Jane Lindskold's Blog

I’m still in the mending track, but doing better.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.  Audiobook.  I was looking for something else, and came across this and couldn’t resist.  Interesting how Powers permitted himself more linguistic humor (including a sly pun) in this one than in his other books.

In Progress:

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  I’ve read this before, and also watched the anime adapted from it.  Jim gave me several of the omnibus (three original manga per) volumes for my birthday.  When I glanced at them, I found myself pulled in all over again.  Translator William Flanagan’s work is excellent.  His notes about the choices he made, as well as about Japanese culture, are gems.  Last week I was up to the equivalent of issue 9.  This week, up to issue 15.

Heroes of History by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  A short survey of history starting with a general essay, then moving into the really ancient world.  I’m up to the Roman Republic.  Good reminders of people and events I’m already familiar with.  Despite the title, not a “great man” theory of history at all.

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland.  Book three.  Angel’s personal journey is so very different than many books of this sort where, by book three, the heroine is becoming Very Important and influential.  Angel is just hoping to get her GED.

Also:

Almost done with the latest Smithsonian.  The orangutan story made me sad.  Now on Valley Forge.

Yesterday’s mail brought me my author’s copies of the new Honorverse/Star Kingdom anthology: Challenges.  Although there have been other short stories set in these early days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore—my own “Deception on Gryphon” in What Price Victory? being one such—this is the first anthology to focus specifically on this time period.

Small side note, since I was asked about this by someone after my post last week.  Yes, do I know David Weber.  We’ve been friends for well over thirty years now.  When I refer to him as “Weber,” it’s not because he’s not my friend, it’s because he is.  Let me clarify that.  When David Weber and I were getting to know each other, I had at least three other “Davids” in routine rotation in my life.  I took to referring to David Weber as “Weber” then, and it basically became more or less a pet name. 

Now…  back to Challenges.

When Weber phoned me to ask if I’d do a story for this collection, our discussion went something like this:

Weber: “Your story doesn’t need to be about Stephanie [Harrington] and her circle.”

Me (after thinking for a moment), “Is there anything you’d like me to write about?” 

Weber (so promptly, I wondered if he’d had this lurking in the back of his mind all along): “Well, I’d love a prequel to ‘The Stray’ by Linda Evans.  It covers the second human/treecat adoption, but we never actually see that event.  Linda, of course, can’t write it.”

[Linda Evans died in June of 2023.]

Me (bluntly): “’The Stray’ has continuity problems with treecat/human interactions that drive me up the wall.  I like the basic story, but I don’t know if we want to draw attention to it, because if people go back and re-read it, they’re going to have lots of questions as to why Stephanie and Lionheart and all can’t do what’s done in this story.”

Weber (deep sigh): “Yeah.  I know.  Look.  You write your story.  Follow how we’ve been doing things.  I’ll write an introduction, explaining why there are differences.  Okay?”

Me: “Good.  I can do.”

And I did.  Those of you who are familiar with “The Stray” may guess why this was a hard story to write.  In the end, though, I’m really glad I took on the challenge.  And at least one character I created for the story is set to reappear in the next of Weber and my Star Kingdom novels, which is set about eight years later.

And Weber did write the promised introduction.  It’s well-worth reading as a window into the challenges (ah, that word again!) of writing a complex, multi-layered series that began with a single novel decades ago.

We’re doing a panel discussion for Baen Free Radio with the whole anthology team.  I’ll let you know when it goes live.

To misquote the Beatles, got to admit, I’m not quite all better, which peeves me to no end.  However, I am definitely on the right course and hope to continue getting over whatever the heck it was I had!

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

Practicing to Be Lightning by Betsy James.  ARC.   It’s different and very good—I’ll let you know when it’s out. Here’s my blurb for it.  If you’ve ever read my blurbs, you’ll know I rarely praise so enthusiastically: “”Rarely is a novel as solidly grounded and yet mystically fluid as Practicing to Be Lightning.  The characters’ journeys are spiritually profound, yet profoundly human.  I enjoyed this tale immensely, and look forward to deeper revelations as I re-read it in the years to come.”  

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  One of Tey’s strengths is characterization.  Flawed, yet powerfully caring Miss Pym is very different from cool, detached Allan Grant.

In Progress:

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles by Clamp.  I’ve read this before, and also watched the anime adapted from it.  Jim gave me several of the omnibus (three original manga per) volumes for my birthday.  When I glanced at them, I found myself pulled in all over again.  Translator William Flanagan’s work is excellent.  His notes about the choices he made, as well as about Japanese culture, are gems.  I’ve re-read omnibus volumes one and two, and just started three.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.  Audiobook.  I was looking for something else, and came across this and couldn’t resist.  Interesting how Powers permitted himself more linguistic humor (including a sly pun) in this one than in his other books.

