Gwenda

• I foolishly counted myself in to Ed’s 75 book challenge for 2006; I’ve started a little list down at the bottom of the right column to track my progress. I’ll just be putting titles and star rankings there and still plan to pull out my favorites for the Read Read list. Let’s see how long I actually stay on top of adding the books I read.
• Michelle Richmond calls attention to the Bigfoot Cultural Resurgence. Everywhere I turn these days: Bigfoot, Bigfoot, Bigfoot. I have kind of a soft spot for the big guy, based on this pseudo-scientific book about him my brother and I had when we were kids (another in the series focused on the Loch Ness Monster) and Molly Gloss’s excellent novel Wild Life.
• Why is technology so absent from many great book lists? (Via someone, I forget who though.)
• A book in a year? Or a year-long series of columns about writing a book.
• Diana Peterfreund (whose blog is charming and wonderful on a daily basis) on the experience of going through her first set of page proofs.
• Jeff VanderMeer has a host of good posts as well, but I’m pointing especially to his wife Ann’s music recommendations from 2005 and three overlooked books also from that vintage year.
• Chris McLaren is also burning up the circuits, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point to this excellent, thoughtful post, which provoked an equally excellent, thoughtful discussion about evolution and smartness in the comments (psst: lots of Ted Chiang smartness on evolution there).
• Jessica Lee Jernigan interviews Lydia Millet about Oh Pure and Radiant Heart.
• The 200 top-selling books of 2005. (Via Conversational Reading.)

Hello, my pretties.

• Mapletree7 over at Book of the Day uses the cleverest phrase ever to describe Iain Banks’ The Bridge: "The Bridge is a psychological tour de France." Emphasis mine.
• Colleen loves Wintering by Kate Moses and relates to Sylvia Plath, overwhelmed mother and writer. (Where DOES the time go? I manage to keep myself from complaining — mostly, anyway — by thinking sympathetically about those of you with children on top of everything else. How do you find time to breathe?)
• An excellent interview with Rebecca Skloot that’s full of tips (especially for freelancers). I particularly like this part: After she has finished researching, but before she begins writing, Rebecca spends some time ruminating. She calls this process of not writing but thinking intensely about her story (both consciously and sub-consciously) “fomulgating.” It’s another concept that she got from her father, a mixture of promulgating and procrastinating and several other words they’ve long forgotten. Fomulgating, in Skloot-speak, is the “writing that happens when you’re not writing.” It’s the stewing, the fermenting, the knitting together of a story that happens when the writer is patient and in repose.
• My favorite Susan Marie Groppi waxes brilliant on Christopher’s The Voluntary State. (I’d tell you he’s working on that novel right next to me RIGHT THIS SECOND but it might jinx it.)

And that’s all for today, because I am beaten like an egg. Or something.

Happy New Year, beloved readers; may yours be filled with whatever you desire.

I only have a few straggling hangovers today because bloglines, she is down, down, down in the burning ring of fire. That’s probably to the good of my getting things done today. And once I finish up this next thing, I should have time to do some reviews of things I’ve been reading lately and fun stuff like that.

• Tom Cruise makes it into the dictionary — The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, anyway — with "jump the couch." Why do I suddenly feel a need to watch Ball of Fire? (Via #1HS.)
• More news so sad I keep forgetting to post it: Infinite Matrix follows Sci Fiction into that good night.
• Girl Genius comics! (Discovered via Jed.)
• Philip Pullman’s site has a wonderful section where he answers questions About the Writing, that’s full of gems like this: No, I was ignored. When anyone took any notice it was to point out what a twit I was, and laugh at me. This was the best possible preparation for the life of a novelist. If you have grown-ups fussing over you and encouraging you and taking an interest, you begin to think you’re important, and furthermore that you need and deserve their attention. After a while you become incapable of working without someone else motivating you. You’re much better off supplying your own energy, and writing in spite of the fact that no-one’s interested, and even learning to put up with other people’s contempt and ridicule. What do they know, anyway?
• Speaking of which, Justine’s kicked off a fabulous discussion of the 101 humiliations of being a writer. Go join.

New Year’s EVE hangovers (see below explanation of the inner workings of BondGirl Bizarro World):

• Don’t tell anyone, but it turns out Florida’s weird.
• Wired lists the 50 best robots ever. And it’s a damn fine list.
• Greg van Eekhout (change your blogrolls and bookmarks!) has posted a podcast of his excellent story "Clean City," which first appeared in the honorable Say… magazine.
• An excellent profile of Margo Lanagan in which it is revealed that she writes ten pages a day when she’s working. ::cowering in awe::
• Southern Blog Cabal member Jeff Bryant’s back on the West Coast and has a lovely post about the road to prove it.
• Elizabeth Bear weighs in on the honor in ambitious failure in writing with an AMAZING post that you should definitely read. And she has made Sapphire and Steel icons, which makes me unbelievably, geektasticly happy.
• And finally, behind the cut, find out which superhero I am. (Though, honestly, I’d prefer to remain female in a perfect Metropolis.) (Via someone, I forget who, sorry!)

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Happy HangoversRead More »

• For the first time in as long as I can remember, I have four days off in a row, with no panels or formal obligations of any kind. So… of course I am experiencing the resurgence of the Martian Death Cold. Sigh. But some writing will get done anyway, although it may just be writing for hire. I do really want to kick it into gear on the next novel, though; perilously close to a resolution, that.
• Abigail Nussbaum gives out some special book awards.
• Ted Chiang appreciates Maureen McHugh’s "Frankenstein’s Daughter."
• Ed riffs on genre snobbery, inspired by Matt Cheney’s Literary Fiction for People Who Hate Literary Fiction.
• The NYT apparently hearts the Mutter Museum almost as much as I do. (Via Jenny D.)
• From Jonathan Strahan comes the infuriating pointer to the Sci-Fi Channel bragging about how well they did financially this year, despite their decision to untimely demise SciFiction.
• And behind the cut, two memes for your cut and paste pleasure, via Dave and Hal respectively.

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Friday HangoversRead More »

Otherwise known as the ritual cleansing of the bookmarks…

• Procrastination can be good for you. (Via the Antigeist.)
• Seattle Weekly’s music writers make their best 2005 mixes, including Mr. Matos’ picks.
• Dave Schwartz is fascinating as always on the topic of elephants.
• Read Jeff VanderMeer’s appreciation of Gavin Grant’s awesome "Heads Up, Thumbs Down" over at the ED SF Project, then read his thoughts on SciFiction’s demise. I thought it would last forever too, but instead it turns out this is its last story.
• The Book Standard talks to the awesomest Story Prize finalist ever, aka Maureen McHugh.
• Jeff Ford’s 2005 favorite reads.
• Dodo bone beds.
• James Marcus on editors.
• Despite being incredibly busy (and still beneath a stack of thank you cards for wedding gifts, now dreadfully, rudely late), I’m thinking of sending New Year’s cards. Failing that, I’ll be sending out valentines in Feb. If you’d like one, drop me your address via email or in the comments.