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Faerie Blood and Bone Walker sale for the holidays!

Y’all may recall that I had Faerie Blood and Bone Walker on sale during November for Orycon. Well, I’m extending that sale through the holidays!

What

So you can get the ebook editions of these two books for 99 cents each at your favorite ebook vendor. And! If you’re print-inclined, I’m also waiving the shipping costs for the print editions if you’d like to order them directly from me!

This sale will run through the end of December, to give folks plenty of time to get either title for Yule, or even a few days after. If anyone happens to get an ereader and has a hankering to find something to read to put on it. Because I am HELPFUL. ;D

Where

If you aren’t already familiar with the books, you can read samples on the official Faerie Blood and Bone Walker pages. You can click over to your favorite ebook vendor from those links as well, or from the Books2Read links for them, which are:

Faerie Blood on Books2Read

Bone Walker on Books2Read

If you’d like to order the print books, you can do so on my Square store. You can also use the merch pages hosted by Crime and the Forces of Evil on Bandcamp, which are here and here.

If you don’t want to go through a vendor, you can pay me directly via Paypal. I go into more detail about how you can pursue other options on the Buying From Me page. If you have any questions about how you might pay me for either book, contact me!

Any questions?

Talk to me! And do spread the word!

December 5, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Quebecois Music

Album review: Consolez-vous, by De Temps Antan

Consolez-vous

I have already established that the phrase “new Le Vent du Nord album” is at the top of the list of Things That Give Me Joy. But right behind that is the phrase “new De Temps Antan album”. And I am delighted, O Internets, to report that I have that very thing to rejoice over today!

This is De Temps Antan’s fourth album, and the first one featuring new member David Boulanger, who replaces André Brunet as the trio’s fiddle player. Fans of Quebecois trad will probably recognize the name David Boulanger. I certainly have some past exposure to him, since he’s one of the current lineup of La Bottine Souriante. I was also a supporter of the album he did with Maja Kjær Jacobsen, and I own the album Boulanger did called Pièces sur pièces, along with flute player Jean Duval.

Also: David was one of the professors at Violon Trad this year, and I got to see him in action there!

So while I’m sad that André Brunet is no longer part of this trio, I knew that with Boulanger on board, De Temps Antan would be absolutely fine. Now that I’ve had the distinct pleasure of listening to this new release, I can report that this assurance is entirely vindicated!

As with prior album reviews I’ve done in the realm of Quebecois trad, you can assume going in that of course I love this album. That goes without saying! (Though of course, I’m going to say it. \0/) And while I do have a history of my album review posts often just being “I’m going to squee at you for several paragraphs about all the ways I love this thing”, I do actually have some review-type commentary to share with you this time!

Ready? Let’s DO THIS THING.

November 3, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Nanowrimo, Short Pieces, Walk the Wards

Nanowrimo 2017: Let’s try this again shall we?

Last year the election shot my Nanowrimo run into a thousand pieces, and my ability to write anything this entire year hasn’t done too well either.

But I do know this: when I did Camp Nanowrimo in July, that did let me make some progress on the long-overdue novellas. So I’ll be taking a crack at Nanowrimo this year, in the hopes of FINALLY finishing those things off.

What’s in the book

As of this writing, the Warder universe novella collection Walk the Wards stands at 38,507 words. And as a reminder, this collection will contain the following stories:

“A Power in the Blood”: In which a psychic must help the new Warder of Providence, Rhode Island solve the murder of his sister.

“The Deepest Breath of Song”: In which a shy young musician must help his town’s Warder protect migrating sea creatures from being hunted and killed.

“The Plight of the Warder’s Daughter”: Caitlin Hallett, daughter of the Warder of St. John’s, wants to see the world before she commits to a city. But her father Thomas is ill and his ability to guard St. John’s may already be failing. How will Caitlin choose between her ambition and her love for her city and her father? And how will a visiting son of the Warders of Quebec–les Gardiens–help her decide?

As of yet untitled: The tale of what happens to Jude Lawrence when she goes to Faerie to try to find her missing friend Kendis Thompson. This story is set during Bone Walker, Book 2 of The Free Court of Seattle.

