Before & After & Inbetween

snowflake_challenge #7: Promote/Rec/Sing the Praises of Yourself!

This one is tough, because it goes against the grain for me and I consider most of the points I'd put in to be already covered in challenge #1 (who'd post an introduction to themselves without covering their strong points?) and challenge #2. So instead of repeating the things I already said there, I'd like to add to them:

• I finish my stories / plots, even if it takes years, even if the fandom evaporated while I was writing.
  
• I like to read my own stories, so I polish and tweak them until nothing that (may) irk me is left.
  
• I love to write complex in-character plots that I back up with as much research as necessary.

And since the rec of a writer won't be complete without a slather of works, here are AO3 links for at least one from each fandom I write/wrote in:

1. CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon / X/1999:
   Under Construction
   Summary: Survivors who had learned not to mind that each called somebody else's name in orgasm.
   A story without my usual cast of characters and one of the few that aren't part of the Decagram series, and
   By Unusual Means
   Summary: a story starring Sakurazuka Seishiro and the flu.
   Also not part of Decagram. ;)
   
   
2. Lindsay Buroker's The Emperor's Edge:
   The Dark Side of Fame, The Light Side of Infamity
   Summary: An upcoming novel release, monthly cramps, and a fallen childhood hero tumbling the group into turmoil.
   Bodice Ripper publishing in the Empire. ;)
   
   
3. Adentures of the Galaxy Rangers:
   Cat-Suit
   Summary: Goose's scouting mission to Tortuna goes decidedly wrong. His method of escape has some serious side-effects, though..., and
   Raumjäger
   Summary: "All this began two days before yesterday, or thirty-two thousand years ago, or 1933, or... I don't know when. I'm not sure I'm the one who can tell you. I'm no soldier, no historian or archeologist, and I have serious issues with this. I wish I..."
   Probably the riskiest plot I ever wrote for GR - at least for a German author.

I spent the last two weeks - when I was too scatterbrained to work on the Decagram, that is - with watching a very delightful donghua series called "The Founder of Diabolism", which is based on a BL novel and there also exists a live action drama series ("The Untamed") of the material. However, I very much prefer the animated donghua version - not only because of its gorgeous, almost calligraphic animation art that lends a lot to plot and referenced concepts of taoism and buddhism. In addition, there are strong elements of xianxia (fighting style, swords) and folklore (giant snakes, snake-turtle hybrids, spirits, ghosts, spells...) All somewhat familiar & absolute intriguing given my research on Yue's origin in the Decagram. ;)

In short: without giving a summary related to characters and plot (because (a) I don't want to spoil you and (b) I suck at summaries) - it's highly recommended, with my only qualm being that season 2 hang us up on an arm (thus ended on a rather fierce cliffhanger for me), and Tencent has yet to name the release date for season 3 (rumored to be in 2020; but may be later, given that there's also going to be a related animation movie coming).

If you are interested, here's my Youtube playlist for it: MoDaoZuShi-Playlist.
There are subtitles given in a couple of languages, and the English ones are fine (of course I can't vouch for accuracy of translation, but they didn't feel/read jarring when watching. Given that I usually dislike zombies, for me it was a plus that the term wasn't used descriptively, even though it technically would have fit in English.)

(Android) App recommendation: Link Bubble.
Finally a browser for the smartphone that takes the specific situation of "surfing on the go" with -at least temporarily- slow data connections into account! Highly recommended. Made even living on the Edge net in some areas bearable!
It doesn't load faster, but you can continue your tasks in the meantime, while the browser hides itself behind a small floating icon similar to Facebook's chatheads. Overall, very, very useful!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkbubble.playstore

OS-independent full system backup / disk image solution as a live cd with a graphical interface under the open source GPL license. Really easy to use, straight forward, to the point that I'd recommend it to my mother (if she spoke English, that is). There are a lot of other disk image solutions out there. However, most of them are limited to either one OS and/or are expensive. For creating an emergency backup (for example, when planning to upgrade your OS or trying something you aren't sure will work) this worked great for me with Win 7 and Linux systems.
http://redobackup.org/

Just a short heads-up.

For the last two days, I've been working on finding a solution for the last 9 words (or 1 sentence, if you want to have it in plain fatalistic cruelty) in Family Matters that don't do what they're supposed to do, yet.
An idea about how to solve it manifested itself this morning. If my beta gets back to me on time (and it really works), Family Matters (final) may still see the web today, otherwise next try next week(end).

In the meantime (and if you are curious about what I write when I'm not in "fan mode"), feel free to stalk me on G+. At least The (unauthorized) biography of a laserphoton is suitable for all ages (and education classes). :)

Completing your doctorate is good for your career, but sadly not so much for your shape. To correct the physical result of my degree, I started doing body weight exercises regularly since last summer (thirty minutes on four days a week). By now I can sum up the results:

on the plus side:

1. my scale shows approx. 10 kg less (yay!)
2. I can run up the stairs up to the 3rd floor without getting out of breath (never could that before, so - wow!)
3. I actually manage pull-ups instead of "hanging limp like a dead pig"s (double-wow!)
4. my back aches are gone
5. my knee aches are gone (and I haven't stumbled or lost my balance anytime since last Autumn)
6. I've got a posture that (a) tempted my physician to compliments and (b) gets people in the supermarket to stay the step back required not to bump into me, my bags, or the produce I'm examining without me having to growl (wow-yay-finally!)

on the down side:

1. I learned that sore muscles can hurt like hell even when you don't move!
2. because my upper body circumference changed, I have to replace my blouses a size larger (whine for the money)
3. because waist and thigh circumferences changed, I have to replace my trousers a size smaller (whine for the money)
4. I have yet to find the courage to try on the (expensive) graduation suit and see if a good tailor can salvage it!

