Author Archives

Melissahttp://www.missmeliss.comWriter, voice actor, dog-lover, and bathtub mermaid, Melissa is the Associate Editor-in-Chief at All Things Girl. To learn more about her, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter (@Melysse) or Facebook. You can also listen to her podcast, "Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub" at Bathtub Mermaid or on iTunes.

Party On?

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Last night, in the week hours, I received a note from Borders informing me that a local Waldenbooks was closing and that everything within (except magazines, electronics, and gift cards) would be discounted 40% on Saturday the 22nd.

Rather than choosing to be sad over a bookstore closing (it’s doing so because a big B&N is taking it’s place), I’m beginning to look at announcements like this one as somewhat akin to party invitations. The difference is that instead of going to a party to engage in stimulating conversation, dance, mingle, and maybe hook up with a person, I’ll go to dance around other shoppers, see what titles stimulate my imagination, mingle with other bibliophiles, and maybe hook myself up with something great to read. Or something I’ve always wanted. Like the OED, which is incredibly expensive and worth considering when discounted.

Except, of course, as often happens with parties, we have a previous engagement on a different end of town. (Actually in a different town altogether.

I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have to RSVP.

STTNG: Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang

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by: Jeffry Lang
published by: Pocket Books
published: February 2002

* * * * *

I originally read Immortal Coil in eBook format on my laptop, sometime last year (I think), but somehow that format just doesn’t do it for me, so when I saw a copy of the actual paperback at Half Price Books, I had to grab it. After all, it’s an EmotionChip!Data story, and there aren’t many of those outside of fanfic.

While I’m not old enough to have watched the ORIGINAL Star Trek in first run, the re-runs were the only show that was allowed to routinely break the “no television before 5 PM” rule in my house, and since my mother was anti-television, I used to watch them on our old black-and-white after school when I was nine and ten. As I write this, I am suddenly remembering an add for a convention in 1979 or 80, in Denver. I was too young, at the time, to know what a con was, or I’m sure I’d have pestered my mother to take me.

I mention this because while, on the surface, this is a TNG story, Immortal Coil is also a sort of quasi-sequel to the TOS episodes “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and “Requiem for Methuselah,” and while familiarity with them is not totally required in order to enjoy this story, it definitely helps. A lot.

This novel is all about android rights and the definition of sentience, and, more specifically, the distinction between artificial intelligence and artificial consciousness. It opens with Data returning to the Enterprise with the body of his deceased “mother,” Julianna Tainer, whom we know to be an android. He is dealing with overwhelming emotions, and Picard’s suggestion that turning off the chip would be a bad idea, when a call is received from Admiral Haftel – there’s been an issue at Galor IV, and the ship, and specifically Data, are needed.

What follows is part murder mystery (who tried to kill Maddox, who caused the disappearance of another, legendary and somewhat hermit-ish, cyberneticist?) and part romance (new Enterprise security officer Rhea McAdams has the hots for our Mr. Data, it seems) with a good bit of space epic thrown in.

At times cheesy, at other times sweet, it’s a satisfying romp through the Trekiverse, which wraps up several loose ends in Data’s life.

The first time I read this, I went into it with some skepticism, because a Data romance is a very tricky thing – fanfic authors I respect have argued that he cannot have a plausible relationship. I disagree, but as much as I enjoyed this book for entertainment value, I find that the relationship between Rhea and Data was contrived, and the way Data was written didn’t…fee right.

Goes well with a glass of milk and thin mint cookies.

Upcoming Reviews at Bibliotica

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I’ve got a stack of books to read, enough that I seriously need to invest in new luggage just to cart them around the house when I’ve finished reading and reviewing, and I thought I’d mention them here.

In Science Fiction, I’ve got Immortal Coil, and also the Vulcan’s Soul trilogy, all from the world of Star Trek.

In Paranormal Romance, I’ve got the third book in the Gardella Vampire Series – I interviewed the author last month.

In Fantasy, I’m reading Kushiel’s Scion but that, like Kiss Me Kill Me, by Lauren Henderson, will be reviewed at All Things Girl just as Midori by Moonlight was.

And of course, in April, I’m going to be focusing on Jane Austen, beginning with Pride and Prejudice

Stay tuned.

