Perhaps you've seen those cute little stickers some people use in their car rear windows, little stick figures identifying Mommy, Daddy, and all the kids by name and relative size? At our house we refer to them as "the pedophile's menu."

Tonight on Dexter, serial killer Trinity uses them to kidnap a young boy, using the family names to convince the kid he's a figure of authority who knows his family.

Seriously folks—rethink those name stickers!

That otter above is not snuggly and asleep, she has a slamming headache and her sinuses hurt.

Great week with my son, great Thanksgiving, and then a Leftovers Night & Dominoes with friends last night. Today? Total collapse. I think my fibro is kicking up again. Too much rich food and salt; too little sleep. Amazing what you can get done in your bathrobe on the couch, including watching a string of Criminal Minds reruns and reviewing three teas, not to mention some galley editing. Just think what I could have done with a working brain.

Almost Dexter time. What a full day.

Religious Freedom in Viet Nam
Target:EU, US & ASEAN governments and UN High Commissioner, Human Rights
Sponsored by: Friends of Thich Nhat Hanh

Please sign this petition addressed to the European Union, the United States government, ASEAN governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ask the Vietnamese government to formally recognize the Plum Village practice of buddhism. By joining the petition and the group of 100,000 people asking for religious freedom, you will make a great measurable step towards global human rights in Southeast Asia.

The Bat Nha community has been under severe violent governmental pressure to cease activity in Viet Nam. The monks and nuns were forcefully expelled from Bat Nha monastery and are been persecuted in their place of refuge, Phuoc Hue temple, Bao Loc, in Lam Dong province. These monks and nuns are practicing in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and continue his tradition in his homeland.

Our initial effort and petition to protect the Bat Nha monastics was recognized by EU and U.S. leaders, which in turn caused the Viet Nam government to ease pressure on the Bat Nha monastics for the last three weeks of Oct 2009. But on Nov 2nd, the Chief of the Province Lam Dong summoned the Abbot who is currently hosting the 400 refugee monks and nuns, and demanded he force them to leave by the first of December.

The strong harassment and intimidation of this community continue with attempts to disband them from Phuoc Hue and other temples where they have sought refuge. They also are threatening to draft the young monks into the army within a few weeks. We need your help to bring an end to religious persecution in Viet Nam with this new petition to ASEAN, European Union, United States governments and the High Commission for Human Rights to continue diplomatic pressure.


Read more and sign petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/religious-freedom-in-viet-nam

We got up very early to take Tim to the airport. We're finally getting some winter rain. In fact, it's pouring, and in the distance the mountains are covered with snow far down their sides. We hit some heavy rain on the way to the airport, along with some pretty impressive lightning, and saw no less than five cars spun out or overturned by the side of the road and a two-car collision. Folks, you've got to slow down!

Great visit with Tim. He'd met Jackson as a pup last Christmas, but they hadn't seen each other since. J did some initial barking, wuffing, and skulking, but was won over very quickly and soon up in Tim's lap, bringing him toys and socks. It was good to see. Apart from his trust/shyness issues, he's such a good, friendly, playful dog. On the show Dogs 101 they did a segment on English Mastiffs. Jackson may not be a purebred, but he sure takes after that side of the family in face and temperament. Hopefully he'll stay on the runty end of the weight spectrum. Still well under 100 lbs. but he's only a year old. Emma was her usual canine velcro self and spent a lot of time in Tim's lap, soaking up attention. Tim even coaxed Oscar the Garage Cat in for some visiting. Oscar is his cat, whom we are cat sitting until Tim gets a place that allows cats. Could be never. Oscars nice, but pees in the house. Hence the garage accommodations.



Back now, sitting by the fire trying to decide the day's tea, or at least day's first tea. I seem to be craving Tie Guan Yin, after reviewing an especially fine one the other day, from Norbu Tea. I just ordered some for my own private stash, along with an interesting pu ehr baked and aged in sweet bamboo. It's very sweet and light, without some of the damp earth flavor of a more traditional pu ehr.

