I had to get up early this morning to help the boy take his car to the shop, and when I got
home, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I’m sure I’ll crash out in the early afternoon to make up
for it, but in the meantime, I’m awake, and I decided I should be productive (if not on the
things I really should focus on). So there’s now the usual page for “Nine Sketches,
in Charcoal and Blood,” and more to the point, I’ve finally caught up on recommendations! (I
know I’ve been deluging you all with them over the last few days; I apologize for that.) This
time around, in honor of the time of year, it’s Sergei Lukyanenko’s Russian fantasy Night Watch. I’m
fairly certain that’s the first translated fantasy novel I’ve ever finished reading; there’s a
dearth of the stuff in our genre anyway. And that puts me back on track, finally, for the
recommendations, after months of being very, very bad about posting them. (Now all I have to
do is be vaguely disciplined for two more months, and I’ll finish out the year on
schedule.)