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Brightdreamer

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Trying and failing to find compilations of fantasy-genre short stories to buy. Why is it so much easier to find science fiction and horror anthologies of short stories than it is fantasy ones?

Sometimes they all tend to get mushed up under the same heading. Are you open to older titles, and MG/YA? Try Bruce Coville's themed collections - any of them, really. I have pretty good luck with them. Charles de Lint has at least one collection out, as do Jane Yolen and Patricia C. Wrede. Mercedes Lackey edited some fantasy anthologies a while back. The old Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber are available in collected volumes, if you're interested in the roots of sword & sorcery. Cat Rambo's Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Midnight's decent. Martin H. Greenberg edits anthologies that usually have bigger, more recent names attached; give them a look for fantasy themes. Bill Fawcett did some older anthologies with big-at-the-time names, too. On a "I haven't read it yet, but I know it exists because it's on the Nook" note, there's Hall of Heroes, the second in an anthology series by the "Fellowship of Fantasy." Looks promising, but as I said, I haven't actually read it yet.

Well, it's Saturday, and I'm slowly getting up to speed. Got a book review to write, a room to sweep and mop, an oven to clean (it's been sitting overnight with the spray - long overdue for a scrubdown), a shed to retouch and bug bomb... gonna be a busy day, even without family intruding.

Off I go.

--

And it's afternoon. How am I doing on my list?
Book review - check.
Room swept and mopped - check.
Oven cleaned - check.
Shed... not so much. Relatives are fiddling with the front porch, so I'm avoiding the yard. But at least I got the inside stuff done, more or less. Even gave the hall a quick pass with the vacuum.

We're probably doing Something with extended family on Monday. Details have not been relayed to me.

Guess I'll poke at site stuff. That I can do here, while hiding with my headphones. (The porch project is not going well, from the sound of it...)
 
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BearyCuddly

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BearCuddly:

By the way, is that Gaelic? Do you speak it? Go n-éirí an bóthar leat

What does it mean? Nothing too bad, I hope!

It is Gaelic, but no, I don't know how to speak it. It means something like "good luck on your journey", and I picked it up from an ex.

ETA - Could it be If Angels Burn, by Lynn Viehl (Goodreads link)? Setting fits better...

HOLY CRAP MUNCH, I THINK THAT'S IT!!! ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME? LIKE, SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
(Sorry, I couldn't get myself to let off the shift key while I typed that).
 

EmilyEmily

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I just spent a few hours reading and grading student compositions, and I'm nowhere near finished. The papers are, for the most part, horrible. This is going to be a grueling year.

I'm going for a run now. (It will be 5 miles to the Happy Place, but 8 miles before I am able to sleep tonight).
 

DragonHeart

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Just finished my coffee.

I am very happy right now. :) I just got home from V's a little while ago. That was the first time in literally years I didn't wake up alone. It felt so good. But he's a busy guy so we both had to be up and out the door pretty early. I don't mind, I know that's how he is.

So I came home, showered, caffeinated and now I have plenty of energy to tackle today's projects, once I figure out what I want to do today.
 

RLGreenleaf

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DragonHeart:

Your place of employment just called.

There are several emergencies, and you need to cancel your vacation and get back to work RIGHT AWAY! ;)
 

RLGreenleaf

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It is Gaelic, but no, I don't know how to speak it. It means something like "good luck on your journey", and I picked it up from an ex.

BearyCuddly:

I asked about the meaning of that Gaelic phrase because one of my current novels takes place in 1700's Ireland, and I have been sprinkling a few Gaelic phrases here and there, to add "flavor" to the story. I do not actually speak the language, though

I did ask a friend (who does speak the language) about that phrase, and he said that it is usually translated as "May the road rise up to meet you", which means, as you said, "good luck on your journey".

BTW, glad that BD helped you find the book you were looking for. :)
 

Brightdreamer

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BearyCuddly - Glad I could help!

DH - Sounds like your vacation is off to a good start, at least... enjoy!

