Stole this from over the internet, and then stupidly forgot to note from whom I’d taken it…

The Rules of the Game Are:
Bold the women by whom you own books
Italicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count).
*Star those you don’t recognize
Unmarked are those whose work you have not read
Read More »

So, have set the BF on Use of Weapons (while I really ought to try The Player of Games, if I can find it somewhere).

Meanwhile, I’m rereading Dorothy L. Sayers. It’s fascinating to see those books through the lens of the Thirties society they depict: they have a very strong class mentality, which I expected, but I didn’t expect the little tidbits that really tell you how much the world has changed. An example in the current one: the doctor who wants to specialise in cancer research, but can’t because there is no funding for it, or indeed any cases to be seen. (obviously, people in those times died off before cancer could set in).

Got myself a DVD of Angel with Spanish and English tracks and subtitles, to continue working on my Spanish. And, well, apart from working on a handful of edits for stuff, that would seem to be about it for the weekend. Good stuff. I shall now go back to my xa xiu cooking…

Basically, I need an oblong, portable musical instrument. The first one I thought of was the flute or another wind instrument, but for various story-related reasons, it can’t be an instrument you need to breathe in to make it work.

Any ideas? It doesn’t have to be stick-shaped, but it does need to be longer than it is large.

EDIT: wow, thanks for all the answers! I’m inclining towards a variety of stringed instruments (not sure yet if it’s lute/sitar/guitar/erhu, but it looks like my MC won’t know what it is anyway).

My fellow Shine author, Gareth L Powell, very kindly invited me to play in his sandbox. Hop over to his blog to see me (briefly) discuss scientific plausibility in SF. Take a look–any and all comments welcome!

(and many thanks to Gareth for the space)