Latest reads [more mini reviews]

Since last time, I've read the following:

• A Shade of Vampire (A Shade of Vampire, #1) - Bella Forrest
• Although it might be said that I'm a bit over vampires nowadays (that "I'm a dead, cold corpse" thing really doesn't turn me on), I did enjoy this read, and would even go so far as to buy subsequent books in the series to find out what happens next.
• Broken Promises (Broken, #1) - Dawn Pendleton

• This was sort of okay - I did want to read on and find out what happened, but I really couldn't stand the main character at times. Even if I could understand why she was the way she was. She was just a bit of a drama queen who made everyone else run around after her.
• muted: a short story in verse - Jessica Bell
• This story blew my mind - a mixture of pure ugliness and pure beauty, sort of like that Japanese novel I read a few years back, GROTESQUE (also one of my fave reads ever). Jessica is very talented!
• Open Minds (Mindjack, #1) - Susan Kaye Quinn

• Love this woman's writing, though this is the only book of hers I've read so far! I hear great things about her other series as well, and have some of that ready to read on my ... wait for it ... Kindle! Yes, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite recently.

And I'm currently reading:

• The Complete Fairy Tales - The Brothers Grimm
• Become (Desolation, #1) - Ali Cross
• The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

Now, what I want to know is, is anyone surprised that I'm still reading Grimm over two years later?
. . . Or that this is my first time reading War of the Worlds?
. . . . . . Or that it took me this long to get around to reading Ali's book?

A BuNo update and some kitty pics.

SMALL TOWN
is 34% complete

17266 / 50000 words written

That's where I'm at with BuNoWriMo. I'm basically plodding along this year, though I got a bit extra done tonight. Not much extra, but a bit. I do love my idea, but this time around I actually look forward to this whole thing being over. See, I am actually supposed to be sorting through a house full of 'stuff' right now, to prepare for moving. But truthfully, even if I weren't doing BuNo, I wouldn't be getting much done. See, my cat injured himself recently and had to have a rather serious shoulder operation. And he's always been a rather needy, sooky cat. Now that he's cooped up inside the house and no longer free to roam the neighbourhood as he wishes, he's even more needy than usual, and is quite frankly driving me nuts! Luckily for him, he's totally cute:

Photo © Amanda Shannon.
Somebody called this a "postcard shot".

Photo © Amanda Shannon.
You can see his shoulder injury -
and gigantic paw he got to
keep due to the surgery - here.

So yeah, when I'm home I basically have to sit with the cat at all times, or else he gets up to mischief that could risk his shoulder - and result in the amputation we've managed thus far to avoid! He's a terrible patient, and he's really wearing on my patience. But like I said, he's cute - so he gets away with it. ;) Meanwhile, my house is a bit chaotic and I'm sleeping on a foam mattress instead of in my real bed, to keep my cat company. No, really, this is what I've resorted to in order to ensure I do actually get sleep. Otherwise he's in his room and I'm in mine and he's meowing all night and I'm not sleeping.

Anyway, that's an update for now. I'm enjoying my little BuNo story as it unfolds, and also looking forward to hitting 50k so I can let it lie for a little while. At least until I've moved house. Part of me is scared to lose momentum, but I know I can always go back later and finish it - I've done so before, I can do it again!

The Aberration Blog Hop

Lisa Regan is hosting this blog hop in celebration of yesterday's release of her second novel, Aberration - congratulations Lisa!!

The details of the blog hop are as follows:

Definition of ABERRATION
1 : the fact or an instance of deviating or being aberrant especially from a moral standard or normal state
2 : unsoundness or disorder of the mind
3 : an aberrant individual
— ab·er·ra·tion·al  adjective
From the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary 

What:  The Aberration Blog Hop: Finding the Most Aberrant Characters
Where:  Sign up here
When:  June 6 & 7, 2013
What to do:  All you have to do is list your top 5 choices for the most aberrant characters in fiction, television or movies.  Also, if you're a writer, you can then include a short paragraph about who you think is the most aberrant character from your own work.

So, without further ado, these are just a few of the characters I can think of off the top of my head that definitely fit the term "aberrant" (and please note that if you've never seen the legal drama The Practice, there is a rather big spoiler in the bullet points below):

Aberrant characters

• Sylar from Heroes
• the guy is just plain evil, and from what I've seen of the series so far, he's got no hope of any sort of redemption
• Max Guevara from Dark Angel
• she's not evil but she's definitely not natural. And even amongst her own "aberrant" kind, she's special. Love this show!
• Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs
• this was the first character I thought of when I thought about moral aberration. Definitely one of the creepiest, most memorable characters ever!
• The reavers from Firefly
• these dudes are also plain evil, and plaaaaain gross.
• George Vogelman from The Practice
• OH GOD! I am still not over this. I still remember the shock and horror I felt when the truth was revealed.

DISQUS is annoying!

I participated in two blogfests back on 31/5, and encountered two different blogs that required you to post via Disqus comments. Well, I have to say these are becoming my new pet hate in the blogisphere. For one thing, when I'm at home I can't even get these comments to load, so can't leave a comment! Then, on a PC at work where I can get them to load, only one of them let me post as a guest. With the other one I tried signing in with Google+ and Twitter, but they still required me to have a Disqus account. To me, this is just too much hard work, so sadly one blog missed out on a comment from me...and I really wanted to leave a comment there, too! I even have it still cut, ready to paste.

That's really all I wanted to say for today - but I may as well give an update on my BuNoWriMo writing while I'm here:

SMALL TOWN
is 13% complete

6746 / 50000 words written

And yeah, I am now calling it SMALL TOWN (formerly ELLA), but that is still a non-permanent title. I'm enjoying the story though I am having that familiar "this is crap...isn't it? maybe it's not" feeling as I write. But that's perfectly normal. ;)