The Girdle of Melian

inally have some exciting news on the ROW80 front - I've finished editing Druid's Moon!

Just in time too, as I'm submitting it for the Harlequin eShivers fast track submission call (open till 2 August). All I have to do is fine-tune the cover letter and synopsis and write an epilogue and... Nothing's ever quite complete, is it?

And then, wow. I have a bit of breathing space to decide what-next? I'll share the novella with betas, of course (and hope they like it) but in the meantime...

I do have a short story to finish editing (and add 80 words to!) for another contest. As for a larger project - I've got last year's NaNoWriMo story to start typing up! Yup, I invoked the Luddite clause for that one. Or a brand new idea that's been percolating for some time... Set in Canada just after the Edwardian era.

Any of these are going to involve research. Yay!

Lori Benton, whose novel Burning Sky is out now!, had a post a while ago showing off her historical fiction…

op Ten list - another one!

Margo (who was featured on Nutschell's Writing Space the other day!) had a list of Top Ten Most Intimidating Books.

Of the ones she listed, The Grapes of Wrath is actually at the top of my TBR pile at the moment. And I have read Ulysses! It took me a year - I read a chapter each Sunday (or so). After each chapter, I read the corresponding chapter in Stuart Gilbert's James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study. Is it really possible to read Ulysses without any help at all? I haven't tried Finnegan's Wake yet...

Here are my Top Ten Most Intimidating Books:

War and Peace - I don't like admitting it, but I still haven't gotten around to reading this. I haven't read Crime and Punishment yet either, but I've read other books by Dostoyevsky, so I don't feel as badly. I'd also like to read Anna Karenina...

Numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 belong to books in other languages - I haven't gotten past the first chapter of Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul…

orror, as a genre.

I wouldn't actually say I read it, the same way I don't really watch zombie films. But after a while, there's bound to be one or two books and movies that creep into your life. So, for instance, I've seen the classic Dawn of the Dead, as well as Shaun of the Dead ("we do the quiz!") and most recently read World War Z.

And as for reading horror... I read Stephen King. I'm sure I've read a handful of other authors, and of course I've read lots of folkloric ghost stories, but King is the one that sticks.

The hardest part about King, though, is when friends or bookstore employees (this happened again just last week) say: "I've always wanted to try Stephen King, but I don't like horror/being scared/ghosts."

I get all tongue tied and don't really know how to recommend him, beyond babbling "but it's a good scary, and usually - okay, sometimes - it turns out all right in the end! Also, try Bag of Bones or …