Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith is now available in paperback from Walker Books (UK). See more information from Walker. The companion book Tantalize also is available from Walker. See more information about that too. Note: that the type style is much more elaborate than on the Candlewick (US) hardcover.

Cynsational Notes

Check out the Eternal blog buzz, interviews, reviews, and readers' guide. Note: recent interviews may be found at Tu Publishing (Cynthia Leitich Smith on Living in a Multicultural World) and HipWriterMama (Writing the True with Cynthia Leitich Smith). Don't miss Cover Art Stories: Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith from Melissa Walker.

Note: the Dec. 7 publication date is found on the publisher website. If the book hasn't reached your local store or library yet, please follow up there for more information. The bookseller or librarian should be able to look it up for you.

Writing-related announcements have been piling up here in the blog queue, so if you'll indulge me here, I'm just going to get all of them out at once.

CAST A COLD EYE

First and foremost, my book Cast a Cold Eye, a collaboration with three-time Aurora Award nominee Derryl Murphy, is out and available from PS Publishing!

The slim volume looks beautiful, with front and back cover art by Steve Leary, and features an introduction by Charles de Lint. It comes in two editions: a signed, numbered and jacketed hardcover limited to 100 copies, and an unjacketed hardcover.

If you want the signed edition, I've heard rumors of folks receiving copies numbered in the mid-60's already. Better get yours soon!

BOOK RELEASE PARTY

To celebrate the release of Cast a Cold Eye, we'll be holding a book release party on Friday, January 8th, at Time and Again, 1239 W. Cortland St. in Chicago. I'll read from the book, and there will be plenty of copies for sale. More details as that date gets closer.

3-FOR-THE-PRICE-OF-2 SPECIAL

But wait! That's not all! PS Publishing is running a special right now that gets you one free book from their catalogue for every two you buy at regular price!

The special runs through the end of January, and there are dozens of great books to choose from. Along with Cast a Cold Eye, might I suggest, for example, fine works like Beth Bernobich's novella Ars Memoriae, Patrick O'Leary's collection The Black Heart, or Paul Witcover's Everland and Other Stories?

FREE GIVEAWAYS

And as if that weren't cool enough, there are two different ways you might win a free copy of Cast a Cold Eye.

First, if you sign up for the PS Publishing monthly newsletter before Friday, December 18th, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a free copy not just of Cast a Cold Eye but also Eric Brown's Gilbert and Edgar on Mars.

Second, BSC Review is conducting an email drawing on Thursday, December 10th, the winner of which will receive four books from PS Publishing—Grazing the Long Acre by Gwyneth Jones, Just Behind You by Ramsey Campbell, Val/Orson by Marly Youmans, and Cast a Cold Eye. Head over there for details and enter now!

ESSAY FIESTA

On Monday, December 21st, I'll be one of several writers reading in the new Essay Fiesta series at The Book Cellar, 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago's Lincoln Square. Essay Fiesta features writers reading humorous personal essays, and proceeds go to benefit the Howard Brown Health Center. The reading starts at 7:00 pm.

"INCLINATION" TO BENEFIT LITERACY

In other news, I'm proud to note that next spring Bull Spec, a new market for speculative-fiction, will be producing e-book and audiobook versions of my novella "Inclination" in French, Spanish and maybe Chinese. All proceeds will go to benefit the Durham Literacy Center in North Carolina.

See here for more details.

CHICAGO IN 2012

And last but not least, my pulpy new short story "The Visitors at Wriggly Field" [sic] will appear online later this month as part of the Pulps series at ChicagoIn2012.org, in support of Chicago's bid for the 2012 Worldcon. Earlier stories in the series, both in print and online, have been contributed by Frederik Pohl, Gene Wolfe, Mike Resnick, Phyllis Eisenstein, Richard Garfinkle, Lois Tilton, and others.

While the online stories are available free, the print stories are available to those donors who contribute at least $20.00 in pre-support of the bid. For more information, see here, and I hope you'll get the chance to come see us in Chicago in 2012!

When I picked up "Rules of the Game: Master the Art of Attraction in 30 Days" in the airport bookshop, I bought it for snark value. I'd already read everything in my carry-on bag thanks to a delayed flight, so why not laugh at the pickup artists?

