In other exciting news, the Best of Apex Digest 2006 has come out.

Enjoy eight of the best stories published by Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest during 2006. Picked by the Apex editors, these stories exemplify the quality and content that makes Apex Digest such a unique presence in the genre.

As a bonus, each story is preceded by an appreciation from an Apex editor or from an editor of other popular genre magazines.

Approximately 112 pages, this title is only available through the Apex Shopping Mall.
Table of Contents (editor appreciation in parentheses)
”Starfish” by Steve Parker (Gill Ainsworth)
”Queen of Stars” by Bryn Sparks (Jodi Lee)
”Blood Baby” by Jennifer Pelland (Deb Taber)
”Cerbo en Vitra ujo” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Alethea Kontis)
”Indigestion” by Robby Sparks (Bailey Hunter – Dark Recesses)
”That Old Sandlands Fever” by Douglas Warrick (Mari Adkins)
”How to Raise a Human” by Deb Taber (Beth Wodzinski – Shimmer Magazine)
”Genesis Six” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (James Beach – Dark Discoveries)

That’s right, we don’t yet have internet at the apartment. We get it next Friday, you know, while I’m away at Readercon. Until then, postings will be somewhat sporadic I’m afraid.

We spent yesterday cleaning and unpacking. The bedroom is assembled and has no boxes. Yay! Rob has disassembled the stove and is deep cleaning it. It’s a nice old Welbilt, which has thirty plus years of grease buildup on it. We shudder.

The living room is starting to emerge from the chaos of boxes, but it will take awhile.

I have to give a huuuuuuge thank you to Emily, Jodi and my brother, Steve, for their help moving us in.

Here are some photos from moving day.

Arrival in NYC

I’m headed to Readercon next weekend and just got my schedule.

Friday 1:30 PM. Reading (30 min.)
Mary Robinette Kowal reads “Body Language.”

Friday 4:00 PM. Talk / Discussion ( 60 min.)
Remember to Breathe: The Secrets Behind Great Public Readings.

You may be a good writer, but reading aloud is a separate skill. Learn to make your words sound as great out loud as they do on the page. Using both demonstration and audience participation, we will explore voicing, narration and pacing.

Friday 6:00 PM. Panel
Hunted Jaguars: Fiction In Another Land.
* Leader (Participant / Moderator) *
Paul Di Filippo, Mary Robinette Kowal (L), Shariann Lewitt, Paul Park, Lucius Shepard

Much memorable speculative fiction has been set either in the developing world or in an obviously fantasticated version of it. These stories are attractive to writers and readers for a number of different reasons. Our panelists talk about the genesis of these stories and their motivations for using such a setting.

We got everything loaded in to the apartment. There were a number of surprises waiting for us once we got in, but we managed to work around them.

After we got the truck unloaded, we had celebratory gin and tonics–yes, we travelled with all the acoutrements necessary. We have a lot of unpacking to do, in addition to cleaning and purchasing lighting fixtures.

At the moment, we are in Katonah for Peter’s 40th birthday. This was one of the reasons we swapped the plans around. It’s turning out to be a really great thing because not only did we get to come to his party, but we also have a clean, cool and quiet place to sleep tonight.

John got up to see us off this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30. He sent us with some of the corn from last night–I’d realized at dinner last night that it might well be two years since I had fresh corn on the cob. The stuff in Iceland, in addition to being shipped in from Lord knows where, was not a familiar food for the Icelandic cooks and turned up in strange places. Gummi Chef tended to make this casserole which had wedges of corn on the cob in it. It was very strange.

Speaking of strange and corncobs, we discovered today that Marlowe likes corncobs–not corn, mind you, but corncobs. When I’d finished my lunch, I held the corncob out to Marlowe. He’s often strange and has a tendency to like vegetables. He spent the next, oh, fifteen minutes licking the corncob. It was cute and a little disturbing.

Anyway, we were on the road by six o’clock and made reasonably good time. I must say, West Virginia’s interstate was the smoothest we’ve been on; it’s too bad that we were only in the state for twenty-five miles. When we hit Pennsylvania, traffic stopped. We’re on the turnpike now, but I’m unclear on what the toll fees are being spent on.

We passed a number of towns or landmarks with names that just wouldn’t fly in a book. Paxtonia? Linglestown? Mad River? Triadelphia? Boro of Alpha? Please… Oh, and two Bethlehems. What’s up with that?

I spent quite a while on the phone today, changing our arrival plans around. Instead of going into Katonah tonight, we went to Brooklyn to drop Jodi’s stuff off. We arrived around 8:30. My brother, Steve, just arrived after the ball game he attended. Indian food is on the way. Whew.

