Getting the to-do list done would be a great start. But instead I’m reading Wondermark. You should too, if only so we can all be behind together!
Fun stuff
Walking to Mordor
It’s 1779 miles from Hobbiton to Mount Doom.
I and some friends started keeping track on 24 July. It’s 458 miles to Rivendell: I got there in late October. It’s 920 miles from Rivendell to Lothlorien, and I got there mid-January. I’m now 1160 miles into the hike, and have a couple hundred miles to go before I get to Rauros.
Just over 600 miles to Mordor, something like four months. I’m a whole lot slower than the hobbits, although the pace has picked up considerably since the boxer arrived at the end of September.
Not in the mood
It’s not that I don’t have things to blog about, both here and at String Notes. I have photos, links, anecdotes waiting patiently for their turn. But somehow these things are not making it into WordPress and thence to you.
I blame the boxer.
At least in part, that’s not untrue. I walked 57 miles last week, 22 miles more than my pre-boxer average, and that time has got to come from somewhere. But it’s not entirely true, since I often blog on my lunch break and the boxer has nothing whatsoever to do with that. I blame the boxer anyway.
Whatever the cause, this is important enough to me to get me out onto the internets: for those who don’t subscribe to Daily Science Fiction (you should!), my story “The Cries of the Dead and Dying” is now online.
Some of the nifty things accumulating:
Plotto: This summary of all the plots ever (there are 1,462) is rather nifty. I might have to get a copy. Also, I so want a plot robot.
The rest of these are from a single day last week (Tuesday, that would be). I had fully intended to post them that day, but, um, boxer! Yeah, that’s it!
There’s still time to get in on the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation fundraiser. You need to check this out: Jim Hines is raising money for charity AND lampooning horrible book covers simultaneously. Win-win! The more money collected, the crazier it gets.
London Bridge opens for 50-foot rubber duck. Need I say more?
That’s it. I’m giving up gingerbread construction. No way I could compete with this.
This is now on my office door. So wonderful!
That’s odd
It’s Homecoming weekend at Penn State, so you expect crowds and noise and odd behavior. But it’s awfully early in the morning, and those don’t sound like drunken moans.
Gunshots? Must be fireworks. Although it is raining…. Weird.
I wonder what’s going on. I need to take the dog out shortly. Maybe I can find out more then. The dog doesn’t like the rain, so it may be a little while.
Edit, 11am. We’re far enough from downtown that I don’t see any football celebrants as long I’m not foolish enough to try to leave the house. Usually. Homecoming must be extra exciting this year: I’m seeing a steady stream of drunken students shambling down my street. And it’s a dead-end street, too.
According to twitter, some strange things are going on around the country.
A true story
I started writing this as a comment on my previous post, but thought it might almost be interesting enough to stand alone.
“Horn” originally started with my favorite opening line ever: “I saw a unicorn this morning.”
Which is a true story. I did see a molting unicorn wandering through a cornfield along I-80 in Pennsylvania the morning I started plotting this tale.
Or it might have been a piece of rusting farm machinery, but where’s the fun in that?
Someday I’ll find the story that actually goes with that opening line, since this wasn’t it.
Thanks for the congrats, everyone: much appreciated.
Rocketships
Candy-corn colored rocketship cookies, to be precise.
I made a stack of rocketships for Seanan McGuire, the GoH at Confluence last weekend, and a pile of stars and rockets for all the con attendees. Seanan squeeed, and she assures me the cookies were delicious.
In case you’ve somehow missed her, Seanan writes urban fantasy under her own name, puts out some excellent music, and is quite entertaining in person. She also publishes zombie stories as Mira Grant. She’s part of the SF Squeecast, and she likes cookies. She’s also up for four Hugos. I may have to make more rocketships for Worldcon.
The rest of my panels went well. It was just that evening panel where I was falling asleep that I did poorly on, and even that one I think the audience enjoyed. I’ll take it as a learning experience.
I feel professional
The hotel hosting confluence is 150 miles from my house. The first 120 miles took two hours, just as you’d expect, but the last 30 miles? Let’s just say it was a four and a half hour trip. I was late to my first-ever SF con panel.
Except for the lateness and accompanying initial flusteration, the panel itself, on self-referentiality in genre, was quite good. The panel was intelligent and articulate and informed, and the audience was engaged.
My second panel of the evening, not so much. The topic was biological and biomedical SF, and it went in directions that I don’t know much about, so I was quiet for a lot of it. I was also pretty tired by then, and I don’t think I did a good job with some of the things I did say. I know what I did wrong, though, and how to fix it.
Today: more panels, and a kaffee klatsch if anyone comes.
And I need to find Seanan McGuire, since I have something for her…
Confluence: real soon now
The Confluence convention is rapidly approaching. It’s in Pittsburgh, July 27-29. Seanan McGuire is Guest of Honor, which is awesome.
