Ann Aguirre

Eyes of Crow
by Jeri Smith-Ready

This isn’t a review so much as homage. I finished this book earlier, and I’ve been mulling it over all day. Above all, Eyes of Crow is a book that stays with you. Haunting, that’s a good word for it. After reading her tragic masterpiece, Requiem for the Devil, I was somewhat prepared for that when I opened this book, which I bought at Nationals.

I haven’t read it before now partly because I was saving it, like a child tucks away a treasure or a sweet to savor during that perfect moment. And partly because I didn’t want to — because once I did read it, I would no longer have the anticipation of reading to look forward to. Many of you know, I read insanely fast. It’s both a gift and a curse.

Well, today, I found myself home alone during a thunderstorm. Andres had to work, and the kids are in Cancun with their grandmother for another day. All the signs augured ideal confluence, so I went and got the book from its place of honor on my nightstand, and then returned to my office to curl up in my favorite armchair.

I can’t express what Jeri Smith-Ready has done with this book. As all fantasy ought to be, it is simultaneously beautiful, heartbreaking, and transportive. I ceased to hear the rain outside my windows, creating a soft rush in the tires of passing cars. I did not hear the hail drumming on my roof or the hungry rumble of the thunder god.
For a space of about three hours, I visited a world that exists only in the imagination of Jeri Smith-Ready.

The heroine, Rhia, is a woman of ethereal fragility, bolstered by inexplicable strength. A dark dance, that of light and shadow, life and death, weaves through her very soul. I experienced the story with anger, wonder and sometimes trepidation. By that I mean, the author moved me. I can offer no greater compliment.

And when I finally surfaced, I felt like a dreamer awakening from a dream that was not my own. Somnolent, aching for something that was never mine, but the glory and glamor of it brushed me briefly and left an echo of its shine. This is a book that leaves you with a hole in your chest, tears in your eyes, and aching for more.

Voice of Crow? I’m so there.

Susan, come on down! You won the Urban Fantasy mega-pack! Email me with your shipping info, and I’ll have Amazon send you the books right away.

The rest of you, head over to the Bradford Bunch today to find out who won the mystery prize.

What is it about him? Came across this picture, and I’m finding it hard to put him out of my mind, even though I have other things I need to write. He could be Jared Padelecki for all I know. But look at the angle of his head, the tension in his shoulders. What’s his story?

He tells me his name is Payne. I know; I said the same thing myself. And he answered: “It’s my last name, idiot. Just how emo do you think I am?”

Could you resist writing his story? Would you even try?

I’m sorry for everyone whose comments went unposted. I wasn’t moderating. I developed some trouble with my ftp, and nothing published on the blog. I think I’ve sorted the problem by deleting the aberrant code. We’ll see!

no. u has 4gotn #1 rule of teh Intarnetz
that is all.

I’m already running two. You knew about those, right?

Contest one:
If you sign up for my newsletter in the box to the left, you could win a signed copy of Stone Maiden, my two romantic comedies in your choice of formats, and a $50 gift certificate from Amazon. If we hit 500 names on the mailing list by August 15, which is when the contest ends, then I’ll double the book money. Random drawing, like always. Have you signed up yet? What are you waiting for? I run special contests on the loop as well, but you aren’t eligible unless you’re a member of my inner circle.

Contest two:
Over on the Bradford Bunch, I’m running another contest, like always. If you comment on your favorite authors over there, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a special mystery prize. The members of my loop know what it is, but they’re not telling. It’s good, though. That contest runs until midnight on Saturday, July 28th. So don’t miss out.

I’m feeling the urge to give more stuff away. Why? Well, good things (and bad things) are supposed to come in threes, right? There’s a reason people stay away from ladders, and toss spilled salt over their shoulders. We gotta keep the evil spirits at bay, don’t we? So here we go with contest three.

It’s quite simple. Go here. Generate a number of fantasy novel titles, pick your favorite one, and then post it in comments. Why?

Because the prize is an urban fantasy mega-pack. I’m giving away the following books:



These are some don’t miss books right here. I’ll draw a winner on Sunday, so this contest will wrap up at the same time as the one I have running on the Bradford Bunch.

I played with the title generator myself, and here are my favorites.

