Posted in books, Office Life, Oregon, Portland, writing

She’s HEEEEeeeeerrrrrree

Posted on by D. D. Syrdal

I stopped in at Powells on the way home tonight to get my copy which I pre-ordered way back when. I can hardly wait to dig in to this one because OMFGILOVEGLENDUNCANSOMUCH. For those who missed the first installment in this man’s soon-to-be trilogy, you can read my take on it here and the beginning of my love affair with this man’s writing here. The first book, The Last Werewolf, had a black cover with red edging on all the pages. This one reverses it with a red cover and black-edged pages. Duncan has mentioned his love for the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad so I also picked up a copy of that (one of the critical editions full of essays on the rather short book and it’s symbolism, etc.).

The bus ride from work was…erm… interesting. A largeish girl sat next to me all the way, and she didn’t quite fit into her seat, sort of spilled over onto me a bit. That wasn’t the worst of it. Either she was passing gas the whole way silently or she needed to change her underwear. Not kidding, it was gross. She kept up a steady stream of really boring conversation with a woman across the aisle who kept leaning over to show her pictures on her cell phone of a hike she did up at Mt. Hood. But you couldn’t really tell from the picture that they were at the summit, she was quick to add, because it was just a close-up of two faces. The one next to me had a voice like Bernadette on “The Big Bang Theory”, that cutesy little girl, kewpie doll kind of voice. Unbelievable how long some people can talk about nothing.

But anyway.

I guess I’m doing ok at work, or else they’re out of options since the woman training me gave notice and her last day is July 6, because I was told late this afternoon (like at 4:45) that I was going to be picking up calendaring for another one of the people there that my trainer had been taking care of. Hrm. Luckily he seems like a nice person, and I’ve actually had more contact with him than with the primary person I’m supposed to be supporting. Things are getting easier now that I’m understanding the job better. And who knows, this could be my ticket out of the adminisphere someday. Since I’m so heavily involved in purchasing for the place I may someday be able to parlay this experience into a buyer position. The money would sure be better.

But just having the new Glen Duncan book has cheered my day. How are you all?

Author:

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.

26 thoughts on “She’s HEEEEeeeeerrrrrree”

  1. It’s wonderful how a book can make a person glow! 🙂 I was almost like that when on my break from a double shift, I walked over to the UPS store and picked up my delivery of the Art of Life Tarot Deck! 😀

    I’m glad to hear that your job seems to be working out for you. Yet, I’m sorry about your bus ride with the odor-challenged passenger. I work with a guy like that at the restaurant. I don’t think he realizes the importance of showering. 😦

    Hope you can relax, curl up and enjoy your new read.

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      1. Oh, I plan to! Tomorrow is my day off, so tonight is pizza night. I’m getting a Hawaiian Pizza: Canadian Ham, Pineapple and Swiss Cheese…large. 😛 I’ll pop a movie into my computer and relax. After I cleanse myself, I’ll open the deck after I say a blessing for it.

        Hope your night is awesome too! 😀

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  3. I so hope things continue improve for you at work. in the meantime, always remember to feed your soul through the things you love- books, the water, etc…

    All my best wishes to you!

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    1. That’s kind of been the problem. Between the job and the commute there is so little time left over to do anything. At least at my last job I could squeeze in writing time, but not so here. Ah well. I’ll have to figure something out.

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  4. Nothing like a book to make everything feel right. I love the cover. I never knew how important packaging is but I am always drawn to a fetching frontispiece if you will. The bus lady should be recycled in one of your stories. I loathe odor like that. I might have had to get off a stop or two early. lol

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  5. I love the covers for these books. They’re minimalist, but striking.

    I have a lot of people I’d like to skewer in stories. I expect most of them will show up eventually in my writing 😉

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  6. Conrad is one of my favorite Classic Authors. Let me know what you thought about Heart of Darkness when you get to it.

    The movie “Apocalypse Now” was based on it. Sort of a modern Version of the story. Even the character, “Kurtz” keeps the same name and utters some of the same phrases. I’m sure you’ve probably seen it but, if you read Heart of Darkness and go back and watch the movie again, you’ll see it’s pretty cool.

    I’ll check out the first book in this series I think. I really enjoy werewolves in stories but have not really found many that are really good at it. Most people are still pretty biased towards Vampyres in stories still… 😉

    enjoy the book!! Hope the work commute throws you a decent trip every now and then.

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  7. I loved “The Last Werewolf”, I talked it up to everyone who would stand still long enough to listen to me rave about it! 😀 Hope you like it, let me know what you think of it.

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  8. I always love that saying one door close is another door open because you and other people are proof of it! I am glad things are going well at your new job and that there is room for growth. Very happy for you! I love love contrast of how you described the color of the book and the pages border color. I didn’t know people still do that. The last time I seen something like that was on a bible and never any where else. So for me that is way cool (yes, the simply things in life get me excited 😀 )

    I am doing okay, going through some funks and continue hitting bumps but I am pushing myself to get over the hill when I continue sliding back. Other than back slide life is okay most days.

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    1. I know the feeling with the ups and downs. Hope you get past the funks. I get that all too often myself. I’m still not thrilled about the job, and I have a feeling there are dark days ahead, but for the moment at least I’m not suicidal. I think what I dislike most is how ‘controlled’ I feel, with the clocking in- and out, afraid to so much as pull up the Web for a second to look at news or weather. Whatever was wrong with my last company (HMFIC and the Nebbish), at least they treated us like adults.

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      1. Thank you DD, perhaps things will change some where down the road at your job. It is still fresh. I wish I could clock in and out of a job right now to be honest. That would be the marker in my life that make me truly feel independent and alive once more. Take it easy and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you don’t care for it at all take it as a stepping stone until you find something you are interested in. Big hugs to you my dear.

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  9. I see you altered the colour in the photo to better show the actual colour. Either that or my monitor is more acurate today. 😀 Glad to hear things are going well at work. I sympathise with you about the bus rides, having had more than my fair share of similar seat mates. Ugh. I’d love to see an annotated version of Heart of Darkness. Hope you’ll do a post on the book after you’ve read it.

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  10. Haha, yes, I adjusted the color and uploaded a new pic. I guess it did look pretty funky before 😀 I held the book up next to and yikes, it was kind of purply, wasn’t it?? LOL Oh well. This may be a little brighter than it really is, but it’s closer. I give up 😉

    I will very likely do a post on HoD after I read it.

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  13. I didn’t realise or had forgotten you were a Portlander (is that the correct term?), on my way this weekend for my brother’s wedding. I’ll definitely try to visit Powells, one of my fond memories of being there 14 years ago.
    Smelly bus rides are the worst.

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  14. Hi Ben,

    Yep, Portlander is indeed the term 🙂 Yanno, apart from ‘weirdos’. Have fun at the wedding, and I hope you’ll have time to visit Powells while you’re in the area.

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