Pneumatised!

Here are my latest reads:

The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley
Imperial Lady by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

I didn’t enjoy The Transition of Titus Crow as much as the first novel in the series. It seemed to have lost the ‘Holmesian’ feel from the first novel. Sad to say I was a tad disappointed, but I think the author was moving towards more science fiction. Not sure if/when I will read the third book in the Titus Crow series. There are other series’ and books I plan on reading first.

Imperial Lady is a fantasy novel based upon a legend/myth about a Han Chinese princess, Wang Zhaojun (Silver Snow in the novel), who was married off to a Xiongnu shanyu (equivalent to a king/emperor). In the novel, Silver Snow is living in North China (near the borders of the Xiongnu) with her disgraced father who was once a General for the Emperor of China. One day she receives a call to appear at the Emperor’s court because his favourite concubine died and he is looking for a new one. Although Silver Snow does not meet the Emperor at first as she and her father hoped (he gave her rare jade burial armour to present to the Emperor as a gift thereby hoping to restore his name and honour), she is eventually given in an arranged marriage by the Emperor to the Xiongnu shanyu. From there, the story tells of her rise to honour.

I was impressed by the writing of Imperial Lady. I have so far enjoyed Andre Norton’s novels, but was unsure about Susan Shwartz. The authors captured the sense of Han China, even capturing the sense of language that is used, although the novel is in English. In Chinese culture, it is considered polite to downplay your own attributes while exaggerating the qualities of the person to whom you are talking. This is even more important when someone from a ‘lower’ social class is conversing with someone from a ‘higher’ social class. I enjoyed the novel, and yes, there is a bit of magic (more in the form of shape-shifting) in it since it is labelled a fantasy novel.

The Firebrand was another enjoyable read by Bradley. Though not part of the Avalon series, the novel did read much like the Avalon books. The novel is based on the story of the Trojan War, but with Bradley filling in any pieces that are missing. Notably, the novel is told from the perspective of Cassandra of Troy – a good starting point since she predicted the war and the fall of Troy. Since little facts are known about Cassandra, Bradley had a good amount of freedom to be creative with parts of the story, especially in the beginning of the novel. This is a good read if you are a Bradley fan or if you are interested in a re-telling of the Trojan War. It is definitely a better re-telling than the movie Troy (although I respect Brad Pitt’s athletic abilities displayed in that movie).

As for my current fiction reading list:
Knife of Dreams (book eleven of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
A Feast for Crows (book 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

It’s a toss-up right now between The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire. I love both series. While I personally think Martin is a better writer than Jordan, I find The Wheel of Time maintains a nice balance of mood – it’s not overly dramatic or serious. The overarching story of The Wheel of Time is interesting and while fans may have their favourite characters, they all want to know what happens at Tarmon Gai’don. Martin has a writing style that keeps you turning pages. You get to the end of a chapter and even though the next chapter changes points of view to another character, you just want to know what happens next. While there is an overarching storyline like in The Wheel of Time (‘Winter is Coming’, which may bring disaster on the continent of Westeros), there seems so far to be less emphasis on it. I do have a few favourite characters though (Arya, Daenerys, and Jon; and I like reading Tyrion’s point of view), which definitely keeps me reading.

Additionally, the first novel of A Song of Ice and Fire is being made into a mini-series on HBO. Yes, A Game of Thrones finally has a full cast and the first episode is to be aired on April 17, 2011. The fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, is to be published in July 2011, which is why I am keen on reading book four, A Feast for Crows now. I think I mentioned previously that I was going to wait for the fifth book before reading the fourth since Martin originally wrote those two as one novel, but it was turning out to be too long and he had to split it into two.

I’ll probably end up reading back and forth between The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire for a bit until I just want to finish reading one of the novels.

