…ing, because it’s a bilingual edition that’s heavily annotated, and it was really interesting to see the notes and compare with the text (not, you know, that I understood more than a few words here and there, but I could see some of how it was all pieced together). Huỳnh Sanh Thông’s scholarship is fairly impressive, and it’s full of fascinating tidbits (also very fascinating to see how the novel echoes the original Chinese work while clearly forg…

…hem,” part of the western paradigm. (also, because I know this is going to come up at some point, and it’d be hypocritical of me not to mention it: I’m well aware that I’m committing outsider narrative in Obsidian and Blood. I’m doing it for what I believe are good motives–out of interest for the Mexica, to rehabilitate a culture that got the really short end of the stick, and show a mindset that is radically different without descending into Barb…

…“Chở củi về rừng”: “carrying wood into the forest/jungle”. Doing useless things (like “carrying coal to Newcastle”, an English proverb I learnt at the same time as the Vietnamese one). Hahaha, that one is hilarious. In other news, I have 3k words on the novel. One of my fave characters just showed up (great cook, good sense of humour, major temper. What’s not to love). Just one more scene, and I’ll be done with chapter 1!…

…ors and the bodhisattva Quan Am to find strength; but that it would always come back to that core of dark thoughts within you, that fundamental fright you carried with you like a yin shadow in your heart. I know, of course, where it started. I took you to the ship–because I had no choice, because Khi Phach was away on some merchant trip to the Twenty-Third Planet–because you were a quiet and well-behaved son, and the birth-master would have attend…

…y harmful. Well worth a look; and Cécile Cristofari is also awesome in the comments about Barthes and how we make up stories to interpret “reality”. –“Tiger Stripes” by Nghi Vo, over at Strange Horizons is a fantasy set in Vietnam, which is rare enough to mention. Also pretty impressed that the diacritics were left in, though really, the only word affected is “Huế” (I imagine that if the main character had been called something other than Thanh, w…

…(via Jay Lake and Jennifer Jackson): Congratulations to Ken Scholes and his wife Jenn on the birth of their twin daughters: Elizabeth 5 lbs 3 oz, Rachel 5 lbs 6 oz – as of about 9 am (Pacific)….

…OK, so I’ve given it a try, but it’s not working out. Clearly the novel thing needs a little more of my focused attention, and I can’t do this while managing a blog and a twitter and a facebook. Accordingly, I’m having a mini-darkness notice: I’ll still post about the important stuff, and do a few things, but I’m cutting back on my internet consumption….

…-selling Outlander series, and Barbara Hambly (Benjamin January Mysteries) examines the delicate balance of rebooting a TV show. Seanan McGuire (Toby Daye series) reveals the power and pain of waiting in Series 5, and Una McCormack (The King’s Dragon) argues that Sylvester McCoy’s final year of Doctor Who is the show’s best season ever. Other contributors include Juliet E. McKenna (Einarrin series), Tansy Rayner Roberts (Power and Majesty), Sarah…

…of honour is astronomer Marek Kukula. I, uh, don’t have much idea of what I’m up to, other than this engagement, having lunch on Sunday, and presumably wandering into Forbidden Planet at some point 🙂 ETA: I have the con schedule, thanks to Shana Worthen and Simon Bradshaw 10:00 am Welcome (SFF) 10:05 am BSFA Event 11 am Aliette de Bodard interview with Edward James 12 pm – 12:45 SFF AGM 12:45 pm – 1: 45 pm Lunch 1:45 pm – 2:30 pm BSFA AGM 2:30 pm…

…mines in the Vietnamese/American war, which are still a problem today. As usual, many thanks on this one to Ken Liu and Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, who had fantastic comments to help me straighten out my first draft. You can read a snippet of the story here….