Yet Another Book Quote

This one courtesy of Paperback Writer's Plague of Memory:

... I saw ChoVa waiting at the landing pad, her head bound with a thick bandage.

PyrsVar walked between me and Reever, and scowled when he saw the Hsktskt physician. "She does not look pleased."

"You shot her in the head and killed her ruler, " I reminded him. "She is entitled to be displeased."

Reever and TssVar went to speak with the Akade's personal guard. ChoVa ignored [PyrsVar] as she greeted us.

"I was able to obtain several partial cadavers from the Hanar's Palace," she told me, glaring briefly at PrysVar. "We must begin the autopsies immediately."

"I have a sample of what is causing the plague." I took the container of bone dust from my case and passed it to her. "It is a form of natural hallucinogen that stirs primal memory in your species. The plague is not viral or bacterial. It is drug-induced."

"If this is so, why did this substance not show up on our scans?" she demanded.

"That we will determine once we test PyrsVar," I said, gesturing to the war master. "He was exposed to a large amount of dust only a few hours ago."

"Excellent." ChoVa bared her teeth. "Will you kill him before I being dissecting him, or will you allow me that small pleasure?"

Maggie whistled. "Oooh, she's still a little pissed off."

PyrsVar's dark brows elevated. "I only shot you in the head. I could have killed you easily. You should be grateful to me."

ChoVa made an ugly sound.

"PyrsVar? Shut up." I turned to the Hsktskt female. "We need him alive and responsive so that we can test neutralizing agents."

"I will not mutilate him," ChoVa said. "Badly."

"You can try." He showed her his own pointed teeth.

Snerk, snerk, and again I sayeth snerk.

S.L. Viehl, aka Lynn Viehl is a gifted author and I enjoy her work immensely. If you're interested, check out her blog and you can find her backlist. In addition, in her sidebar she has a list of freebies you can access, including a novel-length spy/supernatural thriller I love called Night of the Chameleon.

For her mass market published novels, I strongly recommed starting with Stardoc, from which series this excerpt is taken.

Chantix

Whine, whine... the good news is that at least I'm self aware about my whining as well as my ability to quit smoking without a bit more assistance.

I went to my GP today, who is also conveniently my husband's GP. After he nearly threw his back out doing the happy dance because Himself and I are serious about quitting smoking, the Very Nice M.D. wrote us both prescriptions for Chantix.

Actually, he did the prescriptions on this little PDA which fired them directly off to our pharmacy. Cool, huh? So, Chantix, here we come!

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In other news, Angel has posted pictures of the two of us from the HP7 release. The first one, she looks great. I'm grinning so widely though that my cheeks are trying to cover up my eyes and I appear to have developed some weird side-dimples.

On the plus side, as Angel pointed out, it's a good shot of the rack. Magazine rack, of course, is what I mean.

The third picture shows off my nice yellow nicotine-stained teeth. I think I'll use that for motivation in addition to my other stuff.

But we had a blast at the release, and hopefully I'll get my pictures off my camera someday so I can post a few of my own. Those of you who've been waiting for more of my vacation pictures know how long that can take...

This Comment NOT Spoiler-Free

This is a spoiler warning. Not here on the main page, but I warned about possible spoilage in the comments (see below). First comments contain possible spoilers. DO NOT CLICK on comments if you don't want to be spoiled!

Quote from HP 7

I'm really trying to be good about no spoilers, so see the first comment if you want to see the quote. I don't *think* it's a spoiler, but I do want to be careful in case anyone feels it is...

More Potter, Still No Spoilers

No, I'm not going to do spoilers on this book.

On that topic, I can understand why so many people wanted to know what was going to happen in Book Seven. I can understand why copies of it started to appear on the web. What annoys me to no end is that people were then posting those spoilers to the Harry Potter for Grown Ups (HPfGU) Yahoo! Group and other places where those who, maybe, perhaps, didn't want freaking spoilers could be startled by them.

I admit, I'm a sucker for turning to the back of a book -- and no, I haven't done it yet -- but that's MY choice. When an individual opts to deliberately post the outcome of a book on a public group with a deceptively innocent topic, though, that's just plain mean. The HPfGU list had to close early due to that type of posting; I'm glad they had the foresight to do so and thank the List Elves for taking the burden upon themselves to moderate and make that determination.

And regardless of whether or not my readers give a rat's ass about Harry Potter, I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the book in the main topics at this time. I might do a post where the comments permit spoilers (since I can't do a "cut" to save my life) but seriously... spoilage reeks, in more ways than one.

That said...

Oh dude, this book rocks so far. I'm at page 389, and it's totally making up for the misery that was Book 6. And as long as JKR lets Ron, Hermione and Harry live (and the Weasleys because, well... just because), I'll be totally happy.

