Lazy day!

As part of our week-long anniversary celebration, Sean and I declared Saturday to be Lazy Day. It was really lovely to just take some guilt-free time off. Sean made bagels (not exactly lazy, but yum!) and we had bacon sandwiches. I filled out the day with a nap and a movie. Mmmm.

Today, not so lazy, but it sure is easier to get stuff done when you come at it refreshed. I spent some time organizing files and such, wrote another 1500 words or so on The Chimpanzees of Mars, and still have enough brains to take on the flash challenge at Liberty Hall after dinner.

It's been a very good weekend.

Reviews of the Art Issue

For your weekend reading pleasure, a smattering of reviews of Shimmer's Art Issue:

Sam Tomino at SFRevu gives all the stories a Very Good.

Last Short Story calls "Penny Wise," by Kurt Kirchmeier, "well-written and engaging."

And in the latest IROSF, Lois Tilton gives "Monologue with Bird and Burin" by Daniel Rabuzzi, and "Flying and Falling" by Kuzhali Manicavel her coveted "recommended." Yay!

Rearranging the house . . . again.

We spent last Sunday rearranging the house. Sean and I have been sharing an office, but finally it was time for us each to get our own space. So we spent all day last Sunday rearranging things, and thought we had it worked out.

But no. It was not right.

So we spent all day Saturday trying again. This time we got smart and asked Skipper to come over and help after the first four or five hours... This is a pretty big house for two people, but there are enough architectural oddities to make it challenging.

But we did it. We found the right place for everything, and it's all flowing and clean and organized and comfortable. It was a crapload of work, but well worth it.

Today we've been busy doing almost nothing, which is lovely.

Congrats, Skipper!

Big congrats to Skipper, who just sold a story to Fantasy. It's particularly cool because she wrote the story as part of a Christmas present for me! I'm just delighted to see the story find such a good home.

Speaking of Fantasy, I really enjoyed this week's story--Petrella, by Charlene Brusso. I enjoy most of the stories I read there; Cat Rambo's doing a terrific job of picking stories.

Restorative Saturday

Yesterday was a good day. We slept in, then spent the afternoon wandering around at the zoo. I think my favorite this time was the Eastern Black and White Colobus monkeys--they have this lovely long hair, sort of like Afghan hounds. I also was also taken with the ginormous African porcupines.

In the evening, we had dinner with Shimmer author John Mantooth, in town for WHC. And we got to meet his writing group: Kurt, Petra, Kim, and Sam. They're sound on "all right," and are really fun; it was a terrific evening.

Today will be about being productive: cleaning the house, editing the stories, doing some writing, etc.

No World Horror for us

WHC is in SLC this year, and it seems silly not to go, eh? We'd been looking into helping out as volunteers for the con, but last weekend realized that we haven't had a "normal" weekend since early February. We had our trip to Radcon, and one or the other of us has been sick every weekend since; it's just ridiculous.

So no WHC for us; we're just going to kick back and enjoy not being sick.

But I'd love to have coffee or dinner with anyone who's in town for WHC.

The Fix review of The Art Issue

See what The Fix has to say about the Art issue.

J.C. Runolfson had some concerns about how we printed the art (Mary, our Art Director, has a few more thoughts about that), but mostly liked the stories. I think reviews that point out both strengths and weaknesses are more interesting to read than reviews which are either all glowing, or merely summarize a story without taking a stand.

Nevertheless, I'm very pleased by the positive comments. Overall, "this is a solid example of good fantastical short fiction, and an issue of Shimmer well worth acquiring." Runolfson compares Aliette de Bodard to Patricia McKillip, admires Michael Livingston's "lyrically understated" writing which "conjures fully realized characters and a strong sense of place." And regarding Kuzhali Manickavel's "Flying and Falling":

That extra layer of doubt takes a beautiful magic realist story and gives
it extra bite, a perfect note on which to end an issue with such strong
themes of hope and the loss of it.

Lots of other interesting comments; go read the whole thing!

So tired of being sick . . .

I'm recovering from, I think, my 5th round of illness so far this year, and it's only March. WTF? We're both really ready to be healthy again.

On the plus side, I've managed to get a lot of reading done--that part, at least, is nice. But c'mon. Gimme a break. Enough with the stupid colds and flus already.

Angela Slatter on Pseudopod!

Angela Slatter's story "The Little Match Girl," published in Shimmer's Spring 2006 issue, is now up on Pseudopod. It's read by Dani Cutler. Go listen!

"The Little Match Girl" is one of my favorite Slatter stories; I'm really happy to see it get a new life.

Stories That Fail

I see this particular story structure fairly often, and it never works for me. Here's a completely made-up excerpt:

The demonic alien waved his tentacles at Roger. He screamed helplessly, but
there was nothing he could do: the alien's mind control held him completely
motionless. Then the alien forced him to pick up the gun and press it against
his temple. "You must die so that we can complete our plan to take over Earth,"
the alien said inside his skull. Roger wept silently as the alien made him
pull the trigger.

###

The sheriff looked down at Roger's body. "Sure is a shame when a nice young
man like that kills himself," he mused.

"Sheriff," said the young deputy. "What are these marks? It kind of looks like someone dragged a tentacle through the blood!"

"Son," said the sheriff, "you see all kinds of crazy things in this
business. Sure is a shame."

THE END

The biggest problem (among several) is that the author isn't trusting the reader. If the author has done his job in the first 4,000 words, we don't need another 500 words to let us know that Roger's dead, and that humanity has no idea about the impending alien threat. The author may think she's adding extra drama by showing the scene: but sometimes, letting us imagine the scene is even more powerful.

In other news from the slush mines, if the cover letter starts out "Dear Sir/Madam" or "To whom it may concern," the story is not going to be good.

