U. F. FLO.

Mini-review: Caressed by Ice, or Tropes I didn't know I loved

2013-03-15T06:02:38Z

Fair cop, Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series is like, the most overwritten, over-dramatic ridiculousness in the world. The world-building is fascinating (psychics AND were-everythings!), but you have to dig through pages and pages of dangerous curves, exotic golden skin and barely controlled animal lust in order to reach it. But there are glimmers of...well, okay there really aren't, and whether you like any of the twelve or so books in the series so far depends on what tropes trope your boat.

Context: I'm on a massive reread bender due to feeling like I've sampled everything in the world and haven't found anything I want to pay $7 to read more of, and I own about four of these books, and while I thought originally that I'd want to review at least two of them here, it only comes down to one: Caressed by Ice, book three.

When rereading this series, I usually do the first book, Slave to Sensation, to refresh my memory of the world and get back into the flow, then do the rest of the books I own in chronological order, skipping ahead if I get bored of the current book. This time around, I found myself rolling my eyes at more of all of the books, and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that Caressed by Ice would make up for everything.

This time, I just straight up skipped the second book once I realized it wasn't doing much for me. ( And from the very beginning, I was hooked. )

Sadly, this is the only book in the series that presses my buttons so accurately. Everything else I've read is kind of meh, and though I haven't tried some of the newer books, none of the main pairings sound interesting enough for me to bother with. The closest matches were Hostage to Pleasure and Bonds of Justice, with the women in both books being the icy pillars of delicious competence that I like. I didn't finish rereading either book, though, because with Hostage I quickly grew to hate the annoyingly pushy and judgmental hero, and with Bonds, I wasn't interested enough in the plot, which seemed likely to play a larger role than the romance.

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Yikes... first post of the year, I guess?

2013-03-11T16:24:57Z

I seriously thought I'd posted! But I hadn't >.<

I'm not really sure what to say, except that someday I should probably write a long, meaty post about just how much pressure I subject myself to for what seem like the best reasons, but really are just a morass of fear.

But anyway. I feel like I don't 'belong' here anymore because I'm basically a lapsed Harry Potter fan at this point, and the involvement I have in fandom is limited to hunting down time travel fics (so toothsome and full of yummy tropes) and spending time on Certain Memes. But I'm going to make a concerted effort to post and interact here again because I've a soft spot for journalling and comments and the way DW does things, and I want to give it another try.

I'll most likely be posting about the usual suspects-- ebooks, a smattering of tech, MMOs and other games I like, plus a bit about writing and how I won that back from a huge vat of bad habits and guilt and depression. And books, of course. Since we're at the low ebb of this month financially, I've been raiding my Kindle library (which is, uh, large) and doing a good lot of rereading. And of course there's been manga :)

Not sure how to end this, so I'll just say, it's good to be back.

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A late, odd Christmas

2012-12-26T15:19:04Z

1. It snowed here in Texas, perfectly so, to the point where outside is still this perfect, winter wonderland type deal. Which would be lovely if it wasn't Texas, and didn't mean unreasonably icy roads and danger to life and limb from venturing forth. Luckily we had food on hand, and still have enough leftovers that we don't need to go out :P

2. Somehow, Fedex made it here yesterday (before the snow, thankfully for them) with the Gap delivery I wasn't at all expecting. My Ewa Michalak order, on the other hand, will probably not get here until we leave for Boston.

3. I'm finally giving longer (ish) hair a go, despite my fears that it'll all end in tangles, knots and tears. It's been so long since I used hair accessories of any kind that I felt kind of weird putting on a headband, but since I didn't buy one of those annoying too-tight ones, it was alright.

4. Picked up Mass Effect 1 & 2 on Steam yesterday, since they were going for crazy cheap. Now I own what, FIVE actual games?

5. I'm in the annoying position of having already determined my new year's resolution well before the new year is actually here. Worse, it's one I think I'm going to have to keep.

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I'm alive

2012-12-20T17:56:32Z

Get it? Not just "not dead" :P. I took a really long break from Dreamwidth and blogging in general because I needed it. Now that I'm finally starting to get a handle on my anxiety, I decided I wanted to try this again.

I've done a bit of circle and access pruning, and I might go on to do some more. I'm going to try not to stress about random journal-related things. I'm going to see if posting semi-regularly makes me happy; if it doesn't, I'll probably just go back to lurking and commenting occasionally.

I've missed it here :)

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The Paypal problem

2012-02-27T18:54:00Z

After reading this post about Paypal coming down on certain types of erotica at Smashwords, All Romance Ebooks and Bookstrand at ebooks over the weekend, I went hunting for more information. I found a giant roundup of links to internet chatter about the issue (somewhat helpful), and this morning, Jane at Dear Author posted an interesting roundup(*) of the facts associated with the situation, including a valuable little bit about the history of Paypal's exception regarding erotic ebooks. That answered a question I've been asking myself since I saw anything about this story-- namely, why on earth anyone publishing erotica online would keep doing business with Paypal.

