Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 5

FF: Second Look

Roary in Scholarly Mode

This week, I’m reading another book about the evolution of the English language.  This one does overlap, but it is heavily illustrated, and uses some different examples.  Sometimes a second look at a topic is fascinating.

And we already had this one.  Jim read it a few years ago, but I didn’t.

As 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:

Now or Never (Thirty-One On the Run) by Janet Evanovich.  Audiobook.  Seriously disappointed by the ending.

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoe Schlanger.  Interesting and accessible. 

In Progress:

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan.  Heroes of Olympus Book Five.  Audiobook.

The Story of English: How the English Language Conquered the World by Philip Gooden. 

Also:

Still reading the new Smithsonian.  Finished the latest from AARP.

Memories in Flower

The Saberhagen Tulips

Spring has finally arrived in our yard, and with it, a single phrase repeated over and over: “has come back.”

For Jim and me, our yard isn’t just the outdoor space that came with our house, it’s a reservoir of memories.  When I moved in here in December of 1995, the yard was basically a large area of sand and weeds.  Most of the weeds had stickers.  There were two dying rose bushes (with us no longer) and a couple of shrubs (cedar and juniper, in case you wonder).

Thirty years later, most of the sand is under a layer of mulch.   We’ve learned that our yard tends to be hotter than normal in summer, so that plants that are listed as taking a year to establish will take two.  There have been a lot of failures, which is why every spring we wander around seeing what made it through the winter.  The plants aren’t just landscaping, they’re friends.

Take the tulips in the picture above.  Those were given to us years ago (I think 2011) by Joan Saberhagen, as a hostess gift when she came to dinner.  After they were done blooming, we put the pot in the back of our fridge and planted the bulbs in the autumn.   They’ve made it year after year.  Last spring, a cold snap killed the plants back before they could flower.  So you can imagine our delight when they returned this year, more vibrant and vigorous than ever.

There are other memory plants.  The two catalpa trees (one of which is a stump that is meditating on coming back from the base) arrived here in a single bucket, each about the size of a standard pencil, rescued by Pati Nagle from her yard.  The taller tree is much taller than our house, and has changed the microclimate of that part of the yard.

The Jerusalem artichokes (sometimes called “sunchokes”) arrived as tubers thinned from my much-missed friend Sally Gwylan’s garden.  Every year we dig the tubers up, save some to eat, and replant the rest for the next year.  And, yep, they’re coming back, too.

We grew our desert Bird of Paradise shrubs from seeds scavenged from plants in front of a house that was deserted.

The iris are from rhizomes given to us by Peggy and Kevin Whitmore.  They, in turn, were thinning plants given to them by a friend.  Peggy and Kevin delivered the iris during the early days of the 2020 pandemic shutdown, masked and keeping a safe social distance as they brightened our day.

And so it goes, on and on.  We’re still waiting to see if the pomegranate shrub and crepe myrtle made it back after a very cold winter, but the always-struggling little apple tree is back again.  And the guinea pigs will be delighted to know that the circle of dandelions I’ve put in for them is coming back strong.

As I wrote this, I realized that in a very nice, very odd way, our yard is a story we’ve been writing for almost thirty years.  That definitely makes me smile.

FF: Sublime to Ridiculous

Persephone Reads

This week’s reading has been nicely stimulating without being stressful.  Just perfect!

And 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 House of Hades by Rick Riordan.  Book Four of The Heroes of Olympus cycle. Audiobook.

The Adventures of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvin Bragg.  Non-fiction.  Enjoyable, breezy looks at the evolution of the English language.  Author is English.  Worked on a BBC version of the material.  He notes that the book is “far fuller” than the programs. 

In Progress:

Now or Never (Thirty-One On the Run) by Janet Evanovich.  Audiobook.  Stephanie has accepted marriage proposals from both of her long-time romantic attachments.  And her bounty-hunter targets are weirder than ever—and she’s acquired a nerdy stalker.  Although the plot often verges on the ridiculous, it’s actually led to several very thoughtful chats with Jim about who we think would be the better choice.  I haven’t cheated so I don’t know if Stephanie actually chooses or wriggles out and back to status quo.

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoe Schlanger.  Interesting and accessible.

Also:

A couple new magazines came in.  I started the new Smithsonian, then paused to dip into the latest from AARP, since their material is more time sensitive.

Pruning

Apple Blossoms

This past week has been occupied with getting manuscripts into shape.  Late last week, I finished the editorial notes on “Deadly Delusions,” my novelette for the forthcoming Honorverse anthology, Challenges.

I also continued my re-read of the manuscript of the fourth Over Where novel.  The end is in sight, but I’m not there yet.  Then I will need to make all the fiddling little changes in the text.

