Category Archives: Blog

New Droid in the Family. New Favorite Apps: Part 1

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So the hubby finally relegated his stupidphone to its rightful place in the refuse bin and upgraded to a smartphone: a shiny, new Droid X. We are an Android family.

Been showing him the Android ropes and suggesting apps for him to try and, in the process, have discovered several new fabulous apps. So I figured it was time to update my list of best Android apps.

New Most Essential Apps:

  1. Amazon Appstore – This app lets you download and install apps from Amazon.com’s Android app marketplace. And to entice folks to use their appstore instead of the Android Market, Amazon is offering a different free paid app every day. Of note, once you “buy” a promo free-paid app, it remains in your app list even if you uninstall it, so you can re-install it whenever you like without having to pay for it. To date, the apps I’ve snagged include Weatherbug Elite, Fancy Widget Pro, TuneIn Radio Pro, PhotoVault, Trillian, and WolframAlpha—several of which made my new Top Apps listing. Definitely worth the download.
  2. Go Launcher Ex – After discovering LauncherPro, I thought I’d found my eternal home screen replacement app. But this baby converted me, and I am now a devotee of Go Launcher Ex. In addition to all (or most of) the awesome features that LauncherPro offers, Go Launcher Ex also provides an overhauled app drawer with a tabbed interface which you can create folders inside of, view a recently used app history, as well as uninstall, lock, and kill apps within. Due to Go Launcher Ex’s additional app organization options, I’ve dropped the number of home screens I was using from four to two. Yowza. Continue reading →

Balloon Animal Protagonist: The Life and Times of Penguin

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A couple folks have asked me about an off-the-cuff remark I made at JordanCon at one of my panels. The question had to do with the gender of the protagonists I write, and I replied that I’ve written all manner of protagonists in my stories, including a balloon animal.

Nope, I wasn’t exaggerating. I have indeed written a balloon animal story, “The Life and Times of Penguin,” originally published in issue #18 of the Aussie ‘zine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and reprinted in Farrago’s Wainscot, Escape Pod, and the anthology Triangulation: Taking Flight. It was actually my homage to Voltaire’s Candide.

Curious? You can read it for free at Farrago’s Wainscot or listen to the Escape Pod podcast.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy and End of an Aeon

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In a perverse display of self-fulfilling prophecy, thus far during this lovely, quiet, stress-free first week post-legislative session 2011, I have written exactly two new words. Two.

Okay, okay, that’s net, not gross, as in I was doing an editing pass on a couple chapters and so that figure includes tweaking, cutting, rewriting, and polishing. But it’s still a far cry from “productive” and makes me want to slap myself in the face and yell, “Just get off your ass and write, you slacker!” Which would probably disconcert my co-editors.

Or I could give a gun to my muse a la this utterly apropos comic from Jim C. Hines. Just what my crack-whore-trollop of a muse needs: a firearm.

In other news, the long-awaited End of an Aeon anthology with my “Black Swan, White Swan” in it is back on track, slated to come out in July. I really like this story—inspired by one of my favorite ballets, Swan Lake—and I was worried that it seemed to be caught in some sort of publishing limbo hell. I sold it to Aeon in early 2008, then the magazine closed down but planned to release the last of its inventory as this anthology, which has subsequently been plagued by computer issues and other slowdowns. (Of note, this is not, by far, the longest lead time I’ve experienced, which is why I wasn’t actively stewing or fretting about it.) So I was greatly relieved to hear from Patrick Swenson, publisher of Fairwood Press, letting me know to expect page proofs soon and with a concrete release date. He also mentioned that it will be released as both a trade paperback and an ebook (in multiple formats). Hurray!

Shiny cover:
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Frolicon 2011 Schedule

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I’ll be a guest at Frolicon this weekend (yep, back-to-back conventions right after session; scheduling is so not my forte) and saw that the 2011 panel schedule was now up on their website. I’m scheduled for these Think Track panels:

  • “Ask a Writer” – What do you want to know about how writers do what they do? With Trinity, Stacia Kane, Shakir Rahsaan, and Nikita. Fri (4/22) 11AM-12:30PM, Boardroom.
  • “The Next Big Thing: Trends and Trendiness” – What trends and fads are in genre-land. With Shakir Rahsaan, Cherie Priest, and Stacia Kane. Fri (4/22) 4:15-5:45PM, Boardroom.
  • “YA: Not just for kids anymore” – Anyone who thinks books for “young adults” are tame and boring, doesn’t know anything about the genre. With Trinity, Lord Cailleach, and Cecilia Tan. Sat (4/23) 4:15-5:45PM, Frankfurt

Hope to see folks there!

