Moved!

If you were following this and lost me:

http://kyrialyse.livejournal.com

Mountains

I spent the last week in the high Sierras, mostly in Palisade and Dusy Basins.

Frogs:

For a while, there didn't seem to be frogs in the Sierras. Now there are yellow-legged frogs, leopard frogs and a frog/toad who is lichen green with a black eye-stripe and brilliant orange under-thighs.

Marmots:

I am the Timothy Treadwell of marmots, except for the being devoured part. They let me hang out with them, permitted me to watch them feed (they shared roots with each other). I have given them names: Behemoth, Genghis and Victorianus.

What the mouse did:

One morning, in my green Lexan cup was a tiny mouse turd, and in my white plastic spoon was a tiny golden circle of mouse pee. He must have climbed into the cup to do this, then carefully oriented himself to achieve the desired aesthetic effect. Why in the spoon? Why at all? Some fine point of rodent mentality is at work here.

Talus:

Talus climbing is the perfect rock-climbing art, a constant calculation of force, angle, balance, speed and risk, devoid of the unwanted interpolation of effete and clanking gear between myself and the rock.

Except with a pack on. With a pack on, it's grunting hell.

Now:

Now I'm back in the desert, working rather slowly on a novel set in 1876 Galveston for which I cannot devise a name.

Rant(s) of the week

There are, in fact, various things I could rant about, and the trouble is to choose between them.

I could, for example, rant about the online writers' workshop of which I am a member, and how irritating it is that they do nothing to guarantee any particular number of critiques in any particular period of time, so that I post a story and wait and wait and wait, and after long waiting get maybe one crit, which usually is unhelpful. Adding to the irritation is the fact that one can see how many people have viewed the story how many times, and these numbers make clear that *the majority of the viewers* have viewed the story more than once without bothering to leave any comments at all.

I'd really rather be paid for my stories before they are used for someone's reading pleasure.

I could rant about the insensitive, or at the very least poorly phrased, recent complaints of two commentators on TVG that handicappers had been "considered last" in the decision made by Hollywood Park to install an artificial surface. Are we to believe these commentators would like the convenience of handicappers to preempt the safety of jockeys and horses? Or the financial, time and emotional investment of trainers and owners? Or the image of racing in the eyes of the public? Surely that was not what was meant to be implied. And surely people who present themselves to the public as expert handicappers should not be afraid of a challenge.

(Hints: watch, don't bet, for a month or so; stick with turf races; stop fucking whining.)

Or, OK, I could rant about faux kink in fiction. I just read a book -- a very long book -- in a series that enrobes itself in a mantle of Gothic fantasy kink.

The brooding, handsome, absolutely fucking tedious main character spends the entire VERY LONG book brooding handsomely about the Darkness In His Soul.

In the scene meant to impress this Darkness upon our shrinking senses (or our heaving bosoms), he gets into some BDSM Lite, soft leather thongs, safewords, yadda da yadda, with a hooker who is enthusiastically consenting (like all the hookers in this wish-fulfillment world for the Gothy young.)

This is not kinky. This is not dark.

It's fake, silly and pretentious. And it's really, really irritating (and LONG). In addition, the book has this sort of fake "gay--friendlyness", because, MY GOD, the protag kisses a guy once and, well, people make coy references to gay sex and stuff. This is particularly irritating because the heterosexual scenes are graphic -- so, in other words, the text is pretending to be liberated and unprejudiced when in reality the gay stuff is off taking place somewhere in, you know, a closet.

Lord, people, it's 2006. Get over it.

Writing update

Except there's not much to update.

I'm trying to sell a couple of short stories. TRIB'S WAR and STEALING THE SUN are with my agent. RIDER: A NOVEL is awaiting one last reader's examination before I send it along to him.

I've been writing stories set in the modern day, at Bay Meadows racetrack. Which is going to be torn down and developed for condos and stores some time in the next few years -- just another victim of the eternal profit motivation.

Anyway, it's frustrating. It's frustrating to get rejects in the first place; it's frustrating when they contain cryptic comments that you go crazy trying to decipher; it's frustrating when they have the rejecting editor's own (not very impressive) sales attached as a .sig file.

And it's particularly frustrating to go back to something I wrote in 2002, tried to sell, and couldn't, and realize that not only is it not good enough to sell, it's not even in Standard Manuscript Format.

Sigh.

The Name Jinx

Dosage, birthdate, geldedness, five-week layoff, they've all proven to be meaningless elements in picking a Derby winner.

Here is one superstition that stands the test of time:

THE NAME JINX.

Horses with mundane, silly or ignoble names almost never win the Derby. Among my top picks, while intending no insult to Ron, Bob or John, I can't really think of Lawyer Ron and Bob and John as names having the ring of nobility. Brother Derek is a bit better, but not all that much. Keyed Entry was jinxed by being a miler, but also by being apparently named for data entry (or for how you get into your house when the door is locked?). Sweetnorthernsaint is OK, but it doesn't really make much sense and it has that joinywords thing going on, which is annoying in horse names (I still remember someone or other joking about a Bob Baffert trainee, Isitingood, that the name must be 'I Sit In Goo, D'). Sinister Minister? Icky rhyme. Bluegrass Cat is a pretty good name -- he was second. Steppenwolfer is sort of catchy, although it doesn't make much sense -- he was third. Don't know what Jazil means; something in Arabic, I assume. Why name a horse Seaside Retreat? As for Showing Up, well, he... did. For fifth, I think. Sharp Humor isn't bad. Flashy Bull -- am I supposed to be picturing Reindeer Dippin, here, or is the 'bull' supposed to have different implications? Storm Treasure is pretty but doesn't actually make sense; are we saying the horse is flotsam, here? Private Vow -- well, that could be pretty much anything. Maybe he privately vowed to convince everyone he should pursue athletic endeavors other than horse racing. And Deputy Glitters. Huh? Please do not make me picture a cop in a spangled jumpsuit, people.