I knew some of their techniques, made infamous by Barney on How I Met Your Mother: the "neg-banging" of women to lower their self-esteem and make them receptive to compliments, the canned anecdotes passed down from member to member like sacred treasures, the ludicrous formulas they devise ((C - R) + Q + SE = A) to measure attraction (that's the A). So I settled down, readying myself for an analysis of misogyny and male cluelessness.

Imagine my surprise when what I actually found was good advice.

Before I continue, though, let's be honest about the nature of manipulation: everyone does it, and nobody wants to admit it. Some people are really lucky in that manipulating others' reactions comes naturally: they know when to smile, know the right thing to say at a given time, instinctively understand how to make polite small talk. They're naturally gifted in getting other people to like them, which is a wondrous advantage; in many cases, they're no more aware that they're manipulating their audience than a cute baby is aware that he's inspiring "awwwwws" from the crowd.

Then there are the outcasts.

You know these folks, because they come in both male and female flavors. When they walk in to your party, you can feel that awkward pause wash across the conversation. They want to be nice - they are nice - but their smile's a little stiff, they nod their head at all the wrong times, and when they interrupt to say something they either get talked right over or their anecdote, laboriously told and having little to do with what you were talking about, brings an animated discussion to a screeching halt. You dread getting stuck in an elevator with them, because they're too sweet to blow off but they're somehow just a little... off.

They've hardly ever dated. They're continually told they're nice, they'll get their day in the sun - often by the same people who are blowing them off, because they're not evil, but do you want to spend an evening trapped under that awful, expectant gaze?

They don't know how to get people to like them. They suffer for this. They're 24-year-old virgins, wanting wanly to date, making spasmodic attempts at finding a partner and then giving up for increasingly longer periods of time.

"Just be nice," people say. But they've been nice. That generic advice they've been getting for two decades? Hasn't worked. They need specifics about how to make eye contact, how to tell a story, how to stand so they don't emanate that beaten-puppy aura.

And yet, because there's a clear hierarchy in society that hardly anyone ever talks about, if you weren't naturally gifted with charisma and have to develop it on your own, you must be a creeper. People in the know fucking hate hearing about the techniques that break down the fine details of getting people to like you - whether it's that Hooters waitress reading how touching you on the shoulder boosts tips, or the salesman who now knows that mirroring your body posture gets you far more likely to close the deal.

In other words, if you don't know it instinctively, the fact that you had to work to learn what the gifted do naturally is just skeevy. A Hooters waitress who touched you because she "liked" you? Oh, that's cool. The Hooters waitress who touched you for tips? OMG WHAT A HORRID THING. Even if her "like" merely means that subconsciously, she's realized that subtle flirting makes people like her back, and she has instinctively realized that being liked is a wonderful thing?

Is it a conscious effort? Hell, no, but that doesn't mean it's not manipulation.

What this means is that you have a whole class of reading that's gets pre-mocking right from the start, whether it's one of those books on how to land a husband or how to pick up a chick or how to market to a customer. "I wouldn't read that crap," some people say, because changing your personality to get better reactions from people is creepy, even if your personality has left you miserable and lonely. And those people usually say they wouldn't read that crap because they've mastered the rules of society without even thinking, and quietly consider it their birthright.

You either know or you don't. And to those who have the power, anyone who doesn't know is fucked.

But there are still the stranded, those dateless lonely people who drive folks away without ever knowing why. This book is not for you, most likely - it's written for the guys who are thirty and still sweat when they're in a room with a girl, because they don't know how to act. (They don't really know how to act with guys, either, but girls always have that extra societal pressure placed on men where you're supposed to be smooth with them.)

So you know what "Rules of the Game" does for these guys?

It breaks "socialization" down scientifically. The first couple of chapters don't even deal with women at all - it's about dealing with people. It's bare-bones exercises like "Make eye contact with five people today," or "Start three conversations with strangers." It's about breaking down how you dress, how you stand (no slouching!), your voice and how you use it (one exercise tells you to speak into a recorder and listen to yourself, giving specifics on what to look for).

Hell, there are several chapters devoted on how to tell a story. Not writing short stories, but just telling an amusing anecdote. Which is, as I realized, a vital skill in my socializing arsenal, but I'd never thought of how vital it was before now.

And it tells you how to listen, and constantly - constantly - tells you how to pay attention to what people are doing. Yes, the end goal is to get a date - referred to here as "a planned second encounter with a woman you've just met," and the fact that this is viewed as a task that requires thirty days of intensive exercises to get should tell you exactly what sort of guy this book is aimed at.

