Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Storm season brings cooling relief

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The beginning of hurricane season has resulted in some lovely weather here. Hobkin has been miserable from the recent heat–flopping on the hardwood floor in the kitchen and looking like an overheated, fuzzy mop. . . with a tail. And I’ve been driven out of the library, which is upstairs and so gets rather sweltering. But now it’s cool and dark. Ahh.

I hope Alberto doesn’t get big and scary, but the respite he’s bringing from sultry ick is appreciated.

Although I’m concerned that the rain might not come in time to save our wild blackberry crop.

   


Writing Stuff

The fine folks of Mobicon invited me to be a guest next year. I’m thrilled to betsy, but with finances being so tight, I asked them if they could help me out on the room and board front. I hope we can work something out. jackzodiac raves about them, and I’ve been dying to experience it.

New Words:
– A load of research and 500 words on part 2 of the article for writing-world.com.

Published:
– My article “When the Guidelines Say ‘7-12’: The Ages and Stages of Children’s Literature” at Writing-world.com.

Received:
– Rewrite request from my agent on my picture book adaptation.
– Request from the client for the job I put a bid down on for my bio and a writing sample. So at least I’m still in the running.
– Note from Baen’s Universe on a story they’re holding for consideration. Apparently they’re overbought and have established a buying and submissions freeze until October. I’m free to withdraw and submit elsewhere (and resub to them when they reopen) or let it ride, with a warning that a response might be a long while coming. Argh! That story has already been languishing there since March.

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500/day
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Geographic spread of my readers.

Lesbian Zombie Parsec Award nomination and controversy

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basletum dropped me an email this morning that made me go squee. The Escape Pod podcast of “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie” has been nominated for a Parsec Award in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (short form) category.

Congrats also go out to the fabulous jackzodiac for his nominations in both the Best Speculative Fiction Story (long form) and Best Audio Drama categories for Mister Adventure.

And it’s been brought to my (belated*) attention that “Lesbian Zombie” has been targeted by Shelley the Republican in “Podcasts Part 2: Science Fiction or Satanic Fiction?” (and there’s a mirror site here). She singles both Escape Pod and my story out for her special brand of frothing censure.

Re: Escape Pod:
‘It turns out there is a lot wrong with this series: This podcast is nothing short of depraved filth. It’s [sic] content is frequently outlandish. Their stories have resolutions which are often amoral and deliberately designed to evoke messages contrary to the teachings of Christ.’

Re: “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie”:
‘For example the episode entitled “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie” is a prurient exploration of the occult, and homosexuality. These are both practices offensive to God.’

Re: Escape Pod, “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie,” and science fiction in general:
‘This disturbing story is typical of the unsettling themes embraced by the perverse “science-fiction” authors. Eager for the next fix, science fiction dealers know that they have to provide ever more disturbing “fixes” in order to keep their drug-addicted reader’s attention. This “Escape Pod” is actually the start of a slippery-slope towards eternal damnation.’

It goes without saying, or perhaps it doesn’t, since I’m saying it, but Shelly the Republican is also of the opinion that science fiction and science fiction writers are all evil, eeeviiiiil. Interestingly, she and/or her followers seem to consider fantasy to be even worse.

I posted a reply to the post, but as Shelley seems to be prone to censoring feedback, I’m not expecting it to appear or linger for long. So herein my serious and thoughtful rejoinder:

Hi Shelley,

I’m the author of “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie,” and I want to thank you for the publicity, censure, and amusement you’ve provided. As a science fiction writer, proud of my craft and profession, I’m delighted whenever something I pen elicits a response, positive or negative, because it means I’m doing something right.

If you’re looking for more fuel in your anti-podcasting and anti-science fiction rant, consider listening to Escape Pod’s “The Life and Times of Penguin” (http://www.escapepod.info/2005/09/01/ep017-the-life-and-times-of-penguin). I wrote that one as well, an homage to the wonderful and controversial classic by Voltaire, CANDIDE. I think you’ll hate that one too.

Enjoy! And keep up the vitriol!

Love,
Eugie Foster
Science Fiction AND Fantasy Writer

*This apparently aired in May, so I’m a bit bummed that I only caught wind of it recently. [Edit: secritcrush and sfeley have enlightened me to the fact that shelleytherepublican.com is actually a satirical site. Alas, I’m still not controversial.]

