ahartmanadams

Writing not going so well this week. The husband is uber-stressed with all his teaching work, so I'm running around after him trying to keep him fed, watered, and off the ledge. Ah, marriage.

But, I have the house to myself tonight, so hopefully I'll be just a little bit productive. I have three stories on deck for revisions and submission, so if I'm super-duper good, I'll actually get them ready to go. Or I could just come home after work, have a glass of wine, and do the crossword. I'm hopeful for the former...

 Hey Stonecoasters,

There's a cool article about Kelly and Gavin in this week's Publisher's Weekly: "Small Beer, for Children"

Yay, Kelly!

So, I'm assigning audiobooks to a reviewer, and across my desk comes The Man in The High Castle by Philip K. Dick, narrated by Tom Weiner (who also read Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls--very well done). 

What stopped me was the publisher's blurb on the back, which reads: "This Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that first established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction, bridging the barrier between genre fiction and the serious novel of ideas."

Okay, so maybe he did write it in 1962, and maybe the bulk genre fiction was a little further away from the "serious novel of ideas," but come on people! I know that genre fiction still has a crap reputation these days, but couldn't one say that a great portion of science fiction is more in the realm of the "serious novel of ideas" than most mainstream fiction? Especially some of those earlier works that set down the foundation we now stand on.

Or am I reading this description totally incorrectly?
So nice to be reminded of the order of things, isn't it?

How do those two very important and valuable elements combine??

Like this...





This gentleman runs a Science Fiction and Fantasy bookstore in New Haven Connecticut, and, even though I have his card at home, and I spoke to him and his partner/wife/sister/girlfriend for some time, I can't remember his name to save my life.

However, as he and I progressed from Science Fiction to family (a natural path, I think), he started telling me about his little brother (who got him into all sorts of bully-related trouble) and his sister, to whom he taught self defense.

Then, he taught me those same moves, as witnessed by Sandra McDonald and her trusty, truth-telling camera.

It was fun. I learned something. And, I definitely ran through the set of moves in my head just days later when I was walking home by myself after dark. So, a big thank you to the lovely gentleman from New Haven--I am now a better prepared woman of the world, and I can sally forth armed with his useful moves and my various skull-cracking fantasy tomes.

This is why we go to Readercon.

So I just logged on and realized that my last post was 7 weeks ago. For shame. Also, awesome Hannah came looking for me.

So thank you, Hannah, for getting me off my ass and back on LJ. It's become my refuge in a world full of obsessive blogspot posting. Although, I've been hiding from that recently as well.

More to come. Probably on Readercon...

Okay, so this had me going for a good hour. Really. I didn't even notice the time passing.

http://notalwaysright.com/

This is way too much fun. A little appalling, too.

Enjoy!

Okay, so Indiana Jones rocked my world. No FrankenDarth was seen. Anywhere.

It's 2:30 am, and I'm totally wired after the midnight showing in Westbrook.

Admittedly, there was some real stretches, but most of those were scene-stretches rather than overall narrative stretches. Over-indulgent comical stuff that belonged in "George of the Jungle."

HOWEVER, appreciate it, absorb it, don't take it too seriously, and you'll love every second of it.

I can imagine the brainstorming sessions--- "What has Indiana NOT done yet?"
It's not the strongest of the four, but I'm so, so, so glad that my friend's impression differed so drastically from mine.

Oh, and for those who like to stay until the end of the credits, I'll save you the trouble. There's no extra scene at the end (sadly). But, I think they said and did everything that was needed. Well done!

So, I just heard from a friend who got a sneak preview of the new Indiana Jones movie that the secret behind the Crystal Skull is decidedly non-Indiana Jones material.

While there were some good parts, she said, some of the elements woven into the narrative are on the level of our ever-popular FrankenDarth bit from the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. That is, no one had the balls to tell Spielberg or Lucas to back off on such a stretch and stick to what they know (that being said, I suppose Spielberg is very, very familiar with the elements in question).

Oh, yes--and she said that some parts made her wonder whether the filmmakers were studying The Mummy as a model.

Sigh...

However (and that's a big "however"), it got a good rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and denofgeek.com called it an "absolute triumph."

So, my approach is to go into it with some suspicions and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Anyone who wants to be undeceived re: the secret behind the Crystal Skull and its...uhm..."kingdom," let me know. I don't want to post it here for fear of a) getting the movie theater where my friend saw it in huge trouble for showing it illegally, and b) spoilers, spoliers, spoliers.

This is kind of cool, somehow I ended up as Wonder Woman. I don't even like Wonder Woman...well, I don't dislike her, per se, but come on!

Maybe I just don't know myself that well...

Reply with your Super Hero designation!


You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 80% The Flash 70% Spider-Man 65% Supergirl 65% Catwoman 65% Robin 62% Iron Man 60% Green Lantern 55% Superman 45% Hulk 45% Batman 40%

You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

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