Ta-da! Cover reveal, HONOR LOST, coming in Feb 2020
Tumblr seems like the right place to put this account since the Spanish word for earthquake is temblor.
It all started Sunday night when I was relaxing in the den with my family. The day had been sunny and fantastically mellow, great weather, sunny skies, but suddenly, it got dark really fast, and the sky had this sickly green hue, kind of a greenish yellow. I already had a bad feeling as the storm broke. I’d seen skies like that during bad tropical storms, but we don’t live in the tropics.
Mexico City is at a tremendously highly altitude, higher than Denver, and we have a temperate climate. There’s no winter here, only rainy season, and that didn’t used to mean monsoon and ice at the same time. Times, they are a-changing.
This storm Sunday came on hard, deluging us in so much rain that you couldn’t see over the mountain, and the trees were bent nearly double in the wind, the worst storm I’d seen in 13 years of living here. Lightning split the sky in silver jags and thunder boomed, terrifying our poor ginger cat. I’d never seen so much water come down so fast and then it started hailing, so fast and hard, that it was a fucking white Xmas all over my garden. In September!!
I got concerned about my office and said to my son, “Could you check if the windows are closed?”
They weren’t, but it didn’t matter. That was the least of our problems. The ice stuck. It clogged all the drains that are supposed to divert water safely into the creek out back..
A few minutes later, Alek came down. “Your office is flooding. I need some help.”
Thus began our eight hour saga, battling the water. It rapidly filled my office, turning it into a pool, and spread down the main staircase. Andres went out to shovel ice, but the water and ice came too fast. Soon we had water coming in from the terrace adjacent to the living room, flooding in two directions. I bailed and mopped and used every dry blanket in the house, trying to keep some areas dry. My husband and son quit earlier than I did; I fought the water until 3AM, at which point, I surrendered to nature and went to bed, miserable but glad I’d at least managed to keep our bedrooms dry.
My office is fucked and is being repaired now. We have some problems with floors/ ceilings. Thankfully, we had no carpet, so our tile held up pretty well. We got a team in and the house is more or less dried out as of today, if not fixed. We’re also taking precautions in case of another flash flood / freak ice storm.
Climate change is real. This shit had never happened before. We had no reason to worry about ICE STORMS here. Normally, we get the occasional thunderstorm or a cold snap, nothing like this. Generally, the days are sunny, temperature ranging between 55 and 88F.
So anyway, I’m taking care of house stuff today and it’s around 1PM. I’m grubby from chores, so to be perfectly honest, I was naked in my bathroom when the earthquake hit, about to take a shower. The whole house rocked and swayed, so hard I fell over. Lucky I didn’t crack my head open.
I did not shower. I got dressed quickly and rushed up to check out the situation, find my pets, etc. I also started messaging friends and family in the city. Phone lines were down; cell towers fell. My kid was evacuated from school and put on the sports field to wait.
Eventually I was told I needed to go pick him up since buses weren’t running. Traffic was hell and cell service spotty as I went from my house to school. Damage in our area is minimal, but I’m getting reports that the university building my daughter’s friend attends split in half. I was really scared, though, because driving after an earthquake is not a great idea. Roads can be unstable. Bridges fall. But I made it back home after retrieving my son from school.
We are all safe. Our house is relatively okay, but there will need to be more work done after the quake. My son’s school is canceled for the time being.
This concludes my report. Please keep others in your thoughts, especially in other areas of Mexico City, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracuz, etc, as they are very frightened and have lost so much in a short time.
Thank you.
Ann Aguirre
This is the amazing cover art for the YA SF book I wrote with Rachel Caine. It’s about a girl in love with a sentient space ship. Yes, it’s awesome.
Jacket copy, more info, brief excerpt available here:
http://www.annaguirre.com/archives/2017/06/21/amazing-cover-art-reveal/
Ranting About Feminism: It’s racist for you to ask me to overlook no diversity. And I’m not fucking doing it.
