Haus of Rhi

For July, the Tarot Rebels Blog Hop focuses on the task of reading with a deck you've not previously used before. I had a few sitting around, actually, and I felt inspired to try each in turn. The exercise became quite revealing, both of the decks and of me as a reader and toward what sorts of decks I intuitively gravitate. For each deck, I employed a different spread, in each case one I'd not used previously. In hindsight, it's entirely plausible this created too many variables and adversely influenced my perceptions of the decks. Spiritual Task, Sevenfold Mystery My first attempt employed Place's Sevenfold Mystery. I'd acquired it for reasons wholly unrelated to actually using it, much like my Hermetic and Azathoth decks. Despite that, I've had others tell me it's a solid performer for them, so I decided to give it a chance. The spread is called Spiritual Tasks, but to be perfectly blunt here, I struggled to take the interpretation seriously be...

I'd just like to say that it was thrill enough to see my and Aleks' book on the top of the "Most Popular" list weeks before its release. That alone was, to be honest, more than I'd dreamed of. But two days after, to have it sitting on the top yet again... I am humbled by the volume of attention this implies. From Aleks' fans, and others. Thank you. Seeing DEoH on that list will not get old, let me tell you. Curious to see how long it will stay  there, myself. Anyone willing to place some wagers? What are the odds? I'm not ordinarily the betting sort, to be honest. But I do love numbers. And I've no sales stats to play with, so I'm totally twiddling my thumbs right now. *twitches* Right. Like I don't have other stories to write, yeah? *laughs* Okay, I'll stop wishing for statistical data that I don't have access to, and sales figures that I can't have, and go back to what I get paid for. Giving Good Book. Oh, and all th...

But for good reasons! I swear! Black's "Meet The Muse" interview is on hold, for the moment. Mostly because I have someone who would like to perform the interview, and the prospect of sinking into character for the conversation is a great idea. I'm eager to try it and see what comes of that approach. And finding the time for that...well. It's going to have to wait a little bit. The line edits for FOAT came in a couple days ago, and everything is taking a back seat to getting a handle on this. Getting it under control, making sure the alterations that need done are plotted and manageable, and making time to schedule the tandem writes with my partner in crime. Those things have priority. I'm discovering that I'm one of those writers who can have many active projects on my desk, but can only work on one of them at a time. It was that way with the trunked novel. It was that way during Black's formative years. And it was that way with FOAT. Each proj...

Getting Konaton to sit down with me wasn't all that difficult. It was the conversation itself I found to be the most difficult. Not the most uncomfortable muse discussion I've had, by far, but short of a jackhammer and a pair of draft horses, I knew I wouldn't be getting anything more from him than he was feeling generous enough to give. Konaton and generous are antonyms in the New World Dictionary. I'm now convinced of it. Everything about him is dark, as he sits staring at me with a sullen expression from the opposite side of the living room. The hint of color covering his scalp in a shadow of fuzz. The circles smudged around his eyes. The complexion of his skin, too cafe au lait to pass for a tan, especially in the dead of winter. I tap my pen against the notebook with its carefully worded list of questions. I knew from the inception this wouldn't be easy.  Konaton jiggles a leg, solid black cargo pants bloused military-style into black Goretex boots. He ar...