Bellona

This journal is currently on hiatus.

The weather's been pretty miserable the past week or so; a few short peiods of sunshine interrupted by ominous clouds, drizzling rain, thuderstorms, and even hail. Last night's thunderstorm seems to have inbued the light in my roommate's closet (a lightbulb with a chain to pull it on and off) with static electricity. Touching the chain sends a tingling shock throughout one's body. We must now wrap a hand in cloth to turn the light on and off. Hopefully this condition will not persist.

I've just finished reading 'The Life and Death of Socrates' (containing Euthyphro, the Apology, Crito, and the death scene from 'Phaedo') for a political theory course. For some reason, I expected Plato to be much more complicated and difficult to interpret than I found him to be. I don't know if the excerpts I've read have just been from old or poor translations, or if his other writing is harder, but I guess I'll find out - I'm starting the 'Republic' today.

My re-read of Mary Renault's The Charioteer has confirmed it as one of my favourite books, despite the fact that there are several things I don't really like about it.

I've come to realize that I like The Charioteer more for its brilliant prose, its handful of likeable characters, and certain specific scenes than for its actual plot. Alec's party, from the moment Laurie arrives until the appearance of Andrew back at the hospital may be my favourite scene from any book I've read. It's certainly in the top five.

I ordered some books from bookcloseouts.com tonight. They really do have fabulous prices, both at their St. Catharines, Ontario warehouse and online. I got, among other things, a new paperback copy of The Friendly Young Ladies, which seems to be out of print in Canada, for only US$4.99. Which is nice, considering how hard Renault is to find used--partly because she is usually mistakenly shelved in the Ancient History section.

Last year, in an interview on the CBC (Radio One), I heard Etienne Drapeau sing a very catchy ballad, which I didn't manage to get the name of. I'd never heard of him before (or since), but I loved what I heard, and two lines stuck in my head: Si je n'ai jamais dit tous ces mots/C'est que l'amour me brûle un peu trop.

I've been checking M. Drapeau's website every couple of months, hoping he'd put out an album with that song on it. My persistence has been rewarded! The song is Je l'ai jamais dit a personne, from the album of the same title. It's as good as I remember. I have to buy the CD, and I hope it's available at a music store in Toronto. I wonder if there's a particular neighbourhood where I'd be more likely to find French music? If I can't find it here, I'll have to look for it during my trip to Montreal in May or June - but I don't want to wait that long.

Anyone who speaks French, or doesn't mind music in a language she can't understand, should check out this song.

I'm just about finished re-reading Dorothy L. Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon. I've been wanting to read it for a while, but it's been buried under the pile of about sixty books on my bedroom floor, which I put away yesterday. Now if I can just get out the ones under the bed, I might be able to find and read Gaudy Night, as well.

One hour later . . .

I've cleaned under the bed, but Gaudy Night has not turned up. I did, however, find about twenty other books (including Thrones, Dominations, G.K. Chesterton's The Complete Father Brown, and Agatha Christie Death in the Air,) two hairbrushes (which is good luck, since my only other brush broke three days ago), three boxes of kleenex (one empty), and a spoon. I have now vowed to sweep under the bed at least twice a week . . . .

. . . Authors (favourite books by those authors in brackets):

• Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Persuasion)
• Laurie R. King (The Beekeeper's Apprentice, O Jerusalem, A Darker Place, To Play the Fool)
• Robertson Davies (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders)
• Shauna Singh Baldwin (What the Body Remembers, English Lessons and Other Stories)
• Lois McMaster Bujold (Memory, Mirror Dance, A Civil Campaign, Cordelia's Honor, The Curse of Chalion)
• Guy Gavriel Kay (Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, Sailing to Sarantium, Lord of Emperors)
• L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of the Island, Anne's House of Dreams, The Blue Castle)
• Terry Pratchett (Going Postal, Night Watch, Thud!, Lord and Ladies)
• Mary Renault (The Charioteer)
• Dorothy L. Sayers (Five Red Herrings, The Nine Tailors, Murder Must Advertise, Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon)
• Agatha Christie (The Moving Finger, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, At Bertram's Hotel)
• P.G. Wodehouse (Psmith in the City, Leave It to Psmith)
• Gordon Korman (Son of Interflux, Don't Care High, Beware the Fish!, Go Jump in the Pool)
• Rosemary Sutcliff (Frontier Wolf, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Lantern Bearers, The Shield Ring, Bonnie Dundee)

Of my fourteen favourite authors:

• Nine are women and five are men.
• Five are Canadian, seven are British, and two are American.
• Eight wrote all their books before I was born (in 1984), and are now dead.
• Six are still alive.
• Ten have published more than ten fictional novels.
• Thirteen are White, AFAIK.
• Thirteen are straight, AFAIK.

