spoke

Normally? I like spiders. See icon!

But just now, with the shiny sleek black thing with the red spot on its back? Totally freaked out and killed it. And now I feel guilty. :/

But dammit, it was acting all aggressive and I don't even know what kind it was! Can't have been a black widow, they're red on the underside... but what then? And was it dangerous? :(

Having finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which has a rather bittersweet ending and made me want to choke the main character - and I'd still recommend it - I moved on to the Book of the Spider by Paul Hillyard.

Which has so far been very interesting, full of facts and myths I had no idea existed - I really liked the old English one about spiders collecting poison from flowers, the same ones bees and birds get nectar from. Because spiders are evil like that, apparently.

But then I got to the bit about Bolas spiders, who instead of spinning webs actually use one thread with a glob of sticky at the end of it to catch moths. A site with pictures! If anyone actually wants to look? About halfway down is a shot of her little weapon.

My first thought is 'Heeey - Rajura's morning star - it's accurate! Sort of...' XD

Insomnia shifts into sleep-walking, this lovely tired feeling where I still can't sleep, but feel nicely floaty anyway.

Also calm, which is much better than moody.

Ever had that feeling that you've found a writer that means something, that speaks to a part of you that feels... like you've found a kindred soul. Like some part of the world within them is so similar to yours that the landscapes overlap?

Sean Stewart

So far, and in order, I've read: The Night Watch, Resurrection Man, Nobody's Son.

I should have known after The Night Watch, you know. All birds singing and sunrise and the panicked rush of it.

Or perhaps I did know and was sensibly hiding from it? Resurrection Man, you see. Insects, specifically spiders and butterflies, with the butterflies quite as horrible (or possibly worse) than the spiders. The main character is Dante. I've never seen myself so clearly in a character before, and negative aspects at that.

Dante is afraid of spiders, d'you know? Because really, he is one.

This book I started in San Francisco, and finished sitting on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I haven't been quite as scared of spiders since. Of myself, well... some things are there whether we look at them or not.

Jet is brilliant too. The watcher, outsider, changeling son. Funny nobody really seems to think about the fact that Dante and Jet think of themselves as twins.

It's odd, the contradictions in these titles. The Night Watch, and the implied darkness when really it's about the end of darkness. Resurrection Man, with the implication of life beginning - which it is - but the backdrop is the looming fall of the world into the dark night of magic. All the families huddling together, building fires against the dark, is what it feels like.

Nobody's Son. This is just dizzying. All time and shadows and the weight of the past, while denying any placement in the time line I can see in the other two books. But I must say, I have yet to meet a Mark I didn't like! Especially this Mark. The first guy to name swords and I get it, I actually emotionally connect with why he would name a sword.

Pity he can't keep them. XD

Also. The lesbian relationship therein, which is just a part of the story, and not Some Big Issue. I was just noting that with some happy suspicion (ooh nifty subtext) and then the poor guy who has been following the one woman around with puppy dog sparkly eyes comes out and says this to his friend (no telling how he finds out!) - and I broke out laughing first, and then just beamed because how cool is that? ^_^

Also the ending is brilliant and perfect, all the endings I've read so far end in this neat little... almost like, if the book were a piece of music. This one last tone that holds the emotional heart of the book in it. The Night Watch a fire crackling, and Resurrection Man a sighing of trees, and Nobody's Son?

Sudden record skip. And I'm not kidding. I laughed so hard, the sort of laugh that unties knots inside.

Must do some drawing this weekend.