Also:

Almost done with the latest Smithsonian.  Reading about Cormac McCarthy makes me wonder about whether I’d like to have eidetic memory or not.

To have a harvest, you need to plant, to tend.  This as true—even more true—about writing than it is about gardening.

The photo above shows Garden Inspector in Chief, Fava O’Pig, with our most recent garden harvest.  Much of this was picked on Monday morning, although the beans were picked over a number of days, and the squash at the end of last week.

Last week also featured David Weber and myself on the phone, working out the details for the sixth Star Kingdom novel.  As I cut eggplant on Monday morning, I found myself thinking about the similarities between planting and tending a veggie garden so you get a good harvest, and writing a complicated series of books.

With the Star Kingdom series, some elements were planted long before the first book was written.  These shaped all our future decisions, just as with a veggie garden knowing where the sun will hit, which plants need extra shelter, and other details shapes the eventual harvest.

There are also the “moisture” and “nutrients” that Weber and myself have each brought to the project.  Weber has an enormous amount of Honorverse material packed in his head, as well as a lot of “real world” history, technology, and science.  I contribute a tight focus on this particular series, as well as a lot of knowledge about history, technology, science, although often with a different emphasis than Weber’s.  This is a definitely a case where two heads make for a richer growing medium than one.

Weber is more likely to have madly wonderful “shiny” moments.  I’m the one who is better at seeing how the elements need to be fit together.  Not that either of us doesn’t do both jobs.  In fact, one of the times I have the most fun is when we both see how disparate elements are weaving together into something we hadn’t yet seen.

These planning sessions don’t happen just once, any more than a garden magically grows from a seed poked into the ground.  There’re lots of watering, occasional replanting, and even pruning.  But in the end, we’ll have an abundant harvest of rich and enjoyable story.

Or that’s the idea…  We’re still in the final stages of outlining and arranging.

Those of you who read my FF know that last week ended with me catching something or other that  left me rather sick.  I’m still achy but on the mend, and certainly all this fresh produce—garden and creative alike—should help me along the way.

This week was not at all usual.  Monday was my birthday, so Jim and I went out.  Tuesday was filled with all sorts of appointments.  Wednesday, late morning, I had a violently bad sore throat.  I went to the doctor, on Thursday, and now have the reassurance that it’s not strep.  I also have some drugs to help with the symptoms, since quantities of tea and throat lozenges were doing nothing.   One good thing, I suppose, is between not feeling well and time waiting, that I had a lot more time to read.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers.  E-ARC.  So far, I’m hooked.  Due out in early December but, if like me, you can’t wait, you can get an advanced reader copy from Baen Books.

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Perhaps her best-known.  People either hate it for being slow or are fascinated by the complex plot—which has less to do with Richard III than with how quickly people jump to conclusions based on minimal evidence.

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland.  Good plot, expanded setting, fun characters.

The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Published posthumously.

In Progress:

Practicing to Be Lightning by Betsy James.  ARC.  I’m liking so far.  Quite a bit!

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Not an Allan Grant novel.  The first half sets up the problem so this reader finds herself feeling she knows that place.

Also:

A few odds and ends came in that have kept me from the latest Smithsonian, but I’ll be back to it.

This past week, to celebrate my birthday, Jim and I went to the local botanical gardens.  We’ve been visiting there since it was first opened, so it has a special element above and beyond have become an extraordinary facility.  Remembering when the trees that now shade the central green were slender and leggy give an additional delight to seeing them spreading shade all around.

There have been changes, as any place created around living things will have.  Overall, we like those changes.  Newest to us of all this visit was the recently re-opened Heritage Farm, which has grown astonishingly since that days when, to provide interest in a bare area, they marked out an acre so all the city folk would know how much space that entailed.

There were plenty of flowers, still, including the morning glories featured above.  I think they look as if they blossoms have been adorned by a talented watercolor painter. 

As we ambled around—we were there for between two and a half and three hours—I was once again reminded why I like living here.  The general attitude seems to be to assume that if you’re in the same place as someone, they you must already be friends.

Among many delightful encounters was the fellow who wanted to make sure we saw a particularly amusing squirrel, then went on to tell us how he’d lived in Albuquerque for seventy years and this was his first visit to the gardens.

“I made sure my kids went, and my grandkids, but this is a first for me, and I just love it!”

Then there was the man harvesting grapes over at the Heritage Farm.  When we asked who would be eating them, he happily told us how he worked for a local winery and they tended the grapes and would be making wine from them.  He told us where their tasting room was in Old Town, and was generally a delight.

And then there was the little girl who we joined to look at some truly magnificent fish in the main “lake.”  She was feeding them, and without any prompting offered me a handful of fish treats so I could join in. 

A new garden is about to open in early October, near where the pollinator garden was, and maybe we’ll make it back to see it in its new glory, so we can enjoy saying later one, “Remember when?”

