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Here are today’s stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 6680 (YES. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ‘BOUT)
Present Total Word Count: 89,685 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Raised a little hell. Not literally. This time.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; further adventures of Thanksgiving clean-up; laundry including bedding. That’s pretty much it, but in my defense, hey — did you SEE that word count? It’s amazing I even had time to brush my teeth.

Reason for Stopping: Time to go get the laundry out of the dryer, make up the bed again, fold all the clean clothes and put them away … and if this all gets done before the hubs gets home, maybe try to write YES A FEW MORE WORDS it could totally happen, you never know.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Many a long year ago, I saw this movie based on the TV series Dragnet. The movie featured Dan Ackroyd and an up-and-coming(ish) Tom Hanks, along with Ally Sheedy, playing Connie Swale, a person whom Ackroyd's Joe Friday Jr and Tom Hanks' character need to protect. Friday winds up introducing her to his mother with a line something like, "Mom, this is the virgin Connie Swale." His mother responts with a very fixed smile, saying, "...You're joking." If you have ever read Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, or seen the recent animated film made from that story, then when you reach the end of this issue, you're going to have the exact same expression on your face, and the exact same phrase running through your head. (And no, I can't be more specific than that.)

The general shape of this edition of World's Finest seems to be to show a type of Superman/Batman adventure, entirely eithout either Superman or Batman. Instead, we get a Superman/Batman adventure filtered through their sidekicks -- or, more correctly, through their affiliates, since Superman can't reasonably be said to have sidekicks, and three of the four Bat people we're going to get are only somewhat affliated with the Bat currently, although all of them have been closer than they are now. Which makes the revelation of the broader story at work make a great deal of sense.

As far as the story goes, it's interesting enough. The Guardian (apparently no longer limited to Mahnattan) and Damian's Robin team up -- if that's quite the right word for it -- to thwart a plot by Dr Freeze and Parasyte. The plot itself is very lean, allowing the story to focus on the characters' interaction. The Guardian treats Damian like a snot-nosed upstart, refusing to call him "Robin" because he feels that it's a title you have to earn. (One wonders how he feels about the new Batman.) Damian, rather understandably, does not take this terribly well. It's very good character work. But still, almost all of that gets swamped by the last page revelation of ... well. Like I said, fixed smile and "you're joking" just about covers it.
Good; Recommended.

"Go, part 2: Seven Years Ago", in which we catch up with Kate several years after the attack in London, as a cadet at West Point. And pretty much the first thing she does is almost alarmingly stupid; we see her kissing her then-girlfriend while still apparently on the West Point campus grounds, out in the open. This, not surprisingly, results in her being called up on charges for a violation of the military code -- though, interestingly, her girlfriend is quite specifically not charged -- and as Kate refuses to lie, she's summarily drummed out of the army. We also see her telling her father -- and his reaction, frankly, is really wonderful (though his choice in engagement rings for his new fiancee turns out to be utterly misguided, though that's a side point).

We also see Kate's first meeting and subsequent relationship with Renee Montoya back in her pre-question days -- They meet very very cute -- as well as the issues that drove them apart. Interspersed through this story is Kate dealing with the apostates from the Religion of Crime, realizing that the prophecy was in fact very specific about what they were looking for, while seeming to be very confusing, and getting her blood and Alice's tested to see if her sister really was still alive. And finally, we see some of what inspired Kate along her current path. Overall, it's a very interesting story, although her inspiration to become Batwoman seems a bit ... shallow, honestly. Or if not precisely shallow, then at least not very well considered.

As usual, Williams' artwork is superb. The really fascinating moment comes when we see, graphically, the situation that partially inspired Kate to become Batwoman; the artwork goes slightly toward the unusual layouts that characterize the modern part of the story ... but only slightly, showing that the decision hasn't quite been made yet.

In the backup story, "Pipeline, Chapter 2" (Rucka/C. Hamner), Montoya starts investigating the bacground of the human trafficking group that she broke up the previous issue. She quickly discovers that it's a much bigger thing that it first appeared, and calls in the Huntress to help her. (Huntress, for whatever reason, has gone back to the costume that doesn't make her look like a stripper in waiting, which is appreciated.) Again, the brevity of the chapter makes it a bit frustrating; just when things get going good, it's over. The battle sequence is kind of awesome, though. Hamner does very good work, as usual; the last page is oddly much more stylized than what comes before -- though with that villain, I suppose you have to go for some sort of stylization.
Very Good; Highly Recommended

Warm dry home; helpful, hot husband who smells good; fat black cat; swimmy blue fish; wonderful editors; a marvelous agent; amazing publishers; super-cool boss; the Eden Moore books earning out; Boneshaker continuing to do well; distant family having a good time without me in better weather than I’m presently experiencing; a secret clubhouse that serves the world; friends who swing by with goodies today; friends who would totally swing by with goodies today if they were in town; friends who are in town but have other plans; friends who express the wish that I were back in their town; Trader Joe’s meat selection and “wine country” chicken salad; Tofurkey (shut up, I love it); candy-colored hair; shiny black boots; a big brick tower; reading recommendations; independent booksellers; chain booksellers; libraries; book-loaners; book readers; new wool coat with a hood; having about 1/3 of my holiday shopping finished already; fuzzy hats; too much work because it’s far better than not enough work; one vehicle which works and is fun to drive; Etsy; novelty tee shirts; The Gap’s revamped selection of jeans; Christmas travel plans; new work-out music; CuteOverload.com; McKay faux-chicken seasoning; Advil; pixelated socks; leg-warmers (even though I didn’t appreciate them the first time they came around; Coke Zero; six different styles of goggles; out-of-town conventions; in-town conventions; tights on sale at Nordstrom Rack; new headphones that keep my ears warm; uncommonly good cover karma; fingerless gloves; plastic cutlery and paper plates; sorted, itemized receipts for everything; hand sanitizer that smells like lavender and chamomile; footie pajamas; Google; cheap red wine; thrift shopping; PBS; good reviews of my books from people I don’t know (and to whom I am not related); my paper shredder; a pack of wild cards; and cheese.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Here are today’s stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue — and yes, I’m making an early day of it:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 2594 (not great, not bad)
Present Total Word Count: 83,005 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Argued extensively with a seeing-eye ghoul.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; went to the University Book Store and signed their stock as well as a few mail-order books; did more last-minute Thanksgiving shopping; beat head against wall.

Reason for Stopping: The apartment is not clean and people are coming over tomorrow. I need to change the litterbox, sort out food prep arrangements, vacuum and mop the (filthy) floors, and maybe even do some laundry, we’ll see.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

I give you stats for the dirigible/pony-express story with zombies, the Goodnight-Loving trail, and a 19-year-old Union veteran who’s stuck with a mechanical foot.

Project: “Reluctance”
New Words Written: 2885 (uh oh)
Present Total Word Count: 7525 words
Goal: 5000 words by November 29





Details: Aw, crap. Way too long. Will shelve it for now, and try to fix it next week.
[:: headdesk ::]

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

During a meeting with The Big H today at Hanley Inc., one of the other employees interrupted. The above video is of the scolding the employee received for barking out of turn.