I feel I owe an explanation

Why have I been so absent from posting for about 4 months? Well, I could blame it on World of Warcraft, but, really that's only a coping (or hiding) mechanism. I admit, I haven't been reading, and I know that's a bad sign, but I've been choosing to ignore it. It's been hard to find joy in anything these days. My grandmother's dying. It's pretty official at this point.

I've been bouncing over to New York as much as possible to spend as much time as I can with her. Needless to say I was very pissed that I got two very bad colds, one during Christmas that prevented me form spending almost anytime with her then.

The short of it is, the breast cancer she beat about 8 years ago came back. It moved into her bones, lungs, pancreas and ovaries. It's not responding to radiation and chemo. At all.

Somehow, I've been designated the strong one in this situation. My mother completely can't deal. She's not only losing her step-mother, but also her best friend. They (used to) shop together, trade shopping bags full of books back and forth, gossip about the family. Yet, I'm the one the used booksellers, the libray volunteers are quietly approaching and asking "What did the doctor's say?" and "How's she doing?" The only answer to these questions being "It's not good." I get to watch them try to hold back the tears same as I've been trying to do.

She has decided to stop with the chemo meds. They are making her sick and too tired. She is the kind of lady who would get up at 5 a.m. and paint the garage, wash the car, do the laundry, work in the garden and read 2-3 books all by 10 a.m. so the loss of energy has been devastating to her. Her doctors keep telling her there are about a dozen more chemos they could try, but they can't prove that any will actually help. She doesn't want to be a guinea pig, as she says. She is choosing quality of life over time.

She is buying hardcovers because she doesn't have time to wait for the paperbacks.

She is pissed that she won't get to read the last Harry Potter book.

She is leaving me her car, and wonders why I don't seem excited about it.

Leila, I wish you could meet her, but there is no way she'd let me bring someone new to meet her, because she is too embarrassed by how she looks right now. All her hair is gone and she's lost a huge amount of weight.

That's about all I have to say.

Vanyel, the last Herald-Mage part 2

Since I started reviewing and keeping track of juvenile and YA books (which started in earnest when working for the Monkey) I have not been able to read ANYTHING with out evaluating it. Whether this is good or bad, it's true. So, there is one more thing about this series, and about this author that I want to bring up. Vanyel is gay. The hero of this semi-epic fantasy story is gay.

I really couldn't figure out how to fit that bit of info into the review, mainly because his being gay has no bearing to me on whether or not I liked the series/story. But, it occurs to me when faced with a customer/patron who would like to read books about gay characters this and other books by Mercedes Lackey would be good picks. In several of her books, especially her Valdemar books, there are gay and lesbian main and supporting characters. They're there living their lives, saving the country and it's just normal. Yes, there are still conflicts. In Vanyel's case his family had a very difficult time accepting that he was gay, he was first-born male to a landholder and was supposed to get married, have heirs and take over the land. But his becoming a Herald-Mage was also difficult for his family to deal with, but in a different way. Vanyel spent a great deal of time trying to figure out who he was in relationship to those around him because he was gay, but even more because he was the most powerful Mage in history.

The other reason I wanted to bring this up is I can't think of any other high fantasy books where the main characters are gay. It seems to be somewhat common in sci-fi, but seriously, I can't think of any other high fantasy. It's just part of my internal list making and databasing I would like fleshed out. Can anyone help me out here?

The Last Herald-Mage series - Mercedes Lackey

So, this is what I recently chose for comfort reading, so, heck, I'll review it. Someone may find this useful.

I dig Mercedes Lackey. A lot of hardcore fantasy readers would disagree with me, but screw them, this is my blog. I dig her because the worlds she creates are interesting and original, her characters are pretty well developed and you care for them, her magic systems feel original but are still very familiar and graspable (sure, that's a word).

Reasons why folks have complained to me about her included he need to pair her characters up romatically, just about everyone gets a significant other at some point in her books. But that's cool, there's nothing wrong with romance. Also, good and evil in her books are very black and white. Good is always very noble and self sacrificing, evil is always, well, evil, and usually pretty one dimentional (and ocasionally somewhat faceless). There is no grey in her stories. Not a huge problem either, just something to be aware of and prepared for. If you want a deep thoughtful evil, these aren't the books for you.

This particular triolgy is somewhat ancient history of a bigger collection of works, her Valdemar series. It's the story of a hero. As it's called the *Last* Herald-Mage, we also know that it going to be a tragedy. So, yes, I spent 3 days on my couch reading these sobbing. It was good.

-more later-

Grand & Humble - Brent Hartinger

I can't review this book. In order to review I would have to tell you what it's about. If I tell you what it's about I ruin it.

So, here's the solution. Go read it. Don't argue with me. Go buy a copy of it and read it. Seriously. Brent hasn't written a bad book. Go read it.

When everyone's read it, we'll discuss.

Go read it.