We had crazy weather last week, with cooler temperatures than we’ve had for the last seven Aprils.  (This is based upon our own records, for our own yard.)  We had a little rain, and a fair amount of wind.  We’re starting to get flowers, both on our little apple tree and some wild flowers.

I took advantage of the fact that our perennials are coming back a bit more slowly than previous years to get out there and prune the silver lace vine that grows on the west side of our house.  I’m always reluctant to do this in the winter because many of our smaller birds—sparrows and finches, especially—shelter in the thick matt of vegetation from years gone by.

Providing shelter for the creatures that share our yard is one reason we wait to clear away the previous year’s foliage in other areas as well.  Now that we know the toads, lizards, and bees are waking up, we’ll finish getting the yard ready for summer.  Jim dug one compost trench back during a warmer spell in the winter, and a second one just last week.  Using these both enriches our garden beds, and reduces our waste.

As I industriously hacked away at the silver lace matt, I found myself thinking—as I have before, including when my odd little novel Asphodel had just come out—about how pruning and shaping benefits a story, just as it benefits a yard.   Some people seem to think that word count is all that matters, but I’m a firm believer that it’s not lots of words, but rather the right words that make for the best possible story.

FF: Went Out

Roary and Mei-Ling’s Literary Highrise

Last Saturday we went to our Natural History museum.  We had a terrific time and read a lot of good signs with the exhibits, but this did cut into my other reading time.  This trip probably led to my desire to read more non-fiction.

And 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:

Someone To Build A Nest In by Wiswell.  Horror.  Clever world-building, but also ample helpings of physical and emotional abuse. 

In Progress:

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.  Book Four of The Heroes of Olympus cycle. Audiobook.

The Adventures of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvin Bragg.  Non-fiction.  Enjoyable, breezy looks at the evolution of the English language.  Author is English.  Worked on a BBC version of the material.  He notes that the book is “far fuller” than the programs. 

Also:

Not much, mostly because I’ve finished all the magazines for once.

Toadaly Awesome

Toad in Pond of the Past

Spring is officially here!  Of course, snow is possible later this week, but we take what we can get, and what we have are toads.

Late last week, we saw our first toad of the season in the tiny pond in our back yard.  The toad was having trouble getting out, since we’d shifted various perching elements around, and the plants haven’t come back yet, so as soon as I was dressed I went out to help.

(The featured photo is from summer a couple of years ago, and shows a toad happily perched on a lilypad.)

As I approached the pond, I thought the toad might dive under, since they’re often more skittish early in the year, but it just waited for me to scoop it up.  Scooping from below is much nicer for the toad than picking it up, because it doesn’t feel as threatened.  The toad then cuddled down in my nice warm hand.  It was a fairly large toad, about the size of my palm, so I guess it remembered me from last year…  I have been known to give boosts to toads whose ambitions exceed their reach. 

Yes, I have put in a stepping up area so the toads won’t have trouble again.

The toad’s ladders had been moved when Jim and I were working on cleaning our pond.  Late last summer, the water got cloudy.  We’d assumed that the cause was an algae bloom, and figured cold weather would kill it off.  When that didn’t happen, we deduced that the unusually hot weather last summer did for some of our aquatic plants.  Once the water warmed to only unbearably cold, I dug my fingers in the muck and confirmed our diagnosis.

I’ve removed a lot of dead root mass and the mud in which aquatic plantain formerly was growing.  The muck has been moved into a composting trench, and hopefully will feed this summer’s tomatoes.  Our miniature water lilies made it through both summer and winter, so those may be the only aquatic plant we stay with, since they don’t seem to mind the heat.  As a bonus, the lily pads cover the surface, which keeps down the algae, as well as providing perches for the smallest song birds and the toads.

We’re removing the cloudy water a few buckets at a time, then using it to water our perennials, since we haven’t had significant rain for far too long. 

When I’m not messing around in the pond or wandering around the yard to see what survived our very cold winter, I’m working on two writing projects, both of which are in editorial mode.

One of these is the novelette “Deadly Delusions,” which will appear in the Honorverse anthology Challenges.  I got my notes earlier this week, and it’s possible that by the time I’m done with them, the piece may have graduated to novella length.

And I’m in the final stages of reviewing my fourth Over Where novel.  As House of Rough Diamonds (Book Three) followed pretty tightly after the first two books, Library of the Sapphire Wind and Aurora Borealis Bridge.  In this one, the setting shifts away to the small city of Lioll, where our former holdbacks and their human mentors seek the solutions to…  Well, I’m still working on how to tell about a 100,000 plus word novel in a few sentences.  Maybe once Jim, always my first reader, has read it, I’ll have a better idea.

Take care and may the song of toads brighten your spring!

