EWein2412

I'm Sarah. I'm here because I'm a *huge* fan of your work-- you e-mailed me when I posted a review a few months ago.

So, three things about me...

1. I knit far more than a person who doesn't actually live in a place where people wear scarves should.

2. I'm the kind of insane that drives one to learn Old Irish, and then try and re-write the textbook halfway through the year.

3. I've been living in Ireland since September. I leave in just over a week, and I will dreadfully miss Toffee Crisps, Barry's Tea, and not having to worry about earthquakes.

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ewein2412

Old Irish! Another college story... In my senior year I took a course called "Ireland Before the Normans" (taught by Robin Stacey, in case that means anything to you). We had a choice of writing a term paper or taking Old Irish in addition to the class. 12 out of 16 started out in the Old Irish class, and 4 stuck with it. 3 of us became lifelong friends. We're all married to Englishmen and living in the UK now. How weird is that.

The only thing I can remember in Old Irish is "Ech! Ech! Mo riga do eich!" (And I think the "do" is wrong. But you can probably work it out enough to be able to giggle at it.)

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Where are you going next week that you are going to have to worry about earthquakes?

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Hehe! Most of us in Old Irish are Americans doing it for a Cert in Irish Studies who would not otherwise be taking the class. Our exam is on Wednesday, and most of us are freaking out.

"Ireland Before the Normans" sounds really cool-- I'm currently taking an Irish Archaeology class which started with the mesolithic and made it to the 1400s. Neolithic tombs and early medieval ecclesiastical settlement are what it's all about. ^_^

I'm going back to California to do my senion year of college; it's not so much that I *worry* about earthquakes, but it means I can't do things like store my suitcase on top of my closet, because it might fall off.

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ewein2412

"I can't do things like store my suitcase on top of my closet, because it might fall off."

Something that it never occurred to me would be dangerous. This makes me think of my friend who grew up in Michigan and Missouri, where they had tornado drills in her school. I was agog when she told me about it. But of course, wherever you live, what you do is normal.

we don't get any kind of extreme weather here, except high winds sometimes. It rains a lot. Probably much like Ireland.

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When I first got here, I was trying to find a place to put it, and my German flatmate suggested the top of the closet-- my first thought was, indeed what if there's an earthquake? There *are* things here that I'm not used to-- we got frost in the winter, which looks so *amazing.* I mean, I'd seen frost before, but it had never been in a place where I was living.

On the other hand, I'm used to the rain. ^_^

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ewein2412

Frost is amazing. We had three days of hoarfrost a couple of years ago, and it looked as though everything had turned to crystal. And another time there was this thin film of ice all over everything so that you could peel these perfect casts off the leaves in the garden, like glass. And drops of mist freezing, so that the air shimmered with them. Not extremes, but tiny gradations of weather creating phenomena I'd never seen or imagined.

I will stop now. I am a total weather nerd.

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It's okay, so am I. I blame my father. I currently have two weather pages that I check daily. ^_^

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I'd love to visit Ireland.

One of the weirdest things, though, is that I've been able to find just about nothing published on early modern Irish life-- say, 1600 to 1900-- or the material culture of that era. The Cries of Dublin has been about it, for that era.

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If you're looking for nonfiction, there's one called Irish Folk Ways, by E. Estyn Evans, that's pretty good-- it was a textbook for my folklore course.

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Thank you! I'll certainly look that up.

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shati.livejournal.com

I read The Winter Prince a few years back, and loved it to tiny snowy bits. It was a huge influence on my style at the time; especially the sense of momentum, and the clarity of the writing. Sharpness. (I also wondered if you read a lot of manga, because some of the story elements reminded me more of manga/anime than your average Western Arthurian fantasy.) I've since read the demi-sequels, which were lovely.

So when I heard you'd got a livejournal -- I don't remember who from -- I friended it. (And I'm not sure if that was this year or not, because I have the sense of time of a stoned or maybe dead turtle.)

* I have a very many small, stupid, incestuous, orange, and cannibalistic fish. Whenever I worry about the fate of humanity I can look at those fish and know that there is a species worse off.

* I am 19, living in (well, right by) Boston, and running low on adjectives.

* I am not very good at listing 3 cool things about myself.

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ewein2412

"tiny snowy bits." I love that. Curiously, I picture this literally, and happening in a particular corner of my high school library... the pages falling to pieces beneath your (or really, *my*) fingers.

Interesting observation about the manga. I do read manga now, but I didn't then. When I was in college (more than 20 years ago, so that tells you something about the time frame) I used to draw potential scenes from The Winter Prince, either as stand-alone pictures or in comic strip form. One of my friends said it reminded her of what she called, at the time, "underground comic books." (She was also a manga reader--her parents were Japanese and she had tons of the stuff, as I recall, but unfortunately for me none of it was in English.) She introduced me to Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil (in its very first incarnation!). But that's not where said "story elements" in The Winter Prince came from, as they were in place long before that... I'm trying to think of off-beat reading material that could have influenced me, but all I come up with is very Western and very canon. The Mabinogion and Hamlet. The Lord of the Rings. The Once and Future King. The Waste Land. Well, and Oedipus Rex.

