kennahijja | various wafflings

Duh, I've been out pretty much over the last few days, with the cold that refuses to leave, nursing a severe sore throat and drowning myself in tea... It's actually better at work because I don't have the time for self-pity :).

I've not been totally lazy though -

the_con_cept, I hope my mail made it through (wobbled a bit during the sending, so yell if it didn't). And

leni_jess and

dracos_doll, you'll have a story in your inboxes tomorrow night even if it kills me. Or Sunday the latest, if I really can't crawl out tomorrow.

*eyes Rita/Hermione, then deadline, and shudders, and goes back to sniffling*

And here I went and wanted to make myself a HP film icon, and what did I end up with? Mrs Norris... Then again, there can never be enough cats...

On the upside, my local British Corner bookstore seems to like me - I went there when

chthonya recced me Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart (which is a great book if you like historical fantasy with a dose of BDSM smut), and I got lucky again with Sarah Waters' Fingersmith which both

fee_absinthe and

dracos_doll discussed very recently, and I *did* joke about perhaps finding one of her books there, but never really dared hope. I spent the last two days devouring it, and it's a marvellous Victorian suspense novel with a lesbian relationship, and a gorgeous plot. The historical atmosphere alone is wonderful.

And even though I usually deplore manga (the style is very much not my thing), I was so tempted by

liriaen's ecstatic gushing over Cantarella by You Higuri (the story of Cesare Borgia, comparatively close to history) that I picked up the first book, and was pretty blown away. I still hate the manga-style drawing of children, and the 'childification' of characters in general, but in other parts the artwork left me speechless, as did the recognition factor of historical characters (I did have a few months' research mania on the 'real' Borgias, and Renaissance Italy in general a few years back). And the slash subtext just gives it extra spice ;). I picked up the second book this morning, and can't wait! No wonder I'm not writing...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I got it! Thank you so much! If only I didn't have to work today and help my mother tomorrow...hopefully I'll get a lot done on it tonight. Both you and

emphatic_siren had a lot of great constructive criticism and ideas, and I relish the thought of molding it into a better shape. It needs a lot of work, but I'm rarely patient enough with a fic to bother with that sort of thing. This one I will baby. : )

Yay, it worked. It took over a minute to send, which tends to be a danger sign :). Glad you found some of the comments useful (and I'm so with you on lacking patience to edit!). It's a beautiful fic!

Oh ho ho, you caught the virus! I'm sorry about that (weell, to borrow the "handbasket to hell" phrase... I'll gladly scoot over a bit to make room for you!), because now you're in trouble. The incubation period is a day or two before you form full symptoms, I'd reckon. When I picked up my first few copies, all within a matter of days, I would speak to no-one and just hide in manga-land. And I'd ramble about each volume at length (still do), with or without an audience, just completely... speaking in tongues. On the educatory plus side, it's led me to broaden and deepen my reading on the Borgia, as well as brush up on the 14/15th century context.
And yea, rejoice, for there will be so much more slashy goodness. :)
Glad you like it!!!

It caught me pretty seriously already... If there *had* been book 3 to 5, I'd have picked them up as well, but alas... Wish someone would scream at me that I've got to edit 30 pages of pr0n tonight instead of reading... or at least instead of reading several times :).
*rejoices*

And thanks for the heads-up in the first place - it's too good not to read, and I'd never even known it existed without you!

Oh, my pleasure! :]
I enjoy luring one my favorite authors in fandom to yet another Dark Side. *cue evil snicker aside* No, but seriously, I remember my Cantarella initiation all too well: I was flewn to Helsinki to report about a music festival, three days in total, with loads of bands to review and interviews to conduct, and I just... wasn't... there. I think I missed about half the bands I was supposed to see, coming to the venue 2 hours late and going... "uhh, okay, who played? Reverend Bizarre, Sentenced, Ensiferum? how were they?"
Why? Because I had bought 3 volumes of Cantarella at the airport and was out of my mind.
So shhh PUT! IT! DOWN! and go edit. So you can later have a date with Prince Djem 8]

*snickers*

I'm not much of a manga fan myself - the style and I don't go along very well, but I've been pretty much blown away by Cantarella - devoured the first two books when I was at my manga loving friend some months ago. Gotta buy them all some day.

I'm so sitting on my hands because I want to read the second book, like, yesterday ;).

:) Right back at you. My Harry/Lucius is now been tweaked and used for something, so I have to get my skates on! I hope you feel better soon! Glad you liked Fingersmith. It's my favourite Sarah Waters book. I saw she has a brand new one out, but not got the chance to pick it up yet. Funnily enough I picked up Kushiels Dart in a secon hand shop. I just liked the sound of the story. Haven't read it yet though. Any good?

Cold aside, throw me the H/L whenever you're ready :). I'm very eager to read another of Waters' novels now, because I really adored this one. And Kushiel's Dart... yes, I enjoyed it a lot, enough to read in two days and picking up the sequel. It's excellent on world-building, and intrigue, and good on smut, even though the first-person narrator heroine tweaked my MS-alert at first. But then it's for plot reasons, and not just because... Not quite Guy Gavriel Kay (if that comparison tells you anything), but really good.

I'm so glad you liked Fingersmith!

Quite apart from the love story (which took me delightfully by surprise as I knew nothing about Waters' work when I bought it), I find it a really well put together novel. I like that the writing is very quiet - no grandiose images or sweeping truths on human nature, in fact the most extravagant image I remember is a description of moonlight on water glittering like silver coins. Apart from some key dramatic moments, a huge part of the story is just description of day-to-day events in an isolated house with its daily ritual. But it's electric! I in awe of the way she does this, creating such a compelling story by careful plotting and evocative use of historical detail. Also the detail ... the historical detail is utterly convincing. I made a little trip down to Lant Street to wander around and imagine the atmosphere a century ago!

If you read more of her work, I hope you'll get to hear about it.

I loved the undramatic feeling of it too - I admit I had a tiny moment of suspending disbelief when the sheer complexity of the plot hit me, but apart from that, it was an amazing read!

various wafflings

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