Textual Healing

I didn't go to the party last night. I stayed home, and read, and went to bed early.

That seems to have been the correct choice. For the first time in weeks, my throat felt fine when I woke up this morning. I can swallow, no fishhooks, no swelling, no desperate need for hot tea. I can breathe pretty well, too-- just a tiny bit sniffly. So I missed some fun for a little wellness. Probably a good trade.

Although you never know. Maybe I'd have met some extraordinary person last night, and changed the course of my life.

Or maybe I'd have died on the freeway.

Ah, life, this garden of forking paths.

I'm tandem-reading again. I'm into King Rat. It's quite bleak and English, and it's starting to be pretty cool. Also re-reading Ender's Shadow, just because.

Yesterday I picked up the new Robert Jordan, Winter's Heart. The used bookstore had a trade-paperback UK edition for pretty cheap, so I got it. I know I should hate this book, and this series, but it's hard. I agree that the series has gone on too long (and become the archetype for the Interminable Fantasy Series). I agree that Jordan steals hand-over-fist from great authors that have gone before. I agree that he spends way too much time talking about what his characters are wearing, and that the pace of the novels is slowing to a crawl, and that nobody in this series ever really, finally dies... but I still like the books.

Well, I like the first five or so, anyway, and I like bits and pieces of those that came later. I feel like I have so much time invested in this series that I should see it through to the end, you know? And I still get enjoyment out of the books, even if I do just let my eye drift past the lines of description about what color everybody's stupid riding dress is.

My main problem with the series now is that he has too damned many characters. So many of these secondary characters could be combined or eliminated-- hell, that's true of many of the main characters. In addition to the cast of hundreds, we've got characters traveling under assumed names, too, and I have to keep all of that straight.

I am not a stupid person, but there have been moments when I've had trouble following what the hell is happening, when there are scenes in which I know none of the characters mentioned, and I don't know if they're new figures (he has a tendency to introduce a boatload of new characters into every volume, too) or just people I met earlier and then forgot about.

Maybe I could keep up if I re-read the whole series, but even as fast as I read, that's a serious investment of time. I may do that when the whole series is finished, but not before.

Still. I'll read this book. I want to see if Mat is finally going to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. If Elayne will be reunited with her mother. If Egwene will kick the shit out of Elaida. And other such things.

There are dozens upon dozens of unresolved plot threads in this series. If Jordan can pull it all together, if he has the chops to end this series in a satisfying way, I'll grant him his stylistic excesses. If he has this outlined, and knows where it's going (and I mean he must, or else he's absolutely insane), I may yet forgive him the Needless Bloat that's overtaken his series.

We'll see. Final judgement is reserved, for now. Present feelings are: growing annoyance and fading hopefulness. But that could be reversed, if some stuff is actually resolved in this volume.

I'm probably expecting too much. It's a shame, really-- this series dazzled many people when it first came out, but now I hear a lot of grumbling from fans. Jordan is in serious danger of overstaying his welcome with this series. He should finish this story, and then, if he wants to keep milking the cash-cow, write spin-off novels. God knows there are plenty of characters to do that with, and it wouldn't piss so many people off.

In my own writing-news: Got paid by Chiaroscuro. Yay! Promptly spent the money on groceries. Also got word from Patrick at Talebones-- he's holding one of my stories for further consideration. He says they won't be making final choices about the next issue for several months, though, so I get to wait. I've been submitting to Talebones for years, and while he's occasionally said nice things, I've never gotten even this close to an acceptance before. So wish me luck.