I'm just going to work. I may be some time

Ooh, there's been a bit of quiet on here, hasn't there? Now, what happened in February/March to distract me from here?

Oh wait. That.

So uh. Hi. I work at Waterstones now.

It's been a busy few months. I curate the sci-fi/fantasy/horror/manga/graphic novel/boardgames section at Waterstones York (aka, all the good stuff). I am a horrifying recommendation monster that appears behind people innocently reading blurbs and excitedly extols the virtues of the book they're holding and also these three over here and have they seen that there's a sequel in a couple of months they should preorder...?

It's been a lot of fun.

There have been signings. So many signings.

There have been parties.

There have been games.

There have been costumes.

And there have been conventions upon conventions and dear heavens so many books. So many.

I have taken time off, too. I went and sailed a ship to France and back for a week.

Not kidding.

But it has been hectic, and I haven't been writing much. I managed 50k for NaNoWriMo but I'm only happy with about 10k of it and it encompassed six different novels in the end. I need to get back to the writing properly, somehow. In between everything and everything else, and all the other stuff.

Been reading a heck of a lot, though, particularly for work. I have a whiteboard in the sci-fi section (and tweeted on the Waterstones York account) where people can (and do, surprisingly) vote for what I should read next, and I've been getting through at least one book a week since March.

So during 2016 I'll try to update this place a bit more regularly with those, at least. Read some spectacular stuff during 2015. Some new, some old, some I really should have read sooner...

Top 10 20? Why not. Alphabetised because I work in a bookshop okay:

One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Twelve Kings by Bradley Beaulieu
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette De Bodard
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb
The Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka

A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston

The Empress Game by Rhonda Mason
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Anvil of Ice by Michael Scott Rohan

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
Vicious by V. E. Schwab

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams

Honourable mentions:
Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen
The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Yeah. I enjoyed a lot of books this year. Also read a couple that I will actively discourage anyone from reading, but that seems a bit mean to single them out here.

Films and TV have been pretty awesome this year too. Predictably, I loved all the Marvel stuff, and Star Wars, and all the magnificent geekery made available to us lucky things.

My favourite glorious geek media from this year might still be Mad Max though...

Yeah, I shaved my head for that. Cosplay commitment, baby.

Oh, and uh. I have a girlfriend now. She's awesome. We're swapping geek culture at the moment and now I love FullMetal Alchemist and she loves Loki, so that's all going well. Also contributing to the hectic busy, but that's okay.

Lots of shiny to look forward to in 2016. Here's hoping it's a good one for all of us!

Back by popular demand

You may have noticed a lack of posts over the last few days. Interestingly, I've had complaints about that. I was expecting complaints about the excessive chatter, not the lack of it. Oh well.

So, quick refresh: the daily posts were part of an intent to focus on the happy, good things in each day and try to stay positive. You can draw your own conclusions from the lack of posts, I suppose.

Despite that, there were actually quite a few good things over the last few days. I helped a friend plan a complicated cosplay on Wednesday, and received art (and random little presents too, which was so sweet) from my friend Cally. She drew me a dragon for the new pen name, and named her, naturally, Leaf Pendragon. Ah, the puns. I should've thought of that one. Leaf's now the background of my Twitter page. I'm still playing with settings to work out if I can get her onto the background of the blog too, and keep everything legible. She's a pretty thing, though, you have to admit.

I also got some more feedback on Dryden version whatever it is at this point, and more again on Thursday. I was getting very lost in attempts to rewrite, second (and third, and fourth) guessing myself at every turn, certain of some problems and hating other bits but not sure if that was just me or if they actually needed work. Hearing back from my readers settles that - even if I disagree with the odd comment, it still solidifies what I have to do to make progress. It clarifies matters, and reassures me that there's something worth saving in the draft.

There was also the NaNoWriMo group chat on Thursday night, which meant I got a little writing done. Hanith again, poor lad.

On Friday I made it into town to pick up the latest Loki: Agent of Asgard comic, because Loki. It did make me laugh like a drain, too.

Saturday included a trip to the cinema to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier for the second time... So I really can't complain about that. I even managed to do almost all the dishes and cook again, afterwards.