Sunday morning, and the agenda hopefully includes finishing up the workshed painting stuff and bug bombing (I've watched the wasp-infested ridge, and it looks dead, but I want to make sure...); though there's more outdoor stuff going on than that, the rest doesn't actively involve me so far as I've been informed, so I should be able to refocus on Other Things.

Half-formed ideas of taking a couple nights of vacation Somewhere Other Than Here later this month grow wispier as more of the state ignites. Eh, well... probably shouldn't be spending money anyway.

And I'm trying to pick a new hard-copy book to read. Poking at Guy Gavriel Kay's The Summer Tree, first in his Fianovar Tapestry series, and I'm not sure if I can stick with it. It's considered a classic in the genre, but it's reading rather stiff and dated to me, a little too old-school formula (even given that it's an old-school book.) I'll give it another chapter or two, to see if it hooks me, but I may end up walking away. Too many other titles in the pile.
 

DragonHeart

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Nice try RL, not happening.

Went to the grocery store and picked up some supplies. Realized I forgot some stuff, went to the other grocery store and got more supplies. They have better emergency pizzas anyway.

Came home, started prepping some stuff, had lunch. Now I'm just sitting here with a wine cooler because why not. Gotta wait for the dishwasher anyway. I don't usually drink alone but these things barely qualify as alcoholic, and I'm still feeling pretty relaxed.
 

Brightdreamer

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(Bug) bomb away in the workshed - can't go back out there for a few hours, so I mean to eat lunch and do site stuff, assuming family doesn't trample on my time and attention... sort of like they're doing now. (Does yelling at me get a drill bit unstuck any faster? Really? Ergh...)

Meh. Maybe Amazon Prime has something worth watching with lunch. No way I'll get anything done with the two of them bickering.
 

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@BD- Is your workshop your escape place?
 
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Brightdreamer

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FB - Yes, it's my escape... when I can get out there. It's where I do my sculpting and painting, and where I can noodle on my pennywhistle without bugging people, and where I can sit and not be annoyed. Usually I get waylaid by family on the way to the door, though, so I don't get out there nearly as much as I'd like.

The shed is airing out. Will be finishing off the paint later on, then painting a little board up to put my lion knocker on (a metal lion door knocker I found a few years back at Tuesday Morning, when they used to have better junk), and that should be that. The porch project is finally moving ahead (I think the stuck drill bit broke off, so they had to work around it), too. I believe we plan to put down new stair tread traction strips at the same time. Fingers crossed we won't be fooling with this stuff by next weekend...

Guess I'll find something else to poke at for a while - will go out later to put things back in my workshed that I'd taken out during the bombing.

--

And poking through before nightly spitballing attempts to get the writing gears engaging again...

Got stuff back in the shed, and my lion knocker has been mounted to a board, which still needs to be mounted on the shed. Paint was delayed by other projects requiring both the paint pads and the tall sibling, which (of course) took longer than they should've. In the meantime, I'm making decent headway on the site overhaul; getting my lists put together right now. Still have to get the responsive design CSS done (mostly just little tweaks, I think), then do new art (because I'll be ticked at myself if I don't even try new art.) But I feel like I'm headed somewhere at last, which is a good feeling.

Dinner existed. We're doing a low-key get-together tomorrow, a sandwich lunch kind of deal. Hope it goes okay. Will have my Kindle and possibly my Nook on-hand... also will probably know by then if I'm going to tackle Kay or send it along to my aunt's Little Free Library for someone else to enjoy (I intend to decide tonight; I want to give it a shot because I hear so many good things about it and about Kay, but danged if I'm having trouble getting into this one... it's just so stiff and formal, a little too much like Tolkien in some ways.)

Off I go. If I'm ambitious, I'll try cleaning out the dinner pan. If not, I'll let it soak overnight. (Made a sort of cheesy vegetabley potatoey meaty casserole thing, and the cheese is being stubborn...)
 
