I have a story in it: each of us was to choose a famous sword and write a short story based on it. Mine was Hrunting, from the Beowulf epic.
I think it’s a pretty darned good story.
Now orderable—Book of Swords, Gardner Dozois, editor.
by CJ | Sep 14, 2017 | Journal | 12 comments
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Soþlîce! Oh, it’s been so long since I read an excerpt from Beowulf in my Survey of English Lit. I course back in college. — Methinks ’tis time to get a copy of it along with The Book of Swords as mentioned. — And I may want to reread your short tale in, I think it was titled Sword and Magic, which was an anthology a few years back. Although I don’t recall the title, the story involved a magician’s apprentice, being a kid with a rather runny nose. Heh. I’d enjoyed the other stories in that anthology, which had quite a lot of takes on the fantasy genre. I have a weakness for short stories. Although I tend to like SF more, and your mix of hard and socio/anthropological SF best, I like a good fantasy story from time to time, when it’s believable / realistic / when I can suspend my disbelief and enjoy the fantastic / supernatural / magical elements without feeling kicked out of the story-realm. I grew up loving Andre Norton’s mix of telepathy and some fantasy elements in her SF, right along with Heinlein’s “juveniles” and various other SF at the time, and of course, Tolkien. It’s funny, I tend to forget or discount my liking for fantasy stories in favor of SF. I don’t know why..This also reminds me I have one of Patty Briggs’s Mercy Thompson books unfinished, left so long I’ll need to start at the beginning and work forward. … And I’d promised myself to reread the Canterbury Tales, because. 🙂 — So I’m off to get The Book of Swords from Amazon, and check if I have the others on Kindle.
—–
Since the Saturday before last, I’ve been working on a new font idea. Yesterday, I took a wrong turn with it. Today, I found that just wasn’t doing it for me, when my hand sketches went back to the original treatment. So I get to undo yesterday’s and today’s work (dang, wish I’d saved the prior draft before the round of changes) and then carry it forward. But sketching by hand again, plus a few adjustments today, have shown me some refinements for the idea, which I’m counting as progress. So, one step forward, one step back, one step forward again. And so it goes.
that looks like fun – a Beowulf story, great stuff; I see Elizabeth Bear has a story too – I’ve just been listening to her Jacob’s Ladder trilogy, a wonderful mix of SF and fantasy – you think it’s fantasy at first then it turns out to be all sci-fi. some interesting swords too …. so I think I’ll be asking for this for Christmas 🙂
The only non-Western sword about which I know anything is the Kusanagi, Grass Cutter Sword, part of the Japanese imperial regalia (and a nifty graphic novel). I wonder which swords will be making appearances in this book?
@Teasel — A couple four years ago, I started keeping a list “Books Read in (year)” for that reason, and to see just how many books I go through in a year — a lot!
I have added this new Book of Swords to my cart to get it on the budget for next month. I like a book of short stories for bedtime reading. The end of a story is an easier stopping place than the end of a book chapter. If it’s a good read for me, I’ll know pretty much within the first couple pages, or at most the first chapter. I get so caught up in reading that I will (and have*) stayed up all night reading, which is not good. A book of short stories gives me a not very long story with a definite ending, which is a much safer bedtime read.
*Just the other night, in fact, reading the first book of Tanith Lee’s Wolf Queen trilogy. I got snuggly in bed and was just going to read a little bit, looked over at the clock and it was 6:30 in the morning and I was an inch into the book!
@Teasel — Was it @GreenWyvern who discussed the book a month or two ago? I recall a discussion of dark matter and physics around then, and I think it was about a recent book. I’m sorry, I don’t recall the author or title either. Possibly another salad will recall or GreenWyvern will reply. Baji-naji!
You guys are fast! That post was only up for a few minutes as as soon as I posted, I figured out the answer and pleaded that the post be removed because it made me (librarian) look like an idiot. The book is “We have no idea” by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson. Its a great exploration of our limitations of understanding of physics and makes cosmology great fun. And yes, it is recent, 2017.
Hah, I get the professional pride problem. (Woo, littering alliteration today, eh?)
But I wouldn’t sweat it. It goes with being human and having, therefore, a limited and occasionally fallible memory. (Hmm, this morning, my style seems to have gone 18th/19th century literary. Dang. I haven’t been reading any such lately.)
I think GreenWyvern had answered in this thread or the one or two prior with the title and author of the book, so we’re all covered. 🙂
One of the Ig-Nobel Awards was given to a study of the fluid phase of cats, since they are well known to be able to fit in and full any shape of container.
@Teasel
Just saw your post. It was We Have No Idea by Daniel Whiteson and Jorge Cham.
http://phdcomics.com/noidea/
Saw some recent comments on buying ebooks from Amazon in a different country.
It *is* possible if you have your address (even a fake address) in that country, noting that you can have several addresses. It will often only work for a few purchases, then you’ll get warned off and have to do some more fancy footwork. If you order something physical – which I’ve done – you need to select your real address for delivery.
