3 things.

1. An ebook that Jon contributed to for his work became available on Amazon last week.  He worked hard on it and I am super proud of him.  And also... I hate him juuuuuust a little bit.  It's jealousy, of course.  The irony of the Aerospace Engineer-trained person having something out there before the English-trained person is not lost on me.  I gotta get a move on!

2. January is already over!  I spent a good portion of the month devouring a few teen fantasy fiction series (more about them later).  Chalk it up to a desperate need to escape the realities of the new American presidency.  Anyway, this genre isn't one that I explored much growing up.  I read Harry Potter (loved it) and The Hobbit (overwhelmed me) and that was pretty much it.  After my new reads this last month, I'm starting to wonder if I missed out on the offerings of an entire genre, and it's possible I might attempt to make up for that.  In my search for a new series to read, I've found the number of options to be astronomical and overwhelming, so I'd gladly accept your highest recommendations.

3. I've been thinking about a point that was raised yesterday regarding the fact that there is a difference between offering fellowship and offering friendship.  While parsing through their similarities and differences I couldn't help but think of LOTR and the Fellowship.  The diverse group of individuals who share the goal of good defeating evil and support each other in that quest.  The fellowship and group effort are important, and many things can be accomplished for the greater good when people join the fellowship.  But friendship is Sam and Frodo.  It saves individuals and offers a deeper level of trust and support that fellowship cannot.  We'd call ourselves lucky to be part of a fellowship, but having a Sam is priceless and life-saving.


Oh lord, I think I might have answered my question about which fantasy series to read next.