I spent the weekend at Leprecon.  (Yes, it was in Phoenix, and I hated top give Arizona my money, but I didn’t see any point in punishing the fans who were chairing and attending this convention.  _They_ didn’t pass the Draconian “papers please” bill.)  But back on topic.  I flew which meant I had over an hour at the airport, and an hour on the airplane so I got to read.

I had devoured the first two Stieg Larsson books while visiting the Cassutts in CA, and now I had THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST in my hot little hands.  It was a big book, longer than the other two, and fascinating because it features a crusading journalist as the hero which is something different from the usual lawyer, cop, politician, soldier protagonist.  I know nothing about being an investigative journalist, but now I want to run out and become one.  The behind the scenes look at the magazine business was interesting and educational.

These books also feature one of the most interesting heroines in fiction.  Lisbeth is not soft, not kind, never accommodating, and Larsson has the courage to let her be all spikes and angles.

My biggest quibble with the book was the second ending after the resolution at the trial.  I didn’t need to have the loose end of her brother cleared up.  I know that seems like a violation of writing rules, but I could buy the idea that he got away.  Criminals do get away, and it seemed to dilute the conclusion.

It also made me take a hard look at the third EDGE book and realize that I really couldn’t write it completely in first person from my protagonist Richard’s point of view.  I need to have at least one other set of eyes on events.  I’ve been wrestling with which set of eyes to use since Saturday.

I was good and I wrote while I was at the con.  I kept waking up at 6:15, doing a hard work out, eating breakfast at 7:30 and then returning to the room to write.  I also wrote at breakfast one morning.  I’m beginning to think that Connie is right, and having a place away from home to work might increase my production.  I’ve never faced this before.  I have always written at home, and have loved to work from home, but I seem to be constantly pulled away.  Going someplace where there is nothing to do buy write might work better.

Back to the reading though.  I finished the Larsson book on Saturday afternoon, and I had to have another book so I picked up Emma Bull’s TERRITORY, and I love it.  The idea of magic in Tombstone AZ in 1881 is just amazing.  I haven’t finished it yet because I’m back home, and there are dishes to wash, and meals to cook, and laundry, and a horse to ride, and I have to work out, and write on my own books, and get disturbed by Gozer who is whining at me even as I type.

I hope I don’t have to wait for the airplane ride to Conquest in order to finish another book.