C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 55
February 24, 2016
Good Guys & Responding to Womens’ Sexual Harassment
A friend of mine over on Facebook posted link to this article, Why Women Smile At Men Who Sexually Harass Us, which is a good article full of things that are tiresomely familiar to virtually all women and apparently continue to be surprising to many, perhaps most, men.
I think it’s a good article for men to read, because what prompted her writing it was how the author’s boyfriend, who is, by her estimation, one of the good guys, responded not only to her being harassed, but to her *reaction*...
February 23, 2016
Recent Reads: Desdaemona
The only thing worse than having dozens of unread books on your shelf is when half of them are by people you’re friends with so you have the additional guilt of being TERRIBLY BEHIND on friends’ books.
The only thing better than reading books that have been on the TBR shelf for years is reading one by a friend and it turns out to be WONDERFUL. DESDAEMONA is one such book, written by–
–ah, see, now, this is where it gets meta. :)
Ben Macallan is the main character of Chaz Brenchley’s DEAD OF L...
February 22, 2016
Picoreview: A Royal Night Out
Picoreview: A Royal Night Out: charming.
A Royal Night Out is ever so loosely based on V.E. Day in England, 1945, when a young Elizabeth and Margaret were granted permission to go out into the crowds to celebrate like everybody else. In real life, this apparently happened after Elizabeth, standing up on the balcony with her parents, realized she couldn’t *see* any of the people, not at all, because of the spotlights on the royal family, and she wanted to be able to see and participate.
The mo...
February 21, 2016
5 of 50…
I’ve finished the first revision pass on IMMORTAL BELOVED, which has been a very interesting project to revisit. The final third is visibly stronger than the middle third; the middle third is visibly better than the first third. I knew I’d learned a lot writing it, but it’s interesting to see it so clearly.
There are still a *lot* of things to fix. Worldbuilding, character relationship development, the poorly handled head-hopping (I don’t mind head-hopping, especially after writing MAGIC & MA...
February 19, 2016
Kitsnaps: Oxford
I had a brief visit to Oxford last month and although I didn’t have a decent camera with me, got a handful of pictures that I was very happy with, with my phone. I haven’t “matted” them, but I’ve concluded if I wait to do that I’ll never post another Photo Friday again, because I’ve just got too many other things going on right now. (I need a Beautiful Assistant to do that kind of work for me. Plus a lot of other stuff. If only I was rich. :))
The University Church, taken from the top of a bu...
February 18, 2016
many edits. such revision.
I’m trying to keep my nose to the grindstone while also being caught in this frustrating window of hurry up and wait.
I put in an order for a proof for MAGIC & MANNERS on the 6th and it still hasn’t arrived, so I went and looked up why and the damned thing says it’s still ‘pending’. I don’t understand why, unless I’m supposed to tell the system that it’s print-approved, except as far as I can tell that will propagate it into the publication system and I don’t want to do that until I’m sure t...
February 16, 2016
Recent Reads: The Alchemist of Souls
Skraylings! I don’t think I’ve read a book with skraylings, or anything much like them, since Elizabeth Boyer’s books that I haven’t read in a Very Long Time Indeed but still have on my shelf because fond memory tells me they were pretty darn good.
Anne Lyle’s THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS is nothing like those books, though. I’d say it’s more grown-up, but that’s kind of a disservice to the Boyer books, which were of their time, just as Lyle’s novel is. I just really, really *enjoyed* ALCHEMIST bei...
February 15, 2016
Picoreview: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
Picoreview: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: startlingly enjoyable!
Look, I won’t kid you. When P&P&Z came out as a book I thought, “*God* I wish I’d thought of that.” It didn’t matter if it was going to be a one-hit wonder (and it apparently was; SENSE & SENSIBILITY & SEAMONSTERS apparently didn’t do nearly as well), it was just such a great idea that yeah. I wish I’d thought of that. I didn’t read the book, but I wished I’d thought of it.
I *didn’t* read the book, so I have no idea how well the...
February 14, 2016
late night dublin wander
I went to my sister’s musical last night, and having foolishly failed to check the train times, discovered at 10 o’clock, on my way to the train station, that there was not a half ten train, only a 10pm one and a half eleven one. So I ended up wandering around city centre, getting some extra steps in and taking crappy late night phone camera pictures, which I will now share with you. :)
The General Post Office, commonly referred to as the GPO, on O’Connell Street. This was the headquarters fo...
February 12, 2016
Kitsnaps: Reflections
Yes, yes, I know that the way to actually have my Photo Friday/Kitsnaps post regularly is to prepare them weeks in advance and get them set to auto-post. It’s the weeks in advance part where I’m falling down, especially because I’d *like* to post the pictures false-framed the way I’ve done the last ten or so.
Possibly this is a terrible choice and I should reconsider it forever, especially as I’m reasonably certain the only one who actually cares about it is me. I just feel like the images lo...
