tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59810408206652306612011-12-23T16:06:11.787-08:00Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-28566554376787688292010-10-13T12:37:00.001-07:002010-10-13T12:39:15.017-07:00

Since I'm still getting some traffic over here, I thought I'd give a heads up.My new site is live at http://www.sarahmorayati.com -- my reviews and essays can be found there as well, including 2010 IF Comp reviews. This site will no longer be updated, and I'll be closing it probably within the year to keep away the vultures and bots. Hope to see you there!

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-41346690807650686622010-09-15T13:58:00.001-07:002010-09-15T13:58:31.546-07:00

This is the fifth of a now-thirteen-part series reviewing the short stories in Kate Atkinson's 2002 collection of short stories, Not the End of the World. In this particular story, "Sheer Big Waste of Love": shiny toy airplanes and the sound of stilettos on a stone road.Spoilers are inside as per usual, for this and all previous stories. There are probably also some spoilers for Greek mythology,

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-11685550687825121652010-08-03T13:02:00.000-07:002010-08-03T13:03:29.138-07:00

This is the fourth of a twelve (maybe thirteen?)-part series reviewing the short stories in Kate Atkinson's 2002 collection of short stories, Not the End of the World. In this particular story, "Dissonance": Machine Head and Mahler, Slipknot and Mozart, and all sorts of dissonant chords.Spoilers are inside as per usual, for this and all previous stories. I am also attempting to get back on

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-9973578275238645052010-07-26T18:21:00.000-07:002010-07-28T13:16:57.512-07:00

This is the third of a twelve-part series reviewing the short stories in Kate Atkinson's 2002 collection of short stories, Not the End of the World. In this particular story, "Transparent Fiction": all-American girls, scores of cousins and a life-giving cloak of feathers and scales. Spoilers inside, but none for after this story.Previous reviews:Charlene and Trudi Go ShoppingTunnel of

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-85918083361798506552010-07-12T20:09:00.001-07:002010-07-27T11:48:34.073-07:00

This is the second of a twelve-part series reviewing the short stories in Kate Atkinson's 2002 collection of short stories, Not the End of the World. In this particular story: Greek gods, geek gods, and a fish made of blue-and-white marble.Again, spoilers for this particular story, retroactive spoilers for everything before (that'd be only "Charlene and Trudi Go Shopping" at this point, though.)

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-50691146925351688962010-07-02T21:25:00.001-07:002010-07-03T06:55:09.310-07:00

This is the first of a twelve-part series reviewing the short stories in Kate Atkinson's 2002 collection of short stories, Not the End of the World. In this particular story: goat cheese farming, exploding ATMs and mirrored-glass globes where nothing but the sky is reflected.Spoiler warning in effect, obviously. I'm reading these one story at a time, though, so this goes both ways; if there's

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-28163712537206807182010-06-07T12:26:00.001-07:002010-06-07T12:57:46.563-07:00

Last year, I told myself I'd read fifty books, as part of a friendly competition with some others. It didn't work out quite that way; I fell short. Embarrassingly short. So short I'm not going to tell you how short it was. It was double digits, at least.This year I didn't even try. You could make an argument about what I'm replacing books with, except it isn't, say, CDs; I've only bought three

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-42864513561359607692010-06-07T08:59:00.001-07:002010-06-07T08:59:42.002-07:00

(Suggested music for this post: The KT Bush Band - Come Together. Thanks to woj for the link.)I'm on all counts the target audience for Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory by Deborah Withers. I've been a Kate Bush fan for years ever since I was shanghaied in. Not directly, but back in the days when my musical tastes were Sarah Brightman and not much else, I was reading a few comparisons, and it

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-6840231996958439132009-08-21T10:29:00.000-07:002009-08-22T17:54:06.016-07:00

By my counts, I read more than 2,000 pages on vacation. Two thousand pages, spread across five books. This shouldn't be as surprising as it is. The people at the airport, both going and returning, were skeptical when I claimed there was nothing but books in my laptop bag. (Of course, this probably has less to do with the presence of books than the absence of a laptop, which I did indeed manage,

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-11052230590796613112009-06-30T09:26:00.001-07:002009-07-05T17:07:54.284-07:00

The reviewer who recommended Michel Faber to me (based on liking "The Observations" by Jane Harris) deserves a medal. This is what reviews are for. Not for coming up with the most exquisite, wittysnarkycool turns of phrase - this may be my rationalizing my poor writing as of late - but for discovering joy and sharing it with others. I am filled with joy. So: Medal. An imaginary one, alas; I'm no

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-14715927017925325252009-06-18T17:52:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:46:07.015-07:00

To Kessler it seemed that two wind-blown angels had tumbled down from heaven and were moving towards the steps. The figures of these angels now stood in momentary disorientation, reaching out with helpless arms towards one another through windy clouds of snow, veils, shawls and scarves that altogether gave the appearance of large unfolded wings.In case you somehow didn't know, there are a lot of

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-79460582929243026522008-12-26T20:44:00.001-08:002008-12-27T15:32:59.345-08:00

2008 was a weird year for me.If I construct this list strictly by what I liked most in 2008, then Kristin Hersh's _Speedbath_ would take the first-place spot and probably second and third as well. Saying that I loved that album would be an understatement. It's grafted onto me. This isn't hyperbole. Kristin's mentioned in one of her blogs that she's out to make "sounds that enrich one's inner life

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-70370104093975560222008-12-09T07:26:00.000-08:002008-12-18T01:46:13.378-08:00

This was the reason for my trip to Chicago, as anyone who's spoken to me in the past few months knows. (Sorry, everyone. I promise I'll have more than two conversation topics again.) The concert itself was amazing. I went with a friend at the University of Chicago, Before, I met up with some TMO folks at the Grafton. Making it to the place was difficult enough because the neighborhood is

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-55717673466397744072008-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:002008-11-07T16:07:30.953-08:00

This is a review of a game in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition. This text is so spoilers do not show up in the RSS feed. That would be less than polite. The feed is set to truncated, not full. You should only be seeing this paragraph, not the review itself. By the way, there are SPOILERS in the review. I repeat, SPOILERS. Do not read on if you do not want spoilers. You have been warned.

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-26652213413319587052008-10-11T21:52:00.001-07:002008-10-12T16:13:57.036-07:00

This is a review of a game in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition. This text is so spoilers do not show up in the RSS feed. That would be less than polite. The feed is set to truncated, not full. You should only be seeing this paragraph, not the review itself. By the way, there are SPOILERS in the review. I repeat, SPOILERS. Do not read on if you do not want spoilers. You have been

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-58297379980736529852008-10-08T20:25:00.000-07:002008-10-08T21:11:14.339-07:00

This is a review of a game in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition. This text is so spoilers do not show up in the RSS feed. That would be less than polite. The feed is set to truncated, not full. You should only be seeing this paragraph, not the review itself. By the way, there are SPOILERS in the review. I repeat, SPOILERS. Do not read on if you do not want spoilers. You have been

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981040820665230661.post-59421994852236633412008-10-05T22:53:00.000-07:002008-10-06T16:04:02.012-07:00

This is a review of a game in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition. This text is so spoilers do not show up in the RSS feed. That would be less than polite. The feed is set to truncated, not full. You should only be seeing this paragraph, not the review itself. By the way, there are SPOILERS in the review. I repeat, SPOILERS. Do not read on if you do not want spoilers. You have been

Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13548169892834605417noreply@blogger.com1