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| Friday, May 24th, 2013 |
telophase
|
9:18a |
Hrm
Sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office (nothing major, just a follow up on something previously), and OH GOD WHY DO WE HAVE TO HAVE A TELEVISION ON? It's playing some sort if special medical-office channel giving tips about health BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH SILENCE? Sent from my Apple ][e You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.  comments at Dreamwidth. |
asakiyume
|
9:07a |
At the food van
Actually, it's not a free-standing van, it's a trailer, towed behind another vehicle, and it has a generator at the front to power the grill, the refrigerator, the water in the sink, etc. Paris let me take photos of it all. Here she is at the window, talking on her cell to a customer.  And here is the same view from inside! It's a whole little world in there, a tiny, efficient kitchen.  Here's the menu, in case you're wondering what a person might be ordering.  ( more peeks insideCollapse )Thank you, Paris! And here's hoping for a brisk business all summer! |
kate_nepveu
|
9:00a |
here we go
Flights all pushed back and kids all up ridiculously early, but off to airport now. Supposed to get in around 4:00 local. Honestly I have a bad feeling about this but I'm trying not to stress, there's nothing to be done, and even my 9:00 panel tonight would survive without me because I'm not moderating. If only I can grab a catnap on a plane I'll be okay, I think.
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tithenai
|
8:00a |
Wiscon Schedule!
No time to tidy things or do anything and also super awesomely I am sick now. So great. So helpful. My Wiscon schedule! More later!
|
As |
Schedule |
Location |
| British Women SF Writers (scheduled) |
moderator |
Fri, 4:00–5:15 pm |
Conference 4 |
| Moderator: Amal El-Mohtar. Email fellow participants Amal El-Mohtar, Dr. Janice M. Bogstad, Timmi Duchamp, Lesley Hall, Heather McDougal, Farah Mendlesohn about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| Ever since Mary Shelley, there have been British women writing science fiction, as well as a long history of women writing in gothic and fantastical modes. Can we talk about any actual tradition, or are there factors militating against this? Writing in speculative mode has been perhaps more accepted as part of high literary tradition in the UK, which has perhaps tended to discourage intragenre dialogue or indeed, the development of a specific sense of genre. (Can we contrast the crime novel and the significance of women writers in the development of the British mystery?) Who are the writers who might be included? What are their influences? |
| Women's Speculative Poetry Now (scheduled) |
participant |
Fri, 9:00–10:15 pm |
Conference 4 |
| Moderator: Lesley Wheeler. Email fellow participants Lesley Wheeler, Amal El-Mohtar, Shira Lipkin, Sofia Samatar, Sheree Renée Thomas about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| Ursula K. Le Guin publishes Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems; Tracy K. Smith's science fiction-y collection Life on Mars wins a Pulitzer; Aqueduct issues The Moment of Change, an anthology of feminist speculative verse. If you were standing at the intersection of poetry and speculative fiction, 2012 was an interesting year. In this roundtable, poets, critics, and editors take turns briefly addressing several interlocking questions: What are the most interesting developments in 21st century speculative poetry by women? Where's the action—what magazines, presses, and virtual / physical communities are fostering those trends? What are the audiences—how are these poets reaching readers and listeners? We'll devote much of the allotted time to an exploratory conversation involving the roundtable audience. |
| Queers Dig Time Lords (scheduled) |
participant |
Sat, 10:00–11:15 am |
Senate B |
| Moderator: Sigrid Ellis. Email fellow participants Sigrid Ellis, Amal El-Mohtar, Brit Mandelo, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Julia Rios, Michael Damian Thomas, Na'amen Gobert Tilahun about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| We do! Dig Time Lords! Join some of the contributors to Mad Norwegian Press's anthology, Queers Dig Time Lords, as they discuss their love of, joy in, and frustrations with the complicated world of Doctor Who. |
| Queers Dig Time Lords (scheduled) |
participant |
Sat, 1:00–2:15 pm |
Michelangelos |
| Email fellow participants Amal El-Mohtar, Brit Mandelo, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Julia Rios, Michael Damian Thomas, Na'amen Gobert Tilahun about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| Contributors to Mad Norwegian Press's Queers Dig Time Lords read from their work. |
| Open Secrets: a Speculative Poetry Reading (scheduled) |
participant |
Sat, 2:30–3:45 pm |
Senate B |
| Email fellow participants Lisa Bradley, Amal El-Mohtar, Gwynne Garfinkle, Nancy Hightower, Kathrin Koehler, Shira Lipkin, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Elizabeth R. McClellan, Julia Rios, S. Brackett Robertson, Sofia Samatar about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| Members of the Secret Poetry Cabal (a speculative poetry group) will read their work. |
