The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

E.F.B. · Jul 20, 2017

greendragon said:
Oh, opening day for Call of the Morrigú went well! My publisher let me know I had 146 pre-orders and 42 sales on opening day. My best yet so far

greendragon · Jul 20, 2017

So, anybody in that Toronto area want to have lunch or a pint with me and the hubbie while we're in town? We'll be there Aug 5-12th. Staying in Cabbagetown. Have car.

A good large scale Asian grocery store? Interested!

Husband is cooking pho this weekend, as a matter of fact.

Shoeless · Jul 20, 2017

greendragon said:
My husband and I are in our mid/late 40s, so we're definitely more of the architecture/authentic Chinese crowd. We were already planning on wandering the campus, as Hubbie is planning a Dresden Files RPG set in Toronto, using students as the starting characters. The Most Evil Used Bookstore Is this the actual name? I love it! Must go there~ more details?

Wow, a Dresden Files RPG? Is this professionally, or is this a hobby?

The Evil Bookstore is actually called BMV, which I *think* stands for Books, Music, Video, since they sell all those. They also have a third floor with comics. As I said, this place is filthy, stinking, EVIL.

greendragon said:
Any particular places in Chinatown to recommend? Or any of the other neighborhoods?

I can make a few recommendations that get The Asian Wife seal of approval. She's originally from Singapore, so she's incredibly particular about Asian food, and the authenticity thereof.

New Ho King is very good for authentic Chinese food, we ate there a lot. If you're interested in Vietnamese, Pho Hung has some great noodles, just look for the "laughing cow" sign. For ramen comfort food, Ajisen Ramen was another place that had pretty agreeable ramen that wasn't too expensive. My wife always found the broth there reassuring. All this is just right down the Spadina/Chinatown area, so it's an easy walk.

Also nearby, if you're into something more global and less Asian focused is Kensington Market, which is just off Spadina. Still a lot of small boutique shops here, including grocers for Portuguese and Mexican goods. Lots of good restaurants here as well, a mix of Caribbean, Mexican and others. My wife and I used to really enjoy El Trompo. Great Mexican food, and their breakfast menu was super tasty for me.

greendragon said:
Oh, opening day for Call of the Morrigú went well! My publisher let me know I had 146 pre-orders and 42 sales on opening day. My best yet so far

Congratulations on the launch. Great to see active AWers doing well.

Kitkitdizzi · Jul 20, 2017

E.F.B. said:
KITKIT *tacklehugs* I second what GD said about staying uncrispy.

Ouch! I hate hornets, despite never being stung by one. They're so creepy!!! One time one of them came in the front door of my house once when my mom came in from mowing the grass. Thankfully it wasn't angry and was making a literal beeline through the house, so I ran and opened the back door and it flew right out again.

*Extracts herself from under Effie* No, no crispy Kitkit. Especially since kit-kit-dizze (AKA, bear clover) loves to burn (My namesake is a super resinous plant. I'm a plant nerd)

Hornets leave pheromones when they sting, which can draw more hornets towards you. My boss wrote in the accident report that how I warned my coworkers was by running and yelling "bees!". I did run, but what I actually yelled is not appropriate in something a child might read. I actually freaked out my coworkers, because I was walking across granite slabs. They heard me yell and my shovel bouncing down the cliff when I dropped it, and they thought I fell, but then they saw me running really fast towards the river.

All Virginia gets exclusive credit for is some "sailor sandwich" I've never had and doesn't sound particularly appetizing to me.

Oo. California gets frozen bananas and carne asada fries. I'll take that.

Shoeless said:
Speaking of which, the ROM itself is also a nice old building, though I think you'll probably be aghast at the newest addition to it. They call it "the crystal," but I call it "the Kryptonian Mothership," because it looks like an entire nursery school from Kal-El's ancestral home went and collided with the side of a gorgeous, Victorian building

Huh. I actually want to see that.

greendragon said:
Oh, opening day for Call of the Morrigú went well! My publisher let me know I had 146 pre-orders and 42 sales on opening day. My best yet so far

greendragon · Jul 20, 2017

Shoeless said:
Wow, a Dresden Files RPG? Is this professionally, or is this a hobby?

The Evil Bookstore is actually called BMV, which I *think* stands for Books, Music, Video, since they sell all those. They also have a third floor with comics. As I said, this place is filthy, stinking, EVIL.