Seems likely that I will get to Cherryh’s novel a little later than intended. I did start it awhile back, but it was reminding me too much of Battlestar Galactica and I kept thinking of Helo, Sharon, Starbuck, and Apollo while reading (LOL). I will get back to that novel though at some point because the writing was pretty good and I wanted to read some more science fiction. Cherryh is a reputable author too and I have no complaints so far.

~~~C
Your local blogger ^_^

Finally finished reading A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin and Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan. So now I’m on book eleven of The Wheel of Time and book four of A Song of Ice and Fire. I decided I wasn’t going to read book four of A Song of Ice and Fire until the next one comes out. It has to do primarily with how Martin wrote the fourth book. I feel like it’d be too much of a cliffhanger to read the fourth book if the fifth book isn’t out yet.

Also finished reading Sorceress of the Witch World by Andre Norton. This book completes the first cycle of Witch World novels. Primarily considered a fantasy series, it’s interesting in that it has some steam punk elements and treads on the sci-fi side. Witch World is one of Andre Norton’s more popular series, though the author has written many books in her lifetime.

This is my current fiction reading list:
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley
Imperial Lady by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz
Knife of Dreams (book eleven of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan

Right now, reading the Titus Crow novel.

~~~C

Strangely, I hadn’t been in a big writing mood lately. Just been dealing with life and so on. I noticed though that my last blog post didn’t get posted to Tumblr, Twitter, or Plurk, so here’s a blog to test that out. I’ve been reading fiction again. Just too much else going on for me (taekwondo, family issues) to concentrate on doing any serious writing.

This is my current fiction reading list:
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley

Finally got a copy of volume 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8. 😀 Decided to continue reading the Angel comics as well. The latest is Angel: Immortality for Dummies. I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it at first because I thought since it was written by Bill Willingham, he might try to prolong the storyline. It turns out though that the IDW run of the Angel comics will be completed soon, and the series will move to Dark Horse comics to coincide with the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 :D. Frankly, I think that’s a good move. I rather like Dark Horse better somehow. In any case, read volume 7 of Buffy and Angel: Immortality for Dummies.

Next… hm… more reading.

~~~Cass
Your local blogger

I hadn’t read much fiction the past few months. Here are the most recent novels I’ve read:

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
The Forbidden Tower (part of The Forbidden Circle omnibus) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Warlock of the Witch World by Andre Norton

I mentioned Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn in my previous post.

~~~C

It’s actually been a while since I’ve read much fiction. The month of June was a busy month. Following is a list of novels I read between February and probably around April:

The Laughing Corpse (an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
Dime Store Magic by Kelly Armstrong
The Spell Sword (published in the omnibus, The Forbidden Circle) by Marion Zimmer Bradley

And, some of my favourite graphic novels:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Retreat (season 8 – volume 6)
Fallen Angel: Reborn (It guest-starred Illyria! :))
Angel: Only Human
Angel: Last Angel in Hell (Angel volume 6)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is published by Dark Horse Comics while Angel and Fallen Angel are published by IDW.

My current fiction reading list is:
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (I rather liked Dime Store Magic, but am curious as to how well she can write as different characters since she writes in first person)
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

I find I rather like the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. It is “smart and sexy” like many reviewers have commented. At the same time, the stories are adventurous mixed with a little bit of mystery, and a certain if morbid sense of humour. One distinction of the Anita Blake series that I like is that vampires have rights. It’s an interesting premise that subtly creates a different world for an urban fantasy series. It also provides some real food for thought about how we determine who has rights. I personally think it goes beyond the tired “life versus death” duality, it’s about conscience and the ability for people, animals, a species to feel pain. But I digress into a topic best left for another time.

Ancestors of Avalon was an interesting enough story. It has a happy ending at the very least, and you probably expect that since it’s about how the Atlanteans arrived on the British Isles. The novel itself starts some time after The Fall of Atlantis, which Bradley actually wrote before The Mists of Avalon. While I liked The Mists of Avalon, I found that The Fall of Atlantis had its own appeal. In many ways, the Atlantis story is darker than the Avalon one, the heroines slightly more tragic. At least that is my sense in comparing the two. Perhaps it’s simply because we know King Arthur is meant to die in the Avalon story, but in the Atlantis story we have no preconceived notions as to what is to happen to the Atlanteans. Arguably, the appeal and success of The Mists of Avalon over The Fall of Atlantis was simply that King Arthur and his sister, Morgan le Fay, are popular mythical characters/legends.

