C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 56

new! shiny! website!

Thanks to the efforts of the magnificent Thirzah Brown, I have a beautiful new website! Equally excitingly, I have, through the good graces of a reader, acquired a comments moderator, which means the comments have been turned back on for the site! COME ONE! COME ALL! SPEAK TO ME! :)

This has all been in the works for quite a long time now, and I’m really delighted to see it go live. My needs for a website have changed over the years, with me gradually wanting a greater focus on the CE Murphy...

Recent Reads: The Art of Elfquest

Several months ago I discovered a Kickstarter for three deluxe Wendy Pini books, two on Elfquest and one on her other work.

Reader, I agonized. I do not, by any stretch of the imagination, require more Elfquest stuff. The completionist in me shrieks otherwise, but the truth is I got rid of most of my Elfquest originals before we moved, and I never did get several of the later Father Tree Press graphic novels (which I regret, actually, but I really still don’t like the coloring in them), but...

sunday summary

I made scones this morning and opened the maple apple butter to try it on them.

oh my GOD that stuff is good

Holy crap. Completely different delivery of flavour than the caramel, which is all tart apple and then slow roll of caramel. This is rich sweet maple with a low apple base, much, MUCH more maple-y than I expected from the taste I had when it was still warm. Oh my *god*.

Ted’s all like: you need to start a fudge and apple butter cottage industry and sell it for millions in five years’ t...

Meet Baloo

Meet Baloo, the newest member of our family:

Baloo is a year-old rescue dog who came to live with us a couple of weeks ago. He is, according to the rescue people, part collie (likely: he shows a tendency to herd, anyway), perhaps part lab or retriever, or, in the opinion of the woman running the place, part flat-haired terrier.

He’s *definitely* very large. He’s definitely very furry. He’s also very patient, which is good, because Young Indiana cannot. stop. flinging. himself. at. the. dog....

shannara livetweet, eps 2-3

o no i’m watching more #shannarachronicles
i might have to livetweet it again
i don’t know if i can resist

*SQUEAL* ARE WE GONNA HAVE THE KING OF THE SILVER RIVER
OMG I’D FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH I LOVED THAT SCENE, THE WRITING, OMG

lol “what happened to eyes up here”

question from the reading audience: perhaps a silly question.. I grew up on the books.. is this worth the watch?

i too grew up on the books. the show’s a train wreck. i’m 4 episodes in & not gonna quit. take that as you will :)

OOH...

Writing Wednesday: I finished a book!

It always strikes me, when I use that phrase, “I finished a book,” that I usually mean something different than 99% of other people do when they say it. Possibly 99.7%. I, of course, generally mean I finished writing a book, as opposed to reading one. (Although let me tell you, there are times anymore when finishing reading one seems like as much of a triumph…)

Anyway, so on Monday I finished the (oh my god so very) rough draft of REDEEMER, which has been hanging over me for what feels like f...

Kitsnacks: Apple Butter

(whoa i thought i’d posted this months ago but it’s been sitting half finished in my queue! i discovered this because i finally opened the caramel apple butter last night and OH MY GOD it’s good! and somebody asked for the recipe so i went off to find it and woe! it hadn’t been posted!)

My sister made a bunch of apple butter the other day (with apples I gave her) and although I don’t really *like* apple butter (or don’t remember liking it; I haven’t had it since I was about eight) I’m now app...

shannara chronicles, omg

I accidentally livetweeted watching the first episode of The Shannara Chronicles while Somewhat Tired. It went like this:

…I can see that #TheShannaraChronicles is going to be an extreme addiction sort of thing.

o god manu bennett i luv u

(trying to explain the show setup to a friend):
oh wow they’re really making the whole “this is our world only After The Fall real clear here aren’t they
the credits have the toppled thing in seattle
sky tower
uh
jesus christ
thing
the THING
SPACE NEEDLE JES...

2016 work schedule

Want to know what I’m doing this year? Or at least, what I’m trying to do? Here. Let me tell you!

Publishing MAGIC & MANNERS
I’m in the very last stages of getting MAGIC & MANNERS out into the world–the last bits (the ISBN bar code, mostly) are being generated for the cover, it’ll be handed off to a professional to convert it into e-books, and it’s the first book I’ll be publishing through the Ingram self publishing system, which will theoretically make it order-able in bookstores all around...

I need an app for this.

I need somebody who can write An App For That, because man, there is a thing I want an app for and I can’t find anything like it on the interwebs. The closest thing I can find are to-do lists and self-discipline apps and life coach apps, none of which really do what I want.

It’s something that you could run on your mobile or whatever although what I REALLY need for it is a Smart Wall or something in my house (I guess the tv would do) and it wouldn’t be just a to-do list. It would be more inte...