On the wonderful news side,
incandescens has gotten a book deal with Tor and I cannot recommend it enough. *laughs* The first book should be released sometime in August.I'm also gradually finding my brain again and sorting through all the photos from the trip. We went to Beijing (Forbidden City, Great Wall), Xian (Terracotta Warriors, Ming Dynasty Tombs), Guilin (mountains and water like in the paintings and osmanthus forests), and Shanghai (more skyscrapers than any other city in the world). It was a whirlwind introduction to the country in all its aspect, both geographic and historic. As the tour guide said, "Xian is China's past, Beijing is its present, and Shanghai its future."
I'm going to do something I haven't done before, which is write the whole trip up after the fact. Given the mildly problematic connection prospects while we were there, it was a practical decision as well as one that fit the fact that we were pretty much busy for every minute we were awake or resting up to tackle the next stage. It was an amazing trip, and Jet was really happy with it and with his first time off this continent.
Anyway, hope everyone is well, and I'll be rolling this out as I'm able.
