the stars and the sea

[raven]

I got not one, not two, but three parcels in the post today. I feel really loved. Okay, one of them wasn't actually for me. But still, very much loved. The first one, which was too big for the letterbox and resulted in the postman making a racket and waking me up, a good thing as otherwise I would have slept 'til noon, was from the_acrobat. Who is MARVELLOUS. She sent me a new Anastasia book and lovely postcards from Green Gables (as in Anne of, it is a real place OMG!) and my very own enchanted frog to kiss and boxes and boxes of sweeties. Specifically, Nerds - those boxes of tiny little neon sugar pieces, which I loved when I was little - and I am all squee-ish because I don't they make Nerds here any more. I am rather amused that I still remembered instinctively the best way to prise open the box.

So I will be on a sugar high for a week, which is wonderful, and sadly I have already devoured the Anastasia book but never mind, I can read it again (and again, and again). These books, by Lois Lowry, are children's books all about a girl called Anastasia Krupnik growing up in Cambridge (Massachusetts, not England) in the late seventies. I love them so much. I mean, I loved them when I was about ten, but re-reading them as an adult, I was amazed by how charming and sweet and non-dated and incredibly, hysterically funny they are. And one of the scariest things about them is the fact that they are thirty years old but are still the most liberal children's books I've ever come across. Anastasia's parents are an artist and a Harvard poet, who are delightfully eccentric and hilarious, and her brother is called Sam and is two-and-half. It's a blatant narrative device to make him into a proper character, but he's verbally precocious and talks in full sentences about the problems and issues about being two-and-a-half. Talking about the liberalism, we have Anastasia complaining about things being anti-feminist and how her summer job employer is bigoted, and in a truly delightful scene, she falls in love with her (female) gym teacher and her mother has to gently explain to her that that's all right. But anyway, they are delightful and they are out of print. And now I have another one, Anastasia's Chosen Career, and I am squeeful.

The second package was from jacinthsong - I am now the proud owner of Casanova and Blackpool! Thank you very much! I foresee much Tennant lust coming up soon. I haven't seen either of them before, so I'm looking forward to that.

(Um. I'm going to break off here and talk about something completely unrelated. I am writing this and also watching QI, and for the sake of the latter, having to suffer from a lot of adverts because I'm not watching on the BBC. Why do the people who write these things always take viewers for complete idiots? Kellogs are trying to convince us that to get are much fibre as there is in one bowl of branflakes, you'd have to eat nine potatoes. Since when were potatoes a fibre-rich food? It's like saying you'd have to eat stupid amounts of popcorn, or cucumber or something. And don't get me started on the advert for toothpase that claims it's the first to contain "liquid calcium." If I remember rightly, calcium is an alkaline earth metal with a melting point of more than eight hundred degrees. Pretty awesome toothpaste, then.

Of course, that said, some advertising does actually work. The Muller yoghurt people apparently now make banana yoghurts. I now know what will be my major source of calorific intake this academic year.)

The third package, sadly, was from Amazon and sadly was not for me despite being addressed as such. But I still feel much loved by the universe. Of course, the parcels were the most exciting thing to happen all day. It is still too hot. As well as being too hot, there is no water, which is not of the good. Well, there is some water but all the taps are trickling. This is because there is apparently some sort of scrubland fire at Formby Point, which has been burning now for four days and has led to the lovely people from the fire brigade siphoning off all our water. I do understand their need is greater than ours, etc, etc, but it's bad enough not having fans or air conditioning when you can't have a nice cool shower either, and are forced to stand there like an entirely dry lemon as water drips in the manner of egg yolk down your hair.

Anyway, this is all getting a little distracted. I was supposed to be doing actual academic work tonight. Actual feminist theory, as that situation has become sort of dire. I have done nothing. And instead I wrote fic. It's official: writing fic only happens for me when I have other things I ought to be doing. Which probably means I should never take up writing as a career. And the weirdest part of it is that the fic I wrote tonight is not part of the bad-sex-scene fic I am trying to write, nor is it one of the two ficathon entries due next week. It's a strange, standalone fic, 1700 words long and written all in one go, and I swear I don't know where it came from. It's loosely related to late XF-canon, which I barely remember in the first place, and has only one canon character in it, and I don't even know if it's postable, or where I would post it if it were. I'd appreciate it if any of you could take a quick look at it (if I don't scrap it in disgust in the morning!). I know I've already got the usual suspects pinned into a corner for the bad-sex-scene fic, when that gets finished, but I thought I'd ask.

Okay. Now I try and work. I hope I can.

Comments

[minttown1.livejournal.com]

I don't even know if it's postable, or where I would post it if it were.
Sounds like my current fic project. Heh.

I'll take a look at whatever, if you don't scrap it. :)

[icepixie]

OMG, I loved the Anastasia books! I loved Sam to a ridiculous amount, although I liked Anastasia quite a bit as well. Hmm, maybe I should go reread them now that I'm not nine and have a better idea of what college and feminism and lots of other things are all about.

Did you ever read the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor? I always associate them with the Anastasia books, possibly because I read them around the same time and they both feature teenaged girls with names starting with "A".