Tomorrow is load-in day. Wish us luck.

First of all, I have to say that Brad and his wife, Joanne, are fantastic hosts. Brad made an amazing meal, including a handmade spinach, prosciutto raviolli, a wonderful mixed vegetable dish with a vinegrette marinade and quite possibly the most elegant sandwich I have experienced–to say that it was a ham and cheese does not do it justice.

For those of you who are thinking, “Wait–isn’t Mary a vegetarian?” the answer is yes and no. I tend to be, but I am much more interested in good and interesting food than I am in being a stickler for no meat. So, knowing that Brad was a foodie, I was only too happy to eat whatever he wanted to make. Dinner was very, very good. My advice is to figure out a way to get him to cook for you.

Also, and I don’t usually say such things, his wife Joanne is distractingly beautiful. Also sweet and funny. The entire visit was quite wonderful.

We left about 8:00 this morning. In Indiana, we crossed over “Nameless Creek.” (I would have taken a photo, but the batteries are dead. Tomorrow, I’ll try to resume the photography of our trip.) We made good time to Ohio, except for Detroit and Chicago which had major road construction. I don’t mind being in the truck for days, but I am getting really tired of being jostled. There’s something about the way the truck, our belongings and the road interact that periodically causes us to get shaken back and forth so that our heads bounce against the seat backs. This is the first road trip where I haven’t wanted to read, even though I brought plenty of books.

To put this in perspective, we used to drive between Raleigh and Chattanooga a couple of times a year when I was growing up. I would read for the whole trip, even in the Nandahala Gorge. I’ve never had motion sickness issues. But in this vehicle, the thought of picking up a book is really not appealing.

However, I have gotten a fair bit of writing done.

We arrived safely at the Scalzi compound and were treated to another wonderful meal. You know how Scalzi is always going on about how fabulous his wife Krissy is? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. He’s not exaggerating in any respect. Corn on the cob, grilled portabello mushrooms, pasta salad… mmm. After dinner we watched fireflies on the lawn.

We have safely arrived at the home of Brad Beaulieu in our first ever early arrival. We were figuring to get here around seven tonight and arrived at five instead. As soon as we got out of Minnesota, we cleared the road construction and it was fast going.

I’m looking forward to a very pleasant evening.

Meanwhile, here are photos from our stay in Avon.

Avon

Once on Prarie Home Companion, Garrison Keilor said that Minnesota had two seasons, Winter and Road Construction. We are clearly in the latter. We left on time but are moving over level ground as if the van is struggling up a hill.

While, Rob is filling the truck up with the $100 of diesel that we put in twice a day, I’m checking email and filling you guys in on where we are. Lovely, eh? Oh, and I checked the rating of my blog. You’ll be happy to know that it’s safe for families despite my conversations about beavers and long stiff rods.

We spent today hanging out with Kevin and Shawna. Actually, we started the day by sleeping until almost noon. Only ten minutes remained of the morning when we got up. Shawna had pancakes for us.

Rob and Kevin pulled our bikes out of the truck today (they were on top) and we biked along the Lake Wobegon Trail. Man, it was nice to stretch my legs. The ride is beautiful. There was a giant patch of ladyslippers by the side of the road which my mom would have been gaga over. I wish I’d had the camera on the bike ride with me.

The cats seem fine here. In fact, all guilt that I have felt about keeping them cooped up in the truck has vanished. Maggie has spent the entire day sleeping in one spot. And Marlowe? He found a spot on an empty shelf which is smaller than the carrier he’s been riding in. He’s spent today sleeping in there. He had a brief nose-sniff with Roo, their golden lab, but has otherwise been content to stay in his cave.

We’re planning on hitting the road about 8:00 tomorrow morning and head for Racine.

Joe Sherry at Adventures in Reading posted a review of Prime Codex.

Prime Codex is the debut collection from the new small press publisher: Paper Golem. Subtitled “The Hungry Edge of Speculative Fiction”, Prime Codex features newer and upcoming authors from the Codex Writer’s Group. Some of the authors collected in Prime Codex include: Tobias Buckell, Cat Rambo, Elaine Isaak, Mary Robinette Kowal, and others. I focus on these four authors simply because these are names that make my head turn and take notice (i.e. I have at least heard of these authors).

When did that happen? I mean, my name in with the other three on that list just doesn’t make sense to me. Not complaining, just boggled. And pleased. Oh yes, very pleased.

Rampion by Mary Robinette Kowal was a very short, but mournful story and is an exquisite short work (very short work.)

I continue to be pleased.

