Like, so TOTALLY cool.

[rj_anderson]

Can you tell I've been watching the "Valley Girl" extras from the HOUSE S2 DVDs?

Anyway, look at the shiny pretty thing that is Writely! I've been wanting something like this for ages!

Other super-nifty things include the very exciting news, kindly mailed to me by Hottt Cheryl (do I have the right number of t's? I've lost track of how many she's earned, now), that naominovik's wonderful (wonderful, wonderful, and did I say, WONDERFUL?) Temeraire books have been optioned by Peter Jackson. In spite of the fact that I hated PJ's LotR, I am enough of an optimist to think he might do a good job with the project.

I was going to write a whole separate entry, maybe over on my otherwise useless Vox blog, reviewing His Majesty's Dragon and papersky's delightful Tooth and Claw, as they are both fantasy novels about dragons and both strongly influenced by nineteenth-century literature, and much could be said about either of them. However, I would rather give both books my endorsement now, however briefly, than wait for an opportunity to wax eloquent about them that may well never come. So here is my review:

I didn't think books about dragons could get any better than Tooth and Claw, but Temeraire a.k.a. His Majesty's Dragon in particular is the most delightful thing to happen to me in a literary sense since I read The Beekeeper's Apprentice (and we all know what came of that). Anyway, both Walton's book and Novik's are superb. If you haven't read them, GO NOW.

Comments

[meril.livejournal.com]

Just as I was going to do a post on why I didn't think the Temeraire series was the greatest thing since separated bread... ;) Everyone on my flist loves it; I think my problem is I read too many a) Napoleonic books and b) space navy books before reading this. I hate having to discover that there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing."

Have you read all three? I do have to say I liked the second one the best of all, and the third engaged me more due to the alternate history factors than for any other reason.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I really haven't kept up on the SF&F novels being published lately, unless I already know the author (and I still haven't gotten around to the 3rd Chalion book, so not even that). I hadn't heard a whisper of these, but now I think I shall have to look them up!

Thanks.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, please do read Novik. So, so brilliant. I just want to eat her books. Yum!

[rose-in-shadow.livejournal.com]

Anyway, look at the shiny pretty thing that is Writely!

Writing.com (http://www.writing.com) is similar, though, admittedly, I've only glanced at the Writely website. Looks interesting though.

Isn't the news about the Temerarie books great? I just posted about it too, though not as coherently :-D.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Writing.com isn't the same thing at all, actually. Writely isn't a forum for writers, it's a utility to let you write drafts and save them online, and easily export your stuff to (or import from) Word. It'd be perfect for writing fic and having other people beta-read it, for instance.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Invisible Man Virtual season (which I write for) has just started using Writely, and it's making our mulitple-beta and discussion process SO much easier.

[rose-in-shadow.livejournal.com]

When I'm away from Word, I write stuff directly to Writing.com. It's more than just a forum--but, yeah, I see the difference. Nifty. I might have to take a closer look.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I shall have to form a club for you and my husband: The Who-Fan Jackson-LoTR-Haters Club. ;)

And I've just finished book 2 of the Temeraire series, and can't wait to get number 3. (Another series I'm really enjoying is Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series, which is fabulous.)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I actually enjoyed the Jackson LOTR movies, as they were so very pretty and fun to watch, with the added bonus that after I watched them I got to gripe ceaselessly for an hour to whoever would listen about the liberties taken with the canon and the thematic changes and the fact that Farimir and Theoden are not like that so there. And I had a fantastic time both watching and griping. So I figure it's all good.

But yes, here's hoping he treats Temeraire well. *crosses fingers*

[(Anonymous)]

I just adored Tooth & Claw, and I read it at the perfect time: I'd been reading lots of Trollope, and I found T&C right after finishing Framley Parsonage. Jo puts the perfect dragonish spin on all the Victorian tropes.

Temeraire, though--I picked them up with great hopes as I'd loved her other writing, and was slightly disappointed, in part because I judge anything set in the Napoleonic milieu against Patrick O'Brian (which is a really high bar) and partly because I kept falling out of the story and wondering about the physics of her dragons, and that's fatal.

Naomi

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

OMG I finished Tooth and Claw yesterday and was blown away. So blown away that I ranted at my manager because we don't have any of papersky's books in the system. Then I put a Recommendation for Purchase in.

[yunitsa.livejournal.com]

I know! Isn't it the best news ever? I've just finished Throne of Jade and now have to wait for the next one to be published in the UK, because I want the pretty hardback, and I was thinking of how they'd made a good Master and Commander-type film (with DRAGONS)