Margaret's February Nearly Monthly News!
Happy February! The shortest month is a little longer this year, but that's no excuse for a lengthy intro.
On to the news!
From My Desk
In keeping with our theme of brevity, I have a new short story out! "So Much More Fun," is a flash piece about two fairies and an unusual changeling. It appears in the anthology, 99 Fleeting Fantasies, available as an eBook on a wide variety of platforms and in paperback from Amazon.
This collection is what it says on the tin: 99 stories, all less than 1,000 words long, by 99 different authors. It's an honor to share a table of contents with so many amazing writers. (Who alas, I do not have space to name in such a short newsletter.) I'm told there will be a Kickstarter to fund a hardcover and a (faux) leather-bound edition soon, so watch this space for details!
What I'm Reading and Watching
During a recent D&D game, in which our party fought a very large and very vicious chicken god, one player brought up "The Hoboken Chicken Emergency" by Daniel and Jill Pinkwater. Naturally, as soon as I heard that title, I had to read the book. Fortunately for Hoboken, Henrietta the 266 pound chicken is generally friendly, and the book is a delight. If you're familiar with Daniel Pinkwater's work, you know what you're getting into. If you're not, you're in for a treat.
On the film side, my quest to get back into the habit of using my AMC A-List membership continues. So far this year, I've used it to see nine films, bringing me just a little closer to making the largest theater chain in the United States regret the generous terms of their subscription program. One February standout was The Taste of Things. (Written and directed by Anh Hung Tran. Based on the novel The Passionate Epicure by Marcel Rouff.) Following in the footsteps of Babette's Feast and Big Night, it is a more than worthy addition to the canon of "I'm just here for the food" films.
From the Cutting Room Floor of the Duolingo Dystopia
This month, Duo finally makes it clear where we stand with each other:
Really, Duo, this is what I get after nearly 2000 days in a row?!
And That's the Nearly Monthly News!
Short newsletter for a short month. Comments? Questions? Drop me a line! Otherwise, I'll see you in March!