Overall, a thumbs up. I've finally found exercises that (a) work, (b) require a manageable amount of time, and (c) don't bore me to death. I'm going to continue them. Next target: consecutive pull-ups instead of single ones.

In case anybody wondered about the appalling lack of progress updates on the editing of Family Matters (and other things here):

I got the chance to apply for research funds with a deadline of today. I was told in the first week of April.
Normally you have three months to come up with a project script, get the cooperation partners on board, write a sparkling "that will be the coolest research of world with amazing results almost guaranteed!" proposal, and get the required signatures across the board for it.
I got three weeks.
I succeeded in meeting the deadline.

And now I'm crawling back out of scientific writing mode in overdrive to blink into the world of story and fandom, trying to find my bearings. I'm going to spend this weekend mostly reading "Conspiracy", the fourth book of Lindsay Buroker's amazing steampunk series The Emperor's Edge (which was published while I was just starting on the proposal (and had me seriously whine for 30 minutes I didn't have, because there was no chance of reading it THERE AND THEN)). Afterwards, it's back to TBX and Family Matters and Subaru's adventures in Imonoyama-san's bathroom...
...stay tuned!

Assassin's Curse is a tough, short-paced short story adventure of the center pair of Lindsay Buroker's captivating The Emperor's Edge novel series. Fans of the series, especially A+S shippers, would not want to miss it! At least, I for sure loved every minute of reading it. :-)

Then why only 4 of 5 stars?
It's because Assassin's Curse suffers from a typical "established series in between short story illness": the indecision of whether to include all the details necessary for freshly visiting readers or to accept that it is an inbetween story catering to established fans and leave out the established background where it doesn't connect to the actual plot.
The result of this indecision are "info dumps" esp. in the first part of the story that are not enough for new readers to appreciate the characters (and their treats & quirks), while tempting an established fan to jump a few lines. Interestingly, the later part of the story doesn't suffer from this. Background details here (the supposed lineage of the current emperor, for example) are used skillfully as plot device and are also expanded to greater depth. Lovely so, I may add.

So much about style, but what about content?
It's not even 12.000 words, read yourself!
No really, I don't want to summarize a short story. It would give too much away imho. However, since only two of the five main characters star in this, I think it might be nice to have the other three say their thoughts about the events:

"Following heavily armed thieves onto a cursed island is not prudent." ~ Books.

"There's something wrong with a man, when it takes a shot to the back to make him hug a beautiful woman." ~ Maldynado.

"Whatever." ~Akstyr.

~~~

You can find Assassin's Curse here on Smashwords for example.

A lot of people make a to-do-list for the seasonal event (vulgo: Xmas). Since I'm a contrary person, I find an undone (and remaining undone) list more useful.

1. season greetings cards
   
   If you ever got cards from me, you know that they either come way too early or way too late. Well, this year the whole card business slipped my mind completely until Dec 13. A quick calculation revealed that the majority of people to whom I send cards would get the card around end of December (if I don't pay express, which is a ridiculous amount of money considering that it's a folded piece of cardboard we're talking about). So instead of rushing off and sending cards late even for me, I decided to admit failure and put the cards on the undone list. Sorry, hopefully next year will be more organized on my end. I love getting christmas cards and deciding about funny ones to send to my friends, but this December... no chance.


2. write a book review about Brent Weeks' Night Angel and Lightbringer trilogies
   
   The two trilogies are a great example of how much depends on the reader in terms of "liking". Get me right, both series (okay, Lightbringer is only at book 1, but I'm already haunting sites and stores to learn about the sequel, because there's really no chance to tell who will turn out to be the villain(eous person) in the end!) have great world building and Mr. Weeks manages perfectly to draw his characters lifelike, as in giving them not only gifts and flaws, but also quirks and habits which are sometimes helpful, sometimes detrimental to their tasks (and daily life). But where Lightbringer's characters had quirks that made them endearing (or at least interestingly real) to me, Night Angel's managed to hit all the "no, thanks, get lost" spots at once. It's a fascinating contrast I would love to explore in an extended review, but frankly, whenever I sit down I get distracted somewhat fierce. I don't want to spend more time sitting in front of the keyboard thinking of... something else. Project closed. Moving on. (Pity, though...)
   


3. finishing this list

Deadly Games is the third book in Lindsay Buroker's marvelous steampunk series The Emperor's Edge and quite frankly, I found it very, very difficult to write a review for this book without repeating everything I said about The Emperor's Edge in my previous review.
It's as fast paced, as character driven with dry wit and humor as the other installments of the series, and - at least for me - even more gripping than the previous Dark Current (though that might be partially due to road stories not being my preferred brand of tea and the fact that the character developments from the previous books come to -partial, mind you!- fruition here (no, I will *not* tell you, how. Read for yourself!).

Forced to also mention the downsides, I can list only two:
First, the book is too short (its 110100+ words were over much too fast), and
Second, it ends on a cliffhanger (no, two cliffhangers actually: there's the emperor's note and the labyrinthine developments!) that makes me itch for what comes next. I truly hope we don't have to wait too long for Empire Edge's continuation.

Deadly Games is available as ebook via Smashwords and Amazon.

[crossposted to Books]