This is a longish reading (nearly 15 minutes) from Always. Aud, as many of you know, lives in–loves living in–her body. Physically, she’s supremely competent; she’s confident, seamless, an elemental force. She has never encountered a person or situation she can’t handle. Until she travels to Seattle to meet her mother and her mother’s new husband. While she’s in Seattle Aud, being Aud, gets tangled up in a real estate fraud. The Bad Hats try put her out of action by doping her coffee. This dope isn’t just one little thing, not, say, a single dose of rohypnol. It’s a wicked grab bag of ingredients: PCP, meth, barbiturates, psilocybin, even a random assortment of chemo drugs. Aud ends up in hospital, physically helpless for several days. For the first time, she’s a victim.
Aud’s physical confidence and competence has always been her bedrock, the one thing she can rely on. And someone takes it away.
She’s weak, dizzy, breathless, even having flashbacks. She worries that next time she encounters someone or something dangerous, she won’t be able to rely on herself, on her superb body.
When she gets out of hospital, and then convalesces for a few more days, she finds herself feeling very physically and emotionally uncertain. She decides to find a local dojo in Seattle, a friendly place to put herself to the test. Enjoy.
Nicola Griffith 
Oh, Nicola, this is one of my favorite passages. Thank you!I’ve posted 3 new photos in Room of One’s Own today. Sadly, I forgot to properly name the pics, so they’re from Janine and they’re of my school and the view from our front lawn.I thought quaint New England towns were only in the books I read. Turns out I live in one. Any opinions on which statue pic is best? I’m blanking on the name of these, but they’re a sign of welcome.
Hi Nicola– I just finished “Always”, & have been a longtime reader of yours. I usually keep a book of yours “in reserve” in case I need something I know I will like in a big hurry, & for whatever reason, it was time. Finishing it up put me on the path to finding your blog, & here we are. (Edited for spelling horror)
janine, I’ll go straight to our gallery, < HREF="http://gallery.me.com/tennjd#100505" REL="nofollow">A View of One’s Own<> (more than forty pictures now), after this and take a look. I’m glad you liked the reading. It’s one of my favourites, too.mordicai, welcome. I hope you enjoy spending time here.
This is a great passage to hear read. I’m really liking the podcasts – the quality is noticeably better through my iTunes too.Janine, I like the one you labeled sm. I’m wondering what it would look like a little wider and lower and in horizontal orientation – so that we see the whole school trailing off into the right. Just a thought. It looks cool as is. It could be in a Stephen King story. And I love those quaint towns. Is this the view from your Dr. Suess house? I labeled them with your name.
I expect I will– & I stumbled across your research blog in the bargin & am now all worldbuilding-excited.
jennifer, thanks. And I took some more pix this morning, so I’ll post those soon.mordicai, I’m loving the world building too. Yay!
Janine…the stones look like a Cairn. I have one set up in my flower bed as a remembrance of my Welsh Corgi. The photos are wonderful!
Janine’s statue reminded me of a cairn too.I’ve uploaded 4 new ones. Just to show you we do have some fall color in So Cal. The tree in my front yard is changing. Mostly the leaves are turning brown and falling off, but I’m getting some great yellow and a few red color as well. I laid face down in the yard this afternoon just to smell the leaves. That smell always reminds me of raking leaves as a kid in my grandmother’s yard – huge never-ending piles f leaves. Something weird about these leaves tho – I swear they have a slight petroleum odor to them. And then there are the sad flower beds and pots with nothing in them visible from my front door step. I have not done well with the gardening this year…
Jennifer, good suggestion. I’ll try it when I go back into town. Thanks for labeling the pics for me! They’re all taken from the school in which I teach in Blue Hill, Maine. The water is Blue Hill Bay (Atlantic water) standing on the lawn of our school, looking in to “downtown” Blue Hill. Took those pictures today. :) The temps today were in the teens. Winter has .officially. arrived.I couldn’t for the life of me remember the name of that shape of statue, but it’s called an Inukshuk. “The Inukshuk, which means “likeness of person” was first used by the Inuit People to mark trails, indicate caches of food, locate nearby settlements as well as good places to hunt or fish. Most of the canadian arctic is dominated year round by permafrost and only has a few natural landmarks which could be used for orientation, thats why Inukshuk are used as directional markerThe rock Inukshuk embodies the spirit and persistence of the Inuit who live and flourish in Northern Canada, one of the world harshest environments.Inukshuk’s represent strenght, leadership and motivation”[spelling is author’s]That’s an excerpt taken from < HREF="http://www.hickerphoto.com/inukshuk-photos.htm" REL="nofollow">Rolf Hicker Photography<>. Have I mentioned lately that I love the community we’re building here? :)