So far, from what I've seen, the answer has been convenience, with a hefty side of "they'll probably turn a blind eye". Which seems to have been true for bigger ebook stores like Smashwords et al, at least until now.

( It all makes me wonder what exactly is going on at Paypal )

Of course, the real bottom line here is that I'm going to have to learn as much about online payments as I can. In an environment where ebook compatibility is still a problem, and the biggest players are fighting to have their format and ebook store end up as the only effective place for authors to sell their ebooks, the ability to handle ebook sales with your own setup is looking more and more important.

(*) Jane's post was overwritten by mistake at about the time I posted this, so you might have seen a handful of small book reviews when you checked this link yesterday. I let her know about the error, and the original post is back up in its entirety.

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Random things

2012-01-25T18:33:23Z

- The other day, I powered through nearly all of Crimson Hero. This dazzling experience has summarily ruined nearly every manga I read after it, to the point that I'm avoiding them for the time being. (Except for Koi dano Ai dano. Conspiring!Kanoko = ♥.) I know Crimson Hero wasn't perfect, and that I'll probably read it in a month and be like WTF, but oh, those panels of Nobara mid-jump have run away with my heart.

- I played SWTOR last month, and then promptly renewed my WoW sub for three months. I really wanted to like SWTOR, but bugs, lack of endgame polish and annoying mid-to-late game mob difficulty kind of finished it for me. I got my legacy, levelled a couple alts for a little bit, and then realized I was seriously wondering if playing a Sith Sorcerer would get better once I'd picked up my super awesome AoE at level 34. Then I realized that if I wasn't having fun playing the game right then, I might as well stop.

It probably didn't help that I had a prepaid month or so left on WoW, and so could log in and gloat over my growing pile of gold while trying to decide whether to continue with SWTOR. And it definitely didn't help that the game fucked my new video card so badly that I had to give up windowing for vsync to keep things from overheating. Annoying travel times + the inability to alt-tab away just added to my frustration.

I'll probably give the game another try in a few months if they've improved everything, AND if Mists of Pandaria continues to be MIA. Otherwise, it's WoW all the way.

- There should be a third thing, but there ISN'T. :(. Maybe because I'm thinking of rereading Crimson Hero again right now...

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My new year's resolution

2012-01-24T14:38:13Z

This year, actually have one! It's simple but hard. It's to stop doing things I don't want to do.

I don't expect that I will meet it. I'm so deeply in the habit of ignoring my own feelings about a task or goal I have set myself that I doubt my record will even hold out for a month. I was always the good girl growing up, the one who did as she was told, and even thought I've cut tied with my family and gotten clear of the toxic atmosphere with them, I'm still in the habit of making myself do things I don't want to do.

It's made it really hard to have fun or to buckle down on tasks that are actually important to me. It's like I have a limit, and have been pushing it so long that I can easily break apart at any time, in this very toddleresque bundle of "NO. I won't!" When even fun stuff feels like a chore, you know it's time to reevaluate.

Now, I'm finally in a place where I know that. Sort of. Theoretically. It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing that there's no one that can tell you what to do anymore, no one besides yourself.

I hope I can at least remember my resolution. Even if I don't meet it, I want to know that I tried, and know why I failed.

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Not dead for Christmas...

2011-12-23T21:56:52Z

Just wanted to say a big Happy Holidays to everyone celebrating :). And also add that being an adult in this season is so nice-- I can spend the entire day playing SWTOR or sweating through some more of an evil story edit or whatever I like, and the only person I have to please is myself. Mr. Flo is similarly engaged, and though we're doing a family thing on the 24th as well, we're probably just going to chill on the 25th.

Someday I will write a giant post about how weird it is adjusting from post-and-forget, fanfic wip-style editing to a "let's look at the whole story. AGAIN" style. I'm really used to the former, and have never done the latter successfully with any story longer than a couple thousand words, so what I'm working on right now has been a challenge.

I think I'm finally at the turning point, though-- I just figured out a key problem that's been preventing me from moving past the first half, so I'll be belting up and working on that soon. Hope everyone's having fun and chilling out as much as they can :)

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BETAAAAAAA

2011-11-09T16:58:58Z

Just got into one of the SWTOR weekend beta tests.

I am. SO. FUCKING. PUMPED. Making space on my hard drive (apparently the installer is 20+ GB) has never felt so damn good.

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What what

2011-11-05T21:20:21Z

I just binge-read through the every bit of 7seeds that I could get my hands on, including torachan's handy summaries for vols 16-18. I am PUMPED. I am also full of spoilers!

( SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS )

I also hope the series doesn't suffer the same fate as Basara. I started that one a while ago, and the principal romance felt seriously out of place. The tone was weirdly uneven, swinging between seriousness and lightness way too often. It was also the first long manga series that I'd seriously read, so I think I had higher expectations for it than I should've, and I also wasn't used to manga tropes then. That said, I've read other series that manage to go from OTT ridiculousness to heartfelt scenes to silly fights and back again without annoying me (e.g. Gokusen (<3) and Ouran Koukou Host Bu (:D)), so I don't know.

In contrast, 7seeds keeps hitting me where it hurts. I LOVE how precisely all the little 'coincidences' come together. I love the desperation, the twisted timelines, the cruelty of chance, the resolve to live. I doubt it will stay this perfect until the end, but god, I'm so there for the ride.

That aside, I think I'm coming to the end of my manga binge-- I've been reading so much sugary shoujo that I'm a little sick of it currently. No idea what I'm going to try next, but you can bet that I'll be going through the 'related series' tags on 7seeds' mangaupdates page. Or maybe I'll do another reread of the Attolia books.

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PAID, HO!!

2011-10-26T14:45:16Z

I'm about to polish up a monster post on my experience with e-publishing the short story I mentioned the other day, but first.

- *hugs dreamwidth points* I'm so glad it's easy to transfer these! Now I can have some paid time on here.

- *hugs iPad* You would not believe how much I'm on this thing. Last night, I read through volumes 5-23 of Hikaru no Go (am I bleary-eyed? YES), and I still have 5-6 volumes of other manga waiting for me. I almost dread the day when manga publishers and translators wise up and start shipping to the Kindle at reasonable prices...there goes my future money ;_;

- Just finished reading Cold Fire by Kate Elliott, the sequel to Cold Magic from last year. Frankly, the slow start, rambly and confusing sentences and disjointed plot had me wondering what was up on the author's end, and whether I'd just not noticed how bad the first book was because of my entrancement with her awesomely arrogant cockscomb POC hero and kickass heroine. Then again, I did enjoy it overall, and am curious to see how she wraps things up in the last one, so it wasn't a loss.

- Am recovering from all the bombshells dropped at this year's Blizzcon. PANDAS IN MY GAME? POKEPETS IN MY GAME? The nerdrage everywhere is hilariously over the top, even though the announcements held something for everyone. Leet dungeons for leet raiders, with leet cosmetic gear and better-than-you achieves and leaderboards! PVE scenarios for the terrible dps who just want some VP! Dailies for the terrible casuals who don't even want to queue for VP! And then they'll also have new talent systems for the druids and warlocks who were weeping for their classes, with meh trees for the usual scapegoat classes (paladins ;_;), plus panda pokewow to make all the casual haters quit.

I have to admit, I side-eyed the Pandaria announcement, and I doubt the new race will not be faily or ridiculous in some way. And I am going to rage SO HARD if the female model ends up being the same catastrophe as the female worgen model from cata. But as soon as my love affair with SWTOR is over (hubby and I are pre-ordering and probably playing for at least three months)...that one-year WoW subscription shall be mine.

- I feel weird ending this on such a WoW note. But I have no serious!writer news, except that I'm still working on the godforsaken edit that's eaten the last couple months, so that's it.

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Daily Randomness

2011-10-04T17:01:23Z

- I have never had an earworm as viciously awesome as the Party Rock anthem. And the video... <3.

- Here's a silly video set to that song, because. EDIT: URGH, copyright fail, that video is looong gone. Ah well, have my fave Anya/Danny dance instead:

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Daily Randomness

2011-09-28T20:39:14Z

- I want to write something poignant and affecting about how fucking hard editing a story can be, but all I can come up with is JESUS CHRIST. I'm learning a lot in the process and gaining deep appreciation for my husband's ability to put up with me bugging him for feedback, but I can't wait until it's over and done.

- Oh, Delicious. I can't remember why or when exactly I moved to Pinboard, but I am soooo glad I have an account there right now. Seeing delicious' new design and the random comments from the founders about how the tags and links made the site hard to use (what?) does not give me any confidence for where the site is headed.

I mean, it went from texty and compact to PICTURES EVERYWHERE and way too much whitespace. It gives me the impression that the sort of thing that AVOS thinks is worth highlighting on the site is stuff that comes with pictures. Oh, and that everyone wants to scroll twice as much to see all their links. The fact that they shoehorned playlists in for no good reason is just the shit cherry on the cake.

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flo @ 2011-09-26T11:54:00

2011-09-26T17:37:07Z

So Mr. Flo and I ran out of television to watch a while ago. All our shows were on hiatus, and everything that was on sucked. Worse, he was on holiday, and we wanted to sit around being lazy together! Whatever did we do?

