Digressions

Not only did I have oatmeal for breakfast today (with raisins, pecans and maple syrup), but I've entered winter hoarding mode where it is essential that I buy everything in the grocery RIGHT NOW. (Seriously, fridge and freezer are busting as are my dry goods.)

Of course this means that I have stuff on hand to make a tasty dinner rather than doing a fry-up of meat and veg. Today's Sunday dinner shall be penne with shrimp, mushroom and broccoli in a cream sauce (nom nom nom - though the downside to buying cream is you need to eat meals with cream sauce all in a row. I wonder if I can freeze the cream.)

I'd like to call shennanigans on the latest episode of Project Runway. Gordana should have been in the final three. But honestly, this has been a totally rubbish season so I am glad they will be back in NYC next year.

So another round of assignments went out to some artists the other day, and now that I have a moment to breathe, allow me to share their names:

--Alan M. Clark

--Carol Heyer

--Jill Bauman

I've worked with all three of these artists before and was very pleased with the pieces they handed in.  Alan's work appears in the current issue with his illustration to "Narrative of a Beast's Life" by Cat Rambo.  Carol's work is also in the current issue, with her illustration to "Stories of the Sand" by Dirk Strasser, which also ended up as our cover (please note: this cover image was tweaked before going to press, though the art remains the same).  Jill's work hasn't appeared in the magazine yet, and alas, I have no "Sneak Peek" to link to, but she handed in her finished piece quite recently and it is made of good fun and much awesomeness.

So I'm still very early into being the art director at RoF, but it's definitely fair to say that when an artist hands in something I like I'm very happy to work with them again when the right story comes along.  A look back at the early issues of RoF seems to reveal a similar pattern, as a number of the same names popped up quite often (including Carol).

I will hasten to add that I'm still very much interested in working with artists I haven't worked with before.  Like the fiction department, I would love there to be artists you might consider regulars in the magazine, while also introducing folks who are new to our pages.  In fact, there is another artist I haven't worked with before that I'll probably be announcing here soon.  But there are still a couple of details to hammer out before everything is official, so for the time being I think it's best not to post his name. 

New blog post at Suite101

Spotted today - an honest-to-got Sinclair station. (apologies to Melinda, who's heard this story a million times) When I was a kid, my dad did a lot of traveling, and one of the things he brought back for me from his work travels were these dinosaur-themed booklets that Sinclair put out. Until Melinda and I started dating, I'd never seen a real Sinclair station, and thought they'd gone as extinct as their bronto-logo. Here, I've spotted three within a mile of the hotel - and there's a sign at the nearby state park warning people not to pick up fossils. Dinosaur themed bliss!

Hung out with today - The inimitable Jeff Tidball and the mighty Chris Simms, both of whom are a real pleasure to hang out with. Somehow Mr. Tidball and I had never crossed paths before, but it's nice to rectify the error. Chris and I wandered the local state park for a while before the con started, then followed it up with an amble through the main downtown strip (and a stop in the local bookstore, where I picked up a book of South Dakota ghost stories. Yes, I am an addict. No, I make no apologies.)

We kicked off the con with a three-headed panel/presentation smorgasbord, with some good Q&A afterwards. I think it went well, but I never have any sense of how my presentations go. On the other hand, nobody's said "Why did we bring this guy out here," so hopefully my spiel on game writing and narrative design, why they need to work together, and using all elements of game presentation in conjunction with narrative design to create a complete player experience made some sense to somebody.

After dinner, Jeff headed off to do some writing. Chris and I wandered back to the con for an experiment in impromptu game design (and a lengthy explanation to one gent that we are game designer types because we like designing games, in the same way that zombies like braaaains). So far, so good, though I'm not sure anyone will look at the DSU campus map the same way again.

And if they do, that's kind of frightening.

Doug Cohen has posted the TOC for the February 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy, which will contain my story “Melanie” and associated artwork by Frank Wu (you can see the cover here, which is also the interior illustration for Ann Leckie’s “The Unknown God”). I would seem sharing a TOC with Harlan Ellison.

And, over at the Asimov’s website, the next issue announces “The Wind-Blown Man” as “a debut [...] sure to turn heads” (along with a story by Codexian Caroline M. Yoachim).

Finally, Rich Horton mentions me, albeit very briefly, in his year-end summary of Interzone (for “Ys”).

Er, wow. I feel spoiled.

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Obeying the voices in your head:  Madness.

Obeying the voices in someone else's head:  Religion.