| Playing with the Shiny Muse (scheduled) |
participant |
Sat, 4:00–5:15 pm |
Room 634 |
| Moderator: Elise Matthesen. Email fellow participants Elise Matthesen, Amal El-Mohtar, Naomi Kritzer, Rez, Jo Walton about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| Elise Matthesen was nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 2009 "for setting out to inspire and for serving as inspiration for works of poetry, fantasy, and SF over the last decade through her jewelry-making and her 'artist's challenges.'" Jo Walton has gotten necklaces for several of her novels and written poetry inspired by new work posted online by Elise. Others have written short stories, poetry, and songs. Every WisCon, ten to twenty percent of the membership writes haiku for earrings. What's useful and interesting about playing with the shiny muse? How does that work? |
| Contemporary Fantasy and Science Fiction from the Muslim World (scheduled) |
moderator |
Sun, 2:30–3:45 pm |
Capitol A |
| Moderator: Amal El-Mohtar. Email fellow participants Amal El-Mohtar, Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, Anwesha Maity, Sofia Samatar about this item. Try this link if the other fails for you. |
| A lot has happened since One Thousand and One Nights. Come and hear panelists discuss contemporary fantasy and science fiction from the Muslim world! We'll talk about works by Muslim authors from different countries, both those available in English and those still awaiting translation. We welcome audience participation, so come with questions; we'll bring our reading experience and boundless enthusiasm. A dystopian Cairo, a water planet and a magic library await you! |
|
shewhomust
|
1:00p |
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| Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 |
leahbobet
|
11:33p |
Thud: On Roadstead Farm
May 23, 2013 Progress Notes:On Roadstead FarmWords today: 1500. Words total: 70,000. Reason for stopping: P. is home with Vietnamese. We're going to make a mango salad to go with it, because I has a recipe. Darling du Jour: "I need you, Thom," she said again, and her pockets were empty of river stones. Her hand stilled on the last three; they fell, and ran through her fingertips. The stars glowed, gap-toothed, silent, and my breath held, wishing for magic. Wishing for a miracle. The minutes stretched. The word-spell bowed under their weight and shattered. (Alternately: "Marthe had lived on Roadstead Farm long enough to know this wasn't a place prayers were answered." I have two today.) Mean Things: Hiding someone with the junk and broken things, and fully realizing that as a metaphor; magic, when it does not work; raw, unfiltered grief; making me cry; excellent grossness; an impromptu stoning, and not the drug-related kind. Research Roundup: Mapwork, as figuring out what towns survived the apocalypse and which didn't is a continuing challenge; the colour of unoxygenated blood. Books in progress:  matociquala, Range of Ghosts.
Dreams about snakes last night. I do not like snakes. Today in YE OLDE TALE OF PEOPLE GETTING INTO EACH OTHER'S BUSINESS (ALSO MONSTERS): A quick fix-it pass on Chapter 12, and most of Chapter 13 knocked down, as well as a bit of general forward through this little arc. We have officially broken the 70,000-word threshold. I don't imagine I'll keep that, though; there's a lot in this file that's stale-dated, debris of directions this book isn't going anymore. Things are going to come out; a bunch of things came out today, in fact. I have no idea what the actual functional wordcount is right now, or what of the bits forward are going to be kept. I made myself cry. That...felt good, to do that again. Further: It's interesting how I forget that this is functionally and structurally epic fantasy, as well as Sinclair Lewis/Margaret Laurence Canadian literary fiction. The amount of details, maps, characters, distances to keep in my head just balloons more every day. The notes file has doubled in the last week or so. It gives me ideas for a front-piece map, which would in and of itself be a wonderfully genre-subversive thing to do, given that this is a story where, largely, the protagonist does not leave home. Dinner. I'll finish this chapter and take on the next tomorrow. Current Mood:  melancholy |
nineweaving
|
10:01p |
Little eyases, last battles
Isn't this a lovely theatrical pairing? A double-bill of players' boys: "This summer we will publish a chapbook by Greer Gilman, Cry Murder! in a Small Voice, and, although we have more planned, we have just one Big Mouth House title: Peter Dickinson’s The Seventh Raven, a thriller set in a rehearsal for a North London kid’s opera." O my. A little-known and poignant history. In 1913, the boys of Shakespeare's grammar school in Stratford performed Henry V, with a lost-and-found score by Vaughn Williams. Most fought in France afterward. Seven died, including two sets of brothers. "We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think we shall never see the end of it." Leaving at dawn. I don't want to be late for Ragnarok. Nine |
gerisullivan
|
10:05p |
45 years ago today...
