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To inquire about possible or scheduled events, appearances or school visits, use the information on the contact page.

2015 Events:

• Feb. 8-11: ABA Winter Institute in Asheville, NC.
• Apr. 18-19: LA Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles, CA.
• May 1: Lois Lane: Fallout release day! Exciting things to come.
• May 8 at 7 p.m.: Lois Lane: Fallout Launch Party at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, KY.
• May 27-29: Book Expo America in New York, NY.
• Jul. 30-Aug. 2: Gen Con Writer’s Symposium in Indianapolis, IN.
• Nov. 5-8: World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Older…

2014 Events:

• April 26 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: Southern Ky. Book Fest at the Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, Ky.     
  – Panel at noon in the auditorium: YA Fantasy/Paranormal: Gwenda Bond, Kelly Creagh, Bethany Griffin, Julie Kagawa, CJ Redwine  
• May 17: Indies First Storytime Day:
  – At 11:45 a.m. at Morris Book Shop in Lexington, Ky. Reading to kiddos and hanging out after.
  – At 2 p.m. at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Ky., with Gwenda Bond and Sarah V. Combs. Reading to the kiddos and selling books afterward. Come say hello.
• Aug. 3-4: Virginia Highlands Festival Creative Writing Day in Abingdon, Va.
• Aug. 29-Sept. 1: DragonCon in Atlanta, Ga.
• Sept. 6 at 2 p.m.: Pens on Fire: YA Author Panel at the Woodford County Library in Versailles, Ky., featuring Gwenda Bond, Sarah Combs, C.C. Marks, and Heather Sunseri.
• Oct. 1: Girl on a Wire official release day–everyone jumps up and down, in a circus-y fashion!
• Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m.: Girl on a Wire launch party–circus-themed, of course–at Morris Book Shop in Lexington, KY. Come early! The Tinderbox Circus Sideshow will be performing before I kick off the official portion of the evening, and sticking around to perform later while I sign books. And there will be cake and festiveness!
• Oct. 11: Books by the Banks Book Festival in Cincinnati, Oh.
• Oct. 17: Kentucky Reading Association Conference Author/Illustrator Reception in Louisville, Ky.
• Nov. 6-9: World Fantasy Convention in Washington, D.C.
• Nov. 15: Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort, Ky.

(This one’s for you, Coll — chin up.) You can read more of Philip Dacey‘s work at his web site.

Form Rejection Letter
by Philip Dacey

We are sorry we cannot use the enclosed.
We are returning it to you.
We do not mean to imply anything by this.
We would prefer not to be pinned down about this matter.
But we are not keeping—cannot, will not keep—what you sent us.
We did receive it, though, and our returning it to you is a sign of that.
It is not that we minded your sending it to us unasked.
That is happening all the time, they come when we least expect them, when we forget
we have needed or might yet need them, and we send them back.
We send this back.
It is not that we minded.
At another time, there is no telling. . .
But this time, it does not suit our present needs.

We wish to make it clear it was not easy receiving it.
It came so encumbered.
And we are busy here.
We did not feel
we could take it on.
We know it would not have ended there.
It would have led to this, and that.
We know about these things.
It is why we are here.
We wait for it. We recognize it when it comes.
Regretfully, this form letter does not allow us to
elaborate why we send it back.
It is not what we wanted.

We hope this does not discourage you. But we would
not want to encourage you falsely.
It requires delicate handling, at this end.
If we had offered it to you,
perhaps you would understand.
But, of course, we did not.
You cannot know what your offering it meant to us,
And we cannot tell you:
There is a form we must adhere to.
It is better for everyone that we use this form.

As to what you do in the future,
we hope we have given you signs,
that you have read them,
that you have not misread them.
We wish we could be more helpful.
But we are busy.
We are busy returning so much.
It all comes so encumbered.
And there is no one here to help.
Our enterprise is a small one.
We are thinking of expanding.
We hope you will send something.

—
Becky at Farm School has this week’s round-up.

I apologize for breaking in on the actual content that’s been going on around here this week to divulge that I just sold a short story to the fabulous Terri Windling and Midori Snyder for the upcoming YA issue of the Journal of Mythic Arts. This would be my first short story sale ever* and to a venue I adore, so I’m supremely excited.

That is all.

*Technically, there might have been some flirtations with zines years ago, but I’d just as soon not talk about that. I consider those dalliances, not short fiction.

