L.R. Lam's Blog, page 46

Birthday under the Big Top

It was my birthday on the 4th, and so Craig and I went to see the circus.

The last time I’d been to see the circus was during the summer of 2010 when the Chinese circus was in town. I took non-stop notes when I last went because I was about 1/3 of the way through the first draft of what would become Pantomime. Now, two years later, I was just about finished with the edits of that same book as I went to see the Dutch circus. It was a cool feeling.

I love seeing circuses from different countries. The Chinese circus was flashier, with painted dragons and more contortionists and unicycles and the like. The Netherlands’ circus featured double-Dutch, naturally, and was a bit more understated but no less skilled. They also had a live band above where the performers came out, which I thought a nice touch.

Some photos:

The Big Top in mist.

Yes, this is Scotland. In August.

That is my face.

The contortionist. Blur to the left is the arrow.

The Flying Aces! Urge to run away and join the circus as an aerialist: strong as ever.

It was a lovely birthday.

Books read in July

July was quite the reading month.

1. From Dark Places – E.J. Newman (short stories, fantasy, dark, horror)

2. The Prince of Mists – Carlos Ruiz Zafron (YA, ghosts, WWII)

3. Cinder – Marissa Meyer (YA, science fiction, fairy tell retellings, cyborgs)

4. Locke & Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft – Joe Hill (graphic novels, fantasy, horror)

5. Locke & Key Volume 2: Head Games – Joe Hill (graphic novels, fantasy, horror)

6. Locke & Key Volume 3: Crown of Shadows – Joe Hill (graphic novels, fantasy, horror)

7. Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys to the Kingdom – Joe Hill (graphic novels, fantasy, horror)

8. Handsome Heroines: Women as Men in Folklore – Husain Shahrukh (folklore, short stories, fables, crossdressing, gender)

9. Sorrowline – Niel Bushnell (MG, fantasy, time travel)

10. She – H. Rider Haggard (classic, Victorian, fantasy, adventure)

Pantomime Cover Artwork Revealed!

It’s been an exciting last few days for Pantomime. Last week I received my structural edit from Strange Chemistry, which is a milestone! This edit was fairly light (whoohoo!), though I’ve got some tweaking to do, definitely. 

The next exciting milestone is that I can finally share the cover art for Pantomime! The text is still to be confirmed. I am so, so, so happy with it it’s unreal. It’s my wallpaper at work, at home, on my phone…everywhere. I had a couple of image ideas in my head as I was writing the book, but I’d never thought of having my main character in a mask, and it works so well. Amanda’s vision brilliantly encompassed the mystery, magic, and secrets of Pantomime. Tom Bagshaw aka MostlyWanted has made a truly gorgeous and stunning piece of artwork. Go look at his online portfolio to see more incredible art.

But first, take a look. Is it Gene Laurus, or is it Micah Grey?

About Pantomime, and my first two lovely, lovely blurbs:

R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass – remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone – are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star. But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

“Micah is the most wonderful, complex, brave and contemporary teenage hero I’ve read, facing issues of identity and responsibility that will resound with any reader who has felt like an outsider. Pantomime is loving in its detail but hints at so much scope to come. I raced through this book, desperate to know what happens next. ‘Look out behind you’ Robin Hobb…”

- Bryony Pearce, author of Angel’s Fury and winner of the Leeds Book Award, 2012

“Welcome to a world of shills and showmen, fading tech and circus freaks, where nothing and no-one is what it appears. An absorbing, accomplished debut.”

- Elspeth Cooper, author of the Wild Hunt series

More information on Pantomime at Strange Chemistry’s page for the book, including some places where it’s available for pre-order. *cough* Also, stay tuned for another reveal of the final artwork later on!

Best YA Literature

Another list!

NPR are calling for votes on the best YA literature. They’re now narrowed it down to 200-odd entries based on peoples’ suggestions. I decided to take a look at how many I’ve started, finished, or plan to read.

Format borrowed from KiwiRia.

The ones that are in bold are the ones I have read all of, the ones in italics indicates a note, where I either read at least one of the series and then either decided to stop or may eventually continue. The ones starting with *** I really want to read.

