Last night I went to the SF in SF reading, where Jeff VanderMeer and S.G. Browne read from their new novels. Browne started off, reading from Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, a dark comedy told in first person from the point of view of a man who woke up from an accident to find himself shuffling down the road as a zombie. The Thanksgiving scene is priceless, but don't read it while eating.

Jeff VanderMeer read from Finch, his noir final novel in his Ambergris series. I haven't read the first four, but I really enjoyed the characters. Finch is a detective, as one would expect from noir, but his world has been occupied by aliens who employ technology based on mushrooms. OK, that's a little simplistic. The section he read sounded very interesting, and I enjoyed the details about the planet and the alien technology.

The panel discussion afterwards was entertaining, as usual, with Terry Bisson at his witty best. "Are dilettantes a bad thing?" "Are hamsters a bad thing?" Maybe you just had to be there, and through the magic of podcasts you can be, as the evening's readings and discussion will be available as podcasts, with a link on the SF in SF site soon.


*This is the shoutout Jeff VanderMeer asked for as he read the description of his novel from the back of the book.

I'm moving in less than two weeks, and my washer and dryer need a new home. The washer is fairly old, and I got the dryer about ten years ago. However, I only do one or two loads of laundry a week, so neither gets much use. They're yours if you take them away (from Santa Clara).

Hmm. Maybe I'm more interesting than I thought.

( Hidden for those allergic to memes )

I bet you saw this one coming. :-)

Before I can move into my house, I need to paint the rooms, and I've love some help. I need to paint the three bedrooms, the living room, and the studio out back. All the rooms will already be taped. I just need some willing hands to wield the brushes. I realize this will be Coronet weekend, but I won't have time to get the rooms taped before this weekend. So...please come help paint.

Saturday, Oct. 17, starting at 9:00. I'll provide drinks and eventually pizza. It's not hard and will be fun. And just think, I'm not going to ask any of you to help me move. :-)

The garage sale went very well. People showed up to take my cool geeky stuff off my hands, and my garage is much emptier. Yay! Many thanks to acanthusleaf and her mother, who did all the signs and brought their own cool things to add to the sale.

I'm having a garage sale, and since I'm a geek, most of the stuff in it will appeal to geeks. Come early, and bring your friends.

Address: 1152 White Drive, Santa Clara, CA

Some of the stuff for sale:

sewing machine
some cloth
costumes
stuffed animals
Playmobil knights
SCA goodies, including four wooden tourney boxes of assorted sizes
games
Star Trek stuff, including action figures still in their boxes
actual furniture and cool old stuff

I finally realized why I don't like taking beginning waltz classes: everyone in them is a beginner. I don't want to learn to dance with a bunch of men who are also learning to dance, because then all we do is stumble around stepping on each other. I want to learn from black belts, not white belts. It goes much faster that way.

I've been invited to a tapas potluck weekend after next, and I've decided to appeal to the group mind. Do any of you have an easy tapas recipe that will still taste good after an hour's drive? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

For those of you coming to World Fantasy in San Jose and who also like "Star Trek", the Tech Museum (walking distance from the con hotel) will be starting an exhibit of items from "Star Trek" the weekend before.

I decided I needed an icon for World of Warcraft. That's one of my avatars, a dwarf paladin who is also an engineer (hence the goggles).

My main character I named after a character from Living With Ghosts. Since we're not supposed to name our avatars after characters from novels, I changed the name somewhat, so my elf hunter is named Graciel. I also have an elf druid. I wanted to name her Mevennen, after the only druid I know, but since that name is taken here and is also a character from a novel I like, I named my druid Meveniel, a nice elvish version of the name.

My dwarf, though, is named Galswintha, since that's a female dwarf character in one of *my* stories.

I keep hearing from people against gay marriage that "the Bible says" that marriage is defined as between one man and one woman, yet I have yet to see that definition in any Bible. However, I've been reading a book about England in the twelfth century. During that time, the definition of marriage became codified. Secular law decided that canon law would decide, and canon law decided that the primary definition was that two people agree and say publicly that they were married. And at this time canon law defined marriage as an agreement between two people (which at the time would be one man and one woman). Aha! I bet that's where all this is coming from.

learnteach is out of surgery, but groggy (not surprisingly).

Watch jeanvieve for the most current updates, but he just went into surgery. Turns out he has a bad strep infection in his leg, but it's not staph. They're going to drain icky things out. His mother and Kurt are there with him and will send details once he's out of surgery.

[I posted this as a comment in red6count's journal, but wanted to post it here, too, because it's something I've been thinking about while I've been researching a project.]

I'm currently reading England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225 by Robert Bartlett. It's a wonderful book, that describes in detail life in the twelfth century in England, based on historical sources. What Bartlett has to say about court life is this:

"The description of Hugh of Avranches, earl of Chester (d. 1101), given by Orderic Vitalis, exemplifies the hedonistic, materialistic, athletic, public, and noisy nature of the great aristocratic household:

'He loved the world and wordly pomp and thought that they were the highest blessing that human beings could attain. He was always the first in battle, lavish in his giving, took great pleasure in games and luxuries, in actors, horses, dogs and other vanities of this kind. He was surrounded by a huge household, in which there were crowds of boys, both nobles and commonors, making a great noise, as well as honourable clerks and knights with whom he shared his labours and his wealth.'

... Feasting, hunting, joking, love, gifts -- that is the ideal picture of the aristocratic court." [p. 235]

For those of you complaining that the Spartans* care only about fighting and partying, and that artisans are ignored, I have this to say: Congratulations. The SCA has successful recreated the Middle Ages.


* An SCA household known for its members' emphasis on armored combat and partying. Due the former interest, members of this group tend to frequently win Crown tournaments and reign as King and Queen.

Yesterday, or possibly today, marks twenty years that I've been living in the Bay Area.

Interesting article on the Celts (or should I say, the "Celts") in Clarkesworld:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/maund_06_09/

Or should I say, Dr. fearless_em? For those of you who haven't met Sarah (Teresa's niece), you can read all about the crystal salamanders she discovered in Yellowstone National Park while doing her doctoral research, here:

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/03/yellowstone-national-park-home-wolves-grizzlies-elk-moose-and-crystal-salamanders

I went to see "Wicked!" in SF with hrf, scotica, and duchessletitia this evening. I knew nothing about the play beyond the very basics, and I was very pleased with how it went. I won't give anything away because of spoilers, but it was very clever. The costuming and sets had a very steampunk flavor, with actual gears appearing here and there. I recommend seeing it for those of you who haven't made it yet.

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