So since I have several stories coming out this year, I think I should get to do a reading at WisCon. Hopefully others will agree. Who wants to do a reading with me? We’d have to come up with a theme of some sort.
Let’s see, I have a mythic story coming up based on Orpheus and Eurydice, an SF story about dead mothers, an SF story about aliens… yeah, that’s it for non-reprints. Any theme suggestions, interested co-readers?
Because of several factors, I did not mention that I was going to be on Hour of the Wolf this morning. For those of you who don’t know, HotW is a local radio talk show dealing with all things SF/F/H hosted by the fabulous Jim Freund. Thing is, it airs at 5am on Saturdays. So that means I had to be up at 3am. This is my 3am face:
I look excited, right? The show itself was a lot of fun, though. We talked about Clarion West and writers I like and Carl Brandon Society and Star Trek and stories I have coming out. That’s this first part here:
Then I read Until Forgiveness Comes and then we talked a bit about 9/11 and then I took some calls. I took calls! That’s the second part:
You can also listen to the show online via WBAI’s streaming. The MP3s I have don’t include the music he played for copyright reasons.
I should mention that I’ve been on Hour of the Wolf before, but always with my writing group, Altered Fluid. If you want to listen to our appearances, check out these links:
Despite making my 3AM Face, I had a really great time and don’t regret a second of it. Jim says he’d love to have me on again and I am all for that. We also had some pre-thoughts about things we could do with Until Forgiveness Comes that are even more radio-y. Excting!
Just a reminder that the WisCon Panel Brainstorming post is still going on. Consider it an open thread for all things discussiony :)
It’s Hugo Award nomination time, kids. This is when folks who attended last year’s WorldCon and those who have already signed up for this year’s can nominate stories, books, people and magazines for awards. Exciting! I have not been to WorldCon in a number of years and that isn’t likely to change soon. I’ll have to settle for recommending things for you folks to nominate.
Weird Tales has helpfully put together this Year In Review, which highlights some of their more awesome endeavors. i think they’re angling for that Best Semiprozine nom, and I personally feel they deserve it. Seriously, when was the last time you read something cool and entertaining and weird in Locus? When was the last time Locus held a spam fiction contest? Hmm? Weird Tales is where it’s at. And while you’re at it, perhaps you should consider nominating some of their excellent fiction for an award, too.
As I mentioned last week, Fantasy has a Best Story of 2008 poll going on (and contest… did I mention contest? Go enter the contest!) which provides a helpful list of all our 2008 fiction with links. We’re going to announce the winner next week along with some of the editor’s picks for top stories. Nominating people might want to read those stories for consideration.
On the Best Editor front, there are, of course, many fine editors out there. Ann Vandermeer of Weird Tales and various anthologies, Cat Rambo of Fantasy Magazine, Susan Groppi, Jed Hartman, and Karen Meisner of Strange Horizons, Rachel Swirsky of PodCastle… really, you have many good choices. But if I were nominating, the people I just mentioned would be it.
There’s one last category that I think most people who read this blog don’t pay much attention to: Best Fan Writer. This is anyone who has published stuff in fanzines/semipro zines/on the internet relating to SF/F fandom, etcetc. That includes the non-fiction writers who have appeared in Fantasy. Last week I put up our Best of 2008: Columns post and I still have the Best of Interviews & Articles to do. But may I recommend the following writers to nominate for this category:
And in non-Fantasy noms, I think miss Cleolinda deserves some credit and recognition for enduring the Twilight series so we didn’t have to.
I’m sure I will think of more Best Fan Writer people in the next few days.
And finally (you knew this was coming, right?) I would like to point out that I had a story published in 2008 and I am totally eligible for the Fan Writer award, not just for Fantasy stuff, but also for the ABW. So keep that in mind ;D
A few days ago WisCon opened up the panel suggestion form. Yay! I love suggesting panels. Since the brainstorming post last year was a big hit and led to many good things, I thought I would host another. Everyone is welcome to contribute. If you have just an inkling of an idea or a well-formed one but don’t know how best to put it into words, post! People will hopefully help you flesh ideas out, find new, interesting directions, or lend their wordsmithyness to your existing ideas.
Might also be fun to suggest some different styles of panels. I know last year they were trying to get some debate-style things going on. I would love to see suggestions of ways to shake up the panel format instead of it just being 6 people talk at you for 45 minutes.
