Bookkeeping

#5. Ink and Steel - matociquala

It would be mean of me to gloat that I've read this and (most of) you haven't, wouldn't it? I thought so.

I was skeptical of this when Bear was first talking about the idea. I'm often skeptical of historical fantasy. (tanaise can show you the Dumas romance, if you wonder why.) Then I read the first draft of The Stratford Man, and lo, my doubts were ended. I thought it was the best of Bear's books at the time, and some ridiculous number of her books later, I still think so. And given my love of Whiskey and Water and All the Windwracked Stars, that's saying something. It definitely has the best boysmooches.

If you're of a poetical bent, matociquala is having an ARC contest in her journal now. If not, the prologue is up on her website now, and four more scenes from Act I will follow in the next few weeks.

Have you hugged a technopeasant wretch today?

In honor of the day, I've put up the first three chapters of Prayers to Broken Stone (a Lovecraftian romance, or travelogue with ghouls) here. (This may or may not end up being the next novel I write.) And the same short story and flash piece that have been up forever are still here. I really need to change those out one of these days.

Also, there's "Ballistic", the Shadow Unit ep I helped with. And the rest of Shadow Unit is pretty well stained with pixels, too.

My arms aren't nearly as sore as I thought they'd be. Either the real pain will kick in tonight, or I was wussier than I thought.