13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson

Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix (Read the first in series, may read the rest eventually)

***The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

***Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater

Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins

Anne of Green Gables (series), by Lucy Maud Montgomery (read a couple of them but not all of them)

Annie On My Mind, by Nancy Garden

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Ashfall, by Mike Mullin

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (series), by M.T. Anderson

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (series), by Jonathan Stroud

***Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray

Before I Die, by Jenny Downham

Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver

Betsy-Tacy Books (series), by Maud Hart Lovelace

Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys

***Blood Red Road, by Moira Young

Bloodlines (series), by Richelle Mead

Bloody Jack Adventures (series), by L.A. Meyer

***The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley

***The Book of Blood and Shadow, by Robin Wasserman

***The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

***Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan

Brooklyn, Burning, by Steve Brezenoff

Bruiser, by Neal Shusterman

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness (LOVE THIS SERIES)

***The Chemical Garden Trilogy (series), by Lauren DeStefano

Chime, by Franny Billingsley

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (series), by Diana WynneJones

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica (series), by James A. Owen

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Circle of Magic (series), by Tamora Pierce

***Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison

Copper Sun, by Sharon M. Draper

Crank (series), by Ellen Hopkins

Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins

Crown Duel, by Sherwood Smith

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

***The Curse Workers (series), by Holly Black

Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

***The Dark is Rising (series), by Susan Cooper

Darkest Powers (series), by Kelley Armstrong

Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor

Daughter of the Lioness / Tricksters (series), by Tamora Pierce

Delirium (series), by Lauren Oliver (read the first one–will probably read the second one eventually)

The Demon’s Lexicon (series), by Sarah Rees Brennan (read the first one–will probably read the second one eventually)

Discworld / Tiffany Aching (series), by Terry Pratchett (read quite a few of the Discworld books but not all of them)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart

***Divergent (series), by Veronica Roth

Dolphin Sky, by Ginny Rorby

Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick

Dune, by Frank Herbert

Earthsea (series), by Ursula K. Le Guin 

East, by Edith Pattou

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (series), by Patricia C. Wrede (loooved these books as a kid)

Everybody Sees the Ants, by A.S. King

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

Fallen (series), by Lauren Kate

***The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Feed, by M.T. Anderson

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones

The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

***The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan

Forever…, by Judy Blume

Gallagher Girls (series), by Ally Carter (Read the first, may eventually read the rest)

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (series), by Libba Bray 

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson

***The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente

The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry (read the first one. Keep forgetting it’s a series)

***Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous

Going Bovine, by Libba Bray

Gone (series), by Michael Grant

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale

***Graceling (series), by Kristin Cashore

Graffiti Moon, by Cath Crowley

Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers

The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages

Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie

Harper Hall Trilogy, by Anne McCaffrey

Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

Hate List, by Jennifer Brown

***The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley

Hex Hall (series), by Rachel Hawkins

His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams (read 2 or 3)

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride

Hold Still, by Nina LaCour

House of Night (series), by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast

The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros

How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff

How to Save a Life, by Sara Zarr

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins (read the first two. No desire to read the third)

Hurt Go Happy, by Ginny Rorby

Hush, Hush Saga (series), by Becca Fitzpatrick

I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier

I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

Immortal Beloved (series), by Cate Tiernan

The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa

The Immortals (series), by Tamora Pierce

Impossible, by Nancy Werlin

The Infernal Devices (series), by Cassandra Clare (read Clockwork Angel. Will wait for Clockwork Princess to come out and then will probably read the last two back to back).

Inheritance Cycle (series), by Christopher Paolini (read a couple of them)

The Iron Fey (series), by Julie Kagawa

It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini

Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey

Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta

Jessica Darling (series), by Megan McCafferty

Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen

The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

***The Legend of Beka Cooper (series), by Tamora Pierce

Leverage, by Joshua Cohen

Leviathan (series), by Scott Westerfeld

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien

Lost in the River of Grass, by Ginny Rorby

The Lumatere Chronicles (series), by Melina Marchetta

Lux (series), by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

A Mango-Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass

The Marbury Lens, by Andrew Smith

Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork

Matched (series), by Ally Condie

The Maze Runner Trilogy (series), by James Dashner

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Monster, by Walter Dean Myers