Netflix, for the most part, with a dash of Hulu. We devoured all of Samurai Champloo and Fullmetal Alchemist (the first edition)-- neither of which we'd seen before-- and also went on a bit of an anime sampling rampage. We tried Mushi-shi (ugh), Death Note (meh), Hikaru no Go (no), Samurai 7 (eh), and Gurren Lagan (confusing). We made it into the second volume of Moribito before giving up because things were going so...fucking...slow. And I tried Fruits Basket (so-so) and Eden of the East (bleh) on my own.

I used to think I just went with the flow with my siblings when we borrowed and rented movies way back when. We saw mostly the ones that were popular at the time, generic action movies and so forth, and I guess I liked them more than I thought? Because when I look at my movie-watching history and compare it with what I've liked in anime as well, it's not exactly this trend of *deeply emotional and profound*. I've got some of that in there, i.e. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Band's Visit and so forth. But overall, I think I like lots of action.

And romance. Obviously. I went trawling through torachan's recs, and ZOMG Love Catalog! And Koukou Debut!!!!! I'm currently nearing the end of Kimi ni Todoke, and wondering if Hana Yori Dango is going to be on the same level-- it looks like it's one of those where the guy is a massive jerk, and I'm just so not there if that's the case.

Last word: 13 Samurai (h/t an ooold movie rec post I can't find by yeloson). SERIOUSLY.

The REAL last word: I completely forgot about the Hulu part of this-- Misfits! I can't wait for the next season to come out, even though I know they're probably going to flub the solution/explanation of Nikki's death. They better at least TRY to provide one, or I'm going to be pissed.

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Random things

2011-09-13T21:09:35Z

I saw some thin, illustrated children's books at Walmart the other day (photo later if I become un-lazy). They were $1 each, and though the covers and pictures within looked really good, they were printed on so-so paper and perhaps not typeset as well as they could have been. I have to admit, I saw them and thought about how fiercely the battle over ebook pricing has raged; I wonder whether they're selling well, and what their existence means for Walmart's future moves.

Meanwhile, in sort-of-an-author-now land, I've been coding my brains out and feeling out the formatting process with a short story of mine. Tailoring my CSS for the Kindle platform was a giant PITA until I remembered the Kindle Previewer and downloaded it; the Kindle for PC program is soooooo slooooooow, especially when you have any more than 50 ebooks in your library at any time. I also don't know where I would be without KindleGen, which beats Mobipocket Creator on control and speed hands down.

Lastly, in a fit of nostalgia-fueled madness, my husband and I created characters on yet another WoW Vanilla private server. It is surprisingly fun, mostly because we're rolling around as two mages, and because it is so surreal seeing what changed and what didn't. The opening cinematics still look great today, to the point that I understood why people went ahead and played the shit out of suboptimal classes even back then; I came away from that video wanting to roll a hunter, lousy pet AI and quality of life be damned.

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And it begins...with tech. Again.

2011-06-04T03:57:21Z

Shit I have been wanting to respond to in some way for a goddamn week:

Dude? I know that this guy's article on iA Writer sounds good, but don't. Don't buy it. If you write long-form ANYTHING on an iPad, you probably already know that landscape is the only way to go if you're not attaching an external keyboard, and iA Writer's landscape SUCKS. The big, beautiful text means that you only get to see two or three paragraphs at a time (or, if you're like me, one or two very long paragraphs), and the extra row on top of their modified version of the built-in keyboard means that even more writing is obscured. Focus mode is kind of a joke-- in long-form writing, you generally need to refer back and forth to check spellings or whatever, and polishing a sentence is not something you need to grey out other text to do. Yeah, I know you bought it already. I am sorry in advance.
Apparently, the US Postal Service may be taking it's last dive. Really solid article at BusinessWeek, eye-opening and sad. Kind of explains why the junk mail really just keeps coming these days in the US. (via rmateu @ tumblr)
Unbound, a book-focused Kickstarter clone, is one of the most headscratching new publishing things I have seen, sporting only a 'book' focus and higher project fees as additions to the original formula. From the established author's pov (which is who they're targeting for supply for their initial push), the service doesn't really make much sense. If you have a new idea you want to write, you could very, very easily reach your current readers through Kickstarter or really any old website, set your own prices for each contribution level and promise more deliverable things than lunches in London (not so convenient if you live nowhere near there) and so forth. Best of all, you wouldn't have to pay a new, unproven publishing company 50% of the funding you get for your project, instead of the 10% that Amazon and Kickstarter would take.
Michael Mace's reaction to Windows 8, or basically the only article you need to read about Microsoft's recently announced, tablet-friendly incarnation of Windows.

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HI. Totes under construction.

2011-06-03T16:46:09Z

Watch this space, more to come, etc etc.

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