Author Archives: Eugie Foster

The ASIM editor liked my changes to “Body and Soul Art.” Next comes the contract and my final approval of the galley proof, and we’re set. Issue #14 is slated to come out in August, and they’re taking it to Boston for WorldCon. I’m going to have something at WorldCon! I won’t be there, since it overlaps with Dragon*Con, but my story will be. I think that counts as another milestone.

Also up now at Tangent is the review I wrote of “The Best Christmas Ever” by James Patrick Kelly in Sci-Fiction.

And, as sobering offset to all the good news:
Received a rejection from Book of Dark Wisdom, although it was an awfully nice one: “I enjoyed your story and found it to be wonderfully clever. I apologize for holding it so long. It’s been in the final reading pool. But, I regret that the magazine is unable to use it at this time. It is very hard for me NOT to accept this story. While it is very well written, it doesn’t quite match the magazine’s style.

“I do encourage you to submit work in the future. I look forward to reading it.”

As rejections go, this one ranks among my top picks, although in many ways an “almost, oh so close” is so much more agonizing.

Out it goes again. *boot*

The garage door repair guy came by last night with the newly arrived part we needed. We now have two working garage door openers again. Hurray! And his rates were quite reasonable. I was pleasantly surprised, especially since he also noticed and fixed a few other less-than-professional odds and ends to do with our openers while he was here. If anyone in the Metro Atlanta area needs garage door opener maintenance, I’ll be happy to refer this guy to y’all.

I’m pretty sure the previous owner of our house installed our openers, as well as screwing up a bunch of other half-assed “projects.” There are many examples of his obviously do-it-yourself type “improvements” in our home, all of them staunch arguments for always hiring professionals to do such things for you. We’ve gradually either torn down and had redone, or had to fix most of his crap work.

There are still some things which are broken or screwy he did that we’re ignoring. Like the koi pond pump leaks, so if we turn it on, all the water drains out. Ergo, since we can’t turn the pump on, we have a stagnant pool of water in our backyard instead. Yup, we’re hosting a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The other “landscaping” he did also sucks. He tiered the backyard into two levels with a line of bricks which fall over at the least provocation, making mowing far more difficult than it should be. And the backyard lighting that he affixed to the fence has never, in the time we’ve lived in this house, worked. Grumble.

Writing stuff:

Did the clean up of “Body and Soul Art.” The editor also wanted me to add a little closure paragraph for the main character at the end. It was an excellent suggestion and I agreed with her that it would add resolution to the character’s development, but I had a hard time coming up with something satisfying that didn’t sound trite. But, after several false starts and deletes I did it. So much brain strain for seven sentences. Goodness.

Overall, the whole editing project took hours to accomplish, hours! It was a very extensive edit. But also very gratifying. I feel like “Body and Soul Art” is much tighter now than it was before. Just about ready to face the public. Going to give it another go over before sending it back to the editor. We’re on a bit of a tight timeline on this one. I think she said the deadline for issue fourteen is June 15th, but she works fast, as do I.

Also wrote a review of “The Best Christmas Ever” by James Patrick Kelly in Sci-Fiction for Tangent, and saw that my reviews of “Family Bed” by Kit Reed and “The First Commandment” by Gregory Benford are up. My editor lives!

Had quite a busy weekend. Saturday went to britzkrieg‘s birthday shindig where there was caffeine, wine, ice cream cake, and much excellent conversation in their beautiful, screened-in porch. Occasionally, their pride of five cats made the occasional celebrity appearance. Also had a chance to talk corsets with whirl_twirl, which is always a good thing.

So I stayed up late on Saturday. Did I sleep in on Sunday morning? Of course not. My stupid brain wanted to wake up when it always does and wouldn’t let me go back to sleep. Hence, there was profound grogginess on Sunday. I downed caffeine in a lifeline trickle to keep my head more-or-less on straight during the day.

Then was the Dragon*Con staff meeting where there was much hurraying over the new website developed by dire_epiphany and astralfire. Enthusiastic cheers to them both for updating the beast. Also, I learned the network specialist I had lined up for my staff got a real life job and moved to Houston, so he will no longer be able to work Dragon*Con. That left me down two staff going into the meeting. I was able to pick up a reporter, but no dedicated network specialist. I’ve got several people who are network-savvy who I can go to for help, but it would make me happier to have someone dedicated to the task on my staff. Also picked up a non-staff volunteer, one who had already purchased her badge but wants to help out gratis. Gotta love those. Overall, a successful and fun meeting. Much gabbing and catching up with excellent folks like arkhamrefugee, tk0667, fingerman, roget, and the aforementioned dire_ephiphany and astralfilre.

