Word Salad II

In the heart of Dublin, something is killing the People of the Hills — and it’s going to take Ireland’s only superhero to stop it…

In honor of Saint Patrick's day... a taste of something Irish for #SampleSunday. 

The Irish Thing can hardly avoid being part of the “ground of being” of someone who’s lived in Ireland for nearly a quarter-century. That familiarity, though, with the way things really are here (insofar as anyone, “blow-in” or native, can ever tell what’s really going on in this island…) can make the inhabitant a little impatient with the perceptions of outsiders: particularly those who think Ireland is some kind of theme park that should be preserved to match its overflow into the last couple of centuries’ popular culture. I have actually stood in Dublin Airport and heard fellow Americans complaining that Ireland has broadband: as if it’s somehow polluting the cultural purity of the place. (I saw another American look around absolutely without irony or humor intended and say, disbelieving, “I thought it was supposed to be thatched.” The airport. Was supposed. To be thatched.)

…Yeah. So you will understand that when I was invited to participate in an anthology called Emerald Magic: Great Tales of Irish Fantasy, before I decided what story I wanted to write, I asked casually if I could see a list of the other contributors. When I saw the list, it was as I thought: only one of them (our former neighbor Morgan Llewellyn) had ever lived here. One of them (the excellent Tanith Lee) might have at least been here. And I knew in my bones what way everyone else would be going with their stories: the Celtic twilight, thatch everywhere, the soft green countryside, the old school Ireland and the old-school myths of a century or so back. I immediately thought, Somebody’s got to actually get into Dublin, where a third of the damn population lives! Somebody’s got to at least spend a little time in the here and now. …I’m going urban on this one.

So I wrote "Herself". The first part of the story appears here. Those eager to find out what happens can do so for US 99¢.
Those who want the whole anthology can have that too, for USD $5.99. The PayPal buttons are at the bottom of the page...

Enjoy, folks!  ...And don't dye the beer green.

Ran across this in passing this morning: a review of the wonderful Lindt 99% "Noirissime" chocolate.

I had a bar of this stuff with me at Anthrocon last year (waves at Sam!), where almost all of those who tasted it pronounced it "Ewwww". I love it, though: perhaps it's just an acquired taste. Definitely, there's no sugar to get in the way. It's like the apotheosis of baking chocolate (though I doubt you'd ever really want to use it for that: a case of the ingredient being, not just too expensive for the purpose, but actively inappropriate for it -- like using good cheese in a Philly cheesesteak).

Apparently it's hard to find in the US? Pity. (I think I got mine at the inestimable Sheridan's Cheesemongers up in Dublin (they also carry Valrhona and other great chocolate names). But our little local SuperValu supermarket also carries the Lindt Noirissime, along with the 85% and various other less exciting stuff.)

(BTW, other reviews of the 99% here at over here at TheNibble.com and seventypercent.com)