Quote by literary_echoes
Are you playing with the idea that the "joke" lake monster was never really a joke? Or is this more about how family mythology can manifest in unexpected ways? Either way, the combination of personal history and mythological dread sounds like it could hit some powerful emotional notes beneath all that kaiju destruction.

More about how those summers at the cottage and the silly games we got up to have lingered with me, I think, along with my love of monster stories. I'm long past the stage of actually thinking there are monsters in that lake (well, aside from some rather large trout that ended up on our barbeque).

Valley of the Queens - Ayreon

The author's page for it on Smashwords for those who may be interested. Apparently, it is book 1 of a series. Two other books can be found on the author's Smashwords page (click his name in the page linked below).

The Clock Forgets Me

Time is usually more of mechanism for organizing a story and moving it along. So in a time travel story, the paradoxes and weirdness fall more into plot or maybe even as a "macguffin" than character. I do like a good time travel story but this is clearly a different thing. The idea to make time function more like a character is intriguing. Thanks for calling attention to it.

Quote by CuriousAnnie
And it's cold, I am hesitant to say very cold as there are those of you who don't think 13 C is a serious winter temperature.

Add a negative sign and then we can talk. 😉😁 13 is Spring in my world.

I forget where I first heard of The Last Dinner Party. They're a young, relatively new pop act from the UK that's putting out some pretty interesting music. Watched their set from this year's Pink Pop (big pop-rock festival in the Netherlands) and quite enjoyed it. They have one studio LP out and a second coming soon. Here's a couple songs, one from each album.

Horror Express

A picture book sounds cool. Not sure I would try it. I guess the Goddess Dances could be stripped down to be one. Might be too long as is. 32 pp including pictures doesn't leave much room for text but, of course, the best pictures books don't need much text. 😊

I forgot we had a last post thread here. Ape saunters in LAST.

Beautiful pictures fill art galleries.

Through the Fire and the Flames - Dragonforce

Not fond of either, but probably snow. I can handle trudging through the white stuff but I hate being wet (other than by choice, like a shower or bath).

Skis or snowshoes?

Brownies with ice cream and fudge is my poison. I can hear my glucometer screaming in agony already. But, it's virtual food so I can eat as much as I like. 😊

Good morning. Cooler with some cloud and showers today. All needed so I am not complaining.

Was in real crater last night, depressed and fatigued. It seems to be over now but I went to bed ungodly early so woke up early. Hopefully, I can get that adjusted tonight.

I get the vague ideas thing. I get those a lot. Sometimes start writing them but they usually fizzle out fairly quickly. A vague idea isn't much to hang a story on. Some of the ones that stick with me go into my notebook (I use a free program called Obdsidian for note-taking), though, and might come back someday.

It's actually better here today. Less humid, temps are below 30, there's a breeze. This week is actually looking decent on the weather front. And we had a good rain last night so everything is well watered now.

Hard to choose amongst today's treats. Maybe the chocolate raspberry tarts.

I am working on a story that I come back to from time to time. As it stands, it can't go on here (too much "spice" as the romance crowd would say) but I am not sure what to do with it. If I keep going at the current rate, might end up novella length, which means I could seriously consider self-publishing. And it's basically a billionaire romance that might also head in a fantastical direction, so a billionaire romantasy, both of which are hot genres so might be marketable. Or I could nerf the spice down to R-rated levels for here. We'll see. Story is about a woman with a secret past getting shipwrecked on a playboy tech billionaire's private island and hitting it off with him. Then her past shows up.

Rock and Roll Machine - Triumph

Period marks end of sentence.

Quiet evening at home.

Read a book or watch TV?

Looks very Audrey Hepburn so maybe this:

That cookies and ice cream in a skillet looks wonderful but butter pecan cookies are calling my name.

Hitting 30 here but the humidity has gone down so it's definitely better than the last few times we hit that mark.

Noisy next door. Lots of activity from the kids. I saw people going in with gift bags so I'm thinking there's a birthday party happening.

Elliptical

Watch a livestream or be at the event?

Power of Love - pick one, there's Jennifer Rush's much covered song, Huey Lewis and the News, and some others that have used the title

Watching a livestream of this lady at the Summer Breeze festival right now. Until I heard her for the first time, the idea of combining operatic singing with metal never occurred to me.

Never Can Say Goodbye - Gloria Gaynor

I prefer a window but with the humidity around here, often that just makes things worse. So window if possible.

Exercise outdoors or exercise indoors?

Last Ride of the Day - Nightwish

New album from Finnish Auri came out today. Loving it so far. There's now three members of Nightwish in the band plus Finnish vocalist Johanna Kurkela, who is married to one of them. But it's not metal, more "prog folk" (symphonic folk?) for lack of a better term. Though one track has some fairly heavy rhythm guitar. They are actually touring for the first time. Between most of the members being in another, very popular band and the pandemic, Auri has never really had the opportunity in the past.

Flower in the Attic

Garden would be nice, though with my yard layout, more likely on the deck (which is surrounded by beds and trees).

Ereader/tablet or paper book?

Me no like the heat.

Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones