Mini Mind Splat #2: Snow

MINI MIND SPLAT WARNING: Nothing I comment on is meant to offend. It's simply my opinion and how I feel about certain things (mostly inconsequential things). I'd love to see thoughts from others in the comments. Just remember, have fun with it. This isn't meant to be super serious.

Snow! Who likes it? Who hates it?

I'm kind of in between, but mostly leaning toward the hate it camp.

We're just finishing up a snowstorm here, and I'm quite thankful I don't have to go out in the mess until tomorrow. And I don't have to go out in it because the kids have a snow day, so I don't have to get Preschooler to and from school. This, of course, is a double-edged sword. Both kids are home to drive me crazy and make it impossible to get any work done.

Preschooler did an awesome job thwarting my plans by goofing around while she was putting her milk in the fridge. Spilled... milk everywhere! In the fridge, outside the fridge, under the fridge, and all over her. Ugh.

Wait, this post isn't about kid roadblocks. It's about snow!

It's kind of interesting, the development of liking or disliking snow. As a kid, I loved it. Making forts in the snow was awesome (forts were more fun than snowmen). It's like the cold and wet didn't phase me in the least.

Then as I grew older, I liked it less and less. I don't want it near me! It's cold and wet and inconvenient. Hell, I'd move down south if I could, but I'm pretty much stuck where the winters are long and cold unless we have a sudden, unexpected windfall (yeah, right).

Unfortunately, my Grade Schooler (almost Middle Schooler!) is already at the point where she's not a fan of the snow. She hates dragging her snow pants to school and dealing with boots. Do kids grow up faster these days or what? Or maybe my perception is just skewed and I don't remember when I actually transitioned from loving to disliking snow. With my memory, it's highly likely.

At least when I send Grade Schooler outside with her younger sister to play in the snow, she does seem to end up having a good time (even though I get grumbles before she gets outside -- heh).

Now, I don't completely hate the snow. I just hate going out in it. You know how many people don't shovel their sidewalks making it super difficult to walk? A lot.

But I'm happy to enjoy its beauty when I'm nice and toasty inside. Especially watching the snow fall at night, it's kind of hypnotizing. And the blanket of unmarred white (before people tromp through it) is definitely pretty. Again, as long as I can enjoy it all from a cozy house, I don't care. I'm also super happy (and super lucky) that Hubbie is the one who snow-blows and shovels.

So, how do you feel about snow? And if you haven't experienced much (or any) snow, what are your thoughts on it? It's hard for me to imagine a winter without snow, so I'm fascinated how those who don't get snow often or at all perceive it.

Spring Fever

I'm sitting here at my computer looking outside. What is it that I see? Snow. Yup. It's March 24, and it's snowing outside. Several parts of the state I live in got nearly a foot or more of snow in the last two days. It's not that bad here, but the snow is starting to pick up, and I can't see the brownish-greenish grass anymore.

I so desperately want spring.

We had a few days of tempting sun and warmth earlier in the month. You know, Mother Nature taunting us. I'm sure I'm not the only one with cabin fever. Heck, I've also managed to catch a pretty nasty crud that one of my kids likely dragged into the house. The crud plummets my productivity.

I so desperately need spring.

Not only does the crud destroy productivity, but winter does as well. It effects me in a bad way. I'm sure I've mentioned this before.

I long for warmer days to invigorate me, to give me extra energy to stay up a bit later and get a scene written or a chapter revised. I yearn for the sun to infuse me with its heat -- after all, I am a Leo, and Leos need their sun!

The last three months have been pretty dismal. While I haven't stalled out completely (which is great), and I'm not behind on my publication schedule (thank the gods), I haven't gotten done as much as I wanted to.

Now, again, I know I'm not the only one who wants spring to finally arrive. So, I think we all need to band together and use our collective brain power to wish it into being. Let's all ask Mother Nature to be kinder to us, to pack winter away for a few months and let the sun run free!

Who's with me? Come on, now. If you want spring to show up as badly as I do, you have to be ready to try anything. So, think hard, make your will be heard, and maybe we can all make a little magic and Mother Nature will finally unleash spring upon us.

Crazy Necro Antics, Second Edition - Winter!

The necromancer is a playable character class in Everquest, also called necro for short. Necros have an ability called feign death--some nicknames for this ability are FD and flopping. This series will highlight some funny instances of feign death. You do not need to be an Everquest player or even a gamer to laugh at these antics. Happy giggles!

Last time Morrigann showed us how fun summer can be for a necromancer. Well, winter is even more of a blast! It's not wise to go for a swim in winter, especially when the river is covered with ice! Oh no, poor Morrigann looks like she didn't make it out, and she was so close. Is she still alive? Will someone rescue her?

Phew. It looks like she made it out. Perhaps her pet dragged her to safety--they may look like bones or shades, but those necro pets are strong! Wait, is she moving at all? She better get inside where it's warm, or she's going to become a necrosicle. Poor thing.

Looks like she finally did make it inside, but she's in an ice cavern! That's no help. The indigenous spiders saw her as a hostile creature. Eek! Better flop before she gets eaten. But be careful, those ledges are slippery. She may just fall off, and those darn spiders don't want to leave her alone.

Back outside. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! What a perfect time to make a snow angel...face first.... Necros are weird ones! Oh look, there's a mammoth in the distance.