...my father turned 45 years old. I don't remember him ever commenting on his age before that birthday, and he didn't for decades after, either. But 45? For weeks before, as the day grew closer and closer, Daddy kept repeating "45? I'll be 45? That's half of 90!" Thirteen-going-on-14-year-old me made a birthday card for him. On the cover: ~"You're 45?"~ On the inside, ~"That's half of 90!"~ and, after another fold, ~"That's a quarter of 180!"~ and, with one more fold to open, ~"That's an eighth of 360! Age...it's all a matter of perspective."~ Followed by happy birthday wishes and my love. It's a happy memory for today. Daddy didn't make 90; he was confounded he made 80, let alone 85...86...87...and 88. He savored the joy in each of the days he was here, and always loved seeing a sparkle in my eyes and a smile on my face. That's what he told each of his kids he wanted for his birthday most every year. His birthday, Father's Day, and Christmas, too. He's not here to see them on Susie's and my faces today, but the sparkle and smiles are there. The sparkle, the smiles, and the joy of the day. |
kate_nepveu
|
8:47p |
tweetle beetles!
I just read about tweetle beetles for the ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) poetree community. If you remember Fox in Socks fondly, you should too, it's fun and takes literally only a minute or two! You don't need the book either, ![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) jjhunter has the excerpt.
(Actually the formative Seuss tongue-twister book of my childhood is the other one, Oh Say Can You Say?, the one with the bread/bed spreader and the shinbone pins, but SteelyKid loved Fox in Socks for a while and the tweetle beetles were my favorite part, so I could not resist. And now, WisCon packing.)
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oyceter
|
5:23p |
|
desperance
|
4:23p |
BayCon schedule
This morning over coffee, Julie said "So what's your Baycon schedule, then, Chaz? Interested parties want to know..." - and I did have to confess that I didn't know. I knew I had it somewhere; hell, I'd even read it... It was pointed out to me - quite forcefully, in fact - that this was small use to anyone else, or indeed to myself if I couldn't remember it. Other people, I was reminded, post theirs in public fora, to make the information accessible to others, with the possible notion of attracting a small, y'know, audience. So okay, then. Here is my BayCon schedule: 1. Themed Reading: Urban Fantasy on Friday at 9:00 PM in Central (with Kyle Aisteach, Pat MacEwen, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Jaymi Elford) Authors read from their urban fantasy works. 2. Location, Location, Location -- Setting Your Story in an SF World on Saturday at 9:00 AM in San Tomas (with Juliette Wade, Paul Carlson, Todd McCaffrey (M), Aaron Mason) Your character has to live somewhere, and that somewhere needs to support the story. It's embarrassing to have a great scene all written involving bikini- or Speedo-dressed people, when they all live in the first permanent settlement on the Moon, and only landed yesterday.... 3. How to Tell one Dragon from another on Sunday at 11:00 AM in San Tomas (with Audrey Kiehtreiber (M), Irene Radford, Pat MacEwen) Not all dragons are alike. Simple mistakes in taxonomy can be dangerous to your plot line or your health. In this panel we present dragons in history, myth, and folklore from Asia to New Age. 4. Themed Reading: Fantasy on Sunday at 9:00 PM in Alameda (with Jenna M. Pitman, Pat MacEwen, David Friedman) Come listen to authors read from their fantasy works. ...Apparently I have two separate readings, Friday and Sunday. I shall read two separate things. Y'all should definitely come to both. A panel is only a panel, but a good piece of work is a Smoke. |
oyceter
|
1:57p |
|
jinian
|
4:15p |
dozing the Madison afternoon away
This was one of the times, taking overnight flights, that I thought, oh, finally I am tired enough to be able to sleep in this crappy situation. Still no, though: turbulence, and a guy snoring with speed and verve in the seat just ahead of me, were enough to prevent more than a few minutes of nap. We at least managed to depart on time depite a highly entitled person actually breaking the hinge on an overhead compartment while attempting to jam her giant fluffy bag in there. Everyone had to take their things out and a maintenance person with special enormous navy-blue tape (six inches wide?) came and taped the latch down once it was closed. Weirdly energetic in the deserted Minneapolis airport, I decided to take the chance to go backwards on the moving walkway. Harder than I thought, and I shuffle-ran awkwardly, then hopped off. It is cold here, and I have done a lot of napping since getting in at 9. Soon, guest of honor readings! This entry was originally posted at http://jinian.dreamwidth.org/569656.html. Respond wherever you like. |
telophase
|
4:10p |
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telophase
|
3:23p |
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shewhomust
|
9:20p |
How many roads...?
