House:
We bought a house! Whee! Unconditional, finance approved, only have to sign all the documents and we're all go.

Possession on 24 July.

That's quite exciting, really :D

Rambling:
(No, I don't have a cousin called Teresa, nor anything called Caesar. However, I *do* have an earworm *vbg*. which for some reason I keep typing as earwork. Go me. Earworm? can one have a prose-earworm? In fact, is Cousin Teresa prose, poetry or lyric? Apparently, I am loony tonight :D

F-list, if you love me, join me in my lunacy. Who can complete the couplet of which I speak? Has anyone else been beset by Cousin Teresa during the wee sma's?)

Writing:
In between being beset by earworms and Cousin Teresa and housebuying, I am also writing, and will shortly bring you Four Days Off: Four, only several months after its mates :) And then I was thinking about a crossover, probably an AU crossover.

Crossover/AU:
If I wrote a Riptide cross, who would you like to see me cross with? Some of you know I'm kicking around an idea for a Harry Potter crossover, which is really a Nick/Cody & Murray story in the Harry Potter (books 1-4, cos I get snarly about some of the stuff that happens in the later ones) Universe, but I fear that might be of epic proportions, so I might not start that with a house-move coming up.

Toss me some prompts, my dears. I shall be eternally grateful!

in answer to the poetry meme going around, let me entertain you with a work from Saki (HH Munro), a man whose work, in all forms, I adore.

( Reginald's Peace PoemCollapse )

Well, it's a long time since I've written about books on here... Nick and Cody have taken firm possession of my LJ (and my mind *vbg*) lately...

Anyhow, without further ado: Saki. (or Hector Hugh Munro, if you prefer.)

Saki is one of my favorite short story authors, and has been for, um, 20+ years. He wrote satirical stories around Edwardian culture (he lived 1870 - 1916).

His stories have a dark bent; they are characterized by wicked aunts who beset a variety of children (Saki himself was raised in the main by a collection of aunts - make of that what you will); nature turning against man; and a sort of pure ruthlessness that is both charming and chilling in one.

In general, most of his fiction is of the satirical or black comedy nature - there are few which make you (or me, at any rate) recoil in horror.

He's a craftsman - the stories, IMHO, are gems.

As his work is now in the public domain, you can find a number of his stories on the internet. I'm going to reproduce for anyone interested, right here, my personal favorite (perhaps I should say, one of my favorites), Laura.

Warning to oddmonster: an otter dies in this story. However, I have got to insist you read it anyhow. (The otter gets reincarnated. Fear not.) Srsly.

( LauraCollapse )