. . . Books Not By Those Authors (genre in brackets)

• The Course of Honor by Lindsey Davis (historical fiction)
• The Devil in Music and Whom the Gods Love by Kate Ross (historical mystery)
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (historical mystery)
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (children's lit)
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (children's lit)
• Lizzy's Lion by Dennis Lee (children's poetry)
• My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (play)
• Saint Joan and Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw (play)
• The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (children's lit)
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (children's lit)
• Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus
• Antigone by Sophocles
• The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer (children's lit)
• Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
• The Chrestomanci Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones (children's fantasy)
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling
• The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle (young adult)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
• The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer

. . . TV/Movies (actors in brackets): favourite episodes

• due South (Callum Keith Rennie, Paul Gross, David Marciano): Burning Down the House, Dead Guy Running, Mounty on the Bounty
• Remington Steele (Stephanie Zimbalist, Pierce Brosnan): Steele Trap, Love Among the Steele
• A Nero Wolfe Mystery (Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin): Champagne for One, Over My Dead Body, Death of a Doxy
• Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Jamie Bamber): The Duchess and the Devil, The Wrong War, Retribution
• Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle)
• As Time Goes By (Judy Dench, Geoffrey Palmer)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Sarah Michelle Geller, Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters): Becoming (parts 1 and 2), Graduation (parts 1 and 2), Hush, Once More, With Feeling
• Lord of the Rings (Sir Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood)
• Troy (Peter O'Toole, Brad Pitt, Sean Bean)
• Chef (Lenny Henry)
• Gosford Park (Maggie Smith, Clive Owen)

Just after Christmas, I read Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of Souls. I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as her Miles Vorkosigan books. When I found the next in the series, The Hallowed Hunt, at my favourite discount bookstore, I did buy it, even though I didn't think I would like it any better than its prequel, and I was proved right.

Earlier this week, I found the first book in the series, The Curse of Chalion (in hardcover), for $4 in a used bookstore. Since I already had the next two in hardcover, and it was so cheap, I bought it. I am so glad I did. CoC is so much better than either of its sequels. It had an exciting and interesting plot with that special LMB spark to it, just like the Vorkosigan novels. Why couldn't PoS and HH be as good?

Meanwhile, I also found copies of some Guy Gavriel Kay books I've been looking for: Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun. I'd already read, and loved, Sailing to Sarantium, Lord of Emperors, and A Song for Arbonne, so I was eager to read more of his work. I read Tigana in a single day, and loved it. I kind of want to save LLotS until I can find a copy of The Lions of Al-Rassan, which is the only one of GGK's historical fantasies that I don't own, but I'm not having any luck with it. Still, I feel like I should savour the last two of his books, because who knows how long it will be until he published a new one?

Sometimes I wonder why I like GGK's historical fantasies so much (besides the entertaining plot and great writing, that is.) They're inevitably bittersweet and somewhat angsty, which I don't always enjoy. I tend to avoid stories that might make me cry, or that include character death or tragedy of some kind, especially if there's no happy ending. Books, fanfic, even movies - for me, it's all about escapism. GGK's books tend to affect me emotionally in a way that a lot of stuff that I read doesn't.

I bought season three of due South on DVD, so I've finally been able to see some of the Kowalski episodes beyond Burning Down the House and Eclipse. My love for Ray Kowalski has been confirmed. Mounty on the Bounty is the best episode ever. And there are no words for how much I. Hate. Stella.

That is all.

Squee! That's all I can say about the Nero Wolfe episode Motherhunt, which I watched for the first time last night. It's one of the episodes I've never seen.

