throw another bear in the canoe

All right, truepenny wouldn't blog what I double-dog dared her to blog, so to keep my self respect, I have to blog what I just said to cpolk.

My scene for this morning involves Gavin the Mechanical Basilisk, a character I've been saving up since I was 9. Seriously. And I've always liked basilisks and cockatrices (early exposure to The Book of the Dun Cow? Maybe.) Anyway, here I am trying to figure out an "in" for this scene (by which I mean, a hook paragraph that will carry the narrative forward and provide momentum), and make sure Gavin the Mechanical Basilisk isn't too much like the not-a-cockatrice in the novelette that is not called "The Venom Cock,"** and I realized...

Basilisks, perytons, cockatrices. It's true. I suffer from...

[08:36] matociquala: ...toxic cock syndrome.
[08:40] cpolk: ohno
[08:40] cpolk: you mocked the phallus
[08:42] matociquala: Sadly, it is true.
[08:43] matociquala: I wonder if this is in any way related to Hot Cock Sauce?
[08:43] cpolk: hee
[08:43] cpolk: *is 12*
[08:44] matociquala: Join the club, baby. *g*
[08:44] matociquala: Baby, join the club.
[08:44] cpolk: *even though she was the one running around yelling "i need some Hot Cock Sauce!" in the first place
[08:44] matociquala: mmm. Hot Cock Sauce.
[08:45] cpolk: having Hot Cock Sauce is just one of the ways I combat sadness.


Right. Coffee's on.

Everybody back on your heads.

*goes back to contemplating changing Azrael's name to Samael, because that's like work, right? so it's all down to which angel of death has the better name...*

---

**for more on the research challenges of same: http://matociquala.livejournal.com/827476.html

Rien just stepped in between Perceval and the basilisk, because she thinks it's what Perceval would do. Oh, I love these gallant girls. They are so brave and delicate and smart.

And so very sixteen.

Sixteen is one of those odd ages. It looks like a tragedy from the inside. And from the outside, too.

And for completely opposite reasons.

These two are gonna break my heart in about two hundred pages. I can already tell.

The writing is on the wall.

Progress notes for 12 January 2007

dust

New Words:  973
Total Words: 19481
Words for the Year: 17398
Pages: 95
Deadline: Sometime in June or July, I'm guessing
Reason for stopping: quota

19,481 / 110,000 (17.7%)

Stimulants:  coffee
Exercise:  I'm on my way to gym as soon as I post this
Songs mutilated: I have learned to play the snake charmer song. And Londonderry Air. Yes, I suck.
Mammalian assistance: Madame is making noises in the bathroom, which I suspect I am happier not investigating just now.
Mail: nomail

Today's words Word don't know:  sequiny, unpigmented, greyer,
Darling du Jour:  If you're walking, you might as well walk, she thought, and strode out as if she meant to get somewhere.
Mean Things: emotional blackmail, walking barefoot in the woods
Tyop du Jour: n/a
Jury-rigging: trying to work my away around to the necromancer

There's always one more quirk in the character: Not so quirky today
Other writing-related work: none
Books in progress: Phyllis Ann Karr, The Arthurian Companion; Jane Langdon, The Fledgling
The Internet is full of Things: but I didn't happen to notice any....
The glamour!: Is it always time to do laundry? I swear. Also, I have to eat some of this food before it goes bad.

Romantic Times has announced their best-of 2006 nominee list. For science fiction and fantasy:

Elizabeth Bear
Tom Piccirilli
Lynn Flewelling
Ellen Kushner
Kelley Armstrong
Karen Marie Moning

...I'm a like real writer or something. How weird is that?

Also, yendi says nice things about Carnival.

Okay, man, last post for a while. Jebus, Bear.

But this is just to let you know that Chapter 9 of "Lucifugous" is up at Subterranean Press. In which Sebastien kisses a girl.

ObBuyMyBookLink

.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather warning for Southern New England for Sunday night and most of Monday, with an unusual cold warning for Tuesday.

With a little luck, we might be getting a real ice storm.

Check it out. We might get a little winter after all.

This was one of my favorite books as a child, and it still makes me happy. I'm particularly enamored of the tonal shift throughout, where the curious agenda-driven adults around Georgie become comprehensible and then transparent to her as she grows.

And I love it also because it's not one of the category of children's books that annoy me so (the "you're too old for Narnia" ones) where the magic goes away at the end--but rather it's about personal integrity, and being who you are, and accepting who other people are, even when they are a little weird around the edges.

Also, the Goose Prince rocks.