strange and random happenstance

And a sci-fi fangirls dream if it turns out to be true. But I'm not believing this rumor till I hear it direct from Neil Gaiman's mouth... or at least on his blog, oh, you know what I'm trying to say. The man himself must confirm the rumor to make me dance with joy. So to the rumor... This rumor has been swirling around for quite some time, and his been constantly fueled by Neil having had lunch with Steven Moffat or Neil making a comment about if he were to write for this show his episode would not be about that. In other words, Neil has been very good about sidestepping the issue as to if he is or isn't going to write an episode for the 11th Doctor. Whoa... that felt weird typing 11th Doctor, I'm not going to get used to that anytime soon. But yes, he has only ever issued statements to flatly deny things like rubbish titles, "I haven't denied that my Doctor Who episode "Faces in the Dust" will have Ice Warriors in it, because I'm not writing a Doctor Who episode called "Faces in the Dust" (which is a pretty rubbish title, who makes this stuff up?) and I've been having much too much fun not denying anything about Doctor Who, other than admitting to having enjoyed some nice dinners with Mr Moffat, as chronicled on this blog. (If I'd denied it, I would have denied it here, and as you might have noticed, I didn't.) But I'm denying this because it's said in that authoritative way that makes it look as if people know what they're talking about, when it's just people-making-stuff-up-bollocks."

But today an interesting twist. SFX claims that in a special message sent to them for Neil's acceptance speech, that Neil has confirmed he is writing an episode of the 11th Doctor (yep, still weird writing that): "As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that started watching -- from behind the sofa -- when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called “The House of Nothing”. But it definitely isn’t called that any more."

Hmm... could this be true? Or is it just people-making-stuff-up-bollocks? As I've said, due to lots of recent false information swirling, I'm not going to believe this till Neil tells me. After all, that New Yorker interview, not only badly written, but badly fact checked and misquoted. Also the news on the web that The Graveyard Book movie adaptation is DOA, totally false. There is so much out there that's not true about Neil right now I'm not going to get my hopes up till Neil goes: "Yes, I'm doing Doctor Who." Then, dancing will commence. Because what could be better? One of the greatest sci-fi writers writing for one of the greatest sci-fi shows... oh wait, if he had written for David Tennant. That would have made it perfect.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 2:51 PM 3 comments  

Labels: Blog, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Faces in the Dsut, Ice Warriors, Neil Gaiman, Scarves, SFX, Steven Moffat, The 10th Doctor, The 11th Doctor, The 4th Doctor, The Graveyard Book, The House of Nothing

Here we go... the man that had Highbury all under his spell!

Name: Rupert Evans

First Impression: North & South as that mutinous Frederick Hale.

Lasting Impression: He hasn't really made one on me yet... he's kind of skating in on the, "significant other" ticket. He's the companion piece to Jane Fairfax... you can't have Jane and not have Frank!

What else you've seen them in: Just your basic British fare... My Family, Shakespeare Re-Told... oh, but he DOES have an Andrew Davies' miniseries under his belt with Fingersmith.

Can't believe it's them: That was him in Hellboy? The one not in makeup that wasn't Selma Blair. Huh. Small world.

Wish they hadn't: Lexx. Could you get tackier than Lexx... nope, the vote is in, you can not. For someone like Craig Charles, it's ok, it's not Red Dwarf but the same sort of genre. For an actor wanting to be taken seriously? Hell no!

Bio: Kind of forgettable... Frank Churchill should be everything Ewan was with Gwenneth and then some!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Andrew Davies, Craig Charles, Emma Spotlight, Fingersmith, Frank Churchill, Hellboy, Highbury, Jane Fairfax, Lexx, My Family, North and South, Rupert Evans, Selma Blair, Shakepeare Re-Told

And as for the lady almost compromised and who will eventually marry a psychopath (how else can you really describe Frank Churchill?) I bring to you...

Name: Laura Pyper

First Impression: Hex, as Ella Dee, the girl who saved the show and made it awesome, and then they go and cancel it on us!

Lasting Impression: Hex! Really, this show was atrociously bad and I really wanted to like and once she took over I can honestly say I did!

What else you've seen them in: Bit roles here and there, a cameo on The IT Crowd, a run on Silent Witness, an episode of Demons, a one off on Spooks and finally a bigger role in Emma.