I don’t know how many of you guys know about it but this new movie, “Mad Max” just came out and has already reached critical acclaim. I haven’t seen it , but it’s supposed to be this groundbreaking masterpiece and a huge step for feminism. Which is all good and dandy In…
(via fangirljeanne)
This is So Ji Sub, followed by Chris Wu, Jiro Wang, and Mike He.
If you didn’t understand my K & T drama obsession, you get it now, right?
So I’ve been asked more than once to make a list of my favorites, usually on Twitter, and it’s impossible to recommend any reputable list in 140 characters or list. So I’m posting this and will be updating it as I watch more dramas. Mind you, this is personal taste only, so what I love may leave you cold. One caveat: there are tons of awesome historical and period dramas but I have been unable to get into any of them. I’ve also watched some J-drama but my great loves have come out of Korea & Taiwan/China. Sorry, J-Drama.
Without further ado, here are the dramas I’ve really loved, ranked in no particular order, just logged as I thought of them.
From Korea:
This was one of the first dramas I watched, shortly after Alisha Rai got me hooked on You’re Beautiful, which is cracktastic, but for various reasons, I prefer the Taiwanese version, Fabulous Boys (not least of which is Jiro Wang). TMS is everything you could want in a drama: romance, mystery, intrigue, a touch of horror and pathos, plus an exquisitely satisfying end. If that’s not enough, the chemistry between So Ji Sub & Gong Hyo Jin is incredible. Plus it’s written by the famed Hong sisters.
This drama isn’t as well-known as some, so you might find it on some “most underrated” drama lists. The beginning is a little odd and goofy, but if you stick with it, Kim Sun-ah & Cha Seung Won deliver the most heartwrenching forbidden romance, and their kisses, OMG, the sizzle. There’s one scene where the hero says, “I’ll die if she leaves me & she’ll die if she stays,” and it’s just… ALL THE FEELS. Trust me. Check it out.
This drama is a little uneven and TBH I watched it because of Cha Seung Won & Gong Hyo Jin. It’s also written by the Hong sisters. The heroine’s character bothered me a little, but the romance carried the day in the end. A love strong enough to save someone’s life? I’ll buy that for ten thousand won. (Which is a little less than ten bucks, I could afford to pay more).
In fiction I’ve always loved the heroine in man-drag trope, which this drama has in spades. The tension is amazing as the hero tries to figure out why he has all these unsettling feeling for a kid he wants desperately to regard as a younger brother. But where this drama shines is this: the hero decides he doesn’t give a fuck what gender this person is. And then it’s GAME ON. The kissing is off the charts, and the hero thinks he’s making out with a dude. So much <3.
This is billed as an addictive romantic comedy, and that’s not far off the mark. It’s kind of a romance of misadventures, where everything springs from a white lie. It’s all very charming and unexpectedly touching. If you have any lingering doubts, search for “cola kiss” on YouTube. So adorable & hot. This is definitely a feel-good drama.
I found this one randomly and hadn’t heard anything about it, but it turned out to be unexpectedly delightful. It’s of the “contract” romance variety, but it’s also very heartfelt. I loved both the hero and heroine and I was rooting for them to get their happy ending.
I started this one and hated the hero’s personal style so much that I gave up. But reading reviews convinced me to give it another go, and I’m glad I did. This is a strange story with a CEO hero and a stuntwoman heroine (woot!) and there’s some mysterious body-swapping, which is hilarious. Once the drama really gets going, you’ll be amazed at how moving it is toward the end.
This drama got TONS of hype and I was reluctant to watch it for that reason alone. Usually mad popular material misses the mark with me. But recently I decided to give it a go, and I totally get this phenom. Everything about it was nuanced and beautiful and the emotional journey for both hero and heroine was top-notch. I’d recommend it for anyone who wants something romantic, intense, and different.
This one is dark, darkity-dark. It’s about a man who falls in love with the woman who went to prison for killing his lover. I don’t want to tell you more but don’t watch if you’re not up for some serious weeping and intense moments. I loved it but the drama definitely pushes some boundaries. It’s raw and unforgettable.
