C. L. Norman

I have been looking forward to seeing Sherlock Holmes for months and months. Ever since I saw the first trailer with a unshaven Robert Downey Jr swaggering across the screen, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie. Today, as a Christmas present, my husband took me to the local theater to see it.

It is my favoritest gift of the day.

I loved the movie. It was fun, fast paced, and engaging. Mr. Downey’s Sherlock wasn’t the upright, moral citizen I’ve seen depicted in so many other versions. He was a roguish Holmes that had me laughing and rooting for him the entire two plus hours. Jude Law’s Dr. Watson while he appeared clean cut also had more character and flaws to him than the usual Watson.

The pace started quick and kept going and yet it didn’t seem rushed. It was like a joyful carnival ride that I didn’t want to end. And the ending of the movie promised more. It was promised in such a way that I want to start counting the days until the next movie is released.

To quote Holmes at the final line of the movie, “The case is reopened.” And the movie is destined to bring Sherlock Holmes back into the limelight.

See the movie, you won’t regret it.

        

I work in the mall in a bookstore. I have worked in the mall in a bookstore on and off since my first job at B. Dalton’s in August 1991.

I think I have seen holiday shoppers in all shapes, sizes, and colors in that time. Some are full of the holiday spirit; polite, patient, and understanding of the over-busy retail clerks and the ever shrinking stock. Others are full of some other spirit; rude, impatient, angry when they don’t find that specific item they were looking for.

I like to think that I don’t know my customer’s private lives. Maybe something awful is happening at home and that is why they are acting so terribly. I smile bigger, take a deep breath, and try even harder to maintain my patience. Other times the rudeness has reached such a level that I become grateful I am not a manager and I can pass the customer off. Or maybe the customer will get so fed up they will stomp out of the store and come back another day when their mood is brighter.

These are the days when we see most of those cranky shoppers. The lines are long, the ‘good’ books have sold, and there are only so many employees to go around. Tempers get short. Frowns and grimaces are on nearly every face. 

I call this time of year the ‘swipe and go’ period. The customers don’t want to hear about the offers for this or that. They don’t want to hear about special programs. They just want to hear their total, swipe their card, and leave. It can be very frustrating for the store clerk and a strain on their smiles.

Christmas Eve this all changes. For some strange reason, even though time has nearly run out, shoppers on this day relax. They smile. They joke. They listen to the offers and promotions. They feel the spirit of the holidays and it becomes a pleasure to work with them. This is the time when suggesting a new author becomes easy. Convincing the shopper to go home with something different than they originally came in for is an opportunity to share more of my favorites. Not only the best selling ones.

I like working on Christmas Eve, at least the early shift. I see the spark of Santa in every face that passes through the checkout line and it puts me in the mood for the evening when Santa-in-full arrives. 

So if you are one of the shoppers heading out today, take time to smile at the clerk helping you out. Bring Santa out a day early.

        

Our friends come over and admire our tree. They ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ and tell us how cute the ornaments are that our kids made, how funny the three wise mice are, and then they exclaim “Cool!” as they catch sight of the Millenium Falcon swooping down from a branch high up in the tree.

That’s right. We have a geek’s tree.

On our tree we have Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C3-PO, an  AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon. We have the Shuttlecraft Galileo with Spock on board wishing everyone happy holidays and ‘live long and prosper’. Indiana Jones cracks his whip on another branch. And not to ignore the fantasy side of our geekiness, we have a dragon wrapped around a castle and a wizard hunched over a crystal ball.

On Christmas day, our geeky side is revealed even further when the wrapping paper comes off. Gaming books, collectible card game boosters, minis and figurines, dice, and movies all reveal that side of our natures. That side that is more at home at a gaming table than a dinner table set with crystal.

What about your tree? What kind of ornaments do you display on yours?

        

If I had a passport and transport to these places and could take my family with me, I’d pack  my bags tonight. These are five fantastical locations I’d like to visit for the holidays. They hold warmth and family and togetherness.