Of course, I might be happy regardless of how she ends it. It all depends on how it comes out in the wash, so to speak.

Back to reading again. Yes, I'm blogging about reading. I'm a nerd -- y'all already knew that. ;)

HP 7... GACK! (no spoilers)

I now have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in my greedy grasp, and am on page 132.

Very interesting. I'm yelling at JKR due to certain things in the book thus far, but... very interesting.

AND... I haven't skipped to the end to see how it turns out, which is somewhat amazing for me. Here's hoping I can continue on and be surprised.

Jut a thought... don't read the chapter titles, and don't read the opening quotations. Just start at Chapter One.

And Chapter Two is really quite cool.

Angel and I had a great time at the release. We both had our elder children with us, and her brother-in-law also came along and laughed his ass off at the two of us together.

A video was filmed of both of us babbling. I have suspicions it will be aired. Be warned, I scratch my face at one point and near the end it's totally obvious I'm chewing gum.

Okay, that's all. Back to reading.

Potter-Mania

Angel and I will be meeting up tomorrow night at our local Books-A-Million's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release party.

Yes, we're 37 and we're totally into this. Angel mentioned something about finding her wizard hat. Me? Eh, my crazy hat is Christmas-oriented, but if pushed I'm sure I can find something suitably embarassing as my eight-year-old is accompanying me.

I'm over halfway through my re-read of Half Blood Prince now. I may or may not finish it before tomorrow night's release. Not sure if I'll go back and finish it first or just hang it all and dive into Book 7.

Probably the latter. Heh.

Anyway, a report will be issued following the event. There will be a camera present (mine) and I intend on photographing the madness.

And if Angel agrees, I might even get a pic of the two of us goofs at the shindig. Shoot, if suitably inspired I might even blog the insanity via laptop.

We'll see.

:Cackle:

Revised Miranda Warning

From Kim Harrison's For a Few Demons More:

You have the right to remain silent, but I doubt you will. You have the right to an attorney, which I imagine [your assistant] will be calling soon. If you can't afford one, hell has frozen over and I'm the princess of Oz, but in that case, one will be appointed to you. You understand your rights that the entire congregation of Cincy's finest has heard me recite?

God, if only our fine brothers and sisters in blue (or grey, or green, or brown) could use that on the job!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

WARNING! Do not read this post if you haven't read all the previous HP books and don't want to be spoiled!
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Okay, everyone on board then? Good. Anyway...

I bought my copy of HP Book 7 (well, a voucher, but the book is paid for) about three months ago. Since that time I've been trying and trying to make myself re-read Book 6, Half Blood Prince.

I've read the previous five Harry Potter books over and over, with a bit less emphasis on Book 5, Order of the Phoenix just because I was so utterly PISSED that JKR killed off Sirius. I mean, kid loses his parents, lives with the loser Dursleys (who do seriously bring the funny, though), then finally things start looking up. He gets to go to an incredible school, makes great friends, and then finds his god-father. Harry has a good life (at least during the school year).

Then JKR screws up Hogwarts during OOP with Delores Umbridge, which was bad enough, but she freaking killed off Harry's god-father? The HELL?

So yeah, Book 5 pissed me off a bit. But not so much that I wasn't standing in Books-a-Million at midnight for the release of Book 6.

Which ended up being a HUGE downer. Dumbledore's dead, Snape seems like he actually really is a bad guy... ugh. So yeah, I'm having a bit of trouble putting myself through that again. I tried to re-read it after the first read-through (I usually do this with all HP books -- I'm a nut, I know), and just couldn't manage it. It was depressing, the pace dragged, and knowing how it ended I couldn't make myself do it again.

Here's hoping I can manage it now because I do tend to need a bit of a refresher on the HP "canon" prior to the release of the next novel. Besides, this isn't going to happen again. And yes, it's dorktastic, but I'm excited about the release of Book 7 even after the disappointment of Book 6.

I'm feeling some trepidation as well.

But I'll be there next weekend at Books-a-Million. At midnight. And I'll rush home and dive into the book until I fall asleep from exhaustion. And if JKR kills off Ron and/or Hermione (don't get me started on her killing off Harry or even all three), I might build a fireplace just so I'll have somewhere to burn my newly-found ridiculously priced kindling.

Book Slut

Yep, that'd be me.

I have my hands on Mary Janice Davidson's latest, Undead and Uneasy. This particular segment has me in stitches:

[Tina] "Until I return, do not answer the door. You will not try to contact anyone who has gone missing. You will not answer the phone unless the caller ID tells you it is me." Her subservient tone was long gone; this was a general thinking fast and issuing orders. "Your Majesty, you you understand me"

[Betsy] "Uh, sure. Simmer."

