C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 104

spoilers, sweetie

This is me staying off the internet today because spoilers, sweetie.

I had, of course, intended to stay off entirely after realizing on Twitter last night that my entire feed was filling up with Sherlock spoilers and running away after the second, albeit very minor, one. So I retreated to Livejournal, which should have been safe, except some asshole who’d gotten to see an early preview a couple of weeks ago posted her review while it was still airing.

Seriously, guys, I’m not that much of an an...

Kitsnaps: Tiger

Tiger

Tiger

Tiger: the February picture for the 2014 CE Murphy photographic calendar.

I gave several people copies of the calendar for Christmas. Upon seeing this picture, there were gasps of, “How close did you have to get for this picture?!” I was really about three feet away, probably; the tiger was obligingly lying near the glass of its enclosure, and I had a good lens on the camera. :)

The post Kitsnaps: Tiger appeared first on The Essential Kit.

The GGK Project: THE SUMMER TREE

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

The great Guy Gavriel Kay (Re-)Reading Project begins! We’ll be reading a book a month, in order of publication, throughout the year. Our first book, THE SUMMER TREE, has 16 chapters, so we’ll be breaking that into an expectation of reading 4 chapters a week in January. I’ll be posting a discussion blog every Tuesday so we can talk about the books and to offer a deadline for people to read to.

I’m very much looking forward to this. I’ve only re-read 4 o...

Shaman Rises cover reveal!

I thought I’d start the new year off right, with a cover reveal for SHAMAN RISES, the final book of the Walker Papers!

Would you like to know all the reasons this cover is terrific? Let me tell you all the reasons it’s perfect!

First: the colors. My publisher’s always been very good about discussing colors with me, and I very much wanted the final book in the series to have a light, bright look in direct and deliberate contrast to the first book’s cover. So what do I get? Spring green and white...

Kitsnaps: Rhinos

Rhinos

Rhinos

Rhinos: the January picture for the 2014 CE Murphy photographic calendar.

I was ridiculously pleased when I saw this printed out. I was afraid all the shades of grey would just blend and be blah, but they turned out beautifully crisp and defined!

The post Kitsnaps: Rhinos appeared first on The Essential Kit.

Recent Reads: A Stranger at Green Knowe

I admit that I have stayed up slightly too late tonight so I could add one more book onto my “books read in 2013″ list, which I believe has capped out at about 65 books. Not quite as good as last year, when I think I managed around 75, but a lot better than my nadir of 15. @.@

***

I re-read all of the Green Knowe books repeatedly as a child, but reading them again as an adult has been a revelation. The descriptions and the ability to reveal the world the way a child sees it are unparalleled thr...

2014 Thinks To Do

Okay, so big plans for 2014 include:

- rewatching the Ron Perlman/Linda Hamilton Beauty and the Beast as part of a year-long thing with Stephen Aryan and Liz de Jager. We might even have a weekly Discussion Blog about that week’s show. Anybody who wants to can join in!

- (re)reading all the Guy Gavriel Kay novels, of which there are now 12, one a month in publication order, again with weekly discussion. We’ll be starting with THE SUMMER TREE in January, with a goal of reading 4 chapters a week....

my best(worst) critique ever

Back at the start of the century (!) I submitted a manuscript to a writing contest, which I finaled in and went to the conference the contest was associated with, because finalists got to meet an editor and I wanted a professional opinion on whether what I was doing was any good.

Finalists also wore little ribbons saying they were finalists in their genre. The SF/F ones were yellow. A woman came up to me and said, “Oh! You’re a SF&F finalist! Were you one of mine? I’m one of the judges!”

I said...

Oh look!

I've finally figured out how to update my Goodreads blog to include my actual blog after changing things around to have all my web stuff working out of one location. Hooray! Welcome back, me!

Er. Something like that, anyway. :)

the TBRS project

Y’know, I’m genuinely a little concerned about my TBR shelf project (the one where I have to clear out about 70% of my TBR shelf before I can buy anything new), just because it’s harder to read fiction when I’m writing it* and I have to get an awful lot of writing done next year. Somehow.

If I was planning a massive *re-read* project (aside from the GGK thing, which is not massive), I’d be in much better shape. It’s far easier to read things I’ve already read. Less anticipation, I think, and t...