Can't believe it's them: In Emma I did not recognize her! No, honestly, I sat there for the longest time going, I know her... but I couldn't place her. Still can't believe it's her! So funny though that she's costarring with the woman she killed on Hex, aka Christina 'Cassie' Cole.

Wish they hadn't: Demons... the show that everyone involved wishes they could wipe off their permanent records. Sorry folks, with the Internet, bad shows will live forever!

Bio: A surprisingly effective actress who, you'd think on first looking at her, would be meek and not all there. But she's got the Buffy vibe, she could kick some serious ass.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Buffy, Christina Cole, Demons, Ella Dee, Emma, Emma Spotlight, Frank Churchill, Hex, Laura Pyper, Silent Witness, Spooks, The IT Crowd

The Basilisk's Lair: Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist Book 2 by R. L. LaFevers
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
ARC Provided by a Friend
Publication Date: June 7th, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 150 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Preorder

The official patter:
"Nate Fludd, Beastologist, is back in the camel saddle in hot pursuit of a missing, deadly Basilisk—the King of Serpents. As if saving an entire Dhughani village from the Basilisk’s poisonous gaze isn’t difficult enough, Nate and Aunt Phil must begin to piece together the mystery of his parents’ disappearance and protect the lone copy of the Fludd Book of Beasts from a sinister man who always seem to be one step ahead of them. Pack your goggles, rue, and an extra pair of gloves and join Nate on another unbelievable adventure—there’s no rest for the world’s youngest beastologist-in-training!"

Nate can't believe it... they're lost. And it's all his fault. Aunt Phil relied on him to get them back to the plane with the compass she entrusted to him and he goes and gets them lost. But his navigation lessons are cut short by a band of men on the horizon. There is a telegram for Aunt Phil from Bamanko. The Basilisk has escaped! They are on the move again, but Nate feels not just the hesitation steaming from the fact he feels incompetent, but from the fact that the Basilisk, unlike the Phoenix, is very dangerous, or so he and Greasle learned from sneaking a look in the book. After a stop over in Egypt, where Nate attempts to jump ship, or plane, as it were, they are on their way to the Sudan. The villagers, as can be expected, are very afraid of the death and destruction that the Basilisk might bring... not only that, but if the creature gets to the river the water will be poisoned and all could die. Also, could the Basilisk's escape have anything to do with the mysterious red headed stranger who wishes to pilfer the Fludd's family secrets?

The second installment of R. L. LaFever's new Beastologist series picks up literally moments after the first book ended. Being more conventional than the first, I thought it was a wonderful bridge book, but lacked the originality of the previous installment, yet built up even greater expectations for the next. The first book set up Nate's past and the new journey and new friends he would make in this path his life was taking since the disappearance of his parents. He learned of the wonders of his family heritage and of the value of friends and relatives. He also learned of the dangers that his legacy contains and the threat from outsiders, particularity of red headed men. In this book, we don't get any further revelations, we don't learn any more about his mysterious nanny or about who the red haired man might be, but we do get a great adventure. While I'm a fan of the story arc, the greater movements of the pieces to come to the endgame, sometimes I know you need an interlude, a break from this, and that's what this book felt like.

Even though it is, or perhaps because of it being, only the second book, you can't have too much revelation, you can't have all the secrets revealed and the curtain lifted, because otherwise this would be a very short series, and that is something I don't want. Instead we have Nate learning that the Beasts can be not only very beautiful, but also very dangerous. Here we have a Basilisk, something slightly different, but still familiar to readers who loved Harry Potter. It's the immediate threat of the Basilisk that must be attended to, no matter how much I wanted them to be on their way back to England to get to the bottom of the Fludd's disappearance. I think that this book will really appeal to the younger age bracket for which it is written, versus, say, myself. I have my eyes on the end, where a younger reader will have their eyes on the immediate struggle. And while the way the Basilisk is handled is unique and original I still felt that perhaps this beast is a little overplayed... but then again the Phoenix worked... so perhaps it's just the lack of secondary and tertiary plots that made it fall a little flat for me. But you can count me in as a reader for the next installment, I can't wait to see where Nate goes and see how his friendship with Greasle grows. I just can't get enough of that morally ambiguous, oil eating gremlin, who is always there when you need her most.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Aunt Phil, Bamanko, Basilisk, Beastologist, Book Review, Dhughani, Egypt, Greasle, Gremlin, Harry Potter, Nathaniel Fludd, Phoenix, R. L. Lafevers, The Baslilisk's Lair, The Sudan

