Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2012-09-10 03:19 am
azurelunatic) wrote2012-09-10 03:19 am
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Saturday: the Ashes of Honor party was awesome!!
The 6th book in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seanan_mcguire's Toby Daye (hard-boiled fae detective in the SF Bay Area with deliberately-plotted multi-book story arcs? YES PLEASE.) series is out, and as ever, Borderlands Books hosts the party.
I'd hoped to get to Borderlands much earlier than I actually did, but as it was I was early for the party. My plan had been to get my copy of the book, grab a table, read it, and then see if I could entice any of the excellent party people and/or general bookstore/cafe patrons into play-testing the Caramel Onions + TSA Rules house rules of the party abomination that is what you get when you attempt to mix Apples to Apples with Cards Against Humanity. Unfortunately, when you stay up until 6am making some really dubious caffeinated citrus jello shots, this sort of affects the arrival time. I still had the aforementioned game and a cooler full of dubious refreshments, though. And refreshments, plural, because the previous day's Twitterings had brought me the following public service announcement:
So of course when I saw a package in my previous evening's supply run, I had to grab it. And I presented it to Seanan.
These are the stages I observed:
1. Glee. Apparently I was the first to actually successfully present her with a package of these. And they are candy-corn flavored, and Seanan's thing for candy corn is ... well-documented.
2. Investigation. The package was opened. A cookie was extracted and examined from all sides -- golden cookie outside, yellow filling on one side, orange on the other, twisted apart, no real surprises there either. The cookie was peered at closely and perhaps even sniffed.
3. Tasting. Seanan put the cookie in her mouth.
4. Rumination. Seanan chewed with an expression of indecision.
5. Horror. Like the inevitably-reddening lights on a blood test unit in a Kellis-Amberlee hot zone, Seanan's expression grew more and more disgusted and distressed.
6. DDP. A quick swig of Diet Doctor Pepper did not wash away the horror; instead, it became worse.
7. GoH's Privilege at the Cafe. When you sprint to the counter and declare that you need a glass of water for Seanan, it happens pretty much instantly.
8. Recovery. Water did help.
9. Sharing. The cookies were promptly offered around to everyone else, because something like that needs independent human confirmation.
I tried one myself. It was not entirely good, but it was no Coca-Cola Blak. (Coca-Cola Blak is what happens when you mix Coke and really bad burnt stale coffee, and then try to sell it. Some people do mix Coke and coffee! It works much better when it's fresh.) Blak remains the worst thing that I have put in my facehole to try because Seanan said it was terrible.
The party had not properly started, so I settled in near the eventual site of the music and started reading.
First off, if you haven't read the rest of the series, don't start here. Some things you can pick up in the middle, and some you shouldn't. While Ashes of Honor is good at not going into the sort of extended Baby-Sitters' Club-style recap that makes you wonder why you bothered reading the rest of the series, while still providing context for the people you're expected to know, it's still a series that builds on the previous books and has an ensemble cast. It's about as non-spoily as it's possible for the sixth book of a series like this to actually be, but that still means substantial spoilers for the previous five books.
This book concerns the Changeling's Choice, and a missing changeling. Not just any missing changeling, either. A teleporting teenager is potentially bad news. A teleporting teenager whose powers are entirely and devastatingly out of control? (And it just keeps getting worse.) Yeah, way to dial up the stakes.
I found myself intermittently giggling (Toby vs. the world of modern banking is a grudgematch that I'd like to watch from a very safe distance), vibrating with tension even though I know this is about the halfway point in the series because there is a body count and some things are actually worse than dying, and staring wide-eyed at the page with tears leaking out. That last bit was upon figuring out exactly who the grieving widow had been married to. I think it's a very nice job of illustrating the complex interrelationships of a bunch of fae without descending into an actual soap opera, despite the way that fae interpersonal relationships can become just that.
I have some speculations about Quentin that owe more to Chekhov and the principles of foreshadowing than they do to anything concrete.
Despite her recent Change of Life, Toby still seems to think of herself as a changeling. I expect to see more interesting effects when she starts embracing her heritage.
My favorite minor character from this book, since I always tend to have one: Officer Thornton, the SFPD officer. I really like interesting minor characters. I really *really* like outsiders who are Just Trying To Do Their Jobs, Dammit. I wonder if/when he'll turn up again.
Just as I sent the email to Tif to let her know that I was there, that I had seats, and that my phone was being dodgy about incoming text messages, I got about 24 hours' worth of incoming texts. Joy.
The party started. I tweeted to Kii and Sass because they weren't here and they should be here and OH MY GOD AUSTRALIA WHY SO FAR. I'd managed to not get one of the raffle tickets for showing up, so I got one of those. There was music. Tif showed up. Eventually there were cupcakes! More music! Q&A! Seanan described Toby's learning style with attention to that backseat thing: it's not that Toby's stupid, but she's not actually Seanan's smartest character ever. However, she will learn from things that have happened by checking to make sure that they don't happen to her again. This was accompanied by a hilariously Polonius-themed bit of gesticulation and explaining. That one bald dude in the kilt showed up. I shared one of my inadvisable jello shots with him. I let Tif look through the Cards Against Humanity deck.spectralbovine walked past just in time to see the "Fisting." card. Good times were had by all. Including me. Especially me. This is good, because I've been feeling kind of not human for a while, and I was feeling like me again when I drove in.
