Legends · of · the · Brotherhood · of · the · Coast

Thanks too to my aunt and my neighbors for donating some of their yard waste to the cause as well!

"I'm really enjoying 4th Edition right now and just wanted to talk about the game I am running right now, what we have learned in playing the game, and how the rules have impacted our thoughts on play."

We'll see how the media and public view it.

To sum up, he's not worried about my thyroid at all but is very concerned about my blood sugar. So I have to have the 3-hour glucose this week and then again at 28 weeks, and depending on my scores this week he and my midwives will determine the course of action. He's also insisting on doing the anatomy scan himself in a month, and adding a fetal echo if my sugars aren't behaving properly.

All in all, as much as we would like the non-intervention water-birth, we are far more comfortable with the idea of hospital care if he's involved than we were before.

Current Location:	Los Feliz, CA
Current Mood:	content

http://www.active.com/donate/nwatour/nwatourDSolis

For more information about the event (and a really badly designed website), click here.

My review

Nature vs. Nurture, Black vs. White, Blue State vs. Red State and Faith vs. Reason collide with lots of sex and violence in this modern Blade Runner. If you are upset by the graphic sex but not upset by the vicious violence that counter-balances it, I don't know what to tell ya other than Morgan isn't the writer for you.

My only complaint about this book is that it was named Thirteen on the cover, a ball-less and eggless move on the part of the U.S. publisher, rather than calling it Black Man, its U.K. title and a far better way to refer to the book.

I loved it. I think it is Richard K. Morgan's best thing yet. Despite being another hard-ass soldier who is weary of the machine he has killed for in the past, Carl Marsalis is a breath of fresh air.

That said, I feel like this archetype is cooked. Morgan has commented on the world through the eyes of a veteran bad-ass now in every novel but Market Forces. I'd like to think Marsalis is the last of them and see new moves in the coming books.

The book does what science fiction novels are supposed to do. It comments on our own society in a way that made me vaguely uncomfortable while entertaining me and educating me.

There are twists and turns like in a good noir whodunnit and while it is relentless in its critique of certain political parties of the U.S. of A., it does not simplify the matter and vilify the red states for an easy villain, far from it.

P.S. I listened to the majority of the book on my iPod via Audible and found the narration really solid. I got impatient with the last hour and broke out the book so I could read it and be done with it.

Games to check out if you liked this:

Shock: Social Science Fiction

View all my reviews.

But then, in the shower, epiphany! Since the ven live for so long, it's common for them to see their grandchildren and even, presumably, their great-grandchildren come into the world. The ven are also constantly embroiled in political wrangling, and are always in need of trustworthy allies. And the best candidates for allies are — ta da! — your own flesh and blood.

The ven don't want heirs so they can give their children what they already have. The ven want children to install into separate, nearby power structures to use as allies and pawns. A male ven wants to make sure that his wife's children are his, and not subject to other influences. A female ven wants to make sure her husband isn't having children on the side, beyond her own influence.

Children are pawns.

Lots of Shan'ri starts making sense once that puzzle piece is in place!

Then, this morning, I woke up with the entire novel in my head. I wrote the outline down quickly and it made me laugh.

I could write the whole thing in a week, I think. I may just do that.

It was a nice weekend with Janaki. There was some really nice, quality giggling and cuddling. The two weeks time between our visits seems longer and longer.every time lately.

The foliage on the drive back was really stunning. I took some back roads and it added a little bit of time but with Richard K. Morgan's Thirteen playing on the iPod, and autumn draped over the hills and valleys, I really didn't much care. I have the book too and might finish it tonight by reading it, rather than listening. There will be a review to come; the book is intense and I find myself having quite a bit to say about it.

The Sci-fi Sorcerer setting is now officially stuck in my noggin. I'll get to play it in a bit and see how it pans out at the table. The other book I am reading is Old Man's War; I'll track down some other science fiction mentioned in last week's thread about the solar system.

Now to shave my head, write and read.

At some point, I'll sleep.

I did, however, get a call from one of the midwives today. Because of my insulin resitance and thyroid history, they want me to be checked out by a perinatologist to make sure I'm still low-risk. This, of course, makes me a bit nervous, as I am very leery of getting forced into unecessary interventions. But, when I voiced my concerns, my midwife made it very clear that this was standard practice for patients they take on with certain conditions or medications involved and I wasn't anywhere near a hospital birth yet. It might be a one-time consultation, it might be a monthly check to monitor the baby's growth, we don't know until they see me. It's the birthing center doing its job to keep us both as healthy and safe as possible, and they'd be remiss not to refer me.

The plus side is, of course, more ultrasounds. But I'm not willing to trade peeking at our baby for an intervention-happy procedure-cascade that is a hospital birth these days if there's not a genuine problem that makes me high-risk.

Current Location:	Los Feliz, CA
Current Mood:	pensive
Current Music:	"Wave Over Wave (Bonus Track)" - Great Big Sea - The Hard and the Easy