Updates, book shopping, and random randomocity

Here's what I got in my much-heralded (by me, at any rate) trip to the bookstore yesterday:

• Thud! by Terry Pratchett
• The Big Bad City (A novel of the 87th precinct) by Ed McBain
• Fiddlers (Another novel of the 87th precinct) by Ed McBain
• Beowulf, translation by Seamus Heaney

The more observant among you have probably noticed there are two 87th Precinct novels on my list. That's because I'm a sucker for those things. Ed McBain (a pseudonym for Evan Hunter, who also writes under his real name and, just to confuse things a little more, sometimes writes under his real name and his pseudonym--see Candyland, for example) is one helluva writer. If you like police procedurals (and I hate the way that sounds--it sounds like a really boring class or something) then you'll love these books. Just find one and read it. If you can find one where The Deaf Man appears, it's an added bonus. I'm just sayin'.

Speaking of novels, I'm probably over a third of the way through the first draft of The Harvester of Faces and so far things are fitting together nicely. It's a good sign. I've spent several hours concentrating on it this week--I worked on it for two hours straight yesterday and didn't even realize it until I got up to go to the bathroom and looked at the clock. That's another good sign. I don't have a specific date I'm shooting for to be done with it but I feel like I'll be done with the first draft around Thanxgiving. I'm hoping to be shipping it off for a publisher to take a look at by January.

Another project this week was making chilli with a secret recipe supplied by my cousin, Mia. I've made chilli a couple of times, with disappointing results. It wasn't awful or anything, it just wasn't anything special. Mia's recipe, though, produced some awesome chilli. I had it again for lunch yesterday and have the rest in the freezer for down the road.

Oh, and I got all my hair shaved off again, too. I tried to upload a pic I took yesterday but this computer and Blogger apparently aren't ready for that level of intimacy yet--I keep getting an error.

I just deleted a paragraph I wrote with a political diatribe. It really doesn't fit here--I really do think arguing politics is a waste of time. People aren't open to rational arguments in that area. Arguing religion is about as pointless, or maybe even moreso. I'll let The Harvester of Faces make my political statements for me--at its heart it's an extremely political novel, disguised as a science fiction/mystery. Hopefully if you disagree with my politics you'll still be able to read and enjoy it. Though I strongly suspect the people I really intend the political message for won't even notice it.

*sigh* . . .