atichaw

I had yesterday off so watched some Australian Open tennis and the Star Trek: Enterprise marathon on SciFi channel. I like a nice three-day weekend. I get another this weekend since we're closed on Friday. Sallie and I are planning to go to the zoo. It should be about 60º and partly cloudy. Just perfect for a stroll among the animals. I hope the African village is open this time. It was closed last time we were there and we missed the meerkats.

I finished the last book in a great series this weekend and it's always hard to say goodbye to a world and characters you've spent several books getting to know and love. I can only hope that some day Sharon Shinn will feel moved to write more in the Twelve Houses world. Okay, now that I wrote that I just discovered that she has written a fifth book that came out in 2008. Aren't I lucky? It looks like it's a companion story about an auxiliary character from the last couple books in the original series. I just requested it!

Now I'm on to the second in an urban fantasy series by Ilona Andrews. It takes place in Atlanta where the magic comes and goes with no warning so if you've driven your car into town, you may not make it back because nothing that uses technology (including guns) works during the magic phases. But say you had erected some wards around your house, well, they aren't going to be much help during the tech times. There are shape-shifters and vampires and and an Order of some Knights and a magical heroine who has flaws and doesn't always make the right decisions but she really really tries. The third book, Magic Strikes, comes out in March.