It's Xmas eve, and the cats have knocked over the tree again! Sigh.

Colleen Mondor mentions me as one of her favorite underrated authors of the year, in some good company (including Poppy Z. Brite, and it's true, her Liquor novels should make her rich and famous, they're so good). In the specific context of Rangergirl I suppose I am "underrated" -- it didn't sell as well as I'd hoped, and I'm certainly in no danger of earning out my advance, though it's a weird-ass quirky first novel, so I'm not really surprised. It does have a small and devoted following, it seems. My next two upcoming books are, I hope, more accomplished, easier to explain to bookstore buyers, and yet no less weird and interestingly quirky. Maybe by this time next year people will be complaining that I'm overrated! A boy can hope.

Gun is a fun game. It has flaming arrows, and arrows with dynamite strapped to them, and ample opportunities to use mounted gatling guns and cannons, and trampling people from horseback, and random bandit attacks, and a pretty neat storyline. My only complaints are that it's pretty short, even when you do all the side missions, and the last boss is annoying. I haven't even beaten him yet. I see how to beat him, and I tried a few times, but it's really kind of tedious. I'm sure I'll beat him at some point just to see the ending, but it's disappointing that I have to do the same damn tricky, specific things several times to damage him enough. They gave me all these cool weapons, and none of them work on him. Sigh.

Meanwhile, I have Splinter Cell: Double Agent to play. Yes, it's technofascist pro-military-industrial-complex black-ops fantasy, etc., but it's such a well-designed game! (And it lends itself nicely to self-justification, because I can say "You actually get a better score if you manage to finish the missions without killing anybody!" Oh, yes. To listen to me, you'd think Quakers would find this game inspiring. Except for all the wacky tech. Which is what I really love about it.)