Caitlín R. Kiernan

Very, very cold in Providence today. Currently, 25F, though it feels like 12F. I can feel the cold in my bones (especially my lousy, rotten feet). I'm hoping snow comes soon. Somehow, snow makes it all easier.

Yesterday, I wrote 1,703 words on The Drowning Girl. Now that it's finally begun, after numerous false starts, it seems as though this novel is bleeding out of me. A torrent, it seems. I've been writing it to Clint Mansell's soundtrack to Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (2006). I love both, the film and the soundtrack, but in 2007 I made the mistake of writing that Beowulf novelization to the soundtrack, which rather spoiled the music for me. So, now I'm taking it back, as They are wont to say.

What else was there to yesterday? I didn't leave the House, but I'd not expected to do so. After the writing, my hair was washed, as it badly needed washing. We listened to more of A Wrinkle in Time, as read by the author. There was another story from blackholly's The Poison Eaters, this time "Rock Breaks Scissors." After dinner, we watched Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003). I'm not even sure how I missed this film, all these years. I've been an admirer of Winterbottom's since The Claim in 2000. Anyway, it's a wonderfully soft-spoken sf film, all light and glass, fluorescence and desert sunlight. It's the sort of science fiction that doesn't dwell on the technology at the center of its plot, but focuses, rightly, on the characters. I very highly recommend it. Currently, it can be streamed via Netflix.

There was more WoW, but after the insanity of Tuesday night, there was also moderation. We played through a new chain of Forsaken missions with Shaharrazad and Suraa, wherein Sylvanas (my Dark Lady) leads her troops against an alliance of the Worgen of Gilneas and human men from Stormwind. I'm not going to drop spoilers, but it's some of the best stuff I've ever seen in WoW. All in all, I have very few complaints so far about the expansion. There are so many improvements. For one, their writers have either learned to write, or they've hired actual writers. There's not much that can be done about the poorly thought-out tangle that is the game's lore, but at least the writing's improved (and some of it is very, very funny). I think my major disappointment with Cataclysm has been the design of the Worgen. Though some great conceptual designs were considered by Blizzard, they finally went with a design not much better than the anthropomorphic cartoon animals of furry slash fic/art.

Yes, it really is that bad. Especially the female Worgen. It's this huge sour note in an otherwise (so far) amazing expansion. It's all the more a shame because the Worgen starting area, Gilneas, is so beautifully realized. Yo, Blizzard! You've actually managed to make werewolves less scary and less threatening than the frackin' gnomes! Sheesh. You had the chance to do this right, and you blew it. Fortunately, the rest is pretty damn cool.

Also, Hellscream called Sylvanas a "bitch." Which rather sealed my disgust with the new warchief. Hopefully, Thrall will be returning from his time spent communing with the elements very soon, and we can be rid of this tiny-headed asshole before the Horde is in utter shambles. Yes, I do sound like a raving fangirl waiting in line at San Diego ComiCon. My roots are showing. Sometimes, it happens.

Anyway...time to make the doughnuts.