Having said that, I adore the manga I am reading now, precisely because it *does* resonate with me.

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meener.livejournal.com

you know who i am (hopefully!), and i can't think of 3 cool things about myself. so here are some 3 random bits of information:

1. one thing i believe very strongly, to the point of egotism even, is that i have excellent taste in books and authors. when people ask me what i mean by "good taste," i say that it's of course whatever i'm reading. (that is where the egotism comes in, maybe.)

2. i get inordinately excited about anything connected to the norman invasion. i positively explode whenever anyone mentions the norman invasion in connection with language.

3. you are one of my favorite authors.

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ewein2412

I do know who you are. A little bit of who you are, anyway, as I suspect you are infinitely more complicated than what I see here...

you are also WAY TOO MODEST, woman, as I happen to know that you write kick-ass Birthday Poems.

The Norman Invasion? Who knew?

Here is a piece of cool trivia marginally related to the Norman Invasion. If you or any of your friends ever find yourself in Reading, England, the Museum of Reading has got a full size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry which was made in 1885/1886 by 35 women members of the Leek Embroidery Society (Leek is a town in Staffordshire). It is my favorite thing in Reading (except, perhaps, the Thames).

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I was reading recently that the Bayeux Tapestry has actually been reworked several times over the years. Someone recently compared the two engravings made in the early 18th century and early 19th century, with the late 19th century photographs of it, with what it looks like today, and it would seem that the famous arrow or bolt in King Harold's eye didn't start out there. In the early 18th century engraving, it's a lot more like a lance he's hurling, and not touching his head at all.

Damn, now where'd I read all that...?

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Well, as you know if you read my last post, TrustFlow pulled your LJ in as one which is "near my FL but not on it." (If you don't see yours on the results of that link, I expect it's because you now are on it.)

Hmm. 3 cool things.

I have an 1830s rowhome which I'm restoring for my family and I to live in. Saw it, discovered it was vacant and tax-delinquent, forced it into sheriff's sale, and bought it there. Restoring it is like having a baby-- hideous amounts of work, with amazing learning and personal growth. I'm doing both at once, so I can compare.

I used to own a caboose. I'm one of those "collecting" types, you might say, and back when I was railroad-crazy my parents indulged me enough to lend me $3500 to buy a 50-year-old, 25-ton railroad car. Eventually, life shifted, and I had to sell it, but I still think fondly of it.

I created the first website laying out a city of the past block by block and house by house, ever created.

Do you have a Philadelphia connection?

It's also a good thing to have Friends in Scotland. My ancestors came from the little Borders town of Hawick, and while there on our honeymoon we went to the farm where they were laborers. The present owners were interested and invited us in for tea! Then the husband drove us all around the countryside showing where the laborers' cottages were, the early houses in those rolling hills, a marvelous, spooky old abandoned church in the woods high on a hill, and then drove us back into town to the bus station!

So we have fond memories of Scottish hospitality.

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ewein2412

OK, those are seriously cool things.

I am incredibly envious of the caboose.

I do have a Philadelphia connection. I got a PhD in Folklore at Penn during the 80s/90s, and lived in Philadelphia for most of my 20s, mainly in Germantown. I was a bell ringer at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill and very heavily involved with the ringing community, both in Philadelphia and in North America (I think I became legendary, for a brief while; I came back to St. Martin's for a visit about two years after I moved to England and one of the new ringers, whom I had met only a couple of times before, said, "Oh, you live in ENGLAND! I wondered why you never come to practice"). I loved Philadelphia--I grew up (more or less) in Harrisburg, and Philadelphia was the big city. Both my mother's parents went to Penn for grad school. My great-grandmother used to take the train to the city to do her Christmas shopping in Wanamaker's.

Where is your house?

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Our house is in Fishtown, the last of the really early neighborhoods to be discovered. If you remember where Old City is, Northern Liberties is the neighborhood just above that, and, following the curve of the river toward the northeast, Fishtown is the next. Some truly amazing houses here, but we're losing some now due to gentrification and the eyepopping money they're getting for condos. They're redeveloping the waterfront, finally, and everyone's pushing to get in.

Once I get my camera working again, I see I'm going to have to do a post about the place.

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ewein2412

thank you, I'll really look forward to that!

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ewein2412

And I forgot to add that your early Philadelphia street log is amazing. I have sent the link to my friend whose father, Dick Tyler, was director of staff at the Philadelphia Historical Commission for many years (I think he's retired now).

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Thanks. I remember Dick Tyler very well; he's quite a character.

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ewein2412

you are most diplomatic!

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mrissa.livejournal.com

I was off meeting my new baby niece when you posted this and could think of very little besides niece. Now I recall that I friended you because

sdn said who you were and I like your books. Arthurian novels have joined vampire novels in the category of "kinds of book

mrissa is wary of," but these slipped past that guard, to good effect. (I particularly like books and series that don't end in traditional spots.)

