an acre so all the city folk would know how much space that entailed.

There were plenty of flowers, still, including the morning glories featured above.  I think they look as if they blossoms have been adorned by a talented watercolor painter. 

As we ambled around—we were there for between two and a half and three hours—I was once again reminded why I like living here.  The general attitude seems to be to assume that if you’re in the same place as someone, they you must already be friends.

Among many delightful encounters was the fellow who wanted to make sure we saw a particularly amusing squirrel, then went on to tell us how he’d lived in Albuquerque for seventy years and this was his first visit to the gardens.

“I made sure my kids went, and my grandkids, but this is a first for me, and I just love it!”

Then there was the man harvesting grapes over at the Heritage Farm.  When we asked who would be eating them, he happily told us how he worked for a local winery and they tended the grapes and would be making wine from them.  He told us where their tasting room was in Old Town, and was generally a delight.

And then there was the little girl who we joined to look at some truly magnificent fish in the main “lake.”  She was feeding them, and without any prompting offered me a handful of fish treats so I could join in. 

A new garden is about to open in early October, near where the pollinator garden was, and maybe we’ll make it back to see it in its new glory, so we can enjoy saying later one, “Remember when?”