Mad Libs

Young Indiana and I went down to the Botanic Gardens a few days ago, and although the light was, er, raining, I rather liked this picture anyway.

(x-posted from The Essential Kit)

Mocha and I have been schooling in the Pelham lately. With spring and all, she’s gotten a bit strong and opinionated, plus I did something to my left thumb and can barely bend it. So I needed to ride with two hands (not, not gonna try to teach myself to neck rein with the right hand, it would be far too confusing for a rather particular and precise mare. Ahem) while still using some curb elements–ergo, the Pelham.

But things are getting busy with Miscon coming up and various end-of-the-school year things. It’s a good time to back off a wee bit on conditioning and both of us catch our breath, then build back up with frequent short works, then lengthen them out with ground schooling work for bending and flexion.

Therefore, tonight we rode in the snaffle, and no boots. Boots to Mocha are a cue, we’re either going into the show ring or we’re doing a fairly light ride. She’s more relaxed and less on the muscle…but as I realized tonight, less on the muscle does not mean we’re not doing some high level stuff.

She lined out with lots of energy, and my first cue that–ahem–light work these days might mean something other than it used to was when she offered up lead changes on the rail when we usually do them during warmup. No drama, no fuss, just a lead change in response to an unconscious weight shift. Hmm. So I asked again, keeping the rein long, doing a light rein squeeze and leg. Change.

I didn’t ask for the change every two strides–that does get her hot and bothered–but we did calmly and serenely change every four or five strides. She remained relaxed throughout.

And from there we did a few fancy didoes and such, involving random direction changes and small voltes with lead and direction changes…girl sure seems to like that sort of work.

A good ride. Long rein throughout, I never really took up much of a contact, did most of our work by leg, seat, and leaning the rein on her neck. She remained soft in the hand and mellow, despite all the changes and twists and turns.

I think she really likes that kind of work.

Then afterward, a nice long grooming with lots of cookies for her and just a quiet, relaxing groove for the two of us. The sort of night horse people dream about.

Mirrored from Peak Amygdala.

This entry was originally posted at Peak Amygdala. You can post here or there.

A dream from last night ever-so-slightly too long for Twitter:

Queen Elizabeth had died and a young princess was being crowned Queen Anne. She was certainly not a princess that actually exists in real life. Long, lovely black hair that she wore down for the occasion, swept over her shoulder and flowing down the front of her white dress, obscuring all the medals and sash. She had thin silver crown.

I was a flutist playing in the orchestra for the coronation. Anne started crying in the middle of her coronation speech. A crowd of ministers with pelican heads rushed to console her and guide her away from the crowds. We had to stop playing and wait for her to return. But she didn't.

Ages went by. We finally started playing just to entertain everyone, anything we could think of. Then no one could think of another song and we all got up and started dancing with our instruments and each other on the floor of Westminster Cathedral until the flute section all turned into crows and flew up to roost on the buttresses. Anne was hiding up there, too. Her black hair flowed under her gown to become big black wings.

And then: alarm clock.

A dream from last night ever-so-slightly too long for Twitter:

Queen Elizabeth had died and a young princess was being crowned Queen Anne. She was certainly not a princess that actually exists in real life. Long, lovely black hair that she wore down for the occasion, swept over her shoulder and flowing down the front of her white dress, obscuring all the medals and sash. She had thin silver crown. I was a flutist playing in the orchestra for the coronation.

Anne started crying in the middle of her coronation speech. A crowd of ministers with pelican heads rushed to console her and guide her away from the crowds. We had to stop playing and wait for her to return. But she didn’t.

Ages went by. We finally started playing just to entertain everyone, anything we could think of. Then no one could think of another song and we all got up and started dancing with our instruments and each other on the floor of Westminster Cathedral until the flute section all turned into crows and flew up to roost on the buttresses. Anne was hiding up there, too. Her black hair flowed under her gown to become big black wings.

And then: alarm clock.

Mirrored from cmv.com. Also appearing on @LJ and @DW. Read anywhere, comment anywhere.

I'm thrilled to announce the cover and existence of my next collection of short fiction: The Melancholy of Mechagirl, from VIZ media, and my awesome editor nihilistic_kid.




This is a unique collection--while Ventriloquism was a general collection of everything ever, Mechagirl brings together all my Japanese-themed short fiction. That turns out to be rather a lot. Some, or perhaps even most of you, know that I lived in Japan for several years and the experience had a profound effect on my work. I'm very excited to have all of it in one place, and with such an amazing cover and team behind it. I mean seriously, just look at that cover!

It'll be out in July and is available for pre-order now. There's also a brand new novelette called Ink, Water, Milk in it, along with some other rare, out of print, or new pieces. It'll also be simultaneously published in Japanese, which is very exciting for me.

Now, there's an elephant in the room, and even if you don't see it, I do, so I'm going to go poke it in the trunk.

