Reading: Marque & Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon
Music: Pendragon
TV/Movie: Galaxy Quest
Link o' the Day: SFWA News site

Ah, another one of those supremely busy days. This month's seems to be going a little more smoothly than last month's, but it's still a pain in the ass. Everyone wanting everything at the same time. No one willing to understand that jobs get done to fit a press schedule. There is a system to this sort of thing.

More rain. Blech. And more work to do tonight. It's tough deciding between staying in and doing work, and going out to the weekly session to play. I don't want to fall behind again, and I want to clear my boards as much as possible before me and a certain publisher get into the nitty-gritty details of an anthology we're putting together. Plus there is a short story I want finish writing for a certain anthology I've been given a discrete heads up on (it will probably be open to all in a few weeks, but some folk are getting advanced warning only because they were involved in previous anthologies with the same editors). If I miss my window of opportunity, I may miss a spot in this next anthology.

So I need to get in some writing time.

Ah hell. Not enough time in the day for everything. Maybe I'll skip the session again. Wet weather plays hell on my strings and drumheads anyway and I'll be constantly trying to re-tune everything. And some of the work I'm doing tonight means $$ which I could use--especially with Banjo Camp coming up quickly. And bills. And whatnot.

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I'm nearly finished with Marque & Reprisal, the second in the Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. It's a hugely fun read. Moreso than the first book of the series. As suspected, the first book is pretty much all setup for the events in the books that follow. It's good setup, and no one would regret taking the time to read it, but the real payoff starts at the second book. I'm always chiding Pretty Maggie to "chew her food" as in, "slow down, you're reading that book too fast and then what are you going to do?" Now I'm guilty of wolfing down a book with unseemly speed. (This is why I bought the third book already.)

And I have lots of backup reading material.

Anyway... Marque & Reprisal - good space opera type stuff. Suspense, adventure, gadgetry, all the trappings of a good SF yarn. It reminds me a lot of some of Lois McMaster Bujold's early Vorkosigan books. It will be interesting to see how the stories develop.

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Today's link takes you the the SFWA News site where you can find the latest SFWA-related news such as a list of Nebula winners and the results of the recent officer elections.

Cheers!