Well, there's a disappointment. An interesting article in last week's travel supplement, about wine tourism in the Collio region of Italy - not a disappointment in itself, I'm intrigued by this area in the far north east of Italy, up by the Slovenian border (and by Slovenia itself, if it comes to that). But the invitation to read about other European wine routes online, that could have opened up so many possibilities... Instead of which, they offer us Valpolicella, Champagne, Alsace - nothing wrong with these, but it's not exactly a wide spectrum, is it, two pieces on northern Italy and two on eastern France? It's probably worth keeping the link, since they promise an ongoing series. Another week, another kind of road: this week it was the Alaska Highway. Not much impressed with the article, but the road sounds stunning. Perversely, these dreams of travel come as I am almost immobilised by a bad back day: as I do intermittently, and there's nothing for it but to take painkillers, avoid sudden actions and the twisting and reaching movements which are particularly painful, and wait for it to clear up. I'm hoping to swim in the morning... |
derspatchel
|
3:46p |
|
rysmiel
|
2:17p |
three things make a thing
-: There is a "boil water before drinking" alert for half the city including my workplace and home. This is irritating. -: At this morning's group meeting $IT_boss forgot my name. -: I cannot tell whether I am coming down with the coughy/coldy thing that is currently doing the rounds or no. If I were that would go some way towards explaining the shape of grey and grotty my mood is at the moment. One day there will again be things to preface with a +. |
asakiyume
|
2:14p |
Wise business advice
Many of my creative friends here on LJ have considered entrepreneurial ventures involving their art, and of those creative friends, many of the writers have considered self-publishing, either as an adjunct to their traditional-publishing career or as an alternative. If you need someone to talk to you intelligently about your options, let me recommend most highly Maggie Hogarth ( haikujaguar on LJ), who offers her services here. A $20 email consultation is an excellent investment if you are thinking of pouring your resources into a venture. I am very grateful--and expect to continue to be grateful--for very excellent free advice I've received from all sorts of people, from my nearest family members to friends I've only interacted with online. And I hope all of you have similar people in your life whom you can turn to. But there's always a risk of wearing out your welcome if you bother people **too** much. That's where a professional consultation comes in handy. (And, I should add, haikujaguar is a very generous soul who shares tips, ideas, and insights freely--and for free--on her LJ, too.) While I'm at it, let me also recommend her book on running a Kickstarter. I'm not thinking of running one anytime soon, but her walk-through of the process and the things you need to take into account is fascinating. From Spark to Finish: Running Your Kickstarter Campaign, available from Smashwords here and from Amazon here. |
greygirlbeast
|
12:29p |
"Shed these lung spires and breathe."