Today was monthly NaNo in-person meetup, too, so I spent the afternoon hanging out with half a dozen other writers, generally geeking out, chatting, and keeping up to date with everybody's plans and current writing status. It's nice, though this particular meet did leave me more exhausted than usual. I think I'm still not quite entirely recovered from the troubles of Tuesday through Thursday. Remember I mentioned how the food and the happy overlap a lot? This does mean that lack of happy equals lack of food, especially if I'm feeling guilty. That in turn slows me down for a while, which does mean a much lesser chance of sparking off further guilt-inducing incidents, but also means it's difficult to get back up to doing a full day of normal stuff without ending up utterly shattered at the end of it.

Oh well. The delays in getting round to actually writing Dryden 2: The Second One have meant that the plot is getting longer, more in depth, and crueller with every passing day. Shame it all makes sense and follows on from the chaos of the first book. My poor characters. They did so little to deserve this.

The Gospel of Loki (Spoiler free)

Book: The Gospel of Loki
Author: Joanne M. Harris (@joannechocolat on Twitter)

Let's start by admitting I do love a well-done villain. Take a look at any popcorn movie or blockbuster (especially the SF/F ones) and you should see why pretty quickly. The bad guys get the best outfits, the best music, the best snappy comebacks. I could do a whole post just analysing that (and probably will at some point, remind me).

My point is, I'm already very much inclined to enjoy an entertaining devil, whichever side they're on and whether they're guilt-ridden or utterly unrepentant.

I also love mythology. All of it. I have more volumes than I can count of myths from all over the world, and as a child I loved the Old Testament half of my Illustrated Children's Bible (fire and brimstone and stuff turning to snakes all over the shop! Awesome!). I loved the Tricksters in myth most, though. Coyote, Anansi, Crow, pretty much all of the Greek or Egyptian pantheons at some point or other, let's face it (tricky lot), and, of course, Loki. They were the ones who got the stories going, who triggered events and thought their way out, rather than those who fell victim to a villain and fought their way out.

Much to my delight, Joanne Harris takes this particular trait and amplifies it in The Gospel of Loki. She's added backstory and layers to a string of episodic myths, starting with the Norse creation myth and the rise of the gods, and formed a coherent arc from them. There are forces in the background pushing everything and everyone towards Ragnarok, the apocalypse described in the original sagas. But in the foreground, pretty much every individual episode is driven by Loki trying to get what he wants, whatever that currently is (excitement, revenge, power, acclaim, more revenge, more power), from the moment he sets foot in the world. The whole thing is narrated from Loki's point of view, though, in close first person, so while it's delightful to read a character with so much agency they drive the whole book on their own, we should probably add a pinch of salt when Loki takes the credit for every key event.

That being said, Loki makes for a wonderful narrator. We know he's biased from before the word go, since Harris includes a helpful cast list as part prologue, part teaser, and this is written in Loki's voice too, listing half the traditional Norse Gods as "Not a fan" of him, among less flattering descriptions. This sets the tone for the rest of the book. Everything gets filtered through Loki's sarcasm and utter disregard for the other gods. He's keenly aware of everybody's faults and eager to point them out, focusing on the petty side of the pantheon and casting most of the gods as little more than playground bullies with too much power. He admits his own flaws as well, albeit only to the reader, with a fleeting vulnerability precisely calculated to make us just that little bit more sympathetic to his view.

The comparisons with the current Marvel films version of Loki (praise be to Tom Hiddleston) are inevitable, but let's not forget that both of these modern, savvy, witty, anarchic, charming, frustrated, vengeful versions come from the same source material, so it's not surprising they're similar. Neither suffers from comparison to the other, though Harris's Loki is probably more immediately sympathetic to more people, since we spend 400 pages inside his head and know exactly why he does what he does.

Where Harris really impressed me, though, was in her worldbuilding. She combines classic Norse legends with additions of her own devising so well that aside from the stories I clearly remember and was pleased to spot, I couldn't differentiate everything with any certainty. I'm sure she's tricked me into thinking a couple of details in the book are from the original mythology when they're actually hers. I think this is a large part of what makes The Gospel of Loki so worthwhile - it's not just a retelling of myths you can find in a lot of other places. It's a story of its own, with enough new material (quite aside from the Loki spin on everything) to be fresh and fun even for people who know the original tales. If the overarching plot is too familiar for comfort to those versed in the myths, then the details (pet names for terrifying goddesses and demons, supposed etymologies of common words, catchy soundbites of sage advice from the Trickster himself) are enough to keep your attention.

