RIP Anne McCaffrey

I clearly remember the day I first picked up an old, beat up copy of Dragonflight. I can see the now familiar green cover, slightly curling in the bottom left cover and the image of Lessa and beautiful gold Ramoth that has since remained my emblem for both Pern and its author. I remember turning the paperback over, reading the description and thinking "Well, I'm bored. Might as well try it out." There were two other books in the series right there, and that meant at least a week or so of reading material if they turned out to be good.

I didn't know what a gift the world of Pern would become to me, and I didn't know how much of a formative influence its creator was about to be on my own work. I didn't know that I would eventually own every scrap that Anne McCaffrey chose to publish.

I'm grateful for those gifts, and I'm very sorry for her family and friends who are grieving this holiday season. You have my deepest respect and sympathy.

Anne McCaffrey has died at age 85.

Quick Update and Rec

My personal life and original fiction work have gotten in the way of this poor neglected blog in a big way. I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back to regular upkeep of the garden, but I am still alive, and once I've gotten back on track with my fandom stuff, I do plan to pick it up again. Until then, I have something for those visitors who love wolves as much as I do. I don't know if there can be such a thing as a "fandom" for a species of real life beings, but if there can, I am definitely a fan of wolves.

I came across this site while doing research about Wolves this week, and I really found the stories about this pack to be interesting and compelling.

http://www.livingwithwolves.org/Stories_Full/AW_Stories.interactive.html

Fandombouquet has been on hiatus because I've been having problems with my health and semi-related problems with my writing. I'd prefer not to write about the specifics. I haven't been keeping up with any of my fandom activities or watching much of anything, so writing a fandom blog is a little out of the credibility range right now. I am still here, and the blog has not been abandoned. Neither have any of my writing projects. I'm shooting for "after the holidays" as a spot where I can pick up Fandombouquet again. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

Unplanned Hiatus...

I've been on antibiotics that have been kicking my butt and not really doing much for my symptoms. Fandombouquet is going to have to go back on hiatus until I get a diagnosis. Sorry, everybody.

More Music Recs For January

I'm a bad geek. I'm behind in all the episodes of my currently airing fandoms and I haven't watched any of my Christmas/birthday presents yet. The reason for that is I'm still plugging away at my Nano novel. (So much for "finish the draft in January.") The good (or bad) news for visitors to the Fandom Garden is that this means I'm offering another music rec this week.

13 Things You Should Watch (But Probably Haven't) Part 3

Well, here we are again. The 13 Things list I started back in September. I bet everyone thought I forgot. This is turning into an epic affair. It keeps getting sidelined, and it sure is dragging on. I seem to have contracted what a friend of mine calls run-on-at-the-mouth-itis, so I'm only going to cover one item.

Reviewing my last post in this series I realized that I got the list out of it's alphabetical order. So much for my attempt at organization. But-- I shall not be deterred! I'm simply going to talk about a few of my favorite franchises ever, and to heck with the alphabet. I never liked it anyway.

The Cheapskate's Lament, or: Marketing Is For Vultures

In 1992, I found myself accidentally caught up in a show called Renegade. I happened to catch it one night after watching what was then my favorite show, Highlander: The Series. I was intrigued by the character of Bobby Sixkiller, a bounty hunter who struck me as part Lando Calrissian and part Leo Getz. I tuned in for a few more weeks and decided I thoroughly enjoyed Cheyenne Philips, Bobby's half-sister. Eventually, I warmed up to the show's protagonist, Reno Raines, and I admitted that I was becoming invested in his quest to clear his name and put his wife's killers behind bars.

January Music Rec Post

Hello, everyone, and happy New Year. Welcome back to the Fandom Garden. Life seems to have eaten my writing time in December, so I am still plugging away at my 2010 Nanowrimo project. So much for my "finish the draft" goal. At this point, I'm setting my sights on having it finished by June.

Anyway. In honor of the New Year, I'm going to be a sheep and discuss my favorite (and least favorite) CDs of 2010. I advise readers not to hold their breaths for this to become a yearly event. It probably won't, simply because I don't run out and buy every album right when it comes out, so half the time, I hear an album 2 or 3 years after it's released. That wasn't the case this year.

Two CDs came out this year that I was compelled to listen to right away. The first was Eric Clapton's 19th studio release, entitled simply Clapton. I was looking forward to that one. The second one I bought bought more out of curiosity than enthusiasm. That was Born Again, the 14th release by the Christian pop-rock group Newsboys.

Now, I am a Clapton fan. I have been one for about as long as I've been cognizant of who Eric Clapton was. I don't have anything against contemporary Christian music. I enjoy some of it, but I find a large portion of it to be annoying, overly simplified, and preachy. This seems like a done deal, doesn't it? Well, read on. You may be surprised.