Quotes from Andre Norton

Here are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from October 24 through October 30, 2013.

“To be a guardian of Power—one did not remain unchanged!” ‘Ware Hawk, by Andre Norton. Tirtha, after she has guarded the Power her family has taken responsibility for.

“Do not be too sure that possession of Power is always a gift.” Songsmith, by Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin. Alon to Eydryth, when he realizes that she is part of a family with Power.

“Magic does indeed wear hardly upon the user.” Songsmith, by Andre Nortonand A. C. Crispin . Eydryth, when she realizes that Alron has paused to use his magic to help them.

“Many things of the Light have their dark shadows.” Songsmith, by Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin. Alon, warning Eydryth that even a Power of the Light can be dangerous.

“Without belief and faith, Power is nothing.” Songsmith, by Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin. Eydryth, realizing that Alon must believe in himself if his magic is to win them free.

“If he can thus mark the true path for us, then we will be able to escape this maze.” Songsmith, by Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin. Eydryth, as Alon uses his Power to indicate their true way through the illusions.

“What are we supposed to hold on to?” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Timi has his doubts about tackling the peccary.

Weather in North Pole and in Tulsa, Oklahoma 10/28/13

In North Pole, Alaska, the sun will rise this morning at 9:27 am and set  8 hours 15 minutes later at 5:41 this evening.  Temperatures are forecast to be near record highs (possibly up to 50°F, more likely to the mid-40’s) with scattered rain showers. No snow on the ground yet, though there’s a chance of snow showers later in the week. North Pole was actually warmer that Tulsa, Oklahoma (where I am at the moment) Sunday morning.

Here in Tulsa, the sun rose at 7:43 this morning and will set at 6:32, for a day length of 10 hours 49 minutes. The trees are just starting to turn color, though there were some overnight frosts in the last few days. So far, though, the weather has been quite comfortable.

My hair is coming back! When I left Fairbanks my scalp was still shiny, with a few longer strands of hair, mostly white. Now it’s more like a very thin, short-napped velvet cap. It still looks strange, but it is hair returning.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Homecoming

It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming available in all formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

I hadn’t planned to do more than two snippets from the scene where Roi’s mind threw Derik and Nik for a loop (literally) but it turns out that section will give several 8-sentence bits. This is the third of the sequence. And we’re still in Derik’s point of view.

Sorry I’ll be late responding and commenting today; I’m at a cousins’ reunion in Oklahoma.

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“What happened?” Vara demanded, one hand massaging her temple while she clung to the wall with the other.

“Poltergeist reaction, I think,” Derik replied. “We’re all in esper shock, Vara. Can you get some food out here?” At least the table was still standing, and he needed its aid on a second attempt to rise. “Ander,” he called as he clung to the table and waited for the world to stop its whirling, “why are you two so wet?”

“Figured the water might shock Roi out of whatever state he was in.” Ander called back, “so I jumped into the pool with him. Scared him, though, so I got him back out in a hurry.”

The images for the next few weeks are all of the same star, over time, as it shows various stages of a “light echo.” This first one is of V 838 Monocerotis on April 30, 2002.

The blurb for Homecoming:

Snowy is a slave, a dancer. His first priority is keeping himself and his friends alive, and this means hiding the odd abilities that could get him killed. How can he cope with being totally paralyzed and sent to school with a group of telepathic bullies?

Lai is the last survivor of the R’il’nai, the species that has kept the Jarnian Confederation going for a hundred thousand years. He is in mourning for his Human lover, Cloudy, but now it seems there might be more R’il’nai somewhere beyond the borders of the Confederation. Can he find them? Should he?

Marna was on an isolation satellite when a plague wiped out all the rest of the population of her planet. Now the life-support system of the satellite has failed, and Marna must try to return to a planet where no other intelligent creature is alive. Is the plague still there? Can she survive? Does she want to?

Jarn’s Journal Year 8 Day 165

Year 8 Day 165

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I’ve found the end of the trench.

It’s been running pretty well parallel to the coastline, but both the northward trend of the coastline and the trench stopped with a jumble of mountains trending east-west, as far as such a jumble can be said to have a trend. The coast turned abruptly westward at almost the same latitude.

My geology is pretty shaky, but I checked the plate tectonics in the computer. If the trench is an incipient opening between two plates, as I suspect of the lake I live on, the jumble ahead, which looks very new and raw (geologically speaking) probably represents a plate colliding with the separating pair. A triple point.

Once again I went very high to survey the mountains ahead, and found some areas that merely looked crumpled and earthquake-prone, and others with some very odd looking erosional features. Although it is still hot and dry, I suspect from the vegetation I am in a winter-rain area. Allowing for the considerable elevation, this area may even be prone to snow in the winter.

Several of the trees have what looks like unripe fruits and nuts of varieties new to me. I will have to check them out later in the season, and perhaps bring some samples back to Rainbow. But on the whole, this mountainous plateau doesn’t look very hospitable.

Jarn’s Journal is supposedly the journal of a human-like alien who was stranded in Africa roughly 125,000 years ago. He has met a group of our ancestors (who much to his annoyance persist in treating him as a god) and has mapped the coastline of Africa. He is now mapping the Mediterranean. His Journal (a regular Friday feature) gives some of the back story of the Confederation in which my science fiction is set, and can be found on my author site.

Quotes from Anne McCaffrey

Here are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from October 17 through October 23 2013. All but the last are from Crystal Singer, by Anne McCaffrey.

