Siesta
I wish.
Deadlines are circling, so I’m taking a few days off from this space. Back Monday.
Scary Stuff
We just tossed out a practically new container of Pounce kitty treats that have been added to the pet food recall, so keep watching the lists. The SF Chronicle’s Christie Keith has a must-read piece for pet owners on "the story behind the pet food recall" today.
Hot Lit
I’d be remiss, however, if I didn’t direct you to the debut issue of Hot Metal Bridge, edited by one Carolyn Kellogg. It features new fiction by Michael Martone, an interview with Dan Chaon, and new poemtry by the one and only Alan DeNiro, to name but a few offerings. What are you waiting for?
Monday Hangovers
- Teen girls and the quest for perfection, and the perfect college.
- This year’s Tiptree winners have been announced. There are two: Shelley Jackson for Half-Life and Catherynne M. Valente for The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden. Plus, a special recognition for Julie Phillips for her Tiptree biography. And an excellent short list (follow the link). Yay! (Updated: More here with pretty covers from juror Midori Snyder.)
- Chris Barzak points to the guidelines for the summer issue of Tin House, which will celebrate women working with the fantastical. Check it out and send them something.
- Terri Windling on Elizabeth Knox’s wonderful YA Dreamhunters duology, the second volume of which just came out and I’m dying to read. I love all Knox’s novels, and the first of this set was no exception.
- Sorry to be lame, but I’m swimming in behindness. Better content later in the week.
Release the Hounds
While others have announced their write-in candidacies for SFWA president today, I choose not to pursue the means of electioneering. Instead, I declare war on SFWA.
This will involve:
– continuing to post opinions openly
– reading publications that SFWA doesn’t deem worthy of counting (you know, like Small Beer Press and Golden Gryphon stuff)
– continuing to mostly not pay attention to the ongoing election slapfights
– reading whatever the damn hell I want and not pretending that SANE people still automatically think all genre work is second class stuff
Hmmm… It appears I’ve been at war with SFWA for awhile now.
p.s. Lots of April Fool’s fun at the Inferior 4.
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Spring Cleaning
We spent the day visiting the Tax Lady on the Mountain (due to our massive stack of evil 1099s we won’t know the extent of the damage until next weekend — please, fate and gov’t, be kind) and feeding fish in my parents’ pond, then came home and in a frenzy of spring nuttiness gave both dogs baths (!), then cleaned inside and mowed outside.
I also made my nomination for the next round of the LBC, and I’m superexcited about this book. I think it’s kind of funny that my two nominations are both going to be things that are (or could be) shelved in the mystery section; a fluke, that, but one that pleases me. (The first was The Girl in the Glass, of course, and this one you could probably puzzle out if you try.) Anyway, the discussion will be great fun, especially if we manage to "relaunch" (read as: refine) the LBC site/effort by then.
Tomorrow there shall be laundry and writing and email.
Just Saying
The NYT profiles the deal-breaking content of some apartments. One rich, strange bachelor has faded, decades-old kiddie sheets (because they don’t make them in adult sizes anymore*):
“I was dating this very nice woman, I thought,” says Mr. Podell. “I was ready and she was ready to do the big deed. I take her to my apartment, go into the bedroom, and fling back the sheets, and she said, ‘My husband had these sheets and he was a mean-hearted son of a bitch and you must be like him and I’m leaving.’ ”
Could it be maybe, just maybe, that the problem is that Mr. Podell refers to sex as "the big deed"?
But stuffed baby seal guy’s just getting a bad rap. Klimt posters, however? Buffy already handled that one.
Gavin, let me know if any of these people write in to Dear Aunt G: I am ready with the advice bazooka.
*This guy is a millionaire and yet not enterprising enough to get some custom sheets made? The women SHOULD be running.
By a Nose
I missed the win by four points (damn you, spread prediction!), and congratulate Brockman and his lucky reader on taking the Book Bloggers’ Office Pool. Next year!
But hey, The Road won, and that makes me happy. (Wait, has the backlash started yet?)
Who Knew?
It was this easy to get so many women nominated for the Hugos. (Via Sharyn.)
I also love that Geoff Ryman stays Geoff Ryman. That’s what wearing that Tiptree tiara will get you…
Thursday Hangovers
- The Hugo nods are out. Naomi Novik is the lone woman in a fiction category: For shame. There are still some fine, fine works on the ballot though, and some excellent peoples. Bonus: Ben Rosenbaum responds to his nom.
- Ed considers hobbits, controversially.
- The lovely and recently hot-book-dealed Sarah Prineas posts about setting goals as a writer and has already inspired lots of people to do the same. I’m sure I’ll post more on this when I get a chance.
- Betsy at Fusenumber8 renders her verdict on the various Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows covers that are circulating. I can’t agree more with her assessment on the middle one — National Lampoon indeed! She also points out that getting your teeth carved into fairies is CREEPY.
- The world’s first known case of semi-identical twins. (Via Jenny D.)
- Colleen Mondor posts a round-up of some highlights from Margo Rabb’s blog tour (which is just finishing up), in case you’ve missed them. Rabb’s book looks utterly fab.
- Ysabeau on Diana Wynne Jones’ excellent and hilarious and recently reissued Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
- Ed has links to the Best American Fantasy stories that are online.
- Leila at Bookshelves of Doom has the scariest Wizard of Oz dolls EVER. I don’t get the doll thing either.
- Paul Collins on the incredibly long-lived Lee Merriwether.
- Congratulations to The Millions on four years!
- Erin joins the chorus of recommendations for Then We Came to the End.
- In case you’re wondering, I haven’t posted about the exhumation controversy over Harry Houdini because I’ve decided he would HATE it. He may have been a showman, but he had more class than this publicity stunt for a bad book and Bess’s family agrees. If you want to read a book about Houdini, start with Kenneth Silverman’s Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss
(although his Poe biography is even better). Tidbit of the day from the Silverman book: Houdini had an affair with Charmian London, Jack’s wife. - Meanwhile, in happier news, Carrie Frye, the original tingler in the alley, has returned.
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