Vixy launched into a Kanefsky-ing of "My Story Is Not Done" (one of Seanan's songs) about Seanan's writing process, which had me (and everybody else) crying laughing. It is loving and accurate, and many writers will be able to relate. Midway through Tif noticed that Bob Himself was actually in the audience; apparently this was the song's maiden voyage. Best. Ever. Later, I narrowly escaped actually flailing and fangirling all over him by dint of telling him that I was flailing and fangirling without actually flapping my arms as I probably would have put someone's eye out by accident.
There was inappropriate cheering throughout, and less "Cheese! And! Cake!" than the Discount Armageddon launch. The tradition of cheering when people won door prizes continued. The tradition of bestowing one's tickets upon someone else when leaving continued. Writers with Drinks was in partial conflict, and hey! Anarchist bees!
I'm not entirely sure how the ticket-chain went, but in addition to my three tickets (one for showing up, one for buying books, one for getting some iced tea) someone handed me seven. No sooner had I got those in order than someone handed me another seven because they were leaving. I thiink Tif won, handed me the rest of hers, and then I got a whole bunch more from whoever it was that was departing. Then in the next round I won, I handed the rest of mine off to someone (I think it was the bald guy) and that person was of course the next winner after me. I don't know where the stack of tickets went after that, as the prize table was in the other room. I picked out a nice filk CD (and later on that night, my computer died while attempting to rip it to iTunes. I suspect something vibrated loose).
I said my goodbyes (and conveyed Kii's wish to be there, and conveyed I-think-the-blue-haired-person-is-Deborah?'s greetings and assurances of CD-mailing to Kii via twitter) and headed home.
Hooray party!
seanan_mcguire's Toby Daye (hard-boiled fae detective in the SF Bay Area with deliberately-plotted multi-book story arcs? YES PLEASE.) series is out, and as ever, Borderlands Books hosts the party. I'd hoped to get to Borderlands much earlier than I actually did, but as it was I was early for the party. My plan had been to get my copy of the book, grab a table, read it, and then see if I could entice any of the excellent party people and/or general bookstore/cafe patrons into play-testing the Caramel Onions + TSA Rules house rules of the party abomination that is what you get when you attempt to mix Apples to Apples with Cards Against Humanity. Unfortunately, when you stay up until 6am making some really dubious caffeinated citrus jello shots, this sort of affects the arrival time. I still had the aforementioned game and a cooler full of dubious refreshments, though. And refreshments, plural, because the previous day's Twitterings had brought me the following public service announcement:
People of Earth: Your telling me constantly about candy corn flavored Oreos does not help me unless you are also giving me Oreos.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) September 7, 2012
So of course when I saw a package in my previous evening's supply run, I had to grab it. And I presented it to Seanan.
These are the stages I observed:
1. Glee. Apparently I was the first to actually successfully present her with a package of these. And they are candy-corn flavored, and Seanan's thing for candy corn is ... well-documented.
2. Investigation. The package was opened. A cookie was extracted and examined from all sides -- golden cookie outside, yellow filling on one side, orange on the other, twisted apart, no real surprises there either. The cookie was peered at closely and perhaps even sniffed.
3. Tasting. Seanan put the cookie in her mouth.
4. Rumination. Seanan chewed with an expression of indecision.
5. Horror. Like the inevitably-reddening lights on a blood test unit in a Kellis-Amberlee hot zone, Seanan's expression grew more and more disgusted and distressed.
6. DDP. A quick swig of Diet Doctor Pepper did not wash away the horror; instead, it became worse.
7. GoH's Privilege at the Cafe. When you sprint to the counter and declare that you need a glass of water for Seanan, it happens pretty much instantly.
8. Recovery. Water did help.
9. Sharing. The cookies were promptly offered around to everyone else, because something like that needs independent human confirmation.
I tried one myself. It was not entirely good, but it was no Coca-Cola Blak. (Coca-Cola Blak is what happens when you mix Coke and really bad burnt stale coffee, and then try to sell it. Some people do mix Coke and coffee! It works much better when it's fresh.) Blak remains the worst thing that I have put in my facehole to try because Seanan said it was terrible.
The party had not properly started, so I settled in near the eventual site of the music and started reading.
First off, if you haven't read the rest of the series, don't start here. Some things you can pick up in the middle, and some you shouldn't. While Ashes of Honor is good at not going into the sort of extended Baby-Sitters' Club-style recap that makes you wonder why you bothered reading the rest of the series, while still providing context for the people you're expected to know, it's still a series that builds on the previous books and has an ensemble cast. It's about as non-spoily as it's possible for the sixth book of a series like this to actually be, but that still means substantial spoilers for the previous five books.
This book concerns the Changeling's Choice, and a missing changeling. Not just any missing changeling, either. A teleporting teenager is potentially bad news. A teleporting teenager whose powers are entirely and devastatingly out of control? (And it just keeps getting worse.) Yeah, way to dial up the stakes.