I was also astonished at her treatment of the powers and magics of the gods and other races. In the myths, magic obeys whatever rules are necessary for the current story, and there is no particular clarity or continuity in most cases. Here, though, Harris has managed to clarify and codify the multitude of powers being flung around, and even conveys all of this to the reader without it becoming confusing or resorting to huge info-dumps to get the rules straight. As a reader, I found this a relaxing change from some of the heavier, determinedly intricate magic systems I've come across. As a writer, I'm determined to read this at least twice more and work out exactly how she did it. I particularly enjoyed the fun she clearly had with Loki's Aspects, which were handled so well as to make it look effortless.

What this boils down to is a vastly entertaining fantasy that thoroughly enjoys pointing out the ridiculous parts of mythology and manages to make you root for the Trickster all the way, however much you occasionally want to shake some sense into him. It definitely ticks the Charming Rogue box, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

It even has a pretty cover. What more could you ask for?

Tweet tweet

Twitter is an odd place, especially if you keep your account open instead of private. It gives you access to conversations between complete strangers, brought to your attention by people you do follow bringing the chat into your view, or through the triple perils: the flame spurts of the search box, the quicksand hashtags, or the trending topics of unusual size.

A lot of the time, as anyone will warn you, this leaves you open to trolls and hate-mongers and bullies and all kinds of weird and upsetting opinions, statements, links, arguments, pictures, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. You can stumble across it easily, people can stumble across you, and it can get unpleasant very easily.

And then you have the other side of it. I've seen people use Twitter for all sorts of good or just mundane things, from organising the next cinema trip to rehoming pets to fundraising for charity to finding missing belongings, animals, people...

Sometimes the random disconnected strangers turn out to be kind and generous. They make the effort to do better than just scraping by at the passive level of "Don't be a dick". They go one step further and actively do something nice.

I'm fortunate enough that most of the people I keep on my Twitter feed are like that. And it's helpful and reassuring to have friends who will step up and offer comfort and cheering-up and what help they can manage when things go pear-shaped, as they so often seem to.

What's surprising is when strangers do it too.

I can only assume that Joanne Harris was searching for mentions of The Gospel of Loki to see what people were saying, and stumbled across me citing it as the only positive thing in two days of squabbles and hurt and a rapid stacking up of bad, dark, unhappy things. She could easily have moved on to the next tweet with all squee and happy reviews.

Instead she paused, and took a moment to send a message, and be nice to a stranger. For no reason other than she could.

I ate today because of that. Because the kindness of friends is expected, and the kindness of strangers is surprising.

Gospel of Loki review tomorrow, perhaps. I kind of owe her now.

The geeks shall inherit the Earth

Today I made it round to see friends and help with a few chores again, which is always good, and even made it into town for another friend's birthday get-together. Since he's cool and clearly has good taste in people, I manged to get on well with the Doctor Who fans on my table, and we had a very pleasant geeky chat (they even bought my drink, wonderful sweet people that they were), while everybody attempted to eat ten little plates of sushi or assorted Japanese goodies. I tried the odd bit from other people's plates when they were getting too full to finish them, and am cautiously expanding my food tolerance to include some Japanese dishes now. Still not sushi, though. I like my fish battered and vinegared beyond all recognition, ta.

I wasn't eating, partly because when we left I went back to my friends' and had dinner there. They'd been torturing a gammon joint in a slow cooker and cider all day, and good grief it came out well. Practically fell apart when you tapped it with a fork. I may have to try slow cooker stuff at some point.

Obsessed with food, moi? Never.

Oh, and also, I clearly have the best friends, because after an outpouring of wails and lust on Twitter for a couple of t-shirts on sale a few weeks ago, I have been given both. Twice. Because my people are amazing. So now I have FOUR extra Loki t-shirts, bringing my total to six, so I shall never have to go without again. Fortunately for everyone, the two new Loki designs are so pretty I am absolutely sure I'll want to wear them a lot, so having duplicates is a very good thing; I do have a tendency to wear my best shirts to death, and it would be a very great shame to kill Loki off too soon. In a manner of speaking.

