Lighter hamsters!

So I didn’t end up buying new shoes. fosteronfilm was feeling blicky after fighting off a mini-migraine, and a few hamsters came out of the woodwork to harry my ankles. So we stayed home and re-watched the first two X-Men movies to prep to see the 3rd, and I did some hamster herding. But no fear, I still plan to celebrate our new-found financial security by purchasing a pretty accessory item. Although now I’m thinking I want to buy a new purse instead.

With the reality of my new job, I suddenly find that the hamsters I’ve been juggling have become lighter and more aerodynamic. Just knowing that I can put some down without having to be concerned about starving is a huge load off my mind. Plus, I’m enjoying the juggling again, when before I was just wanting to fling ’em away as fast as I could.

Nice hamsters. *pets*

X-men: The Last Stand was shiny. It would seem to wreak havoc with the comic book X-men universe, which is why I suspect a lot of the fans really panned it, not to mention all the plot-device-ish writing. It was pretty, and there were many explosions, which is what I was going for. Nevertheless, I found it to be a downer. Oh, well. There’s still Superman Returns to see.

Writing Stuff

I normally don’t have time to write Tangent reviews anymore, aside from the rare story here and there to fill in for conflict-of-interest situations, or the occasional special issue/publication I’ll snag to review; having first pick of review material is, after all, one of the perks of being the Managing Editor. The name Harlan Ellison^® in the table of contents of the September issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction caught my attention. He’s one of my all-time favorite writers, one of the main reasons we attended our first Dragon*Con (the other big reason being Ray Bradbury, who also attended that D*C).

I’m awed by the man’s sheer fire when he speaks. I’ve met him–and got hit by an embarrassing episode of star struck, barely managing to babble something trite and inane along the lines of “I’m your biggest fan!”–and I aspire to write prose as visceral and compelling as his. So, of course, I had to review this issue of F&SF.

As it turns out, Harlan didn’t offer up a new story (alas), but rather the kernel of a story idea, a la a writer’s group “Shelley” exercise. Cool and interesting to see the results. My review here.

Received:
– Contract from Realms of Fantasy for “The Devil and Mrs. Comstock’s Snickerdoodles.” It’s slated for publication in the Feb. 2007 issue. I was hoping that it’d make it into an ’06 issue, but since they pay on acceptance, it’s all good. And I seem to have gotten a per-word raise compared to my last sales to them. Sweet!

® Harlan Ellison is a registered trademark of the Kilimanjaro Corporation