I’ve been ordering kindle books from Amazon global (.com) for many years, mainly because I prefer the use of gift cards rather than having each purchase as a line item in my accounting (.com.au doesn’t have gift cards or physical items). The price is about the same. But they’ve been trying for the last year or so to push me to Amazon Australia (.com.au).
My situation now is even stranger. I recently changed my PC account to Aus because I wanted to buy some older Australian books which weren’t on global (US). But my Kindle couldn’t access the Aus bookstore for some reason. When I spoke to them they eventually gave up, so my Kindle is now officially and hopefully permanently connected to US.
Friends have been too busy / scatterbrained to remember appointments with me. So yesterday, I gave up and ordered via Amazon Pantry for some pantry supplies. This is good, but bulky, and the big box can sit out on the porch for a while if you don’t hear the delivery guy. I am convinced they tiptoe up to my new apt., don’t knock, and tiptoe away. It’s disconcerting. Add to this that the apt. offices are on the other side of the street, and things can get “interesting” in the Chinese sense.
I’m calling again today to see if my friends can take me either today or tomorrow, but I am pretty irritated: I haven’t been to the store since before the hurricane hit! The fridge looks eerily, scarily bare. (There is still a bit in the freezer and the pantry will be restocked after the Amazon delivery, so I am not quite desperate, but yeah, way more close to being out of food than I want to be.) I have not fussed too much at my friends, but I have to say something at this point. It’s happened too many times.
Getting.a cab at my apt. complex is something I still have not figured out properly. I can’t get from them whether the cab arrives across the street by the office, or what’s going on, but I’ve had two cancellations and a turn-it-down, or else I wouldn’t need to rely on friends too much. — And having to rely on others for rides, for the most basic needs, bothers my fiercely independent streak. Yet I can’t help it. My vision is such (now, still, for the foreseeable future) and my city traffic and lack of sidewalks, are such that trying to hoof it on my own is not a good idea. No idea yet about bus routes around here, and the eye doctor never (despite two reminder calls) or else the city itself, never got my paperwork through to get the Metro Lift program approved for me. :-/ So I feel stuck. (And I’m sorry to be complaining.) Just feeling both down and ticked off about it, and this has been going on too long.
Still hoping to get by my storage space. The same friends say they don’t think it flooded where my storage space is. I hope that’s the case. But wow, I want that done. (I’m slowly buying things because I can’t do without forever. So I’ll be giving away things. Heh.)
Still — I have a pretty good apartment (aside from two minor issues that need to be worked on still / again) and savings are holding out for now. While others (thousands) in my city are still in shelters after the hurricane, and some areas are still(!) flooded. Most of the city is not flooded, though. Another one of the major school districts finally restarted classes this week. My old district and my current district restarted last week. In other words, by comparison, I could have it so much worse. But it irritates me to ask friends, to have them say less, definitely, and then, multiple times, to drop the appt. without calling me and say they were busy and forgot. Dang it. … I am still counting them as friends, as they did a huge amount to help with finding the apt. and doing the move. But, dang, you know? I feel kicked to the curb and don’t feel it’s right, and I feel justified in being as ticked off as I’ve been…and I’m not going to let them know how much so. :-/
We’ll see how things turn out. Hoping for some success today or tomorrow.
Hah, I have said hello to various people around the apartments, but so far have not truly met and made friends with anyone, including immediate neighbors. But I have been staying inside a lot, mostly due to my weird lack of a sleep/wake cycle that ever stays consistent, and defaults to “nocturnal” mode more so than mere “night owl.” But this has to change too. I can tell several neighbors are nice, the kids around here have a lot of fun (at unbelievable (to me) hours, day and night, and there have been very few problems among neighbors (chiefly of the spousal-unit or bf/gf variety, a couple of times mother-child stuff, but not too major). So I still want to get to know people, need to put out more effort on my own, and am having to overcome neighbors’ reticence / human nature too. I look very Anglo / white boy 😉 , most of my neighbors are Latinos, but hey, that is common for my city. So…well, still hoping this will work out and I’ll get to be friends with a few neighbors. I would not have thought I or they would still not know each other after this long. The end of this month will be 7 months since I moved in at the end of February.
We’ll see. Life is so much more weirdly complicated and mundanely tedious than fiction, and life doesn’t always have to be believable to be real. (Odd, isn’t it?) 🙂
Those friends must have heard me typing. 😉 They called. He apologized and we talked it over, which I think worked things out, and without aggravation; much appreciated. Getting a sincere apology and a good explanation helped my feelings considerably, and I talked about my frustrations, non wanting to be dependent on friends too much.
I am still getting used to the new, smaller pantry, fridge, and kitchen space. I nearly overstocked. (My gosh, but the fridge is still half empty.) I will need to look over my list to see what I forgot. (Duh.) I should’ve gotten a 2nd half gallon of milk, I know.
Hah, I found Sauerkraut and made an impulse buy. It’s a small can, not a glass jar. Kroger’s brand. No idea if it’s very good or just average, but wow, I haven’t had any in ages, and had to get it. — My dad’s family made their own when he was growing up. He used to buy it in the store here occasionally, but he always said it wasn’t nearly the same as fresh homemade. (Fresh being very relative, as it’s aged in brine, haha.)