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness (I’d say this is more MG though? Along with a few others on this list)

The Monstrumologist (series), by Rick Yancey

The Mortal Instruments (series), by Cassandra Clare (Read the first 3)

My Most Excellent Year, by Steve Kluger

My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult

The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson

Nation, by Terry Pratchett

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

North of Beautiful, by Justina Chen Headley

A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly

The Only Alien on the Planet, by Kristen D. Randle

The Outside of a Horse, by Ginny Rorby

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

Outtakes of a Walking Mistake, by Anthony Paull

The Oz Chronicles (series), by R.W. Ridley

Paper Towns, by John Green

Perfect Chemistry, by Simone Elkeles

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel

The Piper’s Son, by Melina Marchetta

Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King

Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot (Read the first couple)

The Princesses of Iowa, by M. Molly Backes

Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo

Protector of the Small (series), by Tamora Pierce

The Queen’s Thief (series), by Megan Whalen Turner

Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar

Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly

A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L’Engle

Ruby Blue, by Julie Cassar

Ruby Oliver Quartet (series), by E. Lockhart

Ruby Red, by Kerstin Gier

The Rules of Survival, by Nancy Werlin

Saving Francesca, by Melina Marchetta

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater 

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (series), by Michael Scott

A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

Seven Realms (series), by Cinda Williams Chima

Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi

Shine, by Lauren Myracle

***Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Shiver Trilogy (series), by Maggie Stiefvater

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Ann Brashares (read the first one after the film came out)

The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

Something Like Normal, by Trish Doller

Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

The Song of the Lioness (series), by Tamora Pierce

Soul Screamers (series), by Rachel Vincent

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Split, by Swati Avasthi

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher

Stolen, by Lucy Christopher

Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr

The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han

Sweep (series), by Cate Tiernan (devoured these books as a teen, but didn’t finish the series)

Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr

Teach Me, by R.A. Nelson

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

This Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen

Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Trash, by Andy Mulligan

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer

Twisted, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Uglies (series), by Scott Westerfeld

Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

Vampire Academy (series), by Richelle Mead

Wake (series), by Lisa McMann

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic, by Allan Wolf

Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block

Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher

Where She Went, by Gayle Forman

Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley

Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler

Wide Awake, by David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green, David Levithan

Willow, by Julia Hoban

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Year of Secret Assignments, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Books/series read all of: 47

Books/series started: 15

Total: 62!

Fantasy Mistressworks

I was perusing Elspeth Cooper‘s blog and noticed she put up the top 50 female writers that my editor, Amanda Rutter, put up over at Fantasy Mistressworks. I decided to do it as well, and bold the ones I’ve read. I also italicized ones where I’ve read other work by the author, but not that particular book.

1. Songspinners – Sarah Ash

2. The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter

3. Rats and Gargoyles – Mary Gentle

4. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (this was published as Cross Stitch in the UK)

