Posts
Happy holidays, everyone! For all you broke filmmakers, writers, artists, and other people with more heart than money, here's a free way to spread good cheer to charities and start the new year right. CauseWorld is an iphone app where you direct sponsors like Citi and Kraft to donate money to the charity of your choice just by walking into a store. Here's a story on it. Pretty sweet, huh?
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
For the first time, I have heavily censored a post. I am strongly pro-1st Amendment, and it doesn't sit right with me to do this. But there is no resolution of this situation that is going to make anyone feel better, so I have decided to respect the wishes of my friend's family and redact the post I wrote about my reaction to my friend's suicide.
It’s taken me long hours to convince myself that this family member’s not-so-veiled threat of litigation over something in which s/he has no rights needs to be translated. This translation should read: “I am in unimaginable pain, and if you do this for me, there’s a chance that the pain might be a little more bearable for today.”
I have been telling myself that compassion for the living is more important than a memorial for the dead. That whatever it is I’m feeling is just a drop in the tsunami of tragic feelings her family is dealing with. Any unkind thing I say to them now will be carried for the rest of their lives, and it can’t be taken back next week after I’ve cooled off. I keep telling myself this, but I still feel raw about it.
Per their request, I am removing almost every detail about her in my post, which makes the whole post quite ironic when read in context. Also at the family’s request, I am removing a heart-felt poem written by her which was posted in the comments section by someone who loved her. It is full of despair and beautifully touching. It is my understanding that this poem was published on the Internet. I firmly believe that a writer who publishes her poem would want it read, felt, and appreciated for as long as possible…
…which brings me right back to the mantra of “Compassion for the living is more important than a memorial for the dead, goddammit.”
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
I stopped posting to my blog when something shocking and personal happened, and I didn't know whether it was right to post it for the world to read or not. On the one hand, a woman cutting herself off from her friends and committing suicide in a rented attic seemed deeply private. On the other hand, no one knowing about her life and death just seemed wrong. It bothered me that no one would use the word “suicide” and that people suddenly only talked about her in a circular way, as if tacitly suggesting that she never existed.
I ended up not posting about it. But then I couldn't really pretend it didn't happen and post about happy events. Hence the long break from my blog.
She was a beautiful person and a
beautiful writer.
[--EDIT NOTE: There used to be a paragraph here that described what she was like and my fond memories of her. But her family has requested that I delete it. Everything I deleted for them from the original post is indicated by --DELETED--. For ruminations on why I agreed and my feelings about this, see Jane Doe's Suicide Post--]
No one seems to know what happened. [-- DELETED--] had a brief memorial service for her but I heard that it turned into a discussion of people wondering what happened.
I did a search for her on the net. There's a mention of her publication in a respected literary magazine, and her name is listed as a volunteer on [--DELETED--]. And that's it. No obituary or any mention of her existence. It's sad to think that this is the most any of you will know about her. She was one of those special people worth knowing...
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
This month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The challenge is to write 50,000 words during the month of Nov. I dove in immediately after the World Fantasy Convention. The great people I met at the convention must have inspired me because I've been on fire since then. I'm writing at a record-breaking speed for me. Yesterday was my most productive day at 3,700 words. That's a long way from the 1,000 word glass ceiling I used to live under.
I'm off to LA tomorrow for a filmmaking seminar so I needed to meet my 25,000 word goal for Sunday by today. Good thing I'm deadline driven. I'm now at 25,349 words. Yay!
Now if I can just keep myself from being distracted by my lust for a new netbook, I'll have a very rough draft of a novel to work with by mid-Dec. I'm keeping my fingers crosssed.
I have read what I consider the top three Vampire Romance/Mystery book series that are out there. My Vampire interest was recently acquired through the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, however I searched for a more adult approach on the subject matter and this is what I recommend.
But there’s a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings—older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves—is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.
In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat. Ok so Cat is a half vampire because her mother was raped by a newly made vampire and becomes pregnant with her. As a result of this her mother has a hatred to vampires and insist that Cat kill as many as she can find because they are all murderous monsters. Cat goes out to clubs and lets vampires hit on her and leaves the bar with them, when they make their move to drain her she kills them. This leads to her meeting Bones, a master vampire hit man, who notices Cat and her little mission. He kidnaps her because he thinks she it working for the man that he has been tracking to kill. When he discovers that she is something different and realizes her potential gives her a choice of death or partnership in his mission. Cat accepts because she knows that it is her only chance to live. Bones trains cat for weeks and they set out with Cat as bait to catch bad vampires with Bones waiting to question them before they kill them. Bones is trying to get to Hennessy a vampire who is selling young human girls to vampires for considerable amounts of money. He has been searching for him for 11 years and intends to track him with information form the vampires they hunt down. In this process Cat falls for Bones, who is already in love with her, but is fighting her feelings because she was brought up believing that all vampires are evil. Cat is also still scarred from her first serious relationship with a boy who left her as soon as she had sex with him. As Cat struggles with her feelings Bones tricks her into going out on a date with him and just as they are about to kiss Hennessy walks into the club. Cat lures Hennessy out of the club and her and Bones attempts to kill him but they fail. They continue hunting vampires to get to Hennessy. In the process Cat decided she loves Bones and they start dating, but she lies to her mother and tells her that she is dating her human neighbor. Hennessy's vampires find where Cat's family lives and they kill her grandparents and kidnap her mother in order to get Cat. Bones is busy killing Hennessy and Cat discovers that his partner is the governor, she goes straight to his house and kills him. The police show up and arrest her and the FBI comes in to take her into custody. On the way there the FBI agent Don tells her they are in a new devision in paranormal investigation and wants to hire Cat to hunt rogue vampires because she is the only of her kind. She is offered a job new identity and a home for her and her mother each, for 10 years in the FBI and no contact with vampires. She agrees knowing that this is the only way she will not go to prison and the only way to save them form killing Bones. Bones shows up just after Cat agreed to their terms and is unaware of her plans. He stops the car that has Cat in it and gets Cat and her mother. They go to a place to hide so he can make arrangements for them to leave the country. Cat has no intention on leaving with him because she knows the FBI will track them down and kill them, but she doesn't want to tell Bones because she knows he will talk her out of it. Bones leaves to take care of a few last minute plans and Cat leaves Bones a note breaking up with him. Cat and her and her mother leave and go meet Don and his crew where she starts her new job and is in command of a new crew she must train. She doesn't stop thinking about Bones but she knows this is the only way he will be safe. Book 4 of 50 in 365 Challenge!
The fourth installment of the Night Huntress Series will be released on July 28. Here is a promo clip from Jeaniene Frosts website.
