On the subject of books...

[altivo]

For those of you who read books, I'd like to recommend a new community: furrybookreview, which has just been started by furry authors kyellgold and kmhirosaki. Anyone may friend or watch the community, but they ask that you explicitly join it only if you will contribute reviews of furry books and stories. Only a day old, but it's already showing some promise I think. (Yes, I'm a contributor.)

A little story for which I had great hopes appears to have met with rejection, sigh. As soon as I receive the official letter, I'll probably post it somewhere online for your enjoyment and comments. It's a transformation fable, and that's all I'll give away right now.

The wheels of normality are still not turning smoothly here. Even at noon today, many major roads were snow-covered. Worse, traffic had packed down and frozen slush that was sometimes three or more inches deep, with treacherous potholes in it. Many people didn't seem to realize that they couldn't drive at normal speed over that, and ended up off the road. Some others were so afraid of it that they should have stayed home, like the Nissan I followed up IL23 this morning at 15 mph. Conditions were fine for more speed than that, and once the roadblocking and meandering driver turned off at Dunham Rd. I was able to pick it up to 30 mph without any risks. The problem was that oncoming southbound traffic had a clear lane, while the northbound side of the road was snow covered and sometimes drifted over too. Heavy truck traffic on that segment makes passing risky even under good conditions, and much of it is posted and striped as no passing zones anyway. So I was forced to follow the slow Nissan for about eight miles, meanwhile accumulating a long line of tailgaters behind me who were not staying back as respectful a distance as I was allowing the offender in front of me. Except for drips from the roof, it wasn't warm enough today to melt much of anything, so I expect conditions tomorrow to be nearly as bad.

Comments

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Is watching a community the same as joining?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Technically, no. You can watch just by adding the community to your friends list (click the plus icon on the profile page for the community) but you join by clicking the link that says "Join this community" on the same page.

furrybookreview has closed membership, so if you click the "Join this community" link, you'll be told that your request to join must be approved by a moderator. But you can watch/friend the community without any approval at all and unfriend it just as easily.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I am glad authors are getting a little more profile in the fandom in general. I saw a lot more comics, and novels at this year's FC. I was told by Mr Thatcher that I ought to consider forwarding my ideas for review.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think it helps that we are getting more small press publishers and the self-publishing opportunities are more affordable than ever before. Unfortunately, I still think the interest in reading as opposed to looking at pictures is seriously declining everywhere.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I feel that a little of both is to be encouraged. The lack of interest in reading I think is a problem that exists everywhere, and stems from people being too overworked(1) to know how to unwind.

(1) Or rather being too scared for their job security to look underworked.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm? I thought it was just attention deficit disorder. Kids can't sit still long enough to read a short story, let alone a whole book. And by "kids" here I mean just about anyone more than ten years younger than I am. Jeez, that's more than half the population.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Well. I still read. Maybe I am making excuses for myself though, based around the fact that I do so much less these days than I used to.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply that I doubted your literacy. :)

Here. I just posted one that I think you'll appreciate.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I never thought that you were. :)

But I was wondering whether or not my first reply was more an excuse making exercise for myself, rather than a genuine observation.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I don't think I could contribute as much as would be
proper so I'll decline for now.

As for respectful distance, I usually keep that
but, as you point out, its not often reciprocated.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to read the reviews, it's all public. They just ask people not to "join" the community unless they were going to write. Actually it has about a dozen members and only three of us have written anything yet, and I've written three times as much as either of the other two. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Firsta you say they driva too fast...nowa you saya they driva too slow..
Why you no make uppa your mind. ;)