5. The Riddle-Master of Hed – Patricia McKillip

6. The Blue Sword – Robin McKinley

7. Lud-in-the-Mist – Hope Mirrlees

8. The Curse of the Mistwraith – Janny Wurts

9. Shadow Magic – Patricia C Wrede

10. Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb

11. A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K Le Guin

12. Familiar Spirit – Lisa Tuttle

13. Beauty – Sheri S Tepper

14. Diadem from the Stars – Jo Clayton

15. The Crystal Cave – Mary Stewart

16. Black Horses for the King – Anne McCaffrey

17. The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean M Auel

18. Fortress in the Eye of Time – C J Cherryh

19. Red Moon and Black Mountain – Joy Chant

20. The Birthgrave – Tanith Lee

21. Briefing for a Descent into Hell – Doris Lessing

22. Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice

23. The Wood Wife – Terri Windling

24. Briar Rose – Jane Yolen

25. The Porcelain Dove – Delia Sherman

26. The Winter Prince – Elizabeth Wein

27. The Time of the Dark – Barbara Hambly

28. Sword of Rhiannon – Leigh Brackett

29. Tam Lin – Pamela Dean

30. Fire in the Mist – Holly Lisle

31. The Sacrifice – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

32. The Beleagured City – Margaret Oliphant

33. The Soul of Lilith – Marie Corelli

34. The Citadel of Fear – Francis Stevens

35. Jirel of Joiry – C L Moore

36. Sheepfarmer’s Daughter – Elizabeth Moon

37. Dragon Prince – Melanie Rawn

38. Black Trillium – Julian May

39. The Thief’s Gamble – Juliet E McKenna

40. Daggerspell – Katharine Kerr

41. The Blue Manor – Jenny Jones

42. The Barbed Coil – J V Jones

43. In the Red Lord’s Reach – Phyllis Eisenstein

44. The Spirit Ring – Lois McMaster Bujold

45. The Last of the Renshai – Mickey Zucher Reichert

46. Archangel – Sharon Shinn

47. The Hall of the Mountain King – Judith Tarr

48. A Blackbird in Silver – Freda Warrington

49. Kindred – Octavia Butler

50. The Red Magician – Lisa Goldstein

I’ve only read 9! I’ll have to try and make my way through at least a few more!

The London Mush-Up

A few weekends ago, I travelled down to Edinburgh to meet a friend, Dianna Potter, but I never got around to posting about it. But go here to see her lovely write-up of our weekend of walking about in drizzling rain and catching up: Lang May Yer Lum Reek.

This past weekend, I went down to London with my best friend, Erica Bretall, in tow. We went to visit my book sister, Kim Curran, whom I love to bits. On Friday evening, we gussied ourselves up and went into town to meet my wonderbar agent, Juliet Mushens, who had arranged The Great London Mush-Up of 2012 ™.

On the way to Peters Fraser & Dunlop, Kim took a silly photo of me posing with a giant mask seat. This is a bit of a hint about my cover, which I had as the backdrop of my phone but have blacked out for now. Little did I know this is the last day that phone would work–it was drenched by a cocktail later that evening.

Shhh.

Juliet then commenced to thoroughly spoil us. We had champagne in their office before we meandered to the restaurant where we ate delicious food and had some wonderful banter before going out for cocktails. Juliet even gave us all presents–I got Carter Beats the Devil, a biography of a prominent magician. She knows me well. I kept having to slyly pinch myself throughout the evening. It was just such a lovely evening, despite getting drenched in alcohol a time or two!

Some photos nabbed from Twitter:

Team Leopard Print

With Amy McCulloch

My favourite image of the night. Me and Kim!

Saturday and Sunday were chock-a-block sightseeing–the British Museum, and the British Library (where we saw the handwritten manuscripts of Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Jerkyll and Mr. Hyde, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Yeah, it was amazing). We also went to the Wellcome Centre, which had the esoteric collection of the pharmacist, Wellcome. I ended up scribbling some notes for research. We were planning on going to Albert Hall for a show, but the thought of standing proved to be too much, so we opted for the wise choice of Thai food and The Fifth Element.

Afternoon Tea by the British Museum

At the British Library

Sunday we went on the London Eye, and the weather was glorious. At the top:

Afterwards, I went for brunch with Juliet and Kim and Erica went to the Globe Theatre. We then all wandered about the Tate Modern and then went to possibly my favourite place of the weekend–the Old Operating Theatre museum, in the attic of a church.

Operating Theatre

I miss everyone already! Hopefully this will be an annual event.

Search Term Bingo

I’ve gotten a couple of funny search terms for people asking Mother Google for answers to life, the universe, and everything. And then they find my blog, which probably doesn’t answer any of their questions.

I get a lot of the same ones over and over, most of which are fairly obvious. People searching for vintage circus things, or YA books I’ve reviewed or other things I’ve showcased on my random research posts. Every day people are searching for my agent, Juliet Mushens, etc. Sometimes people search for my name.

