jhetley | Reading

It is too hot here to do much, alas. Friday was OK, but it was too hot yesterday for me to eant to go out—possibly doable, but sitting outside for lunch would have been unpleasant— and it’s not forecast to improve until after I leave.

So mostly I am sitting in the only air conditioned room in the apartment, reading. This isn’t exactly bad, but it doesn’t feel worth the trip, in terms of either dollars or the hassle of traveling.

hrj

My first commercial self-publishing venture is out today! This is a collection of my shape-shifter stories from the Sword and Sorceress anthology series, finished off with a brand new novelette. I hope you enjoy it! For purchase links, see the Books2Read universal link: https://books2read.com/u/bMMqp8

rolanni

Sunday. Sunny and said to be heading for warm.

Yesterday continued off-kilter, and it's not too much to say that it actually went into a spin. Today I must and, she says determinedly, I will, write the Author's Afterword for I Dare.

First, though, I need to find breakfast and make a list so that I may dash out to the grocery. I'm almost out of cat food, and that obviously cannot be allowed to stand.

How's everybody doing?

james_davis_nicoll

Two Americans set out for Venus. Only one returned. Where is the missing man? Evans knows but Evans is not a reliable witness.

Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg

freyjaw

Dad's sugar tanked again, but they couldn't get it up. They sent him to the ER, and he's now back in THC (chortle). He really needs to stop crashing his glucose. (I know he doesn't do it on purpose.)

Bear had a case of needing petting, so she bunted me whilst I was on the bathroom. Our cats tend to hit us up for attention when we're there. Captive audience.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: In the recliner
Current Music: NHK-World Newsline

conuly

but it *is* pretty sweet!

*********************

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

A book I'm thinking of having play an important role in the campaign is Heinrich and Moritz Tod's Morally Uplifting Tales for the Edification of Recalcitrant Children, the Tods being the Old World analog of the Brothers Grimm. Uplifting Tales is an important cultural artifact and also the sort of book you'd read to kids at bed time if you wanted them to cry themselves to sleep.

conuly

It really seems like the deaths are piling up lately.

rolanni

What went before: So, today has been a mismash of working and laying around. I did get some WIP-reading done, and a lot more of lying in bed by turns listening to The Goblin Emperor (which I know so well I'm not stressed about missing things) and dozing. Back is still tender, but not so much as even this morning, so, yanno -- progress progresses.

I'm hoping to be done with the worst of this particular brand of nonsense by tomorrow. fingers crossed

The cats are liking the lying in bed part of the day's structure. I fear they're going to be disappointed when the schedule returns to what I like to call normal.

I may try to get one more shift of WIP-reading in this evening. Or I may just watch the last three episodes of WandaVision.

Everybody stay safe; I'll check in tomorrow.

Saturday. Cool-for-now and sunny. Windows in my office are open.

Woke up early and ill, but hey! At least my back doesn't hurt. Currently sipping ginger ale. Trooper has had his morning gravy-with-meds.

I did watch the last three episodes of WandaVision last night. Pulling the witch out the hat was . . . facile, and honestly, I'm not inclined to follow Agnes any further down her road.

I'm actually amazed that Marvel tried to undertake a story about life-changing grief, and that they managed as well as they did. Even unto that very difficult -- and correct -- ending. And Wanda's love for Vision did not allow her to remember/recreate him wrongly.

One of the things that we as writers do over and over is to use death as a plot device -- the motivating force that triggers the Real Story. And while it's true that the Lost Girl, the Dead Spouse, the Slaughtered Village releases a lot of energy, surely there are other means available?

Going back to Wanda -- I'm interested in the smart girl with the bright red lipstick -- Darcy? -- who seems to be a continuing character. Does anyone know where I might find more of her?

And on that note -- woman does not take her meds on ginger ale alone, so I'd better see what I can cobble together and call breakfast.

I expect it will be another Off-Kilter Day here.

What's the day looking like there?

Rosebush proof of life:

freyjaw

We got a call from Temecula Healthcare Center after 2300. Dad's blood sugar tanked very low (again?!), but they got it back up without an ER trip. Dad does go below 20 on occasion, where normal is roughly 80-130 mg/dl. That's not good.

Bear is doing well. No seizures, and Chris doses her with phenobarbital in a bacon-flavored paste that she really likes. Achilles still scares her at times, and he tries to look nonthreatening to soothe her. She let him sniff her rear, but sniffing noses is a seldom thing with them. She gets too nervous. Monroe misses sheet fight with Dad.

