Category Archives: Blog

Outlantacon Schedule and Press Release

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Got my panel schedule for Outlantacon. Can’t believe it’s in less than two weeks!

Friday 4/30, 7PM: “Meet the Guests/Opening Ceremonies” – Mingle with the con attendees as well as some opening remarks by the Con Committee and the Guests of Honor.

Saturday 5/1, 1PM: “Social Activism” – Seemingly traction is being gained across the U.S. for queer rights but what can you do to help? What is the most effective use of your energies?

Saturday 5/1, 4PM: “Getting the word OUT” – I love what I read/see/hear in queer speculative fiction, but how do I tell everyone? How can I keep my favorite authors in print or TV/movie producers putting out new material?

Sunday 5/2, TBA: “Joss Whedon – The single biggest influence in queer themes on TV today?” (tentative)

Also check out this press release. Hope to see folks there!

Skype on my Droid

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I installed Skype Mobile on my Droid last night which allows me to make Skype-to-Skype calls for free. Thought at first it might be billed to my phone minutes, but nope, confirmed it this morning, Skype-to-Skype is free and unlimited.

fosteronfilm and I play in a cross-country D&D 4E game on Fridays run by dude_the with teflaime and dean13. We use Skype to conference call all of us together and MapTool as the tabletop emulator. I usually run two machines for it, my VAIO laptop for Skype and our old, clunky HP laptop, with its much larger screen, for MapTool. (The HP is somewhat ancient and has a tendency of throwing a hissy fit if I try to run both Skype and MapTool on it.)

Thinking about trying Skype for our gaming tonight on my phone so I don’t have to have quite so many machines going. Although, admittedly, there is a certain geek-joy in being surrounded by all that glowy tech.

State of the Eugie

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The General Assembly has set out its schedule for the remainder of this year’s legislative session. We will be adjourning sine die on April 29th.

Blargh.

So not soon enough. This extended session is running roughshod over me. My concentration is shot. The towering stack of items in my to-do list is about one “reply to person x’s email” from becoming sentient and rampaging through downtown Atlanta. And now my wingstubs have started acting up.

It’s not that it’s been a particularly hellish day-in-day-out sort of session; it hasn’t. But the prolonged stress permeating our office and the capitol is thrashing my already less-than-robust immune system. My energy level is way down, and when that starts crashing, it dominoes into all my other sundry human suit issues. I’ve even upped my stimulants to try to counteract the worst of it, and my brain still just flatlines once afternoon hits. I’m loathe (and somewhat scared) to increase it any more, so in order to restore my faculties to some semblance of wakefulness, I have to down enough caffeine to make me sick to my stomach—and I’m not doing that again anytime soon.

So yeah. Glad to have a date when this interminable session will end. But gawd, I wish it were sooner.

[/whine]

Best Horror of the Year: Volume 2 Honorable Mentions

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ellen-datlow has posted her honorable mention picks for Best Horror of the Year: Volume 2, and she gave nods to both “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” and “Within Your Soul I Sightless See.”

Shiny.

I find it interesting that “Sinner” has been described or categorized as both fantasy and horror as well as science fiction. Personally, I consider it to be science fiction, although it’s not like I take issue with it being classified as science-fantasy or horror SF. I’ve never been one to play the “what genre is it?” game or its first-cousin, the “that’s not such-and-such genre!” blood sport.

Genre labels are wibbly. That’s my line, and I’m sticking to it.

Thank Yous and Springtime Seasonal Affective Disorder

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Thanks to everyone for all your congrats for my Hugo nomination!

I’m thrilled beyond words. Literally. I keep trying to express how much being a Hugo nominee means to me, how awed I was as a young reader by the stories in the first Hugo Winners anthologies—you know the ones, edited by Isaac Asimov—and how they inspired me as a writer. And every time I try, it comes out sounding trite or inadequate. (I know, I know, some writer I am, huh?) So I’ll just say that I am honored, elated, and overjoyed, and also a bit incredulous, to be on this year’s Hugo ballot.

On a completely different subject, I’ve been wondering whether I suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder), but not the traditional kind that kicks off in winter. I think springtime may put me in the doldrums. These last few days in Atlanta have been gorgeous—warm, bright, sunny—and I’ve felt irascible, logy, and generally glum. But I noticed this morning, with it’s cloudy, dark, and gray skies, that I feel much better, downright upbeat.

Guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my mental equilibrium is in tune with my physiology (which I already knew was in agreement with my aesthetics), and that I find the sun oppressive on multiple levels.

Nebula Awards Weekend and Shuttle Launch…and Grand Jury Duty Conflict

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So I’m all registered to attend Nebula Weekend*, and the SFWA has set up VIP viewing passes for the Friday, May 14 Atlantis shuttle launch which I very much want to see. Yay.

However, I’m slated to do my civic duty as a grand jurist during May-June. I just checked the Fulton County jury duty site, and I realized that the Grand Jury meets on Tuesday and Friday, not Tuesday and Thursday as I had thought. Glargh!

Don’t know what to do. Last day for registering for the SFWA VIP shuttle viewing passes is tomorrow. And I’ve already had my jury duty postponed once. (I was originally slated to serve during January-February…right smack dab in the middle of the legislative session.) Don’t know if the powers that be will be amenable to another postponement. ‘Course the first time, I did request to have it postponed until July-Aug, and they only bumped it to May-June, so there might be a case I can still make.

Glargh (again)!

* And as a reminder, the voting deadline for the Nebula Awards is today! Final ballots are due by Tuesday, March 30th 23:59 PST. If you’re an active member of SFWA, please remember to cast your ballot!