Matt Gross wrote a piece for the NYT’s Frugal Traveler feature on his oddly needy trip to bourbon country here in Kentucky:

Hoping for more camaraderie, I moved to the dining room, but that stone-walled, wood-beamed space was nearly as desolate. A mother and her child ate cheeseburgers, and three older guys sipped sweet tea. In the corner, however, was a likely candidate for conversation — a single woman in her early 30s, whose accent indicated she wasn’t from Kentucky.

But how do you approach someone at random without seeming like a weirdo? I chewed over the question as I chewed my pork chops, but no answer emerged.

This is one of the strangest travel pieces I’ve ever read. Someone get Gross a partner, stat. Is Emma Peel available?

For the kitty:

Passenger, Paul Brennan, 19, who catches the 331 to work, said: "I first noticed the cat a few weeks ago. At first I thought it had been accompanied by its owner but after the first stop it became quite clear he was on his own.

"He sat at the front of the bus, waited patiently for the next stop and then got off. It was was quite strange at first but now it just seems normal. I suppose he is the perfect passenger really – he sits quietly, minds his own business and then gets off."

(Via Sara Gran.)

Max Adams (who loves animule kind) reminds me to post a link to the Menu Foods pet food recall stuff on the off chance you haven’t heard. It turns out, a lot of dog and cat food — the wet stuff, in this case — comes from the same place and it may be contaminated with something that causes kidney failure. We don’t use the stuff because we don’t reliably brush the animules’ teeth (plus, the cat wouldn’t let us if we tried). But if you do use it, it’s worth making sure you don’t have any of the contaminated stuff.

Updated: Max has lots of excellent links with more info.

Many thanks to Gwenda Bond for a fun fifteen seconds of Shaken & Stirred fame.

Matthew Cheney in his blog Mumpsimus recently wrote a post called Predicting Morons. The post’s starting point was Ben Bova’s assertion that more people should read science fiction because it’s good at predicting things.

Matthew disagrees.

It’s unfortunate that as experienced and intelligent a writer as Ben Bova would advocate SF for its predictive powers… Instead, perhaps Bova should have said that SF is a marvelous tool for satire.

I wholeheartedly agree with Matthew. And while as I write, I do often wonder if what I’ve written will become true, and, to be honest, dread that it will all come to pass, that is not at the heart of what I think I’m doing. Ultimately, I am trying to turn my fears into fun.

I imagine it is the same that mountain climbers seek. Instead of George Mallory’s "because it is there" answer, what they’re really doing is defeating their fear of height, size, permanence. In my recent writing, I have tried to deal with my fears, and it is science fiction that seems most ready and able to take on the demons of our times: sodium erythorbate, Britney, and Cargill.

I’m Jon Armstrong, and I’m the Shaken & Stirred guest blogger today. If you don’t know anything about me, feel free to check my home page:  Jon Armstrong.

Let’s start with some links:

Today’s Tournament of Books is Arthur and George v. One Good Turn judged by Kate Schlegel.

Both Condalmo and Coudal and have the latest odds for all of you heading to the betting windows. Please bear in mind that Shaken and Stirred neither condones nor authorizes wagering on literary works. These links are provided for "litainment" purposes only. However, donating is cool.

Play The Punctuation Game. This took me back to sixth grade when my teacher, Ms. Jones (who was hot and drove a Porsche!), called my mom in to inquire what the heck was wrong with me and my spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Oh, the bloody red ink!

Hear George Saunders. In a 20 minute podcast about Dubai, miniaturization, literature, and other stuff. Also see his take on Borat at the New Yorker.

Get a Free signed copy of my novel, Grey! –Yes, we’ve come to the shameless self-promotion part of this post. I’m announcing a book giveaway. You can find Chapter 1 here. The contest is: write the first sentence of Chapter 2 and leave it in the comments (be sure there’s a way for me to reach you). Best one wins a copy of Grey. Plus, I’ll sign it however you wish, including the always useful: Congratulations ebay Highest Bidder!

Next week I’ll announce the winner.

This should be good:

Spit & Eggs. Dean O’Dell (guest star Ed Begley, Jr., "Arrested Development") reinstates the Greek system on campus and, determined to solve the campus rape case, Veronica (Kristen Bell), along with Mac (Tina Majorino), Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Piz (Chris Lowell), attends a party armed with coasters designed to test for drugs in the drinks of her peers. Meanwhile, Dean O’Dell hires Keith (Enrico Colantoni) to investigate whether or not his wife is cheating on him. Jason Dohring, Ryan Hansen, Francis Capra, Michael Muhney and Julie Gonzalo also star. Executive producer Rob Thomas wrote and directed the episode.