Lilith Saintcrow

Of course the only night when I truly feel like I CAN sleep is the night of a rare full lunar eclipse that I HAVE to stay up and catch. I don’t regret it–it was awesomely beautiful–but I am dragging a bit this morning, my ducks.

So, I’ll point you to Susie Bright’s journal, where she wonders out loud if being a holier-than-thou Republican prig in your outward life directly correlates to having a pedophilic/risky-sex-gay/ugly adulterous secret life. There does seem to be a pattern, doesn’t there. Glenn Greenwald has more on the story.

And the Selkie sent me a link to Death by Caffeine. You put in your weight and your poison, and it tells you how much you’d have to drink before it kills you. Which just delights me to no end. Of course, the Selkie’s husband, Boy Scout, wonders if it’s a lifetime accumulation and I geek back that caffeine’s water-soluble since it’s flushed out by the kidneys (Candy, correct me if I’m wrong) after it’s done its dirty work to your adrenals, so I wouldn’t think you could get an accumulation over a lifetime of enough toxicity to kill ya.

But I could be wrong.

It would take 159.55 shots of espresso to kill me, assuming I have my weight correct. I haven’t weighed myself in five bloody years, since my last pregnancy. Oh, I did get weighed when I went in to see the doctor after that car accident, but that was years ago too.

So maybe I’d better keep myself below a hundred shots of espresso a day.

Oh, and if you missed the eclipse, check out these photos. (Thanks for the link, Murphyslawve!)

I am yawning as I type, so it’s probably time for a midmorning nap, now that the rubbish bin is brought in, the kids are fed, and the cats are all accounted for.

Just came in from watching the first half–from contact to total involvement–of the full lunar eclipse. It’s most awesome, awe-inspiring, and brings tears to the eyes. We’re lucky that it’s a clear night with minimal distortion and we’re situated just-so to see the whole thing in all its glory.

And it is beautiful. Other people might take pictures. I just woke up the DH and the Princess for it. The Princess was full of questions, then went back to sleep. The Sullen One, of course, was outside the whole time.

Goodnight, sweet universe. Thank you for the lovely show–and the reminder that human beings are both cosmic and insignificant.

I needed that.

* The Sullen One coined this phrase. He says the moon and the earth are so old, this is like a four o’clock teatime for them, when they get together and kibitz before going on about their daily business.

The boy makes me so proud.

Long-time readers will know about The Electric Church by Jeff Somers. Jeff and I were together at the old AnotherChapter.com before it folded, and I loved his book so much I finished editing it and recommended it to my editor at Warner/now-Orbit, who actually bought it.

Now The Electric Church is on pre-order at Amazon and has a hawt new website.

I cannot tell you how much I loved this book, loved editing it, and how happy I was when it got bought. (I’d better be getting a signed copy, Jeff, or I will CUT you, sennnhor!) I get totally squeeville over this book and the main character, Avery. I just adore him in all his sweaty, amoral glory.

Here’s the blurb:

In the near future, the only thing growing faster than the criminal population is the Electric Church, a new religion founded by a mysterious man named Dennis Squalor. The Church preaches that life is too brief to contemplate the mysteries of the universe: eternity is required. In order to achieve this, the converted become Monks — cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and virtually unlimited life spans.

Enter Avery Cates, a dangerous criminal known as the best killer-for-hire around. The authorities have a special mission in mind for Cates: assassinate Dennis Squalor. But for Cates, the assignment will be the most dangerous job he’s ever undertaken — and it may well be his last.

Of course, that doesn’t do it justice by half. *beams* I just can’t wait to go see this baby in the bookstores. I’m almost more excited over it than I am over my own releases!

Good job, Jeff, and congrats. And dear Readers, seriously, I love this book. I think you might like it if you like Danny’s world, only with more dystopia and seriously-effed-up-politics.

A lot of you have asked me two questions: 1) Is Working For The Devil the first book in the Valentine series? There seems to be an awful lot of backstory. And 2) You mention soundtracks to your books. Does The Devil’s Right Hand have one?

1. Yes, WFTD is the first book. There’s a lot of backstory because it was necessary to show how Dante’s world differs from ours. When I started it initially, I didn’t think she was so far in the future. Until the day she gave me a sidelong look and said, “Six hundred years, idiot.” *sigh* I suppose I deserved it. Here I was blithely writing about hasn’t-happened-as-history with nary a care in the world.

Plus, Dante and I are both fascinated with history, with thinking about the reasons WHY things are the way they are today. I also am not a fan of big chunks of exposition, it tends to drag a book down. So there is a lot I’ll hint at, and leave the reader to figure out or come up with their own reasons for. Hey, you guys are smarter than me.

2. Yes, and I’m listing it below. This soundtrack is one of my favorites, mostly because Lucas, Tiens, Vann, and McKinley get their own tracks. I couldn’t get into their histories, but I love the songs they picked for themselves. Tracks and comments as follows:

I Have Given You Time Lovers In A Dangerous Time, Barenaked Ladies– This is a remake of one of my favorite Bruce Cockburn songs. It so perfectly expresses Dante and Japh.
Dante And Death/ The Geas Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel– Dante’s relationship with her god is a pure source of strength for her, thank goodness.
The Devil Never Forgets This Is Hell, Elvis Costello
Venezia Flowers Become Screens, Delerium
Night Train/Freetown New Prague Go It Alone, Beck– A lot of times I forget Dante is a highly-trained bounty hunter with a gift for mayhem. She really doesn’t mind being alone or being in a bad part of town.
Lucas Villalobos Katana Groove, Tomoyasu Hotei– If you listen hard at the end of the track, you can hear him laughing.
The Team/Vann & McKinley Attitude, Hardknox– Heh. They do so love to rumble, these two.
Tiens To The Shock Of Miss Louise, Thomas Newman– A Nichtvren deserves carnival music. Plus, fans of vampire movies will recognize this track from The Lost Boys. It’s a little in-joke.
Sparring With Japh Echo Game, House of Flying Daggers
Hellhound living dead girl, Rob Zombie– This is Dante’s song in more ways than one. It works itself into the final battle in book 5 as well. You can hear Dante and Eve at the beginning, Eve speaks first.
Bothering With Trifles Silicone, Mono– I keep having trouble with Japh not being human. So does Dante.
I Will Have Your Cooperation Hand That Feeds, NIN– The trouble with that is, Dante isn’t good at cooperating…and part of why Japh loves her is because she just doesn’t know when to submit.
Sarajevo DMZ Cost of Freedom, Experiment
Eve Life In Mono, Mono– Little girl all grown up and causing trouble…
Lucifer I Alone, Live– Because the Devil doesn’t like anyone else playing his games.
Do Not Doubt Me/Japhrimel Silence, Delerium– This is such an awesome track, because it features Sarah McLachlan. And also because it perfectly expresses what Japh feels for Dante, almost despite himself.

So there it is, the soundtrack for Devil’s Right Hand. Enjoy. I certainly did.

In other news, the hardback of smoke and the paperback of mirror are up on Amazon. Whew. Eventually both hardback and trade paper versions of each book will be available through Amazon. I was just glancing through mirror the other day when I got to the crucifixion scene, and I actually thought it wasn’t half bad.

Yup. Lucifer’s carrying ice skates.

I had much more to talk about, including encouraging everyone to go see this movie RIGHT NOW TODAY! But that next Kismet book calls, and I’m listening to the Devil’s Right Hand soundtrack again, which just makes me think of fight scenes…

Man, I love this job.

Gacked from JPerceval, a whole lot of awesome.

Oh. God. Laughing…so…hard…