Harbinger has stalled, mainly because I wrote myself into a corner and now need to get out of it. The solution I had in mind turned out to involve something I expressely mentioned as impossible in Servant, so it’s back to the writing board…

I have found a new toy: a Starbucks thermos mug (brought back from Moscow by my father), which is suprisingly handy to have–you never know when someone is going to interrupt you, and the water at work is lukewarm at best. Having the mug helps to get extra minutes of hot tea, which is cool.

This will probably be the last post before the blog goes dark, as I’m going to Dublin to visit my sister. Internet access will be around, but it’s likely I won’t be using much of it.

Some linkage:
-Fellow SFnovelist Jackie Kessler continues to chronicle the Harlequin Horizons debacle. Very interesting posts.
-Article over at Nebula Awards website on “International SF” and Problems of Identity
-David Antony Durham compares covers, which I always find a terribly fascinating exercise.
-Strange Horizons has an article from Nicholas Seeley, in which various Apex World Book of SF contributors discuss SF and language.
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I’ve been sitting on this one for a loooong while, but I’ve finally been allowed to make it public: the collaboration I wrote with Gareth L. Powell, “The Church of Accelerated Redemption”, has sold to Jetse de Vries’ Shine Anthology, due out 2010 from Solaris.

This one was one heck of a hard one. Many many thanks to Marshall Payne and the BF for reading it at least two or three times, and to Jetse for having such awesome rewrite suggestions. And to Gareth for being such fun to work with.

No snippet, as Jetse has a competition planned. Watch the Shine anthology blog on Monday, 30th November for more details 🙂

We finished watching the final episode of Battlestar Galactica a few days ago, and…
(cut for spoilers)
Continue reading →

Erk. Tonight’s activity consisted of transcribing my handwritten notes on the proofs into a big email to AR towers. My fingers, they hurt…

Tonight’s secondary activity is trying to transfer a homemade video from a Mac to a PC, and getting a big headache (the video is a Quicktime movie file, and I want it to be readable in Windows Media Player). So far, not so good. Will poke around some more.

And, while I was out there researching my mythology, I found this awesome resource on the Aztecs. Theoretically, it’s educational activities for kids, but it’s amazingly (and obsessively) detailed. My new stop for nifty details.

…about the writing of sequels.

When naming a minor character in a book, don’t give him a long and complicated name on the assumption we’ll never see him again anyway.

Because, you know, he might turn out to be a major player in the sequel and thefore need his name mentioned on a regular basis…

From now on, the only people getting long and complicated names are those earmarked for death.

(yes, I know. It’s occurred to me the dead can come back unexpectedly, but we’ll cross that bridge when it presents itself)

I’ve just confirmed this with the SFWA Awards Rule Committee: Interzone and Black Static stories are eligible for the Nebulas, by virtue of their electronic publication through Fictionwise. So any magazine issue that was uploaded to Fictionwise during the nomination period is eligible.

So, if you’ve always wanted to nominate cool stuff like Sarah L. Edwards’ poignant “Lady of the White-Spired City” (IZ 222), Al Robertson’s beautiful “Fishermen” (IZ 221), or Jeff Spock’s hilarious “Everything that Matters” (IZ 219), now’s the time to go ahead and nominate!

I believe this makes issues 217 to 225 eligible for nominations.

I don’t often ask for this, but could y’all spread the word over the Internet? Obviously, it’s not widespread knowledge yet…

The cover art for Servant of the Underworld:

Isn’t it full of awesome? (some stuff might shift around a bit, but overall it’s meant to be pretty much final)

For the curious, the central design is lifted from the Calendar Stone. It represents the Sun God along with the Four Ages of the World, which makes it pretty appropriate for the book (I won’t say why because of spoilers). You can find explanations on the symbols here (scroll down a bit for the first ring).

Now I’ll go and have that much delayed dinner…

–“After the Fire” is now available as a podcast on StarShip Sofa, thanks to the concerted efforts of Tony C. Smith and Kate Baker. It sounds awesome, so I urge you to pop over and give it a quick listen. Also, check out the Wild Wild West retrospective, and the science news.

-Via Mark Pexton, the artist who did the awesomely creepy art for “Ys” in Interzone, another version of his illustration:

Dark Goddess by ~Superego-Necropolis on deviantART
I think this one is even creepier than the first.

OK, I suck at that shameless self-promotion stuff, but I figure I’ll just follow the movement, and write down the stuff I published that’s eligible for the Nebulas–in case anyone is interested.

If you want to read any of the stories below that are not available online, feel free to contact me, and I’ll be glad to provide a copy (whether you’re a SFWA member or not).

Novelettes

• “On Horizon’s Shores”, Intergalactic Medicine Show, issue 14, September 2009 (SF)
• “Healing Hands”, Fantastical Visions IV, July 2009 (Pseudo-Greek Fantasy)
• “Beneath the Mask”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, issue 8, January 2009 (Aztec fantasy/mystery)
• “Butterfly, Falling at Dawn, Interzone, issue 219, November 2008 (SF, alternate history: I think that one is eligible by virtue of its first US publication in Dozois’ Year’s Best, but I’m not 100% sure on this)

Short Stories

• “After the Fire”, Apex Magazine, November 2009 (Dark Chinese SF)
• Golden Lilies”, Fantasy Magazine, August 2009 (Dark Chinese fantasy)
• “Blighted Heart”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, issue 22, July 2009 (Aztec Fantasy)
• “Memories of my Sister”, Expanded Horizons, issue 7, May 2009 (Pseudo Hindu fantasy)
• “Dancing for the Monsoon”, Abyss & Apex, issue 30, April 2009 (Pseudo Cambodian fantasy)
• “City of the Gods”, Alternative Coordinates, issue 1, Spring 2009 (Pseudo-Hindu fantasy)
• The Dragon’s Tears”, Electric Velocipede, issues 15/16, Autumn 2008. (Pseudo Chinese fairytale)

FYI, if I had to pick favourites, they’d be “After the Fire”, “On Horizon’s Shores”, “Golden Lilies” and “The Dragon’s Tears” (which I’m still absurdly attached to even though I wrote the first draft of it about 3 years ago).

I’ll be off to take a look at my reading list and see what I can nominate myself.

EDIT: added categories…

My Servant of the Underworld proofs have just arrived, and I have a little over a week to check them. I think I’m going to be scarce on the internet this week…

But, OMG, it looks like a real book. It’s both elating and scary (as in, oh dear, I can’t hide behind other TOC-mates anymore).

The BF’s only complaint so far was a lack of cover art 🙂 (which should arrive sometime in the week, I’m told. Another reason to be freaking out…)