Almost 3 years ago, Floor Jansen launched "Fire", her first original solo single after a 20+ career spent in bands. The song ended up being one of my favourite tracks on the eventual solo album.

And now she has a very nice new version, the "Stripped" version which cuts back on the instrumentation in favour of the one instrument that matters: her magnificent voice. It dropped on the streamers today and she will also be debuting it on Dutch television (given the time difference between here and Europe, probably already has).

Best to move things forward.

Quote by Cora
Ideally, a short story between 1,000 to 5,000+ words I would prefer.

Flash is actually 100-1000. I kind of like that length for some themes and ideas. Forces me to rein things in and focus more tightly, but can still tell a full story, vs. a micro where you're really just giving the bare bones.

Genre-wise, I am generally open to anything. Some of the best comps I have been in are ones where there is a broad theme that can cut across genres rather than a specific genre. So there was a "punk" comp I was in one time that was basically open to anything themed around "punk" genres like cyberpunk, steampunk, dieselpunk, and so on. And, of course, just punk culture and music. I think for a comp that works better as a focus than genre. Even a "space" themed comp could work that way. Even if it leaned heavily to SF, you could also have stories about modern space exploration (e.g. something involving astronauts on the ISS or its Chinese counterpart), astronomy, and such.

Way back, I was young.

Good afternoon! I survived a meeting that ran way over. Latest I have eaten lunch in quite a while. Fortunately, a nice person from corporate HR who came for a meeting brought muffins. 😊

More meetings to come. Fortunately, I have a mug of oolong at hand.

Good morning!! Very frosty here today. Almost everything had a sheen of white as I was driving to the office. And there was a mist over the intersection where I turn to go South. Not enough to be a problem for driving, but a very visible presence. Definitely Fall.

I shall put some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe on for the coffee crowd.

For teas we have Yorkshire Gold and Duke of Earl (vanilla Earl Grey).

Washed up the pitchers and put iced tea and lemonade.

Hope you're all doing well. Special good thoughts for Gil as she deal with her grief and her father.

Quote by gillianleeza
My Mom died on Sunday, which by then was a relief.

Condolences to you and your family.

Quote by gillianleeza
I'm drowning in paperwork related to dealing with death and trying to arrange a funeral and my father's upcoming move to memory care.

I have dealt with both a death and a move to longterm care, but it was same person so at different times. Can't imagine trying to do both at the same time. Vibes.

We're here if you need to vent, Gil.

Forgotten tales brought to light.

Quote by JamesPBear

(checks cookie jars) Anyone been in touch with Sara recently? I sent her a couple of things, but haven't heard anything back.

Cora's been doing the cookies of late but she's scarce these days, too (active, just not as active). I have not seen or heard from Sara in quite a while. Hope she's okay. Her profile here shows last visit 2 months ago.

Thanks for getting the drinks going. pours a Darjeeling tea

Quote by verbal
My fear now is having to face the Yankees in the World Series.

An all New York World Series sounds kind of fun, though. But, yeah, facing the Yankees in a World Series will be rather nerve wracking, eh.

Tea and coffee

Tea and coffee

Keep us going wide awake!

Good morning, folks. Ape has some nice Deathwish Dark Roast coffee brewed. In the teapots, we got Darjeeling and Raspberry Royale.

Cool and sunny here now, the kind of Autumn weather than I like.

How's things?

On a more upbeat note, here's some Sunday morning fuel. Rocket Fuel, in fact, from Remarkable Bean.

For teas we have Sunday Tea (black tea w. Bourbon Vanilla) and Cream of Earl Grey.

Grey and wet here today, as predicted. Oh well, it is October so nice weather is more of a treat than a regularity now. Cars are both indoors now. Other than raking leaves when they finally come down, I have done as much as I can with the yard to prepare for the winter.

How's your weekend going?

Yeah, been there, done that with Dad. Coming up on ten years since he died. That Fall, I took him to one of his medical appointments on the Thanksgiving long weekend and we went for a walk in Victoria Park in Kitchener, Ontario. He was fascinated (to be fair, so was I) to see not one, but two, great blue herons. A month later, I was into funeral planning and estate business. Sigh. Time flies.

Places we visit become memories.

Finnish rocker Marko Hietala is the latest Nightwish member/ex-member to appear in a version of the European Best Singer franchise. Of course, it's the Finnish version. And his latest performance rocks (as is to be expected of Marko).

The other, by the way, is current Nightwish lead singer Floor Jansen who has appeared on both the Dutch and German editions.

Spinning up some morning java. How about some Jamaican Blue Mountain?

Teas? Organic Assam and Buddha's Blend.

Washed the pitchers and mixed up fresh iced tea and lemonade.

Hope all are having a good weekend. It's a long weekend here in the Great Not-Yet-White North (it'll come in time). Canadian Thanksgiving. Which is rather like American Thanksgiving minus the Black Friday nonsense. Turkey, pumpkin pie, football (CFL mainly).

Starship Trooper(s) - Robert A. Heinlein

The Robot(s) of Dawn - Isaac Asimov

The Star (s) My Destination - Alfred Bester

Quote by verbal
A combo of Henry 4 and Henry 5. Two and a half hours long, but it’s combining 3 plays, so we shall see what we see.

Wow, combining those into 2.5 hours? Lots of editing involved, I suspect. As long as the St. Crispin's Day speech that precedes Agincourt remains. One of the best speeches in Shakespeare IMHO. Branagh delivered it beautifully in his film version of Henry V.

First frost. Um, yay?

Good (brrrrrrr) morning! Had to scrape frost for the first time this Fall. A fairly heavy one, too. Usually first frost is lighter.

Vibes to the Floridians. Milton was as nasty as expected I am hearing.

Coffee for today is Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Teas are Yorkshire Gold and Buddha's Blend.

Take care, folks.

Nature is full of beauty.

Under the Volcano

Good morning!! The hump of the week looms. How are you doing?

Coffee is a Nicaraguan dark roast from Las Chicas. Teas are Irish Breakfast and White Peach.

Quote by Molly

I've started the graphic novel series Preacher. Yes, the same one they made a TV show about, but no spoilers! I didn't watch the TV show.

I don't think I have ever read any Garth Ennis, even though I have heard good things about his writing. Ditto Jeff Lemire who is actually from Southwestern Ontario so not too far from me.

I enjoyed Marc Morris' history of the Anglo-Saxons so when he appeared on the Gone Medieval podcast to talk about the development of castles in England, I headed to my library's Hoopla and found his book on the subject. Good read so far. Interesting how "castle" kind of changed meaning as they evolved from their first appearances in Britain in the mid-10th century. The Anglo-Saxon period and Norman conquest (which is when castles really took off in Britain) seem to be Morris' speciality. Title of this book is Castle: A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain. Morris tends to write more popular history, rather than being academic, but at the same time he packs a PhD in history from Oxford so does his homework.

Starship Invasions

(One of the greatest mistakes of my life was going to see this in theater. I mean, how bad could a movie starring Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee be, right? Yeah, it was dire.)

Begin your amazing, adventurous journey.

I (We) Have Always Lived In The Castle - Shirley Jackson