Broadband

Awesome. Last night, after only a little outside assistance, I got myself hooked up to broadband.

Will probably never leave the internet now :-)

Increasingly Amusing Tales of Car Ownership - Chapter 7

The story so far:
Chapter 1: Astra vs. Bus (not detailed)
Chapter 2: His motor
Chapter 3: Only one calamity to go
Chapter 4: Only one wing mirror to go
Chapter 5: Linkage
Chapter 6: M.O.T.

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Chapter 7: Flu

You know when you were young there was a really sickly child, who always had some kind of ailment or another? Always had a runny nose and a cough and difficulty breathing during PE? Got picked on a lot?

My car is that child.

Ailment of the week is a knackered head gasket, which was causing oil and coolant to mix with hilarious consequences.

Review - Dresden Files 1

The Dresden Files: 1. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Easy to read fluff. Better than most mystery/cross-over novels I've read, but then most have been cliché-filled crap. There is still some cliché here, but thankfully the magic system is well thought out, and the aside from the odd hole, it's well plotted and paced.

Average. I'm not desperate to read the rest of the series, but then I shan't shy from picking one up if I have nothing else to read.

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50 book challenge 2006:

1 - 10
11 = The Dresden Files: 1. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Next = The Malazan Book of the Fallen: 4. House of Chains by Steven Erikson

Houseshare - Chicken

Dude, you have herpes on your face!

South Park, 'Chicken Pox'

Mardy has got shingles. I was worried that I might be responsible. My young cousin (number 3, for those who care) has chicken pox at the moment, and though I didn't come into direct contact with him or his father I did come into contact with people who had.

But it turns out, that you can't catch it. It's just a re-emergence of the chicken pox virus that lies dormant in anyone who has contracted chicken pox in the past.

Usually the cause is a decrease in your body's natural resistance, which may come through other infections, stress, being generally run down, or occasionally, when the body's immune defences are affected by certain drugs or other immune deficiencies.

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/shingles.html

Well, that certainly seems to fit. Looks like it's self-inflicted :-)

50 book challenge 2006 - Books 1 to 10

1 = The Soldier's Son Trilogy: 1. Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb [review]
2 = The Wheel of Time: 11. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan [review]
3 = Conclave of the Shadows: 3. Exile's Return by Raymond E Fiest [review]
4 = The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman [review]
5 = A Song of Ice and Fire: 4. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin [review]
6 = Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz [review]
7 = Troy: 1. Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell [review]
8 = The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman [review]
9 = A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter [review]
10 = The Shipping News by Annie Proulx [review]

Review - Shipping News

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Omit needless words.

-- Strunk and White, Elements of Style
Elementary Principles of Composition, 13

Annie Proulx has obviously read this and decided that 'and' and 'was' are needless words. Be under no illusion; this is hard work. Send your internal editor away and, for God's sake, don't go anywhere near this with a red pen.

Stick with it though. It's a good story, and there are some real gems in there.

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50 book challenge 2006:

1 = The Soldier's Son Trilogy: 1. Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb [review]
2 = The Wheel of Time: 11. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan [review]
3 = Conclave of the Shadows: 3. Exile's Return by Raymond E Fiest [review]
4 = The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman [review]
5 = A Song of Ice and Fire: 4. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin [review]
6 = Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz [review]
7 = Troy: 1. Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell [review]
8 = The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman [review]
9 = A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter [review]
10 = The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Next = The Dresden Files: 1. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Going west

Going west this weekend to torment the animals and tell my dad and step-mother of my latest publication[1]. I don't have anything planned beyond editing the novel [livejournal], but it was a quiet weekend[2] in the Concrete Kingdom. I think I'll go mad if I have to spend too many consecutive weekends in that house.

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[1] Assuming, of course, that my publicist hasn't already told them about it. Last time they knew before I did.
[2] For 'quiet weekend', read 'Six Nations break weekend'.

Curiosity - Publication

My story, Curiosity, appears in this month's issue of The Harrow (March 2006). Head on over and check it out, if it please ya.

This is my second publication, and the first that I've received payment for.

(cross-posted to Like Zombie Ballet)