Signs Taken for Wonders

On my way back from Boskone where, yes, I had a lovely time. matociquala introduced me and Fran Wilde to "Drink," a bartender's bar in which they make pale fruity things called Bohemians, which I'll be hankering after for a long time. Other things I'll be hankering after for a while included the Boskone art show, which had some of the strongest pieces I've seen so far at cons. But alas, the budget would not let me buy.

I didn't end up attending that many panels, but those I did proved interesting. Jim Kelly gave an intriguing talk on the Virtual Utopia, which gave me some ideas for my upcoming lecture on The Matrix. And the "gamechanger" panel added to my reading list, as I knew it would. Other than that, I mainly hung out in the lobby and caught up with familiar faces, including some of the ICFA brigade and mindstalk, who I had yet to meet in his new Boston habitat.

On Sunday we were kidnapped by James D. Macdonald and Debra Doyle and taken indoor skydiving, which is, btw, AWESOME, and does not come with the same terrifying quantity of space and ground found in the other kind of skydiving. I thoroughly approve.

My observations re: indoor skydiving are limited to the fact that a) it's harder than it looks and b) I'd like to do it again. Actually, I'll add that the thing that constantly surprises me about skydiving is the nothing-beneath-you part. The hindpart of my brain equates flying with swimming, but there's a significant difference between feeling yourself supported by water and the what-the-hell-is-THAT sensation of being supported by wind. Wind's much less stable, and it's also full of light and noise and NOTHING, and to someone who's a confident swimmer, it's very odd.

Now: back to work.

The Nebulas were in DC this year. I dutifully trooped over to view them with the intrepid oktober_ghost and the ever-chipper Fran Wilde. Beth and I even managed to catch a glimpse of that ever elusive species of CW alumni, William T. Vandermark. Barring one CW alum, I have now managed to collect the whole set!

I hadn't been to the Nebulas before, and it was an interesting mix of familiar and new faces. I managed to sit down with the fabulous Mike and Rachel Swirksy, the engaging E. Lily Yu, the somewhat suspicious Andy Duncan and the always troublesome James Patrick Kelly. I learned interesting things about radio from jfreund and Meagen Voss. I admired the thin orange tie of the ever-stylish John Kessel and the clattery shoes of death worn by the brave prom-goers sharing our hotel. And, as always, I left with a long list of Yet More Things to Read.

But in the meantime: the very deserving winners of the Nebulas have been announced. Good reads all. I'm particularly fond of Jo Walton's amazing Among Others, which seems poised to sweep many of the SF awards this year, but I'm thoroughly fond of all the nominated works I read. I have to make special mention of Genevieve Valentine's astonishing debut, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, which I thought was just beautiful.

I'm finally de-poisoned and de-crankified enough to write an update. Hurray!

First #1:

I finally caved and joined SFWA. Since then I've been reading a lot of excellent fiction, some of which has made the Nebula ballot. Congrats to all the nominees!

But before I start raving about some of the nominated fiction (a future post), I  wanted to mention some short stories that I  thought were wonderful but which didn't make the Nebula list. Vylar Kaftan's Hero-Mother (the costs of an alien culture's attempt to control reproduction), James Allen Gardner's clever nightmare Three Damanations, and Genevieve Valentine's evocative fantasy The Sandal-Bride are all terrific and worth a read.

First #2:

I passed the strength test and climbed into the tall ship rigging for the first time. This is the sort of stupid thing writers do. I'm afraid of heights and climbing up some giant dangerous swinging ropey thing holds little appeal in and of itself. But damnit, I can't work on a tall ship and not know what it feels like to go into the rigging.

So up I went. And for the record, it feels like UTTER TERROR. Which I'm hoping wears off with practice and better footwear, because a climber needs to be able to do more than cling, huddle, and meep. 
( climbing rigging )

Eh. That's it for now. More adventures of a cowardly climber at some future point.

...was in San Diego this year. Palm trees, sunshine, a hot tub... True, I spent a lot of time indoors attending readings and events, but wow. What a great location for WFC!

True, the hotel was rather... strange... and had some odd policies (e.g. not issuing guests blankets and barring wheelchair access ramps). But the people more than made up for the confused dystopia of the compound. If I'm ever interred in a 1950s style bordello-turned-Prisoner-Village, let me be interred with SF fans. They make everything so much more interesting.

And what lovely people! I finally got to meet douglascohen and Neil Gaiman; I caught up with my Indiana/CW posse, and I ended the weekend in an exhausted heap.

Highlights included swapping R.C. stories and listening to the early version of DC's forthcoming Game of Thrones rap. Also: I caught some wonderful readings by NK Jemisin, Karen Lord, and the wall-thumping ninja_turbo. I didn't get to everything i wanted to see, and I didn't get to talk to everyone I wanted to talk to. That, I guess, is what WFC 2012 is for.
 
Short version: I had a fantastic time. Now for Toronto!

Fellow CW alum DJ Muir has a new story out at Strange Horizons. I have fond memories of The Fourth Board from workshop and I'm excited to see it in print:

My very first CW story, In the Gardens of the Night, is now up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Thanks to a lively crit session, it is now forever known as the "I want an army of undead concubines!" story. This despite the fact that (spoiler) there are no undead concubines appearing in this story.

I'm particularly proud of the opening paragraph, which I worked on for a looooong time:

 

There's a very flattering review of "Strange Case" over at Fantasy Literature. I appreciate the fact that Terry Weyna also reviews Goss's "Folkroots" column and Bear's and Witcover's review columns. RoF supplies some very thoughtful non-fiction, but it's often overlooked in people's discussion of the magazine. 

This is not "flash" fiction. This is "full-on" fiction: Dear Penthouse Forum: I Fucked Godzilla

I've been remiss in sharing publishing news. Or rather, being a cautious person, I've been waiting until things are actually published to declare that they're coming out. I gather from friends that this is a Silly Thing To Do.

So, I'm pleased to say that  "The Strange Case of Madeleine H. Marsh (Aged 14 1/4)" will soon be in bookstores as part of Realms of Fantasy's April issue. My fellow CW classmate Randy Henderson (aka quantumage) also has a story forthcoming in this issue, which RoF is devoting to Dark Fantasy.

Lois Tilton has already reviewed the issue over at Locus and declares "Strange Case"  "clever and entertaining humor in the tone of teenaged angst." 

I also made some sales last week: I'm happy to say that "In the Gardens of the Night" (aka the concubine story) will be appearing in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, while my anti-Twilight story "Remains" will be forthcoming in AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review. Both of these are first-time markets for me, so I'm excited to be working with them.

Finally my poem, "Birthing Monsters," is forthcoming from Basement Stories. It's been a while since I've written any poetry, and this one is dear to my heart. I'm looking forward to its release into the wild world of the web.