Category Archives: Blog

Happy Halloween, everyone! I love Halloween–magic, myth, candy, and costumes–it could only be better if it was a work holiday too.

Had a fantastic day yesterday. We took dude_the and Nick to Lenox Square Mall, more for an outing than to do any real shopping. Nick stocked up on his supply of Teavana tea, and with dude_the being our Mac fanatic, we had to stop at the Apple store, of course. We played on their 30″ flat-screen monitor. There was much oooing, and not an insubstantial amount of drool.

Matthew made his unparalleled Seitan stew for dinner, and we completed part II of his Halloween game. It was wicked twisted. dude_the‘s character died at least a dozen times (we stopped counting after a while), and utterly embraced his victimhood. Nick’s character tore out hearts with glee and appetite. There was carnage. There was mayhem. And we won out against the forces of evil–or good, or something–and found our way back to our demonic, hell-dimension of a home. Wheee!

Being totally wired after that, we put on the DVD box set of season 1 of Coupling, because Nick hadn’t seen it. I believe the boys watched the whole season through. I conked out somewhere in the middle to the sounds of their uproarious laughter.

And now I am wide awake again, and everyone’s asleep. But I feel great!

Writing Stuff:
Heard from John Frost, the editor of the Internet Review of Science Fiction. My “Sub-Genre Spotlight: Cyberpunk” article will be going into their December issue. Hurray!

Also, Andy Cox, the editor of The 3rd Alternative has posted the cover art for issue #40. By Vincent Chong, titled “Storyteller”:

Isn’t it beautiful? I can’t wait to get my contrib. copy! Screw the check, I just want to hold and read the thing! Well, no, I want to get paid too, but I’m much more excited about the magazine than I am about the money!

It sucks to be the only morning person in a house full of PM persons.

Yesterday, dude_the had a great desire for Pear Woodchuck Cider so we went a-questing. Discovered that there are no fewer than four wine/liquor specialty stores within easy driving distance. Unfortunately, only one of them had pear woodchucks, and only a single six-pack at that. dude_the glomped upon the solitary treasure and we proclaimed the quest mostly victorious. Also glomped upon: much regular woodchuck, pumpkin ale, and “Dead Guy Ale.” I think we’re set for Halloween.

After dinner, Matthew ran part I of his traditional Halloween game. Within the first half hour, apparently we’d already veered far, far from what he’d expected us to do. Tonight: will we save the day or die ignominous deaths? Blood, mayhem, and madness, oh my.

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The house is full of people, and I’m the only one awake. Typical.

The plane dude_the and Nick flew in on was delayed due to the fog, so they didn’t walk through the door until after six yesterday. Glad I am to see them. dude_the and I had a bit of dueling digicams–flashbulbs popping everywhere, oh, the carnage!–and there was much hugging.

After much catch-up gabbing and dinner for the starving masses (Matthew bought pies, both pumpkin and cherry for dessert!), we put on Hellboy as neither of our guests had seen it. I fell asleep afterward, and they put on The Ring (I’m too much of a wuss to watch it, so they had to wait until I was insensate). Unfortunately, there’s a lot of phone ringing in the movie, a sound which I find difficult to sleep through. So my dreamscape was weirdly punctuated by movie dialog and noise. I believe dude_the and Matthew were still chatting deep into the wee hours of the AM. Not sure when Nick (who I really need to prod into getting an LJ) stumbled off to bed, but it means that I can expect all to be late risers.

Hobkin, of course, woke me for breakfast and then promptly went back to sleep under his hutch when he was done. So here I am, wide awake and by my lonesome. Oh well, it gives me a chance to catch up on my LJ friends list.

I really do like having such a full house. I just wish Dean could have made it too.

Writing Stuff:
Hmm, I still have not received my check for “Of Two Minds in Lanais” from Leading Edge. Think I’ll give it another week and then prod the editor again.

I’ve been remiss in finishing up this week’s review for Tangent. Not sure if I’ll have time this weekend to hammer it out, but I’m thinking I needn’t be so concerned about deadlines until after the 2nd in any case. My editor is engaged in election-related work, and I suspect he won’t be performing his editorial duties until after that foofaraw is over.