Current Mood: stressed
Current Location: In the recliner
Current Music: NHK-World Newsline

dewline

No visitation today. Got some shopping done, and the map projects have slowed down a bit. One job application filed this afternoon with the feds.

I suppose that's enough for today, right?

Current Mood: sleepy

james_davis_nicoll

The Sidewise Award for Alternate History is looking for new judges to join the award committee.

This is the first time in the 30 year history of the award that they've made an open call for awards judges.

Apply here.

redbird

I'm visiting

rysmiel for a few days. The trip up was borin, which is good: anything exciting would probably be bad news, or at least make you late for dinner.

It is going to be hot over the weekend, so we went out for a relatively early brunch today, so we could sit almost-outdoors at Juliette et Chocolat and eat crepes. We then walked around Jean Talon market, where I bought plums, blackberries, and a cucumber.

I have np real plans for the next few days, which is fine.

james_davis_nicoll

Not every gamer finds joy in wildly complicated, esoteric, hard-to-learn rules...

Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games

james_davis_nicoll

Watch on YouTube

Hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz May Anderson.

Sunday August 10 at 5 PM: Livestream broadcast of the 2025 Aurora Awards, Canada’s annual English-language Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards.

rolanni

Friday: Office still closed today, for values of "closed" that include trying to find a way to read the WIP that doesn't screw up my back again. I would hate to have to replace the comfy chair in my office, but that's for later consideration.

I slept last night, and into the morning, ably assisted by rolling shifts of coon cats. Trooper and Tali are apparently the designated Morning Wake-Up team, and I variously had Rook and Firefly monitoring my morpheus ranges on the overnight.

I feel immensely better than I did at this time yesterday, which is kind of impressive, given my back still hurts. Yes, even after the steroid shot, which they gave me in my arm. The last time I had a steroid shot for back pain, they nailed me in my back. Understand, I'm not complaining, just curious.

I did manage to eat this morning, which was another thing I didn't do well with yesterday. I have a hard time eating when I'm in "that much" pain. I will say, though? Those six packs of peanut butter crackers? Are lifesavers. I did manage one of those to buffer the naproxen dose last night.

And that's my news.

What's yours?

james_davis_nicoll

Righteous characters pursue great justice in this wuxia TTRPG.

Hearts of Wulin by Joyce Ch'ng & Lowell Francis

$radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)$

radiantfracture

Old Fairview: White Lake Observatory

Mile 12.1 (4.4) – Half a mile further along, the access to White Lake Observatory turns right. (White Lake itself is the alkali pond opposite the Twin Lakes turnoff.)

Because of their electrical systems, which interfere with the operation of the radio-telescope, cars are not allowed on the road to the radio telescope. The big dish itself towers above the other installations, listening eternally to signals from outer space. The maze of poles and overhead wiring back towards Oliver are another form of radio-telescope, which pick up very long radio waves. The observatory is well worth walking the three-tenths mile; what's happening is completely incomprehensible to the layman, but fascinating nonetheless.

(1975/77)

* * * * * *

This observatory still exists, under the rather grander name of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. It is, so the government website tells me, "an internationally renowned facility for radio astronomy and leading-edge instrumentation." Until just now, I had no idea that it existed.

DRAO is still, naturally, a radio-quiet site, which must be more difficult these days than in 1975.

Dave Stewart, author of Okanagan Backroads, is quite right about its fascination. I am absolutely a lay person, and yet statements like this are weirdly thrilling: "The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is Canada's largest radio telescope. ... CHIME has no moving parts, but the Earth's rotation allows the telescope to map all of Canada's visible sky every day. CHIME was designed to survey atomic hydrogen from the largest volume of the Universe to date." No real idea why that would be important to do (feel free to explain!), but I'm glad it's happening here.

They have a Perseids viewing party next week!

§rf§

Source: https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/nrc-facilities/dominion-radio-astrophysical-observatory-research-facility

james_davis_nicoll

More details later but it seems the group is essentially Don Quixote in the form of a Brettonian knight's bastard who has completely bought into chivalric ideals despite the fact no true knight considers him worthy to have such ideals, and an assortment of hangers-on who see him as a meal ticket.

Which is to say, the group is centred on someone who will seek out adventure.