Isilda’s Crown
The Lady Dreams of Summer
Sword and Discord
The Crystal Sun
The Island Faerie
The Legend of Wissan
Daliniof’s Lady
Demon and Chaos
Goddess of Pride (sounds like PC Cast)
Mardian’s Storm
The King of Magic
The Storm Spell

Aren’t those awesome? I love playing with title generators. I might even use some of those one day. Now it’s your turn, and you get to win some shit. You lucky, lucky readers!

I write science-fiction, so obviously I’m interested in space exploration. I love reading about new technologies.

I mean, holy crap, I invented a weapon in Grimspace, which I called a disruptor. The way it works is simple and grotesque. I theorized that, like they’re doing now, scientists had worked on developing technology that would permit people to beam around, as envisioned in Star Trek. However, in my world, they never experienced any success in transporting human beings intact to their new location. The targeted person wound up hideously scrambled, their flesh turned inside out, and the result was a horrible, agonizing death.

They, of course, immediately turned this research failure into a weapon. Thus, the disruptor was born. It’s based in the science of teleportation; the disruptor has been attuned to the flesh frequency, and it literally rerranges all your molecules. So if you’re shot in the stomach, it puts your guts on the outside, and you die of shock. Talk about gruesome and painful. I love my job!

Imagine my excitement when I found this article.

AUSTRALIAN physicists have discovered a method that could see atoms being teleported between Sydney and Perth and pave the way for possible Star Trek-like travel in the future.

The method involves cooling down a group of atoms and shooting lasers at them, making them “appear to disappear” before using transporting them along optic fibres at light speed to another location where they can be reconstructed.

The “simple” way of transporting atoms was developed by physicists Murray Olsen, Ashton Bradley, Simon Haine of the Australian Research Council Centre for Quantum-Atom Optics, and and Joseph Hope of ANU.

Dr Olsen told NEWS.com.au the method was very much like the Star Trek characters’ favourite way to get back onto the ship.

The atoms are cooled to almost absolute zero, or -273C. At a billionth of a degree above this temperature, a quirk of physics makes all the atoms start behaving in the same way. Then the scientists zap them with two lasers.

Doesn’t that lend credence to the science behind my disruptor? It could happen. I’ve tried to create a future based off what is possible today. I don’t say it will happen the way I’ve written, but it could. That tickles me.

However, one thing I didn’t include (and maybe I should) is space junkyards. I’m rather pissed about this article. It ticks me off when I catch people dumping the ashes and cigarette butts out of their car and into the parking lot. “Hello, the world is not your ashtray, asshole!” I feel the same way about NASA and its 1400 pounds of ammonia from the space station.

Haven’t we fucked up our own world enough? Do we have to start sending shit into space? “The U.S. space agency calculates the odds of the debris hurting or killing a person at one in 5000.” Fantastic. So now we have to worry about being killed by falling garbage?

This really riles me up. Do I need to write about giant floating trash heaps, close to Old Terra? I think I might. Because that’s the way we’re headed. I laughed my ass off at that episode of Futurama, where the professor builds the Smelloscope, which locates the giant trashball that they launched into space in 2052.

I’m not laughing now.

I’m over at the Bradford Bunch today. Come talk about your favorite authors, or comment on the dissing of romance. You might win something.

Got your attention? Good.

A while back, I blogged about my dissatisfaction with the Supernatural finale. I fucking love this show, man. I watch it faithfully, week after week. I love Sam and Dean. I love the whole dynamic. I loved where I thought the story was going. I haven’t been this enamored with a TV show since the early days of X-Files. Yeah, no joke.

Tonight, Dee dropped a huge bomb on me. She’s far more in touch with shit than I am, so she knows these things. She peruses the message boards where the crazy bitchfaces live. Ladies and gents, I just found out that fangirls are ruining my favorite fucking show!!

If you’re not familiar with the show, you’ll probably be lost at this point, so go get coffee and a doughnut or something. Go on, scram.

Everyone else with me? See, there was a storyarc that hinted a relationship might be forming between Dean and Jo, the daughter of a hunter Dean’s dad worked with back in the day. I loved their chemistry, sort of shy and uncertain, which isn’t like Dean at all. I couldn’t wait to see the development.