Go, go undead polar bear army! Kill the beast! Because, um, Morrigann's health is dropping. Er, come on polar bears, you're supposed to kill the thing. Ack, Morrigann is going to have to flop if she wants to survive this one.

And so she flopped. Wait, you don't see her? Take a look at the left side of the picture. Yes, near the mammoth's backside. See her there? Squished under the gigantic mammoth foot! A big strong wizard had to come rescue Morrigann, but she survived.

And Morrigann finally made it into the warm guild hall. But after all the snowy antics, she drank a bit too much eggnog and flopped into the Frostfell tree! I think this necro has had enough of winter. =)

If you have any suggestions and silly antics you'd like to see, please post in the comments! It's possible your chosen antic(s) may be used in an upcoming post. All requests will be attributed in the post with a link back to the requester's blog (so include your blog link as well if I don't know it).

NEXT UP: Sookie Vs. Sookie - comparison of the characters in Dead Until Dark and True Blood.

Snow...Or Is That Really A Monster?

SPOILER ALERT! If you have not read Snow there are spoilers in this essay.

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As I read Snow, I found myself instantly pulled in--there was excellent character development and great description of the monsters. Unfortunately, about halfway through, I grew disappointed. There were several parts of the second half that just didn't work for me, especially the epilogue.

Malfi does a nice job using the prologue at the beginning to pull the reader in, to let us know that something is going on in the town of Woodson. This prologue allows chapter one to start more slowly and interweave character development as well as get our protagonist heading toward the town. The set-up here, with describing the men taken over by the monsters, also leads the reader to a knowing moment when Todd, Kate, Nan, and Fred come across Eddie wandering alone in the snow. "A man in a black- and red-checkered coat and high boots, mid-forties, bearded, pale--" (32). That last word, pale, sent bells off in my head, knowing that Eddie is no longer truly human, a perfect echo from the prologue. And that suspicion is confirmed when they find Eddie's "missing" daughter, Emily--the girl has no face. I thought that was wonderfully done.

The character development in this novel is also well done. Todd is our main protagonist, and at the beginning he is trying to reach his son for Christmas. He doesn't want to let his son down again, like he's done so many times in the past. This makes him a sympathetic character. Even his flaws--the gambling, mainly--cause his character to come to life. So we're rooting for him the entire time he's faced with the monsters.

Speaking of the monsters, I thought they were wonderfully described and fleshed out. "Like a puzzle piece sliding out of position, a section of snow seemed to unhinge itself from the rest, a compact little vacuum of white filaments sliding into the wind" (100). The characters never know if what's covering the ground is real snow or the monsters themselves. And, of course, these snow monsters can burrow into human beings, and after killing the host, use the corpses as puppets. They are also able to pull from the person's memories and experiences. Another great, creepy monster.

The scene where things started to unravel for me is where Shawna, the point-of-view character from the prologue, meets her demise. She holes up in the basement of a house for the night, her leg wound worse from recent incidents, and in the morning wakes to find the human puppets of the monsters clogging the upstairs. There is nothing peaceful about her death--she is overrun and devoured, with no one around to help. Now, I'm all for the monsters picking off characters one by one, but this death left me feeling empty. I really think that may be because I was hoping she would be made into a puppet and Todd and Kate would have to face her before the end of the book. Shawna's death scene is the last we see of her.

Nearing the end of Snow, disappointed with no reappearance of Shawna, many incongruities showed up, in my opinion. There's a scene where Kate takes a hammer to this slug-like thing. What the hell is that about? Is it the snow monster's form when it's not in the cold? If so, that needed to be established either earlier in the book or followed up before the end.

Todd is supposed to be the hero of the book. He finally contacts help outside the town. This act doesn't make him a hero, though, since the help doesn't reach them until the monsters have already left. Bruce, a minor character and the true hero, blows up a gas station, killing himself in the process, to kill many of the snow monsters. After this, the monsters decide it's too much of a hassle, funnel back up into some portal in the sky, and vanish. We find out later this happened in several small towns in the Midwest. Why exactly did they all leave, across the many towns, at the same time? It seemed weird that an explosion in one town would cause the monsters to leave all the towns. And why exactly weren't they slowly spreading to neighboring towns if they were there to feed? Once they ran out of humans to eat in Woodson (true there were a few people left in hiding, but not many), why didn't they move to the closest town over to find more food?

I also would have liked to see Kate give Todd that dollar she owed him at the end of the novel. Even though, I felt like through the whole novel, he had learned his lesson with gambling, yet in the end he gambles whether they will be able to reach help or not. That wonderful characterization at the beginning tasted a bit stale when Todd bet Kate that buck.

And finally, the epilogue ruined it for me. Eddie and his supposed daughter, whom I mentioned before, are seen driving across the country in a truck. It's that "they're still out there" moment, which I could have done without because it made me wonder why Eddie and Emily are so different that they weren't sucked back up through the portal like all the rest. And what is up with the band-aids?

So, yes, I felt Snow had a good start with a great set-up, a wonderful monster, and nice characterization. As you can see from my endless string of questions in a couple paragraphs above, though, the end left me feeling like everything wasn't thought out well enough. There were too many inconsistencies that pulled me out of the world and shook my suspension of disbelief.


Works Cited

Malfi, Ronald. Snow. New York: Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc., 2010.