I read this weeks Escape Pod, Reparations by Merrie Haskell. To paraphrase Steve Eley, this isn’t a 9/11 story, but it was the right day to run it. The story is beautifully, painfully written. The text was easy to read, the content was not. I encourage you to listen to it.

I just swab my arm and administer the cocktail, a booster for my radiation immunization. The taste of brass fills my mouth in seconds, and I know that the cocktail has flooded my system. With this stuff burbling inside, I can stare down three sieverts without blinking, or, more importantly, losing my immune system, teeth, hair, and intestines.

When I finish with my dose, I grab the skin on the newbie’s arm, swab her and shoot her up, too. “Ow!” She jumps and rubs her arm. I watch carefully to see her smack her lips at the taste. “You could’ve warned me.”

“No time,” I say, doctoring Ken and the others just as abruptly. We’re pressed, and they know it.

We’re all nice and anodized on the inside at 8:12. We’re waiting for 8:16, or thereabouts. There aren’t any atomic clocks in 1945, so all times are approximate, internally speaking. And from here on in, there’s no point speaking any other way.

Rated PG. Contains mass destruction and graphic descriptions of the wounded.

I’m at the Historic Anchor Inn for the workshop and my room is fabulous. Seriously. It’s a two room suite with fun tiki themed decor. Now, as a special treat, see that link? There are two live webcams of the hotel.

On the way down with Ken Scholes, Jen West and Alethea Kontis we stopped at Canon Beach for seafood at Mo’s restaurant and also to run into the ocean. Crazy cold.

If you are curious, I’m one of the folks who answered SF Signal’s MIND MELD this week.

This week’s Mind Meld was influenced by a post on Lou Anders’ blog entitled Science Fiction Belongs to the World. In it, questions are raised about stories that espouse a viewpoint that is opposed to one(s) the reader holds.
Q: As a reader, can you enjoy a story that is pushing an opposed viewpoint from one that you hold (religion/politics)? If the author is prone to holding, and writing about, views opposed to yours, can you enjoy their works or do you stop reading them?

• 05:53 A puppet in my bag triggered extra screening at the airport. #
• 07:31 Passing through Cincinnati on my way to Portland. #
• 13:51 In Portland and the weather is stunning. All the mountains were out. #
• 14:07 On the MAX. You’d think, living in NYC that I wouldn’t miss this. So clean. So quiet. #
• 16:25 Drivers stop for pedestrians here. Wacky. #
• 22:16 At Ken Scholes and Jen West’s fabulous abode with Alethea Kontis. Relaxing and fun. #

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I’m in the airport in Cincinatti waiting for my connection to Portland.  I’ll spend the day in town and then head down to Lincoln City for a writing workshop hosted by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  Their guest instructor is Sheila Williams.  As you might imagine, I’m excited about this.

Even more exciting, I’ll get to see lots of old friends.

The workshop rules say that we can’t blog about it while there, so expect scanty entries from me until at least Monday.  I’ll be in Portland until the 18th and then back to NYC.  At the moment, my plan is to do a get-together at one of the McMennamins once I have a better idea of my post-workshop schedule.  I’ll keep you posted.