☆❀☆

Last night I finished the third novel in S. R. White's Detective Dana Russo series, Red Dirt Road. Stayed up too late. Couldn't put it down.

Yeah, it's a slow burn, like everything in this series, but I'm so glad to be along for the ride. There's just something about Dana's thought process - I love being inside her head. She's... steady, slow, methodical, picks things apart and thinks things through. Normally, I don't get so attached to the characters in the crime novels I read, but I really really like her.

I like that she's a numbers person, math-y, finance-savvy. I feel like that isn't something I see in most of the detective protagonists I read about. And in the past few novels, it wasn't really a focus, but in this one I liked the way her background in Fraud came up, and how she used those skills to pick apart the details of the financial informaton she was sent to figure out what was going on, the motive, etc.

And. I like that she's kind of a nerd. Not necessarily a huge nerd, but she picked up the reference to the Kobayashi Maru test and understood it without looking anything up, and the detailed explanation she gave for what it means suggested to me at least some level of scifi-savviness beyond general pop culture osmosis. ...Which doesn't mean she's a Trekkie, but. Yeah, okay, headcanon, she's a Trekkie.

Still shipping Dana/Lucy a lot. It's kind of too bad that they're separated due to Dana being sent to another location for this case, but on the other hand, the feeling of relief when they do get time to talk on the phone - those brief conversations - is so familiar and so good. Plus the lingering possibility (or threat) in the background that Dana might end up transferred, and that they'll be separated.

I'm honestly still not sure whether those two are friends or whether there's meant to be more going on. Then again, I kind of like the ambiguity. ...And I want to write fanfiction with them, but I don't have any specific ideas, not to mention my writer's block etc etc. But. We'll see.

Aughhh, I really want the next book to come out!!!
[EDIT] Oh wait, White Ash Ridge came out last week! But the library doesn't have it yet. Augh augh aughhhhh. orz
[Edit again] Hold on, the March date is the Australian release - it doesn't come out here until the end of July. That does make me feel a bit better, weirdly. (BUT I DON'T WANT TO WAIT.)

Finished reading Nona the Ninth. Feeling emotionally compromised as per usual for Locked Tomb stuff.

Brief thoughts: Very fun, enjoyed seeing more of the worldbuilding, and it featured some of my faves so 'course I appreciate that. Muir seems to enjoy writing protagonists who don't know what the hell is going on, and/or don't have much more information than the audience does.

If you aren't into the Sixth, you're in for a rough time. Fortunately for me, I adore those nerds.

I was going to go into more detail about stuff, but frankly I'm still reeling from everything (especially everything to do with Cam and Pal, because feelings), so that will have to be left for another time, maybe. :V

Damn, the next book just can't come out fast enough.

Currently reading: Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

I've had this sitting unread for... a while now. Been kind of not wanting to read it, because if I did read it, it would be read, and then there wouldn't be any more Locked Tomb novels until Alecto the Ninth comes out next year, and that would be terrible.

Anyway. I'd heard some things about the format of this book, but it's still kind of a trip. The atypical second person POV, the dreamy quality of the third person sequences, the whole... wrong/weirdness of everything - there's a lot here that I feel like I encounter more frequently in literary fiction and horror stories. It's interesting!

I'm about halfway through, haven't quite figured out where things are... going... like, something is clearly up (That is not how the story went) but hell if I know quite what, exactly.

I didn't like Ianthe in the first novel, and I still don't like her in this one, but she's kind of... likeably unlikeable. There's just something about her. No wonder people ship her with Harrow. Suddenly that all makes sense.

Weird though the third person sequences are, I am glad that we get to know Ortus the Ninth a little, because I do find that I like him! He's got a quiet melancholy something-something about him, maybe it's the bad poetry that makes him charming. And the dynamic with Harrow just really interests me.

(As for Ortus the First, I'm still trying to figure out what the hell his deal is.)

Also: I have a feeling that the second person portions are actually first person. I just get this sense that sooner or later, we'll get an I in there somewhere. It just reads like there's a very distinct narrative voice there. (HMM, I WONDER... perhaps....???!)

Right, so.

I guess I've faceplanted straight into Locked Tomb fandom, and that's had an unintended effect on some other stuff. Basically, Gideon is #goals. All those scenes where ladies were fawning over her huge muscles made me think... damn, I wish that were me.

