Bother. I'm in the mood for a meme, but there are no memes to be had. And this time a quiz just will not do. I want to answer lotsa questions or bold my favorite songs or tell everybody totally random information about myself. Anything, really, that'll let me write and think and forget about the articles I need to read for That Paper. Siiiigh. Sev? Where are you when I need you?

On a more productive note, I've recently finished reading Sherwood Smith's latest release, Inda. I'd previously read Crown Duel and Court Duel (smooshed into one volume for the paperback edition) and adored them, and I enjoyed Inda almost as much.

Smith's world is superbly real: detailed, remarkably nuanced, but without the self-conscious ostentation of so much fantasy these days. Her world merely(!) *is*, in all its complexity and substance. Much like her characters. Flawed, dynamic, heroic, surprising---I could almost feel them in the room with me. Sometimes I knew them almost too well for comfort. I became so much a part of their lives and their world that my heart pounded during their battles, my stomach dropped at their betrayals, and my fists clenched with their frustration, their foolishness, their anger. That's an extremely rare occurrence for me, to feel so welcomed and immersed in someone else's creation. I can only hope the next volume in the trilogy comes out soon.

Or that someone provides me with a meme. :)

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