JordanCon, Roof Repairs, and Post-Session Peace

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JordanCon was fabulous! It was extremely well run, with an amazingly on-the-ball and dedicated staff. It was, hands down, one of the best organized and conducted small conventions I’ve been to, and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in Robert Jordan’s work or SF/F literature in general.

Although I wish I’d been in better shape for it. I was all but dead on my feet, particularly on Friday, but also throughout the weekend in general, thanks to the rigors of last week’s session. Thankfully, Jana Oliver and David B. Coe were there to cover for me. In addition to being brilliant writers, they were both incredibly nice and forbearing, and also prepared, insightful, and articulate for our panels—all the things I wasn’t.

But now the legislative session is done, and the atmosphere in my office is totally different: quiet and peaceful and soothing. Ahhh. Going to try to catch up on all the back-burnered to-do items that have been piling up in my intray.

Unfortunately, topping that list by necessity is house repairs. The weekend storms seem to have done some damage to our roof. We had a leak on Friday night. It was only a bit of dripping—not a waterfall of destruction or anything dire like that—but it’s something that we need to take care of before it gets worse. I’m a bit anxious at how much that’s going to end up costing us. Ugh.

Day 40: Sine Die 2011 – Stumbling-Bone-Tired-Stupid and Spastic

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Made it to the final day of the 2011 legislative session. I’m stumbling-bone-tired-stupid and spastic-euphoric by turns, but I only have to make it through today. Got my bunny slippers ready and my purple editing pen in hand. Happy Sine Die.

On a related note, I have done zero prep for Jordancon, which starts tomorrow. Gah.

Haven’t been able to get much writing done this week—and nothing at all yesterday, which greatly irks me. Spent my non-legislative-editing time compiling records and figuring the numbers on my writing income for taxes. But IRS notwithstanding, it’s been a far more prolific session, writing-wise, than I would’ve dreamed.

48.1K words down on Dragon Queller, with 43.2K of those words written since session began:

48118 / 85000 words. 57% done!

Of course, I’m half-expecting my productivity to drop to nil once I have leisure and relaxation to contend with, for the cosmos does lurv its little ironies.

JordonCon Schedule & Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest Now Out in Hungarian in April’s Galaktika

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The director of JordanCon sent out the 2011 schedule grid. I’ll be doing:

  • “Writing for the Younger Crowd” Fri (4/15) 4PM, Azalea Rm (with Jana Oliver).
  • “The [Writing] Industry” Fri (4/15) 5:30PM, Azalea Rm (with Jana Oliver and David Coe)
  • Book Signing, Sat (4/16) 1PM, Camellia Rm
  • “Crafting the Perfect Villain” Sun (4/17) 10AM, Azalea Rm (with David Coe)

Hope to see folks there!

And the Hungarian reprint of “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” is now out in the April issue (#253) of Galaktika: Continue reading →

Biba Jibun Now Out in Apex Magazine

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In one of the shortest lead times between sale and publication that I’ve ever seen, “Biba Jibun” is now out in the April issue (#23) of Apex Magazine!

Contents:
Original Fiction
“Biba Jibun”
by Eugie Foster

“The Eater”
by Michael J. Deluca

Reprints
“The Button Bin”
by Mike Allen (Originally published by Helix: Speculative Fiction Quarterly in 2007)

“Ghosts of New York”
by Jennifer Pelland (Originally published in the anthology Dark Faith by Apex Publications in 2010)

Poetry
“Thirteen Principles of Faith”
by Rose Lemberg

Nonfiction
“An Introductory Guide to the Nebula Awards”
by Michael A. Burstein
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Nebula Deadline and Milestone Reached on Dragon Queller: 40,000 words

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Just a quick reminder that the deadline to cast your ballot for the Nebulas is this Wednesday! Vote, yo!

Reached a milestone on Dragon Queller: the illusive 40K-words mark. It is now, officially, a novel-length work. Creeping up to the halfway mark, too. At this rate, I ought to hit that before the end of session. Maybe. Hopefully.

Chugga-chugga.

40040 / 85000 words. 47% done!

Day 34: Princess and the Golden Fish Part 4 Now Out and Biba Jibun Slated for April

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It promises to be a frazzling week. The legislature is in session every day. Then they’re taking all next week off for spring break *insert eye rolling* before coming back to finish the last two days. Urg.

In better news: heard from Jason Sizemore that “Biba Jibun” is slated for the April issue of Apex. Sweet!

Also, got my contrib. copies of the April issue of Cricket with part 4, the conclusion of “The Princess and the Golden Fish” in it:
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