Yes, this is a collection of fiction about Japan written by a white woman. Yes, that white woman lived in Japan because of the US Navy and her ex-husband being an officer in said organization and that is not a value-free situation. Culturally, it is quite, quite fraught. And when VIZ first approached me concerning this project, their first from a non-Japanese author, I didn't know what to think, whether it was the right thing to do. I have always tried (and it's not even close to my place to say if I've succeeded) to write about Japan with respect and quality and sensitivity to the fact that I am obviously and forever an outsider. Nevertheless, it was a period in my life that had a profound and indelible effect on me, and in writing about it I have always been trying to integrate and interrogate my own experience, both from within and without, without being overly kind to myself and my culpability or overly romantic or unforgivably ignorant or bullheaded concerning Japanese culture. That is always an iterative process. You circle the thing itself endlessly and never quite arrive at it. I could not have helped writing about Japan, it was always only a question of how I wrote about it, and I hope, I hope I have done well.

And ultimately, what decided me was that a Japanese publisher thought I did at least well enough to ask for this collection and put their weight behind it. And if I wrote these stories to begin with, I should be willing to stand by them as a body of work. This is a very personal book, full of feels, as the kids say these days. It is not a book that purports to speak for Japanese culture in any way, but one which speaks for its author, for a span of ten years of circling Japan and never reaching it, and a single woman's relationship with a nation not her own, but one which, very occasionally, sat down to tea with her.

Here's hoping you enjoy it. (And stay tuned for another collection post shortly! My new general collection, The Bread We Eat in Dreams, is coming out in December!)

A few weeks ago I talked about the Hugo Voter Packet and how for a $60 supporting membership to Worldcon you could get copies of most of the Hugo Award-nominated works. Well, the packet was finally released today, so if you're already a member go download it now! If you're not a Worldcon member already, check out the cover art of the nominated works (it looks like pretty much everything except for the Dramatic Presentations are included in the packet) and consider joining so you can vote for the Hugo Awards by the July 31st deadline. My Hugo Award-nominated novella THE EMPEROR'S SOUL is in the packet alongside the other Best Novella nominees, and it's an honor to be in such a group.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about short story writing with Mary Robinette Kowal. Mary has published more short stories than the rest of us combined, and she has a lot of good helpful things to say about the process.

I sent out a newsletter last week. Here it is. If you're interested in getting these three or four times per year, and getting an email reminder when I'm signing near your city, sign up here.

Tonight I'm signing in San Jose and tomorrow I'll be in Albuquerque. Details on my events page. I've also left quite a few signed books at my previous tour stops, so give the following stores a call!

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Sarah Johnson interviews me at Through the Tollbooth today about writing a trilogy, including discussion of writing exploratory drafts, crafting a character arc over multiple books, and researching the Bones of Faerie trilogy (including some of the pictures I took of Liza’s forest, pre-faerie-apocalypse).

And speaking of trilogies, look! It’s a complete set!

Faerie After comes out just one week from today!

Mirrored from Janni Lee Simner / Desert Dispatches.

I can’t begin to formulate a post on how awful the tragedy is in Moore, Oklahoma after the tornado yesterday. If you’re like me and you wish you could do something, anything, to help those who lost everything, here are a couple reputable charities.

Samaritan’s Purse. 4 Star rating on Charity Navigator. Website is here. Twitter is @SamaritansPurse . Donations also accepted via text: “SP” to 80888 for a $10 donation (US). Msg and data rates may apply.

If you prefer to donate to another charity, here is a link to Charity Navigator, which screens charities to weed out the scam ones.

And in the midst of all the heartbreaking stories coming out of Oklahoma, here was one that made me cry happy tears:

Woman finds dog in rubble on live TV.

Mirrored from Frost Light.

You know how some days, you sit down and think 'gosh, I thought I had something interesting to blog about, but I guess not...?' Today is not that day. I'm not sure I have an icon happy enough for today, and I'm pretty sure this post is going to explode from the sheer amount of news in it.

Guppy took her first steps!!!

Never, in the history of babies, has there been a baby so happy as there was last night, toddling and giggling between Jake and I. She is seriously clumsy and crash-landed into waiting laps several of the times, but oh, the triumph on that little girl's face! You hear about what an amazing moment it is, but I'm not sure you ever really appreciate it, or realize how much the child's own recognition of the event plays a role, until you're holding out your hands and watching her make her own way to you. She's been waiting for this, and while she has loved walking behind her stroller or holding onto a hand, she's been aware that there's a world of independence just out of her grabby little reach.

It was an amazing sequence, and I'm so incredibly grateful that Jake could be there with me to share it. It was a perfect moment, following a perfectly delicious dinner of homemade kale quiche.

In related news: I'M SO DOOMED.

She also decided to get up 4 hours early this morning, and stayed up for 2 hours, rather than falling immediately back to sleep. No further unassisted walking, but I know it's just a matter of time.

I have showered, and vacuumed, and got the dog fed and the husband fed and off to work and oh, by the way, launched my coloring book Kickstarter, which is already more than half funded $2 from funded in the first two hours and it's really hard not to obsessively click refresh, so I've also started laundry and am about to go scoop catboxes and maybe find something to repair.

I also got another last-minute Sea Monster sponsorship, so I have an additional card to do, and we're just $4 from a second additional card! I finished one last night - maybe my new favorite - and have started the commissioned one that bumped us up.

I have family coming into town any day now, and it's breakup, which means MUD EVERYWHERE, and we're looking at estimates to have a garage built and it's SPRING (really this time, I hope) and *Kermit flails!!*

I leave you with happy Guppy wearing Jake's ear protection.

