Random Roundup

- Indian girl starts one-woman revolution against forced tween marriage.

- It's easier to suspend disbelief in romances if the actors aren't megahotties. This is especially true when the troubled couple is of the classic Hollywood old/fat/ugly-dude-and-youthful-beauty mode. It's like, the solution to your problems is to walk out the door and pick up one of the many guys who would be panting for your bod, lady.

- Via Helen, totally awesome shoes. Are these what Princess Toadstool would wear?

- As zubon put it, "Someone read Laurell K. Hamilton and thought, 'I could so top that.'"

- Just finished this book, the sequel to Firethorn. Good writing, solid and creative fantasy worldbuilding, believable characters, but man, is the protagonist a cross between Ayla and the perpetual victim lead from this book. Rape, disability, torture, maiming, whoring, drug addiction ... what isn't inflicted on this girl? But perhaps that's inevitable when you're writing a fairly realistic account of a camp follower to a conquering army.