In Context

Context was nice.  The hotel is a sprawling one, with lots of marble and waterfalls.  I'm told that next year's OVFF will be there, which will be odd for me.  Consuite was gone and well away down the hall to the middle of nowhere, though I had plenty of wonderful conversations and interactions there.

There was a  most excellent panel about whips, run by a stuntman/movie consultant that was most kewl.  As one of the volunteers, I got to have a whip cracked about my waist, and neck, which done by the expert, did not hurt.  He showed how lots of films that do floggings with whips put the scars all wrong by demonstration, which was unnerving, but interesting.  He was accurate enough to put out a row of lit candles by cracking his whip at them.  he explained the physics of whips, and covered how to tell when movie whip effects were faked.

I ate dinner with rms_butterfly , pondside , and fuzzyvanman before Michael Longcor's concert.  (And a shout out  of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"   to Pondside, 'cause it's her birthday today, and she deserves to be happy!)

Moonwulf's concert was full of literary songs, appropriate to the theme of Context.  It was a really nice concert to do, with a couple of new songs I hadn't heard yet that were very satisfying to sign.  I like the "Sailing After Blackbeard" one a lot - very rousing, and made me want to growl "RRRRR" afterwards, despite the fact it's a song about *chasing* pirates, not being one!

Following the concert was open filk, and I stayed until after midnight.  There weren't a lot of singers:  me, Pondside, Moonwulf, Tom Smith, and Juanita, and two people who sang one song each from the back of the room and disappeared pretty quickly.  There were a number of people hanging out with us and enjoying the music, so it was pretty neat.  I ended up singing a LOT more than I usually do.  My practice has paid off; I sounded better than I usually do, too. 

One thing of which I am proud was that when I started to mess up on the guitar, I kept the vocal line steady, dropped the guitar, and picked it up again a half line or so, playing more simply.  Can I tell you how incredibly sweet it was of both Moonwulf and Tom to pick up backup guitar parts to strengthen my performance on a couple of songs?  Thank you guys!

Rosemary and Rue Review

I bought Rosemary and Rue, Seanan Mc Guire's new book at Context.  I started and finished it in a sitting.  Fair warning before my comments:  I am aquainted with Seanan through filk convention circles, and I've followed her LJ.  I bought her book because I enjoyed how she writes about her daily life online, and I love her poetry and music.  She did not disappoint me.

The book is rich in detail and description of faerie races and culture.  McGuire does a fantastic job of creating an alternate reality that is consistent, believeable and not a copy of other writers in the genre.  She's done her research into old faerie stories, and it shows, but they all have a tweak to make them her world's alone.

The main character, October ("Toby") Daye, is a well rounded out character, reeling from the pain of a case gone wrong that ripped her life apart.  She's bitter and rude, and pushes away all of her former friends and aquaintances, determined to be left alone.  October is a prickly character, but I came to really understand why she turned out that way, and was really rooting for her by the end of the book.

When she is literally cursed to solve a murder, October must find her way amidst faerie again.  I think my one complaint about the plot is that October lets herself be bear-led about by others an awful lot, being reactive rather than proactive.  Perhaps we can chalk that up to her getting over her traumatic past, and trying to survive her traumatic present.  It certainly does not stop McGuire's book from being a page-turner.

The mystery plot is presented in a way that gives the reader a fair shot of solving it as October does.  (This is a critical point for me in mysteries, and  McGuire plays fair.)

There is a teaser for the next installment in the adventures of October Daye, and I find myself impatient for spring, so that I can get the next book.  I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those of you that like a good fantasy mystery.