We arrived in Avon at around 8:00 local time. Rob’s brother, Kevin and his wife Shawna greeted us. We have been plied with wine and Shawna’s delicious cooking. I took a shower and feel much more human.

The cats are ensconced in our room. They seem have settled into the routine nicely. Maggie tends to stay in the “upstairs apartment” which is the open carrier on top. Marlowe alternates between the downstairs and “the cave,” which is the area under our seats. I moved a bunch of stuff to the rear of the truck, since we weren’t using any of it, so that he had more room to hang out. He still gets freaked out by being outside during the day, but last night was hankering to go out. We had them both tied to our luggage inside the tent until we got settled.

Today, I even got them both to play a little bit with string. I don’t know what they make of the whole trip, but they are being remarkably adaptable.

We’ll see how well they let us sleep tonight. I am dragging and looking forward to a day of being stationary. We’ll stay here in Avon until Monday, when it is off to Wisconsin.

Lord of All Fools » Archive » Review of Prime Codex
Rampion–Mary Robinette Kowal

This is another twist up of a fairy tale. Rampion is the prequel to Rapunzel, and concerns itself with how the “barren” mother really got pregnant.

Mary Robinette Kowal’s got a good thing here. It’s a short-short story; maybe three pages, but one of the most satisfying and biting stories in the entire anthology.

I’ve already slipped into “tour time” where time is told not by the clock or calendar but by location. Everything has become, “the other day when we were in…”

So, I added photos that we took the other day to the web album.

Move To NYC, Day Two

We are at a gas station in Peever, S.D getting ready to cross into Minnesota. It is 5:06 pm local time.

I promised to tell you about our misadventures from yesterday, so this is what I wrote up while we were driving.

It was dark when we crossed into South Dakota. One of the interesting things about crossing a state line is that the quality of the road one is traveling on changes dramatically. So, as we crossed into South Dakota all the reflectors disappeared, the white line showing the edge of the road disappeared and the color of the road became almost exactly the same as the shoulder. Without my brights on, it was very hard to see the road. I did not feel comfortable traveling more that forty-five mph.

Everytime another car approached, the road beyond them completely vanished. I learned to watch the angle at which they approached to get a guess about what the road would do when I got to it. Occasionally, there would be reflectors by the road, but not where you would expect them. There might be a curve and then three reflectors on the straightaway.

At one point, as a semi approached and the road vanished again, I saw a quick reflection in his lane. I had time to think, “My god, is there a cyclist on this road?”

And then I hit a deer.

A herd of them was standing on the road. What I had seen was the reflection of one of the other deer’s eyes. The one I hit materialized in my headlights as if it had beamed into place. I can only assume that the semi also hit one.

We stopped, confirmed that there was no serious damage to the truck. There wasn’t–one of the advantages of driving something so large, I guess. After this, I slowed down still more as the road got twistier.

We kept trying to call the campground to cancel the reservation, but could get no cell signal. Though it meant that we didn’t get to the campground until after 11:00, we still went for it knowing that if we got behind, that today would be even longer.

Unfortunately, they stop registration at 11:00. So, though we had reservations, we had no idea where we were supposed to be. I finally found a bag with our name on it that contained a map to our site. It was hard to see the site numbers, so we decided that I would sit in the truck while Rob looked for the campsite.

While I was sitting there, someone came out to complain about the noise of the diesel, so I shut it down. Someone else then came up to demand to know what was going on. Though I was now quiet, he wanted me to move the truck away. I figured the smart thing to do would be to take it back to the main parking area and just pack the tent and cats to the campsite. He assured me that the road went straight through.

He was quite wrong. So, while Rob was looking for the campsite, I got stuck at the end of a deadend road. I tried turning the truck around, and hit a rock–no damage, since I was going extremely slowly, but enough to convince me to stop the truck where I was.

We were next to a cabin which had no cars in front of it. There was a large grassy area. At this point I decided to screw finding “our” site and to just camp in the grassy area. I walked back to get Rob and we set up the tent. Of course, since we were at the end of a dead-end road, it was completely dark. The truck was facing away from the grassy area, so there was no way to use the headlights to set up. We worked with the glow cast by the overhead light in the back of the truck. Our nightlight, once we set up the tent, was supplied by the screen of my laptop. Ah, technology.

We got up at five this morning and hit the road. Mt. Rushmore wasn’t open yet, but is clearly visible from the road. I’ve got to say that it’s more impressive from the side than from the front, but there’s no safe way to pull off and take a photo there.

The road since then has been unbelievably straight.

We got into the KOA near Mt. Rushmore very late last night. There is a story, but I’ll have to tell it later. We need to hit the road now.