Judith Tarr's Blog, page 15

Riding Out the Storm

Kind of jumping around the Adventures Of here. I've been at a flat gallop for months, still am really, but today is a stop-and-breathe day. Since September Camp and the lesson-neep post with the incredible bouncing Pooka, I've gone to Denver to sign ARC's at the indy booksellers' convention, filmed a book trailer (which should be done soon--I'm really really looking forward to seeing it; it's full of horses and desert and sky), and had a very successful Camp with sartorias and coraa and rachelmanija , ably assisted (and recorded in photos) by tcastleb .

Also we've had Adventures with the bad side of horses and horsekeeping. That was the week between Denver and trailer, when on Monday I dropped a water barrel on my foot and did not break it but ow. And then Tuesday while working Ephiny in hand, she eeked and levaded and half-pirouetted toward me and half-popped my shoulder out of its socket. OW. And on Wednesday, never to be outdone, Pook had a tweak in his back which we were working on through gentle bending and stretching under saddle, eeked in the same place Ephiny had, took off, and I lasted eight seconds. I'm glad I know how to fall. And I'm really glad I wear a helmet. OW.
He got some massage from S on Thursday, and I hobbled around and Coped. Rode a few days later, not Pooka, and still Ow. The next Thursday, with filmmaker there, we had a massage-and-ride with Pooka, which was good, but then she wanted footage of canter and riding in the desert. So I brought out Capria, who was more than pleased to be the Star. And that was a lot of fun. And will no doubt be included in the trailer. But Ow. I wasn't up for much for a couple of days after that. During which I had to get the place ready for Camp. Thank goodness for Best Housemate Ever, who stepped in when and as needed and never turned a hair.

Camp was the big one, the Vail-to-Vail expedition (from Sirens to DHF) as done last year, and they booked March as soon as they got in the door. We had the usual food, writing, reading, conversation, writing, writing, food, horses, food, writing...and of course a clinic with S. And a new wrinkle: horse-assisted yoga as documented in the previous post. MOAR BENDY PLAY, the horses say.

As Camp wound down, one of our favorite people (and photographers), Lynne Glazer, came into town. Everyone asked for author-photo shoots. If there's a sudden run on desert scenery in (very finely crafted) author photos, you'll know why. :) But all was not smooth for the shoot--even as Lynne arrived, so did an unexpected and strong storm. Rain we were expecting. Full-on haboob with wind wind (hay-shelter tarp blew apart) and torrential rain, not so much. We were out in it, rescuing hay and photographing horses. Lynne's photos are still to come--she's been working nonstop with photo gigs and has to get back to her main computer and start processing--but tcastleb was out there with us.

I'll note that Lynne is a very old horse person, has known and lovingly photographed Pooka since he was 4, and has bred two foals by him out of her beautiful Arabian mare. Lynne knows from the Boingities. But a whole herd of them? All in the air at once? That was a new thing. I talk about it, and horse people nod and smile and observe that isn't it wonderful when horses get all hyper in the rain, but Leaping Lipizzans are just a little bit different.

Most horses, they run, they jump, they buck. They roll-roll-roll and get up and run-run-run. Grand fun, and the muddier they get, the happier they are.

Lipizzans do all of that, but they add another dimension: the serious, and I mean serious, UP. It takes a lot of practice to keep up with all the airborne objects. It's been likened to being on the inside of a giant popcorn popper.

This is the classic Horses Runlikehell shot. You see it all over the world wherever horses are free to do their thing. (Camilla in front, Ephiny behind.)



Now the warp engines come on line. That's keed in front, Camilla heading Up, and Carrma behind.



Now the main event begins. Camilla does love her Airs.



And Ephiny is not to be outdone, oh no:



In case you were wondering if these movements are really hardwired. We did not catch courbettes, though there were caprioles. And plain old wild bucks and kicks



and rocket launches.


