Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 3

FF: Vessels In Which To Weather the Storm

Nesting Mourning Dove

Our ash tree out front isn’t very large or even very robust, but it has provided a haven for a nesting mourning dove.  Her nest isn’t very sturdy-looking, but it has managed to keep her and her eggs safe during this week’s rain and wind.  Books are like that, too…  Vessels in which we can weather the storm

And 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 Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Alternate Routes by Tim Powers.  Vickery and Castine number one.

Hiram’s Ghosts by Eva Ibbotson.  Audiobook.  Middle grade, almost cozy, except that the villains, when they surface are truly horrible.

In Progress:

Forced Perspectives by Tim Powers.  Vickery and Castine number two.  Stand alone, almost, except that events in book one have made the protagonists aware of supernatural occurrences—and vulnerable to those who don’t want their secrets exposed.

The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson.  Audiobook.  Well-read, but probably intended for a much younger audience than those of her books I’ve read to this point.

Also:

Still reading the latest Archeology.  Some very interesting articles.

Resilience: Not a Metaphor

Punta Banda Tomatoes and Teppary Beans

So, the cottontail seems to be gone.  No idea where or how its departure happened, other than that we did not successfully trap it.  Many of the tepary beans that it ate down to the stem are putting out new leaves.  There are a few gaps we need to replant.

Something, probably a racoon, raided our tiny pond, but the two fish that survived last summer’s raid managed to survive, probably because I’d pulled out just about anything a racoon could sit on (other than the edge of the pond). 

We lost several of our first round of tomato plants to curly top, but many others are doing well. A few are defying the heat (last week we hit 106 multiple times) and setting fruit.  We’ve planted sunflowers in the locations where we lost tomatoes to provide shade the remaining plants later this summer.  And we’re letting grow a few tomato plants that volunteered where we didn’t plan on having tomatoes.

The zinnias are beginning to flower…  We grow most of our garden from seed, because this seems to give the plants a better chance at surviving the trials and travails of the local climate.  We also plant a lot of native plants and encourage others.

High winds bent over one of the tomato plants I had put in a container to give a friend and smashed the stem so badly the plant couldn’t survive.  The other, right next to it, is somewhat battered but unbowed.

In close to thirty years of gardening in this same yard, I’ve learned to adapt, even as temperatures have gotten more extreme, high winds have extended beyond the “windy season,” and challenges now forgotten have led to changes that are the new normal.

I titled this after I wrote all but this paragraph because it struck me that real life in our garden is a good role model for emotional survival in turbulent times.  Sometimes you grow back.  Sometimes you make another choice.  Sometimes you need to accept that you can’t have what you once did—but that doesn’t mean you need to give up entirely.

Be well…

FF: I Think Everything

Roary Reads

I think that everything on my reading list this week is a re-read.  Mind you, in many cases it’s been a decade or more since I read the book.  As I mentioned in this week’s Wednesday Wandering, I’ve realized the re-reading, even more than just reading, can make me a better writer.

And 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 Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip.  Ambitious plot, split between several distinct points of view.

His Last Bow by Arther Conan Doyle.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers.  No…  This is not a cliché medieval fantasy.  Alternate history with Arthurian motifs.  The “dark” in question is beer.

Medusa’s Web by Tim Powers.  Somehow I missed this one when it came out, so it’s only my second time reading it.

In Progress:

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Alternate Routes by Tim Powers.  The first book in one of his few series in the sense of continuing characters.  Most of his other “series” are more series because of shared setting or timeline, rather than characters.

Also:

Finished latest Smithsonian and AARP magazine.  Good articles in both.  Now reading the latest Archeology.

Re-Reading Makes Me a Better Writer

This Year’s Lilies

Last week, one of the Comments on the Friday Fragments mentioned that one of the drawbacks to re-reading is sometimes the reader catches errors—in his example, an injury that healed far too quickly—that the reader had missed the first time around.

Thinking about this made me realized that one reason I re-read is because in re-reading, I can think about the author’s craft, rather than just getting sucked in by the story.  Since I don’t re-read books I didn’t like the first time around—I mean, I’m no longer in grad school, finding James Joyce’s Ulyssess on the syllabus for the umpteenth time—I find myself studying the craft of writers whose work draws me in.

Sometimes I become aware of a technique I can use.  Other times, I just have the pleasure of being awed.  And, yes, sometimes I find something that bothers me—but even that is useful to me as a writer, because I resolve not to do that myself.

Whatever the case, re-reading makes me a better writer, as well as giving me the enjoyment of revisiting a place/setting/cast of characters that drew me in once, or twice, or even more!

And, update from last week…  We didn’t catch the cottontail.  After seeing it daily for weeks, it vanished about a week ago.  Our yard is fully fenced, and we didn’t find an exit.  We didn’t find a body either.  Possibly a hawk got it??  Or maybe it felt unwelcome and left and slammed the door after it. 

For now, we’re leaving our barrier fence up to protect the garden.  And we keep looking for it, just in case it’s found a new place to hide.

Leaping Off the Page

Legendary Persephone

So, I’m reading Curses! Broiled Again! and am pulled up short when the author (who frequently credits letters from readers of his newspaper column that led him to variations on an urban legend) cited Betsy James, illustrator in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Well, the name leapt off the page and pounced.   In 1987, Betsy was certainly better known as an illustrator, but I got to know her some years later as a talented author.  Very amusing!  Made me trust his other citations more, as well.

And 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 Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Curses!  Broiled Again! by Jan Harold Brunvand.  A 1987 book on urban legends.  Fascinating to read, not only for content, but for how quickly misinformation could spread even before the Web.

In Progress:

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip.  Ambitious plot, split between several distinct points of view.

