Friday, July 31, 2009

45 million-yr-old yeast, discovered in amber (Jurassic Park?) used to brew beer. Loved this! http://ping.fm/BupPP

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

When I think that some of my colleagues are already at work, slaving away, it makes me feel...happy (yay! yay!) I have the day off .
Welcome to Astronomy info booklet, complete with star maps! http://ping.fm/NyQwE
Exploring astronomy sites. Does anyone else remember having Seti on their old computers? Sitting there watching for ET?
First came solids, liquids, gases. Then, plasma. Now, transparent aluminum. http://ping.fm/ZcZqy A new state of matter?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Just got home from work...and the uni (archeology)...and the gym. Phew!
Even more unnerving: http://ping.fm/FMcTQ Supposedly, these robots are vegetarians. How many veggies will be out on the battlefield?
Found this one slightly unnerving after watching Terminator http://ping.fm/nE1hS
Found out I have an interview up at Debra Parmley's blog. Thanks, Debra! http://ping.fm/ZlFzG

Monday, July 27, 2009

Had a great day! Tired as... Well, let's just say I'm weary. Great plans for painting or editing tonight, but the TV's siren song beckons...
On their return from the moon Apollo 11 astronauts had to go thru customs http://ping.fm/Ttiz3 +Customs form: http://ping.fm/owbgE
Interesting to think of us as large terrestrial vertebrates, on a par with birds and fruit bats, LOL.
In a scientific paper: "...humans were the first large terrestrial vertebrates-other than birds and fruit bats-to invade Remote Oceania"
Whimper dog is carrying on, but my dog whispering is under par tonight. He's trying to tell me something, but I need a translation
Sunrise from space, filmed by the space shuttle astronauts http://ping.fm/PXeKr Nice pic!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Reading one of my novellas to my 16-yr-old. Really pleased - she's actually enjoying it (even asking for more!).
Really interesting page with everything from poisonous octopi to stripes on naked tigers. http://ping.fm/BSwB6
Did you know there are more MICROBIAL cells in our bods than those with our own DNA (http://ping.fm/zoKry)?
Just finished working/shopping. Love the piecemeal shopping on the Street, with a meat pie here, fruit there, a stop at the gym inbetween...

Saturday, July 25, 2009

The CT scans which led to the reconstruction of Meresamun http://ping.fm/VLDMH
Reconstruction of the beautiful face of Egyptian priestess Meresamun by forensic artists http://ping.fm/8puRX
Interesting article on the use of remote sensing in archeology with overview of techniques http://ping.fm/HuxU7
Ants more rational that humans...a factor of limited choices, collective decision making~http://ping.fm/WzSjW feel a book coming on -

Friday, July 24, 2009

Hey, fellow Kiwis! After that earthquake last week, we're closer to Aussie - by 30 cm/11 in! http://tiny.cc/dBVyE (we had a 7.8)
Nearly extinct yellow-legged tree frog found in Calif. 1st time in 50 years http://tiny.cc/ipgzH
I've been catching up with Facebook friends - lots going on in the writing world! It's Saturday here: gym, painting, editing, writing...ahhh
Two edits came in today, for Dink and BoneSong. Hi-ho, hi-ho, tomorrow it's back to work I go...
Had a great archeology class today - gonna have to work hard this semester! Watching reruns of Battlestar Galactica at the moment.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Winter in Auckland comes with A Kiss for Luck


Yes, it's winter downunder, and we're hovering next to the heater tonight! I'm afraid we're a bit soft here in the city - a cold wet wind is enough to send us scurrying indoors.

I realized recently I have over a dozen titles being released this year. The book below has one of my favorite covers.



A Kiss for Luck



400 years trapped in a mirror...freed by a kiss



Of Glass & Guile



Artful deception, guileless lass,



Aimless cast in silvered glass,



To cling fore'er, but ne'er to hold,



Lost in sight, 'til worn and old.



Enslaved by glass, refraction frail,



Bested, broken, trapped in Hell.




Cursed. It had been a long time since she'd felt the limits of her confinement so strongly. The resonance of steps and movements, the sounds which rebounded into her small space before dissipating into nothingness, had kept her from believing she, too, was nothing. Now that he'd entered the attic, and was searching intently, his resonance made her shiver.



There is something here…



In the man. In his movements. Determination…destiny? Sybil didn't know, but for the first time in what seemed eons, she had hope. A rescuer was at hand.



If only… She watched, heart in mouth, eyes nearly as glazed as the glass which bound her. Would he recognize her plight? Would he see? Her world was but a reflection of his, the whole of it refracted in darts and speckles of cerulean light. No glimpses of glory, solely a room which remained unchanged until the glass was shifted.



The man jumped at his own reflected movements, and she glimpsed the trace of foolish amusement as he recognized his mistake. Ah, the giant, brawny breadth of him…




And if he were here with me, there'd be no room left for pacing. For her agitated steps, carrying on for an eternity.




Of course, the only visitor to the attic in years would be one such as he! This man wasn't about to kiss his own reflection. She was stuck, and so was he, but his was a pose of admiration, at his own grandeur. He peered at himself, wriggling his eyebrows, then baring his teeth.




Yes, you are ferocious. Yes, you are beguiling, and ever so handsome.




Now, he was using her narrow confinements to pick his teeth.



Barbaric!



Sybil shifted away in disgust. Not this one. It wouldn't be this one. The man who rescued her would need to be much more narcissistic than this. She sighed. At this point, she would even settle for some conceited cow of a female, smooching the glass. It was why Sybil was here, after all—admiration for her own female form.



And if I hadn't played such a fool's game, of enticing and spurning suitors, I wouldn't be here.



I'd be dust in the ground, long dead. At the moment it seemed almost preferable to non-life trapped behind glass—a reflection of someone else's fate, while her own sat in stasis.



The brute tore on, back to searching the attic. Looking for refinement, no doubt. In search of prisoners, more likely, though what war, what passing violence, made no difference to her. It's all the same when you're trapped in timelessness.



But it appeared he wasn't merely boorish—he was clumsy. With an unwary movement, the mirror toppled, and Sybil toppled with it. She landed on boxes and frames, rolled over birdcages and a dressmaker's dummy, her perspective as warped as the skeins which tangled her in their lengths. And in the background came the resonant, seemingly ceaseless, horrific shattering clatter of broken glass…



Her world, her tiny confines, were nearly gone. Narrowed to the reflected image of an apple-sized piece of glass.



It's over. Hope, freedom, gone forever.



It was confirmed in the next instant. The brute leaned over, jutted his jaw to admire its strength in a scattered shatter, then cleverly picked up the nearly square shard in which he'd been portrayed so admirably, and shoved it casually into a drawstring pouch tied to his belt.



Her world went horribly, irrevocably, black.



http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=200&products_id=444


Thursday, July 02, 2009

Amazing volcano pics. Definitely worth a look! http://ping.fm/g81rl