I can make a few recommendations that get The Asian Wife seal of approval. She's originally from Singapore, so she's incredibly particular about Asian food, and the authenticity thereof.

New Ho King is very good for authentic Chinese food, we ate there a lot. If you're interested in Vietnamese, Pho Hung has some great noodles, just look for the "laughing cow" sign. For ramen comfort food, Ajisen Ramen was another place that had pretty agreeable ramen that wasn't too expensive. My wife always found the broth there reassuring. All this is just right down the Spadina/Chinatown area, so it's an easy walk.

Also nearby, if you're into something more global and less Asian focused is Kensington Market, which is just off Spadina. Still a lot of small boutique shops here, including grocers for Portuguese and Mexican goods. Lots of good restaurants here as well, a mix of Caribbean, Mexican and others. My wife and I used to really enjoy El Trompo. Great Mexican food, and their breakfast menu was super tasty for me.

Congratulations on the launch. Great to see active AWers doing well.

Dresden Files RPG is a published thing. He's creating a campaign from the books and our time in Toronto. He figured it was a great place with a lot of history and odd happenings, as well as a great international culture.

I will check out BMeVil bookstore!

Recommendations noted and entered in my travel spreadsheet! Thank you.

greendragon · Jul 20, 2017

Thanks also for the reminder to check out Kensington Market. We deliberately rented an airbnb apartment with a full kitchen so chef hubbie can buy ALL THE THINGS and make ALL THE YUMMY. St. Lawrence is a must, but Kensington is the icing on the cake.

What, doesn't anyone else do foodie vacations? Our honeymoon was a week in London and a week in Yorkshire. The London week was "try a different nationality of food every day" themed. It was wonderful. Anatolian food, Pakistani, even Persian food... cooked by an Australian... in a British pub in Chiswick.

greendragon · Jul 20, 2017

Also, Legacy of Hunger just reached a milestone! 50 reviews on Amazon!!! Woohoo!

Jade Rothwell · Jul 20, 2017

greendragon said:
I went to the Aquarium last time (great thing to do when it's ice-stormy outside!)

nice! I went on a rainy day, so there weren't many people

Damoclian said:
Cantina, for those of us in the Canadieh/Ontario/Hamilton area... who wants to hang out sometime???

My brother lives in Hamilton and he's a cool doctor dude! I keep hearing that Hamilton is the "new" Toronto as far as housing is concerned. Is a p-weird and slightly distressing place to this country-bumpkin bunny. Lot's of one-way streets... Toronto was scawwier though, I couldn't see the tops of the buildings! :'O

I'd be down to

I've lived in Toronto most of my life, so I'm used to cities. when I went to university in Niagara it was actually so nice to be away hehe. Toronto's great, but also a nightmare at certain hours

Shoeless · Jul 20, 2017

Jade A said:
I've lived in Toronto most of my life, so I'm used to cities. when I went to university in Niagara it was actually so nice to be away hehe. Toronto's great, but also a nightmare at certain hours

It's manageable. I lived in Bangkok in Thailand for one year, then about 12 in Singapore. Hopped around to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and other cities while I was living and working there. When my wife first arrived in Canada, she took one look at downtown Toronto in the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of the week, at its busiest time, and said "It's so EMPTY here..." because it wasn't wall-to-wall people crushing each other in a sweaty tide like she'd grown up with.

She actually prefers the less crowded streets of Hamilton now, but it took her a few years to get used to it. Now she likes the idea of having stretches of sidewalk all to herself. That just never happens in an urbanized area in Asia.

Ambrosia · Jul 20, 2017

greendragon said:
Oh, opening day for Call of the Morrigú went well! My publisher let me know I had 146 pre-orders and 42 sales on opening day. My best yet so far

greendragon said:
Also, Legacy of Hunger just reached a milestone! 50 reviews on Amazon!!! Woohoo!

Congratulations on both! It's good to see authors having good things happen.

Aggy B. · Jul 20, 2017

If you want a bit of a chuckle check out the trailer for Bright. (Also, violence and action stuff. So, warning.)

Mary Love · Jul 20, 2017

Wow, shiny new cantina. *removes shoes*

SO! What've I missed?

As you can probably tell from my absence, writing has been on a real hiatious this summer. As you can also probably tell by my sudden appearence, I want it back! I opened my laptop and read-up the other night and I love my story (tho I did kinda drop the ball at a hard spot...now what?) but it was mostly because of how busy we got. Our family hosts interns in summer, which is really fun and educational, but the flip side is basically houseguests every day. My little free time is spent sitting glassy-eyed and burned out at the computer a few minutes before bed. But others have written with less free time than I. I know I could carve it out if I really had to. I should, I should!