But in between the various ways you can refashion yourself to seem more appealing to women, there's a surprising amount of discussion about how your goal is to form connections that will be worthwhile even if you don't sleep with the person you're talking to.

For those who are starting from zero? It's all really good stuff.

Furthermore, the scientific approach in the book really takes the sting out of the inevitable rejections. Because when you get dismissed, as any human knows, it's hard not to take it as a rejection of you. But Rules goes out of its way to make excuses for other people - hey, they're busy, they might be wary for other reasons, if someone blows you off it means that your technique was incorrect. You're not allowed to go, "God, what a bitch," but rather are heavily pressured into going, "Well, she completely ignored me - what did I do wrong to deserve that?"

What you're do here is fulfilling quotas. You have to talk to three strangers and get a clothing store recommendation from them. That's all. Do that, and you've won for the day. And if someone won't give it to you, well, that's not the point. Just get your three. That's all you're concerned about: perfecting your technique until you get that bloodless, external goal.

It's an approach that nullifies the emotional damage of getting rejected... And yes, I know women have whole different sets of fear about strangers approaching you, which is entirely valid, but life also isn't a zero-sum game. Being turned down for a date is still something that hurts people, particularly when it comes over decades of rejection - and the exercises take that sting away by making sure you realize that hey, this is all about technique. It's not that they hate your soul, they hated what they saw.

You can work on what they saw.

In that light, the neg-bang becomes entirely different. The neg-bang (which isn't really referred to it as such in this book) is an excuse to get timid guys to do something that's often anathema to them: contradict a woman.

Because denial is a part of flirting, like it or not. If someone's just kissing your ass, agreeing with everything you say and never expressing anything of his own, then that's not flirting, that's an awful suckup. To interact with someone, you have to have the strength to stand up for your beliefs and say, "Whoo, you like country music? Lordy, that's not for me. Couldn't rope me into a George Strait concert if you tried."

To guys that timid, though, who've been taught that "being nice" is all it's about, having them take a conversation that's going well and then - to them - derail it by purposely disagreeing with someone they like is a Herculean act. They require that scientific principle that all but forces them to express their own opinions, because it's not something they'd ever do on their own. As such, there are of course exercises where you are called upon to say, "No, that's wrong." And getting them to do that is a good goddamned thing that will make them better conversationalists.

So what we have here is a book on "seduction" where 80% of it is actually not that at all. Scrape the surface, and what you'll find is a set of advice designed to get people - whether they're women or not - to like you. It's giving you all the little techniques for personal magnetism, something to amplify your personality without necessarily changing it wholesale. There are a couple of people I can think off of the top of my head who could genuinely use this book.

However.

...however.

I can also see where this approach would, over time, go desperately wrong. Because in taking the scientific approach to stave off the pangs of rejection, I can easily see where someone would take these rules and fetishize them.

I do not doubt at all that there are guys who have taken this to the limit of Total Crazy - utter nebbishes, once supplicants who spent thousands buying drinks and never getting a date out of it, who now are flush with power and want to see how far they can take this. I can easily see men running out to play the game of seducing as a replacement for self-esteem, seeing what exactly they can do with this set of rules, forgetting that the rules were guidelines to get them to a better place and not a goal in and of itself. And that is bordering on mysogyny (although given how you're treating the entire world as a scientific experiment for your pleasure, one wonders if it's not sloping towards misanthropy).

So what we have here is a paradox of a book: it's got a lot of solid advice that can take the hopeless to a point where they can, with luck and dedication, become a reasonably popular, friendly person. (And it does it in a way that's going to make them likely to pick it up, because "Rules of the Game: How To Stop Creeping People The Fuck Out" is never going to find an audience. People know they can't get dates; they often don't know they're putting out subtle, off-putting signals.)

But the method of getting those skills is something that can then be ridden beyond the pale to the point where you have a bunch of pathetic guys spouting hoary anecdotes, looking for empty love because they've never had it and now they want it all.

Those who read the book would be well advised to read the anecdotes at the end, wherein Neil Strauss discusses the crazy sex he's had in various countries. Those who've never had that kind of sex may well go, "Holy cow, a threesome! This guy is awesome!" Pay closer attention, my friend; look at how empty his life is, how full of wan longing and pathetic depression his words are, and you'll realize that you're gonna need to hop off of this game before you reach the end.

