The Juliets finally meet (Grames, right; Ulman, left) and instantly find a book cover under which to pose.



Colleen Lindsay trades her tie with someone I know I was introduced to.



My ex-publisher Kevin (he's the non-evil one, the other two have red eyes!) between Tiffany and Allegra at BEA Tweetup.

And the rest of the weekend was very similar to the above. Lots of friends, old and new; lots of book covers and fewer galleys; lots of drinks and meet-and-greets. Next year I'll take more than three pictures. Would you believe I had 85 pictures of Loki and 3 pictures of BEA on my camera? Okay. Perhaps you would.

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, P.T. Leeson
Princeton University Press
Cover design by Jason Alejandro with more info here

Pirates! Money! What's not to love?

I don't read much nonfiction (for pleasure, I mean; I read LOTS for work) but this cover is so breathtaking in its simplicity and its conceit that you can't wait to touch it. And who wouldn't want to read about pirates?

It comes with a book trailer, but you'll have to watch it from the Princeton University site.

Sales copy:

The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a "pirate code"? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful?

The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy—a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers' compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice—their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized.

This will be a ramble.

Work is horribly busy. I have a few rush titles that are crashing through (one in particular that will be great if the author manages to rewrite it in, oh, two days and if not then I have to do it and even quicker) so by the time I get home I'm exhausted.

Some fun projects are chugging steadily on, but mostly by the time I get home, I'm exhausted and not in the mood to post. I am considering my evening "pattern" to figure out why I do this, and I think I figured it out. Right now I a) get home b) take the bird out and entertain him for 30-60 mins while making dinner c) log onto the computer and read email/LJ/Twitter d) update -if- I don't want to just read and crash for the evening.

I think I need to reverse d and c. I can read in the morning before work, and I still have energy after step b (Loki is too cute not to be in a good mood, too!) but the act of reading for an hour throws my rhythm off and I just don't get anything else done for the day. Tomorrow I'll test that theory.

This weekend I'm visiting friends in Baltimore and bought round trip Megabus tickets for $11.50 total. That wouldn't even pay for the tolls! I have no excuse (okay, a bird-shaped exuse) not to visit people if this is what it will cost me.

My roommate officially moved out on Friday. I've been by myself for a little under a week and still have her queen sized oak sleigh bed in the new office space. Anyone want to purchase it for a nominal fee? (Selling for her.) It's gorgeous! She also left a brand new set of size 10 rollerblades (new for $130!)

I would like to live by myself instead of getting a new roommate (by myself! for the first time ever!) but am worried about not being able to make enough freelance in order to do it. I contacted a few friends and passed my resume on but if you're reading please feel free to pass along the word as well.

I'll make the final determination on June 15th. If nothing has turned up, I'll want someone in by July. I'll be okay for a few months w/o anything additional coming in, but it will put a lot of my long term plans (like any $$ saved or cards going down in balance) on hold. Erg.

To wrap up this ramble, have a video of the cutest bird ever. There is nothing cuter than baby owls. Except perhaps adolescent owls who want their head scritched:

Wolverine was fun light entertainment with great action scenes (a bit too much of the standing across from each other roaring, but hey, it is Logan). You have a complete lack of any emotional content, but it was pretty. Give me my Magneto now, please.

This Friday? This Friday we shall have something great. (And Sylar on the big screen! *swoon*) But first, here's the Onion discussing what old Star Trek fans are saying about the new movie. (Thanks to Wil Wheaton for the link.)



I spent a big chunk of the weekend revising a book proposal and am very excited about how its taking shape. With luck I'll be able to talk about it soon! (Ha. Book publishing moves about as fast as a hippo in mud.)

So there's been a lot happening since my post on the Google Books settlement. A judge has ruled on the settlement and delayed its end.

And even more importantly, courtesy of the SFWA's Twitter stream (oh twitter, I love thee): The US Justice Department has begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of the Google Book Settlement.

From rush manuscripts to new roommates to swine flu, life is just crazy lately.

I've been rereading and have a stack of books to review for my "favorites" series (including Diane Duane's Young Wizards series and James Clavell's Shogun) but instead, I give you John Stewart's reaction to the low flying plane that buzzed NY yesterday. (Yes, really.)