Ancestors of Avalon was meant to bridge the stories of Atlantis and Avalon together. It was written after Bradley’s death by Diana L. Paxson, who co-wrote Priestess of Avalon. There are some differences in Paxson’s writing as compared to Bradley’s. It’s only slight though. It’s actually hard for me to describe the difference because it seems such a slight difference that I can’t put my finger on what exactly is different. Maybe the language is slightly more modern. That’s my best guess for now. If you’re a Bradley fan, maybe you have a different sense about it than me and might have a better way of describing the differences between Bradley’s writing and Paxson’s. I had no real problems reading Paxson, so it’s no big deal to me. Just a curiosity.

After reading Dime Store Magic, which was rather an amusing story, I decided to read Armstrong’s first novel, Bitten, in her series titled “Women of the Otherworld”. Another urban fantasy series like Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Armstrong does not just write about one character, but rather writes about a variety of characters. The first character in the series you are introduced to in Bitten is Elena, a female werewolf – in fact, the only female werewolf. As mentioned, I decided to read Bitten because I wanted to see how well Armstrong writes from another character perspective. So far, I have no complaints, but I have yet to finish reading Bitten.

I’m still trudging my way through Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. I’m on book ten and like many of the previous books, the book is at least 800 pages. I said “trudging”, but don’t get me wrong, I like The Wheel of Time, it’s just sometimes you wonder if Jordan couldn’t have told the story with fewer words. LOL. Really, I’m only complaining because I don’t read as fast as I’d like to, I’m not a speed reader, although I can skim quite well if I’m pressed for time or am searching for something particular in what I’m reading. However, I read fiction for the sheer joy of reading and occasionally I linger over passages for various reasons (amusement at the writing, found something humourous, just can’t believe I read that, and so on). I do like The Wheel of Time story, and like many others, want to know what’s going to happen when the last battle, Tarmon Gai’don, comes. I’m on book ten right now, I have up to book eleven. After that, I might take a break from the series and see if Brandon Sanderson actually finishes the story by book fourteen. There’re a few other books I wouldn’t mind getting around to reading (nevermind the other things I need/want to do).

Currently, I am reading a non-fiction book. Sophie Scholl and the White Rose is an account of a group of Munich University students (in Germany) who were involved in a passive/nonviolent resistance movement against Hitler’s regime. I meant to read this book for a while because I’ve always been drawn to stories about resistance movements since they are usually about the fight for freedom against an oppressive and tyrannical force (government or otherwise). In light of recent events in Canada, I was reminded of the book again and thought I should just read it now. Sophie and Hans Scholl were a sister and a brother who grew up during the Nazi regime. She was twelve and he was just over fourteen at the time of the Nazi takeover. Both were “free-thinkers” having grown up with a liberal-minded father. Later, they would both be part of The White Rose, a passive resistance group hoping to educate fellow students to oppose the Nazi regime. Hans and Sophie Scholl were later executed for treason. One other member of The White Rose was executed along with them, later other members were also executed.

It’s been 65 years since the end of World War 2 and 92 years since World War 1. While I may have grown up with an awareness of how horrible the events of those two wars were (in primary school, we were introduced to some war amputees; the missing legs apparently upset my system so that I actually fainted afterwards – I since have built up a better control over my body so I don’t faint quite so easily, also I ascribe my fainting issues back then to lack of proper nutrition and diet), I fear that over time people will forget and will never understand the horrors of those events. I still remember when Remembrance Day was actually a holiday, but then it changed and although we were still required to go to school on Remembrance Day, the school still held Remembrance Day ceremonies. That eventually changed to simply having a moment of silence at 11 a.m. I have no idea if they even still do that now in school, though the Wikipedia article linked above suggests they do. Yes, I do fear that as we move further away in time from the World Wars, people will never understand how truly terrible it can be to have another one. We have been lucky to not have had another world war for 65 years; yet, at the same time, has this made some people complacent? The threat of oppression from a tyrannical government or regime is never too far away. This threat does not just occur over night, but quietly and subtly. All it takes is the wrong person (or rather, right person depending on how you want to discuss this) to gain a position of power for that person to gradually and subtly make changes that lead toward oppression from a tyrannical government. Then, to end that oppression we will need resistance groups to fight the tyranny, to help spread knowledge and information, we will need resistance groups like The White Rose and many others.

