[personal] Happy New Year, and perhaps good bye for a while
What
Posted: 9:21 am Thu December 31 2009 | Comments(2) |
[personal] Obligatory year in review post for 2009
Writing and Publishing
(All figures subject to some revision, due to the vagaries of both record-keeping and publishing.)
I wrote twenty pieces of first draft short fiction, totalling 92,100 words. (Some of these were collaborative.) Due to a combination of circumstances, largely involving cancer, I only wrote one complete first draft novel this year, Endurance at 114,500 words — an unusual burst of brevity for me. Extensive revisions or rewrites to Pinion, Heart of the Beast (unfinished collaborative novel with Jeff VanderMeer), The Rockefeller Plot (unfinished collaborative novel with my dad) and Our Lady of the Islands (complete-but-in-revision collaborative novel with
I sold seventeen original short stories. Five of them were written collaboratively with
Approximately fifteen short stories of mine were published this year, including a number of the collaborations. I saw exactly three novels published this year: Green (Tor Books; June, 2009), Madness of Flowers (Night Shade Books; October, 2009) and Death of a Starship (MonkeyBrain Books; December, 2009). Contracted two more novels with Tor, Endurance and Kalimpura, which will extend the Green story. Those are my ninth and tenth novel sales. The anthology Other Earths, edited by Nick Gevers and me, also appeared this year, to strong critical reception, as well as the anthology Footprints, edited by Eric Reynolds and me.
Delivered Pinion to Tor (the third Mainspring book), The Sky That Wraps to Subterranean Press and The Specific Gravity of Grief to Fairwood Press. Drafted Endurance (the second Green book) for delivery next spring.
In 2010, I expect to see Pinion published by Tor Books, as well as my collection The Sky That Wraps from Subterranean Press, and single-title novellas The Specific Gravity of Grief (a cancer tale, from Fairwood Press) and The Baby Killers (high concept steampunk, from PS Publishing).
Attended a number of conventions, the highlights being my Toastmaster gig at World Fantasy in San Jose, and the lovely time we had at WorldCon in Montreal. We do plan to attend WorldCon in Melbourne this coming year, along with the New Zealand national SF convention the weekend prior. Those will be part of my “I survived chemo” celebration.
Personal
My relationship with
Unfortunately, my relationship with cancer has also continued to solidify and blossom. 2008′s colon cancer came back with a lung metastasis, this after significant scares regarding liver and lymph metastates. In November I had a partial thoracectomy to remove a single grape-sized tumor from my left lung, along with a patch of lung tissue the size and shape of a Dorito. In December I had a port implanted in my right chest to facilitate chemotherapy. This coming January, I start a series of twelve infusions of a FOLFOX-Avastin cocktail, a chemotherapy combination with a range of potential side effects that would give anyone pause.
Chemo means my writing life will be pared down through next summer, though by what degree is not obvious. I have only retained two contracted commitments, one a major editing project, the other to revise and deliver Endurance. I’d also like to finish revising Our Lady of the Islands, my collaborate novel project with
Hope your year was as happy and productive as mine, and considerably healthier. All the better for the New Year to you and yours.
Posted: 5:46 am Thu December 31 2009 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Your Thursday moment of zen
Your Thursday moment of zen.
San Francisco before dawn. © 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:00 am Thu December 31 2009 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad asks what are you doing New Year’s Eve?
Rich Horton summarizes Subterranean Online for 2009 — Says nice things about my Mainspring steampunk astronaut novella, ““.
Table of Contents announced for Year’s Best Science Fiction 27, ed. Gardner Dozois — I am quite pleased to note that my short story from Lone Star Stories, “On the Human Plan“, appears therein, that piece’s second YB nod.
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb — An interesting review by Andrew Wheeler.
Flatiron Rising: 1902 — For all you Tor Books fen out there…
North Sentinel Island, Andaman Sea — A striking photo from NASA’s Earth Observatory site.
In Russia, Apophis impacts YOU! — Bad Astronomy on dangerous imprecisions in the Russian space program’s leadership.