I have Sekrit Plans. Which are also awesome.
I’ve been added to another panel, making five plus a kaffee klatsch (full schedule here).
The bar at this hotel isn’t as conducive to hanging out as one might like, but I will nonetheless be making a valiant effort to sustain a BarCon as well. Do come, and if you’re going to be there please look me up. You might just benefit from the Sekrit Plans (see also: kaffee klatsch, and whenever I can catch Seanan for a minute or two).
Fri 5:00 pm Oak – Are You a Member Here? – Steve Ramey; Lawrence Connolly; John Joseph Adams; Sarah Goslee
The question is whether we, as a group of readers (bunch of geeks, tribe of SF/F/H fans) and writers have gotten too exclusive–with tropes, words and shorthand universes–and if there is new stuff being written that would be accessible to Joe and Jill Common-Person. Would they have as much fun reading “A Game of Thrones” or “We Can Remember if for You Wholesale” as watching it?
Fri 8:00 pm Willow – Don’t Make Me Sick – Ken Chiacchia; Susan Urbanek Linville; Kathleen Sloane; Sarah Goslee
Biologic and biomedical science fiction is still a lot of unused territory Why do we insist that it has to be space? And when we have the technology to make ourselves, or at least our characters better than before, why don’t we?
Sat 12:00 pm Con Suite – Kaffee Klatsch – Larry Ivkovich ; Jason Jack Miller; Sarah Goslee
Sat 1:00 pm Willow – Half Past the Apocolypse – Tim Waggoner; Cathy Seckman; Sarah Goslee; Kenneth Cain
Dystopias: are they all worked out? What do the doomsday scenarios tell us about our ideas of entertainment? Is it time to swing the pendulum in a different direction? or is it too much fun to talk about how dreadful things are gonna get?
Sat 4:00 pm Oak – Editors: What do they Really Want – John Joseph Adams; Jeff Young; Eric Beebe; Danielle Ackley-McPhail; Sarah Goslee
Good question–here are a few, what do they have to say?
Sun 10:00 am Willow – They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara – Kenneth Cain; C. Bryan Brown; Jonathan Maberry; Sarah Goslee
Zombies have dominated the mainstream horror landscape for over a decade. Some people are sick to death (pun not intended) of them, while others look to the living dead as a necessary balance to twinkly, sparkly, moral-tastic vamps. Why do zombies work and why hasn’t even a good shot to the head put this trope down?
Week in review
I know it’s only Thursday, but so far this week I’ve:
- Gotten a scientific paper accepted at Landscape Ecology
- Reviewed proofs for a second paper to be published in Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
- Performed my first official acts as Associate Editor for the International Association of Vegetation Science
- Received a promotion
- Edit: Forgot one: Reviewed proofs for a textile history book chapter, thus completing the trifect of science, string, story.
- Gotten my panel schedule for Confluence (Pittsburgh, July 27-29)
Of those, I expect the only thing of general interest is that last one. I’ll be on four panels (full schedule here).
Fri 8:00 pm Willow – Don’t Make Me Sick – Ken Chiacchia; Susan Urbanek Linville; Kathleen Sloane; Sarah Goslee
Biologic and biomedical science fiction is still a lot of unused territory Why do we insist that it has to be space? And when we have the technology to make ourselves, or at least our characters better than before, why don’t we?
Sat 1:00 pm Willow – Half Past the Apocolypse – Tim Waggoner; Cathy Seckman; Sarah Goslee; Kenneth Cain
Dystopias: are they all worked out? What do the doomsday scenarios tell us about our ideas of entertainment? Is it time to swing the pendulum in a different direction? or is it too much fun to talk about how dreadful things are gonna get?
Sat 4:00 pm Oak – Editors: What do they Really Want – John Joseph Adams; Jeff Young; Eric Beebe; Danielle Ackley-McPhail; Sarah Goslee
Good question–here are a few, what do they have to say?
Sun 10:00 am Willow – They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara – Kenneth Cain; C. Bryan Brown; Jonathan Maberry; Sarah Goslee
Zombies have dominated the mainstream horror landscape for over a decade. Some people are sick to death (pun not intended) of them, while others look to the living dead as a necessary balance to twinkly, sparkly, moral-tastic vamps. Why do zombies work and why hasn’t even a good shot to the head put this trope down?
Doesn’t that look like fun? You should ALL COME.
Gray and grayer
There was a brief break in the clouds, so I ran outside with the binoculars, a sheet of cardboard, and the camera.
It took some juggling. A tripod, fr’ex, and another pair of hands, would have made these better. Nick helped too, but time was very short.
But look! Look! Venus!
And then the clouds closed in.