Thus, I am reading Sophie Scholl and The White Rose to remind myself of a time when we didn’t have civil liberties/human rights, to remind myself that throughout history, we will always need the freedom fighters, the resistance groups; otherwise, human civilization is doomed to die, doomed to fail. A thousand years later, will humans still be here? Or will we be a lost civilization? And if a lost civilization, what will be the cause of our ultimate destruction – a war amongst ourselves or devastation from a “natural” disaster that we caused? Either way, we are responsible for whether or not human civilization will continue, if we indeed actually care about it continuing. “What is the meaning of your life?” I ask. Something for my readers to think about.

~~~C

P.S. Yes, I did read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was younger, probably when I was around the age of twelve.

I hadn’t gotten much reading done the past few months. I’ve been busy with a few other distractions. I did get to finish reading two novels that I really wanted to read.

Sharra’s Exile (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin

Sharra’s Exile is indeed a nice rewrite of Bradley’s earlier Sword of Aldones. The story is fleshed out more while retaining some of the key plot lines from Sword of Aldones.

I am really enjoying A Song of Ice and Fire, and I have a feeling I might like the third book the best. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say the third book feels like the climax of the first part of the series. (I could be wrong, of course, but that’s my gut feeling about the third book.) After finishing the second book, I had to dig into the third book a bit and read the prologue, which starts with the same storyline as the first book.

I am currently reading Hamilton’s The Laughing Corpse. I have to agree that Hamilton is indeed an imaginative writer. I have to admit that I am at a loss as to who or what the killer is. Vampire? Zombie? Vampires don’t eat brains and zombies don’t have brains to be a smart killer, so who/what could it be that is feeding off people but is leaving no substantial clues? Interesting. I’m about halfway through. So far, I still enjoy Hamilton’s sassy writing style.

My current reading list:
The Laughing Corpse (an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)
The Spell Sword (published in the omnibus, The Forbidden Circle) by Marion Zimmer Bradley

What’s next on my reading list:
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

~~~C

I’ve been doing a lot of reading again. Mostly trying to get through a stack of books that were piling up again. I really should try to avoid the used bookstore sometimes, but it’s always fun finding a good deal on something that turns out to be a gem.

Comics have really come a long way since I was younger. I hated comics when I was a kid. There were mostly the superhero comics and I was not that much a fan of those. Plus, I never cared for that artwork back then (though it is my understanding they didn’t have a good range of colours then as they do now). I am still keeping up with the Buffy and Angel comics. Not only do I like the Buffy stories, I like the art in this series. Joss Whedon has a good eye for style.

I’ve loved Star Wars since I was a kid. I am enjoying Dark Horse’s collection of Star Wars comics that they published since the 1990s. You can see a gradual change in colours being used in the art over the years. The newer stuff definitely looks better.

Recommended comics:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Predators and Prey (Season 8, volume 5)
Angel: Aftermath (Angel volume 5)
Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi (volumes 1 and 2)

Here’s a list of novels I read recently:

Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Heritage of Hastur (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Rogue Squadron (book one of Star Wars: X-wing) by Michael A. Stackpole
The Burrowers Beneath (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley
Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
Ralestone Luck by Andre Norton

Finally, onto book ten of The Wheel of Time. Book twelve, called The Gathering Storm, is finally in print. It will be a while before it is in paperback, but that’s okay as I have two books to read to catch up. Meanwhile, I am making my way through Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. While I really like Jordan’s epic, I find Martin’s epic more mature and I rather enjoy his writing more. Martin is technically a much better writer than Jordan, but I do like both stories for different reasons.

Heritage of Hastur was a good read. I can see why many consider it to be Bradley’s best Darkover novel. The next Darkover novel on my list is Sharra’s Exile, Bradley’s re-write of her earlier Sword of Aldones.

