All Work and No Play

Looking back on some of my blog posts since starting work here at St. Martin’s Press, I’ve become slightly baffled by how much I talk about work. It’s like I have no life, you guys! How horrifying! It’s time I return to a self-centered, narcissistic monologue about my life.

(Not really. Except kind of really.)

Masquerade

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade!

I started this blog long before I was ever in publishing, but slowly and insidiously, the industry has infiltrated my entire existence–including social media. Cap’n Sweet Valley has me tweeting and Facebook-ing as part of my job description (not that I mind) and when I come home, it seems that all I can discuss/think/eat/breathe are books. I used to have hobbies! What happened to them?

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Oh Frakking Hell

I’ve been struggling for a few days now to write this post as Battlestar Galactica is so epic, it’s a bit difficult to review. If I’d watched the show like any normal person, I could probably give you a coherent blow-by-blow, but as it is, I’m trying to encapsulate my thoughts on four seasons worth of story into one tiny (okay, really long) little entry.

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica

My dear friend, The Inimitable Bex, is an enormous fan and had been suggesting to me for ages the show as one I would enjoy. She hasn’t been the only one, various friends whose artistic opinions I value had continually been at me to give Battlestar Galactica a go, citing it as being “totally up [my] alley”. It hits all my “buttons” (so to speak): religion, mythology, post-apocalyptic narratives, forged families, etc. Spoilers follow beneath the cut.

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Alpha Bravo Charlie

Dollhouse

Dollhouse

Months after everyone else (but coincidentally about the same time as my friend Katranna), I decided to give Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse a go.

Now, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I find Firefly the best of Whedon’s shows for many reasons, not the least of which is because I found its premise the most fascinating. I had seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel at the behest of several of my friends, and while I enjoyed them, I could never fully love them because vampires simply aren’t my thing. ANGST! WOE! IMMORTALITY SUXORS! WAAAH! EMO!

The other reason is simply because the chemistry of the cast is phenomenal. From the pilot episode (I’m talking about “Serenity” here because I only saw Firefly on DVD), I could see why these people were on board the ship and why they cared for one another. Wrap up a good space western/space pirate/space Robin Hood premise (hello…awesome????) with Whedon’s trademark characterisation and humour and I was sold.

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Those Lovely Seaside Girls

Happy Bloomsday, everyone! I would give ULYSSES a read-through today, except my friend Kristine has my copy and my other one is so destroyed it has literally fallen apart at the seams. No matter, for I am rereading CATCHING FIRE more slowly this time around (to savour the small details), and Kristine introduced me to this video:

It’s the end that slays me.

Oh, and because they need to be shared again: James Joyce’s EXTREMELY dirty letters to Nora Barnacle.

Michael Emerson, I Love You

I have decided I need to add Michael Emerson to my family of adopted people I may or may not adore in the way gay men adore Judy Garland. So, I have Magical Uncle Neil Gaiman, Fairy Grandfather Ian McKellan, Storytellin’ Gramps Philip Pullman, and…I may have to relegate the actor playing Benry as…That Creepy Dude Who Says He’s My Uncle But I’m Too Weirded Out To Gainsay Him Not To Mention I Kinda Have An Inappropriate Crush On Him.

TCDWSHMYUBITWOTGHNTMIKHAICOH is probably too long of an acronym.

Creepy Inappropriate Not-Uncle might have to suffice. CINU?

Anyway, today I discovered that CINU narrated a radio play and a novella of Magical Uncle’s, which sort of made my head explode with awesomeness.

  1. As the unnamed narrator in the radio play adaptation of Murder Mysteries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
  2. Narrated the AMERICAN GODS novella “The Monarch of the Glen” (from FRAGILE THINGS) in volume III of an audio book series called “Legends II: New Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy” .

And because this bears repeating, Michael Emerson reading “Little Boy Blue” in the creepiest voice ever.

If there’s one good thing that ever came out of Lost, it’s that the show introduced me to this man. ♥ you, Benry!

About the Blog

Uncreated Conscience is JJ's blog, in which she rambles about the toils and tribulations of writing her first novel, why CSS eats her brain, or how skydiving takes all of her money.

And when she's done with that, she's reviewing books and looking for fiction to publish for postadolescent, "new adults.

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