Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Happy October

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October, one of my favorite months. Autumn, Halloween, purple skies, and magical moons. And this one is particularly nifty in that it marks the resumption of employer-sponsored group health insurance for fosteronfilm and me. Whew.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my shout out about Apex Digest‘s financial crisis and subscribed and/or entered the raffle. Due to the huge outpouring of support, Apex LIVES! Y’all are great.

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 800 on the Japanese fantasy. And a bit of editing to tighten up the beginning. I was worried that I was losing control of it and it was spiralling out of my target word count, but I managed to accomplish a lot more in the scene I just wrote than I thought I would. I’m thinking maybe two more scenes total–climax and denouement–and I’m done. Rah.

Still no title, though . . .

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,856 / 6,000
(47.6%)

Received:
– 143-day personal no from Shawna McCarthy (RoF) with nice things to say and helpful comments.
– 1-day “isn’t quite what I’m looking for” with invite to submit again from the new ‘zine, Spacesuits and Sixguns.
– 21-day “enjoyed this . . . very well written . . . loved the characterization, but . . .” from Firefox News.
– 1-day “the writing is well done but . . .” from Trabuco Road.

I haven’t had a sale in over a month now. I’m beginning to jones. Wah!

Procrastination bug, must stomp

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For most of today, I languished in a haze of under-motivated lethargy–randomly surfing, hopping from one editorial task to another without completing anything, and prodding various WiPs halfheartedly. That hasn’t happened in QUITE a while. I haven’t had the luxury of being able to drag my feet or putter about sighing “I don’t feel like doing this” in so long, I feel guilty, like I’ve done something wrong.

It’s not that my plate is free of hamsters or anything–on the contrary, my “Things to Do” list continues to threaten to overflow the page–but rather there are now a manageable number of the buggers swarming over it, resulting in a less panicked, frantic, and frenzied me. While most certainly a good thing, it’s also made me wonder if I need the impetus of a Damoclesian sword to keep up my level of productivity.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it and can allow myself the occasional day of wallowing in profligate indolence. Meh.

But tomorrow, I really need to get back to work . . .

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 600 on the Japanese fantasy. Still no title, dammit.

Received:
– Payment from Writing-World for next month’s Writing for Young Readers column. Zounds, that was speedy. Me likie.

Dark chocolate-related skunk guilt

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Patrick and Christie came by last night to watch School for Scoundrels, the 1960 one with Alastair Sim, not the recent abomination starring Billy Bob Thornton. Good fun and good movie, unfortunately, Hobkin was not well. He’s been doing great this whole week, ever since I started putting a few drops of Rescue Remedy in his dinner. But this was a different sort of GI unhappiness, and I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out what could be causing it.

I’m wondering now if he ate a sliver of dark chocolate. I had a couple pieces of dark chocolate yesterday morning, and when I was breaking the squares off the bar, a crumb or two fell on the floor. I wiped them up with a damp paper towel, but Hobkin was at my feet when it happened, and he might’ve snarfed up a tiny sliver–and I do mean tiny, as in much, much less than chocolate frosting on a birthday candle or a single semi-sweet chocolate chip. But it’s dark chocolate, which is much more toxic to little beasties than milk chocolate or cocoa powder.

Fortunately, after a lot of Pepto-Bismol on bread, Hobkin seems to be over whatever it was.

I, however, remain guilt-stricken.

   


Writing Stuff

New Words/Editing:
– 800 or so on my next Writing for Young Readers column, several editing passes, and sent it off to ye olde editor. Anuzzer hamster out the door.

Netherworld and Apex raffle

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fosteronfilm and I went to the opening night of the Netherworld Haunted House yesterday with Patrick and Christie. It was way cool! Okay, I’m a huge wimp when it comes to horror, and I had some major trepidation about going. But it was hella fun!

We went to all three “haunts,” doing the evil clown one (“Dr. Bile’s Freak Pit and Museum of Oddities“) first. That was my least favorite ’cause it was just a smidgen too dark, lightwise, but it was chock full of gibbering evil clowns. You just can’t go wrong with evil clowns. Although my favorite part might have been watching the group behind us. At the end, there’s a chainsaw-wielding scary that lunges out and chases you from the premises, and one of those guys had apparently seen one too many slasher flicks. When Scary-chainsaw Guy came after him, he bolted out the door, launched himself over the stairwell, and tumbled down the embankment, before getting to his feet and pelting off. Goodness. I’m surprised he didn’t hurt himself. Also, he left his female companion in his dust. Mmmf.