Warren has posted the updated cover for the February 2010 issue of RoF.  The artwork to this one is by Gallegos.  It represents another interior illustration we're also running on the cover, and it is for "The Unknown God" by Ann Leckie.  Ann's story is also one of my slush survivors, so this just adds to the overall coolness factor. :)

Here is the complete TOC (no order):

"How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
"The Unknown God" by Ann Leckie, illustrated by Gallegos
"Melanie" by Aliette de Bodard, illustrated by Frank Wu
"Mister Oak" by Leah Bobet, illustrated by Gary Lippincott
"The Demon of Hochgarten" by Euan Harvey, illustrated by Dave Leri

This issue's artist gallery features Charles Vess.

As always seems to be the case, there is some stuff worth noting.  Let's start with the fiction.  As the cover notes, this is Harlan Ellison's first new story in almost a decade.  So we're very proud to be the venue publishing this legend in the field.  Harlan has appeared in the magazine before--both in the fiction and nonfiction departments-but this is the first time he's publishing original fiction with us.  Leah & Euan have also appeared in the magazine before.  Ann & Aliette are both appearing in the magazine for the first time.

In the art department, there are several things I'd like to note.  First, by special arrangement with Realms of Fantasy and its art department, Harlan Ellison got to play art director with his story.  The artists to this piece were selected by him and he worked with them.  I gave the stamp of approval on the artist selections and it was up to me concerning whether to accept the final piece that was turned in, but this was Harlan's baby. 

With the cover/interior illustration by Gallegos, I should note that I learned about this artist through the general submissions pile.  I almost always have to hunt down the right artists through research, either by flipping through back issues of RoF or the latest edition of Spectrum, or poking around on various online artist sites and/or galleries.  So it was kind of cool to skip the research portion for a change and have this artist presented to me on a silver platter.  Gallegos is not an unknown, but he does mark the first artist I learned about through the general art submissions.  Carol Heyer & Stephanie Pui-Mun Law have both submitted portfolios and I've since worked with them both, but I was aware of their work already and had planned to work with them anyway.  Not so with Gallegos.  I was actually still looking for the right artist to "The Unknown God" when I made my weekly trip to the art p.o. box.  Inside was a portfolio from Gallegos, and as I looked through his samples, the proverbial light-bulb went off and I decided to pair him up with Ann's story.  So to any artists who might believe it is a waste of time to snail-mail your portfolios to the general art submissions, I say thee nay!

To any who like to keep track of this sort of stuff, I'd also like to note that Dave Leri's illustration is a piece from the Sovereign Media era.  I've actually worked with Dave already, and the result was published in our last issue, with his illustration to "Felicity's Engine" by Sharon Mock.  But coincidentally enough, his piece for Sovereign Media is being published in the very next issue. Anyway, with the publication of this piece, we're now down to three pieces of art remaining from the Sovereign Media era.

Finally, with Frank Wu's illustration to "Melanie," I present to you the completed trifecta from the art brouhaha a while back.  First there was the intense interest in the mermaid cover from the August 2009 issue.  Then there was the intense interest in the mermaid story by William Eakin in the October 2009 issue.  And early on in that whole unfortunate brouhaha, there was some scrutiny regarding this illustration's nudity.  I said that it wasn't right to judge the interior illustration without reading the accompanying story.  Well, now you can read the story.  So feel free to judge away!  Thus concludes our final chapter of the art brouhaha (or so I sincerely hope).

Anyway, I know there are still some folks out there who have been waiting a while to see their stories published in the magazine.  We're getting there.  Euan's story was tied with another story for our second oldest story in inventory.  And Aliette actually has the oldest story in inventory ...just not "Melanie."  "Melanie" marks her second sale to us, but being as it's shorter we ran this one instead due to space considerations.  Call it a hunch, but I doubt Aliette is complaining. :)

And that, I believe, is all the news fit to print, except to let you know that this one should be finding its way to newsstands and subscribers in December.  Hope you like it!            
   

(via Marc Gascoigne and Jennifer Jackson)

I couldn’t stop laughing yesterday. “When the stars are right” indeed…

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Madison, SD is apparently the pheasant-hunting capital of the world.

There were a lot of guys on the plane last night wearing hunters' camo. Much is now explained.

It's a little late due to the postal strike, but the record-breaking issue 224 of Interzone is reviewed at Suite101.

