Originally posted on Associated Content. Check it out there and leave me some feedback.

Ash is the first book by new author Malinda Lo, a retelling of the Cinderella story with the dark influence of Celtic faerie mythology and several new twists.

Aisling, called Ash for short, is the Cinderella analogue of the story, and the book begins traditionally with Ash beside her mother’s grave. The first few chapters establish a world locked in an ideological battle
between reason and the old ways of magic and fairies; Ash’s mother was firmly on the side of magic, and passed along to her daughter a fascination with fairy stories. Against the lessons of every fairy story she’s heard, Ash goes to her mother’s grave in the middle of the night and meets Sidhean, a dark and seductive prince of the fairies.

As the rest of the Cinderella elements fall into place, complete with evil stepmother and stepsisters, Ash clings more and more tightly to memories of Sidhean and the fairy world. She begs the prince to take her away to the fairy kingdom where she can live the life of songs and dancing and escape the clutches of her stepmother. His response is always the same: “It is not the right time.”

Enter Kaisa, the King’s Huntress and a strong young woman who begins to heal Ash’s wounded heart. They become friends slowly over several chance encounters, and Ash soon finds herself torn between the woman who pulled her out of her downward spiral and the fairy prince she is beholden to.

Lo’s first novel is dark and atmospheric, with lush prose that fully draws the reader into a world of dangerous magic. Though the writing is lovely, the storytelling is hollow; the book lacks momentum, the characters are largely undeveloped archetypes, and the dialogue is stiff and awkward. Ash does not seem to mature at all over the course of the book, despite aging by several years. By the end, she still has the mental maturity of the twelve-year-old we met at the beginning, which dims the believability of the love triangle.

Despite the novel being highly anticipated for its treatment of same-sex relationships, the romance between Kaisa and Ash falls flat. The moments of chemistry between the two women were few and far between, and by the
story’s resolution they still feel like nothing more than acquaintances. By comparison, Sidhean has a dark magnetism that keeps Ash coming back. The language used to describe their encounters is smooth and seductive, and the reader feels drawn into their dance.

Ultimately, the book’s largest failing was Ash herself. In addition to her lack of maturity, she was weak-willed and dominated by the other people in her life. While this is a natural part of the Cinderella story, it made it impossible to relate to her or feel anything but pity. As identification with the protagonist is especially critical in young adult fiction, this flaw is crippling. By the time Ash finally decides to take matters into her own hands, she seems incapable of carrying out a decision on her own, thus diluting an already weak ending that broke the established rules of the world.

Despite its flaws, Ash is a worthwhile read. The messages of redemptive love and the danger of taking the easy way out are valuable tokens for young adult readers and adults alike. Malinda Lo shows promise, and her future books will be worth picking up to watch her talent develop.

Batch #1:
Haiku Your Day ATC (bad lighting, sorry)
Gay is Okay ATCs (x2)
Favorite Song ATC

Swap: Sci-Fi TV ATC Series: Firefly/Serenity [angeled for user2637]
Featuring: Captain Tightpants (aka Capt. Mal Reynolds)
Medium: Watercolors, prismacolor inking pens

Yep. I painted Mal’s ass. This one was really difficult for me because I’m not that great at drawing people or clothing. I think it’s passable, though, at least good enough to be amusing. I always have trouble with swaps that involve actors/TV shows/anything with real people (why am I hosting this series?), so I’ve been trying to think up creative ways around the fact that I can’t draw faces with any accuracy. Apparently the solution is to draw butts instead. *shrug* June 2010.

Swap: My Geekery ATC (Group Swap: Geek Swap Central)
Featuring: Jiji the cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service
Medium: Watercolors and prismacolor inking pens

This one was a lot of fun! I referenced this photo and looked up a quote to go with the expression. June 2010.

Swap: Sci-Fi TV ATC Series: Farscape (#3)
Featuring: Moya’s DRDs from Farscape
Medium: Inkjet printout, prismacolor inking pens, acrylic paints, sharpie

The real heroes of Farscape, Moya’s DRDs! Always cramming themselves into whatever small places no one else wanted to go, defending the ship and her crew and enacting emergency repairs! I always wanted a DRD of my own. May 2010.

