Ankle Bar...

It's depressing. I can only eat vegetarian, everything is in curry form. I can only drink and brush teeth with mineral water, and in my hotel room, I have to walk and bathe with my slippers on. Did I mention the complete lack of women everywhere I am? Even my coworkers with me are men. If I have to stay longer than I'm supposed to, I'm-a kill one of those cows on the street.
Of course, if I eat it, I'll get poisoned.
Oh, and those lorries, tuk-tuks, scooters and tiny cars. Man, they'd knock the socks off those Formula 1 racers.
Shiok, man.

Business Class...

I vow to be filthy rich so I can be just as demanding as those suited passengers around me.

Elantris.

I'm not a big fan of wholesale fantasy, like Robert Jordan's or Terry Goodkind's dozen-book series. Those are monstrous reads that require dedication which is hard to come by. I like standalone fantasy novels like this one. It's predicatable, but sweet, and reflective of the times.

I like that the author, Brandon Sanderson, is probably a Mormon of sorts (I'm assuming, since he's associated with Brigham Young U.), yet in this book, the "pantheon of gods" are the good guys, and the "One God" has minions who are ultra bad guys. Of course, that's my own interpretation. Don't want to step on people's toes (and goodness gracious, these days people tend to have highly sensitive toes)!

I also like his dedication, which, if I remember correctly, reads:

To my mom
Who wanted a doctor
But got a writer
And is nice enough not to complain
(Too much)

Gosh, that potentially sounds just like someone I know...Hm, wonder who that could be? (Who, me?)

All in all, a memorable book because of the sweet and simple plot, beautiful concept and resonating dedication.

Last Sunday, I put "THE END" on my four-part novella Origin series. Been working on these stories since I was sixteen, and my writing has changed and matured over each part of the series.

I have several hundred pages of material, and I know the next step should be to edit and submit. I'm nervous about that. I want my stories to come out, to see the light of publishing day. But will they ever? I can always hope.


I know what I'm going to write on my "Author's Memo"/"Dedication" page, if I ever have one:

Vampires, I am SO through with you.