Session ’07, Day 26

Busy. Very.

Weekend: photo shoot at Grant Park to get some promo shots for the Girls of Dragon*Con Breast Cancer Charity Calendar. Fun, but cold. Very, very cold. Will post pix as I can.

Not enough sleep. Haven’t seen husband or skunk for more than a few minutes all week. Coffee habit resumed. And it appears that the General Assembly is indeed going to adjourn for two weeks in March to hammer out the PeachCare for Kids financial mess, meaning that the session will be extended through the middle of April.

Urg. I die now, please.

   


Writing Stuff

I saw the other day on Ralan that Cicada was glutted and closed to submissions. Urk. I sent them something about ten days ago. Hope it manages to slip under the wire.

Received Hurray:
– An email from the editor of Best New Romantic Fantasy (previously titled Best New Paranormal Romance) that she wants to reprint “The Wizard of Eternal Watch” for it. *Squee!*
– An email from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine to inform me that “Body and Soul Art” has been shortlisted for reprinting in their ASIM Best of Horror anthology, and was it available? I think that means they want it . . . or at least they’re seriously thinking about wanting it. *Squee?* Um, I emailed the editor a “yes.”
– Note from jackzodiac letting me know that he’s found a publisher, Dragon Moon Press, for Writers for Relief 2, the sequel charity anthology to the first edition.
– Note from slushmaster letting me know that my current RoF submission was received safe and sound and will be en route to Shawna when the next batch gets exchanged.
– Email from jimhines to tell me that Heroes In Training is now available for preorder at Amazon. My very first appearance in a mass market paperback!
– Galley proofs from mroctober for “Year of the Fox” in So Fey and my check from Haworth Press.
– Contract and check from Strange Horizons for the interview I did with mroctober.
– Note from a listener in Australia who heard the Pseudopod podcast of “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me,” loved it, and wanted to know whether she could get a print copy of it. I pointed her to the Best of Apex Digest anthology. I love getting fan mail. It makes me feel all warm and glowy.

Received Wah:
– 35-day “really intriguing and refreshing” but . . . from Strange Horizons. Sigh. Despairing that my fiction will ever break in there.
– 73-day form “no” from InterGalactic Medicine Show, something of an especial ouch after selling “Beauty’s Folly” to them.
– 4-day thanks-but-no from Heliotrope.
– Note from lynnejamneck letting me know that they’ve decided to cancel the Supernatural Sleuth anthology due to an insufficient number of strong enough submissions. That’s another story orphaned, my second this year.

Tin Girl no go

The charity calendar that the Dragon*Con folks are putting together to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer research foundation now has a forum so that people can make suggestions or offer advice on the enterprise, courtesy Dean, one of the photographers.

Still don’t have anything but a ray gun for my pulp space girl costume, but we’ve been browsing through the shops to see if there wasn’t something pre-made that could be modified. We found a nearly perfect one, a Tin Girl Costume (except without the hat). I tried it on, and it’s way cute. The skirt’s a little shorter than I was wanting, also it’s not flared and flowy but tight and clingy, but otherwise, it’s pretty near ideal.

And it’s also $51.00. Sigh. Not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but a bit much for our current budget for an outfit I’d only wear once.

I remember having piles of disposable income once-upon-a-time. Alas, those times have passed.

Back to the sewing machine.

   


Writing Stuff

Editing:
– An editing pass on “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest, etc.” After a perusal of all the crits that came in, I’ve come to the conclusion that there wasn’t a consensus on whether it was too confusing, too explainy, or just right. Snartleblast. So I’m going with my gut instincts.

Pulp pulp pulp

Saw Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! for the first time. And it was . . . wow. Fast cars, ultra violence, and go-go dancers.

I feel the same way I did after the first time I saw Pulp Fiction: surprised-unto-astonished that the quality of the writing, well the dialogue, exceeded my expectations, dazed at the blood-splattered brutality, and uncertain as to whether I liked it or not. It’s obvious that Quentin Tarantino was greatly inspired by Russ Meyer.

I was verily impressed by the shape of the actresses too. With the movie coming out in 1965 and the development of the silicone breast implant only in 1961, I’m assuming that the actresses were all au naturale. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical, but I’d sort of forgotten that women were capable of those sorts of dimensions without surgical enhancement. Meyer liked his actresses curvy, he did.

On a related pinup and anatomical curves topic, some Dragon*Con folks are putting together a calendar to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer research foundation and have asked me to be one of the months. Of course I said “yes” (I’ll be August). Each month will have an appropriate D*C fandom theme such as goth, anime, etc.

I think pulp and camp were on my mind when the coordinator asked me to pick a theme for my month. I suggested doing a science fiction spacegirl a la the pulp ‘zines, which also appeals to me on a writerly front. She loved the idea, so yah, that’s what we’re going with.

Problem: I don’t have a spacegirl costume. I have . . . a ray gun.

Erm. I’ve never constructed an outfit from the accessory up before. Amber, the calendar coordinatrix, assures me there are seamstresses onboard who are willing to apply their skills to the effort, as long as it’s not too ornate. So I’ve been surfing around, trying to get costuming ideas.

Can anyone recommend a good science fiction pulp art gallery I can peruse?

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– 217-day (after a query or two) “Excellent story . . . may we see another?” pass from Weird Tales. The supernatural element wasn’t strong enough, alas.
– 10-day “Nice . . . but didn’t hold” from JJA of F&SF.
– 27-day form nope from Coyote Wild. Might be time to trunk this one.

New Words/Editing:
– Several polish-and-tweak editing passes on the Japanese fantasy, and the fork is stuck in and quivering. I’ve launched that hamster out, out and away. Rah! Also, thanks to one critter’s suggestion, it’s also got a better title: “The Tears of My Mother, The Shell of My Father.” Well, I think it’s a better title, anyway . . .
– 100 words on “By Oak, Bramble, and Metro.” Hoping to make better progress on it after Halloween.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,129 / 5,000
(42.6%)