Hippoi Athanatoi

Brrr, so cold still. I have been back for a few hours, and I don’t think I’ll ever get warm again. Blasted weather.

Woke up to a persistent rain today, and got very close to not going, but Elio persuaded me by noting how much I’d kick myself later. So, off we went. Once we got to the stables, we found out that it had rained too much for us to use the paddock. This meant we’d have to change this around and build the course indoors once the dressage was done. We’d also have to do our warm-ups in groups since we’d have to do them indoors too. In short, we were in for a longer day than expected. And I was already pretty cold.

There’s a veritable perfect storm of announcements coming from Dabel Brothers Productions regarding upcoming series they’ll be publishing. A fan of romantic fantasy? Check out the forthcoming adaption of Kinley MacGregor’s Lord of Avalon: Sword of Darkness. Or perhaps you’re a big fan of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake? Feast your eyes on this original comic story written by Hamilton, Anita Blake: The First Death. Or perhaps you’ve a yen for the work of George R.R. Martin? Try The Hedge Knight II: The Sworn Sword.

Well, wouldn’t you know it. Of course Murphy has ended up with a slightly swollen knee this very week, which means that although he’s doing lessons this week, he’s not jumping. So, I ended up with Fleur today and Fleur for the competition on Thursday. Argh. I am glad he should be fine soon again, but the timing really sucks. Fleur is in some ways easier to ride, but last time I had her for a dressage competition she just died once she got inside of the arena all on her own. Since I don’t tend to ride with spurs, she lost all interest in moving forward at a good pace as soon as I put my whip aside. Also, since the jumping will be outside, I’ll be nervous about her being flighty if it is as windy as it has been the last days.

At first, I had myself convinced we were supposed to have a theory lesson today. Then I discovered that no, we were jumping this week and next. Great, I thought, since next Thursday is the dressage and jumping competition I signed up for. Getting a chance to get some extra jumping practice in (though, to be honest, I probably need to practice the dressage more ;P), especially if I could manage to get Murphy, sounded like a good idea.

Unfortunately, Murphy wasn’t doing lessons at all this week. Instead, he’s got the week off for further education with the instructors. They do that now and then with the horses, to get a chance to polish up their training. Good idea, bad timing for me. I really hope he’ll be doing lessons as normal next week and that he will be available for the competition. Our instructor thought so, but she wasn’t certain. However, if I do end up getting him for the competition, she’ll try to place me on him for next Tuesday at least. I am also considering squeezing in a private lesson on Monday or Wednesday, but that will make it a very busy week.

Sarah Monette has now put up the second chapter of The Mirador on her website (the first is also up there). This is the sequel to Mélusine and The Virtu.

For May, Jacqueline Carey has updated her official site with a second sample chapter from for Kushiel’s Justice, the second book in the second Terre d’Ange trilogy.

Since it is May 1st today, I didn’t have a riding lesson (we’re all good old socialists here, after all), but what I did have was a dog show. After the last one, I was persuaded to handle the dog at the next one, so I’ve tried to practice a little on and off over the last month. Of course, he’s just recently had a bit of a stomach upset, so it was touch and go if we could make it. But the last 2-3 days he’s been his usual crazy self, so we decided to give it a try.

Dabel Brothers Productions and have published the Red Prophet hardcover, collecting the six issues of the mini-series as well as an adaption of an original, never before published “Enderverse” story by Orson Scott Card.

The Fantasy Book Critic has posted an extensive interview with Ernst and Les Dabel of Dabel Brothers Productions. Topics cover past, current, and future publications.

Spring is here again (it made a quick visit a while ago), so today we ended up riding in the paddock. Which I had nothing against since I was put back on Murphy. Partially, it seems, because Nelson is currently taking less weight due to some problems, though hopefully that’s a temporary thing. Either way, I was very interested in seeing if the last two weeks good lessons on Fleur and Nelson would make any difference for me on Murphy.

The nominees for the 2007 Eisner Awards have been announced. There are a number of excellent nominated works, including All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, , Jack of Fables by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Atkins, and Andrew Pepopy, and Absolute DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke.

It’s International Pixel-stained Technopeasant Day today (all started due to these comments from the SFWA’s current vice-president), which means a heap of free stories from published authors. Browser the community—John Scalzi, Charles Stross, Diane Duane, and many more have contributed works.

The top five nominees in each of the Locus Poll categories have been posted. The results will be revealed on June 16th during the Locus Awards Ceremony.

I’ve been feeling a little queasy these last two days, and during the drive to the stables I was hit by some serious motion sickness, worse than I’ve had it for many years. It also lingered for quite a while after I had gotten to the stables, so I started worrying about being put on Fleur again while feeling less than well. Fortunately, I got Nelson instead, and eventually I got better too.

A much slimmed-down Nelson, I might add. Not that he’d lost any weight, but he had lost a lot of hair. The fluffy coat had been replaced by a short, clippered coat, so he doesn’t look quite so much like a polar bear now. He’s still a bit of a cheeky thug, though, who is all over you when you get him ready. He did eventually get some candy for his efforts, though I made sure not to feed him out of my hand. Murphy, who is in the stall next to Nelson’s, also got some of course. He seemed rather curious about why I was standing around in and outside of Nelson’s stall instead of his own today, and kept poking his head in over the side of the stall. A little jealous (and not just about the candy), one hopes. ;)

One of Amazon’s deals for today is the complete set of all Buffy seasons at 51% off, making it just under 100 dollars. Now that’s what I call a bargain.