Arkessian

A Matter of Oaths will be republished by Bloomsbury Caravel on 23 November 2017, with an introduction by Becky Chambers and cover art by Phil Beresford. You can pre-order the ebook now at Amazon or Bloomsbury; there's also a print edition available at Bloomsbury.

I now leave you to your regular programming while I frighten the cats by running round in circles going whee!


( Cover by Phil Beresford )

 As I seem to be posting here again at least occasionally, there ought to be a cat update.....

RIP Chino 10 June 1996 to 15 January 2016

He decided in January that he'd had enough after nearly 4 years of kidney disease and pancreatitis, and 8 years of arthritis... So he went on hunger strike just after the New Year, and I decided that the options to force him to eat were unacceptable to him and to me and let him go while he was still able to purr when he was stroked.

The new monsters 29 January 2016 to ????

A boy -- affectionately known as Rupert the Bear, or the Tank, but officially Spirit because he's an ethereal little thing (not) -- as big at 6 months as many full-grown cats --   and a girl -- Eartha Kitt for her sensuous habits, but officially Dance. Dance has custody of the patented death-stare and rules her brother with a rod of iron even though she's just over half his size.

I am, above many things, a political animal.  

I knocked doors canvassing for the Labour Party in April/May 1979 -- probably not that useful in Kensington/Chelsea where I lived as a student (although a different sort of education in the run-up to my finals) but I had principles which I supported by joining the party as soon as I was 18 and so had money to spare (and could vote (1976).

The Thatcher victory was a blow -- I remember drowning our sorrows in a pub with the other activists and hoping for a relatively-rapid reversal. Although it was positive for my career as she wasted money privatising the industry I joined and it was bonanza-happy-holidays-payola for anyone working there (as long as they were white-collar/one of 'us' -- not so much for the blue collar workers who were tossed onto the dole).

I stayed a member though Callaghan (well, somebody had to do it until a useful person turned up) and Foot (see my icon). Kinnock and then Smith rekindled my hope.  And if Smith had not died, I have every expectation that the world would be different and better today.  

Blair made me cancel my membership -- electable but...  I believe that being elected is the prerequisite to implement change.  However, some things should never happen.. like the Irag War.

I voted to remain in 2016 (in the avoidance of doubt).

So we are where we are.  Corbyn (repeat my icon) -- steeped in principle as he is -- will never win an election.  I've not a lot of confidence in the alternatives but they can't be worse than Jeremy.

So, I just returned to my roots (although my father was a card-carrying member of the Conservative Party, he was also a Trade Union Steward at his works; and Mum was raised in an ardently Trade Unionist family although she was a Liberal voter (as she didn't want to upset Dad - a whole story in a nutshell).

I've re-joined the Labour Party.

Not dead yet, and trying to get back into the habit of posting semi-irregularly...

Seen all over the place;
Tell me about a story I haven’t written, and I’ll give you one sentence from that story.

Imagine my amusement when a genealogy blog that I follow pointed me to a post on another blog by a dear friend (in her professional capacity) who also regularly blogs here at dreamwidth. I do hope she's ready for the hordes of family historians who will be beating a path to her institution's door!

... it doesn't mean that I want to take over the world.

But lately, people (plural and in two different contexts) have assumed that -- because I'm willing to help with a particular task or organisation -- I'll be willing to take over carrying out or running the whole thing.

Wrong.

I already have more than enough on my plate, and am not doing things I would really like to do. Why would I want to increase my workload of things I don't enjoy, or don't care for as much as other things? I'm willing (in both cases) to take on a little more, but not the whole thing.

FarthingParty was great fun, and Montreal is a comfortable city -- sensible public transport and a plenitude of restaurants, and my aged O-level French allowed me to at least show willing...

I've backed the world sf travel fund — I think it's a great idea.

And another poor performance -- I was really not paying attention in the 90s.  Usual rules for women writers who got their start in 1993...  (Meme originated by james_nicoll )

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Women writers who got their start in 1991, alphabetical by first name. Otherwise, usual rules apply: Italicize the authors you've heard of before reading this list of authors, bold the ones you've read at least one work by, underline the ones of whose work you own at least one example of. Come up with improvements to flavour your versions.

Another poor performance from out in the sticks before the 'net...

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