Also:

Reading the latest Smithsonian, but took a break to read an amusing interview with rocker Rod Stewart in AARP mag.

Basket Cases

Cascable and Cayenne

Can you put up with one more kitten picture?

Here are Cayenne and Cascabel a few days after being officially adopted last Wednesday.  They handled their neutering surgeries well, and are settling in. 

I wish we could give a home to every cat in need, but at least we managed to add these two—including taking care of them from when they arrived at our homes as rather ill, five-week-old, bad tempered little scraps of fluff and attitude.  They’re no longer ill, twelve-weeks old, and very sweet.  They still have the attitude, though.

“Attitude” seems to be the theme for this year.  Once again, we have a cottontail bunny who has moved into our fully fenced yard.  Despite having at least a quarter of the yard to itself with plenty for it to eat and ample cover, it insisted on finding several ways through the chicken wire fence Jim put up so it could devour our bean plants.  We’ve purchased a live trap, and will relocate it if we can catch it.

Any tips of possible baits would be welcome.  So far, we’ve tried carrot, lettuce, and cabbage to no avail.  Every year, I find myself understanding all over again why Rabbit (or Hare) is a trickster figure in so many cultures.

This week my writer task is correcting the various typos and missing words that Jim found when he read OW4.  (This is the fourth book in my Over Where series, which begins with Library of the Sapphire Wind, and continues in Aurora Borealis Bridge and House of Rough Diamonds.)  A couple of friends have kindly offered to read the manuscript, and I have no doubt they will find additional glitches.  Hopefully, they’ll enjoy the novel nonetheless.

And I really need to come up with a title!

On that note, off to take advantage of overcast skies to replant the beans that the cottontail gave an unwelcome pruning.  Take care!

FF: Shorter But Sweet

Dawg, Newly-Adopted Cascabel, and Yokai

The foster kittens are now adopted kittens.  And I see that this week I read a lot of shorter works, although there’s a short novel or two hidden in there.

And 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 Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle.Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry. 

The King of the Cats and Other Feline Fairy Tales, edited by John Richard Stephens.  Very repetitious.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Yokai: Japanese Mysterious Monsters and Phenomena by ITO Shingo.  A gift from some friends who bought in the book for us Japan!  Text is both in Japanese (which I don’t read) and English.  Illustrations are lovely.  This is a keeper!  The text is short, but a great prompt for further research.

The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson.  An Australian middle-grade novel featuring indigenous supernatural elements.  I’ve read before and will doubtless read again.

DreamForge Anvil issue 20.  June 2025.  Five good stories, as well as non-fiction on writing the craft, and a bit of hopepunk!

In Progress:

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Curses!  Broiled Again! by Jan Harold Brunvand.  A 1987 book on urban legends.  Fascinating to read, not only for content, but for how quickly misinformation could spread even before the Web.  This has been on my shelf for a long time, and the section in Yokai about modern yokai made me finally start reading.

Also:

Reading the latest Smithsonian.  Some good pieces in here.

Wonderfully Overcast

Just Hanging Out

This week started out drizzly and sufficiently overcast that the toads, which usually move to cover as soon as the sun comes up, stayed out.  The one featured above is in our little backyard pond.

Last week’s efforts to recharge my creative energies were moderately successful.  I spent a fair amount of time outside, getting the last of our garden beds planted.  This included transplanting eight of the tomato plants that I started from seed on April 13th.  I gambled that that the smoke haze from wildfires in southern New Mexico would screen some of the sunlight and help the transplants to take.  The larger plants took some damage but, overall, it’s going well.

Might as well get some good out of the bad.

The grey days also mean that those of our flowers that close up when it’s hot and bright—like chocolate flower and desert four o’clock—have been staying open longer, so the view from my office window is very pleasant indeed.

The foster kittens were cleared for their spay/neuter surgeries last Friday.  If all goes well, by Wednesday evening they will be fosters no longer.

FF: May I Read?

Cayenne and Cascabel Read

As May draws to a close, I’ve slowed down in my reading.  Temperatures are climbing, so I’m doing a lot in the yard before we hit the “unbearable” level.  I’m pausing to write this as a break from transplanting tomato plants.  Today’s weather is not precisely cool, but at least the sky is somewhat overcast.

And 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 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.

Spirits in the Wire by Charles de Lint. 

In Progress:

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Audiobook, read by Stephen Fry.  Almost done.

The King of the Cats and Other Feline Fairy Tales, edited by John Richard Stephens.  This has been on my TBR shelf for quite a while.  Very repetitious, which is probably why I didn’t get very far into it.  We’ll see how it goes this time.

Also:

Still leafing through Jim’s alumni magazine from the University of Michigan.  The theme for this one seems to be ecological concerns, and is quite interesting.

Recharging

Argent, Cascabel, and Ruby

Last week, I told you in some detail about the long process involved in writing my most recent Over Where novel.  I ended by saying that my next writerly goal was recharging my creative batteries.  A few unexpected jobs came up almost as soon as I finished typing that, so I haven’t really had much of a chance.

This week, I hope, will be better.  I’m going to try to get out of the house a bit more since my hermit inclinations have only intensified over the years.  I’m also letting myself take time to do some craft projects.

At the end of this week the foster kittens go to the shelter for their next set of shots.  Cascabel, featured above between Ruby the Tiger and Argent the Wolf, will probably be scheduled for her spaying surgery, as she will be about ten weeks old and slightly over two pounds.

Not sure about her brother, Cayenne.  He’s had a growth spurt, but at last weighing he hadn’t hit two pounds.

As of now, we’re thinking we might adopt them, but I don’t like to tempt fate because surgery, even “routine” surgery, has to come first.

Keep a good thought for us and for them, and that my very tired Muse feels like starting to talk again.