Bye, now. Have good sex.

Kaylee ,'Jaynestown'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


DavidS - Jan 24, 2012 10:56:19 am PST #17575 of 28261
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Did you go to Kenyon, David? I didn't realize you knew her. Cool.

I was good friends with her older sister, Siouxsie, who also went to Kenyon. I was graduated by the time she started at Kenyon, but we'd started a correspondence when Laura was about Emmett's age. I remember I sent her something for her 16th birthday.

I had a long involved correspondence with Sioux when she was at Exeter for a year, and Ralf (aka, Laura) started writing to me as well. Their older sister and some of their friends started writing to me too. Ahhh, letters. It was fun. (I've got one of her doctored teenage postcards on my fridge. Presciently - considering Unbroken - it has a WWII bomber on it with her picture pasted on in the corner.)

And then we just had a sporadic correspondence over time as her CFS got worse. Actually I'd fallen out of touch with her when I went on Amazon in 2001 to check how my Bubblegum book was doing and saw that the #1 seller was by Laura Hillenbrand. And at the time you could email the author directly through Amazon, which I did and we reconnected.

And then...lost touch again until her sister emailed me last year and now (long story, sorry) I'm friends with her on Facebook.

In short: the only time I met her in person was when I was driving my mom's car back from Florida to Boston, and stopped to see them at their place in Maryland and it was the weekend of Live Aid. So we watched that for a couple hours and then I hit the road again.


hippocampus - Jan 24, 2012 11:23:13 am PST #17576 of 28261
not your mom's socks.

The sloth talk in Natter reminded me to mention Lauren Beukes' Zoo City here - it's a pretty amazing read (& Arthur C. Clarke winner).


Consuela - Jan 24, 2012 11:29:17 am PST #17577 of 28261
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

it's a pretty amazing read

Isn't it? I thought the ending was a bit too fast, and hard to follow, but the world-building, concepts, and characterization was so good. I will be reading more by her.


Polter-Cow - Jan 24, 2012 11:31:31 am PST #17578 of 28261
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I wanted to like it more than I did, but it was good.


Consuela - Jan 24, 2012 11:48:54 am PST #17579 of 28261
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

I want to know more about the Ontological Shift. What does the animaling mean? What are the parameters of that? But she never really got into it.

BTW, there were a couple of Zoo City stories in Yuletide this year, one of them talking about the Ontological Shift. It was pretty cool, although too short.


Polter-Cow - Jan 24, 2012 11:53:11 am PST #17580 of 28261
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I want to know more about the Ontological Shift. What does the animaling mean? What are the parameters of that? But she never really got into it.

I know!! I was really hoping for more worldbuilding since the idea was so interesting.


hippocampus - Jan 24, 2012 1:14:49 pm PST #17581 of 28261
not your mom's socks.

I want to know more about the Ontological Shift. What does the animaling mean? What are the parameters of that? But she never really got into it

yes. This.

I hope we'll see more from her on the subject.


Sophia Brooks - Jan 24, 2012 1:21:19 pm PST #17582 of 28261
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

Wait- do they become animals or have to carry around the animal?


Polter-Cow - Jan 24, 2012 1:22:12 pm PST #17583 of 28261
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

The latter.


hippocampus - Jan 24, 2012 1:28:15 pm PST #17584 of 28261
not your mom's socks.

There's a sense in one particular scene - at the hospital, with her brother, that it's not the act, it's the guilt that triggers it . That could actually be a very deft handling of a shift. Er, as long as I'm reading the author's intent correctly and not the just rejiggerings of one of her readers.