I'm safe and sound in Madison, SD, the trip having been decidedly uneventful. There was nearly a close encounter between my rental car - a Nissan versa that really does have the feel of being powered by hamsters on a treadmill - and what could best be described as LUQR (Large Unidentified Quadruped Roadkill) heading north on I-29. whatever it was, the half of it that was left was big.

Other than that, not much to report yet. South Dakota, at least the tiny fraction I've seen of it, is indeed flat, though not to the pancake griddle extreme that long-distance hyperbole would lead one to expect. I do give full points for impressive radio weirdness to the folks at the Rock Garden show I picked up out of Sioux Falls;  between the "free range haiku" (example: "Can you overwater a lily pad?"), the impressive recitation of the bio of the cowboy from the Village People (a Dakota Western alum straight outta West Islip, Long Island), and the discussion of whether it was possible to shuck 30 Little Debbie Swiss rolls in a minute with the state record holder for corncob shucking, they definitely had it going on. Also, they played a band called The Fruitbats, and that is automatically, as they say, made of win.

Beyond that, nothing much to report. The con kicks off at 4 tomorrow with various presentation and panel type thingies. I'll probably spend the morning going over my talk and seeing if I can get the Keanu Reeves sound clip to play properly. Like all things Keanu-related, it balks at the task before it.

Until tomorrow...

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Today’s Google logo makes me very happy.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
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Hi Folks,

It appears my blog is becoming Job Central for Realms of Fantasy positions.

As some of you may know, Warren Lapine, the publisher of the magazine, has been handling its graphic design and layout.  It's something he enjoys doing, but alas, Warren is a busy man and has decided he would like to hand the reins off to someone else so he can focus on other projects.  Right now he is putting together the February 2010 issue to get it off to press.  After this, he would he like someone else to handle the layout and design.

So he's taking applications.  If you're interested, please send Warren your resume.  Include references and links to your work.  We are looking for someone that can hand in the finished layout and design in seven days from when they receive all materials.  If you're the kind of person who needs extensions or is uncertain whether you could handle this sort of deadline, don't bother applying.  Being late with the work is not an option.  Warren would like to hire someone who is willing to maintain the current look of the magazine.  Some creative tweaks are acceptable, but we are not looking for any kind of radical redesigns.  Writers are often told to read a magazine before submitting to it.  If you're interested in this position, you would be wise to purchase a copy of the latest issue and flip through it with an eye toward its layout and design.
    
If you're interested, please email Warren at warrenlapine@yahoo.com.  Be certain to include what sort of compensation you are expecting.  DO NOT SEND YOUR APPLICATIONS TO ME.  DO NOT APPLY ON THIS BLOG.

If you have questions, you can ask under comments.  I'll attempt to answer them, but I'm not sure how helpful I can be.  I'm just the messenger here.  Warren is running the show on this one, and the final decisions concerning the new designer are 100% his. 

Thanks. 

New blog post at Suite101

And today, I am not ashamed to show my Cookie Pride.

This weekend, I'll be in Madison, SD as a guest of the fine folks at NanoCon. Check out their spiffy new website here, and if you're in the area, swing on by.

Rummaging through Melinda's spoils from World Fantasy, I noticed a familiar orange cover. Sitting there in the tote was a copy of Worlds of Their Own, the James Lowder-edited anthology of original fiction by folks best known for their licensed property work. My story "The Wisdom of Nightingales" is in there.
"Where'd you get this?" I asked.
"It was in the freebie bag," she answered.
I'd never been in the freebie bag before, even tangentially. This is a major career milestone.

(Also in Melinda's tote was a copy of Paizo's Henry Kuttner collection, Robots Have No Tails. It's well worth picking up, in part because it's helluva good time to read, and in part because one of the characters is clearly the inspiration for Futurama's Bender. Nothing in science fiction is funnier than a drunk robot.)

1) Finished the crit that was due and

2) Gone thruugh the notes on the first of my Milford stories. I'm pretty sure I have a handle on the changes that need to be made and can manage to do them tomorrow.

I might have done more today, but I'm working my way through the Cracker collection. I'm also still trying to shake off the influences of overindulging at Milford and trying to get back into the habits I'd established before the workshop. No more drips appeared today though the rain was nowhere near as heavy. I'm told there are murmurings of potential snow for the end of the week ... !!!

The indefatiguable Charles Tan interviews Jetse de Vries as part of a series on World SF. More interviews to come, all week long.

And friend Marshall Payne interviews Angela Slatter (frequent Shimmer contributor, awesome reteller of fairytales) over at the Super-Sekrit Clubhouse–interviews, funny cartoons and more.

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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