HB1359, blurbage, and looking for a Locus

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Brain overflowing with health insurance laws, rules, and regulations. Ugh.

Of note, Georgia is one of the dozen or so states that does not have a high risk healthcare pool, although there’s currently a bill awaiting a vote in the Senate Rules Committee, HB1359 – Georgia Assignment Pool Underwriting Authority, to pass such a plan. Apparently, some businesses and organizations like the Georgia Retail Association, UPS, and BellSouth are working to oppose it because it would impact large businesses, who would be required to help subsidize it.

Feh.

We did determine that our current HMO is willing to keep covering us under a “conversion” healthcare plan after my COBRA expires. Although I’m still unclear as to whether this conversion policy would be a group plan–a group of “1”–or an individual one, and I dearly want to transition to another a group plan if at all possible. However, there would be no prescription drug provisions, which is problematic since both fosteronfilm and I are on long-term prescription meds, and the monthly premium would increase by a third again from what we’re already paying for COBRA, which is egregiously expensive as is.

Oof. Well, it’s a start.

   


Writing Stuff

On his blog, fellow Phobos Award-winner James Maxey had really nice things to say about “Souls of Living Wood” in the Modern Magic anthology (of which we’re TOC-mates).

Happy blurbage:
“wow, this was a terrific story . . . It’s ideas like this that draw me to science fiction and fantasy . . . Even better, Eugie takes this original idea and builds a terrific, moving story around it. Sometimes, great ideas get stuck in stories that don’t live up to their promise, but Eugie follows through with lovely writing, a captivating plot, and strong performances from the other characters in the story, all of whom come to life with an amazing economy of words.”

Also saw that Rich Horton reviewed the spring issue of Oceans of the Mind in the May issue of Locus. (I really need to subscribe to Locus, dammit.) Anyone out there have a copy it? I’m dying to know if Rich said anything about my story, “The Few, the Proud, the Leech Corps.”

Editing:
– Editing passes and final polish completed on the freelance gig. Product sent off, and I await payment.

Received:
– Payment from Dragonfly Spirit for “A Patch of Jewels in the Sky.” Yay!
– 34-day “Dear Writer” from Orchid. But I have to admit that their form letter is pretty upbeat. They encourage writers to keep at it, informing us that the average story is rejected 25 or more times before being accepted (which, according to that figure, puts me way above the bell curve, averaging 13), and that both C.S. Lewis and Ray Bradbury were rejected more than 800 times before making their first sale.

This was for a story I wrote after reading a lot of Kurt Vonnegut, and my style was heavily influenced thereof. It’s a surreal, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, quasi-literary, experimental piece with genre overtones. I’ve gotten mixed responses from genre pubs who typically like the style and voice, but think the narrative’s too unfocused. So now I’m trying literary markets, since I’ve found them to be concerned far more about style and care less about narrative cohesion. But I have an inkling that the genre elements might be touch-of-deathie for them. Foo.

I’m getting major “I need a sale!” twitches. It’s been almost a month since my last one.

Club 100 For Writers
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Calling back, health insurance, adventures in skunk shedding

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So yeah, the guy from the other day called back. Not really something worthy of all the fretting. I’d subbed my info to a self-employed workers organization that offered health insurance to its members, and asked their insurance provider to contact me with details. I very carefully clicked the “only contact me through email” button, but apparently that’s only there for ornamental purposes. *snort* Insurance guy was all jolly and upbeat until I said “lupus” and then you could’ve heard the crash and burn.

Yep, I’m an automatic decline. Lovely.

Been reading the “A New Horror Subgenre: Health Insurance For the Self-Employed” article by Doranna Durgin in the last issue of the SFWA Bulletin. It’s depressing beyond depressing how many options for health insurance I don’t have.

Twelve weeks until my COBRA runs out.

In lighter news, Hobkin is shedding like fuzz has gone out of fashion. There’s rolling drifts of white fluff tumbleweed billowing through our house. So yesterday after dinner, I got out the brush, waited for Hobkin to curl up beside me on the couch and start snoring, and then I went to work.

fosteronfilm helped collect the fuzzy detritus, and soon had a pretty impressive ball of shed fur next to him. And he sez: “You’re going to brush Hobkin until there’s nothing left, and then *poof*, he’ll be beside me instead.”

I giggled.