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Brightdreamer

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Monday, Labor Day, and we're heading out soonish to the family gathering, such as it is. Which means sitting around a house listening to relatives complain about work, say they want to do something then immediately shoot down any suggestions, and wash dishes. Seriously - they keep washing dishes. If there's not a dish to wash, they'll make a dish to wash, then wash it. And somehow the conversation is supposed to keep going over the sound of running water.

Getting my boredom prevention kit loaded as I type, in other words.

Also debating whether I should take a preventative Excedrin or not. This danged sinusy/head thing just keeps comin' back for more...

Hopefully I won't lose the whole day. I know family is important and all that, but danged if it doesn't get old.
 

DragonHeart

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Something about an afternoon shower is just so refreshing. And warming, so I don't break out my swiftly dwindling coffee supply, which won't be restocked until probably Wednesday. Drinking water instead.

Pretty relaxed day today. Had to do another grocery run when I realized I didn't have something I thought I did, meh.

My apartment smells like a bakery, I forgot how much I love that. Made bread with my own proprietary "spicy pizza" blend for flavor, came out great. This recipe produces two loaves, both of which I am giving away so I don't eat it all myself. Gave one to my mom. The other is for V, who as it turns out was a cook before he was a driver. I figure he'll appreciate it, especially after he lightly heckled me about not cooking for myself. It's not that I can't, I'm just lazy and don't enjoy it that much. Baking on the other hand...

I actually have one more baking project, I just haven't decided if I wanted to do it today or not. I have never made a cake from scratch before, but I really want to try this particular concept.

Waiting to hear back from V first. I've seen firsthand how bad reception is at his place so he probably won't reply for awhile. Want to see if he's available tonight so I can drop off the bread and get some cuddle time in since he has to work this week and I don't.
 

Brightdreamer

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And home again.

The gathering went about as well as these gatherings do. Decent sandwiches, though.

I'm calling nuke-your-own-dinner night on account of us being out so long and me being lazy.

Now I need to get the gumption up for a little exercise before scrounging my own evening meal. May be overdoing the side stretches, but I gotta get my tail moving. If I'm this sore, it means I'm in flabbier condition than I ought to be. (Feels like lazy muscle soreness, not I-tore-something soreness, at least...)

And I may stick out that Guy Gavriel Kay book. Made it past the ten percent mark, at least, though I still haven't posted it under Currently Reading on my blog. Not hugely enthused by it, as it can't help feeling a trifle stale (not to mention white - boy, it really does start standing out once you're aware of it, how even the extras in older fantasy default to pseudo-European, even in another world), but I'm still turning pages, and I still feel it's a book I probably should read, being a fantasy reader/writer.

Away I go. Two songs' worth of activity off my "Exercise Pep" list, then some manner of food.

--

Later, and I think my shed's about done; new avatar is the brass lion door knocker I hung to the side of the door less than an hour ago. Hooray for finishing things!
 
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DragonHeart

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Wait, you're supposed to finish things and not just perpetually work on everything? :p

Speaking of, today is my first official vacation day woo. I slept in and first coffee is brewing now. Got so many projects I want to do this week I almost don't know where to start.

Today is make-a-cake day for sure. I've never made one from scratch, or frosting either for that matter. It will probably be a giant mess. That's half the fun though, right? I keep telling myself that anyway.

I also have a chicken carcass I want to turn into stock, haven't done that in ages. Almost into soup season so I want to have some on hand. I have Better Than Bouillon bases too but homemade is always better. I don't cook much but for some reason I'm a boss at soups.

There are a lot of little things I want to take care of too. I'm kind of treating this vacation as "big block of cheese" week lol.

For starters though, always coffee.

A little while later...

So, Val finally got back to me. Turns out he got drunk and fell asleep yesterday lol. And apparently everyone else did too, he reports everything is late at work. Not my problem. :D

I've been thinking about it and I realized he reminds me a little bit of Spike from Buffy. And he really does look a bit like Antonio Banderas. He tells me he even used to have curly hair. XD So Brazilian vampire Zorro.
 
