And to continue the theme of readerly indignation, that evil sadistic sorceress over at Days in the Life has posted an excerpt from her latest book, Chalice, just in case there was the faintest chance in five universes that any of her readers weren't going to stalk their local booksellers, or equivalent, for the next. . . .thirty-eight days until it's released. That's what really gets me: that she could have the cruelty to do that when there's this much time left. If it were the day before, or three days, or a week, okay. But five weeks?! It's reader abuse!

Siiiiiiigh............

Glancing over the plot of "The Stagman", a story by Robin McKinley published in her collection The Knot in the Grain, it seems rather old-fashioned in its cliches. Princess in distress, rescue, conquest by her prince, marry the prince and have five sons. But at a closer look, one finds the princess, Ruen, resigned rather than engrossed. She doesn't want to rule her kingdom; she doesn't want to live the fairy-tale; she doesn't want to marry the prince and raise sons. But she does, because she is a princess, and she has a strong sense of duty. Given the choice, however, she would happily spend her days living quietly in the mountains with Luthe, the mage arranging all this; learning, reading, and seeing her stag whenever he appears. And when she has fulfilled her duty, has seen her kingdom happily prospering under the rule of the handsome (naturally) prince Gelther, has raised her sons, and is certain that she will not be missed, she leaves. Her stag has come for her, and she can go back to the mountains, where for the only time in her life she was happy. And it could not be otherwise with McKinley as the author, because she is militantly against the cliched heroine being rescued by the hero. Her heroines go off on their own, slaying the leader of the attacking army or redeeming the artifact that will save the kingdom. They do not languish in towers or work on embroidery. Her best-known heroines are tall, awkward, and horrible at sewing, with a complete lack of heart-stopping beauty, because they don't have time for makeup, and a thorough brushing of their long curly hair is out of the question on campaign. Actually Aerin's hair lasted through about half the book and then never grew past her jaw again. Ruen, while not quite fitting this mold, which admittedly is hardly adhered to in the short stories, is still not happy in the place she is. Had she been permitted, she would have been quite happy to be an Aerin; but she had no loving father, no indulgent cousin. She was Lissar, with no Ash and less illusive power. No friends, no family but her cruel uncle, no pets. No books even, as far as we can tell. So she grew into a small, quiet woman, who never laughed and was pitied by her subjects. Their love, admiration, and gazes went to her handsome, typical husband, who had refused to be crowned in favor of his wife.

Well, my room is once more a shambles, since Mom had me empty the wardrobe. Heh.

They added another chapter of Koukou Debut. Already finished it. Doug's still reading Perfect Girl Evolution, which despite the shoujo tag I'm not reading. I admit it's funny, I just don't want to start it.

We went to town yesterday. I checked out the other three Bardic Voices by Lackey and The Spirit Ring by Bujold. It's kinda funny: in the beginning the plot could become The Tempest--but it doesn't. One of the preventions is the fact that Ascanio is only ten, and I think he was Shakespeare's hero. The other prevention is that I think Author-san took a vow to never have a prince for a hero. And if he's a prince, he can't be young and handsome. Makes things interesting. Thur, the hero, reminds me a bit of Hugo in Heyer's The Unknown Ajax.

Oh, yeah. Utter happiness. Robin McKinley is running a blog. She says her editor gave her the choice between the blog and going on tour, and she has a horror of going on tour. I'll take the blog, thanks. I mean, we love her for her writing, yes? And here we get some of it every day. What could be better? Her address is at livejournal. It sounds to me like Blogger is preferable. She still hasn't taken the first step to getting pictures up, i.e. getting pictures into her computer, so we have to be content with hearing about the hellhounds and Peter. Peter is Peter Dickinson, her husband. He writes fantasy and sci-fi for kids and teens. Drat, that was what I forgot at the library. Besides that July issue of Shoujo Beat. Speaking of which, I got the latest ish yesterday. Aaaaaahh. Yummy.