He didn't quite catch my #!%$@&#$ attitude towards it, but came close. Grump.

Will have a "Best Of" up tomorrow, perhaps during lunch (do I get those still?).

Just today, sun conures were determined to be an endangered species by the IUCN. To quote: "Although it was formerly fairly common, trapping for the cagebird trade has extirpated it from much of its former range and it is now in urgent need of effective protection." What you can do:

Promote responsible bird-ownership. If you are looking to add a bird in your home, find one at a rescue rather than a pet shop, and never ever purchase a wild-caught animal. Report wild-caught birds to conservation agencies if you happen to find one. Donate to the World Parrot Trust (if you are a pet owner you can buy toys from them).

Those are all tiny steps but everything will help. Just as the only way to stop puppy mills is to stop buying puppies so that income dries up for those breeding them, one way to stop bird trapping in the wild is to make it unprofitable as well as illegal (which it is).

I'll close with a picture from my Loki, bred here in the states and given up for adoption by his first owners when he was just 2 years old. Pets are not disposable, folks!

On March 13th I attended a symposium sponsored by the Columbia Law School to discuss the long term implications of the Google Books class settlement, announced in October of 2008. I’ve written a bit about it as well as some enlightenment as to the terms of the settlement under the cut.

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I love this cover so much I bought the book. It's a conceit that worked perfectly with the premise (a world that has the occasional superpower, and it's just natural that some of them want to be evil).

When I read it, I was coming right off of the Dr. Horrible craze and it felt so natural to read about villains as heroes. I wish the book had held up to my (admittedly high) expectations; it did a fine job of telling an adventure story but not as fine of a job of making the main character likable. I wanted to root for the "bad guy," but never fell in love. Added to that, some of the tale wasn't about him at all but instead told from the point of view of one of the heroes, the fact that Doctor Impossible never actually did anything terribly clever throughout, the immense lack of character development, and the entire thing just turned into a mess.

Doesn't change my cover love, however.

Sales copy:

Doctor Impossible—evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator—languishes in a federal detention facility. He's lost his freedom, his girlfriend, and his hidden island fortress.

Over the years he's tried to take over the world in every way imaginable: doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind control. He's traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Of rodents. Alien invasions. All failures. But not this time. This time it’s going to be different...

Courtesy of greenpear comes this brilliant mashup:

I have several ideas for posts to put up, but by the time I get home and get all the other craziness in my life done (potential new places to live, potential craziness with bird, etc) I have a choice: either sit back and READ all the LJs/twitters... or write my own.

So I've been just reading this week. Hope to have time to update tomorrow as the birds will be overnighting at the vets.

Yea, that's right, again. Loki has officially (in just five months) managed to equal the same number of vet visits of my last bird of 16 years. Some birds are like that... the risk you take as a pet owner, of course, and I signed up for it. Still, a royal pita.

Off to eat something before I get some shuteye.

I love my apartment so, so much. The reasons are many: the 10 ft ceilings to the Jacuzzi to the huuuge deck with backyard to the Manhattan views to the 6-person dining room to the beautiful wood floors to the tons and tons of storage space.

The one thing I don’t love about it is that it’s out of my price range. Luckily, it’s a two-bedroom. Unluckily, it’s looking more and more as of my roommate is going to move out as of June 1, and my landlord requires two-month notice. (I’ll know for sure by Friday, and will need to make a decision essentially right then in order to make that two mo deadline.)

If I move out, I won’t be entering a roommate deal again. I’m tired of this crazy thing where I can’t afford my living space! I would need a) a backyard or access to one and b) a one bedroom with easy access to transportation and big enough for all my junk. I’d love a dining room too but now -that- won’t be happening. The backyard is non-negotiable; it’s for the birds. Clearly, I’d also need to be able to bring the pets. And all for $1000 or less (preferably less, dear god). Also clearly, this is going to be damnable hard to find.

If I stay here, I’d need a roommate who would be willing to pay $670 and half the bills for the joy of living here. The apartment is beautiful, cheap, quiet save when the kids upstairs stampede (but when does that not happen when you live below someone?), and easily accessible to Manhattan. My bus has me at Port Authority in 20 minutes even during morning rush hour. It comes with me, two birds, and fully furnished save for the bedroom.

