Platitudes and Paper Towels

Holy crap, where can I get my hands on a copy of Hellspark? I must read everything else this author ever wrote...

...it was about time for them. :)

For those familiar with the gorgeous, evocative writing of Tanith Lee, the tales of the Flat Earth are likely well known and well loved. Night's Master, the first volume in the Flat Earth series, has been reprinted by Norilana Books, and deservedly so.

Ms. Lee carries the reader along effortlessly through a series of linked short stories, the center of whom is Azhrarn, Lord of the Underworld, king of demons, beloved and hated and feared, and about whom the lives of so many mortals revolve-- whether they will it or not. Night's Master, I think, is the sensual sister to the Brothers Grimm-- or perhaps, the courtesan cousin of the old Norse myths. The writing is opulent and full of splendid images, and yet Ms. Lee uses the contrast of the occasional stark phrase to deadly effect.

Norilana Books has chosen a simple, near-monochromatic piece of art for the cover of this particular edition. The artwork upon the cover is rendered in what on first glance appears to be grey and black. A closer inspection shows hints of red, topaz, and even aquamarine within the cover art. Given the imagery and vibrancy contained within, the restraint of this choice makes it perfect: the most brilliant jewels are shown against black velvet, after all. [ETA: I am told the image was created by Ms. Lee and her husband, and that they will be creating the cover art for all of the titles in the TaLeKa imprint.]

The volume is relatively slim, but has a pleasing weight in the hands, and unlike so many of the paper books I read these days, is easy on the eyes, with a clear font and spacing that does not make my head ache to read it.

Overall, this is an impressive offering from a smaller publisher; if you do not own this volume already, I would encourage you to obtain it... and to support a small press while you are at it. :)


(Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with an ARC for the purposes of review.)

Having succumbed to my sister's nagging, I'm now on Facebook.

Smartwool really *is* all that.

Why did you people never tell me this before?!

In my pocket are six cough drop wrappers, two quarters, and a tag and connector for a dog.

It says:

Morgan
address
our phone number

If all goes well tomorrow, we'll have a dog. Named Morgan. More on that later.

#

Today I admitted several kids to the hospital and sat and thought about some other puzzling problems with children who I'm following as an outpatient for various acute and chronic maladies.

Sometimes getting enough time to think is a problem

Fortunately, our entire voice mail system crashed three days ago. I haven't managed to figure out how to set my voice mail back up yet.

That gives me a little more time to think and call subspecialists for curbside opinions.

#

I need to cook and clean the rat cage tonight.

The rats are now part of what I laughingly call 'the Evans Ecosystem': they get rat blocks, cardboard boxes to chew on (the non-recyclable kind), and leftovers from kitchen prep and the table. Their litter is our junk mail, shredded.

I clean the cage once a week and compost all the litter and leftover food scraps (and rat poop!) into our worm bin.

The worms make compost by eating and pooping.

It's the cycle of life, only with more poop than I ever anticipated when I was a child.

microklutziness

do a google search on that word plus 'Radin'

Mom, you know, when you bust my chops, it really makes me want to blow my fuse.

So it's like this:

I'm working a lot.

Yeah, I hear some of you say. And?

And nothing. That's all I do. I haven't managed to squeeze karate in there at all lately, other than during vacation (and that is a tale in and of itself).

For instance: I'm on call tonight and working 9-5 Saturday and Sunday in the Urgent Care. Why? Gotta pay for the nanny.

"We never see each other," Mike protests to me last night at 11 pm, when I staggered home after karate and the post-karate meeting at Keegan's.

I open my mouth to refute this, but he's already asleep.

And he's right: Mondays I am teaching pre-karate, Tuesdays he does a track workout until late evening, Wednesdays he's up early to run and I go to karate at night, Thursdays I go to karate at night and he runs (and pushes both kids), Fridays is my late day at work.

I get up at 4:45 AM MTRF, and sleep in until 5:45 on W.

He gets up at 5:00 on W to run, and sleeps in until 6:30 MTRF.

I go to bed by 10.

He's up for two more hours after that; after all, he's not up at the ass-crack of dawn.

Yesterday the nanny observed that the big fish (the Grouch) was gone. When had it died? Well, he'd euthanized it on Wednesday night after I'd gone to bed. What did he do with the body? I had to call him to find out, beset by a creeping fear that it was wrapped in a plastic bag in our freezer or something.

"Masano helped me dig the hole to bury it," he said impatiently (he was at work).

I will put my head down and push through the next 2 weeks, but after that?

Something has got to give, because DAMMNIT, if you can't trust that your wife will help you bury the bodies, there's something very wrong with the relationship.

And we're off today for Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I expect to have limited to no internet for the next 10 days.

If something life-changing and monumental happens and you wish to share it with me, please drop me an email. I probably will not try to catch up on 10 days of friends' posts.

Be safe, be smart, and don't do anything I wouldn't do.