Guess what? Jo isn’t coming back. Why? Because crazy bitchface fangirls booed her at the various cons. They didn’t want to see Dean hook up with her; obviously they think they stand some chance of boning a fictitious character. You will find them in the dictionary under D for Deluded. The actor himself, Jensen Ackles, is at this point scared shitless of his own fans. That means you’re nutty as the daft old bitch in Christmas Vacation who wrapped up her own fucking cat and a Jell-o mold, ladies! WTF were you thinking, booing the actress who played Jo? She was good, unlike the Buffy knockoffs we’re likely to see in season three.

From eonline:
Clo in Atlanta: Is Alona Tal, who plays Jo on Supernatural, returning next season? I hope so, because I love her chemistry with Jensen Ackles.

The Magic 8 Ball says…very doubtful. According to Alona’s reps, anything is possible, but since the show hasn’t done anything with her character for a long time, they’re not expecting a call any time soon. Alona — best known to many of you as Veronica Mars’ Meg Manning — does, however, appear in the Cane pilot for CBS, and she should be recurring on that show as the girlfriend of Jamie Vega, one of the sons of Jimmy Smits’ character.

Which brings me to my next point. You crazybitchfaces got a great female character axed and in return they’re adding two girlie hunters to fuck up the show’s dynamic! I can’t believe they’re screwing with this; the whole “brothers alone against the world” thing MAKES IT WORK. Morons.

Dee and I would like to cordially offer you crazy bitchface fangirls our dainty middle fingers, turned up. And to Kripke, we offer a friendly kick in the nuts.

Buffy wannabes on Supernatural? HOW COULD YOU? I will close with this, since a picture is worth a 1000 words.

Sincerely,

Agitated Supernatural Fan
(which is entirely different than a crazy bitchface fan, who goes around calling herself Mrs. Ackles on the Internet)

So I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix recently. I’ve read all the books except the last one, which comes out in a couple of days, so I guess that makes me a fan, but I’m not a rabid one. My daughter wanted to see the movie for her birthday, so that was one of the things we did, in addition to going to Punta Norte.

I thought the movie was fine, as an adaptation from the book. Overall, it was pretty faithful. Now if you want to discuss my opinion of the book, that’s another story. To my mind, Harry Potter 5 falls into the Jordan trap, where there’s lots of running around, lots of hectic dialog, trying to draw attention away from the fact that nothing actually happens. One person dies, of course, but it seems completely meaningless and almost as an afterthought.

“Let’s make sure the one person Harry relies on and considers family will not survive. Now everyone will really feel sorry for him! Look at Harry, totally isolated. Nobody understands him.”

I think the author went overboard in making Harry a sullen little emo boy this time. Of course, I also wished she’d followed up on the hints of attraction she placed in book 5, regarding Harry and Luna Lovegood. I loved that character, and the actress who played her in the film did a fabulous job of bringing her ethereal eccentricity to life. Instead, book 6 goes in another direction entirely.

Still, none of that is what I meant to write about today. See, I’ve always been fond of Snape, as portrayed by Alan Rickman. Quite often, I’ve wished he would succeed in doing unspeakable things to Harry. I’m sure I’m in the minority; Harry Potter is the next thing to a deity, is he not? But I like Snape.

And in this film, Snape helps Harry try to prepare for a conflict with Lord Voldemort. They’ve discovered the reason for Harry’s bad dreams, and well, it isn’t good. So they practice breaking into each other’s minds, hoping to strength Harry’s resistance to such incursions. Naturally, Harry eventually breaches Snape’s walls and glimpses the reason why Snape doesn’t like Harry, and hated his father, James. Apparently James was something of a bully, and they show a lightning fast montage of scenes where James picked on Snape: thin, sullen, long hair hiding his face.

My imagination is immediately captured. Young Snape was played by Alec Hopkins, and I’ve only been able to find this picture of him. But in his garb, he’s fucking irresistible: a quiet, introverted, sensitive type whose outward disdain masks his absolute alienation from his peers. How can you not love such a portrait of tortured vulnerability? I’m not a fan fic writer, but I want to do something with this inspiration. I just don’t know what yet.

Have you guys seen the movie yet? What did you think? And how did you feel about young Snape?