Thinking hard about the people in Oklahoma who were hit by the tornado.  The photos of the storm were terrifying--like something out of a B science fiction movie.  But in a movie, the self-serving crooks and bad-guys are punished by the forces of nature, and the good guys are plucky and survive.

In real life Nature is not so selective, nor does it adhere to a neat fictional narrative.  You can't argue with a storm like that, or pull a gun, or try out that cool move the sensei taught you.  You can, if you have time and your wits about you, prepare, hide, and pray/hope that you'll survive enough to clean up.

And I feel like I'm living in the early days of an SF apocalypse--one we could actually dodge, if we were smart. This is the how-manyeth killer storm in the last few years?  I recycle and conserve water and take public transportation and do as much to be virtuous, environmentally, as I can, but unless the people in power take this seriously, I don't see us sliding uphill from the mess the human race has made...

I've just posted the book discussion for the paperback release of Sherwood Smith's Banner of the Damned, part of her Inda universe, at the DAW Books blog (dawbooks)! Swing on by and check it out! It's a stand-alone novel from that universe, so you can pick this one up without having read the others in the series.

Like most of the US, I’ve been watching the news coming from Oklahoma over the past 24, and wondering what the hell the rest of the storm season is going to be like, between tornados and hurricanes and…

Based on the increasing severity of storms (thank you climate change) and the idiotic cutbacks in aid (thank you, governors who say “no money for FEMA”…until it’s their state that gets hit, as though disasters respect human-made borders), we’re going to see a lot more calls for help.

I went through superstorm Sandy.  I saw my home states devastated.  And I saw how people came forward to help, after. Even the smallest amount, the most basic gesture, means more than you can imagine.

If you want to help in Oklahoma (or any disaster scene), start with groups already in-place, with an established reputation. That way, your donations can be put to use immediately. And check to see what they need, before you donate.

We all know about the Red Cross (text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a donation), and Doctors without Borders, etc. And if you don’t know about Red Rover Animal Rescue, you should check them out (as well as Animal Resource Center). But one of my favorites is Loads of Hope. It’s backed by Tide (yes Tide the detergent), and they bring massive washing machines to scenes without water or electricity, to make sure that people have clean clothing to wear.

Trust me, if you’ve ever been displaced or suddenly made homeless, something as simple as a clean pair of socks and underwear can make the difference between hopeless and hopeful.

Can’t give money? Give blood. http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood

(And yep, just made an appointment to donate blood myself. O-type & good veins… phlebotomist’s delight. 0.0 )

http://wordwars.logrus.com/ Here, until mid-morning (10:30) mountain time, then I'll be out until afternoon.

I'll be wandering in and out of the war room all afternoon, but right now I am in :).

As I mentioned a while ago, my short story "Centuries of Kings" is going to be in the charity anthology Neverland's Library, whose sales will benefit the literacy charity First Book.

Before it can do that, though, the anthology has to be funded. You can find them over at Indiegogo -- note that this is a "flexible funding" campaign, which means all pledges will be honored, even if the project doesn't make its goal. You can also see updates over there, with shiny things like the cover art (which is really, really lovely). If you scroll down the project page, you can also find a list of the contributing authors -- the ones accepted so far, that is, as submissions are still open.

So click around, and if you like what you see, lend them (us) your support. You get good stories and a good cause out of it. :-)

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/588952.html. Comment here or there.

So I have a reader, a woman whose name I know from the occasional email and several crowdfunding campaigns and chatting here and there over the past few years. Nice lady. Someone I think of in that fuzzy “friend” territory that the internet creates, you know?

Acquaintance, however, is probably more accurate, since I didn’t learn that her oldest daughter is affected by something called Smith Magenis Syndrome until a few days ago, when Eleri cautiously announced she was doing a fundraiser. For their daughter, SMS causes behavioral issues, developmental delays and sleep disruption. She’s currently at a theraputic facility, and while she’s gone, Eleri is hoping to make their back yard a safer place for their little girl.

They’re aiming for what seems to be a very modest $2500, and are 10% of the way there. If you’ve got a dollar or ten to spare, maybe send it their way? Eleri’s been very supportive of me over the years, and I’d love to be able to help give some of that back to her.

Thank you. <3

(x-posted from The Essential Kit)

I could do a whole calendar of herons, although I don’t think other people are as captivated by them as I am. :)

(x-posted from The Essential Kit)

All my hopes and prayers going out to the people in Moore, OK, especially the children in the school. Please please please let them be all right.

Originally published at www.dianapfrancis.com. You can comment here or there.

Copies of COLD STEEL arrived on my doorstep this afternoon.

I can’t read them all, plus I already know the story, and meanwhile the book is not officially released until 25 June 2013.

[The ebook will be released into the wild on 25 June but it is possible that the print book will start showing up earlier in bookstores just as the print copies of COLD FIRE did. So if you are buying the print version, keep your eyes open.]

Obviously the only thing to do is to have a giveaway.

I’m giving away four copies of COLD STEEL.

Here are the rules:

1. The giveaway will be open for one week, from today 20 May until 9 p.m. HT (Hawaii Time) on Monday 27 May.

2. Anyone can enter internationally.

3. To enter, ask me a question about the Spiritwalker Trilogy *or* about writing *or* about the science fiction/fantasy field and media *or* about something else. Everyone who asks a question is entered. There are no stupid questions.