Well, the MMPB of Hell and Earth is in the house, which means that it should be available in bookstores Any Minute Now. Or possibly tomorrow. The official Book Day was November 30th, which I think I managed to miss because it was supposed to be out in January and I hadn't heard that the pub date changed. (The glamorous life of the writer, right there.)

So there it is,the Promethean Age, complete as it is ever likely to be, available in mass market paperback for the time being, at least. Perfect for holiday gift-giving! And hey, no telling how long it will stay in print. Might as well buy the lot now. ;-)

Seriously, I think these two books--Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth, collectively known as The Stratford Man, are probably my best work. They're certainly my most ambitious, and I still get a little frisson every time I handle a copy. I love this duology so much.

While we're talking about changes in publication dates, by the way, Tor informs me that The Sea thy Mistress is being pushed back to December of next year. Which is probably a more advantageous date for me (holiday and library sales!) but means you guys have to wait an extra month and a half or so for it. I am very sorry; it wasn't my decision.

By the way, if you were curious, here's the complete brag shelf in all its glory:



I even dusted it for you.

550 words on the The Stupid Novel. So close to zero draft on Part 4 I can almost taste it. Then onto Part 5, the exciting climax...

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Ep0sjDlcdQg/britain-moves-online.html

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that 100 percent of all future tax-filing will take place online, as will a number of other vital government services and functions. British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is planning to disconnect entire households from the Internet if anyone living under that roof is accused (without proof) of copyright infringement. Does this mean that accusations of copyright infringement in the UK will always be accompanied by a subsequent conviction for tax-evasion?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Dchz7s5bZuI/advisor-deleting-ema.html

If people were just more aggressive about deleting irrelevant things and relevant things aren't that important, they would probably be happier. Because I'm happier. So there must be something to it.

Emails only take up virtual space, not literal square footage, so it's easy to let them pile up. But have you ever scrolled through your inbox and realized what a monstrous mess of random messages you've accumulated? It can be pretty overwhelming. I, for one, have been terrible about keeping things in order, even with dozens of folders and subfolders in my Apple mail.

And then there are people like Rob Beschizza. Despite the barrage of work emails, publicity junk, and miscellaneous crap he gets emailed to him every day as Boing Boing's managing editor, Rob manages to keep a completely empty Apple Mail inbox and no permanent folders.

His organizational system is so simple that it's almost impossible for most of us clutterers to fathom: he deletes everything.

"I used to have loads of folders, date-based folders, even. I did the whole Dave Allen GTD-in-email stuff, but for me all that amounted to was this elaborate procrastination system," Rob says. "I realized that if something can't be dealt with immediately, it needs to stay right in front of you. So it's either in my inbox or it's deleted. And if it sits in my inbox, then it has to be turned into action."

Basically, he immediately deletes every message that comes into his Inbox. Either that, or he replies to it and then deletes it. Nothing stays longer than a day or two. Sounds like something easier said than done, right? It's a system he launched when he began covering tech full time at Wired, when email morphed from a fun, convenient way to communicate with others into a virtual slave driver. Rob's email address is now on the list of hundreds of companies wanting to send him gadgets to review, and they're all demanding his time. Most of the time, he just doesn't write back; he hits Delete. "The more I delete, the happier I am. It's about learning to say no — learning to refuse things that aren't contributing to my work or to my life."

Similarly cutthroat rules apply for personal emails. "If it's conversational in tone, I delete it. It's not that I don't value or enjoy the communication, but the fact that all my work is done by email makes it harder for me to appreciate the humane stuff."

Here are some other smart tricks that Rob uses:

* backs up all his email, so if he really needs to refer to it, it's there

* takes screen grabs of important clippings and downloads all needed attachments to folders on his desktop

* for stories he's working on now, creates a folder, puts photos and one neat text file with source contact info, contents of important emails, and specs.

* prints out one copy of emailed bills for tax purposes and deletes the email notifications

The most important thing for him is that his Inbox is empty at the end of the day.

But where do we newbies start, Rob? I still have 1,113 messages in my inbox, and that's after hours of reorganizing and putting things in Apple mail folders. "If you can't just sit down and kill an email by working on it, then you should just delete it, even if it means flipping someone off," he advises. "Once you've done everything, you can think of a system whereby you turn emails into actions on an ongoing basis quickly and efficiently."

