Ah, the Holidays. A time when I won't get any work done.

I'm almost finished with House of Chains, the fourth Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. The series is really quite amazing. I have to say, so far the second and third are the best. I don't think the fourth lives up to it for the simple reason that he's gotten too scattered and esoteric. Good? Yes, still, very very much so. For any writer of avid reader, I highly recommend these books.

I got a rejection from WoTF today for The Manor at Scharling Lew. However, I was ranked in the quartefinalist, which puts me in the top 10-15% from last quarter. I think I can be reasonably proud of that.

I'm sending Manor and Envoy back out in three or four days, Manor to F&Sf and Envoy to WoTF. Seems like a good thing to do. I'm still working on Sassa Hin, mostly because I've been too busy with finals, reading Erikson, and playing Civ 4 to actually get any writing done. Oh well, I will finish it soon.

Also, I've put together a portfolio of writing samples from my freshman writing class, two years ago, that I'm sending to an Ohio contest that my mother made me aware of.