Misc du jour

[msmemory_archive]

Ordered flowers for Mother for Mother's Day. Usual overwhelmingly competent service from City Line Florist ("Is your address still xxx?") Maybe I can get Mother to save the vase for re-use after, too, it's the pretty Monet one.

Finished Round 1 of the mundane-name crossreference project for the OP. On to Round 2. Round 3 or 4 will be tracking down Big Name Peers via their web citations, but we're not there yet, still finishing using in-house sources like old polldb and old newsletters.

Household+ sewing night is cancelled this week so that K can go to her PTO meeting. Maybe I'll finish the Asaro book early. Or maybe I'll clean the bathroom. Either would be useful.

Comments

[dsrtao]

I just blew through 7 or 8 of Asaro's books recently -- which one are you reading?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

It's a new one I'm proofreading for Baen. One of the fluffy scifi romances she writes, not one of the Skolian Empire volumes, which are meatier.

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen an Asaro book that wasn't in the Skolian Empire universe. I've got The Moon's Shadow on my to-be-read pile.

[dsrtao]

I would call the Skolian Empire volumes fluffy romance in a universe that tries to be dark and gritty but fails spectacularly due to Everything Coming Out Right In The End.

And looking at her bibliography, she has two non-Skolian books: The Phoenix Code, and The Charmed Sphere.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Also The Veiled Web.

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't really quibble with your characterization of the Skolian Empire books, except for the 'fails spectacularly' part. Yeah, they have an element of predictability, but then, I read Regency Romances, too, and they aren't noted for surprise endings.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

I'm also a Regency fan. I don't mind formula when I know it's what I should expect, it's kind of a secure feeling.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

My problem with the present book that I'm proofing is that I see the Big Surprise Finish coming like a neon truck in a tunnel. She only THINKS she's going to surprise me when the mysterious faceless scientist character turns out to be someone from our protagonist's past.
(Ooops, now forget I said that in the next few months til this one's released!)

[jducoeur]

You have a finely-honed sense of cliche...

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

That's probably the worst kind of surprise. I don't mind surprises. It's when the author thinks she's clever, and has kept the big surprise until it's sprung on you, all the while building up to it with a taunting 'I've got a secret' attitude in the writing. When my reaction turns out to be, 'Yeah, I've known that since early in the book,' I find it to be an especially disappointing let down.

Narrativium

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's always a problem when you can smell the narrativium better than the author can.