This is “the most passionate and twisted drama of all time”. Since I haven’t seen all dramas, I can’t swear to that but I will say it’s on the dark side, as it deals with real obsession. It also introduced me to Eric Moon & I went down the rabbit hole of looking up everything he’s done. Sadly nothing was as intense as this; he does OTT obsession really well. It’s kind of shivery-awful-irresistible.
Sweet. That’s what this drama was for me. They kind of re-made the premise in Flower Boy Ramen Shop but I like this version better. Gong Yoo is adorable as a school boy head over heels for his substitute teacher. They both look so young that there’s no squick factor for me. There were a lot of times when I just wanted to hug the heck out of the hero.
What this drama does spectacularly well is flip gender roles. The hero suffers from various anxieties & the heroine is tough. Their chemistry is lovely, and the sisterhood in this puts a smile on my face. I enjoyed how fresh this felt, somewhat comparable to Secret Garden in some respects, but without the paranormal trappings.
A very different sort of drama! Action, suspense, mystery, and a romance that I could snuggle up with endlessly. It had some of the most skinship scenes of any K-drama I’ve watched, and I believed the two leads were desperately in love. I won’t tell you more about the actual plot, but this is a must-watch.
I was lured into watching this one because it had a tragic backstory and a mysterious doppelganger situation and it ended up being just lovely. I recognized the lead actress from a supporting role in My Lovely Sam Soon, which was good but not quite fabulous enough to make my must-watch list. I ended up loving this a lot and becoming briefly obsessed with Kim Rae Won.
Another underrated drama, one most people haven’t heard of, and I watched it because of the lead actress from the above drama, Jung Ryeo Won. I wanted to see more of her and in HoaS she plays an unforgettable, foulmouthed heroine. She’s loud, she’s brash, she’s awful and yet you can’t help but love and root for her. The drama itself is basically corporate satire edged with mystery. Highly recommend.
Another sleeper, about a single mother whose daughter is HIV positive. It’s a real tearjerker but it’s positive and hopeful too. I watched because I love Gong Hyo Jin and I had recently become fascinated with Jang Hyuk but I didn’t want to watch a historical drama or one where he dies horribly. I can’t give enough thumbs up to this one, so poignant, thoughtful and deep.
The ultimate noona-killer drama. I’ve seen tons of them because I like the older woman-younger man trope, but this is the best of the bunch, no matter how I rate them. Lee Jong Suk is beyond adorable and his devotion to the heroine will take your breath away. There’s also a fantastic mystery & villain that raises the stakes in a visceral way.
I watched the Taiwanese version first but this is better. Jang Hyuk made me a fan; he was far more lovable than Ethan Ruan, whose character was just so mean to the heroine for most of the drama that I couldn’t root for the HEA when it finally arrived. The story was a little more compelling, too. Also? Heartbreaking. A great watch.
Lee Min Ho is supposed to be the ultimate K-drama hottie, but he doesn’t usually ring my bell. This drama was fun, though, not least because the heroine thinks he’s gay for a large portion of it, even after he’s realized that he is crazy in love with her. The kissing scenes are red-hot btw. Watch if you want hijinks and misunderstandings a-plenty.
From Taiwan:
Two words: Chris Wu. I could WATCH anything with this man in it. I’ve watched some really bad dramas just for him. He reminds me of Joseph Gordon Levitt for some reason. But this particular drama is awesome. It has a cold, arrogant prince-type hero and a Kimmy Schmidt-style heroine, plus it’s about rock & roll in Taiwan. How could it be better?
This drama is OTT & often makes no sense, but shut up, IT HAS CHRIS WU. There’s the inexplicable doppelganger trope, and the weird quasi-incest thing going on, and apparently Chris Wu was not supposed to get the girl but the audience loved him SO MUCH that the writers changed the script. Take that, James Wen.
This has Chris Wu too but he doesn’t get the girl, and your heart will break for him. But don’t despair, the chemistry between Vanness Wu & Ady An is off the charts. You want them together. Your heart breaks. There’s serious illness, a secret baby, amnesia, very damn thing. This drama is visual crack.
Mike He is the best kisser in Taiwan. That’s pretty much my whole rationale for sticking with this drama to the end. Others will tell you they liked Devil Beside You better, but I prefer WWL in the Rainie/Mike pairing. These two are good together, no joke, and seeing the relationship build from hate to love is adorable. Warning: some tears may fall.
