[books] The Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
date: Thursday, 5th February 2009
time: 4:16pm
feeling: accomplished
listening to: 
tags:
fiction, C.C. Finlay is giving away PDF copies of The Patriot Witch. I haven't read any of his writing yet, but this is a great way to be introduced to an author's work.
This is what he said about it:
"So I was talking with the marketing people at Del Rey. Most of us like to check out a book before we buy it. We like to go into the bookstore, pull it off the shelf, and read it while we sip a mocha latte or a big black coffee or a bottle of juice from the cafe. So, to coincide with Comic Con, Del Rey and I are offering a free PDF download of The Patriot Witch. Pour yourself something to drink and take a read. Check it out. For free.
Yes, we're giving it away. I've seen Cory Doctorow offer free downloads of his books when they're released. I've witnessed John Scalzi build a novel career by giving away his first book online. I've watched the Baen Free Library introduce great books to people who would never have seen them otherwise. This isn't exactly the same thing, but it seems like a no-brainer to me.
Yes, the book is not due out in stores until April 28th. But you can have it RIGHT NOW!
Just go download The Patriot Witch for free at my website.
That's all.
No user information required.
No email has to be entered.
No newsletter you have to sign up for.
Click and download.
If you like it, we hope you'll buy it. And tell your friends about it. Or post a review online. Then go buy the second and third books of the Traitor to the Crown series when they come out in May and June! Because the story keeps getting better in books 2 and 3.
What's that?
The link already?
Oh, yeah. You can download The Patriot Witch here.
Don't say I never gave you nothing."
So go! Download, read, and then let him know what you think. Buy a copy for yourself. Buy for friends. Go review it somewhere, good or bad.
I like this.
[publications] The Broadsheet book review
date: Saturday, 8th November 2008time: 3:15pmfeeling: accomplishedlistening to: tags:
misc I reviewed Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell for Broad Universe's The Broadsheet.
Book review here.
There's My Horizon To Chase
date: Wednesday, 20th August 2008time: 12:00amfeeling: thankfullistening to: tags:
misc I’m down to my last week in Washington. In fact, I have two more days at work, and then I fly out on Friday for Missouri, then drive to Michigan. There are plenty of things I am going to miss about living and working here. These are a few I particularly enjoyed:
+ D&D Worldwide Game Day and 4th Edition Release
This took place at Neumos, a local music venue, and was all kinds of awesome fun. I say this as a tabletop gamer who was not a fan of D&D until that day, too. It converted me.
(I wrote about this in more detail for Cerise Magazine "Learning to Roll With 4th Ed. at Worldwide Game Day" if you'd like to know more.)
This leads directly to the next event.
+ Intern D&D Gaming Group
I'm not sure I've ever had more fun with a bunch of absolute strangers. It was all very fortuitous. I went to Worldwide Game Day and really enjoyed 4th Ed. A group of interns put together a D&D game; by the time I realized I wanted to play, they were full. (This turned out to be a good thing, because they didn't play 4th ed.) Other people who missed that group got together to play.
It was absolutely glorious.
The story was really well done. I thought our DM had lots of experience at it, but I found out at the end he didn't. The group was interesting and well balanced, both in personalities and in characters.
I saw some of the best role-playing I've ever seen. Players were true to their characters even when it absolutely screwed them over, and there were a couple of times that all I could do was watch in awe.
+ Movies
There are a couple theaters nearby which are nice. The closest one is the less nice of the two, but it is close and it is often emptier, which I appreciate in a theater. I love to watch movies by myself (I love to watch them with other people, too), but I enjoy it so much more if I can have some space around me.
I saw Kung Fu Panda, Prince Caspian, The Happening, WALL*E, Hancock, Hellboy II, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II at one of those two theaters. (Except for Prince Caspian, actually, I saw that in Seattle with a friend from law school.) Some of them I watched with interns, some I watched with a friend visiting from out of town, some I watched alone. They were all fantastic in that I had a wonderful time losing myself in the magic of a movie on the big screen. (That is the only way in which The Happening can be considered fantastic, though there were some lovely shots of foliage.)
I haven't watched so many movies in one summer in a long time. I love movies, and movie theaters, and trailers on the big screen. (I love trailers in general, actually. I watch them online all the time, but there's something special about seeing it on the big screen.) I like the stories they tell, and analyzing the problematic areas, and the way I can be sucked into another world for as long as the film lasts.
+ The Dark Knight at the Imax
This gets a category of its own because, well, it's The Dark Knight, at the Imax, and I watched it with my team at work, which was a great experience. I loved the movie (despite its typical disappointing treatment of women), loved watching it at the Imax, and loved going with my coworkers. They are an awesome group of people who inspire me, both as a lawyer (or a lawyer to be, at least) and as a person.