“I won’t be second-rank.” An expression of the drive that ultimately caused Killashandra to become a crystal singer, but here it is being expressed in resentment that her dream of becoming a top-ranked opera singer can never be realized.

“She’d be at the top in whatever she did or die in the attempt.” Killashandra’s vow to herself.

“Danger was relative.” Killashandra’s first response to the dangers of Ballybran and the crystal singing profession.

“It depends on what you’re willing to consider a hazard.” Killashandra soothing Carrik, when the Ballybran symbiont makes it necessary that he return to Ballybran.

“A two-cell in a one-cell pond?” Carrik’s response to Killishandra’s statement that she prefers the odds of succeeding in a small guild.

“A dead hero in preference to a live coward?” Carrik continues to bait Killashandra.

“Beauty that enhanced his value was worth the effort.” Homecoming, by Sue Ann Bowling. Roi is still thinking like a slave, concerned with keeping his market value high enough to give him some measure of protection.

North Pole and Sierra Vista Weather, 10/21/13

San Pedro River

The sun will rise in North Pole this morning at 9:04 and set 9 hours 2 minutes later at 6:06 pm. At its highest, it was 14° above the horizon. It’s still above freezing in the daytime, though it’s freezing nights. And most precipitation is still liquid – a rarity at this time of year. As of 7:30, the temperature was 25° F and the high was expected to be 41. But I’m not in North Pole today.

Here in Sierra Vista, Arizona, the sun rose at 6:32 and will set 11 hours 12 minutes later at 5:44 this evening. It’s in the high 70’s in the daytime, and barely below 50 at night. We had a picnic at the San Pedro River Saturday – a little hot in the sun but just right for shorts in the shade. The river is completely hidden by the tall dead grass; those trees are on the far bank. Not too many birds, the summer visitors have headed back south and the Alaskans aren’t here yet. But the place was jumping (literally) with grasshoppers.

We had lunch Sunday on the patio, but it got almost too hot.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Homecoming

It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming available in all formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Today’s snippet is a direct follow-on from the one last week.

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[Derik] found himself lying on his back in the ruins of the chair, with the noon sun beating though his closed eyelids. Hysterical sobbing, intermixed with his own name and Nik’s, was coming from the direction of the pool, and he rolled his head to the side and forced his eyes open.

Vara was coming out of the door, her face white with shock. Nik was huddled on the ground next to the house wall. Derik tried to scramble to his feet, but the ground seemed to be spinning and tilting under him. He managed to pull himself to a sitting position and located the boys: Coryn with his head in his hands, sitting on the edge of the pool, and the other two sprawled on the patio, sopping wet. Roi was shaking violently, but all were breathing. He looked back toward Nik, and gasped with relief as his half -brother made an abortive attempt to rise.

At least they all survived, but what happened?

Jarn’s Journal Year 8 Day 150

Year 8 Day 150

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I’ve been getting lazy, but with all the time in the world ahead, there’s no use hurrying. Mornings I take a swim in the salt lake and explore northward along the trench. Then I teleport high enough I can see both the trench and the tideless sea , fly out to the coast and map the coastline to the north, often finding a good swimming beach and having a second refreshing dip.

I keep an eye out for things Rainbow might use in food preparation or clothing, and spend about one day in five at home, checking both my building and food for the two of us. But all in all, it is a very placid existence, compared to what I had with Rhino and Torch Flower.

Vegetation along the coast has been getting steadily denser, especially on the seaward slopes of the coastal mountains. I’ve been seeing good-sized trees for several days, and two days ago I examined them closely for the first time. They aren’t at all like the tall trees of the jungle, having needle-like leaves and a unique but very pleasant odor. The odor even extends to the wood itself. Rainbow has been experimenting with using a couple of the tools Little Gnu made her to carve wood, and I brought her back several pieces to see what she could do with them.

She says that the wood carves well, and if I will bring her more, she will make me a storage box for my clothes.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from October 10 through October 16, 2013. All but the last are from The Snow Queen, by Mercedes Lackey.

“We weep for joy that we can weep and feel sorrow.” The forest spirits, after Kari’s empathy has given them souls.

“All curses must have some way of being lifted” One of the requirements of the Tradition.

“Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.” Annukka, after she has wished for help and the Bear has appeared.

“That sort of thing happened only in badly-written stories.” Aleksia is spying on the false Snow Queen hoping to understand why she is doing what she is, but she doesn’t really expect the woman to say anything helpful.

“Power was a blessing and a curse.” In this case, Aleksia is thinking of those who are caught up in the Tradition but want only normal lives.

“Fixing things was the job of Champions and Heroes.” But Godmothers tried to steer things so that no fixing was needed.

“There’s a lot of eavesdropping in reading an object’s history.” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Derry is commenting on the esper ability to “read” an object’s past by handling it.

North Pole Weather 10/14/13

The sun will rise this morning at 8:42, and set 9 hours 49 minutes later at 6:30 this evening. The jet stream is still keeping it warm here, but the wind has come up enough to blow most of the leaves off of the trees. It doesn’t feel like winter yet, but I think fall is just about over.

I flew down to Anchorage last Thursday to see my surgeon, and everything looks good. It would be nice if my balance would return (not to mention my hair) but I still have hopes. Meanwhile I’m trying to get ready for a much longer trip, to Arizona, Tulsa, and upstate New York. Interesting packing problem. As of  9:16 last night it was 46° F here, 68° in Arizona, 66° in Tulsa and 61° in New York. When I come back to the airport it could easily be 30 below. And highs in Arizona, at least, suggest shorts would be appropriate. And I need to keep my luggage down.

Interesting problem.