BookCrossing: Unbound

I haven't wild released many books lately, but while I was making release notes this morning for four books that are now in the wild in Burnaby's Metrotown area I noticed my releases caught number increased by one. It couldn't be a catch for one of the four I just released, could it? It wasn't. It was for Unbound, which I released earlier this month in Vancouver's Kingsgate Mall. Here's the catch:

I loved all the details about rare books. Wasn't so fond of the conspiracy.

the Trapezium with the red-hot Star-Whip

'Oh no,' she said, 'you're coming with me. I've been reading the latest Jang love manual, the Purple Summit. You're going to marry me for the afternoon and we're going to do everything it says together, including the Trapezium with the red-hot Star-Whip, and -'

'Kley,' I said, 'look at me. Do I look strong enough to go through anything like that?'

'Of course you don't,' she snapped. 'That's how you had the body made, isn't it? But if I know you -'

''Kley,' I said, 'you don't.'

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

There are things I want to write here, but I shan't put fingers to keyboard. What do you think after reading the above? What would you write?

green and shells and stuff

Then we went to one of the underwater caves, green and shells and stuff, and had the most glorious love. I think when you're shaky and recovering from something, you receive better. Anyway, it was groshing.

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

I can get behind that sentiment.

genuine bewildered fright

I could have laughed it was so simple. It wasn't bitterness the pet had just displayed, but genuine bewildered fright. I'd changed. I was no longer the known Jang girl with long scarlet hair, willowy waist and exotic bosom, all beauty and physical grace. I was this lank, thin, paste-faced twig of life. It didn't know me. Farathoom! I probably even had a different smell!

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

That's because the change was so sudden. If the overall change had been extended over a period of years, little bit here, little bit there, it would've gone unnoticed. But a frog will notice if he's thrown into a pot of boiling water.

It makes me think of a philosophy professor I had. He would talk about crimes and how the person who commits a crime at, say, age 12 is not the same person at, say, age 30. That person hasn't just changed and evolved mentally and emotionally. Physically, cells die and cells regrow. That person is an entirely new person who is not guilty of the crime committed many years earlier.

all-blue eyes and eight-fingered hands

'You're Lorun's new marriage, are you?' horny-puss asked nastily. I could just tell her finger-long nails were more than mere Jang decoration.

'Oh, I thought you were still the last one,' said another female, with all-blue eyes and eight-fingered hands - even more nail danger. Well, honestly.

'Sorry,' I said sweetly, 'I'm the new one with the quick temper and the uncontrollable homicidal tendencies.'

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

How could one not like a book that has passages such as this?

why go off and dream about it

Of course, I could have had that added on to the dream if I'd asked. Only I never do. I know of people who go to a Dream Room just to dream about having love, but what's the point? I mean, you can have love any time you want, really, any way you want, and there are millions of pills and stuff to guarantee results. So why go off and dream about it too?

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

I like to dream of Canadian unicorns on ice skates. Some of them are of Scottish descent, some of them are of Malaysian descent. It is a spectacular sight with surprisingly graceful spins and jumps. A huge snake shows up and hands out hockey sticks and empties a bag of pucks. A lighthearted scrimmage ensues, leading very quickly to a passionate battle for the IUHL (International Unicorn Hockey League) title. No one keeps track of goals, there are no fights, the first intermission includes a performance by The Hero's Sidepunch, and both teams - all 76 unicorns - walk together to the closest pub for celebratory brewskis.