The Witchling - Disk 2

Turns out the FBH is not our hero. Our hero is probably a Svartan named Trillian.  This is a book on cd so I am guessing at the spelling.  Svartans are intense beings - perhaps a race of the fairies, that isn't really clear to me.  Apparently, after you've "had" a Svartan you can't go back.  Svartans are so intense that they can't be monogamous.  And neither are the fairies. Our herione spends much print time worrying about whether or not he'll dump her.  It is okay if he sleeps around he just can't leave her.  Trillian is dark skinned with long silver hair.  I don't know if all Svartans are dark or if just he is. I am uncomfortable with the way this dark skinned individual has been set up as an "other".  We'll see where that goes.

Oh yeah, the gentle giants name was Jacko, not Jack.

On with our plot, so the FBH Johnson had a message for the trio from this Trillian.  Word on the street was that some big bad demon had taken over the demon world and was looking to wipe out Otherworld and Earth to rule all three dimensions.  They shouldn't expect much help from HQ - either because they couldn't or wouldn't give it.

Camille gets Menolly to agree to go somewhere with her but won't tell her where.  Turns out to be a VA - that's right, Vamps Anonymous, meeting.  Here we learn she has been a vamp for 12 earth-side years.  12 years and they are still tiptoeing around her.  Seems a bit over the top to me, I get that they have longer lives, but after 12 years, I'd expect her to be a little more adjusted. Menolly has the name of Jacko's earthside GF who Delilah is going to track down.  Menolly is going to go exploring dark alleys for information while she also feeds off of the dregs of society.  Sometimes she decides who needs to die.  It is unclear what her criteria are for deciding who dies and who is just a snack. The guy she takes out tonight was about to slice up a prostitute so he had to die. I guess that seems fair enough.

While Menolly is off snacking and gathering information, Camille goes off to talk to Grandmother Coyote aka one of the hags of fortune about everything that is going down. Grandmother Coyote sometimes gives advice to those who seek it. Here we learn that the big bad demon Shadow Wing has sent three other demons Earth-side in hunt of the spirit seals or some such thing.  With these seals, all three worlds can either be brought together forcefully or brought in peace.  We need to find some guy named Tom Hale who lives near Mt. Rainer.

The intrepid trio reassembles to share their information. At which time, we meet Trillion who appears in their house without warning.  We find all three ready to fight the intruder (until he identifies himself). Menolly readies herself by flying up to the ceiling, Delilah draws a knife and a gun, and Camille gets some magic ready.  They discover it is this Trillion and relax. Menolly gets catty with Trillion and so Delilah has another fit. Which means she has to be calmed down before she turns into a cat again. And once again, she is getting worked up because Menolly is upset with someone else (this time Trillian). Moments ago, she was going to face an unknown intruder, now her sister is upset and she freaks.

We end the disk with everyone turning in for the night after they have shared information. Camille and Trillian head upstairs to her room. . . 

The Witchling - A Progressive Review

A progressive review is the best phrase I could come up with to explain my intent for this review. I will be writing a mini synopsis and review at the end of each disk.  The book I'm working on first, The Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn.

We first meet our heroine and narrator, Camille, at her bookstore in Seattle.  We are front-loaded with a good deal of world building.  Camille is half-Faerie, half-human, and a witch whose powers often go awry.  She is the oldest of three sisters who are half-Faerie and half human.  Mellony, the vampire whose name grates on my ears and Delilah, the were-cat.  And by were-cat, I mean were-house-cat.  Apparently, Delilah is a hard-edged clever PI who is good with electronics from our world (the three are from the Other World). But whenever her sisters get into an argument, she freaks and turns into a house cat.  A lovely, but scared house cat.  So far, when she changes, she doesn't seem to retain any of her human intelligence or knowledge.  She also seems to spook easily.


Mellony is also pretty annoying.  She is too emotionally scarred to tell our hero how she became a vampire, but is all bad-ass and tries to pick fights with him for what appears to be no reason. 

Our presumed hero, whose name I can't remember, is a full-blooded human or an FBH.  He has the hots for Camille which irritates all three for no discernible reason.  Apparently, Camille has never had sex with an FBH and isn't about to start now.  She gives us no reason for disliking him except that he is an FBH which means they are going to have sex. So far, he is the only character I like.

At this point, we have learned that someone with demonic ancestry has killed a gently giant whose name I think might have been Jack. He was garroted by the demon with a leather strap. We are told a couple of times that this killer must have been very strong to have killed a giant.  The Other World Intelligence Agency (whose name I have already forgotten) has assigned the intrepid sisters to the case. 

That brings us to the close of disk 1.  I will start disk 2 on my drive to work tomorrow and probably finish it on my way home!

