Elena over at

WithExtraPulp started this indulgent meme yesterday, and the rules of sharing your literary crush are relatively simple:

The rules are pretty simple: Must be a character that appears in a book, comic or graphic novel (because, let’s face it, superheroes are hawt).

Which got me thinking. It’s not like I could get away with saying Lolita, though it would be quite amusing to see the kind of response I’d get. Instead I thought way back to when I first started reading a lot, and that inevitably got me caught up in all the memories of the fantasy novels I would devour daily during high school. And that lead me with similar inevitability to Mara of the Acoma from the Empire series by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. She survives being thrust into the possession of a failing house of nobles, rising to become a deadly playing in the political Game that all the different houses play against each other. Intelligent, worldly, incisive, and not a little bit sexy. Mara’s my choice for this week as homage to my teenage reading years! (:

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Apparently I’ve been

tagged by Aditi as a ‘Kreativ Blogger’; an entirely made-up award that should be ashamed of itself for posing as something with worth. But since it is Friday and since I am incredibly bored, I’m going to fill in the blanks on seven things I love. Here we go.

1. Working at night. I’m not a night owl by any means, but occasionally I’ll have reason to stay up way past my bed-time and work on something important. It’s a combination of the silence, the feeling that you are the only person alive and awake and thinking. But mostly the silence.

2. My girlfriend, Louise. Yes yes, get the groans and the rolling of eyes out of the way. The fact remains that she is everything to me and I love her.

3. The liquid clouds that milk makes when you drop it into tea. Seriously, watch them next time. I propose them as the origin of the phrase ‘storm in a teacup’.

4. Playing poker. I’ll play and enjoy just about any card game, but poker’s my favourite. Specifically the world-conquering No Limit Texas Hold’em variation. The people, the trash talk, the strategy, the bad beats; it all adds up to a really great way to lose a few dollars a week with mates.

5. Getting things published. My record isn’t that fantastic, but the half-dozen times or so it’s happened, I felt fucking fantastic. Of course, my ego being as it is, it doesn’t take long for me to find better ways to write it, and consequently loathe the fact that it got published. I should use this opportunity to announce that I managed to get a story in the Clearfield Review, a Utah-based e-zine that my good friend Amber co-edits.

6. My friends, both real and e-maginary. I couldn’t possibly have survived this far without my friends. They lift me up, engage me, get my arse out of my house (and in one special case, my country) where I’d probably hermit away if left to my own devices. So thanks guys, you’re all awesome. (:

7. That rare breed of pub/club that actually encourages people to hang out and feel at home, but still ‘out’. I hate nightclubs. I can enjoy a good pub, but really I like places where you can order a snack, some good wine or beer and chill. Music loud enough to give background but not too loud to discourage talking. Smoking allowed (not for me, just for atmosphere) and open ’til whenever. Waiters that sit around and talk with you, and a quality cocktail bartender. In my mind’s eye I’m thinking of a cross between Lux and The Moon, if anyone from Perth is reading.

I’m against tagging people, but if you’d like to complete this meme and post it in your super-duper blog, let me know in the comments and I’ll come read! (Stef, Cian, Red, Tim, Todd and everyone else that regularly reads this blog, I’m looking at you).

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photo credit: Scoobymoo

The Barley Hut has once again provided me with internet fodder to grind contentedly between my yellowing molars, in the form of a query of my link spam preferences. That is, which words, penned in blue and underlined, will cause my finger to click that magical LMB.

• writer tips
• steampunk
• Gaiman
• nano
• mental disorders*

‘nano’ is obviously related to my line of work, I enjoy finding out what other people make of it from the outside in. ‘writer tips’ is my desperation in times of dry-bone white paper, ‘steampunk’ is a recent obsessive acquisition, though one I’d been casually interested in for quite some time. ‘Gaiman’ is obvious. ‘mental disorders’ may paint me as a sick voyeur of unfortunates, but in my defence I am truly fascinated in the ways our brain can be broken.

Wrote another short story yesterday, and actually, if Mr. Griffin reads this, there’s another one on the way directly influenced by him. I will, of course, be emailing it through for his blessing before unleashing it on the web, or on an unfortunate e-zine or magazine. It sure is nice to be writing again. And, more importantly, enjoying it.

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*This could be just as easily replaced by ‘massive tits’ or ‘naked hot chick’, but c’mon man, that’s a given.

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May:

Much time has passed.

June:

Today was actually rather pleasant.

July:

So, Saturday was H-Day.

September:

(I’m echoing this from my deviantart page, because I’m lazy and I promised the roundup to people there)

October:

If you ever want to see why Alan Moore is considered one of the pioneers of the ‘growing up’ of comics, then look no further than Swamp Thing Volume 2: Love and Death.

November:

Never heard of Jack Kirby?

December: 

I’m still undecided about what I want to do with this blog.

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Apparently, I never say anything interesting in my first sentences. I’ll try and fix that.

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