Didn’t manage to execute a feat of skunk-teleportation-via-brush, but Hobkin looks decidedly sleeker. I think he’ll be more comfortable now.

   


Writing Stuff

Pimpage:
You can now pre-order Aegri Somnia, both the trade paperback ($14.95) and the shiny, shiny limited edition hardcover ($29.95).

Release date: Early December 2006. The first 200 trade paperback and 50 hardback copies pre-ordered and purchased will be signed by the contributors, the cover artist, and the editor. (Oof, that’s 250 signature plates I’ll be scribbling on soon.)

Aegri Somnia contributors:
Cherie Priest (wicked_wish), Scott Nicholson, Steven Savile, Lavie Tidhar, Christopher Rowe, Mari Adkins, Rhonda Eudaly (reudaly), Angeline Hawkes (angelinehawkes), Nancy Fulda, Jennifer Pelland (jenwrites), Eugie Foster, and Bryn Sparks.

Also, Sages & Swords is selling out, and they’re not doing another print run!

From the publisher: “If you haven’t purchased your copy of Pitch-Black’s critically acclaimed heroic fantasy anthology Sages and Swords, you’d better hurry! The anthology will not be reprinted upon sell-through. There are currently very few copies available in-house and not many more in our distributor’s warehouse.

Sages and Swords includes 14 heroic fantasy stories from authors such as Tanith Lee, Eugie Foster, Howard Andrew Jones, Harold Lamb, and many others.”

New Words:
– 800 on the current freelance gig.

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500/day
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Call back, plez

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Just got a phone call from someone–Frank Kelly? Jake Kelly? Frank Jesse?–asking for me. And it sounded important.

We screen all our calls and weren’t fast enough picking up to catch him before he hung up. The caller left a return number on our machine, starting with the area code 678, which is local, but our machine ate the message before I could get the rest of the digits.

I tried doing a *69, but their service either blocks callbacks or isn’t equipped for it.

On the off chance that whoever phoned me reads this blog, can you please call back?

NPR live streaming & LiveJournal Breastfeeding Icon Boycott Day

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This morning, I discovered the public radio station’s (WABE 90.1) live streaming broadcast after a very unfruitful search for our portable radio. I’ve been too out of touch, holed up in my library-office as I am, day-in-and-day-out. I’ve missed listening to Morning Edition, and I think insulating myself from basic world news and events is also impacting my writing scope. NPR rawketh.

And for everyone either participating in or sympathetic to the cause: Happy LiveJournal Breastfeeding Icon Boycott Day. Power to the people.

I’m choosing not to delete my journal today, not because I don’t support and believe in the cause, but because I’m not convinced that that action would be an effective protest method. Personally, I like zhai‘s suggestion: “I think what everyone ought to do is organize an effort to simultaneously post naked primary user icons on the same day.”

I did, however, sign the petition and urge everyone else to.

   


Writing Stuff

Published:
– “The Archer of the Sun and the Lady of the Moon” is now out in the new issue (#9) of Paradox.

Received:
– Another painful glowing rejection from an editor via my agent for my middle-grade novel: “I love the concept and the literary, dream-like quality of Eugie Foster’s prose. I also appreciate that friendship is a main theme of the novel. However . . . ” And she goes on to say: “Clearly Eugie Foster is a tremendous talent . . .”

Waaah!! Today might be a good day for ice cream therapy. Or gin.

And we’re still waiting on a verdict from the editor who requested a picture book manuscript. *twitch* Waiting hard.

Deleting drama? And V for Vendetta

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Erm, several people on my flist (deannahoak, nhw, neil_beren, shawn_scarber, and snurri) have suddenly deleted their LJs in the last few hours. Did I miss something?

Watched V for Vendetta yesterday. I very much liked it. I bet Hollywood was biting its nails about this one, what with the hero using terrorist tactics and all. Natalie Portman did a very convincing job of portraying Evey, a woman whose conscience and sense of moral obligation are crippled by her fear. However, there was a certain gratuitous feel to the superhero element, like it wasn’t necessary for the story. The dystopic vision and the call for the common people to rise up against a corrupt and abusive government were powerful enough without resorting to flashy fight scenes.

The mood of this movie was closer to 1984 than to Zorro, and the action elements felt a bit out of place. Still, there was a certain satisfaction to the beat-em-up parts in the opening, and the action did lighten a movie which otherwise would’ve been pretty grim. I haven’t read the comic book, so I don’t know whether the character of V was fleshed out better in the original source material.

