a few hangovers

For those who don't really care about Wiscon (if such creatures exist), before attempting a giant round-up post. I've officially RSS-binged (read: skimmed) my way back into caught-upville. Email will get there eventually.

The fantastic line-up for the Twenty Epics anthology is out. Can't wait to see this.

The Quills' first round of nominations is out--and has some interesting and some tragic stuff on it, as expected.

There's a public health community on LJ, a font of interesting links.

Suzi reviews Geoff Ryman's Air.

Mr. McLaren fails to beat his chest patriotically following Miss Canada being chosen as Miss Universe 2005.

Mr. McLaren also pointed me to George R.R. Martin's news about finishing A Feast for Crows, and his explanation of why it'll be split into two volumes. I haven't read these, but I know many people who think they're amazing.

Jenny D on why some books really aren't for everyone, prompted by her reading Gwyneth Jones' Life.

David at Largehearted Boy hosts a Book Notes entry by Lee Martin on his The Bright Forever, which is sitting in my TBR pile trying to convince me to read it even though I'm experiencing a little bit of kidnap book fatigue and have a hard time believing anything can match Kevin Brockmeier's The Truth About Celia. I'm also slightly prickly about the manipulative factor of the book having almost exactly the same cover as The Lovely Bones (you can see it at the link above). That said, it does look good and it feels wrong to ignore the book just because it happens to be the latest in a series of books that cover similar ground. It may be amazing.

My scrabble score isn't as impressive as I'd like (via Wendi):

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 18. What is your score? Get it here.