I was really afraid Archie's romance with Lucy Valdon was going to annoy me, but I actually liked her a lot, even though she had some irritating mannerisms.

Most of the time, the double episodes are better than the single ones. The singles always feel too rushed to me; 45 minutes isn't enough time to have much of a mystery - by the time the scene has been set, the murder has happened and the suspects have been identified, it's pretty much time to reveal the killer. The double episodes have the most fun characters, too, like Lucy Valdon and Julie Jaquette.

* * *

I'm going away this evening to my aun't house near St. Catharines. I visit her quite a few times a year, and usually I take the 7:15 a.m. Greyhound, which arrives at 8:25. It's nice because I have a whole extra day there. I have a class that I can't miss from 2-3 today, so I'm taking the 6:30 p.m. bus, which I'm kinda worried about. Last time I travelled on a Friday afternoon, I took the 4:15 p.m. bus. It was packed, with not one empty seat, and it took more than twice as long to get to St. Catharines because of rush hour traffic. I told myself, never again.

But now I'm travelling on a Friday night again, albeit a couple of hours later. I don't know if that will make much difference. I hope so, or it'll be a miserable start to the weekend.

I just bought myself seasons one and two of Nero Wolfe on DVD. I'm enjoying it immensely, especially since there are quite a few episodes that I've never seen. Even when I really like a TV show, a lot of times I'm not in the mood to watch it when it's on, or I forget and miss it. So TV episodes on DVD are never just re-runs for me, which is nice, even better than getting extra features on a movie DVD.

The differences between the first and second seasons are kind of weird. The first season seems to be set in the 50's to me, but the second season seems more like the 60's. Which is a shame, because I don't like the 60's clothes much. One of the things I love about the first season is that women's clothing.

Luckily, all my favourite actors are back in the second season: Timothy Hutton, Conrad Dunn (Saul Panzer) and Kari Matchett (Carla Lovchen, Lily Rowan, Celia Grantham, Sarah Jaffee, Julie Jacquette, etc.) Even Janine Theriault (Ethel Varr, Angela Page, Jill Hardy), even though she plays a lot of annoying characters. Nero Wolfe had a truly great cast; the only actor I didn't really like was Francie Swift (Sarah Dacos, Margot Dickey, Neya Tormic, Helen Weltz). I still don't like that she was cast as Neya Tormic, because I didn't find her remotely convincing as a Balkan immigrant. At least they didn't cast her as Carla; Kari Matchett did a great job with that part.

It's been so long since I wrote anything here I'm not sure that I even remember how to do this. But anyway.

I've discovered something odd about my taste in lit fanfic. Normally, I'm pretty oblivious to the narrative voice when I'm reading good fic. I don't care, or even particularly notice, whether it's first person, third person, whatever. Except that I do - when I'm reading in certain lit fandoms.

Specifically, Anita Blake and Nero Wolfe fanfic. I suspect it's because both Rex Stout's and Laurell K. Hamilton's novels have such distinctive first-person narration. If the writer can't give me a good Archie voice, it doesn't seem like Nero Wolfe to me, no matter how good the story might be. Same for Anita Blake.

I've been having kind of a fanfic block the past few days. I'm just not in the mood to read what are usually my favourite stories. Vshendria came out with a new chapter of Borderlines a while ago, and I haven't read it yet, even though I checked back at her site constantly for months to see if a new chapter had been posted. I know that eventually I'll be obsessed with Borderlines again, and when that time comes I'll be happy to have an unread chapter waiting for me.

I have been reading Adina's Green Ice, which is an excellent gen Sayers/Wodehouse crossover. Bertie is suspected of a jewel robbery, and it takes Flim Wimsey's help to solve the case. It's a really interesting story told from Bertie's point of view; Adina's explanation of Bertie's attitudes and behaviour in canon is so believable. I'll never see Bertie Wooster the same way again. Anyway, Green Ice is finished and will eventually be posted to the yuletide archive in its entirety.

It's been such a shock to go from the online slash fanfic world, where I've lurked for many years, to the more mainstream world of feminist/progressive blogging. The kind of courtesy, friendliness, liberal/progressive attitudes and good grammar that I take for granted in slash fandom is sometimes almost entirely absent in the blogosphere.

