Resting - and wildlife

 

Saw this pretty lady - or one very like her (I snitched this picture off the Internet, since I'm beyond lousy with a cell-phone camera) - as I took my walk before sunup this morning. She's the second mantis I've seen in the past month - I saw one of exactly her dust-brown color sitting on a wall in Chico on my road-trip. They were all over the place when I was a little kid, in several colors - usually leaf-green, but often golden, or a darker brown than this. We had them as pets. My sister had a white one.

Later this morning when I went to the campus I saw a full-grown and DAMN BIG hawk flap down onto the seat of a chained-up bicycle, and case the surrounding area like he'd paid for smorgasbord there.

It's still hot - the temperature plunged clear down to 106 for today, though I'll bet it tops at 108 like it did yesterday (Sunday was 112). I'm still resting between projects (though I admit I'm working on another Further Adventure). The final page-proofs of Iron Princess come in Thursday. My first fantasy novel in years, it's due to come out in February, and is the reason I've been a bit overworked for the past year - it was sort of an add-on project that came through AFTER I signed the contract for Death and Hard Cider and One Extra Corpse. (Long story). 


Now that I think of it, the heroine, Clea, is a bit of a praying mantis herself. Confronted with the appearance of monstrosities that may or may not be the creation of the most powerful order of wizards in the world - who may or may not be in league with her father - she has to enlist the aid of the evil mage Ithrazel. First she has to rescue him from the dimensional enclave where he's been trapped in torment for the past 75 years, then she has to force (and blackmail) him into working for her - he doesn't want to have a thing to do with her mission. To do this she enlists the aid of a local shepherd, purely for the sake of muscle. To make sure he WILL NOT betray her, she has her novice mage friend Willow put a love-spell on him... and then discovers that love-spells can't be taken off. So she's stuck with a desperately adoring side-kick for the rest of the book. It's tough being an action heroine.

And for those who aren't up for evil wizards, warrior princesses, and love-lorn shepherds, there's One Extra Corpse - Hollywood mystery #2.


Just finished the last round of editing on that one, so with luck it'll also be out in winter or spring. Emma, Kitty, Zal, the Pekes, and the gang at Foremost Studios. (And a cameo appearance by Erich von Stroheim).


Comments

  1. JenJaySeptember 7, 2022 at 8:32 PM

    I apologize that this post does not answer this blog entry; I first read your books decades ago, and have reread them multiple times over the years, and each time, it is like seeing an old friend. I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your writing and that your books have been 'friends' to me when I was lonely and needed them to be. Now that my life is so much better, they remind me that storytelling at its very best can be a balm for just about anything. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barbara HamblySeptember 8, 2022 at 8:08 PM

    Thank you. For me, the purpose of books has always been, to be friends when we need them. I'm just glad I'm doing my job.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Even More Fun With Research

Image
Here's an old one, to remind me that I really do need to get back to painting. Having turned in the manuscript for the next Hollywood murder mystery just before Christmas, I've been putting together outlines for what I hope will be the next Ben January book (# 21!) and the next Hollywood book (which will take place mostly in the film industry in New York, which was just as much a center of motion picture production in the mid-'20s as Hollywood was, and a lot more fun after hours). Writing up an outline is like pre-writing the book. I, at least, have to figure out what happens, and how; who's the villain, who gets killed, and why. Any murder mystery is actually two stories: the story of the crime itself, and then the story of how Mr. Holmes or Lord Peter or Professor Tamar figures out whodunnit. And, in my case at least, to give a picture of the world, the society, in which such events take place, which is a large part of the fun. It's one reason I love historicals. ...
Read more

Sample Post

Image
     A girl once went to the fair to hire herself for servant. At last a funny-looking old gentleman engaged her, and took her home to his house. When she got there, he told her that he had something to teach her, for that in his house he had his own names for things.      He said to her, "What will you call me?"    " Master or mister, or whatever you please, sir," says she.      He said, "You must call me master of all masters . And what would you call this?" he said pointing to his bed.      "Bed or couch, or whatever you please, sir."     " No, that's my barnacle . And what do you call these?" said he, pointing to his pantaloons.     "Breeches or trousers, or whatever you please, sir."     "You must call them squibs and crackers . And what would you call her?" he said pointing to the cat.     "Cat or kit, or whatever you please, sir."     "...
Read more

Entirely Too Much Fun With Research

Image
  My apologies for the long hiatus, once again. In addition to finishing the usual round of line-edit + copy-edit on the next Hollywood book, Saving Susy Sweetchild, a lot of things to do: minor health fixes, the Gallifrey One convention, and the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Book Collectors Show (and a couple of truly lovely evenings with friends). The Paperback Show is always entertaining. In addition to a staggering number of old paperbacks - many of which I remember reading in the '60s (there was a bookstore on Holt Blvd in Pomona that I'd bike down to on Saturdays: we referred to it as "Dirty Earl's" because of the goods on offer in the store's back room) - there are dealers specializing in the cover-art of the 1940s-1970s era. And, the show (and especially Tom Lesser - Thank you, Tom!) makes sure it has a day-long rotation of authors to sign those paperbacks. In addition to chats with fan and writer friends, I found such things as English translations of...
Read more