Because one day wasn’t enough to contain the interview, Gray Rinehart is back today with the second part of his conversation with me.
Here’s today’s portion: http://bit.ly/lmsgray2.
And if you missed it (or just want to read it again), you can find the first part from yesterday here: http://bit.ly/lmsgray1.
Thanks again, Gray!
Author and fellow Codex member, Gray Rinehart interviewed me as part of the recent Codex Blog Tour. Gray’s a curious guy and his questions really got me going. So much so that the interview went too long to run as a single post.
You can find the first part here: http://bit.ly/lmsgray1
Thanks, Gray!
Earlier this morning I responded to a Live Journal post from an acquaintance on the desirability of attending the Worldcon. She’d never been to one before, and was asking for opinions and suggestions. A number of people chimed in. After I added my two cents, I kept thinking about it. I really love the Worldcon, and it seemed worth expanding on my original post and sharing it with you here.
Read the rest of this entry »
For most Americans, yesterday, April 15th, was “Tax Day,” the dreaded deadline by which one is to have sent off the previous year’s tax returns to the fine folks at the IRS.
Living in Philadelphia, I’m especially reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s famous remark, “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” For me, the two are forever entwined.
Yesterday was the anniversary of my father’s death back in 2000.
I’d finished my tax stuff Wednesday morning, and spent yesterday speaking to a subgroup of the Philadelphia Bar Association (compliance stuff), after which my Pilates instructor gave me some new insights and then used them to kick my ass. By the end of the day I was worn out mentally and physically, and conveniently distracted from thinking about my father’s passing.
Instead, I dreamed about him. We were back at the swap meet, a place where I spent almost every weekend of my youth from age five to age eighteen. It’s where I learned about money, about people, about the value of honest work, about writing down bits and pieces of my imagination in spiral notebooks when business was slow.
We used to get up before dawn to drive to the swap meet, climbing into a white econoline van and leaving Culver City far behind. Depending on where we were in that thirteen year time line we might go to Simi Valley (in the days before the freeway was there), or Redondo Beach, or Long Beach, or the Saugus Speedway, or some other venue that more often than not was a drive-in theatre turned flea market during the daylight hours of the weekend. While he drove, my father would sometimes make up odd (and occasionally bawdy) songs. He’d tell me stories. The stories weren’t quite fiction, but they weren’t quite true either. They were tall tales, embellished with retelling, or reminiscences from his past, or reconstructions of family histories. He spoke them simply, but with pleasure in his voice and in his eye, whether because he enjoyed the telling, or enjoyed telling them to me, or both.
Some of all of that came to me again last night in my dreams. In waking this morning, and recalling the bits and snippets of the dream that I could, I was pleased with the dedication I included in my most recent book. I’m pleased too to share it with you here:
For my Father,
whose easy storytelling,
made me long to tell stories of my own
Regular readers of this blog may recall that a few days ago I mentioned I was considering a new project for my small press, Paper Golem.
That project is Cucurbital, and guidelines for it have been posted to the web.
To summarize, I’m looking for stories that are 5000 words or less, and that have been inspired by the use of three prompt words.
Those words are watermelon, turtle, and sex worker.
I’ll be accepting submissions from May 1st through May 31st of 2011.
So start writing!
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve sold a brand new Amazing Conroy story. “Yesterday’s Taste” occurs before the events in either of the two novels, and involves Conroy (and Reggie) visiting the planet Bwill at the behest of a galactically famous food critic. Once there they encounter incredible meals, smelly aliens, mindwiping, explosions, industrial spying, fish poetry (?!), and much more, all in pursuit of the recipe for the legendary seven cheese cribble puff!
It’s good, clean, hypnotic fun, and if you’re a fan of the Amazing Conroy you will not be disappointed by this new tale. But, you will have a wait a bit. The anthology, Transtories, edited by Colin Harvey, won’t be released from Aeon Press until the Fall.
For the record, this counts as one of the faster acceptances I’ve ever had. I turned the finished story in via email at about 10pm on March 31st, and Colin sent me an email acceptance on the morning of April 3rd. Thanks, Colin!
Today Valerie and I are taking the day off and going for a drive. We’re going to hop in the car and head off to Atlantic City!
I’ve never been before, and while this may not be the ideal weather to enjoy the city’s various charms, we won’t have to contend with a lot of tourists or crowds either.
I’m looking forward to walking the boardwalk, despite the cold and rainy weather we’ll likely encounter. I may even dip my toe in the Atlantic (something I’ve rarely done, being a California boy and all).
We don’t plan on doing any gambling, and there aren’t any shows we’re particularly interested in seeing, but we are curious to stop into the Bellagio and/or the Borgata and check out one of their restaurants for a nice lunch.
Then a comfortable drive back, and a quiet evening at home. See you on Monday.