It's official: writing fic only happens for me when I have other things I ought to be doing. Which probably means I should never take up writing as a career.

My thought process about myself exactly. ;)

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

Hee. I never actually read the Anastasia books (I apparently missed out on most staples of childhood literature), but I knew of them, and it's nice to finally know what they were about! I boggle at the gym-teacher thing in particular.

Unless I am away or so busy I can't stand up, I am always available for betaing your writing. If you think I could be helpful in this case.

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

Nerds are AMAZING. When you are in America this fall you must go to Dariy Queen and get a Nerds Blizzard. It's very, very soft vanilla-y ice cream with Nerds blended in. A good amount of Nerds, not just a tiny handful on top. So, so, so, so good.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's aggravating, isn't it? And thanks. *g*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I have just recently discovered that Sam had a series of books of his own! This is love! But they are also out of print, woe is me.

No, I didn't read those! Were they good?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I think I want to read childhood literature for the rest of my life. It's so much easier. *g* And yes, they were lovely books and I highly recommend them, even to adults.

Oh, thank you. If I get up in the morning and am not inclined to torch it - which may be the case! - I will send it along to you.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds amazing! I shall be sure to check it out. *g*

[icepixie]

Sam's series (I can't remember if there were only two books or more than that) was awesome. If I still had my copies of the first (only?) two, I'd totally send them to you.

I really liked the Alice books, because she was just as awkward and unsure of herself at thirteen as I was at nine or ten or whenever I read them. They were kind of like a lot of Judy Blume books in that they dealt with Issues Of Growing Up (Female), only they were funnier. She had a lot of entertaining internal angst, a bit like Bridget Jones.

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

Do you think there's maybe just a hint of covert lesbianism in the Anastasia books, quite apart from the gym teacher... considering that at one point, they end up with a beloved neighbor named Gertrude Stein? What more could the author have done -- give Anastasia a goldfish named Sappho?

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, I loved the Anastasia books! I still have a few of them from when I was younger, and a couple years ago, bought the rest on impulse and reread them all -- I had exactly the same reactions you did, I think. :) Wonderful books, and so much fun....

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

The Anastasia books are out of print?! What an utter tragedy.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Like most of your other commenters, I too loved the Anastasia books when I was little. Must remember to re-read them when I go home in September--can't believe that they're out of print.

[insaneizzi.livejournal.com]

I would like to look at the fic, if only to see it if you decide not to post it. (Thanks for the extra long paragraph, 'tis marvellous. Will get back to you on that, promise. :P I have no time).

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

Those books sound wonderful. I got stuck on someone's (elder siblings') old Judy Blume books, and they were a bit heterosexual, as far as I remember. I know they explained what no other person had, that sex was actually fun. I remember distinctly the moment I found that out, and was quite surprised nobody had mentioned it before.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yes! And there is a fabby scene where Anastasia and her dad have an increasingly bizarre conversation where it becomes clear they're talking about two different Gertrude Steins! I don't know if I'd call it lesbianism specifically so much as feminism.

And I also love the way her goldfish is an essential character.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Hee, I'm trying to re-read them all but there's two left for me to find. They're just so lovely, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes them. When I was little, they were my only source of info about how people lived in far-off America. *g*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It is! I was surprised; they were still in the bookshop where I work about two years ago, but now they're gone.

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

:) Which ones are you looking for? I can always check here if you need any help tracking them down.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Neither can I! Maybe they're still in print in America.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh, glad you like it! I'm really enjoying the tag-team writing experience.

You know, I think I will send it to you. I haven't deleted it yet, and probably won't now; I'll give it another look over tonight and send it along. It's mostly about William, of all people, and is a little... strange.

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

I checked and they are. It is possible I may have something for you in Chicago. :D

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Err, I was about to send it to you just now and realised I don't have an email address for you. If you're still keen, do let me know. *g*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ah, I was always mildly fond of Judy Blume. When I was school librarian, I wasn't allowed to issue "Forever" to first-years, so I always wanted to read it and never did!

I came to that knowledge late in life, too! Why do people not mention it?

[insaneizzi.livejournal.com]

Er, yes, my fault. *cringe* You can reach me at sunnie_bunnie_3 [at] hotmail [dot] com.

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

To my great joy, I discovered last summer that there are in fact threeee Sam books. Yes! Or is it four? But there are definitely at least three.

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

Quick notes: I also have Anastaia at this address for you, but I didn't track it down in time to slip it into the package.
I would love to write books that are as entertaining as Anastasia...
Did you know that Lois Lowry has a blog? It's a good read.
And I would love to beta X-files fic for you, but I'm about to go on vacation, and I don't have time.
And, yes, love. :)

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

[laughs] It was when reading Forever, I think. I can't understand why nobody really mentions it.

[icepixie]

Oooooh. Awesome!

[tau_sigma]

Casanova is wonderful and so full of Tennant-y goodness! I didn't realise quite how adult it is, though, and was unashamedly prudish and hid behind a pillow until people told me it was safe to look again! I'm such a child...

Nerds! I haven't had those in years!

And those books sound really interesting, I suppose if they're out of hope it's too much to hope the library would have them. *sigh* Ah well, I really should be reading Electromagnetism by Grant and Phillips...