apparently it's better to be a parasite than a virus

[freckles_and_doubt]

Good lord. I just killed Canada. This is thoroughly antisocial and curiously rewarding. Watch out for Madagascar, if it closes its borders you're toast, and your goal of total extermination will never be achieved.

One of the things that narked me off about the success of Harry Potter was, in fact, the existence of Mary Stewart's novel The Little Broomstick, which is Exhibit A in the "wizard schools are nothing new" stakes. This combines standard kiddielit themes - a lonely child discovering friends through magical experiences - with some quite unsettling elements, since the magic school is sinister in the extreme, an opponent rather than a new environment. Mary Stewart's Arthurian series was always a bit gritty, and I think you can trace the suspense quotient of Little Broomstick back to her thriller/romances. The novel also has a definite animal anti-cruelty message, and I remember being a bit horrified by the nasty magical experiments; on the upside, cute cats, exciting broomstick flights and evil suitably trounced in the end. Her other children's fantasy I've read is Ludo and the Star Horse, which is about the zodiac, and rather charming, but this is my favourite.

Last Night I Dreamed: I was assisting Nathan Fillion in his brilliant plan to break a whole bunch of teen-aged schoolgirls out of a prison. The plot seemed to revolve around him leading large-scale synchronised dance moves. Also, lounging on a poolside chaise-longue engaging in witty banter with the prison authorities. While holding my hand, so score.

Comments

[mwotn.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember that game. Conversely, getting stuck in Madagascar is a total dead loss, because they close their borders and you can never get out!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I haven't played it enough times to have ended up as Madagascar, fortunately. It would be severely annoying. What kind of subtle political point are they making, anyway? Madagascar is paranoid?

[mwotn.livejournal.com]

Actually, this was my second or third game. Sheer dumb ill luck, I guess.

Notice how certain parts of the world don't have water facilities!

[mwotn.livejournal.com]

In an unbelievable turn of bad luck, I started in Madagascar again!

However, this time I managed to break out onto the world... and have now infected more than half of it. Sadly, the little buggers are refusing to die. Meh.

[tngr-spacecadet.livejournal.com]

How did I miss Mary Stewart's childrens stories? I devoured everything of hers I could find starting from when I was about 12 as I recall, and still adore her books. I suppose I must blame the absence of intarwebs back then. I will add them to my list of Books To Find.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I must say, Mary Stewart romances are still a comfort read for me. She and her ilk tend to demonstrate the extent to which so many modern romance writers have lost the ability to actually use the English language. Her kids' stuff is lovely, hope you track down copies. (I'll keep a lookout in my usual haunts as well. I am only too well acquainted with the kiddielit shelves of Cape Town!)