(Seriously. WTF??? Did they see a picture of me somewhere on the net, take one look at the white hair, and decide I must be their demographic? What gives? I am unaccountably miffed. This is... reverse carding...)
2. Okay, so I am a Grinch Girl. Be afraid. Be very afraid...
3. This place where I live, it thinks it's a cruise ship sometimes, and it's gotta come up with "Activities". Today it was the "3rd Annual Turkey Trot" - billed as a "5K Run/Walk" (not quire sure what that K stands for. If we were in a nice metric context I might have taken it to mean kilometers, but we ain't, and K cannot possibly be acronymmed away to mean "miles" - and if it means 1000 (as in, 5000) then the question that begs to be asked is 5000 what?
But all that aside. The flyer for the event features two panicked-looking turkeys apparently fleeing for their lives. That should be enough to give you pause, but then, after a small form provided for registration, you get the disclaimer. It is grandly entitled, "Assumption of Risk, Release of Liability and Warning!" (all punctuation is original). What follows... is astonishing:
"In consideration for being allowed to use SV Recreation programs, services, facilities I voluntarily agree to assume all risks involved in participating in, or using SV programs, services, facilities and equipment. I understand that direct supervision by SV staff may not be provided and by participating in or using the programs, facilities, services of SV Recreation I expose myself to the risk of injuries including but not limited to temporary or permanent muscle soreness, sprains, stains, cuts, abrasions, bruises, ligament and/or cartilage damage, head, neck or spinal injuries, loss of use of arms and/or legs, eye damage, emotional trauma, disfigurement, drowning or death. I also recognise that there are both foreseeable and unforeseeable risks of injury or death that may occur as a result of my participation in, or from, or use of SV Recreation programs, services, facilities and equipment that cannot be specifically listed. I also recognize that the actions other users of SV Recreation programs, services, facilities and equipment may cause harm or loss to my person or property and agree to assume the risk of same"
Emotional trauma? Loss of limbs? Drowning? DEATH? What are they DOING on this Turkey Trot?!?
And no, folks, I'm not entirely certain I want to come along. You guys... have fun. And make sure that your wills are in order...
4. I was lying in bed last night writing haiku in my head. As the character from the current WIP. How twisted is this...?
5. Got my Space and Time Winter 2009 issue in the mail today. My story's in it. Looking good...
(oh, and while you're out there surfing links, Jackie Kessler is being magnificent on the whole Harelquin vanity-pub arm debacle. Read this. It's fabulous.)
But seriously folks. My head has just been SERIOUSLY messed with.
I've just received copies of the Israeli edition of "Secrets of Jin Shei".
It's absolutely "backwards", in that it's to be opened and read from left to right instead of vice versa. And aside from the copyright notice, which is in Latin characters in English and consists of the title of the book and my name, there isn't a single solitary thing in that volume that I can actually recognise AT ALL.
Pretty cover, though...
The LA Times "obituary" which appeared in the newspaper following the news of his death managed to paint the grand old holy man who had lived through hell on earth during the worst times in Kosovo a "nationalist" and practically, to all intents and purposes, someone intent on goading the fires of war and genocide and all that, just about stopping only this side of calling him a terrorist - and the evidence for all this boils down to the fact that he was a Serb. There is quite a lot of evidence that refutes that unholy obituary, however. This was a man of God who cared for a scattered and wounded people, and for three days (until his funeral on Thursday) the entire nation is mourning him. People interviewed in the streets, crying, are calling him a living saint.
I am not what you might call a deeply religious person - but I am who I am, and the Orthodox Church is a huge part of my cultural heritage. The Patriarch deserves an "in memoriam" from me, a lost and scattered member of his people in the diaspora.
May God grant you rest, your holiness. May your soul find peace. You are out of the storms of hatred and bigotry which this sorry world has flung at you. You are with the God whom you have served so faithfully and so well for so many years.
The video below is from the Orthodox liturgy - "vjecnaja pamjat" means "everlasting memory".
This thing practically made me cry.
The first is "End of the World", the story appearing in
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prof_brotherton's online anthology Diamonds in the Sky, consisting of astronomically correct Science Fiction stories written by graduates of his awesome Launchpad workshop (which I was privileged to attend in 2008). You can read the story hereThe second is "Choice", appearing in the webzine "Edge of Propinquity" edited by
jennifer_brozek, and it is available to read hereThe third is "To Remember Riobarre", appearing in the Winter 2009 issue of Space and Time magazine - not available online, but I will be happy to provide a reading copy if anyone eligible for nominating the story can't find the magazine and is interested in reading this particular offering, just email me and ask.
And, of course, if anyone wants to nominate "Cybermage" for the Andre Norton Award, now's the time to do this, too...
swan_tower mentioned this particular piece I had no idea about what it was - but it sounded intriguing enough for me to go hunt it and see if I could find it to listen to. Did - it's here -- and now my mind is full of story. Something called "The Place Where Jinni Die" = all about Eastern Fire Demons and a place beyond time...