Right now, people are looking to downsize but they are also looking to move closer to Manhattan because of falling rents. I’m so worried about people not wanting to move here simply because it’s NJ. If I think I can find a roommate (that I think I can trust) and I can’t, I’m out the full rent of the place for however long it takes me to find someone/move out, but hopefully that will be temporary. If I move out, I’ll end up paying $200 to $300 more a month, plus moving expenses, which also puts any possibility of me actually saving money this year clean out the window. Well, both do, actually.

Argh. Someone please make this decision for me. To help you, here are some pictures of the place.

( Click here! )

Today, I shall give you one hysterical contrast of The Sword of Truth series and The Legend of the Seeker as currently shown on ABC. It's quite funny. It is also why I can't watch that show.

Also from Fantasy Magazine (which, btw, you should check out if you haven't, as they have a host of cool things to read) are these clips from Star Trek:TNG, re-ordered and occasionally new content inserted to delight fans everywhere. My love for Patrick Stewart comes out strong here. You should check out all of them, but my favorite two are embedded here:

"That Jean-Luc Picard"


"Goodnight, Sweet BEEP"

Today is the fourth day of "the trick," ie: Loki comes out of his cage, then instantly goes back in and sits on his perch demanding a treat. (This is what I give him at the end of the night/morning every time he goes in nicely--going in at the beginning of his "out" time is unprecedented.) Said treat was provided.

Unlike the last three days, Loki tried his luck AGAIN. Comes out, goes back in and sits on his perch. I did not this time provide an almond. He continued to wait almost a full twenty seconds before figuring out I wasn't going to give him his treat. So then... he went to his OWN food dish, picked up a pellet, and came out with it, loudly grumbling the whole time.

He ate it very pointedly in front of me at the top of the cage, still grumbling. I swear he's trying to teach -me-

Tomorrow, I will attempt to catch this on tape. In the meantime, I leave you with his Royal PITA himself:

I just started crying while watching this trailer. It's the scene with the boy wearing the suit in profile that almost perfectly mimics the Sendak's illustration that does it. This has a possibility of not screwing it up as horribly as The Seeker did Cooper's.

It's always your childhood memories of which you are the most protective, and Where the Wild Things Are ranks up really, really, high in most of ours.

What did you think of the trailer?

(Avail only via Apple right now; I've linked it above.)

Here's the pic I promised (the baked cinnamon rolls). I brought in two dozen to the office and they are all gone, baby! Meanwhile I am eating my lunch sandwiches with homemade raisin bread. Because that was the point.



More at my Flickr stream.

Loki is on his 7th day of medication and has really started to resist going into the bathroom (as that's where I give him his meds). He hides behind me, by my hairline in the back, which makes it very difficult to towel him. No improvement; his nose is still a bit inflamed although he's sneezing less.

He has, however, learned a trick. He did it first yesterday and again today. I tell the story in this video. If you listen, you can hear Fitz happily twittering away in the other room.

I decided to do a bit of baking this afternoon. Mostly I am procrastinating from finishing up these reviews (I have another week!! I can procrastinate!)

When I cook, I seldom follow a recipe exactly. When I bake, especially bread, it needs to be a bit by taste. This time I combined two recipes I found online. But there's a lot of my own spin on it. Here's what I did:

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Pre-baking. I'll post another pic of muffins post-icing as well as a slice of the bread once it's out! (Ah, I love the way my house smells!)

The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment, by Mary Stewart
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Brief description: The best damn Merlin/Arthur series ever.

I read and reread this series as a kid so much I wore through two paperback copies of The Hollow Hills. At one point I had three full sets. So when I reached for it for the reread a few weeks ago, I was dreading a discovery that it might not be as good as I remembered.

Thank god, it’s far better. I can say nothing, at all, bad about this set of books, except that it’s made me cry. A lot. This was the first set of books told from the first person that I read and enjoyed; it does not fall prey to the “I, I, I” syndrome that so many do. Merlin is an extremely fascinating character, earnest and humble at the same time, and he doesn’t know everything that’s going on, but he knows enough.

