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Happy Halloween! It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted.

On the 19th, I ran my second half-marathon. I trained much harder this year and…finished a whopping 5 minutes faster. A fast runner, I am not. But I felt good about it, and had fun—it was a beautiful day in my hometown, I saw friends cheering along the way, and, heck, anytime I run any distance at all, I’m surprised. (Me: Well, no matter what happens, I enjoyed the training; R: Enjoyed? You loved the training!; Me: Yeah, I did.)

Then last weekend, we went to Colorado to see Son #1. CO was as gorgeous as ever, and son #1 seems to be doing well, better than last year, which is excellent, but a bit bittersweet, since I miss him a lot. (The boys and I had the most fun going to this old-fashioned pinball arcade , “Where it’s always 1978.” Along with the pinball, they had ping pong, pool, and, best of all, a giant Connect Four set and a giant Jenga set. Still, the traveling, and seeing friends and family so intensely is…intense.

And thinking about Yuletide. Assignments went out yesterday, and while mine isn’t all that exciting, it doesn’t look that difficult, either. I also snagged one of the initial pinch hits, from a fandom I’d been eyeing anyway. I need to spend some time reviewing the sources for both, though.

What I’m Reading

Nothing in print right now, but I’m listening to The Fever, by Megan Abbott, because I read this great review article about it, and the library had an audiobook copy. It’s compelling, but a little…garish? hyperbolic? The subject can’t help but hover on the edge of the ridiculous, and this book sometimes teeters over. Plus, high school has clearly gotten worse since I was a teenager. The level of sexual shame is WAY higher than it was in the 80s—but maybe that’s just the book? The social media frenzy is well done, though.

I’m also listening to, but have gotten distracted from, the fourth Twelve Houses book, Reader and Raelynx

What I Just Finished

Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie. Read more... )

Euphoria, by Lily King (audiobook). Read more... )

Dark Moon Defender, Sharon Shinn (audiobook). As enjoyable as the first two!

What I’m Reading Next

I’m trying to find time to start Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests, and I’m curious about Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings, which I have out from the library. But my parents are visiting this weekend, so who knows.

TV:

So, is anyone else watching Kingdom, the Direct TV show about MMA fighters, starring Frank Grillo as Alvey Kulina? Read more... )

And then there’s Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons on Peaky Blinders S2, doing one of his cardiganed thug turns as a Jewish breadmaking gangster (do the baggy clothes, slump and facial hair muffle his charisma, or do they just amplify it?). I’m a week behind, but so far I’ve been really enjoying watching the show get its Godfather on, even introducing a Michael Corleone character—Polly’s long lost son, who’s entering the criminal life with a kind of steely watchfulness that would make Al Pacino proud.

I’m a week behind with Homeland, too. I’m enjoying it okay, though Carrie is the worst, most unbelievable Station Chief, ever. She’s a great agent—but leadership skills? People management? Not so much.

Happy Halloween, folks! Have a great time if you’re participating!
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[livejournal.com profile] electricmonk333 has done an wonderful podfic of “Two Boys from Kansas in King Uther’s Court”, my SPN/Merlin xover, for [livejournal.com profile] podficbigbang. At 36k, this is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written, and has more action scenes than the rest of my fics put together, but [livejournal.com profile] electricmonk333 has a beautiful voice and does a wonderful job of sustaining the pace of the fic over 3 hrs and 38 minutes (a better job than the pacing of the story actually deserves, tbh).

CLICK HERE to dl and to see the gorgeous cover art by [livejournal.com profile] helva2260.

As people always say, it is weird to listen to your own fic read by other people, but even though I sometimes wished I’d taken a red pencil to the fic before it was recorded (too many adverbs and epithets *facepalm*), I still laughed at an embarrassing number of my own jokes. Listening to the fic, which is set in SPN S1 and Merlin S1 (I even had to invent an extra knight for Camelot, as there were no knights in S1—can you believe it?), also reminded me of how much fun it had been to write SPN fic, which I haven’t thought about in a while.

**

Inspired by that, I, perhaps foolishly, decided my sons were old enough to watch SPN—S1 at least.

Son #2 drifted away, but son #2 and I devoured the pilot and “Wendigo” in one sitting. Omigod the boys were cute in those days, weren’t they?

cut for my son immediately taking sides in fandom’s oldest debate )
**


In my own personal Lewis marathon: I have watched “Old Unhappy Far Off Things.” Feel free to share your views on
1) Your favorite lady guest star: Juliet Stevenson? Zoe Telford? Saskia Reeves?
2) Hathaway’s adorable devotion to his guv’nor
3) LFox’s S5 hair or
4) Other
In comments.

**


I’ve run three times this week, and done two of my three 10k workouts (more on the other blog). Wondering when I’ll get the last one in, though, since the weather is supposed to be between 100-104F tomorrow through Tues. With a low of 75. Which means that if I run at 7am, it’ll already be 80. *wipes away anticipatory sweat*

**


In conclusion: Why can’t I go see Magic Mike the minute it opens, people, why? I will be kid-free on Tues., though, and that is the first thing I’m gonna do, I tell you what. I need that movie like whoa.

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