Of course, there are plenty of good, intelligent bloggers on a whole variety of issues. It's the commenters who shock me. I know that being a slasher automatically puts one on the liberal side of things, but I hadn't fully understood just how different things are in the "real world" of the net. Things that I take completely for granted are apparently very controversial.

The other major difference is, of course, that most slashers are women. I really appreciate that--it's the one place in my life where my gender is the default gender. For once, I'm the norm.

I am well on the way to achieving my goal of finding more rareslash for my site, with five new Nero Wolfe recs posted and 1 new Sayers/Wodehouse crossover. And I have found a new favourite character. Unfortunately, he's an original character, so I'm not holding my breath for any more fic about him. Anyway, Angelo Gerello is the main character an original story by Parhelion: An Angel in Hollywood. The rest of Parhelion's fic, both original and Nero Wolfe slash, is at Cirrus and Sundogs. It's good stuff.

For some reason, I keep picturing Angelo in the Anita Blake universe. Maybe as a werewolf? I don't know why Anita Blake--of all fandoms to imagine him in, it's one of the most unlikely--other than that it would be interesting to see a modern Angelo interact with that cast of characters.

Well, it's been awhile.  I have now definitely decided to post all recs only on my website. I might still talk about specific fics here, from time to time.

Also, I know have a blog called Redfish. It's written by my RL self, and it's where are my non-fandom stuff will go, so I'll mostly be using this account to post on other people's journals.  I've decided that blogger is easier to use than livejournal, in a lot of ways.  It also has somewhat more options for a free account, although I wish it had a 'memories' function.

Anyway, the site is definitely up and running smoothly.  Since I started it just over a month ago, on 4 February 2005, I've had 171 visitors.  I have a total of 193 stories in 52 fandoms:

• Horatio Hornblower: 7
  
• Master and Commander: 2
  
• Andromeda: 4
• Buffy & Angel: 16
• Classics: 15 (a variety of fandoms: Gladiator, Hercules, Troy, Renault, Alexander, classical myth, Homer, etc.)
  
• DC Comics: 8
• Sandman: 6
• Boy Meets Boy: 4
• Other Comics: 1
• due South: 14
• Nero Wolfe: 1
• Lord Peter Wimsey: 1
• Gundam Wing: 5
• Harry Potter: 14
• Lord of the Rings: 10
• Miscellaneous: 9 (fandoms that just don't fit anywhere else at the moment--where would I put Simon and Simon or Secret Garden slash?)
• Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: 2
• Anita Blake: 2
• Merry Gentry: 2
• Digimon: 5
• Good Omens: 4
• Saiyuki: 2
• Popslash: 7
• Faculty: 6
• Big Wolf On Campus: 4
• Battlestar Galactica: 3
• Fairy Tales: 3
• Smallville: 7
• Star Trek: 16
• X-Men: 7
• Weiß Kreuz: 6

Lest anyone think I have fanfic-reading superpowers, a large portion of the 193 stories I rec'd are ones I had read before and had bookmarked.  I do not read an average of 6 fics a day; although many of the stories are quite short, quite a few are novel-length.  So I probably won't be updating as often as I have been.  I really pushed myself (for no particular reason other than my own impatience) to get the site up and rec all my favourite stuff within a ridiculously short time.  From here on, I expect the site to grow more naturally--that is, I'll rec a good story when I find it, which might not be every day.

On the other hand, places like The Rec Room are bound to be useful in finding good fic.

I'll probably spend the next while reading in smaller fandoms like Weiß Kreuz, Saiyuki, Fairy Tales (if I can find any), Wodehouse, Sayers, Nero Wolfe, Gundam Wing and Anita Blake.

I have now decided that this rich text editor is more trouble than it's worth.  It refuses to wrap lines or preview properly.  Maybe it just doesn't work well with Firefox? Hopefully re-editing in html will fix the problem...

Like A Bad Penny by cosmorific (Schuldig/Yohji, NC-17)

Written for the Weiß Kreuz 100 swap challenge.

It's funny, but I really wanted to rec it because I love the icon. Now I want a t-shirt with "What Would Schuldig Do?" printed on it...