“Diminuendo”: Kendis Thompson discovers that magic can’t help when her cat Fortissimo is suddenly, violently ill.

If I can do a decent Nanowrimo run this month, that should move me a lot closer to getting this book ready to go. We’ll see what happens. Wish me luck, folks! And if you’re diving into the Nanowrimo fun as well, hey, feel free to buddy up with me on the Nano site. As with many places, I’m ‘annathepiper’ there.

Let this be the hour when we write words together. Fell prose awakes. Now for plots, now for pacing, and the red dawn of OH GOD I CAN’T GO TO BED YET I HAVEN’T HIT MY WORD COUNT. Forth Eorlingas!

FORTH EORLINGAS!

November 1, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Books, Other People's Books

Ebook roundup time: all the Mary Stewart!

It’s ebook roundup time again! I’ve been backing off a lot on ebook purchases lately. But this week, sufficient motivation has inspired me to splurge! Namely: Mary Stewart’s novels have finally come out in digital format. And as covered over here at the Bitchery, goodness gracious, the covers on those are gorgeous. And I do love me some Mary Stewart.

Thunder on the Right

Better yet, I haven’t read a few of these, still. Doublechecking my library, I find that I have print copies of ten of the fifteen titles that I just bought off of Kobo. I’ll be re-reading those, along with the new ones! Just because a Mary Stewart comfort reading binge sounds delightful to me right now–partly due to our heading into storm season in the PNW, but also due to the general state of the world.

So here’s a roundup of stuff bought lately, because the Stewarts aren’t all of it, either. First, picked up at Kobo, here is the full list of Stewarts I just nabbed:

The ones I haven’t read yet

The Wind Off the Small Isles and The Lost One (which is actually a novella with a bonus added short story)
Thunder on the Right
This Rough Magic (a title which amuses me, as there is a Russell Crowe film called Rough Magic)
Stormy Petrel (I feel like I may have read this one ages ago, but I do not remember it and do not own a print copy)
Rose Cottage (whose cover amuses me as there is a distinct lack of roses in otherwise nice art)

The ones I have already read

The Gabriel Hounds
Wildfire at Midnight
Touch Not the Cat (AW YEAH and this one in particular is the one that triggered the Stewart bonanza, as I have high-school-era memories of reading this one!)
Thornyhold
The Moonspinners (except the cover art says The Moon-Spinners, even though the text does not, so I wonder about the discrepancy there)
The Ivy Tree, which apparently differs between the UK and US editions; I’ll be particularly intrigued to find out how
Nine Coaches Waiting
My Brother Michael
Madam, Will You Talk?
Airs Above the Ground

Meanwhile, also picked up from Kobo

I grabbed Alan Doyle’s second memoir, A Newfoundlander in Canada: Always Going Somewhere, Always Coming Home, because Alan Doyle. Of course I’m buying Alan’s next book. 😀

Nabbed in print

The mass market paperback edition of Julie E. Czerneda’s The Gate to Futures Past, book 2 of her Reunification trilogy.

I’ve also gotten a new influx of ebook settlement credit, so I’ll be picking out some titles on B&N again soon. But for now let’s get this post up.

17 total titles in this post, and 50 for the year.

October 25, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Music, Quebecois Music

Fiddle practice, now with added winds

Just to check in on the whole fiddle practice thing, here, have a post about that, y’all!

Today my practice actually also involved winds, because I determined that I need to practice my arpeggios on my wind instruments as well as the fiddle. There are two goals here. One is to get better at recognizing those patterns in general, and the other is to get better at reproducing them quickly on my wind instruments, since those are the ones I’m most likely to be playing in session right now.

My main scales for fiddle practice, and their related arpeggios, are G, D, and A. These map easiest to fiddle strings tuning (G-D-A-E), and also, the vast majority of tunes at our session are in these keys. So they’re the ones I practice in the most.

October 15, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Bilingual Lord of the Rings Reread

Bilingual LotR Reread: The Fellowship of the Ring: Chapter 2 (French commentary)

Been a while since I did a Bilingual Lord of the Rings Reread post! but since I was reminded I needed to continue doing a proper reread thanks to this post over on Tor.com about certain actions of Gandalf, here, let’s get back into this a bit with the French commentary for Chapter 2!

