Monday, September 22, 2008

Let's kick some alien butt!

Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

I loved last year's Grimspace with the very strong female heroine and was thrilled to have a new one to enjoy this weekend. I didn't like this one quite as well since it ended rather darker than I enjoy, but I can't wait until the next one - I checked, it's due out April of next year!
Sirantha Jax was busted out of prison by March, a former mercenary, in the first book. Now she's being offered the role of ambassador to an alien world and someone wants her to fail! Her ex-husband had her declared dead so he could wipe out her bank account so with no money and not really being needed as a "jumper", the person to guide a starship through grimspace, she decides to accept. Of course, things don't go well and soon she has more people depending on her. She will encounter flesh eating aliens, nasty Mafia types with their teeth into her mother, a colonial world in the middle of a civil war and more nasty humans. What next?

!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Thing #6 & #7

The technology thing I need to address is - don't hit the tab button after putting in the title of one's post because all you end up positing is the title!
Having worked in libraries for the past 37.5 years (but who's counting?) I know that technology is here to stay. This course we are currently on has me feeling better about my lack of knowledge and expertise is several areas. I'm not going to become as good as any of the PSAs or even the grade schoolers these days, but I can get my job done a bit better. I worry that people think we are only about computers; then I run into a student who says "No, I can't use one of your databases for my report because my teacher doesn't want more than one thing from the internet." No matter how often I explain that it's not the internet but information from books, they won't believe me. Then there are the ones who only want the internet and not books!
Now if I can only learn how to program my cell phone!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Fiona Rose


Fiona Rose, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Please note that she has THREE balls. One must always accompany her outside, in case someone wishes to throw it for her.

work in progress


work in progress, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Pink pearls


Pink pearls, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Ornament tree


Ornament tree, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Ornament tree


Ornament tree, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Easter eggs


Easter eggs, originally uploaded by arfie57.

I can't eat while I bead!

My peyote work


My peyote work, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Peyote ornaments


Peyote ornaments, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Another view.

My peyote ornaments


IMG_0680, originally uploaded by arfie57.

Four of the ornaments I've finished so far.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Werewolves R Us

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Of course, now that I've read this book, I discover that the set-up or start to the story is actually in an anthology On the Prowl. I just keep adding more titles to my "need to read" list. This is set in the same universe as Briggs' Mercy Thompson series which I have read and enjoyed.
Anna is a relatively new werewolf from Chicago. She has been kept subservient and brutalized by the Chicago pack until Bran, the Morrok, chief werewolf in the States, sends his son, Charles, to deal with this bad pack. Charles recognizes Anna as a rare type of werewolf, an Omega. This means she has the ability to calm a pack. When Charles returns to Montana, he takes Anna with him as his mate.
Unfortunately, there is a rogue wolf killing in the surrounding mountains and it will be up to Charles, who is still healing from being shot with silver bullets, and Anna, who doesn't know the mountains, to find and bring this rogue back to the pack.
There is some satisfactory romance and a really different take on werewolves and their world. I don't know if I enjoyed this one as much as the Mercy Thompson series but perhaps if I'd read the short story first it would have helped.
Paperback 2008
Sharon 9/18/08

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Book Review

Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris

A new mystery series, this one entitled “Dirty Business” about a female, 30-something master gardener who has gotten out of television documentaries to have her own gardening business in Springfield, Connecticut, a bedroom community of New York City.
Paula has stopped by Babe’s coffee shop one morning when Babe tells her she should apply for the job of resurrecting the old Peacock mansion gardens. The last of the old ladies has died and the Springfield Historical Society has been bequeathed the house and grounds. The gardens were once spectacular and Paula is offering to make them memorable again. That’s before she’s given the job and finds the corpse of a baby in the first flower bed she starts digging into.

Soon the police are there and her work is put off for a bit. The policeman in charge is a little pudgy but he can trade her quip for quip and this gets her attention. Then there is the sexy Hispanic male who comes to help her gardening crew and eventually reveals that he’s really a wealthy man who has come north for other reasons and doesn’t need to work but he likes her so he works for her.

Paula is stalked and nearly killed but triumphs in the end and will be back for another thrill next year. (I’ve seen the list from the publisher)

Mystery 2008
Sharon 9/09/08

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Here's what's really new

I apparently don't know how to do this very well - as is obvious from my first post - but I'm going to try again - later!

Here's what's new

What's new? I'm obviously still learning - but that's the point isn't it?