Image courtesy the Associated Press

• Jaw-dropping art carved from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and medical journals.
• Fantastic shadow art of severed heads composed from, suitably, taxidermy and trash.
• The 100 best opening lines according to Stylist.co.uk. Looks like they forgot one -

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

• Little libraries! If only I were a carpenter (and lived somewhere else, where something like this would take off).
• Michael Chabon discusses the bias against science-fiction. Love him!
• If you’re of the geek or nerd persuasion and haven’t subscribed to the Nerdist channel on YouTube, you should. Is it weird that the show I’m most looking forward to is Rob Zombie’s?
• Wil Wheaton’s list of things every person should have.
• And I know you’ve seen it by now, but … an excerpt from Wesley Crusher, Teenage Fuck Machine.
• Francesca Lia Block is in a battle with Bank of America over her home. You can stay updated at Save Francesca’s Faerie Cottage. I really hope things work out; we’re facing the same situation and it’s enough to drive anyone mad.
• Steampunk Thing! How cool would it be to have one of these attached (and working, of course)?
• Here’s why Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is the best Disney sequel. I’m still cackling.
• Mark your calendars: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King (4/24), another tale in the Dark Tower saga, and Railsea by China Miéville (5/15), a salvagepunk retelling of Moby Dick.

I now have two favorite commercials …

Dear Friends,

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I must tell you what is going on here at Cedarhill. On Sunday night, February 5, someone broke into the sanctuary. They turned the felv cats in with our 150 uninfected cats. They were found that way the next morning. Rags were stuffed down the toilet to plug it up. A pair of Michelle’s boots were stolen. All fingers pointed toward a former employee. She worked for us a couple of weeks then asked to be admitted to Willowbrook Psychiatric Center. She turned out not to be very stable.

I’ve had to order a whole new set of 90-keyed alike master locks. The cheapest I could find was $18.00 apiece. I am sure that this person had gotten herself a master lock key to the current set of locks. We are currently on high vigil. We have locked the felv/fiv house, the senior house and the big cat house. We are locking the front gate with a chain and pad lock. In our twenty-five years, I have never felt so threatened.

Now, for the tragic news. We were not sure what happened to Oscar. He started to throw up last Sunday night on February 5 and refused to eat. The vet came out Monday and drew blood which was sent to MSU. We gave him fluids, B-12 and a huge dose of vitamins. The next day we got his blood work back and he had tested positive for salmonella and he died that night. We have been feeding the same beef and chicken and knew that was not the cause. Lady, who lived with Oscar, cries and moans all of the time. It just breaks your heat. Oscar, the plumber, is gone forever. Rest in peace, Oscar.

The following week Sonya, another tiger, started showing severe neurological regression. She could hardly walk. We carried her to MSU and we had every imaginable test run on her. From x-rays, spinal tap, spinal milligram and the result they came back with was 96% cancer in her blood work, and she tested positive for Canine Distemper probably carried by raccoons in this area. She was euthanized by MSU on February 16. The staff and I are still in shock.

If that was not enough, Phoebe our 15-year old blind tiger, on February 23, started having severe seizures and passed away a few hours later. Her little body is at MSU for a necropsy. I’m so used to having Phoebe in my back yard that the emptiness is unbearable. She was quite the talker. She was 5 months old when we rescured her and was 15 years old when she died.

For the animals,
C. Kay McElroy & Michelle Cranford

I’m angry. I’m hurt. In the 15+ years I’ve known about Cedarhill, nothing like this has happened. I don’t presume to know what happened to poor Sonya and Phoebe – the timing just sucks. But I don’t think it’s far-fetched to assume Oscar was poisoned. I looked forward to picking up their newsletter each month to read about his shenanigans. It made me smile. Now he’s gone.

I donated $50. It won’t bring any of them back, but it may help with medical costs or locks and keys. It’s not much but it’s something. It’s all I could think to do. You can read more about the sanctuary and all that they do at http://www.cedrhill.org (yes, the a is missing). They were featured on Animal Planet’s Must Love Cats in February of last year, which you can view below.

I hope they find whoever is responsible. I hope the guilt consumes her and devours her from the inside out.

