Countdown

Okay! One and a half days until I'm on holiday and surgically separated from the Internet.
Oh. My. God.
I can cope. I can!

Just tidying up my workspace in case I get moved to my new office while I'm away. I have (now irrelevant) paperwork going back to 2001 - the recyclers are going to love me!) I will leave the windowledge until I get back, no point in overdoing it!

I'm really looking forward to the holiday. I'm going to do some writing, but I'm also going to take the opportunity to catch up on some trilogies I haven't read yet. Ah, books.

Liaden Universe

Support Steve Miller and Sharon Lee by reading their work in progress - Fledgling - set in the Liaden universe. It's a side book that takes place parallel to the main action in the book (not yet written) that is to come after I Dare. You can also listen to each chapter via podcast, the links are on the Fledgling page. So far, they're up to chapter 19, which was loaded on the 18th of June.

Read, enjoy!

On this day...

in 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

I read a fair number of novels set in and around this time period and it's not unusual for any given character to refer to the 'war' or for a hero to be scarred by his experiences on the Peninsula. Even if you don't read any of the accounts written by eyewitnesses of the time the cold, hard statistics are enough to provide a rough (and horrific) idea of what it may have been like.
According to the British Battles website:

The British, Belgians, Dutch and Germans lost 15,000 casualties or 1 in 4 engaged. The Prussians lost 7,000. The casualties of the French army are estimated at 25,000 dead and wounded, 8,000 prisoners and 220 guns lost.

This may not seem many in light of modern warfare's capability for destruction, but for one day's fighting when your main weapons are cannon, rifles and swords (and horses!) it's quite a sobering achievement.

It's raining, it's pouring...

It is, in fact, wazzing it down. Fully accompanied by thunder and lightning and flickering fluorescents. Hopefully the power won't go off as I've only got another 27 minutes to go. Driving home is going to be sooooo interesting as every nutter and his uncle decides that driving rain, standing water and the perils of aquaplaning are no reason to avoid driving at 95 miles an hour. Sigh, sigh.

One more week and I am on holiday! yay! But, on holiday I have no computer so any writing I do will have to be done by hand and then typed up when I get back. Oh noes!! How easily we are lured by the joy of tech.

The shifter novella is taking shape, although I need to get more speed on.

Music: none

Weather: Biblical


Dream of the Day: One day I will have a laptop of my very own.

Samhain & Kensington get hitched.

Jane, over at dearauthor.com, has learned that Samhain and Kensington are set to create a new imprint - this to be announced at BEA sometime today. The new imprint will consist of 1-2 releases a month, both available in trade and mass market paperback editions.

Click here for the full post.

Even with only 1-2 releases a month, it will be interesting to see whether this makes a significant difference in the number of Samhain books available in stores. I'm presuming that Samhain will also continue to release titles in print, apart from the new imprint, so perhaps we'll see more titles (some/ any Samhain titles) in UK bookshops? (Apart from Murder One in London which is already very good about having print titles from Samhain, Ellora's Cave, New Concepts and others). My local Waterstones (formerly Ottakers) is small but also appalling in its range of stock; my local independent tried to be too like them in order to hold onto the market and now is just as bad and we won't mention WH Smiths at all. Grrrrr. (Borders - please don't go!)

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Listening to: Drink Up Me Hearties from PotC3

Temp in office: 23.1˚C

Mood: Tired and cranky

Aaar, matey!

Well, I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and I love it! Will definitely be going to watch it again. Not only is there (lots of) Captain Jack Sparrow, but Chow Yun Fat is playing Sao Feng! Haven't seen him in anything since Crouching Tiger so it was good. (Puts me in mind to watch all of the Hong Kong movies with CYF that I bought years ago - so long ago they were only available in VHS not DVD format. Thankfully, they were subtitled rather than dubbed. I hate dubbed films. )
Anway, I digress. Although I did/do love PotC3, I have to say that I love the soundtrack more (by Hans Zimmer). Gorgeous, sweeping music that makes me want to have a sailing ship of my own and stand at the wheel whilst sailing east of the sun and west of the moon!

I am in fact listening to it right now - and we loves it, we do. Ahem. The theme melody that runs through the previous two soundtracks is present again, but there are some new variations that really get your heart racing especially in the tracks: At Wit's End, Up is Down, and Drink Up Me Hearties. The (brief) first track Hoist the Colours is quite emotive (and horribly addictive in the sense that it's short enough and rhythmic enough to get stuck in your head for days! It's been three days and I've still got the words running through my head!)

Listening to: Singapore from PotC3

Mood: Quite chirpy, thank you!