Link, Spring

Politics + The Sandman = AWESOME.

I went to the farmer's market this morning, as I do, generally, on Saturdays, sad as it is this time of year. Winter in the north means that nothing exciting is growing locally, so the only offerings are the things that are done indoors- cheese and bread, mostly- or the root vegetables- onions and carrots and potatoes and parsnips. Which are all good, I grant you, but when I compare them to what's there in summer- ripe, red tomatoes and tiny sweet strawberries and dusty grapes- a parsnip is, well, sort of boring. It's been a winter where I've felt guilty about complaining, because it hasn't been very cold. Snow has been infrequent and even when it fell it didn't last, and it's hard to whine about freezing when the temperature's been above the freezing point much more often than not.

But today! For the first time this year, I saw that they'd brought the flowers out. All the earliest spring ones; daffodils and crocuses and tulips, in yellow and purple and pink and blue and white, and green of course, the bright new grass-green of leaves and shoots. Every color that the winter products don't have. It made me happy.

Imaginary Beasts: Book 07

imaginarybeasts is "a bi-monthly webzine dedicated to original fiction of the oneshot variety". Anyone may participate, whether you would like to write, make visual art, volunteer to help with beta'ing, or, most importantly, read and review the stories. The authors and artists need love, people.

Each edition, or "book", has a theme; February's was a special double theme of "Science" and "Magic". My favorites:

Take Wing on Sundays by loika. A gorgeous piece of art. I love the slick style of this, but even more so all the details of the world implied in it. Gorgeous.

The World Is No Longer Green by rei_kurasaki. A really fascinating piece about forest spirits in a world that doesn't believe in them. So much sharper by the end than I thought at the beginning.

At Times, Science Can Seem Like Magic by redplasticglass and vonbrigthi. Another art piece! What can I say, they were really excellent this time. This piece just makes me want to stare and stare at it, to see all the details. An absolutely brilliant melding of the two themes.

The Tale of Colonel Blackheart and the Voodoo Zombie Tigers by xahra99. Hee! I do adore people who can write humor well. This is such a spot-on parody of all the action cartoons I watched on Saturday mornings when I was little.

You can read all of the stories and see all of the art here. The next theme will be Gendertwist, and you can sign up here (post locked to community members), though unfortunately I have been late writing this review and you only have till the 9th to finish your story.

Remember to comment on anything you read!