At Orycon, we had a panel intended to produce a piece of collaborative fiction within the hour of programming. This involved substantial audience participation and some fairly whacky behavior. Panelists were Brenda Cooper, Jay Lake, Theresa Reed, Ken Scholes and Ray Vukcevich.
As promised at that event, here is the story posted for general approbation:
( The story... )
Posted: 4:21 pm Wed December 03 2008 | Comments(0) |
Home. Finally. Orycon didn’t go as smoothly as my Con experiences usually do — most rare for me, I ditched late panels and went home when I realized that my state of tired-and-crabby was interfering with my social persona. Discretion truly is sometimes the better of valor. I’d gone into the weekend in a pecked-to-death-by-pigeons mode, and never really regained my footing. (On the plus side, a week away from the scale with social dinners and Con food, and I maintained my departing weight.)
Afterwards, karindira and I went to my parents’ house for early Thanksgiving with a cast of dozen, including lillypond and a friend of hers, the Niece, Mother of the Child, the_child, and my aunt and uncle visiting from Texas.
Woke up with a horrendous anxiety dream straight out of college — the “oh, no, I forgot I registered for these courses and the exam in next week” dream. Compounded by me being naked on campus, having no cellphone to call for help, etc. I think that’s Fred complaining about the Tor galleys, except I’m on target for those. Or maybe he’s complaining about the latest Sekrit Projekt, but that’s not behind either.
In the shower this morning, I was thinking of Dahomean history, as one so often does at 5 am on a Monday. That led me to a story title, “Ritualized Forms of Judicial Murder”, which I will almost certainly use at some point in a doubtless delightfully lateral way. Which in turn reminds of a story idea I popped out over the weekend with a panel audience assist, about Sarah Palin, the end of time on Mayan calendar, and her efforts in the 2012 election to win the popul vuh-t: “The Alaskan Book of the Dead.” Sadly, stories that immediately topical can be very hard to sell, so it’s doubtful.
I owe a post on the winner of the Post-Novel Ennui Contest, but that will have to wait until this afternoon, or possibly my lunch break. Likewise, I owe a post on the results of the “Write a Story In an Hour” panel from Saturday. You will be sore amazed. Or possibly just sore.
Meanwhile, write more.
Posted: 6:54 am Mon November 24 2008 | Comments(2) |
A few more OryCon reports here and here
One model, fifty years — Aging through lighting and makeup. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Juan Cole on Red Sea piracy and Bush military policy
5 Myths About Our Ailing Health-Care System — Food for thought on healthcare finance reform.
Question of the day: Princess Leia or Barbarella? Discuss.
11/23/08
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Posted: 11:42 am Sun November 23 2008 | Comments(0) |
Orycon day two. Up early. Walkies. Lots of programming. A reading. A nice dinner. “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” Tired. Sleep now.
Posted: 12:19 am Sun November 23 2008 | Comments(0) |
A travel day about which the less said, the better. As jeffsoesbe commented, “You’re being struck by darts. Lots of little darts.” Let’s just say that the iPhone is really not my friend. (Who the hell builds a device with a soft reset switch and no hardware bypass? When the reset switch is hung, you’re screwed.)
I’m at Orycon, chilling in my room for a while before heading out into the great mass of Con. See some, all or none of you here.
Posted: 4:55 pm Fri November 21 2008 | Comments(0) |
15 degrees out there. I’m telling you, there’s a reason I’ve never wanted to move to Omaha.
Boarding soon for the first leg of the trip home. When I land, tillyjane is picking me up, along with jeffsoesbe. We’re going to swing by Nuevo Rancho Lake for a quick luggage swap, run a Sekrit Projekt errand, then hit Orycon by 2:30 or 3:00 (hopefully).
In other words, it will all be a blur. Expect continued light blogging, with intermittent wit and erudition.
At least it won’t be 15 degrees at Orycon.
Posted: 4:18 am Fri November 21 2008 | Comments(0) |
Important safety tip: If the only thing keeping your breath from freezing on your mustache is the warm snot running down from your nose, perhaps you should be working out at the gym instead of walking for distance. I think this is the first time I’ve walked here in Omaha for quite a while where I didn’t see any wildlife. Probably because they were all smart enough to stay in their burrows, keeping warm.
In other news, I apparently have two sets of galleys to turn back to Tor, Very Quickly. (The mmpb of Escapement and the thb of Green.) Unfortunately, I am not home to receive the galleys or do anything with them, and won’t be able to remedy this situation until next Monday, thanks to the confluence of a trip to Omaha and the magic that is Orycon. This will make next week very entertaining, I strongly suspect.