My standard party-trick fact about myself is that I can sing the theme songs to "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island" in French.

Two more random cool things...um. At Christmas, someone sent me marbles in the shape of the Earth and Mars, and no one has confessed to it yet. If it was parents or partners, they'd have said so by now. So I have no idea, but they're really lovely marbles and make me happy.

I make a killer Guinness gingerbread. This is a rather more practical fact than the others, a useful thing for people to know about me.

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ewein2412

Ah, I'm so glad you've answered, as you are one of those that I've never quite figured out the connection. I must admit I've grown wary of vampire novels too--perhaps because of overdosing on them in the late 80s--so I do know what you mean, but I'm glad I'm slipping beneath your radar. (or onto it. My metaphor is falling apart.)

Guinness gingerbread? drool. Have you got a recipe posted somewhere? I had a slice of someone's Guinness chocolate cake once but after months of badgering I lost track of them and never managed to get the recipe.

Can I also add that whoever sent you the anonymous marbles has a fabulous brain. (I will file this idea in my head for further use... Anonymous random Christmas presents. Why didn't I think of that.)

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mrissa.livejournal.com

Stout gingerbread (http://www.marissalingen.com/stoutginger.html), for your delectation. It really is good, dark and bitter, and the molasses and stout are black and bubbly at the beginning, and it makes me feel witchy and strange as the bitterness wafts through the house.

The marbles are pretty cheap on Amazon (the US version, at least), too--only a few dollars each, for something that really made my Christmas.

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ewein2412

Fabulous! Thank you so much. I will test it on Sara, who is a real gingerbread fan.

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Actually, this is the first time I've posted on here....Let's see, I found your blog through a posting on Sartorias via Martha Wells, and said...hey, I know eegatland! So i just added you to my friends today.

We met last year in Scotland, and I am about half-way through the Sunbird.
That gives you an idea how slowly I read (I read about a novel a month). I waited until January as you suggested and bought the paperback, put it onto my stack where I just started it last week. (OK, I admit I've skimmed ahead to the end, but I haven't READ it all yet.) I gave my paperbacks to my brother-in-law to purt in his library, so now your books are available at another Mesquite, TX high school. I'm going to go ahead and buy the hardbacks, although I'm beginning to think finding the Winter Prince in hardback might be difficult!

3 interesting things.....hmmm

1) Been on a camel trek through the Outback in the Australian winter. Froze my butt off, slept on the ground, ate flies, smelled like camel dung, learned a lot. Recognized 2 constellations, and discovered that if I ever go to a new planet, all the constellations will be named Triangle One, Triangle Two, Triange Three.... Seriously, you ever want to know about camels, I can help.

2) I fence saber and foil, although right now I'm on haitus from that because my physical therapist says no more getting hit over the head.

3) I believe Calculus is one of the greatest art forms ever developed.

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ewein2412

If all I knew about you was those three things, I would form a very different visual image of who you are... (for one thing, you would be male). And then I would put you in my next book.

Actually, I've already done all the writing about camels that I'm likely to do for a while, but I hope I managed to fake it well enough that it doesn't grate.

If you ask very very nicely I can probably cough up one of my hardbacks of The Winter Prince (though most of them are already library rejects!)

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I was actually told once at a witers' workshop (by a critiquer) that they were surprised that I was a woman. They thought I wrote like a man, which nearly made me die laughing (because my husband characterizes my work as being a little girly). The POV character in this instance was male, though, and I'd had to do a lot of thinking about how to think like he would....

For many reasons, more men end up doing math than women, but that doesn't mean they're any better at it. Society just reinforces them more in certain intellectual fields. That is slowly changing. I always encourage girls to take Calculus.

Fencing is particularly good cardio exercize. The camels? I'd prefer horses any day.

You may not recall, but we met in the lunch room at InterCon where you were sharing a table with a girl from Isreal in a cape. You kindly let me share the table and we discussed, among other things, your banner-flying ambitions. I hope you've had sometime to fly lately!

I haven't gotten to the camels yet. Anyway, just wanted to say hi.

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ewein2412

I know exactly who you are and recall you very well, and I would be embarrassed if I didn't, especially seeing as we've exchanged email between WorldCon and now!

Thank you for saying hi, anyway!

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I finished The Sunbird yesterday! I loved it. I'm glad to see Medraut's talking again...there's only so much pennance one can do, and you were right in that it hurt Telemakos more than it helped Lleu.

The camels were perfectly correct. You were right in that they have to be hobbled. We kept them hobbled even while lettng them graze. A hobbled camel can still make pretty good time, though, so you actually have to watch them while they graze, and then tie them down for the night.

I'm hoping to hear about a new book sometime soon.

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ewein2412

The camels were perfectly correct.

phew! (wipes brow) I think that hobbling feature was one of my last minute changes. I had just finished reading Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands and took out all the camel insults, as well (Goewin calls T's camel "noble" at one point)

I'm hoping to hear about a new book sometime soon.

You and me both! My editor is reading it right now.

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