It gets worse

My car is not fixed. They had it taken apart, they said everything seemed to be OK. They put it back together with the new clutch and slave cylinder and it would not shift -- the transmission seems to work when they shift it by hand but it doesn't work when connected to the hydraulics.

I think I need a new car, and I don't even know where to start. What I've been able to find with Google so far has been very unhelpful -- all the sites start by asking what make and model you want. I don't know what make and model I want, I want as cheap a car as I can find that fits my needs: has to be reliable, has to get decent gas mileage, I would distinctly prefer a hatchback with a manual transmission. I don't care what make it is as long as it's not something exotic that's super expensive to maintain.

Book review: The Silvered

I've pretty much given up on reviewing the books that I read, but now and again I'll come across something I have to talk about.

Such a book is The Silvered by Tanya Huff.

I won't claim to be objective. First, in addition to being one of my favorite writers, Tanya is a friend. (I can't really claim she's a close friend, but only because she lives way off in Canada and I get to talk to her for a few minutes about once a year. But I look forward to those minutes.) Second, this is a book about werewolves, and I'm a sucker for werewolves. So I guess all I can say is I really enjoyed reading this. It was painful to read in places, because it is entirely too believable about some of of the failings of humans. It was more painful to read because it's not real and I have to leave that world and come back to the world where my car self destructed. A magic system that seems to be internally consistent, without being explained to death, with a couple of bits that I can't get behind, but I'm willing to let them go. A rich world that seems plenty big enough to hold more stories, even though this particular story is pretty complete. A book you should definitely run out and buy, because if you don't enjoy it your taste in books is too different for us to talk, and even if you don't, Tanya needs to pay for her house repairs so she can come to cons more often so I can spend a few more minutes in her wonderful company.

10 out of 10.