"I will simmer, " she hissed [note from AJ: Betsy points out that Tina is an Elizabethan Lady, who simply Does Not Curse, slightly before this], "when I get a few heads on sticks. And the devil pity the rat fuck who gets in my way."

"Yeesh."

"Heads. On. Sticks."

"I got it the first time."

On that happy note, she hung up.

Again, snerk.

Quote

I'm reading a new book, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, and this passage tickled me. It's a bit long for a subtitle, but I really needed to share it somewhere and my husband just doesn't have my taste in "literature", so my blog is going to have to be the venue:

...[Mare] didn't mind kicking a guy around, but she drew the line at screwing up her Corpse Bride dress.

"For the last time," she said, shoving her veil back into place so she could see him better. "You're an evil minion. You do not get the girl, you do not get laid, you do not get anything but humiliated." She shook her head at him, splayed on the concrete floor, covered in orange goo and white pellets. "Why anybody ever applies for the evil minion job is beyond me. Didn't you see this coming?"

"I'm a vice president," he said from the floor, outraged.

"You're a minion," she snapped. "You might as well have a target painted on your forehead."

Hee! I'm still giggling. Reminds me a bit of the Evil Overlord list.

My nerd factor is high. What can I say?

Edited to add:

I guess the Evil Overlord allusion was deliberate:

[Mare]
"I can't talk now. Xan has grabbed Danny and Elric for some kind of Evil Overlord plan and we have to turn her into a geranium."

Snerk.

Blog Stuff

I've changed my subtitle again. Adam and Jamie of Mythbusters (from whence cometh the quote) kick all kinds of ass. This might be something I do on a regular basis. The subtitle thing, that is, not the ass-kicking. Not sure yet -- recently a couple of quotes have tickled my fancy, so I've used them. I can't guarantee when the next quote will rock my world. I'm keeping a running list of the subtitles and the acknowledgements for same at the bottom of my sidebar, though, just for grins.

Also I've added Library Thing's Random Books from My Library to my sidebar. I haven't put every book in there yet (there are WAY too many for me to be even close to complete), but I figure I'll work on it when I get the urge. I keep reloading the page trying to get John Scalzi's books to show up, but no dice yet.

It's heavy on paranormal fiction/romance and fantasy/sci-fi, as well as just garden-variety romance (mostly La Nora at this point). Some kids/young adult stuff is also in there like L. M. Montgomery, Edward Eager, and J. K. Rowling.

Yes, I've read and do own every book I've listed, as well as hundreds more. We'll see how long it takes to get a more complete catalogue.

Speaking of reading, I think I'll do a bit of that now. G'nite, blogoverse.

Paperback Writer: Beloveds

One of my favorite authors, PBW, known on Blogger/ Blogspot as Pbackwriter, aka S. L. Viehl, aka Lynn Viehl, aka Sheila Kelly, aka more pseudonyms, posted this: Paperback Writer: Beloveds. If you don't want to read her post, the extreme abridged version is what are the books that go even beyond favorites that you will re-read and re-read over and over again, and why?

For me, that's a hard question to some degree, as any book I enjoy tends to stay in my library, to be re-read ad infinitum. But I do have a few that transcend even that status to become Beloveds:

-All of the Little House books.
-C. S. Lewis's Narnia series.
-Anything by Edward Eager, although my ultimate favorites are Knights' Castle and The Time Garden.
-Anything I could find by E. (Edith) Nesbit (Bland). Yes, Edith Bland, who recreated herself into E. Nesbit. And it's entirely Edward Eager's fault, too, LOL.
-Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle series, and all others of her books that have some crossover, although my favorite is A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
-The first three of the Harry Potter books. Love the later ones as well, but they're darker and intrude on the innocence I like to pretend I still have, in some measure (do NOT laugh!).
-Johanna Lindsey's futuristic Warrior series (with the kystrals? And the UberBarbarians? Come on, tell me you don't remember it). Dang, that rocks! Cool trilogy.
-S. L. Viehl's Stardoc books and all others in that universe, but especially Stardoc itself. Because seriously, that book was like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Star Trek, and The Fugitive, all rolled up into one. And she's awesome. And I'm such a silly fangirl of this series. Oish. Okay, carrying on...
-Diana Gabaldon's books. Yes, all of them.
-Jean Auel's Earth's Children books, although I think my favorite of all these is The Mammoth Hunters.
-L. M. Montgomery's Anne and Emily books. And, frankly, everything else she wrote, because she brought the era and heartaches of my great-grandmother's and grandmother's lives to life for me. Some days I'm not so sure how I should feel about her, but love is the overriding factor, especially as, in spite of Ms. Montgomery's personal experiences, I still retreat to her books to experience what, to me, feels like a more innocent and straight-forward POV.

Do with that what you will.