   


Writing Stuff

Finished composing and sent off my answers to Lynne Jamneck’s interview questions.

Also put down a bid for a freelance opportunity. This whole “bid” thing is totally new to me. How much I’ve been paid as a writer has been all across the board, and I’ve never been the one to dictate how much I get.

I definitely want this job, but I don’t want to undervalue myself either. Just because I’ve accepted peanuts for writing something doesn’t mean I think my writing isn’t worth more. It’s a pragmatist thing. If I only make a pittance, it’s still a pittance more than I had.

I’ve got no idea whether my bid was competitive or not. It’s for an article-writing gig which also involves some comprehensive research, and instead of charging an hourly fee for the research and pairing that with a per-word rate for the articles, I bundled everything together into a flat rate for the articles with research included.

Was that the right thing to do? I have no idea. I’m so out of my depth.

New Words/Editing:
– 900 on the Swan Lake story that I’ve been neglecting. Very relieved to be putting some wordage down again on fiction, even if the words came out at 3AM, as in this case.
– 400 on my current freelance gig, plus editing passes on previous words. Hoping to wrap this baby up in the next day or so and get it out the door.

Club 100 For Writers
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500/day
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Weekend update

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Patrick and Christy are heading back to New Orleans as I type. Their apartment hunt was fruitful, job prospects looking good, and they’ve all but settled on a place close by, around eight miles from us in the Sandy Springs area. Yay! Very, very excited about them moving here!

And now I have much work to play catch-up with.

   


Writing Stuff

New Words/Editing:
– 600 on a new freelance gig. Edited, sent off, and paid.
– 1200 on another freelance gig.

Published:
– “A Patch of Jewels in the Sky” is now up at Dragonfly Spirit.

Received:
– Note from the editor of Writing-World. She liked the article, and wants to make it a two-parter, so asked me to write part two. Of course I said “yes.” Coolness.
– 30-day “not right for us” from oldcharliebrown on a submission to Fantasy Magazine, but to offset the pook, also some preliminary back-and-forth on contributing to a Prime books anthology with a Japanese mythology theme.
– Contrib. copies of #193 of Galaktika from Hungary.
– Payment from Ennea via wire transfer after I asked them not to wire the money. Not only did my bank shaft me with another $15 fee, but my payment got sent in two stages, so the Greek bank doubly-shafted me to the tune of another $9. To say that I am unhappy is much like calling Godzilla a tall lizard. ARGH! Sporksporkspork!

Club 100 For Writers
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500/day
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Friends from afar, near again.

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We’ve got house guests, so this post will be brief. Our good friend, Patrick, and his sweetie, Christy, arrived here yesterday. Patrick used to live in New Orleans, pre-Katrina, and he and Christy became hurricane refugees, opting not to return to Louisiana when the city reopened. They’ve been in Texas for the last eight months, and now they’ve decided to relocate to the Atlanta area. They’ll be moving here in a few weeks, and are doing the job interview/scope out apartments thing this week.

Yay! We knew Patrick from when we all used to live in Illinois, and I’m happier than a skunk with ice cream that he’s moving here! Yippy-skippy!

   


Writing Stuff

Editing:
– Article polished and sent off to Writing-World.

Club 100 For Writers
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On hyperthermia amd dehydration in skunks

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Discovered the limits of Hobkin’s heat tolerance yesterday. We’d set the A/C to 81, trying to save energy and money, but it seems that’s too warm for the lil guy. Yesterday morning, he had a bad tummy and then wasn’t interested in breakfast. Loss of appetite is extremely worrisome in a skunk, so much fretting commenced.

fosteronfilm suggested that Hobkin might be dehydrated from his bad tummy, so, feeling rather dubious, I scooped him up to see whether I could force some water into him.

Normally, Hobkin doesn’t drink water. And I mean at all. The closest he’s come to drinking out of his water bowl is dipping his paw in and then licking it, and even that’s pretty rare. We still leave fresh water out for him, just in case, but he’s knocked the bowl over more often than he’s drunk from it–and it takes quite a bit of effort to tip it as it’s secured to his pen. In the past, when I’ve tried to feed him water out of a syringe, he’s batted it out of my hands and spat or shook what little fluid I could get into his mouth back out. He just doesn’t like water, the goofball.

