Clarke Award Finalists 1998
May. 26th, 2025 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Which 1998 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
32 (80.0%)
Days by James Lovegrove
1 (2.5%)
Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand
8 (20.0%)
Nymphomation by Jeff Noon
3 (7.5%)
The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper
14 (35.0%)
Titan by Stephen Baxter
8 (20.0%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it
Which 1998 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Days by James Lovegrove
Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand
Nymphomation by Jeff Noon
The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper
Titan by Stephen Baxter
Penric 14 impending
May. 25th, 2025 04:56 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
There is still a ways to go till it's ready for e-publication. It lacks both final title and cover at the moment. The title, I've learned on previous outings, is really needed first to bring the cover into the right focus. Also the artist Ron Miller has not yet had a chance to read the full manuscript, which Ron generally does, bless him.
Title is still circling the field. "Penric's take your kids to work day goes wrong" is alas too long, and jokey, if accurate. "Penric's Ox" is too easy to confuse with "Penric's Fox", and besides the livestock is not really the core of the tale. Best and default candidate so far is the double-edged "Penric's Lessons", although that feels as if it would be better saved for some collection. Growf. I hope something snappier will emerge during the test-reading/editing/wait for the cover phase.
It's been pretty interesting to replace the typical lone-wolf magical protagonist living out his angsty extended adolescence with an actual mature adult embedded in a functional family, and see what that does to genre expectations. My first vision of the older Penric, back before I started all this, was more in the former mode. I'm glad I dropped back and started him at his beginning with what became "Penric's Demon" -- he's a much more engaging character now.
No, I don't know anything yet about Blackstone or SubPress. AFAIK, they've not yet been informed the story exists, though my agent will take care of that soon. But I prefer to have it in final, tidied-as-possible form before submitting it for subrights sales.
And now I'm going to go take the evening goofing off.
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on May, 25
Night Watch (Discworld, volume 29/City Watch, volume 6) by Terry Pratchett
May. 25th, 2025 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

A time-displaced cop struggles to protect history and the glorious revolution from a time-displaced psychopath, as well as from the cop's own better nature.
Night Watch (Discworld, volume 29/City Watch, volume 6) by Terry Pratchett
The Requisite PSA for folks who don't follow me on Facebook
May. 24th, 2025 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
He didn't want any sort of big mourning event-thing, so we had a "dead man's party" (he was a huuuuge fan of Danny Elfman, yes) at the end of January for as many of his friends/family as could make it. Sadly, his daughter couldn't make it (unsafe driving conditions, etc.) but otherwise, I think it was exactly what he would have wanted.
My first Beaverton piece
May. 24th, 2025 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

ChatGPT user delighted to combine sloth with theft
Books Received, May 17 — May 23
May. 24th, 2025 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Seven books new to me. 3 fantasies, 1 horror, 1 non-fiction, and 2 science fiction. 2are stand-alone, 3 are series and 2 fall into the ever popular inapplicable set.
Books Received, May 17 — May 23
Which of these look interesting?
After the Fall by Edward Ashton (February 2026)
20 (45.5%)
Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland (July 2025)
3 (6.8%)
Gemini by Jeffrey Kluger (November 2025)
8 (18.2%)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (October 2025)
14 (31.8%)
The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip (October 2025)
24 (54.5%)
The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed (September 2025)
15 (34.1%)
Night Terror: A Bleak Haven Novel by Vincent Ralph (January 2026)
3 (6.8%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
30 (68.2%)
talked to GI doctor: we have a plan
May. 23rd, 2025 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The diagnosis is collagenous colitis, which I already knew from MyChart. The good news is that it's both benign and curable. The treatment will be nine weeks of budosenide pills, starting at three/day for the first six weeks, then two/day for the next three weeks, and a final three weeks of one/day. Those are to be taken with food, and in the morning because it's related to steroids and can interfere with sleep. [I mis-remembered, it's a total of 12 weeks of these pills.]
The most common risk factors for this kind of colitis are being a woman over sixty, and regular use of NSAIDs. Therefore, Dr. Morgan wants me to talk to Carmen about whether there's a plausible alternative to me taking naproxen almost every day, but she did say there may not be, since tylenol doesn't work the same way and may not be effective for the hip and knee pain I'm using it for.
I asked about continuing the Imodium and the fiber capsules, and Dr. Morgan said I could stop using them when the budosenide starts to be effective for the diarrhea, which might be within a week. I told her that the combination of Imodium and fiber is working well enough that I may not notice a difference, so the tentative plan is to wait at least a week, then pick a day or two when I won't need to go out, and try stopping the Imodium. (Adrian pointed out that I'm currently taking two pills twice a day, so I could try halving the dose and see how I feel. That sounds plausible, but I'm going to ask Dr Morgan if she thinks that's worth doing.
Also, a significant number of people with collagenous colitis also have celiac, so she wants to test me for that. I asked, and it's a straightforward blood draw, which I can do at my convenience: I don't need to wait until after getting blood drawn to start on the new medication.
She is sending the prescription to CVS, and told me to call her office if there's any problem with the insurance company.
ETA: I looked at the doctor's visit notes on MyChart, which reminded me that I should be checking my blood pressure about once a week while taking the budosenide.
Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin
May. 23rd, 2025 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

News that her supernatural aunt has been murdered upends a young woman's life.
Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin
The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez
May. 22nd, 2025 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Who is the secret traitor? The former boy wonder, the wonder girl, the alien princess, the cyborg, the shape-shifter, the spooky witch, the speedster, or the geokinetic who frequently brags about being evil and betraying the team?
The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez
proposed restrictions on covid vaccines
May. 21st, 2025 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Your Local Epidemiologist has a good post about the proposal, including that the people suggesting this know that nobody is going to do the placebo-controlled tests of new boosters they want to require.
Possible talking points include:
Families and caregivers wouldn't be eligible for the vaccine, even if they share a household, unlike the current UK recommendations.
Doctors, dentists, and other medical staff wouldn't be eligible either.
My own comment included that the reason I'd still be eligible for the vaccine is a lung problem caused by covid.
(cross-posting from
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Bundle of Holding: Awfully Cheerful Engine
May. 21st, 2025 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

The complete Omnibus with the rules and eight settings for Awfully Cheerful Engine, the cinematic action-comedy tabletop roleplaying game.
Bundle of Holding: Awfully Cheerful Engine
Penric and the Bandit now shipping
May. 21st, 2025 07:39 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
https://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-...
Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven here in Minneapolis should get their copies pretty soon.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on May, 21