Oh huzzah! Oh glorious day!

My old scanner would not work with my new computer and I’ve been going mad trying to get work done without one. I just got it. I did some research and decided that I wanted an HP Scanjet 4670, and turned to ebay where I lost ten different auctions trying to win it. The eleventh time was the charm.

The scanner was in Hawaii so I was going to pick it up while we were out visiting. Alas, Rob’s illness intervened. Then, miracle of miracles, Rob’s folks shipped it to me. It arrived today and I am very, very happy.

The photo is my test scan; it’s my dad when he was about thirteen. The sofa is still in Woodthrush Woods and under the same window, although it’s been reupholstered.

Now, I’ll go scan some of the illustrations that have been languishing in my sketchpad.

As if any of you writer-types read my blog and not The Slush God’s, but, just in case, here’s what Captain John Joseph Adams says about the slush pooling in the holds of Shimmer’s pirate issue.

Of course, I do have the exciting pirate filter, so you can read his comments in the piratical style to which you’ve become accustomed.

Okay folks, the submission period has now closed, so I figure it’s time for an update for all those concerned. So…while the submission period is closed, I haven’t yet made any final decisions or anything, and it might be a while before I sort through all the submissions. I’ve still got 50 or so waiting to be downloaded, plus a number of others I’ve got in my reading queue already. But never fear — I am the Slush God, after all, so I should be able to get through them quickly enough.

Thanks to everyone who submitted, and good luck to those of you who still have submissions pending.

Now, if you’re in the voting mood. Apex is considering doing a calendar with each month having a scene from a story published in 2006. Wouldn’t you like to see my story, “Cerbo en Vitra ujo,” have a page in this calendar? All you have to do is drop by Apex’s site and vote. Such a small, small thing.

If you are filling out your Hugo nomination form at the last minute, here’s a reminder that Shimmer is eligible for a semipro magazine nomination.

I am eligible for a Campbell, but I’m in my first year of eligibility, so I’d like to put a plug in for a few folks who are in their second, and thus final, year. Ken Scholes, Nancy Fulda, Cherie Priest, Cat Rambo and Eugie Foster.

(My apologies that I’m not listing everyone in their second year; these are the folks that I can vouch for and know that they are in year two.)