Rob's system isn't just about email — it's about life, and the way we choose what belongs in it. The more proactive we are about removing the junk that filters into our minds, the more clarity we have, and the deeper we breathe when we go to sleep at night.

Advisor is a column about how to juggle technology, relationships, and common sense. Got a story to tell? Email me at lisa [at] boingboing [dot] net.

Image via Mixy's Flickr

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/021109.html

Girlfriend: He's not, like, the ideal tenant, know what I mean?
Boyfriend: Yeah, I know.
Girlfriend, to pooping bulldog: Sit! God, you're such an ass! Sit!

--9th St & Broadway

Overheard by: Tom Fickle

Ah, the perils of cancerbrain.

Yesterday, calendula_witch and I actually left the house by automobile. I've been walking, but otherwise indoors, since the surgery. Videos needed to be returned, and one re-rented, and I just wanted out. (As it happens, the ride was intensely uncomfortable due to my chest swelling issues, but still worth the effort.)

As we were preparing to leave, I could not find the car keys. I'd swapped cars with Mother of the Child, as her seats are much higher and more vertical than those in either the Genre Car or the Witchmobile, and are built such that I can position myself with less pain and discomfort. the_child had left me with the keys, but they were nowhere to be found. calendula_witch and I tossed the house. I called MotC and the_child, both of whom had gone over to her friend D—'s house for dinner, on both their cell phone and on the landline at D—'s house. No answer on either line (calls 1 and 2), so I called back and left an urgent message on each trying to find out if the_child had moved the car keys (calls 3 and 4).

The car keys were eventually found in my pocket. (Ahem.) I called back both numbers and left messages saying everything was alright, no need to call me back (calls 5 and 6). A few minutes later, D— called me back (call 7). We had one of those conversations one has with children where an otherwise erudite and verbose child suddenly acquires the conversational agility of a soap dish.

D—: "What did you want?"
jaylake: "Nothing now. We figured it out. the_child doesn't need to call me back."
D—: "What...?"
jaylake: "Everything's ok. I don't need to talk to anyone."
D—: "What...?"
jaylake: "Tell the_child that I don't need her to call back."
D—: "What...?"

A few minutes later, the_child called me back (call 8). We reprised the same conversation, right down to the dull-voiced and uncomprehending refrain of "What...?"

A few minutes later, Mother of the Child called me back (call 9). I carefully explained that I was trying to head off further phone calls by telling people everything was alright, that my initial message no longer applied, and they really, really, really didn't need to call me back any more, really, I swear, everything was fine.

At 1:30 this morning, my cell phone rang, waking me out of a sound sleep (call 10). It was D—'s mother. "From the caller ID, it looks like you called. What's up?"

Aaaauuuuuughhh!!!

In a few hours the last of the Interfictions auctions will come to an end. Bidding closes on two around noon eastern time and then thereafter until around 7PM eastern. The last seven pieces are so beautiful and wonderful and amazing that I insist you bid! I’ve set a personal goal: I’d like to raise $400 with these last auctions, but that can only happen if you go and enter a minimum bid.

Now I obviously know that budgets are tight and all, and I certainly don’t want you to bid more than you can afford. But I bet that you can afford one of those pieces at the current bid, so why not go try? You might be outbid, but that’s okay. You still took a chance! And don’t be afraid of outbidding others. If they want it, they’ll come back and claim it.

Here are my thoughts and favorite things about each of the pieces:

All Valentines are One Valentine — When I was taking pictures of this box my roommate came in and sat just starting at it for 30 minutes. It tends to capture people and engage them deeply. I particularly love the bits of story written on different parts of the mask. And, according to Shadesong, the text written on the blue part of the mask is actually fanfiction. Fanfiction, people! In mask form! The interplay between the parts of the mask, like slices of a person, with the colors and the text is so masterfully done  that I could just stare at it all day.

Gilded Cage — Cris completed this piece just a little while ago so we slid it in right at the end. She’d already photographed a bunch of the auction pieces yet still found time to do this. I’m so glad as I’m a huge fan of her necklaces (I own three!) and this is no exception. I’m also really, really glad that she chose Genevieve Valentine’s piece since that’s one of my favorites in IF2 (in the annex). The bees and the lock and the color of the beads so perfectly encapsulate the beauty and majesty and terror and pain the character experiences in the story. Plus, it’s just damn beautiful.

