You should see us in the shade

[sovay]

Like everyone else, my niece has been having a tough time lately, so I ordered her a plush Tiktaalik from the Paleontological Research Institution, makers of the Paleozoic Pals. It arrived this afternoon ahead of schedule—all hail the USPS, dammit—and my mother sent me the visual evidence in the form of photos and a few brief seconds of my niece on her way to bed with a 37-million-year-old fishapod, saying, "Thank you," while she makes its finny tail wave gently. It has an even sweeter face in person than on the website.



1. thisbluespirit has made an excellent quantity of gifs for Count Dracula (1977), which I now wish I were rewatching. I can't believe I had managed to forget that its Renfield and Mina actually kiss.

2. Back sometime before the Cambrian radiation, I had ordered Emily Tesh's Silver in the Wood (2019) from Porter Square Books; then the state shut down and my friendly local independent bookstore with it. They finally just delivered the book to me this week and I very much enjoyed its charming, Victorian-ish, old weird m/m (I am tempted to write m/tree) romance; it suffered a little from the difficulty I am having lately with a lot of published novellas, namely that I would have enjoyed them even more as novels, but it contained elements reminding me by turns of Robert Holdstock, Peter S. Beagle, Greer Gilman, and (mostly because I can't see a quartered circle in a context of British myth without thinking of) Susan Cooper, and still felt like itself. I am entertained that one of the characters was exactly the sort of person whom I normally like best and then I liked his mother even better. I am fascinated that it is now possible to jump from AO3 to Tor. The sequel coming out this summer is called Drowned Country, so of course I've preordered it.

3. I can't wait for there to be used book stores again so that I can hunt for my own copy of the published script of Aki Kaurismäki's I Hired a Contract Killer (1990). Actually, I can wait as long as it takes to be safe, because I have a lot of opinions about that.

Comments

[vass]

What a good fishapod. And some excellent aunting.

[gwynnega]

Those are wonderful gifs. That Renfield/Mina scene is my favorite in the whole miniseries. I really need to do a rewatch.

[asakiyume]

Aww, I can think of no better plushy companion than an intrepid fishapod! It is wonderful!

And as for Silver in the Wood reminding you of Susan Cooper, I have to do a double take every time I see that title mentioned and think hard to understand we're not talking about Silver on the Tree. Not that I remember very much [read: anything, really--the only book I remember in the series is The Dark is Rising]. Still, the two titles get tangled in my mind! But I do love the title, and I love the title of the sequel even more!

[sholio]

Awwww, that's so cute! :)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, that is a very cute fishapod! How lovely. ♥

And I'm glad you had fun with the gifs.

[heron61]

Wow, I had not heard of Paleozoic Pals before - I may need to order one for myself an Anomalocaridid plushie

[cmcmck]

I love this pic! :o)

[thawrecka]

Aw, cute!

[wpadmirer]

That stuffed toy is great. Nice of you to do something to cheer her during this time.

I adored the Susan Cooper books. My BA is in writing for children, though I'm sure no one would believe that from what I write these days!

[sartorias]

Oh that sweet picture made my morning!

[lauradi7dw]

Yesterday was an excellent day to get a watery creature - the news came out that Spinosaurus was aquatic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/first-spinosaurus-tail-found-confirms-dinosaur-was-swimming/

>>I am fascinated that it is now possible to jump from AO3 to Tor. <<

Maybe. Included in the recent MacMillan layoffs were several editors from Tor. I can't find the thing now, but it didn't look good.