"...and I am the bones you could not break."

[greygirlbeast]

I should try to make this brief. Usually, I say that, and then spiral off into long-winded entries.

Another scorcher here in Providence, but the meteorologists say help is on the way. Right now, it's 84F with a heat index of 88F. In the House, it's 83F. Our plan is to head to the air-conditioned sanctuary of a library today, where I'll get some more work done on notes for this month's Sirenia Digest and the next novel. But tomorrow I have to get back to actually writing. I'd hoped to get through two issues of the digest this month, but now I fear, between one disruption and another, I'll be hard pressed just to manage the one.

There's a new review of The Red Tree up at Cinema Suicide. Generally, very positive, and it raises valid concerns, especially about marketing, some of which we have recently discussed here.

I hope to get some work done on the website tonight.

This weekend, I should be delivering the final ms. for The Ammonite Violin & Others to Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press.

After the dreaded doctor's appointment yesterday, Spooky rewarded me for not having bitten anyone (she hates when they have to use the muzzle on me), and we drove down to South County and Moonstone Beach where it was much cooler than here in Providence. There were more people than usual at Moonstone, also trying to escape the heat. The beach roses were all heavy with ripe red rose hips. The day was too hazy to see across the sound to Block Island. I picked through the cobbles and pebbles for mermaid's tears, and then headed up into the dunes, just to dig about in the sand. Spooky waded a bit, but said the water was very cold. A few people were swimming, regardless. We stayed until sunset, and it made me feel much, much better. There are a few photos:





The stream leading to Cards Pond, at low tide (view to the east).



A ripe rose hip.



Spooky wetting her feet in the surf (view to the southeast).



Looking from Moonstone Beach out across Block Island Sound (view to the south).



Beach rose bush (also called dog roses) heavy with ripe rose hips. I want to find someplace we're sure no pesticide/herbicide has been used, and gather a basket of them for preserves.



"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas..." In this instance, setting over Trustom Pond (view to the west).

All photographs Copyright © 2009 by Kathryn A. Pollnac and Caitlín R. Kiernan



Also, I wanted to repost my to-be-read before year's end list, because I left something off:

Spook Country* by William Gibson
Steampunk edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (re-read)
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert (re-read)
Dinosaurs of Italy* by Cristiano Dal Sasso
Doomsday Men* by P. D. Smith
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
Hubert's Freaks by Gregory Gibson

Also, yesterday, someone brought Peter Watts' "Rifters Trilogy" to my attention yesterday. I've never read Watts, but his deep-adapted humanoids has me rethinking my Homo sapiens natator story.

Comments

[sovay]

I've never read Watts, but his deep-adapted humanoids has me rethinking my Homo sapiens natator story.

I have only read Starfish (2000), but I loved it. And I would like very much to see that story.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I have only read Starfish (2000), but I loved it. And I would like very much to see that story.

You don't think I'd just be repeating what Watts has already done?

[sovay]

You don't think I'd just be repeating what Watts has already done?

No. If nothing else, the science is completely different. Watts' protagonists are not bioengineered, but surgically modified, and there is nothing mermaidish about them.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Watts' protagonists are not bioengineered, but surgically modified, and there is nothing mermaidish about them.

Yes, I did gather that. Well, the surgically altered vs. genetically engineered part. But...still...

[sovay]

But...still...

All I can say is that when you talked about the story, I did not think of Peter Watts until you mentioned him here. Because Watts makes all his work available on his website, you could always read "A Niche," the short story that became Starfish, if you are genuinely concerned about the overlap. But I really don't think it's a danger.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. Thanks for the link. I'll have a look.

[megasquid.livejournal.com]

Actually, the rifters are genetically modified-- human enzymes are basically too "floppy" to work in high-pressure environments, so they've been retrofitted with rattail dehydrogenases and other deepwater fish tweaks-- but none of that changes overall body plan on the macro scale. So if you're looking at anything that looks distinctly nonhuman, you got no worries.

[alvyarin.livejournal.com]

Palimpsest is very, very good.

Beautiful pictures. I didn't realize a rose hip was a fruit-like thing....I always pictured petals or something. Learn something new here every day=)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize a rose hip was a fruit-like thing

They are, to me, a very sensual fruit.

[usagiko.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've never seen an actual rose hip before. So that's what they look like!

Also, saw "The Red Tree" at the bookstore yesterday but was out of funds to buy it. It's definitely on my reading list, though. :)

[criada.livejournal.com]

What's that sign facing the water (in the pic with Spooky) say? "Attention mermaids, exit this way"?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

What's that sign facing the water (in the pic with Spooky) say? "Attention mermaids, exit this way"?

It's a notice that most of the beach is a wildlife sanctuary, but it is odd that it faces out to sea. For fishermen, perhaps.

[mellawyrden.livejournal.com]

Whener I see a rose hip, I want to bite it.