Rogue Squadron is part of the Star Wars: X-Wing series of novels. It has been said by some readers to be the best Star Wars series in novel form after the Thrawn stories written by Timothy Zahn. Rogue Squadron introduces a new Star Wars character, Corran Horn… er, correct that, Horn was introduced in the Rogue Squadron comics by Dark Horse. But if you didn’t read those, then this will introduce you to Corran Horn. Corran Horn and Wedge Antilles (along with Tycho Celchu from the comics) seem to be the primary characters of this novel and series. Star Wars fans will remember Wedge Antilles from the first Star Wars movie. Since Return of the Jedi, Antilles becomes the leader of Rogue Squadron and is considered to be a living legend among pilots. I did enjoy this novel (probably because I would love to be a space pilot). For it’s medium length (under 400 pages), it introduces a complicated background story and is filled with interesting new characters. Book two of this series is called Wedge’s Gamble and I am wanting to read that sometime. Before that though, I will be reading the second book in the Thrawn trilogy, Dark Force Rising.

Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus has been sitting around home for a while. Nathan read that a while back and it seemed interesting to me. Out of a desire to read some fantasy horror, I started to read the first book in the omnibus. Lumley has taken the Cthulhu mythos from Lovecraft and created a wonderful Holmesian atmosphere to go with the horror elements of Cthulhu. The main character of the story is Titus Crow, who maintains an interest in occult subjects and begins investigating evidences of Cthulhu. His sidekick, Henri-Laurent de Marigny, is very much like Conan Doyle’s, Dr. Watson. I found I really enjoyed Lumley’s writing and this story. I’ve been interested in the Cthulhu story for awhile so I thought this might be amusing. Having read Lovecraft’s short story, The Call of Cthulhu, I felt that Lumley’s take on the Cthulhu myth is in line with Lovecraft’s original ideas. The added Holmesian atmosphere is a plus for me since I did enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was younger.

What can I say about Douglas Adams that hasn’t been said? Hilarious. I particularly like “bistromathics”! Brilliantly funny.

Ralestone Luck is Andre Norton’s second published novel, published in 1938. I found a used copy of it, but you can read this novel online at The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ralestone Luck, by Andre Norton. It is an amusing little adventure/mystery story. Norton is a good writer and will get you absorbed in the story quickly.

Here is my current reading list:

Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)

As mentioned, I am trying to make my way through Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. I haven’t gone back to War and Peace yet, since I rather enjoy my fantasy novels more. Along with Martin’s novel, I am making my way through Gormenghast, which is set on a fantasy world of its own. I think I am still wrapping my head around the gothic eeriness of Mervyn Peake’s story. It is also morbidly humourous. Don’t read it unless you like dark comedies, but the writing is brilliant and you would be sorely missing out if you don’t read it. Gormenghast, as I mentioned before, is the sequel to Titus Groan. This novel should be an interesting read if you are curious as to what happens to Titus as he grows up.

What’s next on my reading list:
Sharra’s Exile (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Aside from reading novels, I’ve gone back to studying Korean. I started it a while back, but didn’t get too far. I decided that to help me study, it would help to be able to type Korean since I like to make notes on the computer. I installed scim onto my Debian laptop and it works wonderfully. I even have Chinese and Japanese language inputting available if I ever need. When I get a chance sometime I will check out which Chinese inputting layouts work best for learning how to write Chinese characters, but it’s Korean studying for now.