Berry Moon — I’m sad that we could never get pictures that truly do this skirt justice. It’s not only beautiful, but the material it’s made out of feels so damn GOOD. It’s a wrap skirt and can fit a variety of sizes because the final hole for the tie hasn’t been sewn in yet. The artist, Pam Noles, did that so whoever won could size it to their needs. She’ll even make the adjustment for you. If you’re a fan of wrap skirts, of purple, of beautiful clothes, or want to give someone a fabulous handmade and possibly unique gift, go bid now! I will throw a fit if it goes for less than $100.

Valentines — Yes, there were a lot of pieces based on this story, but this one is (I think) the only one that represents a collaboration between the artist and author. From the statement:

Shira Lipkin and I collaborated on this project, working together to record the story in as many different forms as possible: audio on cassette tape and CD, video on DVD, handwritten on parchment, computer printed on paper. I then shattered the disks, tore the paper, and cut the tape into small fragments and used one fragment from each medium in this piece…

People, do you realize how insanely cool that is? Pieces of story recorded, deconstructed, and made into wearable art. How is that not something you want to own?

A Chain of Memories — This charm necklace is yet another fantastic embodiment of Shadesong’s story and also includes bottles for storing messages. Plus, you can add your own charms to it over time, thus adding to the story, and wear it in several different ways. I love the idea that, by wearing this, you’re participating in the IF2 story and creating a new version of it simply by existing.

The Quiz — Handmade journals are always a hit with me. This one is small, too, so would easily fit in a pocket. Yes, I’m bidding on it. If I win, I’ve decided to write bizarre quiz questions inside it and get other people to write in answers. We’ll see what the end product looks like, but I bet it’ll be cool. Maybe I’ll auction that off next year. Just because I’m bidding and plan to do this cool thing doesn’t mean YOU cannot bid and do cool things with this piece. Make me work for it!

What He Said — This pendant says: “Maybe we can not belong together”. I want it just for that. Belonging is something I think all people crave, though in different degrees and in different ways. The IAF is about bringing together artists who don’t belong and giving them a sort of belonging while not trying to take away the good that can come from not belonging. If that makes sense. Art often arises from tensions, and being outside, being in-between, being liminal is a great source of tension. It also helps when you can be around people who get that and celebrate it. That’s what this pendant is: the IAF in jewelry form.

Click here to visit the auction site and bid. Seriously, I want to raise $400 today and you can all help. Last time I checked, current bids put us at $277 for the day. So just $123 to go!  Help us get there. Look at these with an eye toward something you’d like for yourself or for a friend or family member. Bid what you can and spread the word.

Comments | Permalink

Big day today. calendula_witch and I are off to the hospital shortly for a chest x-ray, followed by a post-operative consultation with the thoracic surgery team. Insofar as I can tell, my recovery is going quite well, but the fluid build-up in my chest continues to be a significant irritation. Right now my chest hurts anew. Yesterday the fluid there found new channels, including one reaching my sternum. To be discussed. I'm also hoping for a return-to-work authorization for 12/14, or possibly even late this week. I'm getting bored enough to miss that, though I'm not ready for it just yet.

After that we see the oncologist to review the pathology reports and prescribe the chemo. Current expectation is that the port will be installed in my chest about a week before Christmas, and that we'll commence the infusion process in early January. When I have confirmed details, I'll lay this out. Frankly, this terrifies me. More to come on all fronts.

Once we're done there, we'll pop downtown and pick up shelly_rae at the train station. Then we'll be planning my next month or so, and locking down life under chemo. At this point, I assume I'll be cancelling all travel, including convention and workshop appearances, through June, but I'd love to be wrong. The only open question is whether the_child and I can still go to California over Christmas.

calendula_witch heads back to San Francisco tomorrow, barring some extremely unusual developments. (ie, something weird popping up in today's oncology consult.) My life might be normal(ish) by next week, if I'm lucky.

Still not able to read complex material, but things are coming back to me. I am starting to randomly fire off story ideas, which is a good sign. Also very much normal behavior for me. In other news, my short story "Permanent Fatal Errors" has been accepted for the anthology Is Anybody Out There?, a Fermi paradox themed book edited by Nick Gevers and Marty Halpern. This is another piece of the Sunspin continuity, and deals with some critical backstory elements connected to a core McGuffin.

Your Monday moment of zen.



