The Best Quiz *EVER*!

And the funniest!

Okay, so I'm prejudiced. I have to thank the author of this! - Even if just for including "Plaris" in the geography section.





Checkmate -- final book in the series!


Which volume of Dorothy Dunnett's LYMOND CHRONICLES are you?
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Now, how'd I get that result? I was hoping for "Pawn in Frankincense" - or maybe "The Game of Kings". CM isn't my favourite! But that's okay. It would be my favourite book ever if the previous five didn't exist. And it has a nice resolution and some wonderful scenes. "You'll seek out strumpets, fumble with courtiers, fornicate with either parent of the heiress you are supposed to be marrying, but to embrace your own wife sickens you?" Heh. And: "the key to the innermost door."

Yeah, I confess, I love that book. (Is anyone surprised?)

Ceremony of Innocence

Do you ever read a slash story that you think is so good you are dazed by it - but then you wonder exactly why? Try to analyze what was so compelling?

The story I just read this afternoon was Ceremony of Innocence by rivkat.

I was so very impressed, but I can't quite figure out what got to me so strongly. It isn't that it isn't well written - it is; a very literate, clean style, although both theme and plot are subtle rather than overt - too subtle, if anything. The story depicts intelligent characters in an intelligent way, rare enough, but more important, the story itself is infused with intelligence. Lex is the viewpoint character here, his genius beautifully shown, along with a talent for self-sabotage through over-thinking. He is too clever for his own good, with perfect moral ambivalence (and ambiguity) and a good self-destructive streak of believing the worst of himself.

Moreover, his love for Clark comes through strongly - never overplayed, always his obsession even when he is trying to tell himself otherwise.

Clark is given more strength of character than we often see, and was utterly convincing: poised on the edge of maturity, knowing what he wants, seeing Lex's flaws but willing to defy reason to get him.

It's one of those stories that tells itself largely through conversation, and the dialogue is up to it. I particularly liked bits featuring the Kents (for once Jonathan shines magnificently!) and Lionel.

There was an awareness in the text here that everything the characters do and say has implications - not just consequences, but philosophical implications. This gave the whole story an awareness far beyond most slashfic. It is a story about innocence, literally, but also about the ramifications of its loss. It's Clark who loses his virginity, but Lex who loses his innocence - and that's not a spoiler, it's an interpretation. (The author might not agree with me that this is what it's about.)

I wouldn't have liked it just for its philosophy and psychology - it was also exquisitely romantic. And edged like a steel blade.

A few good lines - though I'll skip one of my favourites, as it would be a spoiler:

- "Clark looked up and swallowed, the line of his jaw like one of Michelangelo's marbles."

- and - a slight spoiler, bail here if that bothers you:


[Clark said,] "You, ah, don't need poetry, Lex."

He raised a curious eyebrow.

"I'm kinda a sure thing right now."

What, ominous? Me?

From skaterboyslash:

you have an ominosity quotient of seven. you are as ominous as the creators of this quiz. which terrifies us. find out your ominosity quotient.

Now, why should I be proud that I have a high ominosity quotient? Perhaps it's that I fear I might be meek, and I truly don't want to be so.

Domino

I read a comic today. Okay, no big news flash: I read comics with obsessive gluttony and more frequency than is good for my bank account. Always have. Everyone who knows me knows that. Carrying right on....

I read a new comic, Domino #1. There was actually another comic called Domino #1 a few years ago, when Domino got a rather lacklustre 3-part miniseries. Less said the better.

Domino was created by Rob Liefeld for X-Force - ah, those were the days, and what a great comic that was. Domino was tough and snappy and smart and she carried a humungous gun. She was just what a woman in a comic book ought to be. Now, sadly, though Liefeld can and did write "sexy" very well, he couldn't draw sexy, and it wasn't until she was drawn by Ian Churchill that I really fell in love with her. Churchill made everyone look beautiful and I'll never forget his heartrending Shatterstar/Rictor sequences.

In intervening years Domino has been a much-abused and neglected character (like Cable) and I'm delighted to see her back. The action is fast and the intrigue is intriguing and the dialogue is snappy - looks as if writer Joe Pruett can handle this just fine, though that's giving him a slight benefit of a doubt: it's a first issue, introductory, warming up - not really high-powered yet. There's not a lot of sense of what Domino is like. But the plot is about her search for her mother, and presumably for her own identity. Cool.

The artist, Brian Stelfreeze, does great layouts and his action scenes are like watching a movie. Superb movement. Sadly, he doesn't do 'sexy' very well either. In fact, Domino looks like Hopey from Love and Rockets only not nearly as cute. Except that she waves her arms around a lot - reinforcing the Hopey impression - hey, I wonder if she'll turn out to be bi like Hopey was? I like that. Yeah, this Domino may not be beautiful, but she's endearing. The blue running shoes with red laces are a good touch.

I'll buy #2.