More coming later this week, including journals, paintings, and more ATCs! You’re watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks – E. Lockhart (rating: 5 out of 5 stars)
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (rating: 5 out of 5 stars)
Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins (rating: 5 out of 5 stars)
Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins (rating: 4 out of 5 stars)
Ash – Malinda Lo (rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars)
Lioness Rampant (The Song of the Lioness) – Tamora Pierce (4 out of 5 stars)
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd – Ed. Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Fat Kid Rules the World – K.L. Going
The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Trilogy) – Jonathan Stroud
Blue Sword – Robin McKinley
The Hero and the Crown – Robin McKinley
The Giver – Lois Lowry
Every Crooked Pot: A novel – Renee Rosen
Swish – Joel Derfner
Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green and David Levithan
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature – Robin Brande
On Writing – Stephen King (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Wolf-Speaker (Immortals #2) – Tamora Pierce
Emperor Mage (The Immortals, Book 3) – Tamora Pierce
The Realms of the Gods (The Immortals, Book 4) – Tamora Pierce
King Dork – Frank Portman
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
Reason and Reverence – William R. Murry
Faith Without Certainty – Paul Rasor
Teen Angst? Naaah . . . – Ned Vizzini
It’s Kind of a Funny Story – Ned Vizzini
Going Bovine – Libba Bray
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy – Orson Scott Card
Looking For Alaska – John Green
Fade to Blue – Sean Beaudoin
A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) – Ursula K. Le Guin
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
Gifts – Ursula K. Le Guin
Characters & Viewpoint – Orson Scott Card
Plot – Ansen Dibell
20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them) – Ronald B. Tobias (rating: 2 out of 5 stars)
Lady Knight: Book 4 of Protector of the Small – Tamora Pierce
His Majesty’s Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1) – Naomi Novik (5 out of 5 stars)
Throne of Jade (Temeraire, Book 2) – Naomi Novik (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Black Powder War (Temeraire, Book 3) – Naomi Novik (3.5 out of 5 stars)
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
Brisingr (Inheritance Series) – Christopher Paolini
Dreamhunter – Elizabeth Knox
The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale – Holly Black
Graceling – Kristin Cashore (rating: 4 out of 5 stars)
Fever Crumb – Philip Reeve
Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I – Lisa Mantchev

As you can see, it’s primarily young adult fiction (which I have a serious passion for), intermingled with some memoirs, theology texts, writing references, and other bits and bobs. I don’t imagine that I’ll get through all of these in the summer, but I’m going to make a serious effort to read as often as I used to! If you really want to keep up with what I’m reading at the moment, you can check out my Shelfari widget in the sidebar or just come hang out with me on the Shelfari site. Hope to see you there!

I’ll also be writing reviews of many of these books, as well as other books I’ve read in recent years. Those’ll be up on this blog in the coming weeks, starting first with Ash by Malinda Lo.

Wish me luck, and I hope that you find some time to join me and read your heart out this summer!

Yes, that’s me after getting my master’s hood. I made it.

The month of May was consumed by end of semester insanity: grading, crisis handling, and moments of panic that I wouldn’t actually graduate due to my (now former) department’s administrative ineptitude…but despite it all, I’ve come out the other side. I have my piece of paper – which is ridiculously large and has Mr. Jefferson plastered on it, like everything else here – and I am finally done with this department and this university.

There were times when I honestly didn’t think I could make it this far. The anxiety got so bad, the depression so deep, that I almost couldn’t finish what I needed to do. It’s not that the tasks themselves were insurmountable, because they were really quite doable. It was two years of anger, frustration, negativity and exhaustion coming to a head at a critical time, and I honestly didn’t recognize myself anymore. I was a different person, a person I didn’t like…a person that scared me. I can’t even express how relieved I am that I’m leaving this program behind.

I thought I was going to throw up all my internal organs in the hours before graduation. I really believed that I would walk in the door and they wouldn’t have a degree for me and I would find out that I couldn’t actually graduate. I was waiting to be screwed by these people one last time. I’m so thankful that things worked out, because if they hadn’t it might have destroyed me.

With all that over, I’m on the road to recovery. I’m trying to retrain my body and brain so that my default mode is not “anxious”, but “relaxed”. It really is a process, learning to be calm and sane again. My attention span severely fragmented over the past two years; I’ve gotten to the point where I have trouble reading more than five pages of a young adult fiction book in one setting. That’s sad. My memory has also failed me; since halfway through my senior year of undergrad, I’ve been experiencing really troubling memory loss, both short term and long. I’m really hoping that the decreased anxiety will help me begin to regain some of what I’ve lost.

Ultimately, I am thankful for the time I spent in this program. It showed me that computer music academia is not the place for me, and I couldn’t have known that without accepting the offer to be here. I wouldn’t have met all of the awesome friends I made, and I wouldn’t have found the Unitarian Universalist congregation that set me on the path for my next master’s degree, a Masters of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School. I have to say, after spending two years at a “Research I” university and hating it, I’m really looking forward to studying at a school with a progressive educational model and an open curriculum. I’m also going to do myself a favor and try not to plan out my future and what I’ll do with this degree way far ahead of time. I’ll be a different person in three years. Whatever decision I make to use the M.Div degree for music or counseling or art therapy or college chaplaincy or whatever will be obsolete by the time I finish. For now, I think I’ll just float on.

So, one master’s degree down. One about to begin. And one day, that Ph.D will be mine…if grad school doesn’t kill me before then.

Now, time to find a job. *headdesk*

Today is Free Comic Book Day! Go support your local comic shop and get some free comics while you’re at it. If nothing else, you can use them in your crafting to make envelopes, journal decorations, ATCs, and more. I supported Atlas Comics in Charlottesville, Virginia by hitting up the FCBD table and picking up Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3 and the new Three Dragon Ante: Emperor’s Gambit deck.

Also, check out my husband’s Free Comic Book Day sketch edition of Retail Gods!

Photo dump time.