Bush press secretary Dana Perino: “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” — Um, yeah. This one’s a few weeks old, but I somehow missed it at the time. And people wonder why I think conservatives are nuts. That isn’t exactly up there with forgetting to buy eggs. (Remember how Your Liberal Media tore Al Gore to shreds over a misrepresented statement about his role in funding the early development of the Internet? Your Liberal Media was all over this one, weren’t they?)
?otD: 2009 or 2010?
12/31/2009
Body movement: n/a (60 minute urban walk forthcoming)
Hours slept: 6.0
This morning’s weigh-in: 225.0
Currently reading: Living With Ghosts by Kari Sperring
Posted: 4:57 am Thu December 31 2009 | Comments(0) |
[personal] This and that, and an old year fading
Walked up Twin Peaks this morning here in San Francisco. For various reasons, this will almost certainly be the last time I make that walk from the Witchnest. We’re out to the coast for a few days tomorrow, then I’m home to Nuevo Rancho Lake and chemotherapy, while
Tomorrow we’re heading for the coast to spend time with
Otherwise I hope to get a year-in-review post up this evening or tomorrow morning. Likewise,
As for the 900 pound gorilla in my world right now, chemotherapy, well… I’m just living my life right now. A week from Friday, I go down the rabbithole until July. I’m scared spitless, determined to be strong, and I know I will win. For the most part, I’ve been keeping the worries, depressions and fears at bay, as well as the Fear. (Which has, frankly, been much less of a monster for me since I’ve gotten down to the nuts-and-bolt details…) It’s out there, it’s real, but I’m enjoying my child, my love and my vacation in California before I jump into that pool of toxic waste.
What’s on your mind for the new year? What are you doing to ring out the old?
Posted: 8:09 am Wed December 30 2009 | Comments(0) |
[photos] A walk through Muir Woods
Some photos from Muir Woods National Monument by me and by
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and B. Lake
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and B. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 7:38 am Wed December 30 2009 | Comments(1) |
[contests] We have a winner
The latest caption contest voting poll has produced a winner, Kyle Cassidy. His winning entry, with a runaway 20% of the vote:
Mr Lake, the implants will work as we discussed, but it’s my personal belief that no one will take you seriously as a supervillan in that hat
Photo © 2009 M. Lake, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
Kyle, you have scored an ARC of Pinion and a fresh-off-the-press copy of Death of a Starship.
Posted: 5:25 am Wed December 30 2009 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen
Your Wednesday moment of zen.
Montana highway. © 2006, 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
Also, don’t miss yesterday’s bonus zen post: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:20 am Wed December 30 2009 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad eyes the turning of the year
Metamora of Palatka: 1902 — Shorpy with a classic Florida photo that could have been shot in any number of places in the tropical world.
x-planes with an old print of the Graf Zeppelin — Mmm.
Handcrafted wooden toys of recently extinct animals — I think this one speaks for itself. (Snurched from Drawn.ca.)
Freakonomics on a Russian plan to send apes to Mars — Money shot: Any monkeys sent into space will be supervised by robots.
Top Republican Myths about the Crotch Bomber Affair — Juan Cole debunks Reps. Pete Hoekstra and Peter King and Sen. Joe Lieberman. Admittedly, debunking Republicans (and Lieberman) is generally about like debunking the Society for the Preservation of Gravity, but millions of people take this nonsense seriously.
75 Republican 73 Republican and 2 Democratic congressmen want Congress to pass a resolution condemning people for saying “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” — And people wonder why I view faith through a political lens, when this crap is what our elected officials spend their time and resources on.
?otD: Yule or Noel?
12/30/2009
Body movement: n/a (60 minute urban walk forthcoming)
Hours slept: 6.0
This morning’s weigh-in: 224.0
Currently reading: Living With Ghosts by Kari Sperring
Posted: 5:16 am Wed December 30 2009 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your bonus moment of zen
Your bonus moment of zen.
Muir Woods, California. © 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 8:15 pm Tue December 29 2009 | Comments(4) |