(no subject)

[which_chick]

I did a bit of firewood straightening today, but I'm still not ahead of the curve. There is a lot of wood in my yard. *sigh* I mean, yeah, it's a good thing, but a tiring good thing. There was one unexpected surprise in the pile of wood -- one of the huge trees is wild cherry, a delightful wood to work with. Since it's been dead a while, all the bark's off of it and the outer inch or so of the wood is kind of rotted, so its true nature was hidden until I split it with the maul. This winter, it'll burn with the bright, crackling flame and rich, sweet smoke of fruit woods. Cherry wood is a feast for the senses.



San and co. went home -- she left me with some ice cream, which I haven't checked out yet, admired my calendar of French Rugby Players (her husband was like That's so gay! and y'know, he's right. It's gay. But it's hot gay. I'm not complaining.), and borrowed the first two George R. R. Martin books. In exchange, she's pimping me Wheel of Time -- probably what we have is some sort of Mutal Assured Destruction on the massive-fantasy-novel front. Me, I want someone else to like Sandor Clegane as much as I do. She wants me to understand why I'm like the character with the braid or something. I suppose I'll find out when I get the books.

In the afternoon, I went to a cookout at my dad's house where I ate two pieces of cheesecake and watched two others (cute, giggly, coltish, pierced, short-haired) going swimming in boyshort-bikinis. One of them was Sue's niece R, the ex-heroin addict, who looks healthier and happier than I've seen her in ages, the other her girlfriend and housemate. I think the whole lesbian thing is good for R and J (the girlfriend) is a delight. I hope that works out for them, I really do. Hope springs eternal.

I spent the entire rest of the afternoon reading absolutely delightful fanfic porn. YAY for porn! I've not had enough time to devote to that since taking the new job and I do miss it. Today I checked out ellen_fremedon's Potterverse stuff on spec because she's been posting about her progress finishing up Potterverse WiPs before canon updates here in two weeks with the new book and I figured I should go read some of it. I'm glad I did -- she's got the knack and is enough on the same page as I am that it's... er... highly effective smut if that's not entirely too much information for ya, dear reader. In particular, Bent was more fun than I really deserved today. On the down side, now I'm waiting rather less patiently for her WiP Snarry, having gotten a taste of the prose she writes. First one's free, I suppose. :)

I also checked out my favorite purveyors of WK smut and turned up some stuff by Utopian Trunks that I hadn't seen before and some fics that are old friends, ones I never, ever mind rereading. (How can I not adore a website that carefully picks out all of the "Let's abuse Youji" fic so that I don't have to sort through the rest of the stuff to find it? Clearly, these are very sensible people, people after my own heart.)

I have favorite smut for all my fandoms but I don't have notes on all of the delightful stuff I've read over the years, which sometimes causes problems when I want to go read it again. *sigh* I should have taken better notes on the whole fanfic smut front and I do not know why someone (not_your_real, I'm talking to you) didn't tell me to keep better records of the stuff I absolutely adored.

To virgins to make much of time: Gather ye fanfic while ye may but be damn sure to download and burn or print the stuff that really yanks your chain because trying to find it again, later, when you're really, really, really in the mood for the fic where Duo ran off after a stupid-ass lover's quarrel and stowed away in an offworld shipping container where he died from running out of air and wrote a huge message to Heero in blood on the wall of the container as he was dying that didn't get found until years later, when Heero was an old man (This was an actual fanfic, btw. Hell of a tearjerker.) ... you aren't going to be able to find it in a reasonable timeframe. I'm just sayin'...

Comments

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

*giggle* The husband wanted me to read Wheel of Time pretty much since we met. I, unfortunately, do not have much time for reading so when we got our iPod, we began our audiobooks journey. We've been listening to Wheel of Time for like 5 months now or something. It's a pretty good series.

And from what I've read in your LJ...you are kinda like the girl with the braid. ^_^

[zhasper.livejournal.com]

In exchange, she's pimping me Wheel of Time -- probably what we have is some sort of Mutal Assured Destruction on the massive-fantasy-novel front.

