Teleidoscope

Fri, Mar 07, 2008

Power Lines, yet again

Posted at 8:06 pm MST to Miscellaneous

It looks like the platform/storage thingy will not be needed after all. This Art the electrician came out again. He got Kurt from X-Cel to come out and take a look at tthings (not the same X-Cel guy who showed up on Monday, nor from the same department).

They are still discussing whether the trench up my driveway needs to be re-done, but I have been asured that whatever is done about that won't cost me any additional money. It will be handled betwee the electrical contractor and X-Cel.

I just want them to 1) get the powerlines into a more stable configuration and 2) finish mucking up the area near my house so I can get a landscape architect and contractor in to fix the retaining wall and the path from the house to the driveway.

I'm tired of having my shoes sucked off by the mud when the ground is wet. And it has now been 5 months since they dug things up the first time.

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Elizabeth Bear Short Pieces

Posted at 8:06 pm MST to Media

Over the past couple of weeks I have gradually read Elizabeth Bear's Live Journal. All of it. By tags. In reverse alphabetical order. With all of the comments.

I really like her writing, but I have somehow gotten out of the habit and mood for reading long narratives. So yesterday evening I read most of the online short fiction pieces that are linked to from her website.

It was interesting to recognise different bits of research that were mentioned in the LJ entries, and I liked all of the stories. We seem to have a lot of historical and literary interests in common.

After reading the first novella in it, I'm looking forward to the reissue of New Amsterdam this year. Vampire detectives and dirigibles are hard to beat.

I think I'm looking forward to the publication of the 'Edda of Burdens' books, beginning with All the Windwracked Stars in the fall, even more. (I've been a fan of Norse myth since I was about 10.) "Norse periapocalyptic noir steampunk cyberfantasy WITH A GIANT TELEPATHIC METAL HORSE!" The horse was introduced/created in one of the short pieces. (It seems natural that E Bear books and stories should include the Fimbulwinter. It's a side effect of the overload of cool stuff. :-) )

And I think the next book of hers I read will be Blood and Iron rather than the sequel to her first novel (which I read one weekend while I was sick last month). The short pieces set in the Promethean Age world have put me in the mood for Faerie and literature. Besdies, what ex-librarian and cat-lover could resist a book where one of the New York Public Library lions comes to life? That's not a spoiler: it is ilustrated on the cover.

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