V: the Second Generation by Kenneth Johnson

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By: Kenneth Johnson
Published by: Tor
Publication date: February, 2008

I was twelve or thirteen when the original V miniseries was broadcast, and a bit older when V: the Final Battle came out. At first, I wasn’t interested, but my step-brother got me into the show, and, because I gravitated toward underdogs even then, I’ll confess that I had a bit of a crush on Willie (played by Robert Englund). This was before I’d seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, of course.

When we were at the bookstore the other night, looking for a diet book I eventually chose not to purchase, Fuzzy’s eye was caught by the trade paperback version of V: the Second Generation, and knowing that I like the series, and have ALL the tie-in books upstairs in a box, he grabbed it for me.

I read it on Friday night.

I have been sort of following news of Kenneth Johnson’s career (also I was in high school with his niece), so I knew he had dropped out of being involved with the second miniseries, and had refused to be part of the short-lived weekly series, and that this book would ret-con most of that.

I was expecting it to be awful.

It was actually a pretty good story. In this version, which picks up twenty years after the original mini-series, which ended with Juliet Parrish and Elias sending a message in the general vicinity of enemies of the alien Visitors, the reptiles are controlling most of earth, 50% of the water has been taken into their mother ships (there’s a five-page description of the Pacific Desert and an image of the Golden Gate Bridge stretching across dry sand), scientists, called Scis, are living in ghettos reminiscent of the Jewish ghettos from Nazi Germany, and the Resistance is nearly dead.

As well, there are a bunch of alien-human hybrid children (all under the age of twenty), referred to as Dregs, who are caught between the human and alien cultures.

We are introduced to several new characters – Ruby, a hybrid 12-year-old adopted by Julie, Nathan, a member of the Visitor Friends (now called Teammates) youth group who was befriended by a fifth columnist, Jon, a brilliant hybrid living on the mother ship and working as a janitor, and Ted, the troubled teenaged son of Willy (which is how Johnson consistently spells Willie’s name, and which drove me nuts) and Harmony (the caterer/waitress from the movie).

Old characters are back as well, Julie, Robert Maxwell (but not his daughters), Willy and Harmony (who didn’t die, because Johnson ignores the second movie), and Martin (again, not dead) the fifth columnist. Mike is presumed dead.

And then there are the Zedti, an alien race who got the transmission and came to help…sort of.

If the novel felt more like a padded film script, well, it’s no secret that Johnson, who was the creative mind behind not only V, but also The Bionic Woman (the original), The Incredible Hulk, and Alien Nation is a great television writer, but not a novelist.

Still, with politics preventing SciFi from working with Warner Brothers to produce a movie version of this story, the book is better than nothing, and was a fun read that kept me occupied for an evening.

Also, there are some great Easter eggs in the text, such as Willy giving Jon a copy of Tenctonese Biogeometrics (the Tenctonese are the aliens in Alien Nation.

