A Parenthetical Life
I also speak in fragments. I guess most people do, but, as opposed to the parentheses thing, I also have a bad habit of writing in fragments, then I have to clean up the whole mess. Usually, by shoving a comma in somewhere and linking up my sentences. I know, I know. They're a useful device, but I overuse it, especially in narrative. In dialogue it's not so bad, but it really chops up a narrative.
This is apropos of nothing, by the way. I just thought I'd throw it out there.
Yesterday was FABULOUS!! Breakfast in bed was Bananas Foster Pancakes, and the children were allowed to snip off an amaryllis and put it in a vase. Gorgeous. Lunch was a Mother's Day Buffet out. Rather disappointing, food wise, but I didn't care. We were having fun. After that was the real treat -- we went book shopping! Anything I wanted at Books*A*Million!!!
I was so good! I only bought 4 books.
An anthology called DATES FROM HELL. Eh. The Kim Harrison entry was, in my opinion, dreadful. Mostly because it asked more questions than it answered. Obviously the sort of thing you HAD to have read her series to understand. Very annoying. The Lynsay Sands offering was ok. A little over-cute for me, but not bad. Kelley Armstrong, who is hit-or-miss for me, hit it on this one. Great characters, excellent pacing, fun relationship. And the final entry by Lori Handeland worked well, too. I'm not big on 1st person stories, however, so I missed having the hero's pov. Funny thing, Armstrong's story was written in 3rd, but *only* from the heroine's pov and I didn't feel like anything was missing. Maybe it's because Handeland writes such big heroes that I don't feel like she can do them justice without being in their heads.
I'm a little ways into Vickie Taylor's CARVED IN STONE. Gargoyles. Sounds interesting and so far, so good.
Haven't started MOON CALLED by Patricia Briggs. Found this one in the SF/F section, so I'm not expecting much in the way of romance. From the back blurb, it sounds a bit like SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley, whom I adore.
I also read THE BURNING by Susan Squires yesterday. It was ok. Not quite enough to make me glom onto her backlist, although she did end it with possibilities for a new couple. Very vampire angsty and a hint of something I read in a Lynn Viehl book. An Alpha male, or at least a dominant male, who willfully submits to torture to turn himself into a submissive tool. In the Viehl book, it was mostly physical torture, in the Squires book, it was primarily sexual. Kinda squicky, actually. And yeah, these guys have biiiig issues.
Also, I started TO LIGHT A CANDLE by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. It's apparently the 2nd in a series. I hate when I accidentally pick up a book that's in the middle of something. Surprisingly, however, I'm not completely lost. And it's got enough personal interaction that I don't feel lost in fantasy land, where sometimes the relationships are overwhelmed by the world-building.
So that was my day, I ate, I shopped, I read. Perfect.
9 Comments:
An Alpha male, or at least a dominant male, who willfully submits to torture to turn himself into a submissive tool.
Well, you'd sure have to motivate that properly to get it right.
I think Dear Author reviewed The Burning recently. They didn't like it.
By 
, at
8:38 AM
I just finished Book One: The Outstretched Shadow, of the Lackey/Mallory trilogy and I agree...the world building gets tedious.
Wow! Your dh sounds fabulous. All you want at a bookstore. *Sigh* what a gift.
Glad you had some time to read.
About the parentheses, my cp often has to tell me my sentences are too long. It's left overs from the the telling I was famous for in my writing. Also, I use fragmented sentences that drive my grammer check insane. In dialogue, I use them because people don't talk like Strunk and White. LOL.
We'll see if an editor lets me get away with it. So far, I'm still trying to get them to read the darn thing.
By 
Jennifer McKenzie, at
10:32 AM
I liked Moon Called quite a bit. There are some hints of romance, though that's not the focus, by any means. It's more of a side story.
Conversly, I didn't like Sunshine much at all, though if you asked me to pin down the reason why, I couldn't remember and it seems it's not a book I reviewed on my blog, so I can't use that as back up!
By Angela James, at
2:22 PM
Interesting how hit and miss anthologies can be.
By Sandra Ruttan, at
2:40 PM
So happy to hear you had a good mother's day! And whatever you want at BAM... That's dangerous!
Jorrie, you got that right. It always feels wrong. And you know whatever "training" they had isn't going to work anyway.
Bernita, it's what makes me hesitant to pick up a lot of those gigantic tomes filled with high fantasy.
Jen, well, he is Darn Near Perfect! And it all comes out right after a few edits. Ok, a LOT of edits. ;)
Angie, I'm looking forward to Moon Called. I loved Sunshine primarily because of Robin McKinley. I just wish she wrote faster.
Sandra, that's always the way with anthologies. You have to dig through a lot of stories you're not too crazy about to find the one that makes the whole thing a keeper.
April, thanks! It was a *perfect* Mother's Day.
By Sela Carsen, at
11:33 AM
I loved Lynn Viehl's books, but it doesn't sound like I'd like The Burning. I feel an ick factor coming on.
Your day sounded dreamy.
Those pancakes sound wonderful!
I use asides in my emails, but avoid it in my fiction.
By Faith Bicknell, at
12:39 PM