FF: Back Again!

Persephone’s Fluffy Tummy Trap

In case you read the WW and wondered, yes, we did make it in the best Bilbo fashion, there and back again.  You can now find signed copies of several of my books, as well as my collaborations with David Weber, at Beastly Books in Santa Fe.

And 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 Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.  Heroes of Olympus Book Three.  Audiobook.  Numerous points of view bothered some readers, but I rather like seeing how different characters view similar issues.

DreamForge Anvil latest issue.

The Icarus Changeling by Timothy Zahn. 

When A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher.  Dark Fantasy.  Clever take on “The Goose Girl.”

In Progress:

Someone To Build A Nest In by Wiswell.  Horror.  Clever world-building, but also ample helpings of physical and emotional abuse.

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.  Book Four of The Heroes of Olympus cycle.

Also:

Finished the latest issue American Archeology.  Also, the regional AAA magazine.

“Challenges” Is Not Only

Curve-Billed Thrasher Issues a Challenge!

Last week, I mentioned that I will have a short story in a forthcoming Honorverse anthology.  My story is titled “Deadly Delusions,” and I now know that the anthology title is Challenges.  It is scheduled to come out late in 2025.

“Challenges” is not only the title of the anthology, but also a really good description of last week.  Among those challenge was one that occurred as Jim and I were on our way up to Santa Fe so I could sign stock for Beastly Books.

We’d gone past the last Albuquerque exit on to I-25 North when I heard a sound similar to when the car runs over a tumbleweed.  I was musing that I hadn’t seen anything on the road, when Jim announced that an alert had appeared indicating that he had trouble with one of his tires.  We pulled over to the shoulder and discovered that the right front tire was definitely, uncategorically, undebatablely flat.

Well…  We needed help getting the tire changed.  By the time the various garages contracted to AAA had settled who was required to come a whole couple of miles outside of the city, we were fried.  The help we eventually got was very necessary, so I’m glad we waited. However, we certainly didn’t make it to Santa Fe. 

Imagination may be great for writing books, but it is not the greatest thing during a challenge like that, or even in the aftermath.

Today we plan to drive up to Santa Fe to finally get those books signed.  We’ve made that drive hundreds of times.  Jim, who used to work in Santa Fe, has probably made it thousands of times.  This is the first time we’ve had a flat tire, but my imagination keeps seeing this happening all over again.

Wish us luck!

FF: Shifted Back

Roary Reads!

This week I’ve shifted back to reading non-fiction, mostly. 

And 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 Icarus Job by Timothy Zahn.  Third or fourth book (depending on where one fits in The Icarus Hunt) in the series.  Breezy SF action adventure, well-written.

In Progress:

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.  Heroes of Olympus Book Three.  Audiobook.  Numerous points of view bothered some readers, but I rather like seeing how different characters view similar issues.

DreamForge Anvil latest issue.

The Icarus Changeling by Timothy Zahn. 

Also:

Finished the latest issue of Smithsonian, now starting a recent American Archeology.

Windy Season

When the Bough Breaks…

Last week I offered a picture of the early apricot flowers.  It’s a pity that I can’t give you a picture of the more genuine side of spring in New Mexico: high winds.

The best I can do is a photo of the latest of many broken limbs in the tree that overhangs our yard from our neighbor’s.  Fortunately, this tree is far enough from our house that broken limbs don’t put our house in danger, but lost limbs will influence this summer’s microclimate by removing shade.

The big news from this past week is that Friends Indeed, the latest Jane Lindskold and David Weber Star Kingdom book is officially a bestseller.  According to figures from Bookscan, late last week it was at #25 on the national bestseller list, #10 on the new release bestseller list.

For those of you who wonder what the Star Kingdom/Stephanie Harrington books are about, although they are definitely SF, they are not the military SF for which he is better known.  Instead, they focus more on the interactions of humans with the treecats, the indigenous inhabitants of the planet Sphinx, as well as on the interactions of humans with each other—and even treecats with each other!  There’s politics, intrigue, and xenoanthropology.  They’re set when the Star Kingdom was a relatively newly-settled system in the back of beyond, well before Honor Harrington’s time.

As for my writing life…  I’ve been reviewing editor’s notes on my novelette for the forthcoming Honorverse anthology.  The story is now titled: “Dangerous Delusions.”  The anthology is planned for a November 2025 release.  Weber mentioned the anthology title, but I’ve forgotten…  I’ll mention more when we get closer to release time.

In addition to polishing the novelette, I’m continuing my review of the fourth Over Where novel.  I’m enjoying my read through, even as I peruse with pencil in hand so I can tweak the prose.

After that…  I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, except that I’ll be absolutely staying in out of the wind!