I also need a Yixing pot to dedicate to TGYs, and have been looking for a long time. Finally settled on this cute and funky one, from sensationalteas.com, made by Xiao Ma. The colors come from different colors of zisha clay inlay.




Good excuse to sort through the TGYs I have lying around, and cull out the old and inferiors while I wait for the Diamond Grade to arrive and spoil me for everything else.


Friends coming over tonight for a "Thanksgiving left overs" potluck.

Thank you for all the wonderful entries! I loved them all and appreciate them, too. As you will see, I had a hard time choosing just one, so instead I allowed myself a baker's dozen and we had a few ties. Here are the results. Please email me your mailing address: lbflewelling@roadrunner.com Please include your LJ name, so I can make sure I get everyone. Thanks!

1. Best Foreign Story: hikari shiroki

2. Best Book Pusher: asatomuraki

3. Best Guilting: tobyspit & ferretpaws

4. Best Not Mentioning the Word "Bookmark": tsuralai

5. Most Poetic: snowydragon & julzbat

6. Most Schizophrenic: animangel

7. Most Scholarly: theelk

8. Foxiest: enedven

9. Most Heartfelt: cutiedorklady

10. Most Inspirational: rikunghts

11. Best Gustatory: Dmujumu

The obligatory and time-honored left over supper; games of dominos and Continental Rummy; Law and Order; now on my third steeping of Canton Tea Co. Jasmine Pearl tea made with Silver Needle white tea. Favorite with my kids and meditation group.

Turkey tackled.
Side dishes summarily dispatched.
Gravy gorged upon.
Pies plundered.

Tryptophane coma.

Stuffing made- much wreckage ensued.
Turkey rinsed, warmed, stuffed, trussed, buttered, and roasting.
Giblets simmering.
Livers sauteed and nibbled.

Kitchen a shambles. This is what sons are for.

Vegetables next.

Last night the house smelled of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, pastry, and apples. At the moment it smells of coffee, sage, Herbes de Provence, and sauteed celery, parsley, and onions. And is there any better foundation to good food than sauteed celery, parsley, and onions?

I love feast days. :-)

One son home for Thanksgiving this year. No other guests, so it will be a laid back day.

So far: (3) pies made, two pumpkin, one apple-- we're doing Leftover Night with friends Friday.
(1) turkey soaking in brine

Other ingredients staged and ready to go.

Be the first to win a WHITE ROAD bookmark--signed!

Just tell me (here) in 20 to 250 words why you want one. I'll choose the response I like best. Be imaginative! Ties are possible.

Contest ends on Friday, noon, PST.




I am also running this on FB and Yahoo Group. Please enter only at one site. Each site will have a winner.

It's official! SHADOWS RETURN is now available at Audible.com! I just listened to the sample and I really like the guy's voice. He suits the characters.

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_ADBL_001198&redirectFlag=

Pirate Radio rocks! Great cast, fun story, excellent cast. While "based on real events," it's a highly fictionalized and embellished version, but who cares? It was really fun. Laughed all the way through. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branaugh, and a great cameo by Emma Thompson. Already downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes.

November 28 is being declared Same Sex Hand Holding day (Sshh) to promote equality. http://ow.ly/En3R

:-)

My eyes are blurry. I'm seeing double. I'm high on red pencil fumes. I've had way too much tea. And still a long way to go on the galley edits. Good thing they're not due until Dec. 14. I've already found a few nasty little lurkers needing to be fixed. How do these things get through two editing cycles? But they always do. At least I get to tuck in a little last minute nookie here and there.

For those of you who may be new here, C-Squared Pictures is in the process of seeking financing for a mini series version of Luck in the Shadows. For updates, see their Face Book Page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nightrunner-Series-Luck-in-the-Shadows/133833578541

The galleys for WHITE ROAD just arrived! This is my last chance to catch and remove any mistakes. Time to get out the fine-toothed comb and sharp red pencil.

Book of the Leaf 1:13-14

13 Yea, I say unto thee, thou shalt go forth unto the masses and spread word of the mighty, the awesome, and the most benevolent leaf, that they may be enlightened and know the everlasting and double steeped joy of the truth.

