Criminal Minds 4x25 & 4x26, "To Hell... and Back." Respectively written and directed by Chris Mundy and Charles Haid, and Edward Allen Bernero and Edward Allen Bernero.

( Well, that totally breaks the season-ender losing streak. )

I liked that one.

CM 04x24, "Amplification," written by Oahn Ly, directed by John E. Gallagher. The obligatory Locked in With a Deadly Virus episode, complete with Bogus Hollywood Cure.

And yet actually, I liked it.

( You could drink yourself SICK on this one. )

Due to time constraints and other things, no long writeup this week--but a couple of comments. (Besides, you guys now say all the things that I would.)

( Spoilers for CM 04x21, A Shade of Gray  )

Criminal Minds 04x20, "Conflicted," written by Rick Dunkle, directed by Jason Alexander

( pterry quote for the win! )

First, CBS in its infinite wisdom has elected to lay off five writers from Criminal Minds, including the estimable Andrew Wilder, one of my personal favorites. Fan petition here.

( And now, the answer to everyone's burning question... )

Criminal Minds 04x19, "House on Fire," written by Holly Harold, directed by Felix Enriquez Alcalá

( It wouldn't have mattered. )

...I'm working on my essay for a book on women in Doctor Who fandom, which necessitates discussing the difference between noir and clair sensibilities in fiction, and I just had a cross-fandom realization.

SSA Aaron Hotchner is a classic noir hero. He is the lone* ethical man, moving through a debased, indifferent, and sometimes actively malevolent world without moral compass, winning qualified and sometimes pyrrhic victories in the face of overwhelming odds.

Or as I keep saying, in Criminal Minds, prayers are answered. And you usually wish they hadn't been.

*except, this being CM, he's not alone. Bors has other knights to help out around the house.

---

Which now has me thinking about the classic debate about the perceived clash of sensibilities in science fiction versus fantasy, where fantasy is often portrayed by its critics are presenting a world that is more just and less arbitrary than reality, whereas science fiction is portrayed as being more ruthless and relentless in its portrayal of reality*. (I disagree with these assessments as generalities, though I cannot deny that in specific cases they are often correct.)

*with the implied or express value judgment that this is a better/more correct viewpoint, because Real Art Is Serious.

And now I'm thinking about Doctor Who (clair) and Sapphire & Steel (noir), and why (a) remains so insanely much more popular than (b). Because, well, after a while, (b) gets hard to take. 'Cause let's face it, killer feather pillows aren't any dumber than killer cannister vacs that can't climb stairs.

My review of Criminal Minds 04x18, "Omnivore," is up at Tor.com.

Oy. Okay, it's only 8 am, and I am already mighty.

The dog is still sleeping, so I took advantage of the first hour of my morning to answer an email from the delightful translator of Carnival into French (it's been a week for talking to translators) which I hope has solved her questions about my legion of linguistic idiosyncrasies.

In other news, the edit letter for The Sea thy Mistress has landed, and (as I suspected) it's going to be a lot of work to fix. I tried to do something arty, and apparently it's not working. Still, at least the plot and structure are okay, which are always the hard things for me to fix. (Books, in my head, have very definite shapes, and those I really can'tchange. I can alter all kinds of other things about them, but not the shape.)

Unsurprisingly, casacorona wants me to add massive amounts of exposition and linearity. And those foolish transitions. 

And visual information, pshaw. Who cares what things look like? Nobody notices that stuff! (Okay, so I'm the least visual person around. I guess it matters to other people. I'll make some things up. *g*)

I don't know why you people can't just accept the narrative beamed from my brain...  

But the shape of the book is okay, so it's doable. Just mountains of work.

It's a good thing I never figure out my hourly wage. (Well, there's always sepukku, I guess, which would be easier--especially since as a woman I get to do the girly knee-pushups throat-slitting version--but that seems like an over-reaction, and besides, who would feed the cat?)

In any case, the fun here is that it would be nice to get paid for this book sometime before I and the critters starve in the gutter, since (given the nightmare that writing Chill was) I expect a second probably equally extensive edit letter on the other book I turned in recently. (I also base this on what a dog's breakfast the drafts of both the mermaid story and the harpy story are, right now.)

Apparently, I have lost any slight ability to construct a coherent narrative that I ever had.

Again.

You would hope that writing, as a learned skill, would stick with you, but it never does.

So, If I want to eat and stay housed, I have to get through the CEM of By the Mountain Bound, and I have to finish this revision post-haste. (Also, for psychological reasons, I need both Chill and this book out of my life.)

It's starting to look more and more like now would be a good time to go pick up some temp work, especially since the entire publishing industry is paying even more slowly than it normally does, which is glacial on the best of days.

La.

because beatriceeagle made me, some new CM icons, completing the Special Agents In Tears With Salient Quotes set... and a few extras...

 

   




( previous cryin' icons. )

My review of Criminal Minds 04x17 is up at Tor.com.

And Chaz really needs to stop yammering in my ear and let Doc talk for a bit. Because Doc's the one who's supposed to be in this book, not the Platypus. And this is the book that needs to get written.

Oh, and my review of Criminal Minds 04x16 is up at Tor.com.

Truly a banner day for Stuff Online.

My review of Criminal Minds 04x14 is up at Tor.com. 

And I am groveling away at Chill. Page 133. It still hasn't fallen apart in a giant heap of suck, which makes me even more apprehensive that the giant pile of suck must be around the next corner. Because I distinctly remember giant piles of suck in this book.

Maybe I got most of it the last time I vacuumed? It seems like too much to hope for, but so far it's holding together pretty well. Or maybe I'm just delusional from reading and revising it too many times.