I’ve got about forty-eight hours in which to work through the remaining thirty or so tasks on my TO DO list before it’s time to grab some sleep, wake up, throw my bags in the car, and head off to the airport for my flight to Chicago and the whirlwind of the qep’a’ and Chicon 7 that follows.
One of the items on that list involved packing up and shipping a box of plush buffalitos (prizes/giveaways at some of my Worldcon programming). As you can see, they did not want to go into the box.
Today marks the seventh year in a row where I’ve woken up, turned to my wife, and thanked her for not killing me in my sleep. Yes, that’s right, it’s my wedding anniversary today. According to some sources, it’s all about copper and wool and desk sets. I really don’t know what any of that means, but I do know that I’m truly blessed for having Valerie in my life, and if any of you ever find me forgetting that, do feel free to kick me in the ass.
Welcome to another session of Eating Authors, the weekly blog feature where I ask an author to share with readers an account of his or her most memorable meal. My guest this week is the peripatetic Alma Alexander. Alma was born in Yugoslavia, and grew up traveling throughout Africa, did some of her schooling in the United Kingdom, and somehow ended up in New Zealand and began turning out books, including her YA trilogy “Worldweavers” (Gift of the Unmage, Spellspam, and Cybermage), the popular The Secrets of Jin-shei and its sequel The Embers of Heaven, as well as her recent Midnight at Spanish Gardens with its very special spin on the end of the world coming on December 20th, 2012.
In addition to her fiction, Alma is known for her many book reviews, travelogues, essays, and poetry, which have been published in books and magazines throughout the world. This whirldwind of an author has, at least for the moment, settled in the United States’ Pacific Northwest where she very kindly took the time to answer a critical question.
The next book in the Amazing Conroy series, is actually a look back. Buffalito Buffet is a collection that gathers all the previously published stories (including those from venues long out of print and/or not available in the US) as well as a brand new novella set before the events of the story arc of the novels.
It will be coming out from Hadley Rille Books in the Fall.
I thought you might like to see what it’s going to look like:
This is probably my final schedule for Chicon. Of course, the moment I post this I’m jinxing myself and doubtless there’ll be a change, but you know what I mean.
Wednesday, August 29th:
noon – 11:00 (Addams) Klingon Language for Newbies
Thursday, August 30th:
3:00 – 4:30 (Kaffeeklatsche 1) Kaffeeklatsche
4:30 – 6:00 (Autograph Tables) Autographing
Friday, August 31st
9:00 – 10:30 (Offsite ) Strolling with the Stars
noon – 1:30 (Grand Suite 3) Iron Chef: Flash Fiction (M)
1:30 – 3:00 (Wright ) “To Be” or Not “To Be”: Constructed Languages in SF&F
3:00 – 3:30 (Fan Lounge) Writer Under Glass #23
4:00 – 4:30 (Addams ) Reading
Saturday, September 1st
09:00 – 10:30 (Offsite ) Codex Breakfast
1:30 – 3:00 (Wrigley) How to Speak Klingon
Sunday, September 2nd
9:00 – 10:30 (Offsite) Strolling with the Stars
8:00 – 11:00 (Grand Ballroom) Hugo Awards
Monday, September 3rd
10:00 – noon (Sandburg) Writers’ Workshop -Section U
4:01 – next several days (offsite) Recovery Time – Enjoying the City of my Birth!
I won’t be attending the SFWA Business Meeting because someone decided to schedule it opposite the Codex Breakfast (which has been set since early June), and since I’m the fellow who organizes that breakfast, I’m going to be there! At some point though, I’ll be working the SFWA table in the dealers’ room, and possibly even pretending to sign autographs there.
What hasn’t changed from my last schedule draft is my plan to wander the convention with my faithful plush promotional device, Barry, riding on my shoulder. I’ll be handing out postcards for free copies of his eponymous novella “Barry’s Tale” and even giving away similar plushies to some members of the audience at my reading, Kaffeeklatsch, and Autographing session (and maybe elsewhere too so come up to me when I’m strolling, you might get lucky!). Also be sure to ask for a photo with Barry at any time during the convention. He has his own Facebook and Google+ pages, and he needs images to post.
Another Monday has had the temerity to show its face and while we might like very much to complain about it, we must nonetheless accept and embrace it, else we’ll never manage to come around to Friday again. One thing that make Mondays a bit more bearable is a visit from a talented writer who will entertain us with a tale of a particularly memorable meal
For this Monday we turn to Alastair Reynolds, easily one of Britain’s best hard SF authors. He comes by this distinction honestly, not merely because of his doctorate in astronomy, but also having worked as an astrophysicist at the European Space Research and Technology Center. I confess, I’m particularly enamored of his series of novels and short stories that begins with Revelation Space, which is probably the best example of space opera without resorting to the magic of FTL drives, wormholes, and other technologies built on hand-wavium (you know, the stuff that I do). If that’s not enough to convince you that you should be reading his fiction, then be aware that he’s also written a Dr. Who novel; it’s scheduled for release next year in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the series. Now that’s versatility!
Time now for a minor confession: I had the pleasure of being on a panel with Al a few years ago when he was the Guest of Honor at Boskone, and I played a small prank on him that involved a mock-up of a book cover and the insinuation that he needed to heed my advice if he had any hope to be a success in the field. Mind you, this is the man who in 2009 signed a ten year, ten book deal worth worth £1 million. So, not only is he a fine writer, but he knows how to take a joke.
Welcome to another Monday here at Eating Authors. August 2012 is turning out to be a very busy month. I’ve just returned from a brief appearance at a media convention and the launch of a new anthology, next week I’m traveling to help ease an old friend into the start of the second half of his personal century, and soon after I’ll be heading to Chicago for the KLI’s 19th annual conference, followed immediately by the 70th World Science Fiction Convention. None of which really concerns you, you’re here for this week’s author and to learn about her most memorable meal.
And so, let me present Cate Gardner, a British horror and fantasy author whose writing has been described as otherworldly. I’ve never met Cate, and so in preparing to write these introductory remarks I read through some of the many interviews she’s had. If I learned anything it was that she likes to play with her interviewers, giving entertaining answers that have just enough truth in them to be believable but then again, maybe not. Which, when you think about it, may be the best thing to say about a writer anywhere. You can judge for yourself by reading her stories in the collection Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits, or her novellas Barbed Wire Hearts and Theatre of Curious Acts.
Congratulations to the fine folks at JPL for this awesome accomplishment.
Now where will Curiosity show us?