This week technology has had it in for me. From font corruption issues to modem and printer issues. Everything seems out to get me and making each successive thing to go wrong more likely to be first in line for a lovely pyre I'm planning for later. It's really cold after all, so it has a dual purpose... don't say I'm illogical. Anyway, here's just one of my issues. I have a Kindle, I love my Kindle, I hope it feels the same... but we just had our first fight. I love the search book function, so what should happen, but I'm reading a book and the function doesn't work. I think, this is odd, but it being a book I just downloaded, I thought that might be the reason. I checked another book... same problem. Ok, now I'm getting worried and pissed. So what do I do? I go to the manual. The lovely manual that is on my Kindle and that has all the answers. The search function doesn't work there either. So not only does my Kindle have a problem with it's indexing, but the only place where I can look for how to fix this can't be accessed because of the problem! I'm not going to read all the manual, all hundred some pages, when I'm sure the answer might not be in there. Anyway, after much swearing and some crying I turned to the web... dissolve to an hour later. I think I figured out that I just need to use the overall search function to look for indexed books and then index those that aren't indexed, ie, every book except two. So now it's doing it's merry indexing thing... hopefully this will work... hopefully... but amazon, do you think that maybe you could have some better support forums if you manual is on the machine that's malfunctioning. Crossing fingers it will all be well... I'm thinking my iPod will probably die later, that's the type of day I'm having.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 8:17 PM 3 comments  

Labels: Amazon, Font Corruption, Indexing, Kindle, Problems, Technology

Right about now, yes, right now, at precisely this hour and minute every year, winter becomes, not so much fun, as, unbearable. All the really great holidays and presents have passed leaving us with lots of snow and slush without the pretty lights and garlands hung to distract us. Plus, don't forget, vacation is over and school does exist once more. We only have Valentines, and for the single surrounded by smug couples, it's not a holiday worth embracing. So I figured, lets escape! Let's find a nice warm place to read ourselves into and just live there all February and pretend the snow and sleet don't exist on the lovely desert plain. That's right, to Egypt we will go! I have always been fascinated by Egypt. The history stretching out thousands of years before Christ. Plus, what's not to love about a culture that openly worships cats!?! Pyramids, Peabodys, Parasols... what's wrong with that. So for this month, only books that have some, if not most, of their story set in Egypt will be reviewed. I'd also love to hear what your favorite Egyptian getaways are... are you also an Amelia Peabody girl? Or perhaps Theodosia Throckmorton is more your style? So sit back on the Dahabeeyah, grab your parasol and relax... but of course it's not a true vacation without that little remembrance, that special book you picked up to treasure always... found at a mysterious stall, secreted away in a back ally, which you couldn't find again if you tried... which leads me to my giveaway.

THIS GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

The Prize:
An ARC of R. L. LaFever's most recent entry in the Theodosia Throckmorton cannon: Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, not available till APRIL 12th, 2010! So be the envy of all your Egyptologically inclined friends and enter to win! PLUS a Carnelian Scarab Necklace... you will need some protection if you're venturing into the unknowns of Egyptian Mysticism.

The Rules:
1. Open to Followers, but just because you haven't been following me all along doesn't mean you don't matter, just hit that handy little follow button and you are good to go.
2. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, either your blogger profile or a link to your website/blog or you could even include your email address with your comment(s).
3. Contest ends February 28th, 2010 at 11:59PM CST
4. How to enter:

Answer me this: Do you believe that mummies are cursed?

5. And for those addicted to getting extra entries:

• +1 for answering the question above
• +2 for becoming a follower
• +5 if you are already a follower
• +10 for each time you advertise this contest - blog post, sidebar, twitter (please @MzLizard), etc. (but you only get credit for the first post, so tweet all you like, and I thank you for it, but you'll only get the +10 once). Also please leave a link!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 21 comments  

Labels: Amelia Peabody, ARCs, Dahabeeyah, Desert Sands Month, February, Giveaway, Parasol, Pyramids, R. L. Lafevers, The Valley of the Kings, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, Theodosia Throckmorton