So. Obviously, with the gym closed, my options are limited. But for the time being - Body weight exercises are going to be a thing. Oh yeah.

Now, obviously, I'm never in my life going to be anywhere near as buff as Gideon Nav. But I can probably aim for something more impressive than Harrowhark's noodly necromancer arms.

I was actually working on something like this a while back - like, a few years back - but kind of fell out of it because frankly, I hate this stuff. Absolutely hate it. But. Small steps. Right now I'm aiming for doing "any amount greater than zero", here.

It's just - I found all those scenes where Gideon is training in her room really inspiring, y'know?

Of course, I'm still keeping up with my cardio - that's actually my number one priority. My family has a history of cardiovascular issues, so, yeah. Definitely need to keep on top of that. But since my current goal is small, I don't think it'll be difficult to add a little bit of this too.

This evening, I tacked some body weight stuff onto the end of my cardio routine, and augh I just know I'm going to feel it tomorrow. But. Yes. I can do this! I'm going to do this! I will do this!

Came across a notice that Storm Constantine died yesterday.

I haven't given much thought to her writing in years, but even so, hearing this makes me feel very sad.

When I was 16, one of my internet friends sent the first Wraeththu trilogy to me for my birthday. It was a big fat tome with all the books in one volume, and reading it was like being smacked upside the head with everything I'd ever wanted. I was in an ongoing process of figuring myself out at the time (well, weren't we all) and that book unlocked things in me that I hadn't thought possible. It was both distilled id and a galaxy brain moment all wrapped up in one.

Like many isolated kids at the time, my exposure/access to literally anything that played with themes of gender/sexuality was extremely limited. As far as books go, there were two authors that helped me, and Storm Constantine was one. (The other was Mercedes Lackey, with her Last Herald Mage trilogy.)

Looking through Storm Constantine's works, I'm pretty surprised - I had heard that she wrote more books, but I didn't realize there was so much of it. I'm kind of curious, but likely won't end up seeking the other stuff out unless I get a rec for it, because the original trilogy was certainly, uh, of a certain time, and hit me at a specific moment when I needed it, and I don't think that new material would likely go down the right way. (Then again, maybe it would, I don't know.)

I do want to re-read the original trilogy, though, and I guess now I might get to it sooner rather than later. I hardly remember anything about it beyond the basic premise, though I do recall that Cobweb was my favourite character. Wonder how I'll find it now. We'll see.

WELL it sure was cold today. But the less said about that, the better.

aRTD: The SSSS kickstarter is fully-funded, but that isn't what I'm excited about. The author has mentioned that while aRTD won't be reprinted at this time (because printing SSSS book 2, and reprinting book 1, is going to be enough work as it is), there are plans to reprint it in the future. "We do have plans to arrange a dedicated reprint campaign for it in the future, after this one is all wrapped up, and after I and the Hiveworks team get some time to breathe afterwards. And that way I'll be able to dedicate work on cool new aRTD related things to go with the book." *_*!!! This sounds so great! I don't even mind that I'll be waiting a year... or two... or three... before it can happen. It just makes me happy that I'll (hopefully, eventually) be able to have A Redtail's Dream in print form.

Hetalia: I've decided to unlock the fic I wrote for the Silver Linings charity zine last year, since almost a year has passed. So, if you're up for some historical Norway & England gen, you can read it over here: One Cup of Tea.

Also Hetalia: The APH Rarepair Exchange is running again this year. Details over here. (It almost wasn't going to run, but it looks like someone has taken it up, yay). I'm not doing this one, because I have a case of the blahs, but perhaps some on my Flist will be interested~ Hopefully some neat things will come of it. :D (Ahh I miss writing Hetalia fic, you know...)