So! Here I am again, looking for that ol' kick in the batooty from those who understand the woe of words. :Sun:

How's everyone??

Shoeless · Jul 20, 2017

Aggy B. said:
If you want a bit of a chuckle check out the trailer for Bright. (Also, violence and action stuff. So, warning.)

So that was either Alien Nation with Orcs, or, Shadowrun in the 21st century. Regardless, I'll keep an eye on it.

Niniva · Jul 20, 2017

Richard White said:
<-- now wants to work on the modern fable of The City Dammy and the Country Dammy.

^^^The greatest thing in the world would be a Dammy review of this fable!

greendragon · Jul 21, 2017

Shoeless said:
So that was either Alien Nation with Orcs, or, Shadowrun in the 21st century. Regardless, I'll keep an eye on it.

I heard about this. And thought it was a take on Dresden, as well - sort of Murphy's story mixed with Alien Nation.

shortstorymachinist · Jul 21, 2017

Kitkitdizzi said:
*Extracts herself from under Effie* No, no crispy Kitkit. Especially since kit-kit-dizze (AKA, bear clover) loves to burn (My namesake is a super resinous plant. I'm a plant nerd)

Hornets leave pheromones when they sting, which can draw more hornets towards you. My boss wrote in the accident report that how I warned my coworkers was by running and yelling "bees!". I did run, but what I actually yelled is not appropriate in something a child might read. I actually freaked out my coworkers, because I was walking across granite slabs. They heard me yell and my shovel bouncing down the cliff when I dropped it, and they thought I fell, but then they saw me running really fast towards the river.

Oo. California gets frozen bananas and carne asada fries. I'll take that.

Huh. I actually want to see that.

Kitkit! Welcome back, traveler! Speaking of hornets, today I got chased up a mountain by what I thought was a giant Japanese sparrow hornet. Thankfully it was just a regular hornet.

How far did you have to run to lose them?

Aggy B. · Jul 21, 2017

"Bright" is written by Max Landis, who also wrote the script for Chronicle, and American Ultra, as well as some eps of the recent Dirk Gently TV show.

Damoclian · Jul 21, 2017

Niniva said:
^^^The greatest thing in the world would be a Dammy review of this fable!

Of late I have been feeling as though my reviews, fewer now, lack the unique pizzazz and oomph that got them such wide renown to begin with. It's not because I haz a sad, I actually haz a big ol' happy, one that has lasted several days and is most pleasant. It could be that I review things more publicly now and am thus a frightened bunny of being scorned for my excess of enthusiasm...

Also, I actually want the reviews to make sense, and be, like, coherent and stuff. This is not to say my noise-review method is anything less than the perfect means by which to express emotions regarding books, so much as to say... iunno... halp, maybe???

I haven't been reading as much as I wanna, but I have a ton of great books on the back burner, and even more waiting in the wings, and still MOAR just sitting beside my bed silently pleading to be opened and absorbed. I lack not for good books, so much as motivation. I can only read so much in a day before I get burnout, and that number of words is actually really small and inconvenient.

So, essentially: what do!?

<.<
>.>
Also, I will attempt to review anything at least once. I don't know what "The City Dammy and the Country Dammy" is a play on, but if you write it, I'll apply eyeballs to pages.

Richard White · Jul 21, 2017

Dammy,

It's one of Aesop's Fables (or at least, so claimed)

For your reading pleasure:

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

Shoeless · Jul 21, 2017

Aggy B. said:
"Bright" is written by Max Landis, who also wrote the script for Chronicle, and American Ultra, as well as some eps of the recent Dirk Gently TV show.

Oh Landis wrote this? I'll definitely keep this on my radar then. He's got a quirky style, and I've always liked him ever since his Death of Superman video on YouTube. I'm still a bit leery because of the David Ayer credit for directing, since Suicide Squad, but with a Landis script, he has better material to work with.

Damoclian · Jul 21, 2017

Foolishness and Twagedy hath struck dis bunneh Y'all!!! :O I got the first Mercy Thompson novel by Patricia Briggs thanks to my housemate and now, I fear, I am doomededededededead.

