Any Moment Called Now

Books are heavy

We've been helping 'dreas parets to move today and since his dad have worked in a book warehouse for a very long time there was a lot of books, and we only moved the boxes with childrens books today. I was kinda envious of all the nicely preserved Tove Jansson books and there were some dear reunions for me as well, among others a history book aimed towards children (Of course now I can't recall the title. It was a first and last name beginning with A's historia för barn but my google-fu is failing me) which I used as a sleeping aid at times. I liked the book but it also made my eyelids real heavy... maybe this is why I didn't study history at uni *ponders*

Anyways, I hope they do as we have done at home and put up a shelf for the children and YA books. They deserve a better life that being hidden away in boxes.

Also, I really want to read Incubus by Carol Goodman. And I blame Helena :)

I'm in the paper...

... well, digitally at least. Me and Boktimmen-Fia were interviewed by a guy at Eurocon and the article is now been published in IDG.

It seems he's a bit uninformed and have a sligthly twisted look on SF in general and hard SF specifically. And I don't think SF conventions have ever been "guys in rotor hats sitting in corners talking about UFOs". Still, he quoted me correctly (as I went against exactly what he's using as the hook for the article) so I'm pleased.

Oh and the article is in Swedish. Sorry about that.

Threadless and other things

Look at the t-shirt Threadless (full disclosure: that link it my street-team link so if you decide to get a shirt after clicking it I get rewarded with some points) released this week, how filled with book geekery isn't it? I kind of want one but I already have a largeish order heading my way. I hope it arrives before we leave to go north next week. Speaking off it's going to feel very strange to return, I have never been away from Luleå this long and now I'm only going back to visit. I still find it odd that I live here now from time to time, mostly in a positive way though. I don't mind people (I'm good at drowning them out with my own thoughts) and I absolutely love everything that's available.

Speaking of people and Stockholm and commuting, is it just me that thinks it's really nice to see everyone reading books on the trains now that the free newspaper is on a break? Love seeing peoples different tastes, the most adorable so far was a tourist though, a gangly german pre-teen boy with one of the City of Bones-books in his arms while he was sightseeing with his family. I can so relate to that! Never went far without a book in that age myself (never do now either).

Since I last posted the books I ordered have arrived and I've already finished two of them, Hexed and Secondhand Spirits. The latter was rather adorable and the main character was a nice mix of the chick-litish protagonist and the action heroine. It had the best bits of both genres really. Definitely going to read the next book as well. Hexed was every bit as good as Hounded so that series I am really enjoying, the latest part, Hammered, was recently released so I'm going to get that too. Need to finish a few more of the books on the to-read-shelf first though. And I'm not talking about the one on goodreads but the actual physical one. I should take a picture of that when I'm home again.

At the moment I am reading All the Windwracked Stars by Elisabeth Bear and it reminds me quite a bit of China Mieville's Bas Lag books, especially Perdido Street Station, which surprised me a bit. Mostly it is because of the large, rather rundown, city filled with strange wonderment and due to the reader being told just enough at every time and being able to figure things out on ones own. I like it so far.

In which the blogger buys books again

I decided to limit the amount of books I bought until the book swap I was taking part in was over. Well, now that I have recived my awesome package and my bookworm have recived hers there isn't a need of it anymore. And I got payed.

So, bookdepository.co.uk once again got a chunk of my money, I would have shopped locally but one of the books I wanted wasn't available at sfbok.se so I went elsewere for all of them.

These ended up in my basket:

Academ's Fury - Jim Butcher

Changeless - Gail Carriger

Hexed - Kevin Hearne

Moon Called - Patricia Briggs

Secondhand Spirits - Juliet Blackwell

So basically I am continuing with recently discovered series which  were good and also one new one which seems to be a lovely summer read, a murder mystery with ghosts and a small second hand store. Sounds adorable and my bookworm, to whome I sent this, squee'd over it appropriately. Now comes the less good part when ordering books online - the wait for them to appear in the mailbox! *stalks mailman* Of course this does gives me the time to finish The Anubis Gates...

Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's not a secret that I love Butcher's writing so of course I had to try this book. I actually bought it for my husband for his birthday but I ended up reading it first. My fear was that without the possibility to fall back on pop-culture references Butcher would loose quite a bit of the appeal but thankfully I was wrong. Butcher's writing is still action oriented and to the point but he continues to write captivating characters that carry the story.

I like the magic system (yes, I am repeating myself) and the fact that the main hero has no conventional magic powers at all makes it all the more interesting. Especially as everyone else does. Butcher has also kept his habit of making the real bad guys really bad but also keeping from lumping everyone into the same group. Just because one barbarian is a blood-thirsty monster that doesn't mean every barbarian is. Check your prejudices at the door.

The story is simple (a plot to overthrow the ruler meets with unexpected resistance and unlikely heroes), the action is abundant and the characters are wellformed and likable. All in all a great light read, maybe while the sun shines and there's something cold and delicious to drink nearby.



View all my reviews

Eurocon Day Two and Three

I had no idea going to a con was this much fun! I should have guessed but damn was it great!

Yesterday me and Boktimmen-Fia met up with Feuerzeug and some other book bloggers and had some awesome geeky conversation in between the panels and even on the metro. The panels were also really good. I had one difficult choice on Saturday when Ian McDonald's GoH interview collided with a reading and Q&A with Cirkeln-Sara. I went with my gut feeling and went to see Sara and I do not regret it at all. She read the first chapter of Cirkeln and was so lovely I didn't feel afraid to ask questions at all. I found out that the Danish, Norwegian and German translations of the book will be released this year and the UK one sometime early 2012. I'll keep an eye out for more exact dates because there are several of my international friends that need to read the book! After the read there was a signing and I was first in line like a proper fangirl getting my already read copy signed. Also there was unexpected loot in that I got one of the much coveted Cirkeln-totes for myself.
Interestingly that was the only piece of loot from Saturday. My wallet was very relived. Another memorable panel was Hannu Rajaniemi and Charles Stross interviewing eachother, they were funny and had some interesting things to say about the future of Sci-fi. I am unashamedly delighted at Charles Stross way with language and he has that rather smug, dry humor I so like.

Today I did shop a few more things, a con t-shirt and a Swedish anthology of short stories. I wibbled over getting the t-shirt since it is white but I figure I can get some dye and remedy that. There were fewer panels and talks today but one of my favorites was the one about gender and the freedom that writing in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror gives the author when it comes to handling gender. It gave me the (maybe slightly mad) idea to write my Young Adult novel with a main character whose gender I won't divulge. It could be done but the question is if any publisher would want to touch it with a ten foot pole. I do hope so.

Finally, once again, this has been awesome and if nothing else I am infinitely thankful that my muse have returned to me. And I leave you with a few cute Steampunk ladies who I sneak photographed during the Steampunk Tea Mixer.

Eurocon Day One

I just got home from my first day on my first convention and let me tell ya, it was awesome! There was a table of second hand books, a table of new books and lots and lots of geeky people talking about geeky subjects and being generally awesome. Add to that really really cheap alcohol and brilliant guests talking about interesting things and you can see why I found it so great.


And just look at this loot! Every book but the Elisabeth Bear one is second hand and all of them only set me back 155 for the second hand books and 85 for the new one. I also got the new one signed by Elisabeth who I was unintentionally stalking half the day, she is lovely to listen to, intelligent and funny with a very infectious laughter. And I basically need all her books. As soon as possible.


When I got my hastily bought book signed I even managed to talk to her without making a complete ass of myself but, as I wrote on twitter, I don't think I quite managed to keep the stars out of my eyes. I do believe she took it as a compliment though.

The other guests were also interesting and I think I enjoyed the "As you know, Bob"-panel best of the shared panels. It was about info dumping and how to do it well (in sexscenes, through non-fiction passages or having the character ask a convenient professor to explain it all). That panel had Elisabeth Bear, Ian McDonald, Charles Stross and Hannu Rajaneimi and the four of them played off eachother really well. I also really liked the "Lovecraft Today" panel because, tentacles!

It's nearing midnight now and I'm about to tip into bed but I am really looking forward to tomorrow!