Yesterday, as I tend to do on every Saturday, I headed off to enjoy a Chinese Buffet brunch and a good book. I stopped on my way out of the house to snap this photograph of Valerie enjoying a sunny read in our library, bracketed by dogs. That’s Gej of course on her right, and her own dog, Sugar, nestled on her left.
And yes, my wife does have purple hair!
As mentioned previously, I celebrated Doctoral Day last Monday by driving down through Delaware to the Colvine Bison Farm. The Collins family was very nice to me, and allowed me to wander around soaking up the buffalo vibes. Most of the bison they had there were fairly young, no more than a year or two old, and didn’t seem at all like the iconic buffalo that I had in my mind. If anything, they seemed “small.” Buffalo are supposed to be “massive.” Even so, some of these were coming in at half a ton.
I thought I’d been prepared for how narrow bison often look, but the actual experience was just weird, giving the animals an almost ghostly vibe as they stood there in the wind, like creatures in a funhouse mirror, or existing in only two and a third dimensions. Pictures don’t really capture this.
As I was preparing to leave, efforts were made for me to have my photo taken with Boom Boom. He’s the stud of the farm, and apparently more than a little cranky at times. For either or both of these reasons (I’m not really sure), he was off in his own little pasture. I’d only seen him from a distance (unlike the other animals who were curious about me, and came close when I stood by their fences). Boom Boom was lured over by filling a trough with corn, and as he approached he just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah, this was what I’d come to see. This was a real, live, full-sized buffalo. Wow.
Best Doctoral Day ever!
It’s another Monday and though as mentioned in a previous post, I’m off celebrating Doctoral Day in the company of some bison, I do so only after making sure I leave you in good company. Specifically, Kim Vandervort, another of my fellow Hadley Rille authors. Actually, Kim has the further distinction of being Hadley Rille’s first fantasy novelist with The Song and the Sorceress. She quickly followed that book with sequel The Northern Queen.
Armed (and armored) with a Master’s degree in Medieval Literature, when she’s not writing novels, or serving as one of HRB’s Fantasy Editors, Kim is on the faculty at California State University, Fullerton, doing her part to ensure the next generation of writers.
Even though Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention is still many months away, preparations are nonetheless underway.
Hadley Rille Books will be launching my third Amazing Conroy book (we’re still haggling over the words in the title, but you can be assured the first word will be Buffalito), and because it’s the Worldcon, they’re doing it up right!
Sure, we’ll have ribbons. But… everyone has ribbons. What everyone doesn’t have are plush buffalitos!
That’s right, you read it correctly. In celebration of the new books we’ll have an limited supply of adorable plush buffalo dogs (just like Barry, the plucky fellow who’s been riding on my shoulder at conventions for years).
I’m telling you about this now because the shipment just arrived (not sure whether from Gibrahl or Vermont). They currently contained in a large cardboard box, but seriously, how long can we expect that to hold them? They’re buffalitos after all!
Regular readers of my blog will know that this next Monday heralds my personal holiday. April 2nd is the date on which I successfully defended my dissertation and the members of my committee shook my hand and said, “Congratulations, Doctor Schoen.”
Traditionally, I spend the day doing something self-indulgent. I also like to encourage everyone to engage in vacuously pompous behavior, lecturing the masses on any topic that you choose (note: you must provide your own soapbox). If you have a terminal degree, proudly display it for all lesser mortals to behold, and let them tremble in the glow of your privileged intellect.
Or something like that.
This year’s Doctoral Day is a bit extra-special, owing to our culture’s preoccupation with certain numbers. It’s the 25th anniversary, and so I’ve come up with a particularly splendid treat for myself: On Monday, I’ll be traveling down to Delaware, where I’ll be visiting the Colvine Bison Farm for my first in person viewing of some buffalo.
Can you believe it? Half a million words about buffalitos, and I’ve never spent time up close with a buffalo before. It’s probably too much to hope that they have a gift shop (let alone one with silver souvenirs), but if nothing else, I’m sure I’ll be coming home with fresh bison filet mignon. Yummers!
Over on his blog (which certainly doesn’t need any links from me), SFWA President John Scalzi has posted a reminder that the deadline for Active and Lifetime Members to cast their online Nebula ballots is tonight, March 30, 2012, 11:59pm PDT.
Yeah, I know, many people will have glanced at that deadline a month or more ago and mentally miscoded it as “last day of March,” which of course it’s not. And boy howdy, if you were one of them, won’t you be annoyed if you try and vote tomorrow!
And, as long as you’re remembering to cast your online Nebula ballots at the proverbial last minute, let me remind you that you still have a couple weeks in which to mail in your ballot for this year’s SFWA Election.
That’s right, we’re still functioning under the old articles of incorporation, which prohibit online elections. Maybe next year we will cease our wandering in the desert and arrive at the promised land (or at least electronic balloting), but for now I have to go out to my mailbox every day and check for arriving ballots (for those that don’t know, I’m once again the SFWA Election Officer, which means you send your votes to me!).
So, don’t just settle for casting your Nebula ballot today, send in your election ballot as well. And don’t worry about me and my paper cuts, it’s a price I gladly play for our sacred system of democracy. Yeah, you betcha!
Despite a week lost to post-Lunacon con-crud, it just wouldn’t be a Monday morning without checking in on an author’s memories of a favorite meal. This week’s Eating Author is none other than Robert Greenberger (seen here with his wife, Deb). He’s the man with all the answers, details, and trivia, as shown in such books as The Essential Batman Encyclopedia, The Spider-Man Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles Spun from Marvel’s Web (written with Peter A. David), and the forthcoming Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History: To Boldly Go Where No Fan Has Gone Before, just to mention a few.
Bob is easily one of the nicest people in the business, despite having been at it since 1980 when he started at Starlog. From there he moved to DC Comics as an editor and administrator, drawing particular praise for his work with Star Trek. He spent time at Marvel, returned to DC, expanded into the world of freelance writing doing media tie-in properties, original fiction, as well as non-fiction.
More recently, after three decades in the biz, Bob decided to go back to school — as an English teacher! Nowadays, when he’s not shaping the minds of high school students, he still keeps his hand in publishing, as a co-founder of the recently launched Crazy 8 Press.
It’s been a few years since I’ve put in an appearance at a Klingon or Star Trek convention, but that’s all about to change. I’ll be talking the talk at Trek Trax Atlanta from Friday, April 20th, through Sunday, April 22nd. It’s been far too long since I’ve been back to Atlanta, and I’m looking forward to the trip.
Here then is my my pre-final schedule for this grand event. It may change, but I’m thinking it’s pretty solid:
Friday, April 20th:
10:00 – 11:00 | Centennial I | Twenty Years of Pimping the Klingon Language (M)
Q&A and some strange tales of pushing the Klingon language for two decades.
Saturday, April 21st
2:30 – 3:30 | Chastain | The Sounds of Klingon
An interactive session with just a bit of spitting as we master some of the trickier sounds.
7:00 – 8:00 | Chastain | Ten Things Every Klingon Should Know How to Say… in Klingon!
Eric Koske and I instruct you in some essential Klingon phrases.
Sunday, April 22nd
10:00 – 11:00 | Chastain | Klingon Religion
Tony Roberts and I discuss religion, Klingon style!
2:30 – 3:30 | Centennial I | The 2012 Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant
Join Todd Bryant, David Orange, Spice Williams, and me as we judge the event. Yeah, yeah, it’s a tough job…
When I’m not busy with the above, they tell me there’ll table where I can sit and sell various materials from the KLI, chat with attendees, and generally hang out. With luck, there’ll be some Diet Coke nearbye too.