4. Three of the copies will be picked randomly from all entries (here, on livejournal, and on tumblr). One copy will be picked at my discretion based on the questions themselves–but only one. There may be a few of you who worry about whether your question is good enough or clever enough or interesting enough: It is. And anyway, as per the above, lest you are still secretly fretting as I would be, three of the winners will be picked without regard to the question asked.

I will mail out the winners’ copies as soon as I get addresses (on May 28 if possible).

5. After you have read the book you can review it IF YOU WISH, or not review it, as you wish. This giveaway is in the nature of thanking my readers.

Just to clarify, any review should be the honest opinion of the reviewer. While I naturally hope all of you love the novel, I am aware that not everyone will, and reviews should be honest. However, IF you decide to review it, I ask (as per Orbit’s request) that you not review it until late June when the books are available.

Do not underestimate the importance of the social media conversation about books. The conversation is a fabulous thing, and it matters.

 

A brief reminder: Check out my book event dates (San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Seattle, Portland), and come if you can!

 

One last thing: YOU GUYS. Thank you for being the best readers.

 

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Discussion on Twitter (again) about the ..appropriateness? morality? of doing promotional tweets/posts during a time of immediate crisis.

(apologies for the US-centric nature of this discussion, but those are the three recent datapoints we have were within the US).

During the Boston bombing, and the Newton shooting, people had strong, negative reactions to promotional blitzes, especially ones that clearly seemed preprogrammed/scheduled, with an inappropriately cheerful tone.

Today, as we're watching news come in from the terrible tornado activity in Oklahoma, there didn't seem to be that same backlash against promotion, or if it was it was considerably muted.

So the question rises... when is it offensive? When is it all right? So far, the dividing elements seem to be man-made vs Nature, preventable versus inevitable-if-terrible.

What do y'all think? Is there a time when marketing/promotion is out of place in the social media? Where do you draw the line, and why?



[I remember after 9/11 pretty much every publishing PR bit was yanked, to the understandable dismay of the authors that month. But that was before much of the current marketing 'net network.... I -think- it was the same during Katrina?]

Knee passed 1st post-injury stress test, this morning showing only normal levels of ache. The urge to ramp up exercise routine tempered by thought of re-injuring myself.

Damn those endorphins!

And, to follow-up on the earlier poll, I've learned a few interesting things. One, a lot of you (34% at the moment) are lazy lumps! And two, that only about 10% of us get so invigorated by exercise that our bodies demand more.

Huh.

I probably should have asked the question of "runner's high" and related experiences....

Wheee! A last-minuteday sea monster sponsorship nudged us over the line to a drawing for a free original - all sponsors of this project and current subscribers at Torn World are entered to win one of the available originals. I'm also drawing the winner of the monster versus monster poll!

*drumrolls*

Congratulations to pixiewildflower! You won a free ACEO print of any sea monster! You may choose any of the ones shown here, or wait until the conclusion of the release and pick one on June 1.

And the winner of an original is: meeksp! Congratulations! Thank you for helping make this project happen!

I got most of 'When Sea Monsters Attack' written today in a frenzy of writing inspiration - 1500 words so far, and I'm guessing another 1000 words to polish it off.

We are $14 from adding monster #21, and I am planning to finish the two remaining and close up sponsorships this afternoon... I'm putting the polish on a programming job, have finished up my business emails, and am just about ready to sit down for some monstery art while Guppy naps. When they're done, the project will be closed... so that I can launch my Kickstarter tomorrow! Eeee! It has been approved, so all I have to do is push that SCARY SCARY green button and cackle about how 'It lives! It lives!'

Ahem.

Have the latest of my sea monsters to be posted. The 'Wheeeeee' sentiment here seems applicable to my mood right now.



I took Guppy shopping, and she was adorable. There were squawks, but some food from the deli kept those mostly at bay. While we were waiting in line at customer service (she lost one of her sheep mittens, and we went to see if someone had turned it in - which yes! They had!), and a little girl (maybe 3?) was behind us smiling shyly at Elsa. I tried to convince Elsa to wave, which she very suddenly remembered how to do, and she was SO pleased with herself that she started giggling in delight and babbling and wiggling in excitement. Lots of smiles, so very cute.

Weather is cold, but clear, and not viciously windy like it's been.

Sea monsters now. Finished what programming I could for the moment.

Over at Snowdrop Dreams of Books, where I also talk about writing the final book of a trilogy and admit to who my favorite character is.

“Liza is still as strong of a character as ever, fighting for what is right, pushing the limits and always looking out for those around her … The entire world building in this last book is amazing … You are always wondering if things will be okay, if Liza and her crew will figure out how to make things right and if they do – will anything be like was once before?”

If you head over in the next few hours, you can enter to win your own copy of Faerie After, too!

Mirrored from Janni Lee Simner / Desert Dispatches.

rushthatspeaks did a review of The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects by Renée L. Bergland. I am so getting a copy of this, but in the meantime, if you have any interest in pop culture, ghosts, cross-culture ghosts, American History vs Indigenous peoples, and so on (and I daresay the metaphor could easily be extended to the centuries of being haunted by our past as a slave-owning country, as well), at the very least, read the review.