Of the Big Five writer of Classic Mystery (Christie; Sayers; Allingham; Marsh; Tey), Josephine Tey is the least well-known by modern audiences, and certainly the most unusual.  There is very little humor in her work, and often the psychological landscape is as or more important than footprints and bloodstains.  Her work is not to everyone’s taste, but I quite like it.

And now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Based on an ostensibly true story that Tey does acknowledge.

DreamForge Magazine.  Latest issue.

To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Neat twist.

In Progress:

The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers.  E-ARC.  So far, I’m hooked.  Due out in early December but, if like me, you can’t wait, you can get an advanced reader copy from Baen Books.

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Perhaps her best-known.  People either hate it for being slow or are fascinated by the complex plot—which has less to do with Richard III than with how quickly people jump to conclusions based on minimal evidence.

Also:

Just starting the latest Smithsonian.

Last weekend, Jim and I made our annual trip to the state fair with our friend, Chip.  We hit numerous art shows (Fine, Hispanic, Indian, Creative, School), supported Asbury Café’s fundraising via pie, and looked at a lot of animals.

The rabbit and poultry show was particularly good this year.  The lighting was restful for the animals, but not great for photography, so you’ll need to take my word that we saw the cutest ducks ever.  Additional highlights were some astonishing rabbits (including one the size of moderate-sized dog, with an amazingly fluffy coat), and Polish chickens that had head feathers like a Cossack head gear.

There were numerous demonstrations of various arts and crafts.  I restrained myself from acquiring a new hobby, but only just. 

The featured show on Main Street were fancy cars.  I’m not much for cars, but the love and care put into these was terrific.  I particularly like when—as in the photo above—humor entered the presentation.

The final flourish was a short but vigorous rain shower.  We dove into the 4H building to wait it out, but there were lots of kids out splashing in puddles with at least as much enthusiasm they were giving to the more formal entertainments.

All in all, a very good day indeed.

This week, David Weber and I may finalize our outline for the next Star Kingdom novel.  One of the nicest things is seeing how the ideas we bounce off each other take a different form than either of us would come up with on our own.

Catch you later!

As the long-time readers of these Wanderings have probably already figured out, I actually enjoyed the Lit Professor side of my life, even though I left it behind decades ago.  Sometimes, I slide into that mode again.  That side of my brain is behind my “Also” reading this week.

And now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.

Futurus Rex by Lynn Barker and D.C. Fontana.

A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  The title is a classic red herring.

In Progress:

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey.  Audiobook.  Based on an ostensibly true story that Tey does acknowledge.

DreamForge Magazine.  Latest issue.  Just starting.

Also:

Years ago, Jim gave me several collector’s edition sets of the landmark anime Revolutionary Girl Utena.  Each of the DVD box sets (this was pre-BluRay) came with a booklet discussing aspects of the creative process.  The print of the text was very tiny, so I didn’t read all of the articles.

However, I’m re-watching Utena when I exercise.  As I am long past the point of spoilers, I had the hankering to read all the articles.  When I finish, I’ll probably re-read the manga, which varies significantly from the anime because one was not based on the other.  Rather both evolved semi-simultaneously from the same story discussions.

This week, I have a bit of happy news to share.  “Dog Helps Those,” a short story I wrote just over a year ago, will be published in a forthcoming issue of DreamForge magazine.

This story has a special place in my heart.  I wrote it while struggling with the side effects of surgery to fix my badly damaged right rotator cuff.  I wrote about the writing challenges in detail here and here.  The short version is that I did manage to finish in time to give a cold reading at Bubonicon.

Although the story went over well, I couldn’t seem to find an editor who liked it as much as my audience and I did.  Thus, it languished until Scot Noel—who had rejected it the first time around because it didn’t fit his image of the theme he was using for DreamForge that year—got in touch this past weekend to find out if the story was still available.

Fortuitous for all involved, which is one reason I chose the above photo to go with this week’s Wanderings. 

Last Sunday, Jim and I had a phone call from our next-door neighbor, asking if we were having problems with bugs eating the leaves of our datura.  She’d gotten the seeds from us in the first place, thus the question.

When I went out to look at our patch, I was surprised to see that the datura was still in bloom, and looking particularly lovely, with the soft light bringing out a hint of pale lavender along the edges.  Datura flowers at dusk, and usually closes shortly after sunrise.  However, a combination of a somewhat cloudy morning, along with shade in that corner had conspired to keep the flowers open.  I told Jim, and he went out to look, camera in hand, just as sunlight reached the patch, enabling him to use natural light to get a backlit photo.

Fortuitous indeed.

Now, off to continue collaborating with David Weber to give an initial shape to the next Star Kingdom/Stephanie Harrington novel.

Oh!  And fortune had favored the datura, too.  Whatever was chewing on Linda’s had pretty much left ours alone.