All of which in turn encourages me to get the first draft of the synopsis of Sunspin nailed down this week if possible. Already it’s longer than any synopsis I’ve ever done, and I haven’t even gotten to plot or character yet. This is going to be a real adventure. There’s a couple of possible projects which may shift Sunspin back in my schedule, but I have some months to figure that out.
Off to the office in a bit. Y’all play nice while I’m saving the world for SMS. (Or possibly from SMS.)
Posted: 5:15 am Tue November 18 2008 | Comments(0) |
Back in Omaha, where it is cold. It will be a lot colder when I go walking around 4 am, but I’ve brought the right clothes for that adventure. I’m back in my half-suite, which seems to have been my usual digs in the hotel this fall. It’s a nice space. The Hertz random upgrade program hath delivered unto me an almost brand new Camry which is pretty tricked out. It’s a nice car.
On the flight out today I did some extensive critique for the Orycon workshop this weekend. Those poor writers have no idea what they’re getting, but it will be good for them. Also put another hour into the synopsis of Sunspin, and find myself seriously contemplating a Wiki for worldbuilding purposes. Process is a bitch, especially when one is on a mission to retune it on the fly.
Had dinner this evening with garyomaha and elusivem. Nice chatter, including some discussion of my writing process, and what Sunspin was likely to do to my head. Took care of some emails and some personal business, and I am shortly to bed. Morning comes early hereabouts, and then I have to drive across the cornfields to the office.
Posted: 8:54 pm Mon November 17 2008 | Comments(0) |
I’m getting up at 0:stupid:30 to head for the airport and vault my way through the morning sky to Omaha. On my return, I will be attending OryCon, beginning with a Sekrit Projekt for jeffsoesbe. Expect continued light blogging with intermittent wit and erudition through next Sunday.
Posted: 8:38 pm Sun November 16 2008 | Comments(0) |
It’s the holiday season, and I’m trying to pay for a big present to give to the science fiction world. With the the kind and supportive sponsorship of OSFCI and Springtime Creations, and extremely generous support from davidelevine and frankwu, I am announcing the fundraiser to pay for the Campbell Nominee award pins.
This came about because, as Cheryl Morgan says here, “…nominees for the Hugo Awards, World Fantasy Awards and Nebula Awards have long been given lapel pins to recognize their nominations. No such pin [has] existed for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.” A year or so ago I decided that creating such a pin would be a terrific way to raise the profile of the Campbell Award, generate additional interest, and celebrate all the past, present and future nominees.
The goal at the time was to develop a design which could be crafted in sufficient numbers that every nominee in the history of the Campbell Award could receive a pin (or pins) to celebrate their achievement. Through 2007 and early 2008, Spring Schoenhuth of Springtime Creations worked to develop a design which would symbolize the historical importance of John W. Campbell himself, the meaning of the award within the field, while also recognizing the five nominees each year.
Spring and I settled on a design of five fountain pen nibs in the form of a star.
The pin — Design © 2008 Springtime Creations, photo © 2008 Dave Gallaher
Edited 2008-11-16 to include photo of the production pin
This was to provide a similar visual read with the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award pins without creating any likely confusion with the other designs and related service marks. WSFS was very kind to review the design to avoid future confusion with the Hugo, while Dr. Stanley Schmidt of Analog, the award sponsor, was also generous in offering his approval.
All of this was ramping up to a fundraiser during the late spring to provide the needed $7,000 budget to mold, cast and finish the 400 pins needed for the past nominees and approximately 10 years of future demand.
Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer, and thoroughly derailed from this effort. Springtime Creations generously proceeded with design and preliminary production so we could deliver the first batch of pins at Denvention, but there is now a substantial financial commitment to meet. Uncharacteristically for me, due to illness I allowed the cart to get very much before the horse here. About $5,500 has yet to be raised to defray the production expenses and allow a mailing budget to deliver the balance of the pins.
I am officially launching the Campbell Fundraiser. This is being sponsored by OSFCI, which is a 501(c)(3) organization, and will provide full tax-qualified documentation of the donation. We’d like to raise the needed $5,500. Any excess to budget will be held against unexpected expenses, then eventually released to the Clayton Memorial Medical fund after the books have been closed on this project.
Please let me know in comments here or via email if you’d like to contribute. I’ll provide donation information (including check “pay to” or other needed funds transfer detail). In additional, everyone who donates will be eligible for an end-of-fund-raiser prize drawing including a selection of my books. If you’re interested in donating to the drawing, that would be fabulous as well.
This Campbell Award pin project is part of my ongoing effort to raise the profile of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and help celebrate the newest professionals in our field year after year. I hope you can join me in it.
ETA: PayPal is now available. Contact me at jlake(a)jlake.com for the payment address.
Posted: 1:48 pm Sat November 15 2008 | Comments(3) |
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