From the Amazon description:

Although spectral Indians appear with startling frequency in US literary works, until now the implications of describing them as ghosts have not been thoroughly investigated. In the first years of nationhood, Philip Freneau and Sarah Wentworth Morton peopled their works with Indian phantoms, as did Charles Brocken Brown, Washington Irving, Samuel Woodworth, Lydia Maria Child, James Fenimore Cooper, William Apess, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and others who followed. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Native American ghosts figured prominently in speeches attributed to Chief Seattle, Black Elk, and Kicking Bear. Today, Stephen King and Leslie Marmon Silko plot best-selling novels around ghostly Indians and haunted Indian burial grounds.

Renee L. Bergland argues that representing Indians as ghosts internalizes them as ghostly figures within the white imagination. Spectralization allows white Americans to construct a concept of American nationhood haunted by Native Americans, in which Indians become sharers in an idealized national imagination. However, the problems of spectralization are clear, since the discourse questions the very nationalism it constructs. Indians who are transformed into ghosts cannot be buried or evaded, and the specter of their forced disappearance haunts the American imagination. Indian ghosts personify national guilt and horror, as well as national pride and pleasure. Bergland tells the story of a terrifying and triumphant American aesthetic that repeatedly transforms horror into glory, national dishonor into national pride.

And a bit of quote from Rushthatspeaks:

Why the change in the American ghost [from the European ghost]? Well, partly because of the rise of the modern scientific method, and the development of ways to test the empirical validity of the supernatural. And partly because colonists in the Americas could not take their ancestors with them, moving from a built-up landscape full of folklore and traditions they understood to a landscape they could not see as fully settled, full of folklore and traditions they did not know. And partly because of the rise of interiority and subjectivity as useful societal concepts, and the intersection of interiority and subjectivity with the newly-minted American Dream. Bergland is literally the first writer I have seen mention that the United States began as a colonized country and became a colonial power, and that the second required systematic repression of the knowledge of what it had been like to be the first.

In short, ghosts represent that which has been forgotten/ignored (ie a crime), and call out for justice -- and the American history is one long history of injustices, so it's no surprise we'd have a ton of ghosts. The crux lays in the fact that a lot of our ghosts are still also very much alive, too, where the crime lies in actively repressing a past (and ongoing injustice).

I can't explain it all that well, but there's much food for thought. So first go read the review and then go buy the book.

read the full entry ▪ read comments ▪ comment

By that title, I don't just mean "I'll be going to X place during June" -- I mean I'll be in X place for essentially the entirety of June.

Some of you may be familiar with Duke TIP. (Others of you may know the very similar CTY instead.) This is a program I participated in as a kid; when I was twelve, I went to Davidson for three weeks to read and talk about science fiction short stories. The next year it was marine biology in Galveston; then it was tropical ecology in Costa Rica; then geology and a bit of archaeology in New Mexico. TIP is probably the single coolest thing I got to do during my adolescence.

And now I'm going back, this time on the other side of things. I'm heading off to North Carolina in early June to teach a creative writing course, focused on SF/F/H. It will be ridiculously intense: class runs for two three-hour blocks every day, M-F, and another block on Saturday morning. That's thirty-three hours of instruction per week, for three weeks straight. It's "Clarion for twelve-year-olds."

I'm not only allowed, I'm expected to make this the most awesome and challenging three weeks those kids have ever seen. We're talking about seventh- and eighth-graders who have scored a 570 or better on the verbal portions of the SAT. Want to know what I'm giving them for a "how to write" textbook? Delany. I'll be lecturing a bit, but there will be much more in the way of discussion, and they'll be doing writing exercises until their brains fall out. My challenge will be to figure out how to pace things such that they get enough variety to keep the brain-falling-out stage from happening too soon.

I won't be blogging the process as I go, because I don't think that would be appropriate. But I'll probably have thoughts about it after the fact, and I'll certainly share my syllabus/readings/etc. In the meantime, if I'm less chatty online than usual during June, you'll know why.

It's because my brain will be on the floor, along with those of my students. :-)

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/588755.html. Comment here or there.

E. Kristin Anderson asked me if I wanted to chat a wee bit about short stories. Of course I said yes, and then rambled about why I LOVE THEM LIKE WHOA! (Also, I abuse commas. Sorry!)

Originally published at MSUFaL. You can comment here or there.

It’s the third Monday of the month, and you know what that means…yep, it’s another Netwalk Foundations Monday! Free snippets, segments, and worldbuilding short stories in the Netwalk Sequence universe. For your delight today, here’s “Diaspora.”

 

 

 

 

 

Diaspora is one of my early attempts at what later became Netwalk. It’s a partial answer to the question of “what was Diana doing while Melanie was in Japan?” It was written about 1994 and I revised it lightly for this publication.

Links to Kindle, epub and PDF versions here.

And did I mention that all Foundations pieces are FREE?

Mirrored from Peak Amygdala.

This entry was originally posted at Peak Amygdala. You can post here or there.

I’m still waiting for someone — anyone — to present an argument against same-sex marriage that doesn’t boil down to, “My religion doesn’t approve” or “I think it’s icky.” Using the former as an excuse for discrimination is about as unAmerican as you can get, and the latter is just asinine.