14 And thou shall cast down the cheap bag as an abomination for all generations.


Here endth the reading.

Lynn, former lay reader

Seregil is still balky, damn him! And Alec is no help whatsoever.

At least I have a great tea to sip as I sit here glaring at the screen. Thunderbolt Tea's Risheehat Clonal Flowery SFTGFOP1 2009 Second Flush Darjeeling. It has all the sweetness of honey, clover, and rainwater, with almond undertones. Makes my mouth water as I drink it. Maybe I can work it into the book? You heard it here first, folks.

Have I ever mentioned that my blood is 83.9% tea?

Back to work. *grumble*

Paige Crutcher at the The Nashville Examiner did a nice interview with me.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5640-Nashville-Authors-Examiner~y2009m11d16-Spotlighting-author-Lynn-Flewelling

We have a guest blogger today! My friend Chris mbranesf, who I know through Outer Alliance, a speculative fiction writer and publisher of M-Brane SF.
Take it away, Chris!


___________________________


I want to thank Lynn for lending me some space to talk about my recent project, the anthology of queer science fiction Things We Are Not, and my thoughts on queer fiction more generally.

Some readers may know that I publish the monthly zine M-Brane SF. The magazine is not, however, specifically queer-focused, and I started feeling like I wanted to see more LGBTQ content in things that I publish. So I decided to see if I could manage to find good content for a stand-alone book and get it published using M-Brane’s small platform and meager resources.

I knew from that start that I wanted the collection represent a lot of points of views and orientations. Specifically, I didn’t want it to be too gay male-oriented or too focused on sexual matters or erotica. For some reason (maybe because I am a male with a fair amount of interest in those things) I just assumed that there would be a lot of that in the submissions. As it turned out, however, I didn’t need to be worried about diversity and I didn’t need to think about having any sort of quota to achieve gender balance or sexual identification variety. It just happened to work out that the stories that I liked best also had a lot of range of subject matter and character types. Several items are gay male stories, but at least as many are about lesbian characters. Some of the other stories feature relationships that are probably only possible in science fiction. Some of them deal with issues, such as reproduction and marriage, quite subversively.

Of course the whole project raised for me a question that I hear debated periodically by people who either like or don’t like LGBTQ fiction: Is it necessarily about sex and sexuality? People who don’t like the idea of queer fiction tend to say that it’s all about sex and about putting sex into a story for no reason and even “forcing” sex onto readers who don’t want any. Which makes advocates for queer fiction want to defend against that charge by pointing out that there’s a lot of very good reasons for queer fiction other than just talking about sex, and that sex and sexual orientation can just be an incidental thing and not, in fact, the whole point of the story. I think the premise of the discussion is false, however, because its terms have been defined by people don’t like queer fiction or queer people and would rather see both of them marginalized or entirely invisible. It’s rooted in an assumption that examining sex and sexual orientation is automatically an undesirable thing and should for some reason be avoided in fiction. Which, I say, is ridiculous.

My book contains a few stories where the sexual orientation of the protagonists could be considered “incidental” in the sense that the queer characters could perhaps be replaced with straight characters and not radically change these stories’ plots. Sort of in the same way that I could probably take just about any mainstream story with a straight protagonist and make him gay without changing his storyline too much. But such a change would make a difference in the character’s experience in life because there is a fundamental difference in our societies between being straight and being queer and how we navigate through our lives, whether we like it or not. So, in those stories where the queerness is incidental, it may not be quite as incidental as it seems on the surface even though those stories don’t have any actual sexual content in them. But then, on the other hand, I have also included a number of stories where sexuality is front-and-center and even a few with some explicitly erotic content. This may give those on the side of “it’s all about sex” some more evidence, but I’m not worried about it. It’s not an argument that I wish to participate in. Sexuality is an enormous part of the lives of real people and therefore belongs in the lives of fictional people of all orientations and identities. I am very positive about it and will continue to publish items that deal with it.

I have a page at www.mbranesf3.blogspot.com dedicated to Things We Are Not, with links to purchase the book in print and electronic formats as well as profiles of the authors and their stories.