"I will battle for the sun..."
Aug. 13th, 2009 12:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastThere are certain sorts of book reviews I like better than others. For example, I loathe the "book report" style of review. And one of the sorts I most enjoy reading is the book review wherein the reviewer spends more time talking about the effect the book has had on her or him than about the book itself. Which is exactly the sort that Catherynne M. Valente (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yuki_onna) has written about The Red Tree. You can read her review here. It made me very, very happy. I particularly liked this line —— "I thought it would be like House of Leaves, but it was nothing, really, nothing like that book..." I think it's a fair mistake a lot of readers will make going into the novel, in part because of the way I've chosen to present it.
Started the day off talking with my film agent at UTA, describing to him the sort of film I think should be made from The Red Tree, which is a very peculiar way to begin a day. More on this as it develops.
Yesterday, I wrote 1,092 words on a new sf story, "A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea," that I've been trying to get started since early June. Yesterday, I finally found the way in. It may throw off my plans to get both Sirenia Digest #s 45 and 46 written this month. But what the hell. This is a story I want to write, and one that's been in my head for more than two months, that has refused me entry until yesterday. Oh, a question. In it, I present a new subspecies of Homo sapeins genetically engineered for life in the sea, H. sapiens natator. And I'm calling them "amphibs." But I don't really like that term, because they're not actually amphibious, but completely marine. Any suggestions for an alternate term?
Also, I had a new sort of soda yesterday. It's called Zevia, and it's sweetened not with cane sugar, but with an herb called stevia (Stevia rebaudiana). The lemon-lime flavor is quite good, with only a faint aftertaste. The root beer wasn't very good, but I have hope for both the orange and ginger ale. Anyway, Zevia is sugar free, caffeine free, has zero calories, and no net carbohydrates.
Anyway, I'm running a little late, and there's email to answer, so I should probably wind this up.
yuki_onna) has written about The Red Tree. You can read her review here. It made me very, very happy. I particularly liked this line —— "I thought it would be like House of Leaves, but it was nothing, really, nothing like that book..." I think it's a fair mistake a lot of readers will make going into the novel, in part because of the way I've chosen to present it.Started the day off talking with my film agent at UTA, describing to him the sort of film I think should be made from The Red Tree, which is a very peculiar way to begin a day. More on this as it develops.
Yesterday, I wrote 1,092 words on a new sf story, "A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea," that I've been trying to get started since early June. Yesterday, I finally found the way in. It may throw off my plans to get both Sirenia Digest #s 45 and 46 written this month. But what the hell. This is a story I want to write, and one that's been in my head for more than two months, that has refused me entry until yesterday. Oh, a question. In it, I present a new subspecies of Homo sapeins genetically engineered for life in the sea, H. sapiens natator. And I'm calling them "amphibs." But I don't really like that term, because they're not actually amphibious, but completely marine. Any suggestions for an alternate term?
Also, I had a new sort of soda yesterday. It's called Zevia, and it's sweetened not with cane sugar, but with an herb called stevia (Stevia rebaudiana). The lemon-lime flavor is quite good, with only a faint aftertaste. The root beer wasn't very good, but I have hope for both the orange and ginger ale. Anyway, Zevia is sugar free, caffeine free, has zero calories, and no net carbohydrates.
Anyway, I'm running a little late, and there's email to answer, so I should probably wind this up.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:04 pm (UTC)Another route might be to (nick)name them after some sort of marine creature with which humans are quite familiar: "goldies," "guppies," etc.
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:21 pm (UTC)You're on the right track, I think. But yeah, frogs are almost always freshwater (though we still call them "frogmen") and "squids" somehow gives all the wrong connotations.
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:18 pm (UTC)Mariana?
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:20 pm (UTC)Nah. Looking for something less poetic, with a hint of derision. The sort of thing the USMC might actually nickname aquatic humans.
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:26 pm (UTC)Gotcha. What are their distinguishing characteristics? What could they be visually (if demeaningly) likened to?
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:42 pm (UTC)Gotcha. What are their distinguishing characteristics? What could they be visually (if demeaningly) likened to?
Well, that's a problem. I'm still working that out in my mind. Vaguely mermaidish.
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Date: 2009-08-13 06:11 pm (UTC)"Tails"? Which gets you sexual as well as species disparagement.
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Date: 2009-08-13 06:30 pm (UTC)That might work. Now I'm wondering if there are any males, or if they reproduce via parthenogenesis.
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Date: 2009-08-13 06:35 pm (UTC)They could be sequential hermaphrodites.
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:03 pm (UTC)They could be sequential hermaphrodites.
Oohh. That's nice.
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:12 pm (UTC)Go for it!
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Date: 2009-08-13 06:42 pm (UTC)As a US Marine vet, I can say that their nicknames often come more from what something is made of (or looks like it may be made of) than from its actual use. Also, if it looks like something it totally isn't, especially genitalia. Finally, Marines are very good at finding alternative uses for items that designers never intended, and thus another good source of nicknames.
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:41 pm (UTC)Too comicbooky, and not in a good way.
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Date: 2009-08-13 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 06:02 pm (UTC)I wouldn't be unhappy with Weaver, though, in my head, I see Jodie Foster.
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Date: 2009-08-13 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 06:28 pm (UTC)Actually, the woman on the cover is meant. to be Constance.
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 09:23 pm (UTC)No need to apologize. It's not like she looks like Constance.
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:31 am (UTC)in my head, I see Jodie Foster.
You just want to imagine Jodie Foster getting laid, don't you?
*ducks something thrown*
Personally, I'm picturing Sarah Crowe a little curvier than Foster's ever been, for whatever reason.
By the way, I'm glad you and
With the USMC thought in mind...
Date: 2009-08-13 06:20 pm (UTC)Am I on the right track?
Re: With the USMC thought in mind...
Date: 2009-08-13 06:29 pm (UTC)Flippers is pretty good.
Re: With the USMC thought in mind...
Date: 2009-08-13 06:40 pm (UTC)I like flippers.
Re: With the USMC thought in mind...
Date: 2009-08-13 11:16 pm (UTC)People who hang out at the river and fish all day 'n' party--
a friend once called them "gillbillies". I thought that
was funnier'n hell.
Just finished The Red Tree today. Now I'm struggling with
post partum depression. This always happens to me with
your books. An odd compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.
Have you seen this yet?
http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/attraction_creature_black_lagoon.html
Re: With the USMC thought in mind...
Date: 2009-09-20 03:33 pm (UTC)Except when they're attached to someone like Arty, right? (I finally finished reading Geek Love. Took me a year on-and-off (http://community.livejournal.com/specficbooks/20845.html); I struggled with the book, but I'm glad I read it.)
I know that's not what you were referring to, but resist it I
couldn'tdecided not to.no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 07:12 pm (UTC)The new aquatic human story is interesting, I would think the slang term would reflect some physical attribute of them, such as fins or gills, and then it does do terrible things to the phrase "sleeps with the fishes" ... (the mind going in sharp quick turns of accents and insults)
Amphibious Humans
Date: 2009-08-13 08:53 pm (UTC)Coincidence?
Date: 2009-08-13 09:17 pm (UTC)We were nowhere near any trees. I asked my friend what kind of leaf it was, and he replied: "I think it's an oak..."
That's totally true! I was only mildly freaked out. ;)
Re: Coincidence?
Date: 2009-08-13 09:22 pm (UTC)All I got to say is don't look at me...I'm just the messenger.
Re: Coincidence?
Date: 2009-08-13 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 10:11 pm (UTC)Jonseerites?
...Well, I'm assuming they're going to be slimy and incomprehensible.
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:33 am (UTC)