When a man's an empty kettle he should be on his mettle, and yet I'm torn apart--

August 2, 2009 Progress Notes:

Saturnalia

Words today: 800.
Words total: 5700.
Reason for stopping: I need to figure out what it is that Kaira's mumbling about in her sleep that's so important. If it's to be so important and all.

Darling du Jour: The screaming in the alley tapered away. A man's voice, two, flickered on like lit cigarettes.

Things Yet to Cough Up Their Names: Some club two levels up; its owner, who apparently owes Zeke precisely two favours; the band name Zeke and Gregory have been gigging under.
Mean Things: I'm pretty sure someone just got raped and killed two stories down. Fresh bodies in the alley tomorrow morning! Guess we're leaving through the back door!

Books in progress: China Mieville, The City and the City.
The glamour: Took a bunch of stuff off the to-do list today, cooking and some crits and some cleaning and the like. I think I need to crit more people who aren't my friends of many years. Doing it outside of our own shorthand takes thinking these days.

Also, redyed my hair this afternoon. The streaks are back to brilliant deep blue; they'd been going turquoise and white at the ends. And this time, it's really noticeable how the rest of my head goes about four shades darker. If I'd been thinking, I'd have done some before and after pictures for you.

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Because I love you and I want you to be happy, here is Greg Dulli vamping blues-style on "If I Only Had a Heart". With flirty hand gestures and a lit cigarette.

I have never understood until now why people find Greg hot. But...yo. This makes me want to wear off-the-shoulder dresses with matching black widow hats and write hard-boiled 1920s murder mysteries in fountain pen ink while the rain hisses down on the city streets. Or be 1920s murder mysteries. Either way.

You're welcome. *g*

Pause for station identification.

I am still chopping away at my To Do List, with breaks to freak out about how unprepared I am to go to Montreal on Thursday morning. It's all good here in the Casa. :p

This means scraping the inbox again, and that means logging more reviews.

In the Clockwork Phoenix 2 corner we have dueling reviews at SF Site, one (mostly positive) from Amal El-Mohtar (tithenai and one (mostly negative) from Mario Guslandi. The second doesn't specifically mention "Six", but tithenai's says:

Following smoothly from representations of friendship to representations of family, Leah Bobet's "Six" is the deeply affecting story of a sixth son in a household where the seventh is most valued:

"Six's name is really Charlie, but he's the devil's boy right through, and they've been calling him by the devil's number since he was old enough to walk. Sixth son of a seventh son: 'you're bad news,' the brothers' wives tell him..."

It's an excellent piece, beautifully voiced and crafted to lodge uncomfortably in your ribs.

"Parable of the Shower" is still inexplicably making its way around the internet, and has a rec from kunenk, who I know not.

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I do not know what I'm going to 1) wear or 2) read at Worldcon.

Back to work and freaking out!