Jacey's Book Log 48/2009 - Tanya Huff - Valor's Trial

Tanya Huff - Valor's Trial
Daw, 2008

Continuing on from events in 'The Heart of Valor' in this book Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr, rough, tough marine, is sent into battle with her unit, only to be pinned down by artillery fire. After a blinding flash she wakes up in an underground prison camp with no apparent guards except for the formidable nature of the place itself and the sedative drug in the only available food.

Torin’s lover Craig Ryder, a civilian salvage operator, is still trying to discover the truth of Torin's reported death and together with the recurring pain-in-Torin's-ass  fur-covered, single-minded reporter, Presit, so he heads out for he last known position looking for closure - or maybe clues. Whilst officially dead Torin takes apart a bully and his thugs, restores military discipline in the prison camp and makes an escape attempt, eventually joining with a group of the Others who are also making a bid for freedom.

At the end of the book the events wrap up the larger story ark begun in the first book, revealing truths that should end the ongoing war of attrition between the Confederation and the Others, and Craig and Torin are reunited. This could be the last Valor book - or it could be just a halfway point and a change of perspective. The Others are no longer the bad guys, and the real bad guys, the plastic aliens from 'Big Yellow', introduced very early on in the story ark, are still out there.

Jacey's Book Log 48/2009 - Tanya Huff - Valor's Trial

Tanya Huff - Valor's Trial
Daw, 2008

Continuing on from events in 'The Heart of Valor' in this book Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr, rough, tough marine, is sent into battle with her unit, only to be pinned down by artillery fire. After a blinding flash she wakes up in an underground prison camp with no apparent guards except for the formidable nature of the place itself and the sedative drug in the only available food.

Torin’s lover Craig Ryder, a civilian salvage operator, is still trying to discover the truth of Torin's reported death and together with the recurring pain-in-Torin's-ass  fur-covered, single-minded reporter, Presit, so he heads out for he last known position looking for closure - or maybe clues. Whilst officially dead Torin takes apart a bully and his thugs, restores military discipline in the prison camp and makes an escape attempt, eventually joining with a group of the Others who are also making a bid for freedom.

At the end of the book the events wrap up the larger story ark begun in the first book, revealing truths that should end the ongoing war of attrition between the Confederation and the Others, and Craig and Torin are reunited. This could be the last Valor book - or it could be just a halfway point and a change of perspective. The Others are no longer the bad guys, and the real bad guys, the plastic aliens from 'Big Yellow', introduced very early on in the story ark, are still out there.

Bugs in the Garden

ritaxis - on her blog - asked if anyone else had noticed new biting bugs and whether it was a product of climate change... well...

We've never had mosquitos in my part of England before - I mean - we're  a thousand feet up on the edge of the Pennines and the only English mozzies I've ever encountered before have been in the lowlying marshy Fens (East Anglia), some 200 miles away, but the last few years has brought biting insects up to us. Mozzies, I think, because a couple of years ago a Canadian friend spotted mosquito larva in the standing water in a wheelbarrow (which we got rid of very quickly), but maybe other bugs as well.

This summer, my lush and productive vegetable patch is infested. Every time I go up there to weed or harvest I come back with a new crop of horrible itchy bites. (I react badly to mozzy-bites, but I've never reacted particularly badly to gnats.) The last couple of times I've been up the garden I've put on a thick (padded), nearly knee-length, winter coat and zipped it all the way up to the neck... so don't ask me how (yesterday) I managed to get a red, itchy bite on my belly. Those blasted bugs just ain't playing fair.

Anyone got any ideas about how to de-infest a small veg patch without rendering the veg poisonous?

Just out of interest - since several neighbours' cats use our garden as their playground (and, ugh!, toilet) - could there be cat fleas infesting the area they sunbathe in? Is that possible? I've managed to stop them shitting in the veg, but they tend to sleep in the sheltered longish grass on the paths between the raised beds.

Help. Ideas welcome.

Bugs in the Garden

ritaxis - on her blog - asked if anyone else had noticed new biting bugs and whether it was a product of climate change... well...

We've never had mosquitos in my part of England before - I mean - we're  a thousand feet up on the edge of the Pennines and the only English mozzies I've ever encountered before have been in the lowlying marshy Fens (East Anglia), some 200 miles away, but the last few years has brought biting insects up to us. Mozzies, I think, because a couple of years ago a Canadian friend spotted mosquito larva in the standing water in a wheelbarrow (which we got rid of very quickly), but maybe other bugs as well.

This summer, my lush and productive vegetable patch is infested. Every time I go up there to weed or harvest I come back with a new crop of horrible itchy bites. (I react badly to mozzy-bites, but I've never reacted particularly badly to gnats.) The last couple of times I've been up the garden I've put on a thick (padded), nearly knee-length, winter coat and zipped it all the way up to the neck... so don't ask me how (yesterday) I managed to get a red, itchy bite on my belly. Those blasted bugs just ain't playing fair.

Anyone got any ideas about how to de-infest a small veg patch without rendering the veg poisonous?

Just out of interest - since several neighbours' cats use our garden as their playground (and, ugh!, toilet) - could there be cat fleas infesting the area they sunbathe in? Is that possible? I've managed to stop them shitting in the veg, but they tend to sleep in the sheltered longish grass on the paths between the raised beds.

Help. Ideas welcome.