I had so much fun making this UU Chalice-themed postcard for a swap, and the design has been a real hit so far! It’s a great way to use up all the little colorful scraps that accumulate. I really want a programmable die cutter now so I can make a bunch of these…and actually cut a clean circle! I’ve also used the leftover part of the cutout for another chalice postcard.

I recently participated in a private swap in which my partner really loved flying pigs, and for some reason I immediately thought of making a flying pig ATC out of a playing card. Yeah, I have no idea, but I think it turned out fairly well!

For the Internet Meme ATC swap, featuring Badger Badger Badger! This meme was a huge hit with my friends and I in high school…which I guess says something. I don’t know what, though. >_>;;

More coming soon! One of these days I might actually get caught up on old work and start posting things as I make them!

…maybe after I graduate in TWENTY-THREE DAYS.

For the past month or so, I’ve been challenging myself to look at everything I throw away and decide if it can either go in my compost pile or be used for crafting. I paid particular attention to items that I use several times per day, and noticed that many of these items came individually wrapped, creating tons of waste. My everyday items were tea, allergy medicines, and ricola herbal throat drops. All those little wrappers! See some photos of my collection below:

And that’s including the fact that I have the memory of a goldfish and often forgot to save my wrappers! It also shows you that I drink WAY too much tea and am addicted to Ricola drops. More importantly, though, I was able to look at these items and see creative uses for them. I plan to use the ricola and tea wrappers to “wallpaper” journal covers for a shiny and interestingly textured background. The allergy pill wrappers are a neat metallic silver, so they’ll make great additions to any mixed media piece. It’s a small difference, but a difference nonetheless! And with the tea bags going into the compost pile, the box the tea comes in gaining a new life as a post card, and Ricola bags becoming craft supplies as well, it all begins to add up!

What do you use every single day? Is there a way you can repurpose the waste from those items? Think about it!

And now, some green crafter link love!

• First and foremost, Craft Critique is having an Earth Day Carnival with tons of links to green craft projects around the web. There’s some amazing stuff over there! Also check out the three posts preceeding the carnival, they include a green craft book review and some details about our next link…
• EcoGreen Crafts! The flagship product for this line of green craft supplies is a collection of low- and no-emission acrylic paints. I’m dying to get my hands on these! Swap-bot’s own Rachel Johnson tested and reported on the quality of the paints. They look great! EcoGreen Crafts also sells adhesives, stamps, and much more. Check them out! I know I’m going to.
• You absolutely MUST check out the Cosa Verde Earth Day Giveaway on Modishblog! They’re giving away $1600 worth of beautiful handmade goods, split into 4 packages worth $400 – made possible by the incredibly generous donations of gifts by handmade artists from all over. Give ‘em some love, people!
• The Swap-Bot Blog is having an Earth Day giveaway! Check it out, enter the giveaway, and click some links for great green craft ideas!
• I’ll close it up with a few repurposed fabric projects that I’m DYING to try: T-Shirt Shrug, Cute Overshirt, T-Shirt Scarf, and the Bedsheet Circle Skirt!

Do a little something for the Earth today, no matter how small! If nothing else, take some time to step outside, breathe a little fresh air, and admire the beauty of the Earth. Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Kristen Collins – Another soon-to-be home business owner. For now, the link goes to her online portfolio. My favorite is the sculpture section of the portfolio – I really love all of the pieces, but you all might find the dress-to-suitcase-to-stool particularly interesting!

Kate & Oli – A very active blog with lots of useful information and fun stuff. Check out the etsy store as well; I love the funky designs, and I think I’m in love with the monster love card.

One Love Scrapbooks- Another business that is in the creation process right now, though she’s farther along than I am. She has a fancy site and everything! Check back in the coming weeks for the first products to hit the store.

Scentsy Consultant – Okay, I’ve never heard of Scentsy before, but the whole operation seems pretty cool. Scentsy is a line of scented products (duh), specializing in oil warmers that use a bulb instead of flame to heat and release the scent. Seems really cool, and they have some awesome looking warmers.

Jen’s Cute Store – Just as the name suggests, Jen sells all sorts of cutesy and kawaii things, with a focus on stationary. Lest the name scare you (if, like me, you are not a cutesy person), fear not! There are items for everyone. I’m a particular fan of the handmade cards. You can also read Jen’s blog here.

And, since I’m already linking to a bunch of stuff, I have to throw in a link to this hilarious Firefly/Serenity comic, which my husband linked me to via io9 this morning. A brief warning for cartoonish blood, but nothing scarring. Be sure to click on the second page and look closely at the last panel!

That’s all, folks.

Adhering the fishnet to the card was a challenge, but a bit of mod podge was enough for the magazine portion. For the second one, I used the packaging the fishnets came in. A quote from Frankie, some black star punches, and some black ribbon completed the card.

Wrapping the ribbon around the corner of the card sucked. I really need to figure out a better way to do that.

I really enjoyed making these cards, getting to use some unusual material. I’ll have to keep women’s stockings (of all sorts) in mind for future projects. I bet panty hose would be an interesting medium to paint on!

It’s just a step to the left…