Kitten and a cushion
Kitten on a paving stone
Kitten on a couch
Seal Point Devon rex kitten with enormous blue eyes before a backdrop of red geraniums.
Juniper.
Nine-souled Lahn was born for one use -- a use that would destroy him. Created to kill, tiger-souled Vích chose instead to defend and stole her brother away from those who had made them both.
Now their enemies have found them.
Just $0.99 for two more days --
www.amazon.com/Eight-Doors-...
/waves. Nils is named for the female lead of a comic called Platinum Grit. A super sexy mischievous yet powerfully competent person. www.amazon.com.au/Platinum-Gri...
Unscheduled stop in Brissie, but a nice sunset as compensation.
My Triple J hottest Australian 100. Almost impossible to pick, and I'm sure many I'll regret not including.
I'd suggest trying The Warrior's Apprentice. Miles is a stronger protagonist, and I have a lot of fun watching him being smart in impossible situations. My fave is probably Borders of Infinity (novella).
Book cover: Amberlight by Sylvia Kelso
20 books that have influenced you. Day 20/20: Sylvia taught me the Lesson of the Spartans, ensuring I try to remove unnecessary words. I can't claim to always succeed, but it does help to cut down on page count.
Book cover: Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly
20 books that have influenced you. Day 19/20: Most of Hambly's novels are a bit more serious than this, but I chose BotRG because every time I read it, I finish up going "that was really GOOD". Just the right mix of schlock and fun.
Post a pic with no description to bring some zen to the timeline
Book cover: Taming the Forest King by Claudia J Edwards
20 books that have influenced you. Day 18/20: Only a small handful of books were published by this author. The protagonists of these stories have far more patience than I in dealing with the people around them. :D
Book cover: Nemesis by Louise Cooper
20 books that have influenced you. Day 17/20: Cooper in some ways reminds me of McKillip. It's the sense that the world have an inexorable set of rules, and that magic is something that can grind you to dust.
Book cover: Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold
20 books that have influenced you. Day 16/20: I chose a non-Miles book perhaps because it's hard to choose a favourite Miles book. The Vorkosigan series stands out for me for the main character's ingenuity. You read to see how the Little Admiral will pull it off this time.
She's such a classic.
Book cover: Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken
20 books that have influenced you. Day 15/20:
Night's winged horses
No one can outpace
But midnight is no moment
Midnight is a place.
Aiken's books are the best of children's fare: gothic, compulsive, rich in detail. Set in an alternate Victorian England, many feature Dido, a classic of her kind.
Sime/Gen were such compulsive squick.
Book cover: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
20 books that have influenced you. Day 14/20: DWJ is my favourite among favourites, her books endlessly creative, often bringing together a seemingly chaotic mix of events into a seamless whole. Howl and Sophie are a delight, and so are Sophie's sisters (sadly mostly erased in the movie).
Book cover: Sredni Vashtar by Saki
20 books that have influenced you. Day 13/20: Most of Saki's work is frothy social commentary in a Wodehouse vein, but this short story, about a boy who adopts a ferret, is a masterpiece of childhood desperation, and the stark need that lies beneath prayer.
Book cover: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
20 books that have influenced you. Day 12/20: There are a lot of books featuring magic, enchanted worlds, fantastical creatures, and they all match different tastes. McKillip's stories are definitely Elfland rather than Poughkeepsie, with so much driven by inexorable rules, hard, heavy, and cruel.
Book cover: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
20 books that have influenced you. Day 11/20: One of the all-time favourites. This barely touches on the trope of being kidnapped by a sheik, but then goes into completely different directions.
Book cover: A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer
20 books that have influenced you. Day 10/20: I like a touch of romance in most of my stories, and Heyer is an expert in weaving romantic development into plot progression. It's rare that they're pairings that I dislike, as well.
Book cover: Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky
20 books that have influenced you. Day 9/20: As a fan of golden age detectives, there were few modern-day series that really caught me. This was modern detecting with a serious, non-klutzy female protagonist. [For a time, it felt like 90% of modern detecting involved being accident-prone or naive.]
Book Cover: InuYasha Vol 1 by Rumiko Takahashi
20 books that have influenced you. Day 8/20: There is reams of manga, and countless portal fantasies, but this is one of the OGs. Unusual in that the portal is two-ways and Kagome could frequently go home for a break from saving the world.
Book cover: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
20 books that have influenced you. Day 7/20: Bryson's books are full of trivial detail made interesting by an engaging voice. He is a narrative Andy Warhol, making the reader see small things in a fresh light.
Book cover: Angel with the Sword by C J Cherryh
20 books that have influenced you. Day 6/20: Cherryh is an expert at living worlds full of believable people. This is a classic different worlds romance that really makes you feel the chasm that is wealth and class.
Book cover: Catseye by Andre Norton
20 books that have influenced you. Day 5/20: Norton is one of my fundamental influences, shaping a great deal about how I write SF. This is one of her classic outsider trying to find a place to succeed stories.
Book cover: The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer
20 books that have influenced you. Day 4/20: The influence of this analysis of the origin of magic/religion can be seen throughout my books, but particularly in The Silence of Medair, which dips deep into the bond between ruler and land.
Games I've played this year. s.team/y24/cjhcqfn?... I don't play exclusively on Steam, but it is the majority gameplay space.
Book cover: Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George
20 books that have influenced you. Day 3/20: I didn't read any other George books for a long long time after this one. A devastating book about hurt people hurting themselves more.
Book cover: Dragonson by Anne McCaffrey
20 books that have influenced you. Day 2/20: The Dragonsong/Dragonsinger duology were once one of my most-reread. McCaffrey's detailed world, so vivid and different, but particularly Menolly's story of finding a place to be, growing in strength and authority.