2011 was a wicked good year for me, even with all the road blocks. I designed three sites and two book covers; I managed to pick up new clients and new friends; I began the process of moving into a new room, a bigger deal for me than it probably should be; I spent a weekend in New Orleans; I was able to paint my nails for the first time after years of torturous biting and peeling; I finished NaNoWriMo at 50,265 words, my first win in three years; I saw my estranged family over the holidays and didn’t have the urge to kill myself; I had two stories accepted and one rewrite request. There was really only one low point that I can recall – the loss of my closest friend.

Some resolutions for the new year: Switch hosts and revamp the site; self-publish my first novella; write everyday; finish at least 50 books; get my shit organized; write about my brief trip to NOLA, which I promised to do last summer; update more often; travel – somewhere, anywhere; inspired by The Nerdist Way – I’ll blog more about this later – complete my Character Tome and charactercizes; work more; eat better; and change up my hair with some cockamamy color.

I hope you’re all well and happy and extracting some joy out of this frigid winter weather. Brrrr. Don’t forget about me!

High school sucked. I hated, hated it to the point of missing weeks at a time because of panic attacks. I started writing poetry to cope. Bad, sad poetry. I still like some of it, actually, and reading it back was such a kick that I decided to string some of it together as an ebook. This really wasn’t anything more than an excuse to learn something new (I thought formatting would be a breeze, but it took more than an hour and three uploads until I was happy with it) but if you or someone you know enjoys this kind of thing, you can download it for the e-reader of your choice here. Bonus: It’s free.

Ten years ago, Mekenzie Larsen was an awkward freshman struggling to make friends. Writing was not only an escape but a way to vent. Here is a short collection of poems written between 2001-2002 that best showcases the author’s feelings during that first year of high school as well as her budding love for angst, the color red, and mermaids.

Allergies have really been kicking my ass, so I haven’t gotten around to writing that New Orleans post (I know, I know), but I did manage to update my portfolio and get a little reading done. Which brings me to the reason for this post: Pre-order The Tower of the Forgotten, the final book in the Penemue trilogy by Sara M. Harvey, before August 15th for just $10, and grab the other two while you’re there. Here, take another 35% off your order. You’re welcome.

Now, who has a good remedy for Skeeter Syndrome? *scratch scratch slap*

• New Orleans! I spent two days there with my dad last month. Hit up the French Quarter, fell in love, then overheated and almost passed out at Jazz Fest. Big crowds and pot haze don’t agree with me. But the next morning I felt much better and now I’m dying to go back. A more detailed post about our trip is forthcoming.
• Hawk Cam. Really, who isn’t watching this?
• The Single Most Ridiculous Movie Premise Ever Made via Cracked.
• The Book of Mormon soundtrack gets more amazing the more I listen to it.
• For fans of Sailor Moon, particularly the horrid English dub, the abridged series is a riot.
• I’m the proud owner of a shiny new Kindle. I can never part with my beloved books but this really is the next best thing. E-book recs, anyone?
• Go the F**k to Sleep, a bedtime story for exhausted parents. I’m tempted to buy a copy.
• The Shakespearean Insulter is fast becoming my go-to source for random exclamations of disgust and disapproval.
• Interested in self-publishing? You should check out this blog by Lindsay Buroker.
• Requires Only That You Hate – specfic geekrage!
• Looking for something new to read? Try What Should I Read Next? and BookLamp. A shame the latter seems stuck in beta.
• 10 things we want to see in the Dark Tower adaptation. With one exception (leave the ending as is), I disagree with everything on this list.
• MYTHPUNK! It’s exactly what it sounds like. Here, have a few more links.
• Read this: The Rumpelstiltskin Retellings: A Series of Poetic Blogs by Keyan Bowes, Choose Your Own Adventure by Kat Howard, The King of Cats, the Queen of Wolves by Mike Allen, Nicole Kornher-Stace, and Sonya Taaffe, & Fox Fire and Gold Coins (Disney smut with Flynn Rider and human!Robin Hood? Count me in!).
• Etsy finds: Corina Dross (beautiful “protective playing cards”), Dame Darcy, Latherati Soup Foundry (scents based on books), BellaLili.