But yesterday, although he whined and glared at me, he readily swallowed something like 12ccs. It seems the heat had dehydrated him, and he wasn’t hungry because he was thirsty. But figuring out the problem didn’t get us much closer to a solution. How does one re-hydrate an animal that doesn’t drink and won’t eat? We could take him to the vet’s and have them inject fluid into him subcutaneously, but that would’ve stressed and freaked him out. Plus, I didn’t think he was that badly dehydrated. We could try buying some flavored Pedialyte or Gatorade, but that’s a last-ditch sort of effort as I don’t like the idea of him having all that sugar. Also, there’s no guarantee he’d like that any better. When we had to force electrolytes and fluids into the ferrets they were quite underwhelmed by the stuff (as I am–Gatorade, yuk). Also, last I checked, fresh watermelon wasn’t quite in season, and again, re-hydrating him with watermelon would’ve involved more sugar than I’m comfortable with him having.

After some brainstorming and much anxiety, I came up with the answer: A cottage cheese smoothie. I used a fork to mush up a teaspoon of cottage cheese in about 18ccs of water and added some diced bok choy, and Hobkin lapped it right up! Three servings of cottage cheese smoothie later, and he’s himself again–running amok, stomping at shadows, and begging for treats. Whew. I kept pushing liquids the rest of the day; his lunch was more smoothie along with bok choy and celery, vegetables high in liquid, and I added enough water to his dinner lentils and rice mixture to make it a pudding.

Definitely going to keep that in mind for future need. My next plan had been to make him a veggie shake–cottage cheese, a bit of milk, plenty of water, and various vegetables in a blender. But fortunately I didn’t have to break out the blender.

And yes, we’ve now cranked on the A/C.

   


Writing Stuff

Got an email from Lynne Jamneck–a writer who I’ll be sharing a ToC with in mroctober‘s So Fey antho–asking for an interview and inviting me to contribute to an anthology she’s editing, Lesbian Sleuths & the Supernatural, to be published by Regal Crest Enterprises. Of course, I said yes to both. The anthology also has an open call for submissions:

An Anthology of Lesbian Sleuths & the Supernatural
(Women Writers Only)

Word Length: 7,000 – 10,000 words
Payment: $100 Flat Fee Per Story
Submission Period: July 2006 – November 2006
Reading Period: December 2006 – April 2007

Ghosts, haunted castles, and things that go bump in the night. A trip to Egypt; the mummies and the pull of a primordial tomb. Ancient Aztec ruins and the burning fever of a jungle. Is a sinister cult operating in a small town near you? Do you feel the pull of something otherworldly just beyond the veil of everyday? The supernatural have existed in cultures for thousands of years, all around the world.

I am looking for stories that explore these and other weird happenings, and are centered around a ‘whodunit’ type conundrum. The sleuth of the story-whether amateur or professional-must be a lesbian character. No excessive violence. Humor is welcome. No fan fiction. Character driven stories with strong emphasis on storytelling essential.

If you’re looking for a reference/indication of the types of stories I’m looking for, you should familiarize yourself with the following authors:

H.P. Lovecraft
Agatha Christie
Ray Bradbury
Arthur Conan Doyle
Harlan Ellison
Kim Antieau
Kathe Koja

Submissions should be unpublished, original short stories. If you feel you have a story that does not fit that word count but would be perfect for the anthology, please query to superantho@gmail.com. Be sure your submission includes your surface mailing address and phone number in addition to a valid return email address.

Submissions (disposable copies) should be sent to:

Lynne Jamneck
129 Layard Street
Invercargill, 9501
New Zealand

Exceptions can be made for email subs, but query first to: superantho@gmail.com

New Words:
– 1100 on the article for Writing-World and it’s at zero draft. It needs a few editing passes, but I’m hoping to send it off today.

Received:
– 60-day “although it’s a really fun concept and a wonderfully creative POV choice, this one doesn’t quite work for Escape Pod” with invitation to submit again from sfeley on a reprint. Snartleblast. But I’ll show him! I just launched two new submissions his way, mwa ha ha haaaa!

Erm, yeah. My wingstubs have been really hurting these last few days. I popped two Tramadol, and they’re not helping the pain, but I think they’ve made me a loopy.

Club 100 For Writers
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500/day
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