(Notably, the poster on Tor.com was writing about things Gandalf did that really rather made him out to be a jerk, and there’s interesting commentary in the comments about how the movies have influenced Tolkien fandom a lot in that regard. Certainly one of my things about Gandalf turns out to be exactly that, more movie-influenced than book-influenced. More on this to come!)

October 10, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

Movies

Movie review: Blade Runner 2049 happily does not suck

This past weekend, Dara, Paul, and I, along with our pal Jenny, saw Blade Runner 2049. As a household, the Murkworks had varying levels of consternation about this movie. Paul in fact told me that he couldn’t bear to go see it if it turned out to suck, while Dara and I were somewhat less nervous. Even though we both have healthy respect for the original Blade Runner, it’s never been a movie we frequently go back and rewatch.

Hell, I’m a Harrison Ford fangirl, and I’ve maybe seen the original Blade Runner at most four or five times. Compare and contrast this with how many times I’ve rewatched the original Star Wars trilogy. And especially how many times I’ve rewatched Raiders of the Lost Ark!

That said, I did always rather like this particular Harrison Ford pic:

Deckard

And, well, the prospect of seeing Mr. Ford in a movie that didn’t suck was tempting indeed. Fortunately for me, Blade Runner 2049 doesn’t suck!

We all agreed afterwards that while it was too long, it ultimately stood as a worthy successor to the original. I’m not sure I like it better than the original. But its story is definitely compelling, and I’ve kept thinking about it since seeing it.

Usually when I do a movie review post, I’ll talk about spoilers behind a cut tag. This time, not so much. After seeing good reviews on both Tor.com (very mild spoilers) and The Mary Sue (specifically avoiding as many spoilers as possible), I’m rather inclined to the latter approach. This movie offers a lot to think about, both within its own context and in how it links back to the original. And I’m reluctant to interfere with a viewer’s ability to get at those things without any preconceived notions.

I agree with the Mary Sue that this movie is gorgeous. Likewise, with Tor.com’s dissatisfaction that the women in the cast ultimately function as little more than plot propulsion for the male leads. And yeah, the movie is kind of too long. Yet on our way out of the theater, we couldn’t nail down where exactly there should have been less movie. It did indeed need to take its time and let everything build.

And while I’m a trifle cranky about how the movie treats its women, I can at least say that there are multiple interesting female characters. Seeing Robin Wright as a police chief is particularly satisfying, after her turn as General Antiope in Wonder Woman earlier this year. Plus, the movie passes the Bechdel with one of her scenes, so there’s that! Plus, I can say that multiple female characters inspired the pondering I’ve done about this movie since we saw it.

Worldbuilding-wise, the movie does an excellent job showing how the world has progressed since the first film. As of this writing, I haven’t watched the shorts that cover some of this backstory in more detail. But the movie didn’t make me feel like I need to.

Director Denis Villeneuve, it turns out, also directed Arrival–which I quite liked. And he’s from Quebec, which adds another thing to my list of Awesome Quebecois Things. He has certainly produced a gorgeous movie here, so he’s now two for two on films of his I’ve seen and liked. This bodes well for further encounters with his work.

And Harrison? Let’s just say that goddamn, it was satisfying to see him. Gruff, crufty old Harrison. I still love him to bits. And those of you who know me and my musical affections will know instantly which of his moments, once he finally shows up on camera, is my absolute favorite. (For that matter, those of you who know my history with CrystalMUSH also now have on-camera evidence of what exactly I had in mind when I was playing Tance Vokrim! Because old Harrison? Yep. That’s Tance.)

Old Deckard, Who Could Also Totally Be Tance

So yeah. Go see it, if you haven’t already. Maybe keep your expectations down a tad. I’m not a hundred percent sure Blade Runner 2049 achieves greatness, or brings anything truly new to the table that the first one didn’t already present for us. But it was still a fun viewing and I’m quite glad I saw it.

If you have seen it, drop me a comment or two about your thoughts! (Everybody else, beware of comment spoilers!)

October 9, 2017 by Angela Korra'ti

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