Also finished Seduced by Moonlight. The end picked up considerably, filled with court intrigue and other interesting plot thingies. But there’s a lot more of what I’d consider erotica in SbM than in some of Laurell K. Hamilton’s previous stuff. Not that that’s a bad thing, as she writes hot sex scenes, but it did leave me feeling like the book was more content low that her other works.

Hobkin was petulant at being left alone for so long this weekend, so I picked him up to cuddle after dinner yesterday and fell asleep with him on the couch.

Writing stuff:

Received a detailed rejection from Nathan at Scrybe Press but he’s interested in seeing more. I’m not surprised at this one. It was the third vampire story I’d sent them, and they’d bought the first two. But how many vampire stories is a single non-vampire-oriented market going to be gung-ho about? Still, a bummer. Now I have to figure out where to send the thing next. Markets that are receptive to traditional vampire stories are hardish to come by.

Waited an hour for the radiologist to spend less than a minute viewing my diaphragm via x-rays as I breathed. “Yup, it’s working fine,” she said. Sigh.

Watched The Last Samurai. I liked it. There was some truly beautiful cinematography, although I’m just not a big fan of Tom Cruise. I only really thought he was drool-worthy as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire. The blond thing, maybe.

Got Laurell K. Hamilton’s Seduced by Moonlight from Amazon.com in the mail. My guilty pleasure reading, rah! Although I’m not being drawn into this one as I have been some of her previous works. While I really like her darkly erotic scenes, I think I like them better when they frame a plot. So far, this one has been a bit too sex-heavy, if that’s possible.

Writing stuff:

Received:

50-day “we won’t be publishing this” from Glimmer Train. But this one was different from the forms I’ve received from them in the past. They said “It was a good read” as well as “we appreciate the opportunity to read your work.” Now I’m wondering, is this a new form or is it what passes as a personal response from them?

Payment and file contract from the ELP Library for “My Courtship by Lord Magus: A Diary” and “The Adventures of Trina, Hackersprite. I discovered when she mailed my file copy back that I had accidentally printed it out on the back of a printed page of another manuscript. Oops.

Confirmation that my editor at Tangent is still alive, and things will get moving again right soon.

Just heard from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine that they want to buy my story “Body and Soul Art”! Woohoo!! They said they’d like to publish it in issue #14.

And an email later, heard from Neo-opsis on that story that’s been languishing in their “maybe” pile forever that, while they thought it was a “well constructed story,” they’re going to pass.

Still, I count that as being ahead. My second sale to ASIM. Go, Aussies!

And hey, this is my thirtieth fiction sale! I guess that means I’m all grown up.

Huzzah! After a few bad starts and some confusion, Matthew figured out how to network our computers together! I think. Both computers appear to be on civil speaking terms. And yes, the fact that one of them is a Win ’98 and the other is a Win XP does indeed seem to have been the culprit of an inordinate amount of trouble. Lovely MicroSoft products.

Watched In the Heat of the Night. Actually I listened to most of it, as AMC was showing it quite late and I was trying to fall asleep. But my insomnia kicked in (which is unusual–it typically manifests in the early AM) and the storyline pulled me in. Extremely sympathetic character that Virgil Tibbs. Although thanks to all the CSI I’ve been watching, I cringed when he didn’t don latex gloves in the course of his homicide investigation, and I wanted to shout “you’re compromising the crime scene!” to nearly everyone. The movie, overall, was terribly uncomfortable to watch/listen to. There was a tension underlying it transcending the racial issue, although decidedly accented by it. And it was shot in such a way to convey much heat and grit. Yet it was a very good movie. I just don’t feel the need to see it again any time soon. Although now I feel like I should, just to catch the parts I missed or only saw as a blur as I squinted at the TV without my glasses.

Also watched the last Angel episode. Matthew and I discussed last week who we thought was going to die. We were right. That was a nicely poignant scene. Unfortunately, the rest of it was disappointing, especially the end. I actually sat in stunned disbelief for several seconds after the credits came up, and when I emerged from my shock, shouted “NO!” at the TV. Going to try to wipe this last season from my consciousness.

Picked up my chest x-rays after work. The medical folks were supposed to forward them to the facility I’m having my diaphragm test at tomorrow. We called them weeks ago. Did they? Of course not. So I get to courier them myself. Pffft.

