This is your shadow on my wall...

[greygirlbeast]

I suppose it was entirely appropriate that UPS delivered unto me a great box of Tales from the Woeful Platypus (and "The Black Alphabet" chapbook) on February 14th. It's a gorgeous book, both editions, though I have to admit that I prefer the red leather. These are such grand little volumes, they make up for a lot of the day-to-day crap that comes with this freelance life. Has everyone who pre-ordered received hisherits copy by now?

In a fine bit of serendipity, I was just now looking back at old blog entries and discovered that yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of the day Spooky and I first visited the frog exhibit at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. So, how fitting that yesterday we used my day off to visit the new "Lizards and Snakes: Alive!" exhibit at Fernbank? A wonderful exhibition, all in all, and I was especially pleased to see the "e"-word prominent in the exhibit text (despite this being Georgia), along with cladograms and a small number of fossil squamates (Peltosaurus [cast], Estesia [cast], Madtsoia, Megalania [cast], and Platecarpus tympaniticus). I was disappointed that there were so few snakes, only about seven species, while there must have been at least three or four times that number of lizard species. The lizards were, for the most part, surprisingly active, and I saw a number of taxa I'd never before seen in person. There are a few photos (all by Spooky) behind the cut:




Hi there!



Chlamydosaurus kingii, the "Frilled Dragon."



Heloderma suspectum, the "Gila monster."



Bitis gabonica, the Gaboon viper.


Otherwise, yesterday was windy and bitterly cold, and I can only look forward to next week and the return of warmer temperatures.

The platypus just gave me the 30-second warning, as there is writing to be done today, so I best cut this short before I suffer the wrath of those venomous spurs...

Comments

[drewsilla.livejournal.com]

I love Fernbank!! My husband, little boy and I went while they were having their "History of Chocolate" exhibit. I wanted to lick everything. I also saw the frogs there, and even though I have issues with tiny frogs, I did like one particular chap of the frog kind, and took his picture to make an icon.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I love the photos. I followed the link to Fernbank and explored both sites. Looks like places I would like to visit.

Someday..

[sovay]

Those are beautiful snakes and lizards.

These are such grand little volumes, they make up for a lot of the day-to-day crap that comes with this freelance life.

Good!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Good!

By the way, a copy goes in the mail to you ASAP, today or tomorrow.

[sovay]

By the way, a copy goes in the mail to you ASAP, today or tomorrow.

Thank you so much. I am looking forward to these stories.

Love it

[jadakath.livejournal.com]

I got my package a few days ago. Both books are fabulous and I love the leather. ~ jada

[mellawyrden.livejournal.com]

The Gaboon Viper seems to have an Argyll pattern. Very pretty!

There is something about the jawline of a lizard that fascinates me.

[mlle-rouge.livejournal.com]

Got my copy of Tales today (the red leather one). It's absolutely beautiful, from the size to the paper to the illustrations. And I'll probably read one of the stories aloud to my boyfriend tonight.

On the praise subject, I finally read the latest Sirenia Digest, and I'm in love with "The Sphinx's Kiss". It's haunting.

[papersteven.livejournal.com]

Does anyone have a copy of the trade edition of Tales? I also have the red leather one, but would like to see the other. Can someone post a pic here? Thanks!

Stephen

[tactileson.livejournal.com]

This is completely off topic, but I thought you and others here would love it. Check out the info from this site about the new Nine Inch Nails album and the "game" their playing with their fans. I swear I could as lost in this as I did in House of Leaves. It's pretty impressive.

http://modernfabulousity.blogspot.com/2007/02/nine-inch-nails-year-zero.html

[kiaduran.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my po box did not contain my preorderd Platypus today. How one can order a platypus around is beyond my comprehension. It has been my sad experience that my preorders take a few weeks to reach California and I am forced to listen to the joy of others who have received their copies while all I can do is mope about the place and grumble about the unjustness of it all.

[westlinwind.livejournal.com]

I received my copy last week, and it is indeed a gorgeous little book.

On another note, I picked up Daughter of Hounds at Forbidden Planet in London a few weeks ago, but was then strongly admonished not to read it until I had read Threshold and Low Red Moon. So, I've just finished Threshold. It has been a very long time since a book has captured my attention like that one did. It was...unexpectedly compelling.

And the ending? Elegantly done.

[corucia.livejournal.com]

Has everyone who pre-ordered received hisherits copy by now?

'Tales' showed up today. What a gorgeous book, and an excellent complement to 'Frog Toes and Tentacles'. I hope that there are many more volumes to come in this series!

[kittygoth.livejournal.com]

My copy turned up in the rain swept mountains of Japan yesterday. Being a curious bunch, my colleagues liked stroking the red leather - they said "sugoi" a lot. I'm going to take it to bed with me on my day off, it's that sexy.

[jacobluest.livejournal.com]

First:

Death Comes to Me Again, a Girl
Dorianne Laux

Death comes to me again, a girl in a cotton slip.
Barefoot, giggling. It's not so terrible, she tells me,
not like you think: all darkness and silence.

There are wind chimes and the scent of lemons.
Some days it rains. But more often the air
is dry and sweet. We sit beneath the staircase
built from hair and bone and listen
to the voices of the living.

I like it, she says, shaking the dust from her hair.
Especially when they fight, and when they sing.


Second:
I've been trying to form a hierarchy of SF magazines to figure out where I should submit, and what I should shoot for in the future. Any suggestions? I've been using www.duotrope.com, but I feel like I'm still missing something. How did you go about finding magazines?

Third:
Reading Daughter of Hounds. Fantastic. More on this as it develops.

Thanks,

~Jacob