안녕히 가세요!
(“Annyǒnghi kaseyo” which means “goodbye” and is spoken by the person who is staying to someone who is leaving)
~~~C

I actually hadn’t had much chance to read a whole lot the past few months. I needed to get a new laptop and since then was spending some time updating my Linux knowledge and skills. I still haven’t finished reading the “Linux bible” aka Linux: The Complete Reference (6th edition) by Richard Petersen. It is a fairly comprehensive reference book on Linux in general covering everything from beginner to advanced topics in Linux.

Fiction-wise, here’s what I got to read:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 7
Angel: After the Fall (volume 4)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Three Against the Witch World by Andre Norton
The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Here is my current reading list:
Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Rogue Squadron (book one of Star Wars: X-wing) by Michael A. Stackpole
The Heritage of Hastur (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Keeper’s Price by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the friends of Darkover (a Darkover anthology of short stories)
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)

I am still not sure what I think of the Witch World series by Andre Norton. The world is intriguing enough and it is clear that the author has carefully thought out the story and the fantasy world. I find I like Norton’s way of story-telling and tend to feel compelled to keep reading, even if I may not like any of the characters. Perhaps though, that is indeed the mark of a good storyteller. 😉 I will be reading more Witch World novels. In fact, I acquired quite a few of them. Recently, there were plenty of Norton novels at the used bookstore (BMV!)

The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley is an amusing little story. I believe she wrote this around the same time she wrote her first Darkover novels, and I am hypothesizing that she intended to write more stories taking place in the overall universe that encompasses Darkover, but it turned out Darkover was more popular and readers wanted more about Darkover, so it was Darkover stories she ended up writing more about. The Door Through Space takes place on a planet with a red sun – not Darkover, but Wolf. Seeing that Wolf has a red sun, and it is mentioned at one point that they trade for horses from Darkover, I am assuming Wolf is in the same solar system as Darkover. The story also mentions Vainwal, a planet mentioned in the Darkover novels as well. I feel that The Door Through Space is proof that Bradley envisioned a much larger universe than just Darkover and the Terran Empire, and I find myself curious about how many more stories could be told related to Bradley’s Terran Empire. Indeed, it provides much to think about in relation to a story idea I am still mulling over. (I have more than one story idea!)

In any case, I enjoyed The Door Through Space. The main character amused me and even some of the side characters were quite amusing. Bradley tends to write a few of her characters with their own sense of “honour code”, characters who are quite independent and intelligent. I think this novel by Bradley is well worth reading. It is short, about 180 pages with medium font, so the only thing preventing you from reading this novel is failing to find it somewhere used.

I am currently reading Winter’s Heart. I’d like to finish it before winter sets in. 😉

~~~C

I recently decided to make my reiki manuals one and two available for purchase through lulu.com. If you’re interested in reiki, already a practitioner, or a reiki teacher, you should find my reiki manuals interesting to read. It is a blend of Western reiki and Japanese reiki based on the training I received in Western reiki and my research into Japanese reiki. Only manuals one and two are available right now. I am still working on the third manual. I put it aside about a year and a half ago as I was mulling over some things in my head. In any case, I hope to get that done by the end of this year and will be putting that on lulu.com. I also have a “regular book” that I am planning to write on reiki that I hope will catch a wider readership. To see everything I have published on lulu.com, go to my storefront – http://stores.lulu.com/brighidsflame.

Because I could not decide on the covers I wanted for the manuals I opted for two different covers for each manual. There are also two different binding versions for each manual. You may purchase a spiral bound version or a perfect bound version. The spiral bound version is ideal for note-taking and studying. The perfect bound version is great as a reference copy. Both versions are 8.5″x11″.

Here are the two different covers for reiki manual one:

and for reiki manual two:

To quickly purchase one of my manuals, use the buttons below. They will put the manual directly into your lulu.com shopping cart.

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 1, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 2, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 1, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 2, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 1, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 2, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 1, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 2, perfect bound version)

A little note regarding my decision to self-publish my manuals:

Why is self-publishing better than the traditional mass-market publishing? The reason I chose to self-publish is that the majority of the revenue goes to the me as the author. If you appreciate the value of what I personally put into writing my books, you will like the fact that what you are paying goes to me rather than the “middleman”, that is, the retailers. Through lulu.com 80% of the net income (sale price minus manufacturing costs) goes to me, 20% goes to the lulu.com. Contrast that with mass-market publishing, where the retailer marks up the price by at least double their costs. This is the formula for selling retail:

Manufacturing costs plus author’s revenue (that would be the royalties I’d want) plus retail markup (this is double manufacturing costs plus author’s revenue) = sales price

Contrary to what some people may believe, books published on the mass-market aren’t necessarily better books than self-published books. (The gods only know how many books I put back on the shelf after flipping through them.) By supporting independent publishers like myself, you are encouraging people who honestly love to write. Part of the reason there are so many pointless books in the retail bookstores is that some people write simply to turn a buck or two. It’s very annoying. So please, please support independent publishers! Thanks.

~~~C