sparrow pingpong

Just had a sparrow do the previously mentioned "fly through room, bounce off window, fly back other way, bounce off window at other end." Fortunately there wasn't the "rinse, lather, repeat" bit of the performance. It's obviously time to start closing the flyscreen -- except that *I* have been known to walk into that without noticing if I don't have my glasses/contacts in place.

It'll teach the silly little sod to look where he's going. And yes, it was a "he", black bib and all; I think it may well be the cock sparrow who chased the squirrel out of the yukka last week for daring to think about taking over one of the prime cat-proof nest sites. Who needs to watch soap opera on tv when there's one going on in the garden?

something for slashfen and manlove readers to think about

If anyone's thinking of using a Hyatt for a slash-friendly, m/m romance-friendly or queer-friendly con, they might want to think again. The Manlove group of gay romance authors ran into serious problems at last week's Romantic Times con, initiated by the hotel but aided and abetted by the con organisers, who were very happy to take the group's money for membership but did nothing to stop the hotel customer service manager confiscating all their promo material because he didn't like the gay content. More details here:

http://sensualwriter.blogspot.com/2007/05/rthyatt-author-targeted.html

[ETA: l_prieto has posted the poster deemed too risque, and examples of some of the het material that *wasn't* removed -- compare and contrast...]

Book review: Aoike Yasuko -- From Eroica with Love - Volume 2

The second volume of the long-running manga series sees it settle down into the general series theme, with flamboyant art thief Eroica and uptight NATO intelligence agent Iron Klaus finding their paths repeatedly crossing, sometimes as opponents, sometimes having to work together. Set in the Cold War Europe of the 1970s, it shows a pair of characters who are on opposite sides of the law and very different in personality, but with some surprising things in common. Alas, one of those things is not sexual orientation, and Eroica's romantic interest in Klaus is destined to remain unrequited, providing the source of much fun during the series.

And there's plenty of fun to be had. The stories are completely over the top, in the same way that the Bond films are over the top -- camp, very funny, and with plenty of action. In this one, Eroica and Klaus have a shared interest in a Greek shipping tycoon. Eroica wants to steal an art treasure, and Klaus wants to stop a KGB agent's honeytrap operation. This leads on to a second adventure in which Klaus is trying to protect world leaders at a meeting which just happens to be just down the road from Eroica's castle -- and for perfectly rational reasons, Klaus ends up ordering Eroica to strip and hand over his underpants... But when they're forced by circumstances to work together, they make a very good team.

Flawed but likeable people, they're enormously entertaining to watch, as are the secondary characters. Both men have a team of minions, not all of whom are quite what their masters would wish for. This volume introduces Agent G, Klaus' gay cross-dressing agent who has a crush on Eroica.

There's also an independent story to fill out the page count, about a strait-laced young German man sent on a cultural exchange visit to a tiny island nation with a very strange navy. There's not much plot, and there's an awful lot of froth, but it's a quick fun read with a serious point underneath the fluff.

From Eroica with Love - Volume 2 (From Eroica With Love (Graphic Novels)) at Amazon US
From Eroica with Love: Volume 2 (From Eroica with Love) at Amazon UK
at Powell's