See? Adventures. And really, really cool horse maneuvers. Lynne got some great shots of Pook on Sunday evening--I'm eager to see those for myself. And to see what the various authors chose from their shoots. There was real photo magic happening, and some lovely poses and images in the raw footage that I saw. (Queen of the Wood, and the Dark Lady, and the romantic princesses with their white horses, and the comfortable author in flannels with the warmth shining out of her, because she was being herself.)

Horses Outside the Box

Yes! There is neep! I posted it, with pictures by tcastleb , on the Book View Cafe Blog. There will be more here, just for you, but meanwhile, enjoy!

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2010/10/18/horses-outside-the-box/

Ride Number Three

A little randomosity first, then the neep we're all here for.

If you're on Goodreads, Tor is giving away 14 copies of House of the Star. The window for getting yourself into the draw is open until October 15th. Thanks to janni for the tip! I wouldn't have known. Though I know I'm being flown to Denver next Thursday to hang with independent booksellers, and the week after that, a filmmaker is coming to make a book trailer staring--how not?--the horses. All fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that t...

You know what I forgot?

Nobody ever accused me of being good at, you know, mentioning these things.

ALAMUT finally has a digital edition (all formats including Kindle and it's DRM-free) at Book View Cafe. And there are chapters going up for free on Mondays at Book View Cafe.

This is the historical fantasy with the teleporting female Assassin and the immortal knight, and a large cast of supporting characters including Saladin and King Baldwin the Leper of Jerusalem. Big, splashy, lots of derring-do, and lots of romance...

News and Neep

Well, thank goodness for TNT and its LOTR marathon. I'm set for background noise all day long.

Today's a fiction day, and a catching-up day. It's still hot in the afternoons and the rains are coming back for a little bit, but the nights have finally cooled down and it's September in the desert. That means a sort of limbo for the northern-born, where it feels like summer still but the light says fall and it really does finally seem that the winter cooldown will come--though not for another mon...

Don't Say I Never Give You Neep

Greetings from Camp Lipizzan, September edition!

Horseblog today! "Getting Clothes on the Horse"

AAAANNNDDDD...I've started a new chapter-a-week (or buy the ebook) novel: at last, for the digitally inclined, Alamut in all available ereader formats including those that work with Sony, the Nook, Kindle... AND it's DRM-free. I'm really excited about this.

As long as I'm here and talking writer news, Tor is flying me to Denver on the 23rd to do a signing at the Mountains and Plains Independent...

PSA

Substantive post in the works (horse stuff good, beta writing class good, good news re. November book and its promo), but as I rush out the door, I want to assure all of you that I've turned off that frakking new "publish your undies to the world" option. I do port public lj posts to fb because they cross-pollinate, but comments are not included.

What makes these services think people want to have their privacy decided on for them? Offer the option, sure, but don't set it as default for the wh...

Ephiny's Second Ride

Ephiny had ride number two yesterday. She'd had a little ground work in between lessons, but with tcastleb away for a week, and me not inclined to ride a totally green horse when there's no one around in case of need to call 911, she got a nice long time to process her data.

Very interesting session. She was a little high and flighty about the Scary Tree while we were doing groundwork to get started, but she didn't do courbettes, she just got looky. That's a big change for her. She also had an...

I am posting NEW! FICTION! at Book View Cafe

And because I suck at this mentioning my stuff exists thing, I haven't been letting anybody know about it.

Howsomever, I have been putting up a "Monday Surprise" each Monday, and the past two weeks plus this one feature new stuff that, at most, two or three other people ever saw before I put it up. And so will next week. You can find the Monday Special here and past offerings here and here. They're quite short, and they're free. Go, enjoy.

There will be Monday Surprises all month, then a new ...

And So the Write-a-Thon Endeth

And I did not make my goal, because I could not count 150,000 words of freelance editing (including one project that required a fair amount of rewriting and polishing). I hang my head.

But! I finished one story, wrote all of another, and began a novel, which is most definitely ongoing. I also researched various projects, and worked up two proposals, and wrote several blogs, and farmsat for over a week. And started an Ephiny under saddle.

It was a productive six weeks.

My total came just short of...