K and I went to see it yesterday afternoon. It was really good. Not Oscar material or anything, but very fun. I smiled practically the whole way through, which was just what I wanted. I'm definitely going to buy it when it comes out on DVD, to add it to my collection of movies that cheer me up no matter what mood I'm in--my comfort movies.

I figured the Bride & Prejudice would be good because I loved Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha's other movie about Indian girls. She didn't disappoint me. Although I didn't love all of the songs in B&P, I didn't hate any of them and I was never bored. And it was a surprisingly long movie. The Indian dance songs were absolutely the best--although the "no life without wife" song where the four sisters danced around in their pjs was good too. And the dancing was all good.

( Spoilers )

Anupam Kher did a fabulous job as Mr. Bakshi, as always. I liked the way the names reflected P&P (Lalita Bakshi-Lizze Bennett, Jaya-Jane, Maya-Mary, Lahki-Lydia, Chandra-Charlotte, Mr. Kholi-Mr. Collins)

Even the villains are somewhat sympathetic characters.

All in all, a cute, fun movie that was so much better than it might have been in the wrong hands.

Beneath The Harrow by Siubhan (Toad/Mystique, Toad/f, NC-17)

Multi-part series. I can't believe this wasn't the first thing I rec'd in this fandom.  I've loved it for ages; it makes me wish there was more Toadfic out there.  The link is actually to the warning page; the story is on Siubhan's x-men fanfic page.

On Love and Lust at Mutant High by jenn (movieverse, St. John/Bobby, various, PG-13 to NC-17)

The series that made St. John/Bobby my OTP. It's a fairly long series of (short) stories. Told from John's perspective and he's almost--but not quite--fifth business in the drama of Rogue's life.

Getting to Know You: Jubilee by Sare Liz

Jubilee gets a GTKY forward and passes it around the school. Unsurprisingly, my faves are St. John and Bobby--although I laughed at Scott's "good, reliable dog." And Ororo's 'dream car.'

Xavier by Beth
Logan by Sare Liz
St. John by jenn
Bobby by jenn
Scott by Beth
Remy by Beth
Ororo by Sare Liz

I found them here but you have to scroll down to find them; the page has a lot of other fic by the same authors.

The Iceman Cometh: A Pyromaniac's Love Story by zahra (St. John/Bobby, R)

After Johnny comes back. There are a few more good X-Men stories over at zahra's site, archived under 'miscellaneous'. I really like the look of her site, too.

Feel The Devil In Me by Juliette Torres (Crowley/Aziraphale, NC-17)

Ummm...demon/angel sex.

Ordinary People by Daeger (AU, Crowley/Aziraphale, unrated)

Ezra Fell and Tony Crowley. They're just ordinary people.

The Best Christmas Ever by Amy (unrated)

A Tadfield Christmas.

Busted and Tapestry by anonymous co (Fraser/RayK, R)

Ray goes north to Fraser when he needs a friend.

True North by Crysothemis (Fraser/RayK, RayK/other, NC-17)

Maggie Mackenzie unwittingly reveals Fraser's deepest secret. Post-COTW.

Parental Guidance by Alanna, Starfish and Kass (Fraser/RayK, NC-17)

Ray's parents get the wrong idea. Or the right idea.

The Teeth of the Hydra by Resonant (Fraser/RayK, NC-17)

Ray's life in tattoos. No, really. Great Ray/Stella backstory.

Halber Mensch by Viridian5 (Schuldig/Aya, Schuldig/Crawford, R)

Meditations on telepathy. (On the hour we broadcast your values....)

You Could Be The One by Viridian5 (Aya/Farfarello)

Aya has never been wooed like this before.

Role Reversal by Juliette Torres (various, R)

Schwarz gets to kidnap members of Weiß and have sex with them all the damn time. It's practically a genre of Weiß Kreuz fiction. We decided this simply wasn't fair to Weiß. Weiß needed the opportunity to kidnap and have sex with Schwarz all the damn time, too.

And you know Schwarz loves it.

Complex by One Person
In which a telepath is acquired, a team is created, and no bureaucratic ass is spared. Shuldich backstory.

I really like young Schuldig in the bookstore. And the rest.