While politicians and bigots continue to argue that “those people” don’t need “special rights or protections” under the law, here’s some of what’s been going on recently…

In Texas, a judge enforced a clause in Carolyn Compton’s divorce papers which states that, “someone who has a ‘dating or intimate relationship’ with the person or is not related ‘by blood or marriage’ is not allowed after 9 p.m. when the children are present.” Since Carolyn’s partner of three years is a woman and Texas has laws against same-sex marriage, the judge has essentially made it illegal for them to live together.

In New York, Elliot Morales shot Marc Carson, a gay man, in the face at point blank range, killing him. Elliot had followed Carson and his companion, and was heard yelling anti-gay slurs and asking, “You want to die tonight?”

In Chatham, Canada, an openly gay 13-year-old boy was attacked by four older teenagers, who called him “faggot” and “queer,” told him he was going to hell, and beat him. One of the boys pulled a knife and threatened to kill him.

Rep. Mark Pocan became the first member of Congress to obtain a congressional ID card identifying his same-sex partner as his spouse. However, his husband is still legally excluded from receiving health, pension, and other benefits.

In Washington state, lawmakers have proposed a bill that would provide an exception to anti-discrimination law and allow businesses to refuse service based on sexual orientation.

David and Jason married in New York in 2012, but Jason is a UK citizen. As a result, Jason is unable to stay in the country. In order to see his husband, Jason has to get a Tourist Visa, which allows them to be together for 90 days. Jason is now being warned that he’s used too many Tourist Visas, and has been advised to stay out of the U.S. for at least six months.

In New York, two gay men were pursued by a group that shouted anti-gay slurs and then beat them. Both victims were hospitalized. One required eye surgery.

So go ahead. Explain to me why we’re still denying people equal rights and protection under the law. Explain to me why any of this is okay. Explain how you sleep at night, knowing that these things are the direct result of our refusal to recognize “those people” as equal. Or even to recognize them as people.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

We're in Huntsville, Alabama, for my father-in-law's funeral.

This morning we are the perfect image of two people who should really not have spent all of yesterday in transit. Two planes between three airports have played combinatory havoc with our various owies. Karen vanished into the bathroom muttering that everything hurt except her left hand; as it happens, my own left hand is actually quite painful. Though not as much as the arm that it's attached to, which is nowhere near as painful as the shoulder and neck above. That whole anarcho-industrial complex has been seizing up all week, despite anarchic interventions and industrial levels of analgesics; I can neither stand nor sit nor lie, move nor keep still except its hurting. (We have been here before - it's why I have stashes of codeine on two continents - and we know that it will go away. Last time, some serious massage drove it out early. I would like to try that again, but, y'know. Huntsville, Alabama. We're a way from our hands-on specialists.)

Talking of [placename, state], though, Jeannie made us watch Mystery, Alaska t'other night. I really, really liked that. A sports movie that actually works (largely, I guess, by dint of being about something else underneath: but that may actually be true of all sports movies that work? Or possibly all movies that work, regardless of genre? I dunno; I'm really not a movie buff, I just know what I like, and I liked that).

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness, Kalayna Price, and James Tuck, among others. The post is called “On Creativity: Narrative, Fiction, and Life” It is a special post, written on a very special day in my life. I hope you enjoy it.

And this morning, large as life, I've got a column in The Big Idea on John Scalzi's blog Whatever about Sold for Endless Rue.  Whee.  I feel so legitimate.

Still haven't actually seen a copy of the book, but I have my hopes I will soon.

I know I had a weekend around here, but it seems to have slipped away, while I was blinking…

We spent all day Saturday down at the Smithsonian, attending a seminar on “Neighborhood Walks Through London.”  We’re going to London later this year, so the presentation was particularly welcome.  The charming presenter did a great job of highlighting major and minor sites in her home town, relaying history, bits about art and architecture, and generally making me wish that my trip could last for about three months.

Yesterday, I continued the salute to Britain by indulging in afternoon tea with the incomparable Christi Barth.  We had a lovely time at the Park Hyatt (although both of us stuck with rather traditional teas, rather than the $150/cup “there are only three bricks of this tea left in the world” or the nearly as expensive “this tea is harvested only on the third night after the full moon”).  The Park Hyatt provides a buffet of savories and sweets, which allows customers to avoid their least favorites (egg salad, for me…) and to indulge in extras of their favorites (cheddar-scallion-bacon scones and goat-cheese-artichoke crostini for me).  The savories were actually somewhat better than the sweets, which is not my usual experience at tea.

I ended up taking the Metro downtown both weekend days — rare, given the system’s spotty weekend coverage.  Somewhat frustratingly, there was a scheduled break in the line between my station and downtown — they used shuttle buses to bridge the gap.  I walked the difference both directions on Saturday, but I availed myself of the shuttles on Sunday.  The buses are an annoyance, but they run *very* frequently, and the Metro staff are extremely friendly and helpful (and there are *thousands* of staff to guide people, or so it seems.)

Back home for the evening, we power-watched Masterpiece Theatre’s MR SELFRIDGE (although we still have the last double-episode to view) — a not-entirely-successful soapy biopic about that Chicago man who opened the Selfridge department store in London in the early 20th century.  I’m not at all enamored of Jeremy Pivens’ acting choices, and I’m suspicious of a lot of the social rules depicted, but I *am* intrigued by the transition of retail that the show presents.

