mariness

Over at Tor.com, I chat about Georgette Heyer's Arabella, a book that used to be one of my favorites and now...really not so much. More details in that post.

Two bits of news:

1. As part of their celebration of National Poetry Month, Tor.com has reprinted Snowmelt. I still love this poem.

2. I've picked up the bifocals. I fear these are not going to work out. What neither the eye doctor nor I considered is that since moving my head can induce dizziness or vertigo, I've been instinctively doing less of that over the past four years, moving my eyes instead -- which with the bifocals induces dizziness and vertigo. You can see the problem. I will keep trying for a few more days, but I fear I'm about to head back and just get the regular prescription and carry reading glasses around.

The sunglasses, though, are excellent.

In related news I am developing an extremely bad headache, so, later.

A few Tor.com posts went up while I wasn't paying attention:

James and the Giant Peach (the film, not the book).

Friday's Child (Georgette Heyer's first bestselling Regency)

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory which is still such a terrifying experience that I haven't dared to look at the comments.

On a related note, to answer a couple of lingering questions from ICFA, Tor.com is probably the hands down worst way to contact me. I do have an account there and in theory you can send messages to it. In practice since the only people who were sending messages to that account were people desperate to sell me fake Prada bags or introduce me to new ways of finding porn, I stopped checking it, with the result that you could have a message there for three months before I noticed it.

I seem to be slowly climbing out of my funk, though in a tentative sort of a way. So, announcements for the month:

1. The Roald Dahl reread comes to a close -- but we're not quite done with Roald Dahl yet! Next up: I take a look at the films based on Dahl's work. This should start well and then go badly.

2. Speaking of Tor.com, at some point today I should be seeing the Oz the Great and Powerful film. From what I've heard so far, my response will be in two parts: a nice essay for Oz fans and everyone else on the Tor.com blog, and snark right here for you diehard readers that haven't fled LJ/Dreamwidth yet.

3. This month I'll be heading to MegaCon and ICFA. The current plans for Megacon are beyond tentative ("10 sounds ok - no, wait. I think I'll sleep in more. Do we want pancakes first?") but so far it looks as if I'll be there Saturday afternoon and perhaps Sunday.

ICFA is as always a touch more complex, but I should be there Friday and Saturday, and possibly Wednesday or Thursday evening. Chances are excellent that regardless of the date I will be at the pool sipping little drinks, because, pool! Little drinks! It's that kind of con.

I'm assuming by then it will have warmed up. It's odd -- we had an unusually warm January, and we are now having an unusually cold March - it was in the 40s this morning, just enough to make the sun delightful.

1. My post about Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is finally up at Tor.com. The first comment is quite possibly the most awesome comment I have ever received on any of these Tor.com posts and has completely made my day.

2. Also, I finished reading Voyagers of the Titanic (2012), by Richard Davenport-Hines.

( Which means it is time for a rant. )

Another one of those "various things" bullet posts as I try to regain the desire to blog:

1. Skipping publication order once again, I chat about Danny the Champion of the World over at Tor.com. Meanwhile, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator has arrived, along with a number of other books that I completely forgot I also requested over the holidays, so, reading ahead!

2. While we're chatting about Tor.com, my post about An Infamous Army went up on Tuesday. (I also took the moment to briefly discuss a few other books that she wrote after that.)

3. A number of science fiction writers have banded together to help pay for Jay Lake's whole genome sequencing to fight his cancer. A few things on this:

a) the situation totally sucks; I've met him only a couple of times, but Jay is a pretty awesome guy whose major bad habit is to make other writers (me) feel guilty about just sitting around and sipping tropical drinks by the pool while he continued to write away. (Although he did come out and join us by the pool from time to time.) BUT

b) the chance to do genome sequencing on a science fiction writer just seems too science fictiony not to do. Also, his fellow writers have donated some pretty whimsical things.

4) And among other things this week, I finally a) got to the Morse Museum after four years of wanting and trying to go (and I hope it won't be my last trip) and b) picked up and finished A Memory of Light, the final book of the Wheel of Time series, decades after starting the series. I am going to be honest, everyone: one of those two things was more worth the wait than the other. However, I do have quite a lot to say about both, so, we'll see if after I get a few other things done (like, rest), one or the other inspires me to blogging.