I found myself intermittently giggling (Toby vs. the world of modern banking is a grudgematch that I'd like to watch from a very safe distance), vibrating with tension even though I know this is about the halfway point in the series because there is a body count and some things are actually worse than dying, and staring wide-eyed at the page with tears leaking out. That last bit was upon figuring out exactly who the grieving widow had been married to. I think it's a very nice job of illustrating the complex interrelationships of a bunch of fae without descending into an actual soap opera, despite the way that fae interpersonal relationships can become just that.
I have some speculations about Quentin that owe more to Chekhov and the principles of foreshadowing than they do to anything concrete.
Despite her recent Change of Life, Toby still seems to think of herself as a changeling. I expect to see more interesting effects when she starts embracing her heritage.
My favorite minor character from this book, since I always tend to have one: Officer Thornton, the SFPD officer. I really like interesting minor characters. I really *really* like outsiders who are Just Trying To Do Their Jobs, Dammit. I wonder if/when he'll turn up again.
Just as I sent the email to Tif to let her know that I was there, that I had seats, and that my phone was being dodgy about incoming text messages, I got about 24 hours' worth of incoming texts. Joy.
The party started. I tweeted to Kii and Sass because they weren't here and they should be here and OH MY GOD AUSTRALIA WHY SO FAR. I'd managed to not get one of the raffle tickets for showing up, so I got one of those. There was music. Tif showed up. Eventually there were cupcakes! More music! Q&A! Seanan described Toby's learning style with attention to that backseat thing: it's not that Toby's stupid, but she's not actually Seanan's smartest character ever. However, she will learn from things that have happened by checking to make sure that they don't happen to her again. This was accompanied by a hilariously Polonius-themed bit of gesticulation and explaining. That one bald dude in the kilt showed up. I shared one of my inadvisable jello shots with him. I let Tif look through the Cards Against Humanity deck.
spectralbovine walked past just in time to see the "Fisting." card. Good times were had by all. Including me. Especially me. This is good, because I've been feeling kind of not human for a while, and I was feeling like me again when I drove in. Vixy launched into a Kanefsky-ing of "My Story Is Not Done" (one of Seanan's songs) about Seanan's writing process, which had me (and everybody else) crying laughing. It is loving and accurate, and many writers will be able to relate. Midway through Tif noticed that Bob Himself was actually in the audience; apparently this was the song's maiden voyage. Best. Ever. Later, I narrowly escaped actually flailing and fangirling all over him by dint of telling him that I was flailing and fangirling without actually flapping my arms as I probably would have put someone's eye out by accident.
There was inappropriate cheering throughout, and less "Cheese! And! Cake!" than the Discount Armageddon launch. The tradition of cheering when people won door prizes continued. The tradition of bestowing one's tickets upon someone else when leaving continued. Writers with Drinks was in partial conflict, and hey! Anarchist bees!
I'm not entirely sure how the ticket-chain went, but in addition to my three tickets (one for showing up, one for buying books, one for getting some iced tea) someone handed me seven. No sooner had I got those in order than someone handed me another seven because they were leaving. I thiink Tif won, handed me the rest of hers, and then I got a whole bunch more from whoever it was that was departing. Then in the next round I won, I handed the rest of mine off to someone (I think it was the bald guy) and that person was of course the next winner after me. I don't know where the stack of tickets went after that, as the prize table was in the other room. I picked out a nice filk CD (and later on that night, my computer died while attempting to rip it to iTunes. I suspect something vibrated loose).
I said my goodbyes (and conveyed Kii's wish to be there, and conveyed I-think-the-blue-haired-person-is-Deborah?'s greetings and assurances of CD-mailing to Kii via twitter) and headed home.
Hooray party!
no subject
...Omg. Considering her begrudging acceptance of cell phones, I am ramping up the bafflement and frustration by about 10x and loling. From, as you said, a very safe distance. :D
That sounds like it was a fantastically fun party! And now I'm looking forward to reading this. :D
no subject
Spoilers!
I too have Speculations About Quentin, but I think my favorite part was the Tybalt storyline because, I'll be perfectly honest, he is perfectly set up to be one of the most interesting characters for me. And we got a lot of Raj too, which I loved. And some more of Raj and Quentin being friends!
Re: Spoilers!
Raj is adoooorable. Also in line to be an excellent King someday.
Tif asked me whether I also shipped Quentin/Raj like fedex, and I ... actually had not thought of that before! But it was something that I will start looking for the newsletter for!
no subject
And I also have large exciting suspicious suspicions about Quentin. :)
no subject
I mean. CANADA.
no subject
This is a beautiful mental image.
And I really need to read the Toby Daye books, a friend is a huge fan.
no subject
The Toby Daye books are total love.
no subject
no subject
(You've sold me on the idea of the series - I'm really frustrated to discover that my library systems have books 3 and 4, and the first books are out of print, and I can't have them instantly in electronic form - I shall be patient and stalk them second hand...)
no subject
I hope you're able to find them quickly. So frustrating.