In between all that, I almost finished reading Lea Nolan’s CONJURE (a fun high-middle-grade, low-YA book, with pirates, curses, and Gullah magic).

And that’s the weekend that was.  How about you?

Mirrored from Mindy Klasky, Author.

Cynthia Leitich Smith was one of the first writers I mentioned the idea of a Writing for the Long Haul series to, and when I did, she commented that those who keep writing are “writing survivors.”

I’m thrilled to kick the series off with a post from Cynthia on what writing survival means to her.

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I owe much of my publishing success to my lack of financial security.

When I hear others talk of the pain of rejection or the unfairness of market whims or the challenge of staying motivated, I think of my mortgage, the payment due on my health insurance, and the cost of my guilty pleasure—Whole Foods hummus.

Of course that’s not the whole equation. While many of my children’s-YA books have sold well (and a few not-so-well), I don’t initially conceive or craft them from a commercial perspective.

Instead, I’m a creature of two brains.

One: the literary artist with a commitment to diverse (defined broadly) protagonists and an experimental bent with regard to age markets, techniques and forms. I’ve published funny picture books, quiet multicultural books, quasi-memoir essays, and YA adventure-fantasies with a feminist and intercultural bent. I’ve won awards and made bestseller lists and seen books go out of print.

Two: the fierce, savvy business person who takes all that—coupled with speaking and teaching fees—and cobbles together a base salary. In the latter years I’ve earned more, in the early years less, but having a baseline goal keeps me pounding the keyboard, hitting the road, and stretching in new directions.

I have a respectful patience for the inner artist but always hold her accountable.

You’re in love with that niche project? Fine. How are you going to market it? Not the publisher—you. Whatever the house does, that’s icing. You encourage it. You work it. But it’s your name on the byline.

Your sales figures can and will be held against you. Glancing around the conference floor, you notice how many of your once-popular colleagues are no longer in the game. Doesn’t anyone else miss them?

How do you carry on? What are you going to do?

What you’ve always done. Choose yourself, your book, whatever you’re trying to say in the whole. Do it in such a way that lifts up everyone, that doesn’t apologize for mattering, that shows a sense of purpose. Recognize but don’t dwell on the uncontrollable. Where there is potential for forward momentum, give it grease with as much good humor and dignity as you can spare.

You’ve stumbled before. You’ve fallen before and started over from scratch. You’ve made a fool out of yourself. You’ve also helped build readers and community and changed lives for the better.

There’s wisdom to be gained from all that and stories that can help lift up someone else. All of your fellow survivors have successfully reinvented themselves at least once and so can you.

Do for yourself what you do for your stories.

When all else fails, begin again.

If only because hummus is expensive.

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Cynthia Leitich Smith is the New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of the Tantalize series and Feral series. Her award-winning books for younger children include Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, and Rain is Not My Indian Name. She first published Jingle Dancer in 2000.

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More about the Writing for the Long Haul series.

Mirrored from Janni Lee Simner / Desert Dispatches.

Cold Steel (Spiritwalker Trilogy #3) to be published in 25 June 2013. It is possible that print copies will show up in bookstores before that day so keep an eye out.

I will be doing events in San Francisco (June 27), San Diego (June 29), New York City (July 2), Seattle (July 8), and Portland (July 9) in conjunction with publication. Information here.

 

OTHER RECENT OR FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS:

 

My essay “The Omniscient Breasts” is in Speculative Fiction 2012 edited by Justin Landon and Jared Shurin.

 

Speculative Fiction celebrates the best in online non-fiction – the top book reviews, essays and commentary of the year. This first volume, edited by bloggers Justin Landon (Staffer’s Musings – US) and Jared Shurin (Pornokitsch – UK), collects over fifty pieces from science fiction and fantasy’s top authors, bloggers and critics.

 

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My short story “leaf and branch and grass and vine” appears in in the anthology Fearsome Journeys, edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Publication date: 28 May 2013 (S&S/Solaris)

 

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Chapbook “The Secret History of Beatrice Hassi Barahal” in collaboration with artist Julie Dillon and publishing collective Crab Tank: In production. Publication date: June/July 2013

 

OTHER FORMATS:

Audio book company Recorded Books is doing an audio book version of the Spiritwalker Trilogy. This will be my first audio book. They’re recording Cold Magic as we speak! No release date yet.

The four Jaran volumes will appear in e-book format in late summer 2013 through Open Road Media. No date yet.

The Highroad Trilogy and The Labyrinth Gate (my first four novels) will also appear in e-book format through Open Road Media but there is no date set.

As I announced earlier this year, all 7 volumes of Crown of Stars are available as e-books in the UK region, published by Orbit UK.

The first three volumes of Crown of Stars are available in USA and World regions (I have not been given a date for release of volumes 4 – 7 of the series in e-book format in the USA/World regions but feel free to write to DAW Books and ask them).

 

OTHER:

I have some short stories in progress and some announcements to come about my next novel projects, but not this week.

I keep meaning to set up a quarterly newsletter like people do but I haven’t managed it yet (it always seems more important to spend my time writing fiction and alas I have no personal assistant).