Feeling somewhat better this morning, although the fever is still coming and going, which is as well since fbhjr and malterre are in theory on their way. That will probably mean even less time spent on this blog than usual (although, let's face it, that's not exactly going to be a huge change from the last few weeks.) Alas, they will be walking into a house that even the most kindly minded of you would not exactly call "clean" just now, but the friendly cat says he will be friendly enough (to fbjhr who is highly allergic to him) that they won't notice. Also, Christmas train.

Meanwhile, if you are so inclined, book discussion of Georgette Heyer continues with one of my favorites, The Talisman Ring.

Since the next two Tuesdays are Christmas and New Year's, respectively, the Heyer reread is going to take a bit of a hiatus. (Also because the next book is An Infamous Army, not exactly Heyer's fastest read.) It may be back on January 8th, but since that is also known to many, many people as "YAY! WE WILL FINALLY KNOW HOW THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES ENDS!" day it may be pushed back another week. We'll see. Meanwhile, keep an eye on Tor.com today since it's just possible that a Santa related post might be making an appearance. Just maybe. The Roald Dahl reread, though, should be continuing without interruption over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, everyone keep your fingers crossed that the one last present I ordered will in fact arrive by Saturday (sniffle). It was supposed to arrive Monday and has been "delayed." Ah, holiday shipping.

Rather a busy day for publications around here. Let's see.

1. First up, Apex Magazine published its December issue today. In it appears my short story, Labyrinth. You can read it for free at that link, or buy a copy for your Kindle, Nook or Ipad using any of the links on the sideline.

2. And last week's Daily Science Fiction flash piece, Shattered Amber is also now up on the web.

Assuming all continues to go well, you will be seeing short stories from me in future issues of both publications sometime next year.

3. And the Georgette Heyer reread continues with Death in the Stocks, the first of the three Heyer mysteries I'll be reviewing.

Blog posts with – gasp – actual content, not just links, coming soon, I promise, but for now, I'm pretty wiped.

This has been a surprisingly busy and eventful week, including out of town visitors, the brief loss of a a friend's child at Disney which created a bit of drama (kid has been safely found), the hopefully not brief finding of a new obsession, blackberry wine (why oh internet did you not tell me about this before), the exciting discovery that I had not, after all, tossed out my boots, and more, which means I am now pretty much out of it, but, interrupting that state and a rather alarming amount of laundry for a few quick announcements:

1. Barring any potential weather delays from Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, which OH NOES MAY BE KILLING FLIGHTS EVERYWHERE if you believe the media, I should be departing next Monday for World Fantasy Con.

(Don't worry, everyone; I have found my boots, which means that Toronto should be snow free. You can thank me – or curse me – later. I'm thinking curse because I was kinda looking forward to seeing some snow. Which would have certainly happened if my boots had remained hidden. On the other hand if snow does make an appearance Karen Lord will probably kill me, so, all just as well, and wow, could I possibly have mixed up verb tenses any more in this paragraph? I did say that I'm a bit out of it.)

Because my illness is incredibly unpredictable and can strike at any time, and I usually only make it to about half of the con at best, I have not planned any events – readings, panels, dinners, whatever. I'll just be going with the flow. Chances are good, however, that when I am up and about I will be near coffee, at the bar, or in the dealer's room, or have an interest in food in general. (Food!) I also tentatively plan to make my usual graceful and delightful appearance just outside the Tor party which may or may not turn into a graceful appearance inside the Tor party depending upon the state of the door and the crowds.

2. On a writing note, I have another tiny piece forthcoming from Daily Science Fiction squashed there in a month with writers such as Ken Liu and Nina Kiriki Hoffman, so, if you haven't signed up to have these short stories show up in your inbox each morning, and why not, it's free, now seems like a good time.

3. The Edward Eager reread continues over at Tor.com with The Well-Wishers. One more Eager book to go, and then we start a reread that I have been singing about. No, really.

4. And possibly one more announcement coming later today in its own little post.

Two posts up at Tor.com this week -- Georgette Heyer's The Conqueror and Edward Eager's Knight's Castle.