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Fruitbat

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Nice door knocker, BD! Maybe the ferocious lion will scare the relatives away when you're in your workshop.

Hope you enjoy your vacation, DH.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my novel-in-progress next (besides shred it). Why can't we just write beginnings? Beginnings are easy and fun! Who needs middles and endings anyway.
 

Fruitbat

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I am not sure there is such a thing as a failed cake. :p
 

Brightdreamer

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Tuesday morning, and it looks borderline apocalyptic outside. The sky is low and gray, the light a dirty, filtered yellow, and there's a fine layer of ash over everything. Smoke from various wildfires seems to have accumulated in this part of the state.

I got up relatively early for a day off because Mom needs a ride to a doctor appointment. (Got up earlier than I meant to due to loud relatives... incidentally, we may have to buy a new microwave together.) So I'm not making any plans for today, save that whatever I do won't be outdoors. Seriously, this is what the skies look like before the aliens or mutated bugs or zombies attack...

Away I drift. Got a little over half an hour to kill before I head out into the murk.
 

DragonHeart

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Cake did not fail. My mom said it was the best she's ever had. I don't know about that, but I do think it turned out nicely. I was concerned it would be too sweet with the honey I substituted in for something else, but it's not. My bakers' instincts have yet to fail me.

Golden spice cake with apple pie filling and cinnamon buttercream, all from scratch.

That was a nice coffee break.

I've got my stock cooling on the stove, too.

Giant mess in the kitchen I need to finish cleaning up. I'll do that, have a small dinner since I did just have cake, and relax for a bit before heading over to V's place. He gets the other loaf of bread from yesterday and a piece of cake. Lucky guy, no? And some cuddle time, but I can't keep him up too late cause he gets up super early for work.
 

Brightdreamer

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DH - Sounds like a tasty cake!

It's later the same Tuesday. As we were out today (driving to the doctor's appointment, then hunting for a new microwave, then getting an Arby's lunch), we kept seeing this evil reddish eye gleaming at us from windshields and chrome and car hoods: the reflection of the smoke-hazed sun. It lightened to yellowish for a while, but now the haze is thicker than ever, and spurts of ashfall keep coating the cars. While Mom was at the office, her doctor was apparently trying to contact her child's day care facility to tell them not to let them play outside, because he has breathing issues. (Those cheap white masks apparently do squat for the particulates that actually cause problems; you need a full respirator for those.)

And we did find a new microwave, that's basically identical to the old one. Getting it in place is a pain - not necessarily heavy, but very awkward, enough to make me wish that mid-sized appliances like microwaves came with molded moving handles to help get them out of their boxes instead of slick sides - and it's up to Someone Else to sort through the crud that had accumulated on top of the old microwave. (If that doesn't happen before it's time to start dinner, it's nuke-your-own by default; I had nowhere else to put that stuff than on the stove. Which someone else had already covered in non-kitchen stuff for no known reason. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a week or two alone and a free dumpster rental...)

And the porch got painted. The floor paint we got was apparently very hard to work with, but the sibling managed to get that down, and she even put down the traction treads on the stairs.

Away I drift. Should try doing more site stuff, but I'm so close to the end of my current Kindle read I might just polish that off.
 

DragonHeart

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Caffeinating...

Was happy to get some cuddle time with V last night. It never fails to amuse me how easy it is to impress pretty much anyone with a loaf of freshly baked bread. He has to be up at 0430 to start his work day though so I didn't keep him up too late.

Today is a planned mall trip with my mom. I have a few things I want to look for. The big thing right now is I absolutely need a second mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid. I had to borrow my mom's to get the cake finished yesterday.

Which means I should probably get off my butt and get my day started.
 

Reservoir Angel

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Hiding in my bedroom with the door closed trying to be as quiet as possible because the downstairs of my house is filled with various members of my extended family and I am in no mood to deal with the awkward social interactions that will be required of me if I put in an appearance or make them aware of my presence.
 

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My tooth hurts.
 
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