Dionea

I keep discovering things that I think everyone should know about. For example, the Azuki Cream, which you can find at the Japonaise Bakery and Cafe in Brookline. An Azuki Cream is a pastry shell filled with red bean paste and whipped cream, and it's not quite like any other food. In fact, it reminds me of the categories of food in Kelly Link's "The Girl Detective." I think one of them was the food you eat in dreams. I would eat an Azuki Cream in my dreams. It's the most delicious and decadent food I can think of, at least at the moment.

But I actually wanted to write about "Dionea." Does anyone else know about "Dionea"? It's a story by Vernon Lee, written in the 1890s, and it's one of those stories that I think everyone should read. (Or at least everyone who reads fantasy.) It should be a classic. But I don't know if anyone else is familiar with it? It's recently become one of my favorites to teach. But then, I'm all about the obscure stories and poems written by undeservedly-obscure female writers, aren't I?

Rings of the Earth

Via Boing Boing:

Can we buy it some pretty rings?

Profile Photo

I kind of like my new facebook profile photo:



Why is it that the most interesting photos are always the ones you don't expect to turn out, like a quick snapshot in a bathroom mirror?

Another Child-Empress

There's a third Child-Empress item that's going to be up for auction on the Interfictions auction site. It's this lovely thing. Hard to believe that the artist (Laramie Sasseville) captured so much about the story in a bookmark. Seriously, you just have to see it. It looks exactly like one of the Martian creatures I described. Like an Itz, or something.

And while I'm writing, I'll also mention that someone has already uploaded pictures of me and my friend Cat Valente at the Interfictions reading last Friday.

Stealing, Stealing

Stolen from Shira Lipkin's blog:

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."
– Albert Camus

I feel like this a lot. I suspect that most of my friends do too. (Right, guys?)

So . . .

So evidently the tape was called A Wolfrider's Reflections, and it should now be available on CD. The question is, where?

Other influences: the Pern books, Dungeons and Dragons, and the Society for Creative Anachronism. So now you know.

Tam's Song

Oh no! I just found a song on YouTube that I first heard when I was a teenager. It's called "Tam's Song," and it was on a tape of Elfquest songs that a boyfriend bought for me, and that I probably played until it was completely worn out. Where in the world can I find those songs again? They're by a singer named Julia Ecklar.

When I'm asked about my literary influences, I inevitably say things like, "Oh, Jane Austen, Isaak Dinesen, you know." But what was I really influenced by as a teenager? Elfquest. Adam Ant.