Kitkitdizzi · Jul 21, 2017

shortstorymachinist said:
Kitkit! Welcome back, traveler! Speaking of hornets, today I got chased up a mountain by what I thought was a giant Japanese sparrow hornet. Thankfully it was just a regular hornet.

How far did you have to run to lose them?

I went a few hundred meters to the river (which was icy cold with snowmelt. Felt great on my hands). Fortunately, they seemed to lose interest in me pretty quick. I had a coworker a few years ago who was not so lucky. He stepped up on a log and it collapsed into a nest beneath him. He ran and when he stopped he got swarmed again. At least a hundred stings. He ended up in the hospital.

Yeah, giant Japanese hornets are the stuff of my nightmares. I'll take California hornets any day.

Jade Rothwell · Jul 21, 2017

I'm hitting an emotional wall with my novella :Headbang:

Shoeless said:
It's manageable. I lived in Bangkok in Thailand for one year, then about 12 in Singapore. Hopped around to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and other cities while I was living and working there. When my wife first arrived in Canada, she took one look at downtown Toronto in the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of the week, at its busiest time, and said "It's so EMPTY here..." because it wasn't wall-to-wall people crushing each other in a sweaty tide like she'd grown up with.

She actually prefers the less crowded streets of Hamilton now, but it took her a few years to get used to it. Now she likes the idea of having stretches of sidewalk all to herself. That just never happens in an urbanized area in Asia.

that sounds intense! I've been to New York, which is also a lot worse than Toronto. whenever my smaller city friends visit though, they spend the whole time complaining about how busy Toronto is hehe

greendragon · Jul 21, 2017

I've driven/walked in London, New York, Miami, Detroit, San Francisco, Toronto, Chicago, DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Dublin, Edinburgh, Reykjavik. None of those bothered me overmuch with the driving, but I grew up learning to drive in the city. I don't know which I'd class as 'most difficult'. It's a tossup between Chicago, New York and London. And London only because there is NO personal space between cars, evidently!

Now, the most difficult rural road has been the Golden Road. This is a one lane road through the Outer Hebrides, islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. The road is windy, hilly, and often has fairly sheer drops on BOTH sides of the road. Every once in a while you get a pullover spot in case a car comes in the other direction. Sometimes it is just ROCK everywhere. Difficult in fog, often no lnes on the side of the road, no shoulder, very little between you and death. We had a minivan (we had 6 people). Sometimes it had bits of double lane, but not often. Desolate and beautiful - but long. They called it the golden road due to how much it cost to build. ONLY road through that area of the island. Because of the rocks and hills and one-lane status, you went slow... you had NO idea what was around that bend/over that hill coming at you!

For anyone who wants to live vicariously and drive the road on their computer...

Or there was Oxi Pass in the Eastfjords of Iceland. It was incredibly thick fog on this trip, unpaved road, and we had no idea if we were going the right way. VERY nailbiting. Couldn't see but 10 feet in front of us. The video I shared was a sunny day. Very different from our day. This video has drone footage so you get perspective.

Shoeless · Jul 21, 2017

greendragon said:
Now, the most difficult rural road has been the Golden Road. This is a one lane road through the Outer Hebrides, islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. The road is windy, hilly, and often has fairly sheer drops on BOTH sides of the road. Every once in a while you get a pullover spot in case a car comes in the other direction. Sometimes it is just ROCK everywhere. Difficult in fog, often no lnes on the side of the road, no shoulder, very little between you and death. We had a minivan (we had 6 people). Sometimes it had bits of double lane, but not often. Desolate and beautiful - but long. They called it the golden road due to how much it cost to build. ONLY road through that area of the island. Because of the rocks and hills and one-lane status, you went slow... you had NO idea what was around that bend/over that hill coming at you!

This sounds absolutely nightmarish. I don't think I could take that.

The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

E.F.B.

Stories, stories everywhere

greendragon

Shoeless

Kitkitdizzi

Don't feed the critters

greendragon

greendragon

greendragon

Jade Rothwell

rolling dice

Shoeless

Ambrosia

Grand Duchess

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

Mary Love

Shoeless

Niniva

Life is just a bowl of cherries...

greendragon

shortstorymachinist

The score is still Q to 12!

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

Damoclian

Fragile Bunny

Richard White

Stealthy Plot Bunny Peddler

Shoeless

Damoclian

Fragile Bunny

Kitkitdizzi

Don't feed the critters

Jade Rothwell

rolling dice

greendragon

Shoeless