C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 92

tv finales post

1. Agents of SHIELD done good. That final shot! ♥ Glad they’re renewed.

2. The Tomorrow People did exactly what I thought they shouldn’t at the *very end*, and totally lost me. Up until 2 minutes before the credits rolled I was willing to forgive some of the rampant stupidities and was hoping there’d be a second season, now I don’t care, so it’s fine with me that they’re not renewed.

3. Arrow: Oh, that was a really nice hand-off to season 3.

Slightly more detail, with spoilers, behind the cut.

1....

Picoreview: Escape Plan

Picoreview: Escape Plan: Surprisingly…I’m not sure ‘good’ is the right word, but surprisingly entertaining.

I really didn’t know what to expect from a Schwarzenegger/Stallone movie, but I pretty well expected it to be awful. Instead it was solidly entertaining, and I gotta admit, Schwarzenegger just *oozed* charisma, to the point that a couple of times I was just kinda like “…*damn*, mister!” Stallone not so much, although he and Arnie played off each other nicely.

There are–well, there was one...

Shaman Rises teaser chapter!

Wow, it’s only about 6 weeks until SHAMAN RISES comes out! Here! Have the first chapter!

(…but read NO DOMINION first! You can get it at Amazon, at Audible, and at B&N. :))

The post Shaman Rises teaser chapter! appeared first on The Essential Kit.

gardening & not-baking

Young Indiana inspects our potatoes, which are growing like gangbusters.

I thought the idea of putting them near holes in the container was that the tops would grow that way, but apparently the whole thing is shallow enough that both layers of potatoes are just reaching for the top. Gangbusters!

Several of our strawberry plants didn’t take and I haven’t gone to get more, but two are looking healthy, and our lettuce is growing nicely! In fact, all of that has now been clipped back and will short...

speaking of reading

Not that I was actually speaking of it, but I have faint ambitions of actually re-reading TIGANA this month (technically it was April’s book and I should be reading A SONG FOR ARBONNE this month, but, er, it didn’t work that way :)) just in case anybody wants to do my lurching read-along on that book.

Ted just finished reading Marion G Harmon‘s Wearing the Cape series, which he’s enjoyed very much, so I gotta put those on my reading list. Which I should update, to keep me honest. Although fra...

dynastic nonsense

I swear to god, real political dynasties are so complicated & disbelief-suspending that if you wrote them people would be like OH HOW CONVENIENT.

For example, I’m reading about Joanna I of Naples. Joanna’s grandfather was the 3rd son, never intended to inherit anything, except he and his next oldest and next youngest brother got sent away to be hostages and treated brutally for 7 years just before he returned his oldest brother died and his next oldest brother who had been imprisoned with him...

Picoreview: The Other Woman

Picoreview: The Other Woman: pretty good, actually.

The premise is that Cameron Diaz falls in love with Jamie from Game of Thrones only to discover he’s married and she’s the other woman. His horrified wife, who has no one else to talk to about it, sort of mugs Diaz emotionally and they (through an actual decently developed period of time) become friends, and then after a while discover Jamie is also cheating on them with a third woman, whom they also befriend. Hijinks ensue.

There are parts th...

Recent Reads: Shadows

I blew through Robin McKinley‘s SHADOWS yesterday (somewhat foolishly, actually, since after already staying up too late watching a movie I noticed the book with only 4 chapters left sitting beside me and thought “well, I’ll just finish that chapter,” and everybody knows how *that* story ends).

I’ll read anything McKinley writes (although it appears I’ve failed to read PEGASUS, so I need to remedy that), though I find her books to be–not exactly hit or miss. More like more like “out of the ba...

magic & manners under the wire

I forgot to post the 12th chapter of MAGIC & MANNERS at the Patreon page on Wednesday! Or at least, I forgot on Wednesday my time, BUT IT IS STILL WEDNESDAY IN ALASKA AND HAWAII SO I HAVE MADE IT WHEW

For those still considering the Patreon campaign (or, I admit, not considering it; that’s okay too), the first 6 chapters of MAGIC & MANNERS are now available to read for free!

Honestly, if I had about a 3 week solid run on this book I’m pretty sure I’d just bang it out and get it finished. It’s w...

Recent Reads: The Poor Relation

I accidentally blew through MC Beaton‘s entire Poor Relation series in the last two days. Three days. Since Monday, anyway.

It should be no secret by now that I like Beaton (aka Marion Chesney)’s writing, but the truth is that I like her Regencies even more than her Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth books (though I’ve only read one of the Hamish books, I think. I need to read more of them.). They’re just delightful stories, quick-paced, clever, funny, and with characters I care about. This parti...