Kushiel's Heliotropes

I've been getting Dictionary.com's Word of the Day emails for a long time. Sometimes I read them; sometimes I don't. Today's word?...

Heliotrope

1. A light tint of purple; reddish lavender.
2. Any hairy plant belonging to the genus Heliotropium, of the borage family, as H. arborescens, cultivated for its small, fragrant purple flowers.
3. Any of various other plants, as the valerian or the winter heliotrope.
4. Any plant that turns toward the sun.

Now you probably know I'm a Jacqueline Carey nerd. In her books, Heliotrope is one of the 13 Houses of the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. Adapts of the Night Court are Servants of Naamah, a goddess, and are known as the most skilled prostitutes in the land. Heliotrope's house canon is devotion and love; their motto, "Thou, and no other." Naturally, I wondered what their flower looked like. When I googled it, I found a marque (a tattoo given to adapts of the Night Court when once they've completed their service) of a Heliotrope flower, created by Elegaer. I wasn't too fond of it, but I found she'd created others. Most are brilliant, and I've posted a couple below.

Fantasy Pin-Ups

So it turns out that Patrick Rothfuss is producing a calender for 2013.

Every month will portray a different female character from a big-name fantasy author, and all proceeds go to charity. Sounds awesome, right? Especially when you look at the authors involved: there's Jacqueline Carey, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Geogre R.R. Martin... The only one I don't particularly care for out of the 12 is Jim Butcher, but 11 out of 12 ain't bad.

The catch is that this is meant to be a literary pin-up calender, heavy on the pin-up. Look right for the cover, or here for some images from last year's version. It's nasty. I've got nothing against sex and sexuality, but this is objectification, plain and simple.

The images of the characters haven't been released yet, and I admit to being curious about the final product. I particularly want to see how Phedre (from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy Series) will be portrayed. But based off last year's attempt, odds are I'll end up disappointed.