Jane Goodall!

Tonight we went to see Jane Goodall. She was speaking as part of an environmental studies lecture program at the University of Utah; Terry Tempest Williams was the other speaker.

And, well, she was pretty awesome. I've read most of her books, and am pretty familiar with her research and her more recent work with conservation and Roots and Shoots--but seeing her tell her stories in person is terrific. She has an amazing presence.

Eh, nothing I can say will convey what it was like--but if you get the chance, go see her sometime.

Sock Zombie Is My Co-pilot

On the way to RadCon.

Still suffering from the devil-cold; this damn thing will not go away.

I spent a lot of time yesterday wading through Clockwork Jungle submissions. I've sent some really terrific ones on to George Mann. I can't wait to see which stories he picks, and read 'em all.

70 days of sweat: did 1000 words yesterday, despite having no brains; expect to do the same today, perhaps after a nap. So far, so good.

70 Days of Sweat

So, my whole plan for February did not really work out. I did get some writing done on a few days, and managed to get exercise in on a few days, but overall: pathetic in terms of those objectives! It was a crazy month, though: dealing with the car, going to Radcon, getting sick AGAIN (I am tired of getting sick!). On the plus side, I got to go to Radcon, and Shimmer released the much-delayed Art issue, and best of all, this sucky month is OVER.

Onward, March!

I've signed up for 70 Days of Sweat, a nano-like challenge. Your objective is to write a few pages every day (with a few days off built in) for 70 days--so it's a longer course than Nano, and as far as I can see, the focus is a bit more serious (though it's hard to be less serious than the Nano folks!). I figure it'll take me at least 70k more words to finish off my Nano novel, so that's what I'm aiming for here. That means about 1,000 words a day. Perfectly possible, if I can just get off my ass and do it.

Well, that's what March is for.

Clockwork Jungle Deadline Is Here

Just one more day to get your submissions in for Shimmer's Clockwork Jungle Book special issue.

We've had a good crop of submissions, with some really spectacular ones. It's been a great deal of fun seeing all the different approaches to our theme. Thanks to everyone who has submitted so far! And if you haven't sent yours in yet: get on it.

The art issue is OUT!

Sock Zombie, Sean, Skipper, and I have been busy mailing out copies of the Art Issue this weekend--the last copies will go out in the mail tonight.

In other news, our congrats to Angela Slatter--she's on the short list for the Ditmar in the Best New Talent category. We're huge fans of Angela's dark and twisty stories, and are thrilled to see her starting to get more recognition.

The Art Issue Has Arrived!

Three boxes full of lovely copies of the Art Issue were delivered today! The picture does not do justice to how pretty these books are--and seeing them all piled up like that, it's just a mountain of gorgeous art and fiction.

We'll start mailing them out tomorrow.

Valentine's Day

Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like a SOCK ZOMBIE. Like a sock monkey, only undeader.

Sean's damn good at gifts.

Sock Zombie is awesome, and I think he's going to become an indispensable source of guidance and support in the days to come.

Radcon Festivities

We got up early this morning (well, early for ME), hopped in the shiny new car, and headed to Washington to attend Radcon. It was a nice drive, though long. Oregon is lovely. We're tired but happy to be here, and looking forward to things getting going tomorrow.

Here's my schedule of Official Activities, if anyone's going to be there:

Friday 3:00: On Line Publishing Options
5:00: Urban Fantasy
Saturday 10:00: Manuscript formatting
11:00: The Anti-hero
2:00 Archetypes: Stereotypes or Required Tool?
4:00 Critical Elements of the FAntasy
6:00 Possum: does it really taste like chicken?
7:00 Markets

And then there's the Small Press party Saturday night, as well as the Small Press room all weekend.

Wow, that Saturday schedule is pretty packed. Should be a lot of fun.

I'm very glad to be able to take a little break to go to Radcon. It's been a chaotic year so far, with illnesses and car disasters and things getting insanely busy at work. We've still got some challenges to get through next week when we get back--I have another round of major dental work, and we still have to deal with Sean's car, and we need to get the Art issue in the mail. But I'm optimistic that things will SETTLE DOWN soon and we'll get some breathing space.

Until then, this is our breathing space, and we're going to enjoy it.

Car Drama

Sean's got a nice post with all the details and lots of pictures; check it out! But the short version is: at about 1:00 in the morning on Wednesday, as we were settling in to go to sleep, someone plowed into my parked car. It's pretty spectacular, in a bad way. The car is totaled; it got shoved right into my neighbor's car, which is pretty messed up, too. The driver was moderately injured and was taken off to the hospital. He's getting cited for driving with a suspended license, and failure to avoid running into shit.

But everything is working out well so far. Of course it's a hassle to deal with everything, but everyone at the insurance company and etc has been really helpful and things have gone smoothly so far.

The fun part, though, is that we chose to obey Mary Robinette's command and buy a Prius. (It is always wise to do what Mary says.) Our rental car is a Prius, so we've been giving it a nice long test drive--that worked out well. I'll go pick it up as soon as I know how much I'm going to get for my old car. I'd really liked not having a car payment--but on the other hand, Oooh! Shiny!

In other news, BIG CONGRATS to Lisa Mantchev, who's sold a pile of novels. Rock on, Lis.

Announcing the Art Issue!

For this issue, the art comes first. We selected art, and then invited some Shimmery favorites to write stories inspired by the images. Our cover image is Penny’s Grave, by award-winning artist John Picacio; we used it as the trigger for a contest at the Liberty Hall Writer’s Workshop. The winning story is Penny Wise, by Kurt Kirchmeier.

Read all about it.

Table of Contents * Author Bios * PreOrders

I love this issue, and I am so pleased to start presenting it to the world.