Tag: travels

Back from a week in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, where we pretty much did nothing but camp among the (surprisingly bright and varied) wildflowers, move from patches of forest to stretches of lakeshore and back again, track the movements of rainclouds, watch turkey vultures circle overhead, listen to the local (surprisingly shy) ravens talk among themselves, and read lots and lots.

And along the way, we also got to meet tchernabyelo in person, which was much fun.

I’ve been working so intensely on Faerie 3 (working title, Faerie After) that my brain pretty much wanted me to fill it with stories for a week and not demand, for a little while, that it provide any stories in turn.

I almost brought enough books with me, too. 🙂

What I read on my summer vacation:

– The Demon’s Lexicon, Sarah Rees Brennan (I expected it to be entertaining, but found it to be out and out quite good as well.)
– Illusions, Aprilynne Pike (The first of the books to end on a cliffhanger–really the first half of a larger story.)
– Cold Cereal, Adam Rex (More ambitious than The True Meaning of Smekday, and different from it, but with threads of the same humor.)
– The Shattering, Karen Healey (Loved this one. Keep thinking about it.)
– Silver Phoenix, Cindy Pon (Which had been sitting on my shelf unread for ages.)
– Give Up the Ghost, Megan Crewe (A much more interesting book than it seems from the outside. I find myself wishing it had gotten more notice–but maybe it did and I missed it.)
– Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Yes, for the first time. You may all be amused now.)

Hopefully I’ll find the time to give some of these some longer takes, too. (Along with one read just before leaving: Sarah Zettel’s Dust Girl, due out in summer 2012, a MG/YA which is one of the best urban fantasies I’ve read in some time.)

But now, with my brain cleared and a bit of lazing behind me, it’s time to dig in for the final (this time for real! I hope!) pass through Faerie After.