The New Old Blog that I Love

Today I rediscovered Penelope Trunk. I had read her work before over at Yahoo!Finance - I liked it there too. I like it even more now. I love her honesty - she puts it all out there. I have been enjoying her work so much that I can't seem to write more than a sentence at a time without flipping back over to finish trying to follow another story line.  With the Asperger Syndrome, the Farmer, her miscarriage, it is all so fascinating. In one post, she talks about how she and the Farmer use a technique discovered by Temple Grandin to calm farm animals to help her calm down and focus. 

I am so inspired by her posts and her blog that I want to be a better blogger.  I'm not even sure what that means for me.  I think it means that  I want to be able to write about a wide variety of topics that I find interesting.  I would like to be able to take the stressful moments of life and turn them into lessons, to give them meaning and value.  I also love a good story and would love to become a better written storyteller. 

The good news is that even Penelope says she has a hard time blogging, the bad news is there is only one way to get better at it, which is to just buckle down and get it done.

I found Penelope again thanks to Inc. magazine's 19 Blogs You Should Bookmark Right Now.

Instincts

Often times, our instincts are good and they are sending us messages we should listen to. Some of the messages are good, some of them are bad. Many of us don't listen to them often enough. A good friend of mine is trying to learn to listen to hers when it comes to dating.

In this afternoon's 85 Broads Jam Session with Danielle La Porte (WhiteHotTruth), Danielle said she generally knows everything she needs to know about a person and her future relationship with them in first 8 seconds she meets them.  "As in the beginning, so in the middle and so in the end."  Danielle recommends using your instinct and following Buddhist saying she quotes when you re embarking on a new relationship.  Business relationship and personal relationships have the rules and we fall into the same habits of not trusting our instincts. 

Back to the friend: A week or so ago, she asked me to dig around and see what I could find on this guy who seemed fishy on match.com. She hadn't yet met this guy in person and wasn't quite sure why he seemed off, but he did. Turns out she was right to listen to her instincts.  I think the lesson that most of can learn from her experience is not about what made the bells go off, but what she did when they went off.  When the bells went off, she asked herself why they went off and examined the bells and their cause.  Then she trusted herself.  Turns out, she did the right thing. Nothing bad came of the situation and he revealed his true nature quickly.

This morning, she forwarded me this message (her name is changed & her email address is redacted):

From: Robert Johnson
Subject: Hi Babe..
To: Friend
Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 9:48 PM

Hi Nancy Babe...How are you doing ?I was online last night to chat with you but you were not online and i did tried to call you today as well but you didn't pick my calls,guess you were busy...Hope you doing fine and coping with your work...?Am missing you so much here and can't wait to see you angel ...Am so glad how far and how we got to meet and i know gradually with God's mercy things will work out as we planned...I realise we have been heart broken for along time or at a point in your life so does everyone at a point but the only thing that keeps us going is knowing we are here now and won't give up and finding that greener pasture and i hope and pray that i will look back to these days and smile because you have me and i have you babe ...I was able to book my flight for next week friday because am almost done here just trying to clear out somethings over here my love ...I miss you Nancy and am glad i met you and i feel the way i do with you ...Meeting you to see the smiles and tears is all i long for right now ...I know i can't change your past neither can i change mine but we've got alot more to hang on as long as we are still breathing...

Am sorry i was unable to email you my flight Itinery yesterday ..I had in mind to send it to you but i was just too tired last night my love and while i was online i slept off while waiting for you to come online babe ...Am going to send it to you Angel and i do hope i won't have to regret coming to see you or waiting for you at the Airport Angel..lol There's something i really need you to do for me now ..Its really important because i need to finalize everything have got to do before my flight on friday,Am done buying the collections i needed and it all went great because the collections are really worth what i was hoping for and am sure its a great deal once i get all all shipped back home from here but am having alittle issue with cash here...The whole collection are at the clearing office right now and i was told i needed to pay for the clearance for the collections because of the volume and its importance ..It's something i wasn't aware of or rather say planned for and right now am out of cash in hand to do the neccessary things needed which is paying for the clearing fee and getting the documents which i was told i would need and without these things one of the clearing officer told me they won't be releasing those collections for shippment because is a new reform or something and that's not nice not after all that have invested in it and the stress i went through..So have decided to sell some of the collections here to get the some collections i need so i could do what i needed..Since the money for the collections would be through transfer because that's the only way ..The money will be trasnfered to you and you can send me some of the cash that i needed back so i can do the things i needed and i hope i cant trust you with the Nancy and keep the remaining till friday when am back and i want to believe you will be honest with all of these,i know you won't give all of these away for something as silly as this or would you?.I do want to believe you not going to hurt or do anything and this is because am trusting you with this so i need to do this before next week friday so i can get done with every other things i need angel ...The payment for the transfer will be made through credit card transfer to you and once you have the confirmation i need you to let me know as soon as possible baby because i have to start up with the payment of the clearance fee immediately angel ..This is really important to me Nancy and this is also not just about me alone ..I believe this is also about us...

Let me know so i can get done with this and you have to know i have to do all of this before friday angel...Missing you and hope we can chat tonight my love ...Love ya ...

Love..Dream..Hope..Prayer..
Robert..