Cause To Believe is a great name, but the name jinx does not preclude also having to be a good horse, a factor that also caught up with Point Determined and AP Warrior.

Barbaro is a good name, with a virile ring to it. He wins the name game, and he won the race. The Name Jinx is for real.

Barbaro

Just humiliated a good field by a vast margin, proving once again that I can't pick Derby winners.

Things I learned:

When people on TV try and tell you that post position 18 in a 20-horse field is not a disadvantage, don't listen. Brother Derek dead heated for fourth after going wide around both turns.

I'm not sure what happened to Lawyer Ron, who looked like he was in a good spot and faded out completely at the top of the stretch. Maybe just the distance.

Keyed Entry I can only hope will make it back in races suited to his ability.

Sweetsouthernsaint didn't handle the distance and also I noticed yesterday the rail seemed dead.

Bob and John sucked. I have no idea why.

I think Barbaro is probably capable of winning the Triple Crown, and I don't like him. I mean, I don't have anything against his trainer or owner or sire or anything. I don't like him because, except in motion (he has amazing motion), he's damn ugly. Skinny bay horse with big head. Yeah, I realize it's not a beauty contest. I still don't like him anyway.

Picking the Derby Winner

I tried this last year, as you may remember.

Here are the contenders in order, with their numerical score as they come out according to my system:

Sweetnorthernsaint 21 114 stalk/speed 1st G2. Huge last Beyer. Looks like a real contender . Will he rate?

Brother Derek 21 105 speed 1st G1. Possibly the best horse in the race as a sheer athlete, but he has limited experience with large fields and I'm not convinced the outside post position won't hurt him.

Keyed Entry 21 101 speed 3rd G1 Has never won over 7 ½ furlongs, speed crazy.

Bob And John 20 103 stalk/close 1st G1. Right running style, improving, looks very good just now and won’t mind if it rains. 1 1/8th not a problem. LS

Barbaro 17 104 speed 1st G1. Undefeated. Unclear if he can rate. Looks to be coming into the race well. In top three of none of Brisnet’s figures.

Sinister Minister 16 116 speed 1st G1 Also works very fast. One of the better speedsters with a win at 1 1/8th. May be a Keeneland freak -- look at his record before his last race.

Point Determined 16 101 stalk 2nd G1. Definite potential, and I loved his sire, but he just hasn't really ever caught my eye. LS

Cause to Believe 15 102 stalk/close 3rd G2. Seemed not to handle track in last race; doesn’t look like he’s training well but the connections say he's always like that. Blew right by Sinister Minister not long ago. Style and overall quality suggest not throwing him out completely. LS

A.P. Warrior 15 100 stalk/close 3rd G1. Right running style, but erratic quality a concern. I haven't seen this horse really look like he wants to win.

Sharp Humor 14 104 speed 2nd G1. Brave speed horse possibly questionable at 1 1/4th. LS

Lawyer Ron 14 101 speed 1st G2. This will be my sentimental pick – a hard-trying horse with tremendous ability. Coming into the race beautifully. So why are his numbers so low? The reason is that the southeastern "track" to the Derby doesn't include any Grade 1's and that his connections, trainer and jockey, are not winning at sufficiently high percentages to get points. And something a bit more ominous: Lawyer doesn't score well on most of the Brisnet figures, which I've been using lately with quite a bit of luck.

The first time I saw Lawyer I thought he was my Derby pick and I still think so, but there are challenges in his path.

Showing Up 14 96 speed/stalk 1st G2. Concerned about inexperience and lack of distance form.

Steppenwolfer 13 98 close 2nd G2 Another closer, but not wild about how he looks coming into the race

Private Vow 11 96 stalk/speed 3rd G2. Form does not suggest success here.

Bluegrass Cat 10 92 stalk 4th G1. Not in good form, although could possibly come back around at right moment.

Deputy Glitters 10 86 stalk 6th G1. Would be a surprise, just doesn’t look good enough.

Storm Treasure 9 102 close 2nd G1 Would have to improve, but does seem to be doing that. Has a win over the track.

Jazil 9 101 close 2nd G1 Can close, looks professional, could be this year’s Giacomo. 1 1/8th no problem. Second fastest “late pace” figure after SNS. LS

Seaside Retreat 9 79 close 6th G1. Beaten 32 lengths in his last start

Flashy Bull 6 92 stalk 7th G1. Would shock.

After all this, Lawyer Ron is still my pick, because he just is, logic or not.

Realistically, I'd probably go with some combination of him, SNS, BD, Bob and John, Barbaro, and CTB as a longshot.

This brings me to a concern.

I think the Derby field should be limited to 12. It's only a matter of time before someone clips heels around a turn or someone goes down on the lead and the chain reaction costs human and equine lives. A 20-horse field makes a dangerous sport more dangerous. In addition, every year good horses don't get to run their race because horses who got beaten 32 lengths last time out are in their way.

Every once in a while, like last year, a horse wins who I wouldn't have thought should be included. But last year was an anomaly because of the pace scenario. And do the post-Derby race records of Giacomo and Closing Argument really suggest that they were deserving?

Another thought: had Giacomo and Closing Argument, not to mention Spanish Chestnut, who wasn't even there to win, not been in the race, Afleet Alex might have won the Triple Crown. And he was deserving.

This year, at least every horse in the field is well-meant, and over half the field has a genuine chance. It looks like a fantastic race.