I am not happy to see this happen to any bookstore, chain or indie.
And I'm sure that the fact that they've gone under in the UK fewer than five years after cancelling our monthly sf book events in the Oxford Street flagship store is not cause and effect but another bad break in a bad economy.
No, really. I'm not given to clinical paranoia, only an occasional case of social anxiety.
But when the pendulum swings the other way and happy days are here again, I'd suggest to businesses everywhere that it's good to keep customers happy, you're not too good for anyone, and it's a bad idea to turn up your nose at things that are profitable, but not blockbuster money machines.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
To my astonishment, I seem to have won the Endeavour Award!
Space Magic was selected over worthy competitors Anathem by Neal Stephenson; Ill Met in the Arena by Dave Duncan; Long Walks, Last Flights and Other Stories by Ken Scholes; and A World Too Near by Kay Kenyon by judges Joe Haldeman, John Helfers, and Sarah Zettel.
Thanks to the judges, everyone who read books for the award, members of the Lucky Lab Rats crit group, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mkhobson for suggesting I try to get a collection published, wheatland_press for publishing it, and kateyule for love and support.
The award comes with a $1000 check and an engraved glass trophy. I really did not expect to win it.
Optimist, me.
So I've got a new web page getting built that will just link over here to LJ. Easier that way.
*But* that means the stuff I had on the old wordpress blog is gonna die. So I'm going through and recovering some of the stuff I wanted to hold onto.
For instance, some of the reports from the Symposium:
( What Symposium )
( Epic (or second world) Fantasy: Que es )
( The Role of Setting )
( Plot )
After that, and because I am a slack bastard, I got sidetracked.
Worth getting back to, maybe.
And that was just Friday. We haven't even gotten to the Clam Chowder Concert and the Regency ball.
Edited to add: Oh, and I was also gifted with yummy fruit leathers and two yarn ball bands in languages I can't read, including RUSSIAN. Estonian yarn shop FTW!!!
- Mood:
sleepy
Here are today’s stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:
Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 6680 (YES. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ‘BOUT)
Present Total Word Count: 89,685 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12
Things Accomplished in Fiction: Raised a little hell. Not literally. This time.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; further adventures of Thanksgiving clean-up; laundry including bedding. That’s pretty much it, but in my defense, hey — did you SEE that word count? It’s amazing I even had time to brush my teeth.
Reason for Stopping: Time to go get the laundry out of the dryer, make up the bed again, fold all the clean clothes and put them away … and if this all gets done before the hubs gets home, maybe try to write YES A FEW MORE WORDS it could totally happen, you never know.
[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]
jen_qoe, if you thought you were going to get away unscathed and unspanked, think again! The Sparkly Paddle of Birthday Wonderfulness shifts into high gear for your birthday spanking!Hope you've been having a day of Total Fabulosity with only the best of the best, starting a year made of Shiny and Awesome, so bright you'll have to wear shades on your shades. With whipped cream, sparkles, and extra kittens!
And hey--yes, you gotta--don't forget to live forever!
- Location:Planet Birthday
- Mood:
celebratory - Music:hmm hmm hmm hmm to you...
- Location:home
- Music:cat playing in trash-can
See Chip Delany's The Orchid the Way It Was Intended
If you checked it out, you should consider it a poor advertisement for itself, because I've been alerted by one who should know that the YouTube version is of low quality due to its ancient videocassette source. You can, however, find a version which has been pristinely restored from the best surviving original print of the film itself as part of the two-DVD set of the Delany documentary The Polymath, or The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman.
The first disc of the two-DVD set contains the award-winning 80-minute documentary The Polymath, which I saw at Readercon, and which is magnificent. You can catch a small clip (including one of its most moving moments) at the director's site here.
The second DVD of the set not only has a pristine transfer of The Orchid that's far superior to the version posted on YouTube, but over two hours of additional interviews with Chip.
If you need any further convincing that you need to own this DVD, check out these reviews from The New Yorker and CinemaQueer.
Unfortunately, director Fred Barney Taylor, though a great documentarian, isn't so great at marketing and making it easy for you to order the DVD, as there's no BUY ME NOW link on his site. But if you use PayPal to send $35 ($30 for the DVE plus $5 for shipping and handling) straight to Taylor at fredtaylor@nyc.rr.com , he'll get one out to you ASAP. The process may be convoluted, but I assure you it will be worth it!
Heather: "But you said I could wait until after dinner to do them!"
Me: "Yes. Absolutely. Wait till after dinner. Good idea."
Heather: *thinks about it*
"I'll do them now."
Foresight is an important skill. ;)
lamentables who went unspanked! Fortunately, the Sparkly Paddle of Birthday Wonderfulness never sleeps, even if I do.Hope your day was the all the best kinds of things one after another, all thrillah and no fillah, and the coming year is Total Nonstop Awesome, with whipped cream, sparkles, and extra kittens!
And hey--say it with me so I know you mean it!--don't forget to live forever!
- Location:Planet Belated
- Mood: celebratory
- Music:hmm hmm hmm hmm to you...