Also, the Imax is at the Seattle Center, which is like a carnival every time I go. Or rather, it's a little like the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, which is one of my favorite places in the country.
+ Living a Horror Movie Life
This place is the absolute best setting for a werewolf story I've ever seen. The trees are gorgeous, and so tall they loom above you, their trunks straight and bare of branches until far above your head. You'll never be able to scramble up them to get away. They offer no help to you, because you don't belong in the darkness of their land. You are an outsider, and the werewolves have roamed these mountains for time unmeasured.
Yeah. Anyway. The full moon is amazing when it sits in the clouds above the treetops, and the mountains are just breathtaking. I love the gray rain, and I love the sunshine in July.
It's a beautiful, inspiring area, and I'm so glad I've spent the summer here.
+ Pike Place Market
It's so neat. I know it's become very touristy, and it is always too crowded for me, but I enjoy it. I love getting to explore all the stalls, and the permanent stores in the lower levels, including an awesome comic book store.
One of our summer events was a tour of Pike Place, and our tour guide was a vivacious, knowledgeable woman who made us laugh and had an answer for every question. She talked about ghosts, and traditions, and the best restaurants which support local farmers.
It's full of life, and things to buy, and fruit which smells so fresh I wanted to taste it.
+ Olympic Sculpture Park
I love sculptures, unusual art, and being outdoors. This is pretty much the perfect combination for me to have a good time. It was a lot of fun just walking around and looking at the artwork, listening to my music, getting into my own thoughts, and then out of them when I found a particularly interesting piece.
+ Mt. Rainier
I hiked on the southeast side, and drove all the way around it, and it was absolutely beautiful. (I even chose the hottest weekend of the year, with temperatures over 100 degrees, and yet it was still a wonderful day.)
I stayed past sunset in order to watch the full moon rise over it, and that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I've watched the sun and moon rise and set in a number of amazing places - Barcelona, Spain; an airplane on the way to Europe; various locations on Oahu; and Santa Cruz, California – but that moon, sitting in between the mountains, full and gold and glorious, was the most breathtaking of all.
I could go on for pages with all the wonderful things I’ve seen and done this summer. I was extraordinarily lucky, both with my job and with my adventures this summer. I’m sad to leave, but have memories I will cherish.
[publications] Cerise Magazine
date: Friday, 15th August 2008time: 2:02amfeeling: accomplishedlistening to: tags:
essay, I have another essay in Cerise Magazine: "The Man-Hating Lesbian and the Chastity Belt: Forced Backstories and Gendered Violence."
I particularly like the ending to this one:
I don't find playing the sexualized fighter any different from the non-sexualized fighter. I refuse to acknowledge a forced backstory full of gendered violence. The only time her forced sexualization came up was when I was first given her character sheet and one of the other players asked why her original player wasn't taking her back. Our DM said he had randomly drawn names, but he was sure the original player was happy not to have her back.
"After all," I said, and frowned, "she gave her up for a reason."
Chastity belts and man-hating lesbian jokes get old fast.
Editing
date: Tuesday, 5th August 2008time: 10:22pmfeeling: accomplishedlistening to: 3 Doors Downtags:
fiction, misc I edit for Samantha R. Anderer, a friend of mine(1) who writes young adult fiction. She has two main series, Finding Faith and The Wilder Side. I'm currently editing book one of The Wilder Side, and it is glorious.
In a bit of synchronicity, it is set in Washington, which is where I'm working this summer. (Also, I am dying for well-written young adult fiction set in Washington and dealing with werewolves and vampires.) It fills me with glee to be able to experience the areas about which she writing (or at least on which she has based some of her locations), and to be able to give accurate descriptions of the weather.
I've missed this, developmental editing with a good author. This is one of the best hobbies in the world, and I'm lucky I get to have a day job in an area I love as well as a hobby which is fulfilling.
Samantha blogs about her writing, too. You can read it at her site; the blog is "Inner Workings". She also makes beautiful art of her characters(4), which is not currently available on her site (I think she's recoding the gallery), but you can see some samples in her blog.
(You can buy the first book of Finding Faith, Planning It Right, online. The cover is her artwork, and it's a story I really enjoyed. However, this may not be a version available for long; I believe there are some surprises coming up in the future.)
So, yes. I work in a field I love, have hobbies which make me happy, and am living in a beautiful state. Life is really good right now.
---
(1) Since 1999, I think, which, while not my longest friendship, one of the longer ones. I am really bad at staying in contact with people(2), so my friendships tend to fade away with time and distance.(3)
(2) Really bad is something of an understatement. I don't even stay in contact with my family very well, even though I'm close to my parents and siblings.
(3) You would think the internet would help with this. You would be wrong.
(4) Mine too, actually. I really need to upload the artwork she made of Anna and Taz, as well as pictures of the One of a Kind dolls Robyn Fleming made me of the same characters.