My Summer of Fantasy

I've always been an avid reader of science fiction but never really got into fantasy. In an attempt to expand my horizons - and after watching the incredibly cheezy but enjoyable (in a Xena kind of way) "Legend of the Seeker" - I recently picked Terry Goodkind's "Wizards' First Rule." I was trying to decided whether I should start the rest of the books after reading some mixed reviews online claiming the series gets pretty unbearable towards the end. (Critics in a nutshell - little character development, bad writing, Objectivist rants.) Anyways, Since I know lots of my facebook friends are super-geeks (like me), I asked their advice. While I'll probably hold off on reading more Goodkind for now, here's the list of recommended books that I compiled from the ensuing discussion.

Piers Anthony - A Spell for Chameleon (Zac)
Robert Aspirin - "Another Fine Myth" (Zac - humor fantasy)
Patricia Briggs - Moon Called (Chris W.)
Terry Brooks - Running with the Demon (Jason)
Terry Brooks - Magic Kingdom For Sale--SOLD (Zac)
Molly Cochran & Warren Murphy - The Forever King (Zac - Arthurian spin on its head)
Rick Cook - Wizards Bane (Zac - a universe where computer programming languages can be used to make magic)
Diane Duane - So You Want To Be a Wizard"(Zac - YA with female lead)
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen (Kelly)
Barbara Hambley - The Ladies of Mandrigyn (Zac - best female lead written in fantasy)
Robin Hobbs - Assassin trilogy (Dave R.)
Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time series (Jason)
Mercedes Lackey - Winds of Fate (Zac)
Ursala LeGuin - Earthsea series (Mary, Zac)
Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind (Zac)
Maria Doria Russell - The Sparrow, Children of God (Max)
Mary Steward - The Crystal Cave & the rest of her Arthurian series (Zac, my mom)

I'm also looking into feminist-friendly fantasy books currently, and will post a list of what I find. Let's see if there's anything out there that doesn't use the damsel-in-distress and violence-against-women-as-plot-motivaters tropes in excess. (For many examples of the latter in comics, check out the excellent Women in Refrigerators website.)

Looks like my summer reading list is getting full! Thanks to all for the great suggestions!

Pouring money down the drain

After months ... no, make that years of putting it off, I finally cleaned out my storage unit the other day. I had to dig up the original contract the find my unit number and gate code. It had been that long since I'd been inside.

I only had a vague idea of what was in there, but I assumed it must be important since I took the time to rent the unit and haul a bunch of stuff into it. (I rented it when I moved from a townhouse in upper NW with a basement to an apartment in Dupont with no stoarge space.) So I rolled up my sleeves and started sorting. First, I have never seen so many dead bugs in my life. Gross! Second, 75% of the stuff in it was junk. Absolutely worthless. There were some gems - old debate medals, science fiction paperbacks, letters and cards from college. I'll be sorting through this stuff at home. (And scanning what I can.) But I was able to fit everything I wanted to keep in one medium-sized load in my car. The rest - total crap!

Being the masochist that I am, I wanted to figure out how much money I have wasted on storing my junk. The contract listed that I originally rented the storage unit in April 2003. Damn. I've been paying rent on it for seven years. That's 84 months of making a payment of $100-120. (The rental fee went upgradually over those seven years.) So I figure I have spend $9000-10,000 on this storage unit.

Let me repeat that - NINE TO TEN FRAKKING THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!! To store mostly crap. Think of all the things I could have done with that much money.

I vow to never, ever rent a storage unit again ... Unless, of course, I really need it to house all my valuable future sutff :)

Long time no see ....

Me: Oh, hello blog. It's been a while.

Blog: No shit! What happened? I thought you fell off the face of the planet!

Me: I've just been so busy that I haven't had time to visit.

Blog: Not even time for a letter? Or a short text?

Me: I know. I'm a bad blogger. I promise it will never happen again.

Blog: Whatevs. I'm already so over it.