Millennium series: Can't be bothered to do a proper reading post but I just finished reading The Girl in the Spider's Web and ahhh, I enjoyed it a lot. I'm so glad that this series is being continued - I've missed reading about Salander and her badassery and her totally unrealistic hacking skills! xD But aside from all that, I feel like Lagercrantz's writing avoids some of the problems that I had with Larsson's novels - or perhaps he has a stricter editor or something. One of the big problems with the original Millennium novels is that they're bloated as hell; I had a really difficult time making it through the beginning of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo because so much of it focused on Tedious Swedish Business Transactions, and I only pushed through because it had been really enthusiastically recommended to me... and also because I'd paid for it and for that reason, come hell or high water, I'd finish it (this happens a lot). That sort of thing is one of the reasons that the Millennium films are (speaking broadly) an improvement on the novels; they streamline everything. Anyway, Lagercrantz avoids a lot of the bloat while still feeling very Millennium, and I appreciate that.

Oof... there was some sort of enormous construction delay, and traffic was backed up, and the tl;dr of it is that I didn't get home until nearly 8PM. Geeze.

Upside: I was able to finish reading Patrick Gale's A Place Called Winter.

Quick take: This was a breezy read. I liked it. Would read it again, even. It'd make a good film, actually. Because of the premise, I was worried that it would have a tragic end, but that is not so; the ending is hopeful.

Now, a fairly realistic M/M novel set in Edwardian-era England and Saskatchewan is bound to have its parts that are painful to get through... and that can be said for this one. But there are also a lot of happy moments too. And, like I mentioned, the ending isn't a downer (or at least, not entirely).

Would I recommend it? Sure, especially if the time period/setting is appealing. While there is romance in it, it's as much historical fiction as it is a romance (if not more), and for me, the Saskatchewan bits were definitely part of the appeal.

The author isn't Canadian, but I think he must have travelled to Canada at some point, because the way he paints a portrait of it is just so very perfect.

( A couple of short excerpts that I liked )

Anyway.

The character I fell in love with most was (as usual) not the central character, Harry Cane; rather it was Ursula, a two-spirit woman who shows up in certain parts and forms a friendship with Harry over time. We see just enough of her for me to latch on to, and man, I'm kind of tempted to write fic about her....

( More about that (also, spoilers) )

I was brought to tears by a fic that referred to the subject of governmental projects, employment, and compensation for labour.

This probably indicates that I'm a little stressed out this week. But who knows. :'D

I guess it's not surprising I'd have a lot of feelings about that sort of thing, considering a lot of my family works in the construction industry, and my own job is closely tied to it, but... yeesh. Self, get a grip.

The story in question was a Goblin Emperor fic about the Wisdom Bridge project going overbudget - Appropriation Bills, Compulsory Purchases, and Hope (1.6k, Csethiro/Maia, worksafe). It was part of a recent exchange... I normally don't read TGE, but hell, I'll probably read everything from the collection, why not. I've been meaning to re-read the novel, too, anyway.

...Anyway. Most of this evening was spent knitting and watching movies. I think I needed to sit around for a while and not do much of anything. So glad that it's nearly the weekend, though. It sounds like I need it. :P

☆ I finished The Goblin Emperor and now I have a book hangover. More deets on that later, probably. (And now I can't decide what to read - because SOMEHOW, even though there are a ton of books in my room, I don't want to read... any of them....)

☆ My pal Lakonisk managed to get tickets for us to go to Eurovision. So, guess where I'll be going next May? :D Stockholm it is. Had hoped that I might also be able to fit in a short stop in Iceland to met up with Aino, but it's looking like no, at least to judge by some cursory poking around re: flights. Hard to be sure, but... hm. Ah, well. Stockholm will be nice, though - it's been too long. I'm really looking forward to seeing Lakonisk and Diplopod again.

☆ Final NaNo write-in is tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. Managed to get so much writing done during this month; I'm kind of amazed at myself. Though, it'll be nice to go at a more relaxed pace... We bounced the idea back and forth of continuing the whole 'writing club' thing but there wasn't really any consensus. So if there will be one, we'll figure it out tomorrow. Not sure what I'm going to work on tomorrow... maybe that aRTD ghost story that I had going on; I've been poking at it a lot over the past couple days.

☆ Someone stole my mother's purse today. She was at the grocery store, had it in her cart, turned her back for two minutes. Gone. So, this evening has been very stressful and I've had to figure out what numbers she needs to call in order to file the report and get everything cancelled and replaced and blah blah blah. Ugh, I'm so angry. People are assholes. What kind of lowlife steals an elderly lady's purse?! Or anybody's, for that matter, but you know what I mean.