Laura VanArendonk Baugh's Blog, page 54

Generations, Brick by Brick

So today’s post is about a field trip to family history. We hopped in my new car and headed up to Logansport, IN. There’s a Catholic church there, now called All Saints since it blended with two other local churches, but it used to be known as St. Joseph’s. It was built in the 1880s, [...]

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I’m very visual. Except when I’m not.

There are two reactions I get from pretty nearly all my beta readers and critique partners, regardless of the story: “I don’t know exactly what your characters look like; don’t you ever describe them?” and, “Holy smokes, your action scenes are really detailed.” These may be phrased in various ways, but the general gist is [...]

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Peter Cushing and Asian Folklore

Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon and realized it tied directly to Asian folklore and therefore I could totally justify a blog post. Cushing had a long and varied career, playing everyone from Sherlock Holmes to the Sheriff of Nottingham, but even those who aren’t film buffs will remember [...]

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Teaser Tuesday — Torrent

Today’s #TeaserTuesday comes from “Torrent,” a science fiction short story. Merced… Mercen… What had been the word Captain Trafalgar used? Do you mean to search for Mercedarians? She answered in the affirmative. The Order of Mercy was established in the 13th century for the purpose of ransoming slaves. Slavers of Northern Africa [see old Earth [...]

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Speedy Chocolate!

This post will have to go live a few days later, since I ordered some gifts I don’t want to telegraph, but here’s the deal: I ordered from Endangered Species Chocolate and found my order at my driveway about 24 hours later. Let us count the ways this went right: I ordered using a coupon [...]

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D&D Gone Off the Rails

It’s no secret that I’m a nerd and a geek, but I’m pretty new to the gamer scene.In fact, my first Dungeons & Dragons experience was at Gen Con a few years ago. And it was a lousy experience, to tell the truth. The scenario was written so badly that even the GM (assigned to [...]

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You’re Doing It Wrong.

You know when you hit upon something that’s just so jaw-droppingly, amazingly awful that you just have to inflict it on someone else? (That was your only warning.) The following came straight from a commercially-published paperback. I’ve cut a couple of words from the first line for clarity and to protect the guilty, but trust [...]

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Teaser Tuesday — Shard & Shield

Another short excerpt for #TeaserTuesday! This one’s from Shard & Shield, which is today’s project anyway. Ariana sipped at her drink and traced a finger through the condensation on the table, drawing loose geometric designs. Idly she asked, “Did you know some ancient art includes winged men as icons of beauty? Not quite Ryuven, but [...]

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Stakes on a Plane — Men, Women, and Entitlement

Today’s post features a rude game of airplane footsie and some sociological pronouncements. I had an interesting talk with my husband the other day about perceived entitlement to women. That sounds a lot more sociological than it really was, but it had to do with concepts of “earning” a woman: buy flowers or a dinner, [...]

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Teaser Tuesday — Kitsune-Mochi

Another short excerpt for #TeaserTuesday! “I know what you are,” said the shadow. Kaworu’s stomach clenched. If he lived through this, Tsurugu would kill him. “What of it?” “Did you know a man called Shishio Hitoshi?” Kusou. Tsurugu would never have the chance. Today’s fun educational factoid — you’ve learned a Japanese swear word, at [...]

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