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coalescentThe internet is too big. I go away for one week (six days, really), and come back to find more things I want to read than I could possibly hope to catch up on. I knew this would happen, mind you, but it's still annoying.
I was down in Cornwall, for those who may be interested, braving sheet rain and howling wind to, er, sit comfortably all day and read books, and sit companionably in the evening and eat large, rich meals. Hey, I gotta be me.
There was one clear afternoon on which we ventured down to the coast, but the tide was in and the beach was frothy with spume, so we didn't get very far. It's hard to describe the spume; it had the consistency almost of whipped cream. It rippled like jelly as the wind blew over it; when the wind blew especially hard, fragments flew into the air and swirled all around like snow or white feathers. It was a little disturbing.
Quote of the week comes from KJ Bishop's debut novel, The Etched City:
Much as I like it, the quote doesn't really do justice to the main flavour of the book, which is lush, decadent, slightly surreal. Michael Moorcock says many complimentary things about the book, that I would mostly agree with, here. There's an interview with the author at Strange Horizons, here.
I also read a whole bunch of space opera, about which more tomorrow, hopefully.
I've been fairly well insulated from the news, since we didn't buy any papers, and barely watched TV or listened to the radio. The one event that did reach us, via a text message sent to Alex, was the death of John Peel. I think it's the first time that a famous person dying has actually felt like it affects me in some way. I didn't discover Peel until much later than I should have done, and I wasn't ready for him to go.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
immortalradical wrote a good post about Peel here. Collected links are here.
I was down in Cornwall, for those who may be interested, braving sheet rain and howling wind to, er, sit comfortably all day and read books, and sit companionably in the evening and eat large, rich meals. Hey, I gotta be me.
There was one clear afternoon on which we ventured down to the coast, but the tide was in and the beach was frothy with spume, so we didn't get very far. It's hard to describe the spume; it had the consistency almost of whipped cream. It rippled like jelly as the wind blew over it; when the wind blew especially hard, fragments flew into the air and swirled all around like snow or white feathers. It was a little disturbing.
Quote of the week comes from KJ Bishop's debut novel, The Etched City:
In Beth's language he could, if he wished, say 'I love you.' In Anvallic this phrase was impossible, for cariah, loving, had no form in the singular person, but could only be expressed in the plural. It was understood to be something that existed as a mutual sentiment or not at all, and it implied a voluntary blending of identies. When one person wished to affirm cariah with another, the expression most often used was 'we love as water loves water and fire loves fire.'
To say precisely 'I love you,' he would have needed to use naithul, which had the meaning of turning or leaning towards the object of the verb. It variously implied fond feelings, admiration, carnal desire or even fervent devotion, but held no implication of reciprocal sentiment. Marriott's obsession with Tareda Forever was a case of naithul at its worst. Equals rarely used the term towards each other.
There was another word, suhath, denoting a person met at a crossroads. The sense was of two travellers meeting, enjoying each other's company, then parting and moving on. Gwynn believed Beth and he were of this kind. he refrained from hoping for more, except for one thing: to understand her before they parted.
Much as I like it, the quote doesn't really do justice to the main flavour of the book, which is lush, decadent, slightly surreal. Michael Moorcock says many complimentary things about the book, that I would mostly agree with, here. There's an interview with the author at Strange Horizons, here.
I also read a whole bunch of space opera, about which more tomorrow, hopefully.
I've been fairly well insulated from the news, since we didn't buy any papers, and barely watched TV or listened to the radio. The one event that did reach us, via a text message sent to Alex, was the death of John Peel. I think it's the first time that a famous person dying has actually felt like it affects me in some way. I didn't discover Peel until much later than I should have done, and I wasn't ready for him to go.
immortalradical wrote a good post about Peel here. Collected links are here.
