Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Travel notes
I know it’s not Thanksgiving, but I’m thankful we made it through baggage claim, car rental, and hotel registration in record time: one hour from plane-landing to ass-sitting. Not bad!
And I’m thankful that SFO’s food court hasn’t wrought holy hell upon my colon. Yet.
I’m also thankful for the innocent smile of the 10-month-old blond cherub who sat in front of me on the plane, bouncing up now and then to declare, UH-OH!
And lastly, I’m thankful for the ample cleavage of the young woman sleeping beside me on the plane, for giving me something to look at when my book failed to titillate.
Kushiel’s Dart, by the way, a book SxKitten recommended. NINE HUNDRED PAGES LONG. So — if I tried to sell my trilogy as fantasy rather than SF, could I get away with a 300K-word story, too? Too bad it’s SF. ALTHOUGH it’s never too late to throw in a magical golden dragon . . .
D.
Except really, the story is incomplete at the end of Kushiel’s Dart. It goes on for two more books. So it’s more like 1,000,000 words. And that trilogy is being followed by another trilogy — 2 already pubbed, the third due next year.
Me, I liked Kushiel’s Dart although I thought it could’ve used some serious pruning. (How many times must a reader read the same line about Phaedre being an anguisette, a rarity, the only one of the kingdom entitled to wear a particular shade of blood red/black. Too many.) Same with the second and third books of that trilogy. I can’t be arsed to try the next books of the series, because I kind of felt like the story was finished (enough for me, at least) after the third book.
waaaait, kushiel “failed to titillate” you? seriously? huh. while i agree with jmc about the repetition, from what i remember, when i was reading it i couldnt tear myself away.
Re: the magical golden dragon: just staple a big ‘Deus ex Machina’ on its naval and you’d be good to go. Have it solve all your outstanding plot problems, et voila.
Little cherubs are cute, but I’m thankful I can observe them and never had any of my own.