Big weekend coming up. Tomorrow got lots of doctor stuff to do. Saturday is britzkrieg‘s birthday celebration, and Sunday is the Dragon*Con staff meeting. Just heard back from one of my staff from last year who doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it, so it looks like I have a staff opening. That’s timely at least, although I’m bummed that I’m losing her as a reporter.

Writing stuff:

My Tangent editor once again appears to be MIA. I realize he has a lot on his plate, but I really do try to get my reviews to him in a timely fashion. It’s a bit disheartening when it then takes him up to two weeks to publish them, especially when my current assignment is a weekly. *grumble*

Forgot to set my alarm this morning, but I remembered to set the automatic coffee maker, which woke Hobkin when it went off, and his clamoring for breakfast eventually woke me, only ten or so minutes later than I would normally have awakened. An unintentional Goldberg alarm clock. I gave Hobkin an extra piece of bell pepper as thanks.

So I managed to get to work on time, although with brain packed in fog. One cup of coffee later and my eyelids no longer felt like they weighed a pound each, but I was definitely not at my best.

In totally unrelated peevage, my place of business plays the same muzak mix day in and day out, every day. For the most part, the selection doesn’t make me want to pierce my eardrums with a highlighter marker, but even “timeless classics” begin to grate the fiftieth time I’ve heard them in a one month period. Ugh.

Writing stuff:

Wrote a review of Gregory Benford’s “The First Commandment” at Sci-Fiction for Tangent. This is the second Benford story I’ve gotten to review. The first one was in the Spring 2004 issue of Oceans of the Mind. I’m still a bit wide-eyed at my own temerity.

Received my SFWA Bulletin in the mail. It looks like it may have exchanged insults with a farm thresher. The USPS is hard on loose magazines.

And . . . *drum roll* I pounded out 1500 new words on the vague, first person, present tense science fiction piece which is beginning to take shape. I even sketched out an outline of the story, so I’ve got a better idea of where I’m going with it. Progress!

Hobkin did something odd the other day. He doesn’t drink water. We offer fresh water to him out of principle, but the most he’s ever done is sniff it before walking away. This isn’t that uncommon. A lot of skunks get all the liquid they need from the fruits and vegetables they eat. Actually, it’s a warning sign of possible seizure if a pet skunk drinks copiously and frequently (pet skunks are becoming more prone to seizures due to inbreeding perpetuated by the biggest skunk mill where most of them come from.)

When I put a fresh bowl of water down for him yesterday, he sniffed it with greater interest than in the past. Then he stuck his paw in and licked the water off. He did this three times. So I’m thinking he was thirsty? But if he was, why didn’t he just drink the water? It’s not like he doesn’t know how to lap up liquid. I’ve seen him go after milk and other non-water beverages before.

Weird beastie.

But happily, he seems better. He’s eating with appetite, although he’s a bit skittish. Yesterday we had a garage repair person come by to look at our broken opener (it needs a new gear piece . . . pfft) and every time a door open or closed, Hobkin’s tail went straight up and he went tearing off to hide under his hutch. Poor little guy.

Had to fill up the gas tank in my trusty Honda this morning. $1.90/gallon! And that’s low compared to the country average. Part of me grumbles at the higher prices, but another part of me can’t help but chortle when I think of how much all the SUV and minivan drivers are having to pay at the pump. The popularity of those road behemoths really annoys me. They’re frivolous, decadent, ridiculously fuel inefficient, impossible for people in cars to see around, and far too frequently, they give their drivers a sense of invincibility which translates into aggressive driving.

If people need a large vehicle in the course of their business or other life situation, then it’s one thing. But all too often (the majority of the time) I only see a single person–the driver–in one of these monster vehicles. What a waste!

I think they’ve got a good system in the U.K. Gas prices there are way higher than here, and consequently, people drive cute little fuel efficient, sensible cars.

Writing stuff:

To offset the sale to Abyss & Apex yesterday:
116-day “no, but please send more” from Space and Time.
156-day “no, and please only send us one submission at a time” from Space and Time (oops).
38-day form no from Amazing Stories.

Out they go again. *kick*

Also heard from the editor of the Eggplant Literary Productions Library that my excerpt “My Courtship by Lord Magus: A Diary” will be going up in September, and the check for it and “The Adventures of Trina, Hackersprite” are cut and on the way to me. That’ll even pay for my tank of gas.

And I’m glad I thought to double-check the email I got from Neo-opsis. The “if you haven’t heard from us then query again” date was actually the 19th, not the 17th. Tomorrow, not yesterday. Oopsie. Glad I held off on querying.