Almost all of my favorite pictures of myself have come out of KGB readings lately. Here’s one from this past week (by Ellen Datlow, as always):
There were a bunch of other great shots, too. Evidence at this link.
I used to hate having my picture taken. I still kinda do, but I have now been working on how to minimize the things that I dislike about pictures of myself. I am almost an expert at tilting my head in useful ways. I am also practicing “looks”. Though no matter what I do, I look awesome in this shirt and always will:
Last week at KGB I came down (almost) directly from work, so I had work clothes on. The shock on people’s faces at seeing me in something other than jeans and a t-shirt was hilarious. Nora actually said, “Oh Jesus what happened to you!?” and I believe Genevieve’s exact words were, “You’re secretly a call girl now, aren’t you?”
Do you see why I never bother to dress up? Sheesh.
Anyway, I did stop by my apartment to drop off my bags and laptop and decided to finally wear the lovely necklace you see around my neck for the first time. It was a gift from the very talented JoSelle Vanderhooft and is based on Black Feather. I nearly fainted from the vapors when she first gave it to me. And it looks just as awesome on as it does in my little hands.
Here are some more shots of me in my shocking state of prettiness. This will have to tide you all over for another year or so, cuz if the faces of surprise people pull is going to be normal, I might as well spare people heart attacks!
See more KGB photos here. All taken by Ellen Datlow.
Week 3 starts today and I have two bits of good news to report. First, according to the CW workshop admins, people donated enough money in a little over 48 hours to cover the cost of purchasing new laptops for the students who lost theirs to theft. You know how earlier today I said there were times I just wanted to walk away from this community? Well, this is one of the reasons I don’t. We are a community and we take care of each other in times of need. People’s generosity always amazes me, even though I see it time and again. Thanks to everyone who donated or spread the word. I’m sure the students and admins and teachers appreciate everything and will always do so.
Speaking of generosity, I just got a note from a write-a-thon coordinator letting me know what sponsorships have come in so far. A few people went ahead and donated their money (Linda Addison did so with the warning that she knew where to find me if I didn’t write — eek!) and some of them weren’t on the list I was keeping to see if I’d reached my goal yet. Well lo, with the addition of these fine folks, I found out that I met my goal of having $1000 pledged! In fact, the total is actually $1010 if I meet all of my writing goals. And I have a ton of motivation to do so. Thank you, everyone. This really made my day.
So! This week I’m thinking of doing chapter 2, since I have a vague idea of how it will go and I’m interested to see where my girls will take me next. This is probably going to be a longer one, so I’m back to grinding out 1K a day or so. Should be interesting as I’m going to be upstate for most of the week. At least it’s a nice place and quiet in the evenings :)
Just found out yesterday that someone broke into the Clarion West sorority house and stole 4 laptops, some clothing, and other stuff. Apparently they broke a window and grabbed everything they could. There are many times I wish I had the power to send down lightning on someone, and this is one of them. If this had happened to me at my Clarion I would have been just devastated. I also could not have afforded to replace the laptop. This is the situation 4 students find themselves in now.
They have temporary computers, I hear, but will definitely need some replacements. Clarion West is collecting donations toward that end. I know many of you have pledged or donated for the write-a-thon and may not be able to spare anything. But if you can, please do. Having a laptop stolen, no matter who you are, is heartbreaking. But when you’re a writer and your laptop is your livelihood, it’s indescribably horrid.
If you can, please donate here (be sure to put in the notes that this is for laptop replacement and not the general fund) and contact the workshop admins at info -at- clarionwest.org if you can help by donating/selling at low cost a spare laptop. Thanks.
A bit of most excellent news — yesterday I found out that Strange Horizons will publish my story Until Forgiveness Comes! Yay! SH is one of my favorite magazines and a market I really, really wanted to crack. And that story is, I believe, one of the best I’ve ever written.
Apparently SH sent out a bunch of acceptances yesterday as I saw at least one mentioned on my flist and my fellow Altered Fluidian, Kris Dikeman, also got one. I’m pretty sure AF is taking over markets one by one, as three or four of us have something coming up in Electric Velocipede as well.
I should also say that the story benefited tremendously from critiques from both Altered Fluid and, later, the Black Beans (who took a look at the revision I did for SH, mentioned here). Big thanks, y’all :)
My story will come out in late 2008/early 2009, and I’ll definitely make mention when it does. And next month my Podcastle story comes out. Lots to look forward to.
