Wailing away on the wall of the strand

[sovay]

Today's sunset was a stunner. The air turned an incredible mauve and gold-hulled violet, right above the horizon: such a neon intensity, it would have lowered oppressively if it hadn't been so rich, like an entire skyful of afterimage. The clouds had that sketched-charcoal and sandbar three-dimensionality, where you seem to look out over rather than up into them, and in a few minutes the colors visible between the trees had all faded into the apple-green, backlit blue I associate most of all with winter twilight. There is an almost imperceptibly thin new moon there now, a nail-scratch of light on the sky. And this afternoon, I walked from the con hotel down Summer Street to South Station, over the water with the sun crumpled up on it and the brilliant clarity of the air and the light that requires an entire nineteenth-century school of painting to reproduce accurately, in shafts, where even the clouds are luminous; bridge-struts, pylons, cells of sky-blue mirrored over and over in skyscraper windows. I don't see enough skylines in my ordinary life. I love them. I wish I could take photographs.

We packed up the table in the dealer's room this morning, so I had a chance to attend two panels—what makes vivid writing and what defines American rather than British fantasy—and have lunch with nineweaving, converse properly with matociquala for the first time in over a year, and meet kayselkiemoon in person. (Lunch with farwing yesterday was also awesome. And a man came up to me and asked if I'd modeled for the painting on the cover of Jane Yolen's Once Upon A Time (She Said), which I had not, but I was still honored.) I read Ilario last night, and Elizabeth Hand's Saffron and Brimstone this afternoon, and both were excellently worth it. I met several people whose names I should have taken down. All the traditional hallmarks of a con in only a few hours . . .

I have three different songs stuck in my head. How does this happen?

Comments

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

Today's sunset was a stunner.

Yes, you make that beautifully clear. Wow.

I have three different songs stuck in my head. How does this happen?

Perhaps you're a mashup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28music%29) artist waiting to happen?

A while ago, I had a song called "Renholder" by A Perfect Circle stuck in my head as well as a song called "Migrations" by Jocelyn Pook. I quickly realised it was because they were exactly the same song. Different recording session and different musicians, but I played both mp3s simultaneously and it was like listening to a single mp3. A Perfect Circle claims there's is an original song, so they ripped off "Migrations" and to this day I seem to be the only person who's made a note of it.

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

Oh, Sonya, this is beautiful. Again. Didn't anyone tell you that there are no new ways to describe sunsets? Heh. You amaze me always. And I'd love to know if this all just came out as you have it here or if you have to struggle to find "gold-hulled violet" and "sandbar three-dimensional" and "apple-green, backlit blue" and "thin new moon" "nail-scratch" and, ah, "sun crumpled up on it" and clouds as "bridge-struts, pylons, cells of sky-blue mirrored over and over in skyscraper windows."

There is no one like you.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely (except, perhaps, for the three songs stuck in your head at once ;-).

Glad you had such a pleasant-sounding time.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

....Did I miss a con again?

Dammit.

Oh, and apparentl(ee) (apologies, this keboard has no letter-before-Z), the wife has known farwing a long time. Did ou meet at Boskone?

[kayselkiemoon.livejournal.com]

it was most excellent to meet you! ^_^

I love skylines, too. my favorite moment of riding the T in Boston is when the red line train starts crossing the Charles, and the city falls away and I can see river and horizon and sky. I love it. in all seasons, but especially when the water is covered with flocks of sailboats. one of these springs I'll stop being lazy and go rent a boat.

[yukihada.livejournal.com]

Who needs a camera when you use words so well? Of course, I've never seen a sunset on the northern Atlantic.

I did see the wafer-thin chip of moon the other day though. The sunset wasn't as brilliant this far into the Midwest though.

From the photos I've seen of you, I can certainly see why someone would ask you that question about the Jane Yolen cover.