January 2014 - One Month Down

The year so far:

- We had my partner's daughter with us over from Perth.
- We had Christmas.
- And New Years.
- And cleared out our garage.
- I discovered the Pandora app on my phone, and that led to all sorts of new music.
- Saw Frozen.
- And Sherlock.
- And The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, which was basically the same thing. ;)
- Compiled a truly intimidating to-be-read pile that is no longer under any control at all.

As for New Year's Resolutions... I have two. One of those comes in the form the above mountain. If I manage to at least pick up all of these titles to see if I like them by mid-year, I'll be happy. 

Notable mentions of good books read so far:



Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Retreat.

I'm not usually a huge graphic novel fan, but as soon as season seven ended, I knew I'd be buying all of season eight in comics. And so I did, and there they've sat for... far too many years. Every so often, I pick one up, wipe off the dust and commit to reading it.

Then, a Willow specific comic was lent to me (pictured in above pic, far right) and I felt I should finish the last three issues of season eight.

Well! I read it overnight. Kept on turning pages, so very, very compelled. The rest of the books have been a bit of a slog, to be honest, but this one made it all worth it!

Who's that on the left hand side of the cover? Why, it's the reason why I found this book so enjoyable. Oz is back! (full review..)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor.


For people who have just picked up this book, please don't be alarmed by the first chapter. You are not about to read a young adult novel with a thin plot and sallow romance front and centre. Though I don't blame you for thinking that with the introduction of Kaz.

Thankfully, the book only grows better than that, and the plot hits such a point that by page 100 you will not be able to put this book down.

I had heard many wonderful reviews about this book, and I am thrilled not to be disappointed by it. This is a young adult novel, with the heroine set in Prague so the schooling system seems a bit skewed from what I recognise; much more adult and seeming like TAFE or college with subjects like life drawing. That only improved my reading experience. Karou is also a kickass heroine who can take care of herself, which is the best pairing in young adult fiction up to date.


I'd also like to keep a record of what I write and where, at least once a month, even if it's fanfiction. (NB: It will be fanfiction at some point. We've just had Season 3 Sherlock. So...)

This month, between 10th - 21st January, I wrote a short six part series posted on Tumblr: Delilah and Sansa.

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5.
Part 6.

Inspired by artwork by Fukari, music by Jasmine Thompson and The Dresden Dolls. Word count: 1,448.

From 17th - 21st of January, I also plotted a new novel, projected approx 70,000 words. The first chapter was something I scribbled down during NaNo. Hoping to start that off properly in February, if not before.

'The Hobbit' and talks concerning Middle Earth

Very recently, I have been the proud recipient of an iPad to help with work. They say that it's for work. 13G of music and a whole bunch of personal downloads later, and I have started wondering exactly how much for work this really is...

However, on my list of downloads are a large number of free lectures I have been listening to on iTunes U. The most interesting (to me) so far has been a series of lectures by one Corey Olsen.

Setting aside that this man is a brilliant public speaker, his lectures are so fluid that you really feel like he's speaking to you about something he's passionate about, rather than words printed to a sheet. His subjects are largely to do with Tolkien, and the series of lectures I have been listening to lately have more specifically to do with The Hobbit.

This is a very exciting time for us Hobbit fans. (I include myself in this group not so much as a fan of the books, but as a fan of talks surrounding Middle Earth and, of course, the pretty pretty actors that seem to populate its lands. I am firmly of the opinion, however, that I am just not grown-up enough yet to appreciate this literature, and it is something my brain with eventually work itself around to when the requisite amount of time has passed.)

One of the reason why it is an exciting time is that it is only two months now until the inaugural second movie of this new trilogy makes its way to our screens.

Secondly, it is only a little more than a week since the second of The Hobbit trailer videos were released to the masses.

For those who missed it, there was another trailer that was released about four months ago, in June:

It's going to be fun to see the likes of Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom present in the cast for these stories once again come December.

Sherlock: Season 3, Episode 3.

Remember when I came to you with a very disappointing update on Sherlock season three tacked onto the end of a post?

"(Unlike True Blood, BBC's Sherlock is something I'm looking forward to with baited breath. Come on season three!)"

Well, now this has happened.




This may just be the most exciting thing that has happened to me all morning.

(Of course, considering I've only been up for an hour and it's almost midday, that might be the most exciting thing that has happened to me all morning.)

Episode 3! They are up to filming episode 3 at the end of this month!