And I even managed to change my sheets and put away all the pots and pans in the kitchen, too.

Short stories abound

So certain members of my NaNoWriMo group have got into the habit of meeting up in an online chatroom every now and then for impromptu writing sessions. It's good fun, and definitely helps get stuff done. It also leads to extremely random conversations, tangents, and typos.

One such accident of fortuitous timing led to the phrase "Lavender and the Random Acolyte" popping up, which naturally we all agreed was clearly a short story title. So we're all writing one.

Therefore, shiny thing number one today: I got to read the first of these, from our glorious leader Claire (blogging over here). And blimey, it was good. Made me laugh a lot and want more stories with her main character. It may turn up on said blog soon, in which case I will gleefully link to it. I'm looking forward to the others now (and to getting round to mine, as soon as I'm done with Tick Tock of course).

Shiny thing number two: thanks to friends yesterday I have managed to circumvent the slight issue of my laptop no longer having a working disc drive, and have finally got my copies of the two different Avengers Assemble soundtracks onto my laptop and ipod. Whoot. Must do the same with Thor and Thor 2, and then I can have Loki music whenever I so choose. (Because everything is Loki.)

Shiny(ish) thing number three: I attempted to make something approaching a roast dinner today, since I had  a big joint of pork lying around. It went pretty well. Too much salt on the carrots and potatoes, but they were soft and perfect aside from that small problem, and it has meant I am now more hydrated than I have been in months... Also, Daisy (she of Migraine Memoirs) tried the crackling from the pork joint and declared it so good it may just be my hidden talent. Shame I don't like crackling, really.

Other random assorted shiny: it was sunny again, which I always enjoy (I like being warm), I remembered to collect the recipe card I promised to pick up for a friend, and I got the kitchen briefly clean before I started on the roast.

Ah well. All that and I still managed to break 3k with Tick Tock too. Progress is still slow, but getting there.

Inching forwards

Current writing status:

1 short story submitted, awaiting a response (Hanith)
1 short story in progress to be submitted by March 15 (Tick Tock)
Feedback trickling in for Dryden
Plotting/signing up to April's Camp NaNoWriMo for Dryden's sequel

It's a lot of hard work to remind myself that all those points up there actually count as progress. They do, honest. Really. But I get very frustrated with the inching part of inching forwards. Especially when Dryden was mostly finished in current form within the space of 30 days. The fact that three entire months, a quarter of a year, three times the length of time it took to write the thing in the first place, have now passed since then and I'm not really any further on at all grates like you wouldn't believe. Finishing the sucker was the big hurdle, supposedly. But the longer it takes, the less confident I feel in it. There's a very good reason I submitted Hanith ASAP - given enough time, I will learn to hate everything about something I've written and never let it see the light of day again.

I'd point you to all my unfinished fanfiction if I thought you needed proof, but that could be embarrassing for us all.

Anyway. Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Cabin fever. Et cetera.

Good stuff has been happening too, though. Mostly Loki-related. Because Loki is fun, in all forms.

Re: Marvel Loki, I have acquired the big display stand for Thor 2 DVDs from my nearest supermarket, so I have Anthony Hopkins or Tom Hiddleston squinting at me wherever I stand in my bedroom. It's very pretty and frees up my bookcase for actual books, so that's a win. Also, Loki-centric Marvel comics are most amusing.

Re: non-Marvel Loki, I was given a copy of Joanne Harris's The Gospel of Loki at the last local NaNoWriMo meetup. Read it the next day. I am simultaneously giddily in love and slightly worried that my infrequent ESP (Extra-Sensory Plagiarism) has struck again, because at the current time Dryden himself is very, very Loki-esque. Ah well, at least he's in good company.

I'd do a proper review of Gospel of Loki except that there are already dozens out there that all say exactly what I would: exceedingly good fun, delightfully narrated, pleasingly interweaving the classic myths with new material, and rounding off a lightly-explained magic system with consistent rules (which is hard work with old myths!). So yes. I enjoyed that a lot.

It's the little things that help, when the big things are trapped in limbo.