We who revel in nature's diversity and feel instructed by every animal tend to brand Homo sapiens as the greatest catastrophe since the Cretaceous extinction. ~ Stephen Jay Gould --- I don't trust new houses. --- This morning I dreamt Kathryn and I were standing on the shore of one of the Great Lakes. I don't know which one. Foamy white waves were surging all around our feet, and I was telling her how those lakes were the remnants of an ancient sea. I was telling her they were exceptionally salty, the Great Lakes. A turkey fluttered past, settling on the beach not far away. It looked as if it had been molded from green milk glass, that precise color and opacity. There was also something oddly dragonfly-like about the bird, though I can't now say what. The sky was brilliant with noctilucent clouds, though it was the middle of the day. Earlier, I'd dreamt of finding the skull of a mosasaur*, but most of that dream has faded away. --- Yesterday, I wrote 1,432 words, which got me halfway through the thirteenth and final installment of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales. Only four pages to go, and I'll be glad to put this one behind me. Well, I'm always glad to put them – the novels, short stories, etc. – behind me, but sometimes I'm extra glad. I also had to proof the art for #9 and then send my editor at Dark Horse my notes. Oh, and script notes for #10. And there was some weirdness involving tax forms for foreign editions, blah, blah, blah, but Spooky and Writers House kindly dealt with that. The weather here was so-so yesterday. A little worse than so-so today. I was spoiled by Tuesday. Presently 72˚F and cloudy here in Providence. More eighties, please. Last night, Spooky and I finished watching Hemlock Grove. Lots of fun and surprisingly well done. The acting has odd moments of unevenness, but that hardly distracts. All in all, the performances and writing are very good. Famke Jensen is especially delightful as the villainous matriarch. Some of the best werewolf transformation SFX ever. So, yes. Hemlock Grove. Angela Carter does Dark Shadows. I know I've invoked the name of Angela Carter twice in as many days, but she is, after all, one of my patron wantons. Also, we're watching Season Seven of Dexter. I've cut way, way back on gaming. It's all become horribly boring again. Even for a recluse, there must be be more to life than this (to quote Freddy Mercury). --- An odd thing. I was complaining to Spooky about baffling online slang, and that led to a general discussion of slang as a phenomenon associated more with subcultures than with linguistic evolution, and to a discussion of slang that attended various times and scenes and geographical regions (the Jazz Age, hippies in the sixties, Cockney rhyming slang, surfer slang, etc.), and that led to a rather peculiar realization: As a child and teenager, I used very little – virtually none – of the slang that would be associated with the seventies and early eighties. Almost none. I began trying to list words. I came up with "cool" and "man" (before the ubiquitous "dude") and one two more. I used a tiny bit of older slang I got from my mother – "neat," for example. Hell, "cool" and "man" weren't truly of my generation. It's all became very confusing. Sure, I used Southern Appalachian/Alabama euphemisms and dialect, but there was very little that followed from pop culture/subcultures. I'm still racking my brain over this. I didn't even truly discover profanity – another facet of slang – until I was in my mid teens (which might seem odd, what with me now being such a connoisseur of dirty words and all). But, this was long before the internet. I posit that the internet has forever changed the evolution, propagation, and longevity of slang. It's an interesting problem. One at which I'm sure a million graduate students with a million typewriters...well, computers...are banging away. But...I have a script to finish. I have red velvet theatre curtains to close. Uncool, Aunt Beast * I have some variant of this dream at least once every two weeks. Current Mood: sigh |
sartorias
|
7:29a |
|
lnhammer
|
7:28a |
"it seems that all my bridges have been burnt / but you say that's exactly how this grace thing work
It's shading into late May without the ice having broken on the Santa Cruz River -- which is local idiom for reaching 100°F. Not that the Santa Cruz has had water through the year for a century, but that doesn't stop us from pretending. The point being that hovering in the mid-90s this long means we're having a relatively mild month -- and indeed, the smaller cacti are still blooming in yellows and reds and magentas, and the tall saguaro are still getting started on trumpeting white at the world. This morning, though, the mountains were hazed, and distinctly fainter to the northeast -- bringing out the folds and ridges of the landscape. And in the air, the distinct tang of pine smoke. It's started: wildfire season. ---L. |
telophase
|
8:12a |
Oops
Was mailing that previous link to myself, and accidentally sent it to DW instead. It's a /r/bestof link that points to a series if comments in /r/askhistorians that I intend to read later. (Too much hassle to log in and delete it on my phone, so you get an explanation of it instead.) Sent from my iPhone You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.  comments at Dreamwidth. |
telophase
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8:10a |
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coffeeandink
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8:50a |
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