1. Faldor’s Farm in Sendaria: In David Eddings‘ Pawn of Prophecy Garion and his Aunt Pol sit down for a feast at Erastide with all the workers and families on the farm. This place is always ‘home’ for Garion throughout the series and the warmth felt during this scene is one of my favorites. That and the many purposes this scene serves. It shows the relationship between Garion and Aunt Pol and Durnik. It introduces the villain. The fly lands in the ointment here. Hints of Garion’s identity are introduced here. I wouldn’t mind a place at their table this season.
2. The Forest Moon of Endor: Who could resist the furry teddy bears? I know I can’t. These guys really know how to throw a party. Bonfires, storytelling, and good food and music. A holiday party to thoroughly enjoy, these Ewoks would throw. Count me in.
3. Allanmere: Anne Logston‘s Shadow books are set in this city. Elves and humans live side by side and Shadow has friends all over the city. The city is a cultural hub with exotic people and rulers. Friendly folks and diverse shops abound. A holiday here would be a treat.
4. The Cheysuli Camp in Homana: In Jennifer Roberson’s Cheysuli books, the native people live in nomadic camps that have a real sense of community. Their customs and powers would be very neat to observe. If allowed in to their community, the loyalty and cooperation they have with each other would be great to be a part of, even if only for a few days.
5. Adam’s House: This place exists not far from my current location in a parallel universe discovered by Patricia Briggs in her Mercy Thompson books. I’d like to find the ticket to that dimension so that I could spin by Adam’s house, if I could find a way to get him to accept me around his pack. They also know how to have a party and they are very tolerant of differences. Being a part of the pack for a day or two, watching Mercy and Adam dance around each other, and seeing magic in my home town would be a totally awesome way to spend the holidays.

How ’bout you? Where would you go for the holidays if you had a genie to grant you a wish that would send you there?

        

I love December. The holidays are almost here. Snow is far more likely to fall in my corner of the world, even more likely in January. I wake up and rush to the window to check the ground and then the clouds to see if those wonderful white flakes have fallen or might be falling soon. Usually my Christmas shopping is almost done–this year I am horribly behind. Christmas decoration are everywhere. And my birthday is just around the corner.

I feel like a kid at this time of year. Very excited about the season and anxious to see what might happen. Plans are being made to see family or at least talk to them if travel arrangements aren’t in the cards. Everything sparkles–not the way Edward does, more like white twinkling lights. Everything is magical.

Magical. That is how this time of year always feels to me. Like maybe there really are unicorns in the woods, fairies and elves in the gardens, and wizards and witches living among us.

Sounds like Halloween, right?

Not for me. Halloween has never had that sense of magic in it for me. Sure it’s fun and a great way to mark the season. But it lacks magic.

What part of the year feels magical to you?

        

In no particular order, here are 10 roguely types I am thankful for. I am grateful I had a run in with them either in the pages of a book or on the screen, big or small. They are fun and exciting and have contributed to my love of the snarky not-so-law-abiding characters.

