Happy St. Patrick's Day, all!

[annathepiper]

There are few things that can make a job more pleasant than having a new person join the team who not only lets you not be the only woman on the team, but who is also a GEEK! We had a new contractor join the team this week, and I was delighted to discover her geekiness yesterday while chatting with her in and around working on test plans. She likes everything ever done by Joss Whedon, especially Firefly, and she loves jimbutcher's books, agrees that LKH's earlier books are fun and that the last good one was Obsidian Butterfly, and has mizkit's Urban Shaman on order from the library! I told her we were going to get along fabulously. This should make the second half of this contract a lot more enjoyable. ^_^

(Speaking of LKH, said coworker even also mentioned that she's on the McAnallys mailing list--and that she hears tell from there that LKH is getting a bit cranky about people complaining about the hard turn into pr0n-land that her books have taken as of late and that Micah, the newest, is an attempt to pull back from that and back towards her earlier work. Anybody out there in Friends list land read this yet? Can you confirm or deny?)

Meanwhile, spazzkat's departed on a trip to Virginia to see his folks, so things are going to be kind of quiet around the Murk for a week or so. Polly is very bemused as she always is every time one or more of us mysteriously vanishes; I will have to scritch my cat a few extra times to make up for Paul's absence.

Last but not least, HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY to all! Hope you're wearing your green, and if you're not listening to some jigs and reels today, you ought to be!

Wednesday evening miles: 2.15
Thursday miles: 3.95
Friday morning miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 788.55
Miles out of Rivendell: 330.35 330.55
Miles to Lothlórien: 133.45

Comments

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

Isn't "geek coworker" the best thing in the world?!

I've had awesome BSG meta discussions with New Colleague M, and it just transforms work, to be able to bring that part of yourself...

Yay you!

[annathepiper]

YAY BSG discussions! I'll have to ask my new coworker if she follows BSG. ^_^

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Yay, more geek girls!

I never really got the LKH thing. I read the first three, and they were okay, but the writer seemed far to enamored of her protagonist. They're like good fanfiction, but there's almost nothing to them. I guess I should be glad I didn't get hooked and then followed them around the corner to pornville. :-)

The Catie Murphy thing, though, I get that. And the Joss Whedon thing.

(I really should get to Butcher soon. I've got 'em, just... so many books, so little time.)

[annathepiper]

Oh, I have always taken LKH's works, even the best of her books, as total potato-chip fiction. The very first Anita Blake, Guilty Pleasures, is very aptly titled for that attitude. Some of the books after the first three are actually better--Obsidian Butterfly stands out for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that that's one of the few books in the series that isn't focused on Anita's never-ending angst about her vamp boy and her wolf boy. On the other hand, it's also the last one right before the hard turn into Pr0nville.

But bwahahahaha--actually, you've hit the nail on the head, LKH is often way, way too fond of Anita.

And yes, you should absolutely be reading Jim Butcher. Love, love, love me some Harry Dresden. I anxiously await Book 7 in paperback in a few more months. :D

[kokyu.livejournal.com]

I was on MacAnally's for a good two or three years. I quit before going offline for a week a couple months back so they wouldn't pile up and haven't really missed it enough to rejoin.

There was certainly discussion of LKH, and at one point the moderators and Jim actually squelched it as people were theorizing that the character of Richard represented her husband from whom she is now, I think, divorced. That may or may not be true, but it really wasn't where Jim wanted the list going and good on him for it.

If LKH was on the list during the time I was on she never announced herself. I suspect she wasn't. MacAnally's has a ton of traffic. Even in digest form some days you get four or five digests full of email. LKH has her own blog up, her own books to write and most importantly two or three pugs in the house.

[annathepiper]

Oh, I was on McAnallys for a while myself--and one of the reasons I haven't rejoined is that I can barely keep up with the email I have right now, without adding a high-traffic mailing list! So yeah, I sympathize.

And I don't think LKH was ever on the list either, nor did my coworker imply that she was. More that there was just a big crossover of fans between Jim's readers and hers, since their works are both in the urban fantasy neck of the woods. :) I'm not surprised that Jim and the list mods had to squelch the topic, though. I've heard many of those same rumors from other sources, and tempting though it might be to speculate, it is better to squelch the gossip.

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading LKH long ago. Maybe it's true about her new book, but I won't be reading it. I've switched to Kim Harrison and MaryJanice Davidson for my kicks in the urban horror genre.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I bailed on LKH a while back myself. I might be willing to start reading her again, but she'd have to come up with something pretty spiffy to woo me back. So far I'm not necessarily hearing that Micah is it.

But ah yes, Kim Harrison! I did like Dead Witch Walking, and I have The Good, the Bad, and the Undead on my To Read shelf. I've read the first of MaryJanice Davidson's books as well, but although I can see why others enjoy them, it wasn't quite my cup of tea. Ah well. :)

[tvaddictgurl.livejournal.com]

I read Micah last week. One sex scene which was much tamer than anything in the last couple of books, probably because it just involved her and one guy. Anita actually gets to raise a zombie, which we hadn't seem in a long time. There's a whole kerfuffle with the zombie raising involving a federal witness and the mob which probably would have been a great basis for a whole book (along the length of her early books not the door stop size ones she's churning out now). But it all gets wrapped up too fast and clean and was unsatisfying afterwards.

[annathepiper]

Hrmm. Hrmm. As I have posted to peregrine_ek above, I might be willing to start reading LKH again if she's trying to recapture the feel of her earlier works, but she'd have to come up with something pretty spiffy to woo me back. So far I'm not hearing that Micah is it. I might enjoy this as a fluffy no-brainer read, but I've got so many other things to read on my To Read shelf that I don't think I'll go out of my way to find this.

Thanks for the review!