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Diane Duane

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Author of the "Young Wizards" novels, the "Middle Kingdoms" series, and of various works in other universes such as Star Trek.
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Diane Duane at Windows Live Space

For those interested: Chapter Seven of "The Big Meow" now online for subscribers

Friends,

Chapter Seven is here! It's linked to from the normal TBM subscriber gateway page. The same old username and password that worked for previous chapters will get you in. (If you can't find your login info, email me and I'll send it out to you pronto.) HTML and PDF versions are there right now --  the mobile .prc versions will go up in due course, as soon as we receive the conversions.

If you're not a subscriber, the chapter will go public on the 28th of the month. Look for the link to its gateway page in the left-hand menu at the project page at http://www.the-big-meow.com. (And for those of you who might feel inclined to subscribe, the subscription button is at the top of the left-hand column, along with info about what you get.)

To those of you who've been waiting so long... I'm deeply sorry for the delay. I'm going back on the old one-chapter-per-three-weeks schedule: Chapter Eight will be going up in mid-August. Additionally, the book has become a couple of chapters longer in the course of being restructured -- check the project schedule for the anticipated posting dates.

Thanks again, everybody, so very much, for your patience during this crazed and difficult time. More info shortly.

 

Cake

This ad apparently premiered in the UK the day before my birthday, and the minute I saw it, I fell in love with it.
 
The love falls roughly into three parts: (a) The basic conceit of the ad. (b) The nuts and bolts of the production (i.e., trying to figure out how much of the construction really happened and how much only seemed to). [Update: it all happened. See below.] (c) Some of the little details (the licorice windshield wipers and fan belt, the gelatin brakelights, the royal-icing detailing, the guy pouring golden syrup into a gingerbread crankcase...).
 
Altogether a yummy piece of work, and the ad agency should be proud of itself / themselves.
 
 
 
The basic ingredients: 10kg white chocolate chunks | 20kg raisins | 3kg orange peel strips
25kg dried apricot | 12.5kg raspberry jam | 5kg cocoa powder
100kg wheat flour | 180 fresh eggs | 100kg caster sugar | 90kg brown sugar paste
50kg icing sugar | 40kg black sugar paste | 20kg glacier cherries
50kg white sugar paste | 30kg brown almonds | 42kg chocolate fudge

EDIT: There is "making of..." info here at one of the Skoda UK websites.
 
Also, see these news stories (or check them out if you have trouble getting the above URL to load:

For St. Patrick's Day: a new real Irish recipe every day

I should have mentioned this earlier, but it's been busy...

We've been doing an Irish recipe festival over at EuropeanCuisines.com: a new traditional Irish recipe every day until March 17th. If you're looking for something to make for the upcoming holiday, stop by and see if there's something that suits you. (Check the top of the left-hand column: the day-by-day list is there.)

Also, the rant about corned beef and cabbage not being the Irish national dish at all now has its own home over there, so I can stop posting about it here every year.

Now back to work...

Aww, thanks, folks!


A nice mention of The Empty Chair this morning at the Albany TimesUnion books blog. Thanks, Michael: thanks, Eleanor! And regards from an expat New Yorker.
 
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