Namely, finishing the first of the
story_lottery stories, which I just need to type up; I did this during a few lulls this morning at work, and I was hard put trying to dodge the questions of the cashier who wondered what I was writing. Hard to describe a fanfic involving a Japanese energy vampire escaping from a sub-dimension he's been stuck in for three days, only to find that four years have passed in his world of origin...
Also finished reading "The Historian" -- Whoa! In some ways, it reminded me of (God help me) "The Da Vinci Code" only minus the swipes at religion (and with much better writing...). If anything, Elizabeth Kostova knows how to feature people of faith (inadvertently, in this case, since the monks, etc. weren't really aware of what was going on, through human error) on the wrong side of the fence without becoming annoyingly offensive or looking like they're demonizing the Church/organized religion/people of the cloth. No stereotyped assassin monks involved (especially improbable amelanistic albino ones who shouldn't be able to see well enough to shoot someone point blank from a distance.). And boy, does she know how to write slow-burn suspense. I don't think I've seen anyone write with this much depth and yet this much intensity and put this much story into it, without it getting top-heavy or causing your interest to wane. Also... sorry, Bram, but your Dracula is just a little bit loud and obvious next to Kostova's. He's good in his own right, but I like the subtlety of Kostova's.
Off to get some Advil, since my head is aching a bit after a long day. May be posting another
centi_50 fic tomorrow, we'll see. I do hope to get the first of the
story_lottery fics typed and posted over the weekend, since I have only a smidge over a month left to get those done, and I got six fics with a minimum of a 1000 words for each. Next challenge I do is going to be drabbles. Those don't take so long to physically write and/or type.
Also finished reading "The Historian" -- Whoa! In some ways, it reminded me of (God help me) "The Da Vinci Code" only minus the swipes at religion (and with much better writing...). If anything, Elizabeth Kostova knows how to feature people of faith (inadvertently, in this case, since the monks, etc. weren't really aware of what was going on, through human error) on the wrong side of the fence without becoming annoyingly offensive or looking like they're demonizing the Church/organized religion/people of the cloth. No stereotyped assassin monks involved (especially improbable amelanistic albino ones who shouldn't be able to see well enough to shoot someone point blank from a distance.). And boy, does she know how to write slow-burn suspense. I don't think I've seen anyone write with this much depth and yet this much intensity and put this much story into it, without it getting top-heavy or causing your interest to wane. Also... sorry, Bram, but your Dracula is just a little bit loud and obvious next to Kostova's. He's good in his own right, but I like the subtlety of Kostova's.
Off to get some Advil, since my head is aching a bit after a long day. May be posting another
no subject
Date: 2010-03-26 04:02 pm (UTC)(If your considerations move into more serious territory, let me know - I'll have to let you know what happened with Paul and the previous Helen Rossi. It's... useful information at the least.)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-27 03:42 pm (UTC)I'm reading the Black Jewels Trilogy at the moment and I probably won't get back to re-reading 'The Historian' till I finish it, but I'll admit, my interest in bring Helen Rossi back to the Mansion is tickling my brain. She might be the next one I intro, after I bring in Parsifal (and considering that Arthuriana was among my earliest serious fandoms, there's a part of me which is itching to bring him in, though that's not likely to happen till after Easter and work gets back to normal), we'll see.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 03:05 pm (UTC)I'd be also curious to have your opinion on BJT when you're done with it - I haven't read it yet, but having RP'd across 30948308098 Blood puppets for years now, I have an interest in the fandom (I just need tiiiiiiiiiime, it's on my list.) And it's a series which I've seen very heavily criticized before, so I'd be very intrigued to have your point of view on it.)
And sounds good! (I can't say how glad I am that you're into these different fandoms - and I'm soooooooo glad for a chance to play my less active puppets with you. &hearts &hearts &hearts )
no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 07:56 pm (UTC)((First impression of BJT has been mixed, but mostly favorable. There's editing problems, the world-building could have a little more explanation behind it, and some of the characters could be construed as Mary Sues/Gary Stus, but as I've been reading it, I've been thinking, "Hey, this would make a really great anime."
no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 08:20 pm (UTC)