Finally, a fully updated web site, soon.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Maria’s one of the other Luna alumni who got picked up at the same time I did. She’s done a kind of splendid shooting star rise, reaching the NYT with first book, and going on to take the YA world by storm since then.

This book might work better for that audience. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it (except a language thing Maria’s chosen to do in all her books which I understand but find jarring), but I was underwhelmed, which leaves me feeling like probably I just wasn’t a good audience for it. There were a few things I liked quite a lot–Avry, the heroine, is a healer who assumes other peoples’ injuries and sickness to heal them, and the way that worked is nice. There are murderous plants, which is always a good touch. There’s a romance that–

–actually, that’s one of my problems with the book, I think. The romantic interest pretty much comes across as a jerk, and I not only never warmed up to him, but I didn’t really believe Avry doing so either. Particularly since there’s a much nicer alternative.

Maria’s got a YA SF thing that I’ll be picking up, but I don’t expect to read any more of this series. Ah well. Can’t like ‘em all, even when people you know write them. :)

(x-posted from The Essential Kit)

This is probably the first night shot I ever took that was worth anything. It was taken during a photography course offered in Cork, which I enjoyed enormously and should probably do more of. Although not in Cork. :)

(x-posted from The Essential Kit)

I’ve been thinking for a while now about what it means to write for the long haul.

I’ve been writing professionally for more than two decades now, rebooting and restarting and rethinking my career–as well as the reasons I’m writing in the first place–many times. I’ve watched other writers do the same, and I’ve wondered at all the varied shapes our careers have taken.

I’ve also watched writers stop writing, and I’ve wondered at that too, because there doesn’t seem to be any one formula for when writers continue writing and when they move on to other things. It’s not as simple as the most successful writers lasting the longest, or the rest of us stopping after we hit some set number of challenges or bumps in the road. Whatever it takes to keep writing, it’s something more complicated than that.

What does it take to keep writing for the long haul? Much of the discussion of writing online is about how break in, or else about how to manage a career for the first few books or the first few years. Those perspectives are valuable, but I’m also interested in seeing an ongoing discussion of how writers survive beyond that–not just from a business point of view, but also from an emotional and life balance point of view.

So I started asking novelists who’ve been in this field for at least a decade (often far longer) why they’re still here and how they keep writing.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll post their responses as part of a new weekly blog series. I’m already enjoying the range of takes that I’m reading, and I’m looking forward to sharing them.

I’m hopeful that, wherever we are in our individual careers, we all can learn from each other.

Mirrored from Desert Dispatches: Wordpress Edition.

Because it’s cold and I refuse to turn the heater on in May, May 19th for criminy’s sake, I started a fire in the woodstove.

Because I haven’t actually left town in seven weeks, and I haven’t seen a good friend in I don’t know how long, I went to Butte today and ran some errands and had lunch with said friend.

Because the dogs are dropping hair like a billion dandelions, I vacuumed the house after the kids went to bed. Well, the lower half. Tomorrow will be the upper half.

Because I forgot to run the dishes and the sink is overflowing, I not only ran the dishwasher, but did a slew of handwashing.

Because it rained for the last three days, I haven’t planted the flowers I bought yet. But things are getting green.

Because I went to Butte today, I saw 5 golden eagles. Huge freaking birds and so lovely.

Because I went to Butte with my son, he talked nonstop for about 2 hours before he got tired. I mean nonstop. NON. STOP.

Because I went into Walmart for some protein powder (which I did not find–why do they put so much crap in it? going to the Health Food Store tomorrow. It wasn’t open today) my son forced me to watch a knife demonstration in order to get a free paring knife.

Because I watched said knife demonstration, I bought knives. I’m a sucker.

What did you do this weekend?

Originally published at www.dianapfrancis.com. You can comment here or there.

Well, that was nearly 2/3 of a good Trek movie....

I wanted to love it. I really did. But... no. Even by Trek science-out-the-window and understanding-of-bureaucratic-logistics standards, the plot fell apart if you looked twice, there was overuse of fanservice in the wrong places (IMO), and oh god the logic-fails a decent copyeditor would have flagged in a heartbeat.

I would have loved to have seen it set a few years later, when we had a reason to believe in the bonds between the crew, getting rid of the entire opening set-up which had Logic Fail all over the place and open with the actual story, and maybe please possibly some acknowledgement that one person can't run that much of a conspiracy all by themselves, especially in a peacetime bureaucracy.... I know. I ask too much.

The cast gave it their best shot, tho. They were all solidly believable in their roles, and hey, I was there to see My Man Bones, anyway.

(and Cumberbatch utterly steals every scene he strides into. If nothing else I have renewed respect for Martin Freeman and Rupert Graves, who don't let him do that on a regular basis in Sherlock.)

Back from a lovely, energizing, soul-filling week at Kindling Words West, in the company of a writing community I’ve not seen for far too long, not setting goals for once but simply (yet not-so-simply) filling the well.

And I wrote today, not because I’m supposed to or because I’ve established useful routines and habits and know how to stick with them, but simply because it’s what I woke up wanting to do more than anything else in the world.

It’s good to be back.

Mirrored from Desert Dispatches: Wordpress Edition.