C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 3

Recent Reads: SILENT SONGS

Recent Reads: SILENT SONGS by AC Crispin & Kathleen O’Malley – this is possibly my favorite, and my least favorite, Starbridge novel all wrapped up in one. (amazon affiliate link)

The world it’s set on, Trinity, is my favorite of the Starbridge worlds/cultures: peopled by intelligent avians who speak via sign language and make magnificent weavings, it’s just… I love it. It’s a beautiful world, and the human lead, Tesa, is a Deaf Souix heyoka (trickster, shamanistic person). She’s my favorite Sta...

exercise: good news/bad news

Good news/bad news on the Project ‘Whup Dan’ front:

Good news is, the bike shop got the gear shifts on my bike working properly so it now goes through the entire range of gears without dropping the chain, and also actually shifts IN to third, which it had never previously done. It’s a cheap bike and it’s the 3rd time I’ve brought it in to try to get this fixed, so I guess 3rd time is the charm.

Bad news is, it took a week so I probably have to fight the Battle of Bike Butt all over again.

The o...

Release Day: GORILLA IN THE GROOVE

My new paranormal romance, GORILLA IN THE GROOVE, is available now! (amazon affilate link)

Dancing is no monkey business…
Irina has spent her whole life working toward the dream of a lifetime: participating in an Irish dance competition in Ireland itself. And now that she’s here…she’s terrified! But Irina is determined to make the best of it even if she’s afraid—and meeting huge, gorgeous DJ Mick is the first step in the right direction.

He’s going ape over her…
All gorilla shifter Mick wants to...

Call of Cthulhu: Pour One Out for Alice

If you will recall, we left off stuck in a terrible temple of Nyaralthotep, having chased the god himself off with a molotov cocktail. After some exploration in the largely dark area, Caliope decides to try make nitroglycerin out of the dynamite Ared found in the back of the plane we stole (along with the chickens, but it was funnier to just mention the chickens previously). (Our backup plan is to try some occult stuff, but that’ll take longer so we figure we’ll try explosions first and magic se...

art project: thinking about what i’m doing

I’ve been thinking A LOT about why I’m doing this drawing project and I’m going to subject you to these thoughts whether you like it or not. (I mean, you can skip this, obviously, but I’m apparently somehow working through something and I don’t even know what, so…)

I mean, like, one reason is just that I like drawing more than knitting and I’m looking for things to keep me from doomscrolling. But that’s not really what it’s about. Some of it is that I used to be kind of good at this – better, ar...

the very slow exercise roll

Stage One of “whup Friend at the pool” is complete: I have conquered Bike Butt and can now cycle to work/begin taking longer bike rides.

I mean, by the time I actually manage to get fit enough to swim AFTER biking to the gym, Friend is going to be swimming two miles a day and it’ll take me months to catch him, but dammit, at least I’ve gotten started!

I’ve also put the front and tail lights on the bike, found the biking gloves and the bike lock, and put those things into the panniard for ease of...

art project: 20 hours!

I have – against all odds, IMHO – reached HOUR TWENTY on this project. One fifth of the way done! Perhaps I have a chance of seeing it through! Or not. 80 hours is still a Very Long Way To Go.

I’ve been working my way through more basic shapes and shading, moving slowly into one-point perspective. Because I’m determined to do it the hard way, or…honestly, it’s more that I’m trying to LEARN things that I’ve only half-assedly learned in the past, but anyway. Point is, I’m kind of going back and fo...

Ivan Aivazovsky

Those of you who follow me on Bluesky may have seen that I recently discovered Russian (which is to say, Crimean but it was a Russian territory at the time) painter Ivan Aivazovsky.

I may never recover. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water done like he does it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt an artist loved water as much as I feel he must have. It’s so incredible I could vomit.

This particular piece is held privately, which is a shame, but there’s a museum in Feodosiya, Ukraine – a museum which in ...

Recent Reads: A HONEYMOON OF GRAVE CONSEQUENCE

Recent Reads: A HONEYMOON OF GRAVE CONSEQUENCE by Stephanie Burgis – this is absolutely charming.

I read an advance copy of this second in a series of novellas about Lord Riven, Vampire, and Lady Riven, Scholar, whose situationship we’re introduced to in A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD CONVENIENCE and continues on now (and hopefully for quite some time after this!). I liked MARRIAGE very much, and HONEYMOON is better: it’s nearly twice as long, and the length helps the story to feel more complete within it...

a competitive soul

I know this will come as a surprise to many of you, but I am somewhat competitive by nature.

To wit:

I’ve been moaning for years about needing to get back to swimming. Parenting made it hard, and as that’s eased up some, I suffered a shoulder injury which has now been largely dealt with, but have still been faced with the fundamental difficulty of getting to the pool. We don’t own a car, which means walking or biking to the gym and it’s an hour+ walk from home which is frankly asking a lot befor...