Books I am reading, NaNo update, and also a new keyboard!

I've decided to add a page to this blog that lists the books that I'm currently reading, and those I have read. (This will not be retroactive. I'm not even going to try to do something like that.) I will probably mention what I'm reading on the main blog as well, but I'll be able to keep a record this way.


I just finished Towers of Midnight, and that was awesome. I am currently reading Gardens of the Sun, by Paul McAuley, as well as Brass Man, by Neal Asher. Gardens of the Sun is a very good book, the second in a series that deals with the colonization of the solar system. It is quite political, and could easily be described as a fairly slow read. The politics are interesting, however, and are fairly realistic. I recommend it. Brass Man is the third book in Asher's Ian Cormac series. It takes place significantly farther in the future than McAuley's books do, and is much faster paced. To those who enjoy books with lots of gun fights and explosions, it's hard not to recommend this series.

I totally fell off the NaNo wagon this weekend, what with the new Wheel of Time book and all. I slammed out a nice 3,500 words today, though, and have no worries about hitting 50k by month's end. I finished my first short today, and will now write the second. Today's concept: A woman hides from an invading army, unwilling to use her magic to defend for fear of harming her unborn child.

Nano Count: 11,389

I got a new keyboard! My old one was getting old and, to be honest, senile. Keys wouldn't press when they were supposed to, sometimes they would press when they weren't supposed to, and generally everything was just acting all caddly-wompus. After doing far more research on keyboards than you would think would be possible, I decided on a Rosewill RK-9000.

Looking at that link now, I see that it's no longer for sale. Considering that Rosewill is actually Newegg's house brand, that makes me wonder if it's available at all, anywhere. At the time this was written, at least, the listing actually says "Deactivated." Not "Out of Stock," but "Deactivated." That's sad, because this is the best keyboard I think I have ever used. It's fully mechanical, uses Cherry blue switches for each key, and is clicky. I forgot how much I love a clicky keyboard.

I swear that the clicks help me write. They speak to me. They whisper new plots in my ears.

Anyway, this is easily the equal of more expensive brands like Das or Filco, and it was less than half the price. I guess I was just lucky.

Well, you don't hear me arguing.