Warm dry home; helpful, hot husband who smells good; fat black cat; swimmy blue fish; wonderful editors; a marvelous agent; amazing publishers; super-cool boss; the Eden Moore books earning out; Boneshaker continuing to do well; distant family having a good time without me in better weather than I’m presently experiencing; a secret clubhouse that serves the world; friends who swing by with goodies today; friends who would totally swing by with goodies today if they were in town; friends who are in town but have other plans; friends who express the wish that I were back in their town; Trader Joe’s meat selection and “wine country” chicken salad; Tofurkey (shut up, I love it); candy-colored hair; shiny black boots; a big brick tower; reading recommendations; independent booksellers; chain booksellers; libraries; book-loaners; book readers; new wool coat with a hood; having about 1/3 of my holiday shopping finished already; fuzzy hats; too much work because it’s far better than not enough work; one vehicle which works and is fun to drive; Etsy; novelty tee shirts; The Gap’s revamped selection of jeans; Christmas travel plans; new work-out music; CuteOverload.com; McKay faux-chicken seasoning; Advil; pixelated socks; leg-warmers (even though I didn’t appreciate them the first time they came around; Coke Zero; six different styles of goggles; out-of-town conventions; in-town conventions; tights on sale at Nordstrom Rack; new headphones that keep my ears warm; uncommonly good cover karma; fingerless gloves; plastic cutlery and paper plates; sorted, itemized receipts for everything; hand sanitizer that smells like lavender and chamomile; footie pajamas; Google; cheap red wine; thrift shopping; PBS; good reviews of my books from people I don’t know (and to whom I am not related); my paper shredder; a pack of wild cards; and cheese.
[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]
Luckily, we stayed dry here and were entertained by the friends of Jack Vance and the son of David Bowie.
Often despair and disappointment await us on the far side of our hopes, but not this week! No sir! Here are two non-letdowns of the highest order:
Songs of the Dying Earth -- an anthology of Vancian tales. Many of the stories really, really get the tone just right: bleak, black, articulate, autistic humour mixed with picaresque, baroque adventure. Great stuff!
Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. The first thirty minutes of the plot look like a cross between 2001 and the recent version of Solaris. But then it takes off in a direction all its own with a clever, classic SF story line combined with moments of genuine heartache. Watch it. Feel fulfilled.
- Mood:
tired
The worst bit? When Leopold shows up J.J. (Jay like Gatsby?) as a poseur by revealing he knows all about "La Boheme" and J.J. is faking. At this point, Kate should have stared at him and said, "I thought you said you were from 1876? So how come you're such an authority on an opera that wasn'r written until twenty years later?" (And then I guess, he reveals that in his copious spare time, in the hours left over between learning how to use the toaster,telephone and other modern devices, he watched it on DVD and memorized the songs.) But nooooo -- she swallows it, and why not; this is meant to be another part of his old-fashioned, cultured education, as the audience is presumed to be as clueless as Kate. It's The Past! When people talked all formal and women wore long dresses and there was all this cultural stuff going on in the background. Yet it could have been ANY opera -- Leo has to come from 1876 so the movie can start with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. (I'm assuming that at least really was the correct date.)
And it's so unnecessary! ANY opera, or piece of music, or play could have been used to make the same thudding point.
That bit of stupid muddling with history really irritated me, yet I wasn't bothered by the pretense that this fictitious Duke of Albany had invented (or would invent) the elevator, and then name his elevator company after his butler, Otis. But, then, THAT was funny. A butler named Otis! Yeah, right.
- Mood:
amused
Actually, I like putting on a big feast myself, when I have normal energy. I like to do a couple of ducks (used to be a goose before they went sky-high) and have plenty of meat and fat for cassoulet the next week. The family picks over one of the ducks the day before Christmas.
For some reason I've been especially feeble the past couple of days. Maybe the approaching (two and a half hours now) holiday. Did I mention that I don't much like holidays on principle? I guess I do like the part with family and food and giving presents. But all the public greed and sanctimoniousness and sheer ubiquity of it makes me vaguely ill from late November till early January.
Of course we should all emulate Baby Jesus and treat one another with love and respect during these special days. And, to quote Tom Lehrer, be grateful that it doesn't last all year!
Even as I write, that turkey is waiting for us across the parking lot in the Kroger's. And mashed potatoes and gravy and all those things to feel thankful for. Hope you all have a good feast and a sound nap watching the Lions lose. (In ancient Rome, they never did . . . )
Joe
Long walk this morning, since I'm going to be sitting - and driving - for most of the rest of the day. LOTS of other walkers who clearly have the same idea. The neighborhood is having a block-party progressive dinner, which I'll be sorry to miss, as I'll be out with my family and friends; there are a number of young families with young kids, the second crop of kids I've watched grow up in this neighborhood. The kids all play together and the parents all know each other, a friendly, open group.
And, it's a beautiful morning. The last of the late roses are blooming in my unkempt back yard. I'm hoping that the 5 zillion people who were on the road at the same time as I was going up to the college yesterday afternoon have all gotten where they're going, and the drive out to the Parental Mansion isn't going to be too frightful.
- Location:The Fortress of Solitude
- Music:stillness
Profile
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Page Summary
- fastfwd : Borders UK [+0]
- davidlevine : Endeavour Award [+14]
- bram452 : New Webpage Coming, Old Webpage Salvage [+0]
- coffeeem : What I did at Darkover Grand Council, Day 1, by Emma. [+5]
- hippoiathanatoi : Westeros.org News Roundup [+0]
- cmpriest : November 27, 2009 [+6]
- infinite_hiatus : (no subject) [+0]
- fastfwd : No, Not Quite Late-- [+1]
- knightofredempt : (no subject) [+0]
- barbara_hambly : Thanksgiving-II [+1]
- scottedelman : See Chip Delany's The Orchid the Way It Was Intended [+0]
- yagathai : It's that time of year again [+2]
- the_corbie : Conversations with my kids, part something [+6]
- hippoiathanatoi : Westeros.org News Roundup [+0]
- fastfwd : I Missed Another One--How Lamentable! [+1]
- cmpriest : A few things for which I am thankful (in no particular order) [+7]
- peadarog : Two Non-Disappointments [+9]
- lisatuttle : Kate and Leopold [+8]
- joe_haldeman : take a turkey to dinner [+1]
- barbara_hambly : Class turn-out [+2]