Hmmm. Anyone care to read it? We could turn this into a crowd-funding experiment...
But don't call me stupid, 'mkay?... Bad pick up line, that. Bad. Try it in a bar sometime and see how far you get.
Seriously.
Fri Nov 27 3:00 - 4:00:pm Alternate History Fantasy? Multnomah Fantasy is often written in a pseudo-medieval society. Some authors bring freshness to the setting by traveling the world, while others go backward, or forward, in time or just adopt technology or lack thereof on a secondary world. Lace and blade, prehistoric, and other choices in fantasy, and how magic fits in, if it even has to at all.
M.K. Hobson, Alma Alexander, Michael Ehart, Robin Hobb, John P. Alexander
Fri Nov 27 4:00 -5:00:pm Artists, Writers or Loonies? Jefferson/Adams It has been said that writers, artists, filkers, and their ilk are successful because they are wired differently. There are those who will use the word crazy to describe this. How far off the beaten path are they?
Lubov, Kay Kenyon, Alma Alexander, Joan Gaustad, Edward Morris, Paul Groendes (I am MODERATING this one, for my sins... [grin])
Sat Nov 28 10:30 - 11:00:am Madison
Alma Alexander reads from her work.
Sat Nov 28 12:00 - 1:00:pm Building a balanced mythos Roosevelt How to balance the mortal, immortal, mythical, legendary and cultural elements when world building.
Lou Anders, Mary Robinette Kowal, Alma Alexander, Rebecca Neason, Robin Hobb
Sat Nov 28 1:00 - 2:00:pm My villain is too mwa ha ha. Help! Roosevelt How to make your antagonists more than a cackling evil caricature without turning them into marshmallows.
Alma Alexander, Jennifer Brozek, Christopher Lester, Elton Elliott, Louise Marley/Toby Bishop
Sat Nov 28 3:30 - 4:00:pm Autograph table 1 Autograph session
Alma Alexander
Sat Nov 28 4:00:pm Sat Nov 28 5:00:pm Group 8 Fantasy Novel WW2
Alma Alexander, Brenda Cooper (writers' workshop)
Also, for those semi-local who may not be coming to the con itself, I will be doing the Science Fiction Signing Extravaganza with a bunch of other wonderful authors at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing (3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. (800) 878-7323) on Sunday, November 29th, at 4 PM - so maybe I'll see you there (stock up on signed books! Christmas is coming!!! [grin])
Pass it on.
And then I saw one of THESE little bastards scuttling away into the shadows.
I had just been PINCERED. In my own damned office. I was completely outraged.
Still am.
There's still a chunk of my finger missing where the little monster decided to experimentally chomp me. And now he's tasted blood. Maybe he'll come back with an army of his buddies. If I am suddenly seen to disappear, this may be why. I will have been EATEN.
[GROWL]
Love it.
As a writer, I've evolved my own methods for working around these times, and I soldier on. Somehow.
But nooooo. There has to gold in them thar hills for somebody - somebody who's now advertising a product absolutely guaranteed to kill writer's block. Like, kill it dead. You know. You'll be all inspiration all of the time; these be the chains that will keep your muse bound in your basement, dirty and hungry and aching with thirst but with a pitcher of water set just outside her reach, her wrists chafed red from the iron clamped around them, dressed in rags, wild-eyed, unhappy - but bound, dammit, and bound to do your bidding. Words, muse. I want words. Deliver.
And all of this can be yours for just a Tiny! Small! Fee! (and it is guaranteed to work, really. Well, for almost everyone. If it doesn't work for you then it must be your fault somehow. Go check those chains again.)
For heaven's sake, children. Writers' block isn't a disease that needs a cure. It may come and linger temporarily in all of us, like a summer cold, but the cure is passion, and dedication, and determination, and stubbornness, and need, and love. For myself, I write because I have to, because it's such a fundamental part of who I am. For those who dabble because it's "fun", and then run smack dab against this particular brick wall, I have one piece of advice - when it stops being "fun", quit, and go do something else.
Chained muses eventually die, wrung dry, abandoned, ignored, forgotten. Getting a new one, if you go this route, is going to cost you far more than you ever baragained for, if you can do it at all, and THAT is a guarantee. The only way that a muse will help you is if you allow her to do it because she wants to, because she loves you, because it is a gift. You cannot coerce that, and keep it alive.
Writing is harder for some than for others - but more than that, writing is hard for ALL of the people some of the time. Trust me on that. Sometimes the muse goes on vacation. If you have the passion and the love and the need, you have to trust that she will return, when she is ready. Don't spend hard-earned gold on the chains to keep her from leaving.