1. Phillipe the Mouse from Ladyhawke.  From that first scene where we see him chattering away to himself and God while making his escape from an inescapable prison, Matthew Broderick as Phillipe captured my attention and my adoration. If you are wondering where Mouse got her name it was from this character.
2. Silk from David Edding’s Belgariad and Mallorean.  Silk mastered the arts of disguise, lockpicking, pick pocketting, corrupting the young and he did it all with a flair that left him my favorite character in a series of ten books full of so many interesting characters.
3. Han Solo from Star Wars. Who says rogues can only be in european fantasies? I certainly don’t. Han Solo with his blaster at his side and that crooked grin is my favorite rogue in space. So what if he can’t pick pockets (that I know of) or pick locks. He gets into plenty of trouble without those skills and watching him try to get out is something I have loved to do since I was a wee child.
4. Malcom Reynolds AKA Mal from Serenity/Firefly. The only reason Han is my favorite rogue in space is that I’ve known him longer. Mal holds a very very close second place in my heart. Mal has attitude and flair that is attention grabbing from the beginning. Watching his confidence leak away when confronted with a woman, Inara, is so much fun that I kept hoping for more of those scenes.
5. Sydney Bristow from Alias. Ok, so Sydney didn’t have the snarky attitude most of the rogues on this list have but she was so cool in her many disguises and spies are such close cousins to rogues that I had to include her. I rewatch the Alias seasons about every six months I adore the character so much. She had mad skills and so many obstacles to her dreams that I love watching her journey through it all to the happy ending she so much deserves.
6. Max Guevara from Dark Angel. Max had the snarky attitude, the world outlook that said theft was just part of a healthy economy, and enough selfishness to make her a world-class rogue. She was also genetically engineered to make her really good at it. While the second season of this series (with the exception of Jensen Ackles) irritated me with its complete change of direction, I love the first season. Logan’s attempts to make Max into a heroine are a joy to see.
7. FitzChivalry FarSeer AKA Fitz from Robin Hobb‘s The FarSeer Trilogy and beyond. We get to see Fitz learn how to become an assassin under the tutelage of Chade and once he starts mastering those skills his life gets more complicated. At the end of the first trilogy I felt so sorry for this character for everything that he had to sacrifice and endure. He lacks snark but he is a hero with skills with poison, sword, and sneaking. This rogue is one I feel so sorry for that I don’t want to leave him alone in his world. I have to visit to keep him company as he goes through his trials.
8. Kylar Stern from Brent Weeks‘ Night Angel Trilogy. Kylar is an assassin, a wetboy if you will. He is also an orphan like Fitz but instead of growing up in a castle being trained there he grows up in the slums. Kylar is trained by Durzo Blint who has plenty of his own secrets of his own. No snark but a conscience, Kylar chose the field of assassination as a way to escape his life on the streets and rides that very bumpy road to the end. And I couldn’t put the books down until he got there.
9. Hanse Shadowspawn from the Thieves World series.  Hanse had attitude, stealth, nimble fingers, and mystery. He was a the ultimate second-story man and his stories were my favorites in this series.
10. Seregil from Lynn Flewelling‘s Nightrunner books. Seregil has aliases, a way with a set of lockpicks, a trick for dealing with pesky guard dogs, and snark enough to light up a suite of rooms. He is part spy, part rogue, and all fun. And he may be showing up on the big screen soon too. So very cool.

That’s it. My list of 10 rogues I am thankful for this holiday season. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. What roguely types are you thankful for?

        

Happy 13th everyone!

I love the number 13. Now. I have many reasons to. Two of my children were born on the 13th of their respective months. My oldest graduates highschool in the class of 2013. And I love the idea that perfectly sane and reasonable people can have a fear of a date or number. It makes my phobias seem so much more…normal.

I am a drama geek, or rather I was. In the theater there are so many superstitions, so many I can’t remember them all. The first play I participated in was that Scottish one. You know the one I mean. Yeah, that one. I thought it was so funny how so many people avoided calling the play by name. The contortions folks went through with their words to avoid it, especially in the auditorium itself, were gargantuan and hilarious.

Another superstition I participated in was that of saying “break a leg” instead of “good luck.” Good luck is apparently bad luck but breaking a leg is good luck. It is all very confusing. And I never know if I should say break a leg or good luck to someone who is about to go perform in some other venue or be interviewed or some other pursuit like that. So I usually say both and tell them to take the one they prefer with them.

I had a drama coach in college who cancelled all his classes and refused to leave his house on Friday the 13th. He said he had been in two car accidents on the 13th and a number of other bad things had happened. I suspected his nervousness about the date had more of a contribution to his disasters than any box on a calendar. I played along. As a drama geek I had to blend in right?

These days I use locker 13 at work to store my stuff and I pick 13 when someone asks me to pick a number, any number.

So Happy Friday the 13th to all of you out there. Whether you are hiding under your bed for the day or venturing outside to embrace it. Break a leg.