Day in the Life of an Idiot

Quick question: if I (as Tate Hallaway) write a novel where there's a hereditary group of Witches that ACTUALLY derive their power from, well, Hell, how angry do you think my fans will be?

But wait... see, here's the thing. I already laid idea this out in my young adult novel because I'm tired of traditional vampires and wanted them to be something else entirely. And, really, what it means is that I'm playing with angels again... or, at least, one variety of them. But, you know, I just got to this point in the novel during revisions when Elias (one of our bad boy love interests) explains where vampires come from, and, my editor made a comment in the margins where it's kind of clear that she gets what I'm saying but wonders if it's really what I'm saying... and I thought, "Huh, I wonder if the real question is *should* I say this?"
 
Well, I did. I guess the thing to do now is spin it.

In other news, I finished Jo Walton's HALF A CROWN (Tor). I was really worried about the ending yesterday when I was at about chapter 22, and I even harrassed naomikritzer about it (because she's mentioned as a beta reader in the acknoweledgements) but, actually, things worked out WAY better than I feared. Jo Walton made *me* like the Queen of England, which is no small feat. I was made a little cranky by the fact that the only person to die is the lover of our gay protag 'natch. Even the kindly Jews get away unscathed, presumably. *sigh* Gay people never get to keep their lovers.. But I didn't cry. And no one actually ends up in a death camp, which is kind of surprising, given how often they're brought up. I think I didn't cry because Jack, the lover, always had DOOMED written all over him, particularly in this book, so I never invested. The book is fantastic, despite my personal quibbles, so I highly recommend it. I've said this before, I think, but Jo Walton has a really amazing narrative voice in this series (I can't speak to her other books because I haven't read them). It's just a pleasure to READ, you know?

I'm off in few minutes to go stuff folders at Mason's school, my usual Thursday volunteering. Then, I hope to have time to run off to do some last minute holiday shopping before I have to turn around and pick him up again.

I still have this terrible cough. I wish I had real health insurance. I'd go to the doctor. That's another rant for another day, alas. I know people get worked up about this issue, but it seems pretty straight forward to me. I would like one of two things: afforable health insurance _or_ doctors that didn't cost so much. The thing that's keeping me away from the doctor right now is the fear that to rule out pnumonia, they'd order an x-ray. My insurance is what I call "collision." If I'm hit by the bus, it's worth having, but as it is, the deductable is so high we really can't afford to pay up to it, you know?

Enough of that. (Don't worry about Mason. He's covered by his mama. I can't be. You know, that other rant that involves gay marriage.)