Next up was “Cursed,” a more traditional haunt with undead bugaboos, cemetery decor, smoke effects, and shambling ghouls throughout. It was gorgeous! Some of the animatronics were mind-bogglingly impressive: huge, gargoyle-type creatures gesturing and snarling overhead, demonesque monsters flailing and writhing. Wow. I actually wished there’d been fewer monsters lunging out at me so I could just enjoy the spectacle of it without having my heart leaping into my throat at regular intervals. But y’know, gotta keep the adrenalin surging.

And last was “Shock-o-Rama,” a psychedelic, 3D haunt full of fluorescent paint black light effects and twisted/macabre scenes to admire (I especially liked the twisted fairy tales gallery and the dominatrix Snow White with her sub Dwarfs) and a maze of mirrors–the kind you actually get lost in while scary monsters perch in the center stock-still, only to lunge out at you when you turn your back on them.

Tons o’scary fun, and I highly recommend it as a great way to start off the Halloween season.

   


Writing Stuff

Mary Robinette Kowal put together a raffle to help save Apex Digest. Inspired! I donated a signed copy of my chapbook, Inspirations End/Still My Beating Heart, to the cause, as well as my editing services. I’ll edit/critique a story (up to 8k) to the winner. And there’s tons of other great stuff, like autographed books by Brian Keene, Kevin J. Anderson, and Sherrilyn Kenyon; subscriptions to magazines including Dark Discoveries, Shimmer, and Clarkesworld Magazine; original artwork; and sexy outgoing phone messages by voice actor (and Shimmer editor) Mary Robinette Kowal. Go buy a raffle ticket, yo! Only one dollar each, amazing schtuff to be won!

Published:
– Part 1 of my article, “Writing Multicultural Fiction for Children,” is now up at Writing-World.

Fear the Gods of Transportation

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I think the gods of transportation were miffed yesterday.

In the morning, during rush hour, a woman managed to shut down northbound lanes on I-85 and southbound lanes on I-75 when she threatened to jump off an overpass bridge. Also, a cable came loose inside the southbound MARTA tunnel. yukinooruoni‘s train ran over the thing resulting in big sparkage, and I can only assume major slowdowns. In the evening, I noticed that all the electronic notifications (the scrolling marquees that tell you how long until the next train, etc.) were off when I was awaiting a northbound train, and when I got on my train, the onboard television was off with a message warning of an imminent hard drive failure. And then, to cap it off, my train stopped, and the operator announced that there’d been a “medical emergency” at the Civic Center station (I’ve scanned the AJC headlines this morning but haven’t seen any further details). My train was taken out of service, and were instructed to get out and wait for the northbound train coming along on the opposite track.

Of course, that train was jam-packed, standing-room-only.

People were taking the delay and inconvenience with generally good humor. I amused myself by watching my fellow passengers and their seemingly-instinctive body positionings as they attempted not to invade each others’ personal space despite being crammed together. There were a lot of people standing back-to-back in the aisles (personal space boundaries are much smaller behind than in front) and angled so they wouldn’t be pointing directly at any of the people in the seats. And everyone had that blank, unfocused expression people get when they’re desperately trying not to look at anyone or make eye contact.

Also, I saw (and experienced) “sitters guilt,” survivors guilt’s baby cousin twice removed. It’s when someone gets off, and you take their seat, but feel guilty that everyone else still has to strap-hang. Despite being the closest person to the seat, I felt like I’d done something wrong when I plunked myself down. It wasn’t like anyone was glaring at me for taking it, or that there was anyone more in need of it, but I still felt guilty. And I noticed a similar uncomfortable expression of guilt cross the young man’s face who took the next empty seat across from me.

Brains are weird, and watching people on the MARTA is fascinating.

REMINDER: Please subscribe to Apex Digest! Apex needs to bring in 200 new subscriptions or it’ll be forced to close. (More details.)