Me at age 2-1/2, with my grandfather in Ottawa, Canada. © 1966, 2009 Joseph E. Lake



This work by Joseph E. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

In celebration of the release of the Aurealis Awards shortlist, Twelfth Planet Press is having a Silly Season Sale!

Aussie Sales Free Postage
International Sales Half Postage

For great titles, go see....

http://girliejones.livejournal.com/1514206.html

Home in London. — at Florin Court gowal.la/s/4UP

This is the best name for a city digging project evar! — at The Carthusian Hole gowal.la/s/Qob

Blogging from under the dog this morning, as he declares it COLD. Just about to get started on hacking together a coherent narrative in the third of Grail I have written, day six thousand. Today needs to be a productive sort of a day.

Poor dog. His zombie soccer ball is frozen, which means it's not nice to pick up and carry. I took pity on him and brought it into the house to thaw. Which means there's a zombie soccer ball melting by the kitchen door, but what are you gonna do?

He would like me to turn off the cold please. There was a great deal of jumping and NO!s this morning at 6:45 AM when we were outside trying to convince him that yes, he really does have to go pee outside even when it's cold. Can't wait for January.

My eyes are not working well today: everything is blurry and itchy. I am not in love with this situation, but what cannot be cured must be endured.

Today's tea mug: "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"
Today's tea: just gunpowder green. I was feeling uninspired.
Today's morning temperature: 24 degrees

All right, coffee break over, back on your heads.

Ring all the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything —
That's how the light gets in.

I am about to start Novel No. 3. Untitled. Teenagers in Spaaaaaace! A space ship in peril. Pirates. Intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic. An Emperor and star empire. Crossdressing. RaceFail09 -- 2509. Hikikomori. Hyperspace. Conflict with parent, who regards you as a failure. Conflict with peers, who regard you as a dork. Conflict with psychopathic godlike AI, which regards you as a cockroach. Help from a mysterious stranger. Romance. Sex (off-stage, this is YA, yo). Nanites. Suspended animation. Dark matter. Ad-hoc brain re-engineering. Lip-reading cell phones. Hydrazine. Railguns. Hard vacuum. The Hubble Constant. The Fermi Paradox. Capture and escape. A frantic battle. The fate of his ship, his peers, the human race, all organic life, and even the integrity of the physical constants of the universe (...the hell!?) resting on the reluctant shoulders of our protagonist.

Synopsis of the plot: Problem-Trouble-Disaster-WorseDisaster-EvenWorseDisaster-OMGOMGOMG-Climax-Denouement.

I've been thinking about this one and making notes for about a year. Theme and backstory are pretty much in place. Plan: spend December working out details of plot and character. Spend 2010 writing it.

Onward. Ring all the bells that still can ring.

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/12/07/what-reference-books-sit-on-your-desk/

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=6510

Guest blogger Jason Sanford often rants on his website at www.jasonsanford.com. His fiction has been published in Interzone, Year’s Best SF 14, Analog, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pindeldyboz, and other places, and has won the 2008 Interzone Readers’ Poll and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.

So you dare call yourself a writer! If that’s the case, here’s my question: What reference books sit on your desk?

And yes, we know all about that amazing resource called the internet. And yes, we all use Wikipedia as a quick learning tool (even if we don’t admit it). And yes, if we have to quickly look up the spelling of a word, we Google it.

But what reference materials are so vital to your writing that they sit in bound form on your desk?

For me, these vital reference books are:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition
• The Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
• The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus
• The Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage

Unfortunately, my Dictionary of English Usage is getting a bit old, so my Christmas wish (to be fulfilled by Santa in the form of my ever-loving wife) was to request a copy of the brand new Garner’s Modern American Usage. I’ve heard great things about this book and can’t wait to receive it.

For good measure, I also requested a copy of two books by Theodore M. Bernstein which I’ve previously read but no longer have: The Careful Writer and Miss Thistlebottom’s Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer’s Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, and Outmoded Rules of English Usage. All of these new books already have a space waiting for them on my desk.

Otherwise, my desk has a few religious texts and concordances (mainly Christian and Buddhist), along with the newest book in my reference library: Booklife by Jeff VanderMeer. I know, I know. That seems like a bit of a suck up considering this is Jeff’s blog, but the book is still there so I must be honest. Beside, Booklife is a great resource for writers, as I mentioned in my review a while back.

That’s what’s on my desk, or will be shortly. What reference materials are on your desk?