There is one final book in this series (The Wicked Day) that I didn’t include above; it’s the follow up and not told from Merlin’s perspective as the first three. However, it should be read immediately following these three for the full effect. It’s Mordred’s story, and it makes me so terribly sad—it’s less about evils and more about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and everything just crashing and burning around you.**

The theme of searching for ones parentage appears throughout, coming to the forefront three times in this sequence. Merlin, Arthur, then Mordred all seek and eventually find the truth of their parentage to be greater than they had imagined. Sometimes, it’s painful to watch, but the language and the story is so eloquently told you won’t mind. Until the end.

Stewart, in addition to addicting me to Merlin myths, sparked my love of poetry, which later resulted in my BA (yes, I have a poetry degree). The song (Merlin’s Song from the Grave, from TLE) was one of two poems I memorized in my youth.* I was irresistibly drawn to its achingly painful lament, so perfectly timed in the book.

Please pick up this sequence if you haven’t. It’s worth it. The Merlin in my minds eye will always be hers, “dark hair, dark eyes, and the body of a dancer.”

Some of my favorite quotes, spoiler-ish if you haven’t read anything about Merlin, ever, under the cut.
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*The other being Susan Cooper’s Signs poem from The Dark Is Rising. Which I’ll be getting to shortly ;)

**This statement desperate needs this quote of Merlin’s (speaking to Arthur) attached, from The Hollow Hills:
“Has no one ever told you that the gods are jealous? They insure against too much glory. Every man carries the seed of his own death, and you will not be more than a man. You will have everything; you cannot have more; and there must come a term to every life. All that has happened tonight is that you yourself have set that term. What more could a man want, that he determines his own death? Every life has a death, and every light a shadow. Be content to stand in the light, and let the shadow fall where it will.””

Cover illustration by Istvan Orosz.

Is it two men, or is it a skull? I hope that the story lives up to the cover; either way I must have this on my shelf. The detail on this is so intricate I'd be happy to have it hanging on my wall, too.

I often judge/purchase books by their cover; do you?

It's out later this year (September, woe). Snippet from Orbit's site (this is not a review):

In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority ekes out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, however, couldn’t care less. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. Embarking on a naïve quest for fortune, the strangely pious, graverobbing twins attempt to keep their faith no matter the consequences. Theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of beguiling beauties and cruel tragedies, of monsters and madmen. The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy.

This weekend I had an unexpected trip to the vet. I won't call it an emergency because I felt that the event requiring it was pretty minor, but with birds it's always better to play it safe. (The event: Loki was sneezing and I noticed some congestion in his nose, both of which are terribly unusual in birds).

Before I get much further, he's okay; he either has a small infection or is allergic to the dryness re: heat/central air in the apartment. The vet (not my normal vet, as she is out of town for a few weeks, but another avian specialist) pronounced him healthy except for his sneezing and his nostrils being swollen/irritated. I have the humidifier going, which he does not approve of; orders for daily showers, which he approves of; and 0.07 mg of medicine to make him drink, which he most decidedly does Not Approve Of. Even when it's grape-flavored (I had them make it up special!).

What I'd mostly like to remark on is the huge HUGE difference in temperament from this vet visit compared to his first. The first time I took him to the vet, it was just a week after getting him from Wings of Hope (a bird rescue in NJ). He had adopted me as "his person" almost instantly and was pronouncedly aggressive to people that were Not Me. For example, as soon as Loki was out of his carrier, he flew at the technician and bit her on the neck. And then he did the same thing to the vet, screeching and largely making a royal pain of himself. We had to have him in the carrier when he wasn't toweled.

It's now March. It hasn't even been six months since that visit (which was the week before Thanksgiving), and although I haven't been able to work with him as much as I'd like (clicker training has been delayed), this is what happened this past visit:

Before taking him out of his travel cage, I warned the vet and the technician about what happened on his previous visit so they could be prepared in case there was a repeat incident. So, when we opened up the travel cage, Loki popped right out and stepped up to the vet's hand, sat nicely on her forearm, didn't bite or scream at all, and tolerated being toweled (and tolerating is just about as good as you're going to get with any bird). He was on his best behavior and was so good that the vet remarked on it. I was so darn proud.

I truly don't understand why people give up their pets because of behavioral problems. Almost any behavior can be taught out of an animal if you're willing to be patient. It's worth the time you put in, truly it is. There are so many amazing animals out there looking for homes because their owners are giving them up. If you're looking, please give one a chance.