   


Writing Stuff

The online GrendelSong launch party has commenced! Put on your virtual party hats and head on over:

Published:
– The podcast of “Returning My Sister’s Face” is now up at Pseudopod! It’s read by Stephen Eley who did a fabu job and handled all the Japanese words speckling the tale with amazing aplomb. Go listen, yo!

Asian Five Points Robberies concern

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My senior editor showed me an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that has me fretting a bit:

“Patrols increased after robberies of GSU students

“All four of the Georgia State University students attacked by a band of robbers near the school’s campus in the past month are Asian, police said Wednesday.

“The students, three males and one female, were robbed in three different incidents near the MARTA station in the Five Points area, according to police reports.” (Read the article.)

So yah, aside from the obvious Asian thing, Five Points is the MARTA station that I transfer rail lines at every day. I’m not freaking out because the robberies were around the station, not in it. According to terracinque, the MARTA stations and trains are among the safest places in the Metro Atlanta area, and I can well believe that. The stations are always chock full of security guards and cameras, and the trains seem well-patrolled. Plus I always ride during the daily rush, so there’s always plenty of people around. But it did give me pause for stewing.

   


Writing Stuff

REMINDER: Please subscribe to Apex Digest! Apex needs to bring in 200 new subscriptions or it’ll be forced to close. (More details.)

New Words/Editing:
– Shook out a story that has been waiting for another editing pass or three before going back out to market and am spit-shining it. I wasn’t appalled that it had seen an editor or two, although it did/does need some tightening.

Received:
– A note from GrendelSong‘s editor, Paul Jessup, announcing that tomorrow, GrendelSong is having an online release party at the the GrendelSong website and his blog to celebrate its premiere issue (which will contain my story, “Shim Chung the Lotus Queen,” as well as fiction by Forrest Aguirre, Stephanie Burgis, Samantha Henderson (samhenderson), E. Sedia (squirrel-monkey), and Jay Lake (jaylake), among others). There’ll be a podcast with Jay Lake reading his short story, “The Best of Men, The Best of Times,” and some spiffy images. Couldn’t ask for a better time, except maybe if there was free cake. So be sure to check it out.
– An email from my Cricket editor letting me know that “The Snow Woman’s Daughter” is slated for their Feb. ’07 issue. Shiny!

Subscribe to Apex Digest, YO!

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Apex Digest has just launched an emergency fund/subscription drive. Due to the editor, Jason Sizemore, stoically fording ahead, putting out regular issues and paying his writers and artists like a consummate professional, even when his own personal finances were in flux, the ‘zine is in something of a tenuous position right now. Apex Digest needs 200 new subscriptions in the next two weeks, or its future is in doubt.

Apex is a wonderful publication that has published fabulous fiction by great authors such as Ben Bova, Rhonda Eudaly (reudaly), Angeline Hawkes (angelinehawkes), James P. Hogan, Jennifer Pelland (jenwrites), Tom Piccirilli, Cherie Priest (wicked_wish), Christopher Rowe (uncommonwealth), Steve Saville, Lawrence M. Schoen (klingonguy), Bryn Sparks, Lavie Tidhar, Athena Workman (doc-tower), and yours truly.

Please! If you love science fiction and horror, support it. SUBSCRIBE NOW! And if you already have a subscription, consider surprising your SF/H-loving friend, neighbor, or co-worker with an early Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/whatever subscription, or maybe a chapbook, poetry collection, or some Apex Swag.

Spread the word, too!

Generally blah, but in an upbeat way

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Sicking-up skunk, tetchy Internet connection (spork-you, Comcast!), and a sinus headache with no Sudafed.

Blah.

The week has gotten off to something of a rocky start, although I remain fairly upbeat, all things considered. And I have my talisman against rain, my trusty umbrella. It seems a cosmic truth that it never rains when I have the thing. Or perhaps it’s the corollary, that it always rains when I forget it. Either the rain gods love me, or they hate me.

(Note to self: make appropriately soggy sacrifice to rain gods.)

And, oh yeah, happy Talk Like a Pirate Day, me hearties. Yahrr.

   


Writing Stuff

Got the last (I mean it this time) Dragon*Con articles edited and published to the Daily Dragon, including an excellent interview by yukinooruoni and Claire-of-no-LJ (Edit: ooo, she actually has an LJ: esbita) with the Mythbusters Build Team.