I also was surprised and happy to find Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce in the large and small bottles. They had not been carrying it for a while. After seeing it recommended in a Korean-American YouTuber’s cooking channel, I’d tried it for meats, and ohh, that’s good stuff. So I feel like I lucked out at the store.
Ahem, also have a spice cake mix, because I’ve been craving it. Donuts were an impulse buy. Oh, man. Two supreme pizzas, frozen, meh, but they work in a pinch.
Yay, fresh milk, tortillas, meat, veggies, tomato paste, mirepoix frozen, Cokes and Dr. Pepper, lentils, supplies I’d run out of or was low on. Good stuff. I can cook without relying on cans too much again. — Very relieved here.
While at the post office, I said hi to a guy in line and he said he didn’t get flooded, but he’d been worried about it, and friends of his got a few inches of flooding in their places. No one he knew personally got a foot or more of water, but friends of friends had, in (it sounded like Moja in Spanish, moh-hhah). (Hmm, I’d have to look up the origin of the word mocha in English, just thought of that.)
My friend said they’re seeing a lot of people needing to flip houses due to emergency circumstances, various conditions of the homes, but mostly people in precarious situations. Some homes are in good shape, while others have typical repair needs, and others…Ayayay. He said the damage in Houston is running everywhere, from near where I grew up and where we moved to while my parents were alive, some flooding of homes there, working class, middle class, upper class; to a more upper to upper-middle class area like Kingwood that got heavy damage, and wildly varying amounts in between; and then places like where I live that got no real damage. His own home was near to an area of heavy damage, but his neighborhood and his home were fine. He said for a while there, it was looking iffy, though. We think my storage space might be fine. (I haven’t called the mgr. to check.) My former home, newly remodeled, got no damage, and the exterior looks great. I will have a chance to see inside to see the remodeling they did, this week or next. I’m very curious. It was basically a complete do-over, except for the brick itself. But this is good. Someone will get a very nice new home that way, completely updated and upscale. The yard is newly landscaped, and as it’s a corner house, it now can be a point of attraction to improve the subdivision, as it used to be. This makes me happy, and I’m glad to be someplace smaller and more manageable for me; so it’s a good deal all around still.
I really want to make friends with neighbors, but I haven’t heard much from the adults around me lately; only occasionally, and I always seem to miss the chance, so far. Neighbor kids are typically out enjoying the patio area whenever it’s halfway nice, even late evenings. The parents are evidently busier lately and not out as much as they were in spring and early summer. So…I’ll have to work on it. The one other thing this highlights for me is just how much I missed out on, growing up without many other kids around, and being vision-impaired so sports were mostly a non-starter for me. The kids around here are getting a huge benefit in socialization and friendships and fun, healthy activities. It also points out to me something I’d only begun to figure out as an adult, and then once my parents were gone: My parents were too strict and controlling, and limited my social outlets with friends or being out on my own way too much. I can see now this was partly out of their concern because of my eyesight and me being more naive and shy…but also, I can see there was some other weird personal dynamic going on with one or both of them, so that they could’ve made those opportunities for me, or should have known I wasn’t getting them through school, and therefore should have done differently. I know they thought they were doing right, but I can recall specific instances, many times, even when I was little, where this came into play. So I only really started to clue in late in high school, then out in college, and then on my own, but it didn’t really soak in just how…slightly off-kilter…that was, until after they were gone and I was truly on my own. (I don’t think it was a major dysfunction, but it was enough that I sure see the difference in how most other people are. It was a parenting style, a difference in religious beliefs only mildly, but enough to make an impact, and mostly, I think it was something in their two personalities. I don’t get it. But I still see it in myself to this day, and I still have to work against those tendencies. I tend to be a loner by nature, but not to the extent this is. — Notice how I said that seven months on, I still hardly know any of my neighbors, and instead of being out and around after the hurricane, I kept to myself. (Slacker.) — So I don’t know, but I wish I could get past that. (But hey, I’m 51, getting past those tendencies is harder these days.)
So…hmm… Life is very strange, but in some ways, very good. Note: I am quite pointedly not getting into the national current events, as that is getting to anyone with half a brain these days. My personality and interests are hard-wired to _like_ many differences in people. This goes hand in hand with my language skills. So the current news often turns me way off; and so I’m purposefully avoiding getting into that.
— I truly believe most people would be largely satisfied and happy, if their basic needs for food and shelter and _variety_ were well met. — I know the difference it makes for me, having my kitchen restocked, versus being way too low on things. The security of knowing I can make good food that tastes really good, that I can enjoy, and to know that need is met for a good while — that makes an enormous difference in happiness and peace of mind. — If everyone could have that security for food, shelter, medical care, relationships, the variety and the need to make things, to have fulfillment in doing — if everyone could have that, I am convinced we’d do away with most personal and group conflicts.
Enjoy the day, folks!