I decided to showcase some of the funnier ones.

drystan the white faced clown – This one I just don’t get. I have a character named Drystan, and he’s a white clown, but why would anyone search for him yet? Quite funny, and possible the result of a search spider or something. Similarly I have gotten drystan the white faced clown in books. Is there another white clown named Drystan I’m not aware of?

i just craped myself cat - Probably some meme I’m not aware of, but LOL all the same. Also, typo!

you are tricking me – Oh dear, am I? Frightfully sorry about that.

laura lam micah grey nude – Obviously one of my Twitter friends being strange!

elf male minstrel – sorry to disappoint, but I am neither an elf, male, nor a minstrel. More’s the pity. Neither am I a fairy elf league of legend.

robot owl – I’d quite like to have one of these. Naturally, I’d name it Hedwig.

laura lam lies down on broadway – Got this the other day, which sparked some witty banter on Twitter.

promiscuous kitten - You’ve come to the right place. Obviously.

how do i know if l am good sex – I dunno, man. Don’t ask me.

what did brian katcher want to be before he was a writter - I think the answer to that is librarian, because that’s the coolest job. Don’t think he’s a writter, though.

stanley lam from edinburgh – Nope. Not me.

lora lam – Also not me.

lam watch movies and learn alsks built with taatnak – ORLY?

OK, so they’re not as WTFSTRANGE as some people’s, but they still make me chuckle. If you’ve a website, what are some of the stranger search terms you’ve gotten?

Books Read in June

Here are the books I read in June, linked to their Goodreads pages. Have you read any of them? What did you think?

1. Spook: Science Tackling the Afterlife – Mary Roach (nonfiction, ghosts, afterlife, science)

2. Clockwork Angel – Cassandra Clare (YA, fantasy, steampunk)

3. Shift – Kim Curran (YA, science fiction, quantum physics, action)

4. Fleshmarket – Nicola Morgan (YA, historical, Victorian, Edinburgh, medicine)

5. The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle #3) – Libba Bray (YA, fantasy, magic, historical, boarding school)

6. Blackwood – Gwenda Bond (YA, mystery, fantasy, alchemy)

7. Tithe – Holly Black (YA, fantasy, fairies)

And, as usual, I’m in the middle of a bunch of other ones that’ll show up in the July list.

Dinosaurs

Someone found my blog today by searching “miss lam take a book of dinosaurs.”

What a kind offer, stranger! But look, I’ve taken one in the past. Here’s me reading Dinotopia. RIP Borders.

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Hope everyone’s having a nice weekend! I’ve got my nose down, trying to get lots done. My laptop keeps intermittently giving me the blue screen of death, though. Soldier on, my dear laptop!

Strange Coincidences: The Woman in the Photograph

This is the last Strange Coincidences post, and is one of my own stories.

I used to live in a little house in Union City, California, when I was about nine or ten. Two sisters lived close by, Shannon and Krystal, and we were really good friends and played nearly every day. They did not have the best home life, and so sometimes we’d go over to their grandparents’ house.

There was a photograph on the wall. It was huge–maybe four feet tall. It was of a very glamourous woman, in black and white. I kept looking at the photo, over and over. She looked really familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I still can’t believe I didn’t recognise the photo, but I suppose you really don’t expect a photo of someone you know to show up on a stranger’s wall.

A few weeks or months later, my mom was going through her storage and stumbled across her old modelling portfolio. Shannon was over and we flipped through it. I was amazed. My mom looked so beautiful in all of them, though the 70s fashion in a couple of them made us giggle. She turned the page and me and Shannon both squeaked “No way!”

Yep. You guessed it–it was that photo. A photo of my mom had somehow ended up on my friend’s grandfather’s wall.

It’s hard to know how big of a coincidence that was. Her grandfather had been a photographer, and heck, he might have even photographed my mom when she was modelling in San Francisco, though he didn’t take that photo–he’d bought it at a sale. But still. He’d bought an exact photo that my mom had chosen to keep from that shoot, and my mom had happened to find it when Shannon was over. Nine year old me was astounded, and I still find it a very strange coincidence.

In that photo, my mother was only a little order than I am now–she was 24 and this was taken in 1978, 10 years before I was born.

My mom and me on my 21st birthday

And that concludes my spotlight on strange coincidences. I hope you enjoyed the series. If you have any stories you want to send me later on, I’d still be happy to hear them, though I probably won’t post them any more. I had a wide range of stories, from the small to the life-threatening. I enjoyed posting them all, and thank you to those of you who sent me anecdotes. I don’t ascribe a higher meaning to them, but they do make you think and realise the world can be a funny place. Similar to the six degrees of separation, we’re not as far removed from each other as one might think.