A hot mess. This one starts fresh & original and quickly becomes insane. I stuck with it because Peter Ho & Janine Chang’s chemistry made me not care about the plot. Sidenote: these are rumored to be dating in real life, so no wonder they threw such sparks on camera. That alone makes it worth seeing.
One of the most original dramas I have ever watched. It’s about a pregnant woman who ends up with three men wanting to be her baby daddy. I must admit, I didn’t love the guy who ultimately gets the girl, but the story is just so rich and layered and the friendships formed here are peerless.
Better for me than You’re Beautiful, but that may be because I would much rather watch Jiro Wang than almost anyone else. Basic plot is, a novice nun has to pretend to be her twin brother in a boy band. Hijinks and romance ensue, desperately and awkwardly. It’s awesome.
More Jiro Wang. This drama is SO meta. It’s about a washed up T-pop star and a drama screenwriter, and it’s just ALL the things. This is the best thing, by far, that I’ve seen Jiro in. It runs a bit long and some of the best bits come early, but I just love it so much, I could fic it.
Mike He. Kissing. This drama almost killed me with feels. Forbidden love. Heartache. Infidelity. And Mike’s chemistry with Cyndi Wang, when they finally get together, is INSANE. There’s one scene where he kisses her like he’ll die if he doesn’t. I. Melt.
Sweet and tender. I enjoyed this one, but not as much as LKG. It’s more Mike He, but he doesn’t sizzle with Janine like Peter H does. In some ways it reminds me of Fated to Love You but the story is even more complicated, if that’s possible. Definitely worth a look.
Yes, it’s Mike He again. I LOVE HIM, OKAY? Really sweet and unexpectedly hilarious. I never would’ve expected Ady An to have such comic timing after her melodramatic body of work elsewhere. But this is great with some surprise twists and tropes that are very surprising.
Basically, I love Chris Wu, Jiro Wang, & Mike He (shown in order below). I’ll watch almost anything for these three. YMMV.
Honorable Mention, Thailand:
I actually didn’t like the Korean version of Full House, though it had Rain in it. The Thai version is better, hotter, more tightly plotted, more poignant. If you can find it, watch this instead.
Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red.—
Kait Rokowski (via lacasaenlaluna)
<3 this
(via roselerner)
— Melissa McCarthy continues to be my absolute hero at life.At the Toronto Fillm Festival last September, a critic who had written a particularly vicious review of Tammy approached [Melissa] McCarthy to praise the new movie she was there to promote, St. Vincent. “Are you the one who wrote I was only a good actor when I looked more attractive and that my husband should never be allowed to direct me because he allowed me to look so homely?” she asked him.
He admitted he was. “Would you say that to any guy?” she continued. “When John C. Reilly—or any actor—is playing a character that is depressed and dejected, would you say, ‘Well, you look terrible!’?” She asked the critic if he had a daughter. He did. “Watch what you say to her,” she told him. “Do you tell her she’s only worthwhile or valid when she’s pretty?”
McCarthy doesn’t often speak out about the sexism in Hollywood and the media. But it’s apparent that she’s been thinking about it. A lot. “It’s an intense sickness,” she says.
(via agentofssr)
This first picture is my cat, Darius Crooktail. He has a crown because he’s the emperor of everything. Obvsly.
Second kitty is Dominic Dredd.
I’m posting cat pics cos isn’t that what I’m supposed to do on Tumblr?
If we are to have a feminist YA, we must write about all the girls, not just the ones that are “likeable”. Because “likeable” is just another way of prescribing a right way to be a girl. Because girls and women are complicated and deep and layered and messy and infinitely fascinating. Because if male characters are allowed to be those things and still be worthy of reading, so should female characters. Because I don’t want to read just one kind of woman. Because I don’t want to be one kind of woman. Because if we do not give our female characters the right to be all kinds of women, how do we expect our readers to know they have that right, too?— from On Being a Feminist YA Author and Daring to Write “Unlikable” by Amy Reed (via catagator)