New Words/Editing:
– Did a final editing pass on and sent off the story for lynnejamneck‘s anthology. That’s one hamster down.
– 500 words on the collaboration story I’m doing with mtrimm1 and lobbed it back. Another hamster in orbit, although this one will rocket back.
– 400 words on the Japanese Dreams story, which still lacks a title. Juggling juggling juggling.

Received:
– Galley proofs of “Returning My Sister’s Face” for the Best New Fantasy: 2005 anthology edited by oldcharliebrown. It says on the Amazon listing that it came out already (on Sept. 6), but that’s patently not the case. Soon is the buzzword. It promises to be pretty.

Capitol building pix: I work here!

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Feeling better, largely due to an uninterrupted intake of Sudafed, I suspect. Thankfully, Hobkin hasn’t evidenced any more signs of feeling ucky.

I’ve mentioned before how much I love the building I now work in, the Georgia Capitol building. glenn5 and I went sightseeing on the 4th floor during our lunch hour on Friday, and I took pictures. The 4th floor houses a natural history/Georgia history museum, so in addition to being a beautiful feat of architecture, it also has on display some oddities and curiosities, including a two-headed calf.


These are the stairs I take every day to get to my office. Note the bust of James E. Oglethorpe in the lower left corner.


Another picture of the stairs to better spotlight the gorgeous lamps.

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Pull-my-brain-out-and-replace-it-with-a-plush-bear-PLEASE

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While I love the changing seasons, and I really love autumn, I think the incoming (outgoing?) pressure front is doing bad things to everyone at Chez Foster.

Yesterday, I had a pull-my-brain-out-and-replace-it-with-a-plush-bear-PLEASE magnitude headache, so I took a couple Extra Strength Excedrin to quell it. Alas, that did not succeed in alleviating the pain, but it did make me nauseated. Then, due to MARTA-related vagaries, I missed my normal connecting train (the operator forgot to open the doors on the right side of the train, stranding those of us clustered there until the train made “moving on now” sounds and we all bounded out of the left side. Subsequently, I scampered to the northbound platform just in time to see my train pulling out . . .) and had to wait for the next one. By the time the train arrived and I’d reached the North Springs station, I had gotten progressively more ill until I was thoroughly motion sick. Riding the MARTA doesn’t trigger inner ear distress in me usually, so I’m thinking it must’ve been the queasy from the pills compounded by it.

Driving home, it was only through a phenomenal feat of will (and fear since I didn’t see how I could avoid being plowed into by rush hour traffic if I had to stop) that I was not violently sick. I slunk into our house, hoping to find much comfort and pampering, only to discover that fosteronfilm was also suffering from a headache. To his credit, he did indeed do his very best to comfort and pamper me, but, well, nursemaid abilities are limited when the caregiver is also in pain.

Jump to later that night, after dinner–which helped, but I was still feeling pretty blah–and I was crashed out on the couch, mostly asleep. I woke up to Hobkin snuggling under the blankets with me, and Matthew announcing that the lil guy had just sicked up his dinner.

Sigh.

Hobkin and I snuggled for a nap–and major snaps go to my loving hubby for cleaning up the mess all by himself–and then Hobkin wakes me up by leaping out of my arms and pelting to the kitchen. Sure ’nuff, he’s sick again. Although I remain immensely grateful that the fuzzy beast has the courtesy not to be sick on me, the couch, or the carpet.

I’m not sure if Hobkin was stressed from both me and Matthew being sick, or if he’s also getting hit by whatever’s affecting us. But at least he hasn’t sicked up since.

Today, I still have a headache. I think it’s sinus-related. The two Sudafed I took this morning took the edge off, but they were also the sum total of my traveling supply of Sudafed and have worn off. And even if I had more, I don’t know if I’d want to take it. My tummy continues to be unsettled, and I have a MARTA ride home yet to survive.

So yah, I feel like crap.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– My contrib. copy of the Thou Shalt Not anthology, published by Dark Cloud Press.
– Payment from Pseudopod for their forthcoming podcast of “Returning My Sister’s Face.”

A good mail day to offset the queasy health day.