joann: no, Charlotte MacLeod did not use her Alisa Craig pseudonym on any of the Shandy mysteries, at least here in the U.S. Both the Kelling and Shandy mysteries were published using MacLeod, and both series were (mostly) set in Massachusetts. Look for The Curse of the Giant Hogweed under MacLeod. (It was the fifth in the Shandy series.)
She used the Alisa Craig psuedonym on two other series of mysteries, both set in Canada (where she was born): the "Grub-and-Stakers" series featuring Dittany Henbit, and the series featuring Madoc (an RCMP officer) and Janet Rhys. The Avon paperbacks were labeled "Charlotte MacLeod writing as Alisa Craig," MacLeod being a good seller for Avon at the time.
All four series started with protagonists who meet in the first novel and married shortly thereafter. (Sarah and Max took more books/years, but that's mostly because she was widowed in the first book.)
Xopher, woe is me: I am unsafe.
If I am pulling a partial phrase or saying and putting it in quotes at the end of my sentence, putting a period inside the quotes looks so wrong, and using an ellipsis to indicate the partial even worse.
It usually gets "fixed" to follow proper American English rules in the final edit. I gather the Queen's English has differing views on this subject, but as I can claim no English ancestors, this isn't an "out". Um, "out."
I'm with Jenny Lee: punctuation inside quotes, if it wasn't in the original, looks *wrong*. I've known the rule for decades, and it still looks wrong, and probably always will.
Here's a question: you're reading a sentence in which someone is quoting from something, and the sentence ends with the period outside the quotes. My assumption, when I see that, is that the original quote stops before the end of its sentence, though it works here to end the sentence. Is this safe to assume, allow, or do myself?
Xopher, I was wondering if Bad Things would happen on Wall Street if necklaces and rings were allowed to hang out together. Bacchanals, rings strung out or (worse) strung up...it would tarnish the brand.
Faren: yes, The Curse of the Giant Hogweed was written by Charlotte MacLeod; one of her Peter Shandy mysteries, and the only one that crossed the line into fantasy (and screwball fantasy at that). I always wondered what her regular readers who weren't acquainted with fantasy made of that one...
*(Shush. I'm being vernacular.)
At least you know how to. Most people, when they try, commit vernacular homicide.
Karen, now that Zack's done further editing in disemvowelling, it looks fine to me. In the Barbara Bauer, I tripped over "Mrs. Nielsen Hayden" -- why "Mrs." rather than "Ms."? Unless Teresa were to express a strong preference for the former over the latter, I'd think it should be changed as a matter of course.
You also might want to add the Absolute Write external link to the Barbara Bauer entry, instead of just "Absolute Write" (in quotes) as it is now.
I am reminded of Damon Knight's long war against the apostrophe; what are the odds that he's looking down on this with a curmudgeonly grin on his face?
Greg, couragevow is a good page -- some very powerful ideas and writing.
After seeing your original comment about "how this administration is encouraging fear," I was expecting at least some mention on your new site of actually speaking directly to that specific practice of encouraging fear to blind our country to its principles. Didn't it fit?
I'm fine with "most", and agree with Xopher on the singular weapon.
I was wondering whether you intend "them" to be only the saboteurs and criminals, no matter where it's used, or do you mean it to include or become the cowards? It feels to me that "them" has become (or includes) the cowards in its final use.
"These principles" becomes "the principles" briefly (at the same time we have one of the "them"s with a questionable antecedent in the BETTER paragraph -- I first thought it was "the principles" that *was* the antecedent), and then goes to "my principles" for the remainder...and this overall transition feels unstable in part because of the conflict between singular and plural, first person and third: between "my principles" and "coward anyone" and "coward those" and "they" and "them". I wish I knew a good solution, but my editing skills aren't up to the task.
Mike: I thought jrrafls watered the roots of decision trees?
Xopher: Fire would be *really* cool.
I was probably the stick-in-the-mud who opined, when you mentioned flaming poi, that the Sheraton would probably object to the open flame and the sprinklers going off if you used real fire. With any luck I didn't then go into how Boskone (and, almost, Noreascon 3) lost the Sheraton as a venue after an excess of fire alarms and other alarums at a Boskone. :)
Xopher: if you really think juggled objects are supposed to go through each other, no wonder you end up with jagged subdivisions of same.
"Cool" is exactly the right word to describe the poi spinning. So much so that we kept asking you for repeat demos...
Although at least as far from both juggling and poi spinning as they are from each other, one of the coolest things I saw in Ferrara last year was the flag-throwing games -- actually, I saw several of the eight teams rehearsing in advance of these games. Think precision marching combined with formation exchanges of flags (on poles maybe four feet long) by tossing them in a high arc to a partner fifteen feet away. Most teams carried two flags per thrower, but one used three each.
Xopher: More right than I knew. :)
I remembered you demoing something akin to juggling in the hallway at the 2004 WorldCon; I guess the skillset doesn't completely transfer...
Make that three times and she's out.
It seems a shame that our hosts must spend time taking out the trash...
Madeline, I still like "inconsonant". And I still think a puncture is in order; heck, take out all the tires.
She's twice requested a punch in the jaw that I can see, but we don't do that here.
Xopher, you didn't start juggling with his phone with the salt and pepper shakers?
Larry, unfortunately any package or envelope weighing a pound or more *must* be handled by a post office clerk for security reasons. So standing in line is frequently unavoidable.
Marilee, I'm stumped; I can't find a common use of "evil" that I think is a true antonym of "sacred". I'm starting with "evil" as meaning "morally wrong" (or "morally bad"). It definitely has a religious component, but the jump from its opposite -- moral goodness or rectitude -- to sacred is a huge one in my understanding.
Can you please explain further?
Any time, Xopher.
Has anyone here had any success growing ornithogalum dubium from a bulb? I never have, but seeing this picture tells me I was using a pot that was way too small; I think I was fooled by the size of the bulb.
Xopher, I don't think petra has made a correct identification; my garden has belamcanda, and it isn't like that. Belamcanda acts more like a tiny daylily, and you get nice seed pods in the fall after blooming is over.
I think it's ornithogalum dubium. The plant in your picture has a visible BloomRite label, and while your picture is a redder orange than the ornithogalum examples, it's pretty close to BloomRite's picture for their Blooming Plants icon. As best I can determine, BloomRite calls this "Sun Star".
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| 2006 | 32 |
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