I know the last few hours while I wasn't running a giveaway were hard on you all. Don't worry, here's a pretty book you can win! Michael Palmer, himself, is donating this lovely signed first edition of his new book, The Last Surgeon. I'd love to tell you what a great book it is, seeing as Michael sent me a lovely personalized ARC for myself, and I was so looking forward to reading a great mystery... only I can't... my Mom stole it from me! Yes, she saw the book and that was that as they say. It was pinched, pilfered, purloined... any of those lovely words to disguise the fact my Mom was so desperate for the new Michael Palmer book she stole from her only daughter! I think that right there is a good enough endorsement: I book you're willing to commit a crime to read! I hope you'll enjoy it as I sure hope to in the near future! So enter away, the competition runs from now till the minute before the book's release day, wouldn't want you rushing out into the cold February snow only to find out you won the book later! That would be unconscionable... maybe a little wickedly fun on my part, but, I'm in a giving mood.

THIS GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

The Prize:
A Signed 1st edition of Michael Palmer's The Last Surgeon.

The official patter:
"Michael Palmer’s latest novel pits a flawed doctor against a ruthless psychopath, who has made murder his art form. Dr. Nick Garrity, a vet suffering from PTSD—post traumatic stress disorder—spends his days and nights dispensing medical treatment from a mobile clinic to the homeless and disenfranchised in D.C. and Baltimore. In addition, he is constantly on the lookout for his war buddy Umberto Vasquez, who was plucked from the streets by the military four years ago for a secret mission and has not been seen since.

Psych nurse Gillian Coates wants to find her sister’s killer. She does not believe that Belle Coates, an ICU nurse, took her own life, even though every bit of evidence indicates that she did—every bit save one. Belle has left Gillian a subtle clue that connects her with Nick Garrity.

Together, Nick and Gillian determine that one-by-one, each of those in the operating room for a fatally botched case is dying. Their discoveries pit them against genius Franz Koller--the highly-paid master of the “non-kill”—the art of murder that does not look like murder. As Doctor and nurse move closer to finding the terrifying secret behind these killings, Koller has been given a new directive: his mission will not be complete until Gillian Coates and Garrity, the last surgeon, are dead."

The Rules:
1. Open to EVERYONE, just because you haven't been following me all along doesn't mean you don't matter.
2. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, either your blogger profile or a link to your website/blog or you could even include your email address with your comment(s).
3. Contest ends February 15th, 2010 at 11:59PM CST
4. How to enter: Just respond to this post.
5. And for those addicted to getting extra entries:

• +2 for becoming a follower
• +5 if you are already a follower
• +10 for each time you advertise this contest - blog post, sidebar, twitter (please @MzLizard), etc. (but you only get credit for the first post, so tweet all you like, and I thank you for it, but you'll only get the +10 once). Also please leave a link!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 1:52 AM 14 comments  

Labels: ARCs, Giveaway, Michael Palmer, My Mom, Nick Garrity, PTSD, The Last Surgeon

Well, I hope all you lovely people won't be seeing shades of red when the winner is announced for Shades of Grey. I hope you'll all join me in wishing the randomly generated individual joy and happiness with their new book. Also... as you well know, there is always a new giveaway right around the corner (that would be tomorrow AND Wednesday, yes, there are two new giveaways on the horizon)! New authors and new places to visit! Books are so wonderful, and with Fforde, you get books within books, for that much more bookishness! So lets go into the world of Jasper Fforde. Thursday Next kind of kicked everyones proverbial asses in the favorite character category. But props have to be given to Jack Spratt and Miss Havisham, with a special plock reserved just for Pickwick, plus, we must not forget the funniest character name ever, Jack Schitt, whose brother is Schitt Haus. Now on to the winner! They might be going to East Carmine and not Swindon, but whichwaydidshego is sure to enjoy the journey! That's right Michelle, you won! I don't think I know a more Ffordian crazy person out there (that's a complement by the way).

Also, I have to say I received a lovely bribe for this competition, resulting in a few extra entries for said person... aren't they adorable! Cure pictures of fluffy kittens are ALWAYS the way to go!

Now this little one, very cute, but I'm sorry, the tuxedo kitty wins for sheer adorableness!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 6 comments  

Labels: East Carmine, Giveaway, Jack Spratt, Jasper Fforde, Miss Havisham, Pickwick, Plock, Shades of Grey, Swindon, Thursday Next, Winner