I seem to be embracing this random Friday thing after all.
1. If someone nice at St. Martin's wanted to send me an ARC of Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time, I'd be very happy about it. It's a take on The Turn of the Screw. I know I could just ask, but this way is better. And it's out at the end of the month, anyway, and it's not like I lack a massive stack of books I can't wait to read. But it'd make me happy to have it NOW and I'd do the post office dance. (In my stack, an ARC of Karen Joy Fowler's short story collection from Small Beer. Major dancing.)
2. We just finished season one of Fringe, a show that I've taken way more of a shine to than I thought I would at first. Which just goes to show something about tastes and assumptions not always being predictable, even when they're your own. I wonder if some of it is Brad Anderson's hand, since most of my favorite episodes are the ones directed by him–in fact, the science fiction of Fringe seems to share a lot in common with the science fiction of Happy Accidents, albeit with a bit more of an overt genre take coloring it. The gonzo humanity of it strikes me as similar though; audaciously, outrageously posited, but narrowed down on individual lives in a way that makes it compelling to go along with, to care about. Also, I am President and Treasurer of the Nina Sharp Fan Club. I don't care if she turns out to be good or evil or sit somewhere in between–I'll still love her. I cheer when she comes on screen. She makes me want to write an essay. Season two doesn't come out on DVD until next month. Boo.
3. Pulling a link to a fascinating story from the comments on the last post since I probably won't do hangovers until next week: Crop Circles on Wall Street, a story about what mapping out traffic at certain times on Wall Street in a certain way shows (nefarious activity). The guy whose spotting the trends names the patterns, which are maybe my favorite part of the story: "Castle Wall, The Waste Pool, Depth Ping, Boston Shuffle, BOTvsBOT, etc." Very science fictional, no? And, hey, if I'm including links, here's one to famous literary last words at the Guardian.
4. Am still playing catch up, but turned in another PW piece this morning, and will do some proofing and reviewing this weekend. I also owe emails, maybe even to you. Maybe you don't even know I owe you an email. But I do. And you will get it soon, maybe?
5. The creepy island novel proceeds apace, which is to say it's clicked back into place and I'm moving ahead. Running seems so hard to me that it must be an apt metaphor for novel writing. My last novel was pretty much a sprint–it never slowed down, just kept coming and I tried to gallop along and keep up with it. (Until revision started, of course.) This one is a marathon, even though it's theoretically simpler than the last (it's a standalone, for one), and I basically paused to take a big breath at the first third mark and–more recently–at the two thirds mark. I'm hoping to finish a draft this month, and am relieved that it suddenly seems doable. For the record, I would much rather write a novel than undertake a sprint or a marathon. I was the girl who faked running the mile to the cheerleading coach, and loathed that the basketball coach actually watched us the whole time to prevent cheating. Plus, after I finish, I get to go down to the place it's set for a last dose of research before revision. And we all know that island means BEACH.