Goes well with: 80’s pop hits and a peanut butter sandwich.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Prep
by Curtis Sittenfeld
published by Random House
published in 2005

~~~
In Prep I was expecting a posh boarding school story where the rich-bitch characters bragged about hotel deals in exotic foreign countries and wore designer clothes to class.

Instead, I got the story of one Lee Fiora, a young girl from Indiana who decides that boarding school sounds like a romantic sort of thing, applies to several, gets a scholarship, and is then obligated to go. We follow Lee through her four years of school at Ault, meet her roommates, glimpse her classes, but just as Lee never really connects with anyone there (largely through her own choosing), I felt that we never quite connected with Lee.

I was somewhat of a loner in high school as well, and stories of individuals who are gloomy are not always the most appealing things to read, but unlike Lee, I was never bitter, and while I’d never care to go BACK, my high school experience was mostly positive. That being said, I confess to finding boarding schools romantic when I was thirteen or fourteen and I wonder if I’d have ended up as dark and depressed as Lee had I gone to them.

Somehow, I suspect not.

Nevertheless Prep was an interesting read, if only from the standpoint of Lee’s life being compelling in the same way in which a train wreck is.

Goes well with a stiff drink.

Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway

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Austen is pervading my life in roundabout ways, and while it’s nice to watch a movie without the work part of my brain peering at the cars to see what sort of dash kits might be installed, I feel like I’d be much better served by reading her actual work. To that end, I’m declaring April “Jane Austen Month” here at Bibliotica, and will be working my way through her…works.

Meanwhile, however, I’ve seen the movie Becoming Jane, which I found to be warm, funny, a little bit provocative, and really rather interesting, and not just for continuing the trend of American actresses playing British literary figures (c.f. Renee Zellwiger in Mrs. Potter, which I also found enchanting.)

I quite liked all the casting, especially James Cromwell and Julie Walters as Austen’s parents. Cromwell, especially, charmed me with his crusty affection.

My aunt suggests I should begin my own revisit with Miss Austen with Pride and Prejudice. What does everyone else think?

Logo-rhythmic

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Logo

I often use business cards as bookmarks, so when I picked up a book that I’d read several years ago, I wasn’t at all surprised to see one of my old business cards fall from it. Instead, I was reminded that I don’t HAVE business cards any more. And I really need some, if only to drop in the “free lunch” bucket at my favorite restaurant.

I’ve used online business card providers in the past, but while they were cheap, their design interfaces were clunky and their graphics limited. I was turned onto the logo design feature at LogoYes, however, and fell immediately in love. It’s so easy. You select the general type of logo you want – high tech, staid and stable, or creative – and they give you a bunch of graphics to choose from. You can then add a name or a company name, and change the color of the image you’ve chosen. From there, it’s easy to see what your logo would look like on stationery or business cards, because the design engine takes you right to a business card engine.

LogoYes’s site loads quickly, and it never feels awkward or confusing. Everything is arranged on a grid so you can see how it looks, and while the font choices are limited to the few that print best, there are enough options to suit almost anyone.

I’m thrilled that I’ve found LogoYes.
Maybe someday someone will use my card as a bookmark…in my book.

Glimmer Train

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I spent $87 at Border’s today, and didn’t technically buy any books. I did by some literary anthologies, but since they were on the magazine rack, they don’t count. One of them Glimmer Train was recommended to me by my aunt as a place I should consider submitting short stories, but at the time she suggested it, I was in denial about having any talent.

I’ve since decided I have as much talent as anyone else, but I need to work on turning off the business part of my brain when I’m writing, and not turning it back on til the muse is satisfied.

As always, it all comes down to balance.

Anyway, I’d looked for this anthology at Barnes and Nobel, which I usually find is the place to get the best buy on books, because their rewards card is better than the one at Borders, and the copy there was mangled. One copy, mind you. Since I had occasion to be at Borders today, anyway, and they had more than one copy, life was good.

So, a lovely chat, a good collection of short stories, and projects galore, and I’m a happy woman.

For the moment, anyway.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

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There had been a lot of hype about The Jane Austen Book Club and I knew it was supposed to take place “in a California river town” but it was pretty clearly referring to Sacramento. I spent many of my teen years in Modesto, Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento, so it was sort of like homecoming to read a novel set in those environs.

The book itself is the story of five women and one man who read and discuss each of Austen’s works. I have to confess that I never appreciated Austen when I was required to read it in high school, but I’m considering renewing my acquaintance with her on the basis of this book, which was a funny, sad, sweet, and very realistic portrayal of real women in many stages of life. As the lone man, Grigg served mostly as contrast.

This book is not one that requires home theater sconces and dramatic music, and is better read sitting on a sunny porch with a glass of iced tea.

The movie that was adapted from it happened to be next on my Blockbuster queue, so I watched the movie almost immediately after finishing the book, and I was not disappointed by either.

Good read.

Midway and Michael Knight

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While neither of these shows was overtly about CAT6 cable, both had lengths of strewn around in many themes, which is why I’m connecting the Stargate Atlantis episode “Midway” with the Knight Rider movie that was on tonight. Well, that and my love of alliteration.

The first was a satisfying episode: snarky Teal’c, muscley Ronin, wraiths dying all over the place and a gratuitous scene in which Shepard stowed himself in a space suit. I don’t always focus on Stargate when I watch with Fuzzy, tuning out to read, or whatever, but staying in the room to keep him company, but “Midway” kept me interested.

“Knight Rider” on the other hand kept me laughing. Serious mockery was occurring in our living room, and can you blame us? We were wagering on and off all evening about whether or not Hasslehoff would have a cameo, and I complained a lot about the new Voice of KiTT. I’m sorry, but I miss William Daniels. A Lot.

It’s pretty sad when the Mike on a Date four-part commercial was more interesting than the actual show.