Each of the stories in the Embark to Madness anthology is getting an illustration to preface it. Sent off a couple scene ideas to the artist for “Perfidious Beauty.” Hoping to get a sneak peek of the artwork soon. I do love seeing art inspired by my fiction. I especially love it when the images I have in my mind match the one(s) the artist comes up with, like the cover for Ascendancy of Blood. ‘Course sometimes they don’t jive at all, but it’s still neat to see artistic imagery generated from my words.

Found out that Cohn, one of Hobkin’s godmother’s skunks died. He was the one that came back to life on the operating table after dying. Apparently the tumor that they weren’t able to totally excise from him regrew very quickly. It’s devastating for Debbie. She worked so hard to keep him alive after his miraculous return–sleeping on the floor with him so she could be there if he stirred, taking him to work with her everyday. Cohn was the sweetest skunk too, the friendliest baby I’d ever met. Very sad. Going to send her a card. Wish there was something else we could do. Going to go hug Hobkin now.

Today our friends dude_the and Nick-with-no-LJ are flying in to spend the Halloween weekend with us. We were also expecting Dean, but he is combating a mighty plague and had to cancel last minute. Major bummer. But I am greatly looking forward to seeing dude_the and Nick, and engaging in much Halloween frivolity.

I have completed the final details of my costume. It’s the silliest costume I’ve ever assembled–for Halloween or any other occasion–but I will be comfortable in it! No corsets, stiletto heels, awkward accessories, or heavy chains in sight. Hmm. Am I getting frumpy in my advancing years? Oh dear.

Writing Stuff:
500 new words. I just can’t seem to get into “flow” mode, dammit.

Also managed to do a Critters critique (for your story britzkrieg).

Sheesh, where did the weekend go? Monday again, yuck. Watched Blade II yesterday on DVD (cheers, NetFlix). I’ve been in a shiny-but-vacuous movie sort of mood, of late. But hey, they’re all fitting for the season. This last bunch has all suffered from a huge dearth in decent scripts. Is all the money going into the flashy EFX so the production companies have to cut corners on the screenplay? Apparently.

Writing Stuff:
Got my sales fix today! Sold my short story “Perfidious Beauty” to the Embark to Madness anthology. Rah!

And, because the universe wants to keep me humble, also received an 11-day “There’s nice writing here, but–” from JJA of F&SF, a 3-day reject from Lenox Ave, and a spinal injury-inducing 1-day “doesn’t meet our present needs” from Surreal. *wince*

Writing Stuff:
ARGH! Received the October SFWA Forum in the mail today. I’m not listed in it as having been upgraded to “Active” membership. Let’s see, tallying up the SFWA-approved pro sales I’ve made: one to Cicada, one to Phobos Books, six to Cricket, two to Realms of Fantasy, and one to The Third Alternative. That’s almost four times the requisite three required for Active membership. What’s the hold up?

Normally, I wouldn’t be upset, but I’ve been burned by SFWA red tape before. This is bringing back nightmares from a couple years ago:

I sent in my initial application May 2002. No reply for two months.

July: Queried the Executive Director of the SFWA about my status. Still no reply.

September: Queried again, this time carboning the SFWA president (upon the advice of other SFWAers). Heard that the Exec Dir. was “working on my application” and if it was okay to telephone me to verify something. I immediately fired a note off to her to tell her to call anytime. One month later, no call, still no membership.

October: The Eastern Director was kind enough to get involved with helping me get this processed. Another round of queries. Still nothing.

November/December: By that time I needed to know what was up because I was getting my taxes ready and I needed to know if my dues check got cashed and therefore whether or not I could write it off. I fire another note off to the Exec Dir. explaining the whole check cashed/tax issue. I get an email from her telling me to expect my membership packet in the mail. It arrived a couple days after. Wahoo.

BUT I still have yet to appear in the SFWA member directory or any of the Forum updates, despite several emails AND the fact that several other writers I know who applied AFTER me both got their membership before me and are in it.

And now this. It’s enough to make me start pulling out my hair!