Ooohh... that's the start of a very slippery slope..

Your friend, in the interests of making sure you're making a fully-informed choice before starting to read WoT (http://www.tor.com/jordan/series.html), should make you aware that:

* It's 10 novels so far, plus a prequel which in itself is as long as a small novel. Plus a few short stories here and there (check the "Legends" anthology for one of them)
* Each is 800-1000 pages of dense type
* There are at least 3 more novels coming
* The first 3 books are very good
* The next 3 books are mediocre
* The next 3 books are dreadful. It's very very clear that Jordan lost his way and didn't know where to go, so the story bogs down and spreads out. Think of a typical river delta - what used to be a narrow, swift, deep river suddenly spreads out to cover huge amounts of land, but only very shallowly and very slowly. That's what Jordan has done..
* The latest book though shows promise - many of the loose threads start to pull together, the story starts to move forward..
* There are many, many things left unexplained. Just a glance at the WotFAQ (http://www.arkane-systems.net/faqs/WOTFAQ/0_admin/0.01_intro.html) should give you some idea of how horribly complex, confusing, and downright mystifying this series is.

That said, it's a great series. Books 7-9 aren't fantastic, but the other novels make up for it. I can't wait for the next installment...

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say I didn't know... but she did point out that there were ten books, that the books were fairly huge, that book quality was uneven, and that they were sprawling, convoluted, and political in nature. I've been pretty well warned.

I feel like I should own up to the fact that I don't see eight hundred pages as anything but a selling point. Given the rate at which I burn through prose, eight hundred pages is not a problem. Also, I actually *like* books with a list of characters at the end (so that you can maybe keep all of them and their shifting alliances straight) and if it's got maps, even better.

More than a few people have tried to get me to read Wheel of Time because it's the sort of thing they figure I'll like. I've honestly gotten tired of resisting and that Martin person isn't churning out new ones on his cat-killer series fast enough.

[zhasper.livejournal.com]

Politics.. Ah, the Daes Dae'mar... Yes, quite a bit of that - some of it is fantastic, a lot of it is on roughly the level of sophistication of a playground squabble.. but on the whole, pretty good.

I agree about the 800 pages. I finished American Gods (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380789035?v=glance) in just over two days - would have been shorter, but I was attempting to be polite to the people I was having a weekend away with... one of the reasons I tend to read a lot of epic fantasy is that it's long and can be very intricate.

WoT books have: Maps (minimum - one map of what's been christened Randland. most books have 2-3 more, showing various countries or regions, as well. Some editions have full-colour enlarged maps..). Not just a list of characters, but a glossary, containing major characters (and their political, social, and familial connections), various words of the Old Tongue, social/political/military groups.

That's just inside the book - there's also the illustrated guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312862199?v=glance) which contains a lot more of all of the above, plus additional backstory - the history of Randland, some of the histories of some of the surrounding regions, etc.. of course, some of this (at least appears to) contradict what we learn from the books - but RJ has shown himself to be a master of reverse continuity...

Also, I noticed today that Book 11 is due out later this year - around October. If you start now, you should be just in time for the new book as its released..

RJ's said that he has the next 6ish years planned out: after this book, he's doing another prequel, then book 12, then another prequel, then book 13, which should, the Creator willing and may the Light shelter us, be the last.

But this is all in the faq, and I'm rambling...

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I should have warned you to keep records. I should have warned myself, for that matter.

So where is this yummy-sounding Duo fic you searched for so long? Did you find it? You have me in the mood to revisit old fandoms.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

You did note that I said ... you aren't going to be able to find it in a reasonable timeframe. I said that for a reason. I can't find it. This is because I suck.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

I will refrain from any sort of "Nyah-nyah, my fandoms have storyfinder lists, where you can post that sort of description and have a huge hive-mind spit out an URL. Usually within a few hours."

Instead I will ask if there is any sort of GW mailing list, LJ community, forum, whatever, that has a goodly sized hive-mind that could be asked if they remember the fic.