Let's see if I can get to five.

[truepenny]

Congratulations to this year's Tiptree winners and honor list!

---

Gary L. Roberts (Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, 2006) offers a really lovely metaphor:

Legends grow, and rarely by design. Like the wisteria in Doc's native Georgia, they spread, encircle, constrict, and hide the damage they do to the truth in a cascade of tales that, like foliage and flowers, cause people to forget everything else. But, like the wisteria, they have an unmistakable beauty that makes them nearly irresistible until they become a part of the landscape.
(Roberts, 259)

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The Elder Saucepan went back to the kitty ophthalmologist yesterday; we are cautiously optimistic about his progress.

The Saucepan is not a talky cat (one of his other nicknames is "Silent Cal"); he has only one word--GAO--with varying volumes, and he uses it sparingly. But I have noticed a pattern, which has become too predictable to be coincidence: after a visit to the ophthalmologist, he will, some hours later, go into the front hall and--as best I can tell--cuss out his crate. "GAO!" he says, and "GAO!" again. And "GAO!" for good measure.

He has to go to the regular vet on Friday for a check-up and shots; we'll see if that's worth the use of his word, too.

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It's looking springish around here. I suspect strongly that we are being lulled into a false sense of security, but I cannot deny that I'm glad to see green things poking their heads up.

---

Author's copies of the paperbacks of Corambis arrived while I was in Arizona (it'll be officially out at the end of the month), and my contributor's copies of Jonathan Strahan's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, volume 4 (in which appears matociquala's and my story, "Mongoose") came on Monday. External validation is totally a crutch, but sometimes it's nice to have it anyway.

Comments

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

Just taking the opportunity to say that I like "Mongoose" very much.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Cat carriers need to be kept in their place. My three are variably vocal -- from youngest cat, who almost never shuts up, to middle cat who is largely quiet -- but they are all united in their contempt for the carrier. As Horus (noisy youngest cat) says: "meaul squonk wong". He, on the other hand, then goes on to leave physical signs of his dislike as well, which is not good at all.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Corambis! That's a forthcoming mm title I was missing from my reconstructed list. My enthusiastic four-year-old son deleted it off my PDA, and I've been painstakingly trying to replicate it. It's still less than half the original length, alas. Thank you for the reminder!

[m-nivalis.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that Corambis is coming out in paperback - I feared that it would be another end-of-series-book that only would be published in hardback, leaving me to the mercies of libraries and friends with extensive bookcases/finances. End of the month you say? I'll see if I can pre-order it, just in case.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Go, Elder Saucepan!

We have the cat carrier CA Floyd came in sitting in the hall, with the door unlatched. Various felines have been taking turns lounging in it--it's a good, comfy spot for a kip, thanks to the towel in it; because the door can be pulled to (although not latched) by a clever cat, it's a good hiding spot for a less-sociable puss, or one who dreads the attentions of Jemmy, a cat who refuses to be ignored by anyone. It will be interesting to see how they react when inserted in it for medical purposes.

I am trying to recall what I have in the way of Tombstone books, since you have expressed no interest in other titles beyond what you have on hand--I think there's John Myers Myers's Doc Holliday, and Jack Burrows <>John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was (the Amazon review by Atheen Wilson is not in the least unfair, either). There's another book called John Ringo, The King of the Cowboys: His Life and Times from the Hoo Doo War to Tombstone by A. C. Greene that I'd like a look at, although it seems a little less biography as biography, and more history with biography attached. The Myers, IIRC, accepts the story that Kate Elder died before Doc, although this doesn't seem to be supported by fact. I don't know if that should be taken as an indicator of the general quality of the book or not.

I've had vocal cats, and less-vocal cats, but Bob is the most silent of all. He's purred once or twice, but I've never hears anything more from him.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that the Myers is, um. Let us say tactfully, "not reliable." Kate Elder lived until 1940 and gave interviews to two historians, although from what gets cited in Doc Holliday, she's not all that reliable either. It seems to be a feature of Tombstone history.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I have to say, that while it does not appear to be a tissue composed entirely of fragments of legend and figments of the author's well-developed imaginative powers, well-checked and verified facts are not so thick in this that it would be safe to shake a stick at one if you found it in there. You might scare the poor thing and force it back into hiding.

I pity any sober historian who is trying to dredge facts out of the rich silt of legend (to be nice about it) that is The Matter of Tombstone. It does not help that everyone who lived long enough to either be interviewed later on, or write their memoirs had a personal agenda of vast and mighty extent, even if that agenda was only "Look at how cool me and my friends were and what lame tools these other guys were."

[grass-angel.livejournal.com]

'Gao' sounds like a very cute noise, even if it is also a Japanese onomatopoeia for a dinosaur's roar. I am sure the pet carrier is terrified by such a show of ferocity.

Also, rather randomly, I discovered last night that a street in my city is named 'Britomart' and that in another city, there is an entire headland named the same (and a train station).

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

joining in the chorus of PAPERBACK OF CORAMBIS, LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR YOU. I look in every bookstore to see if they have any of your books, and the lack of Corambis has been frustrating. That's what I get for not snatching it up when it came out.