Sheila mentioned the opening scene as very vivid and months later asked if I had done anything with it, because she’d liked that scene so much. I had trunked it, in fact. So I pulled it out, tossed what wasn’t working and wrote an entirely different story retaining parts of that scene.

Today, Sheila accepted it for Asimov’s. Woot!

I just tried one and am prepared to declare it quite tasty.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you and I have to say I’m not sure I’ve missed you.  In New York, despite all the things that bloomed in the spring, despite the exhaust and grime, you didn’t come around. In Iceland, there weren’t enough flowering things for me to see you.

But in Portland, in Portland you have a special treat for me and I will spend the next two weeks with the constant reminder of your presence. I will have to relearn the skill of keeping my hands away from my face. I will have to remember to pack tissue when I leave the apartment. I will once again sleep with a damp cloth over my eyes.

No, my dear, dear allergy season, I regret to say that I have not missed you.

Yours,

Mary

The way Sam was playing his Lear, made me aware of the number of times Shakespeare sets up a happy ending and then yanks it away. Lear and Cordelia reconcile; she’s got an army with her. All he would have had to do was to let her win the war. Does he? No. Edgar has all the pieces to restore his father and destroy his lying brother. Does he get to? Almost! And then his father dies.

I think that’s why this is such a successful tragedy, not because of the horrible things that keep happening to Lear, but because Shakespeare keeps teasing the audience with hope.  It’s like that moment in a horror film where you think the protagonist has made it safely through the door, only to realize that she’s locked the demon inside with her.

There’s only so far you can beat someone down before they have nothing to lose. Shakespeare was doubly cruel because he kept promising to restore order to his characters but only so he could cut them down again.

Note to self: Horror and tragedy work better when there’s something at stake and the possibility of surviving.

Dinner menu

Fig and blue cheese ravioli with blanched watercress and olive oil

Green salad with pears, walnuts and a white balsamic vinegrette

Roasted broccoli

Dessert: Pear Ozark pudding, served in ramekins

I do enjoy having dinner guests.

The new/old stove is a little cantankerous and we need to fiddle with the adjustments some.  The oven rocks, but the mix on one of the range’s burners is clearly not right since it gouts flame that would be more at home in the laboratory of a horror film.  The ones that are correctly adjusted are a dream though

There are only eight stories in this 80 page collection from Mary Robinette Kowal, but there is not a wasted word here. The stories of Scenting the Dark and Other Stories should delight readers as much as they delighted me. With two novels and more short fiction pending, you’ll want to pay attention to Mary Robinette Kowal.

via Adventures in Reading: Scenting the Dark and Other Stories, by Mary Robinette Kowal.

Launch Pad is a free, NASA-funded workshop for established writers held in beautiful high-altitude Laramie, Wyoming. Launch Pad aims to provide a “crash course” for the attendees in modern astronomy science through guest lectures, and observation through the University of Wyoming’s professional telescopes.

I highly, highly, highly recommend this. Applications are open through March 31.  Do not hesitate. Just apply. Now.

via Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop – Improving Science Literacy through Words and Media.

When I’m cleaning up my stories, I go through and search for the word “looked” because I frequently use it as shorthand for generic body language.

For example, “The AI looked genuinely unhappy”

Okay… what specific piece of body language does my POV character recognize as looking genuinely unhappy? If I take a moment and picture the scene in my head, I can pick one element and describe that to create a more specific image. For instance, “The droop of the A.I.’s eyes drew a portrait of genuine unhappiness.”

Another example from a different story. “She looked away.”

Uh-huh… what exactly did she look at? “She pressed her face against the mattress and would have counted every fibre in the cotton ticking rather than face him.”

It’s way too easy to let the generic stuff slide because it isn’t actually broken but it also isn’t working as hard as it could.

First, let’s discuss short stories a bit. Short fiction is hard for me to review. Simply put, I don’t care too much for it.

Okay, he really does say that, but then! Then he goes on to say a whole bunch of nice things and wraps up with:

High-five, Mary. You made me like short stories again.

Whew.

So when Jason asked me if I’d be interested in being featured in a single author issue of Apex Online, I said yes without thinking twice. This month, Apex Online features two new stories from me and two stories that Jason sweetly calls “classics.” This makes me giggle.

So if you go over there, what will you get to read?

Novelette: The Bride Replete

When the matriarch announced that she was sending the sixteen members of Pimi’s small-family across the ocean to settle in Repp-Virja, Pimi thought it the end of her life. For though she had seen only seventeen full years, Pimi considered herself ready to fill her crop and begin the social rounds, seeking a mate. Her mother and the matriarch felt otherwise, though how they could expect her to find a mate in a strange, sideways land like the colonies was beyond Pimi’s understanding.

Short story: Beyond the Garden Close

Lena rocked back and forth, feet aching from standing so long, as if the metal floors were harder in the auditorium than anywhere else in the ship. The paper bib she wore rustled as she shifted. The waiting that the high-holy put the prospectives through made Lena nervous. Which was part of the point, of course, and Lena tried not to let her nerves show. There were nine prospectives this quarter, standing in a cluster. Lena knew the other women, but maintained the ship-standard illusion of privacy by ignoring them.

Short story: Scenting the Dark

Lifting the stopper from the vial to his nose, Penn inhaled slowly. Against the neutral backdrop of his ship’s cleanroom, he picked out aromas of quince, elderberry, and bright Martian soil that hinted of blood, with undercurrents of cinnamon and Zeta Epsilon’s fragrantly sweet longgrass. He sighed, blowing the scents out again. The perfume was still out of balance.

Short story:  Horizontal Rain

Maxwell Sanders pressed the phone closer to his ear as if that would somehow bring comprehension. “Did you say trolls?”

While you’re at Apex Online, do check out the other issues because they’ve got some great fiction there.

In the apartment itself, Rob had two beakers of irises waiting for me. These are the flowers that we had at our wedding so very sweet. The cats were indifferent and needy in the way that only cats can pull off. Rob had also baked some of his famous chocolate tart cherry bran muffins. So tasty. And what had he baked them in?

This.

I’m just updating my events and this will have more details later. I’ll be at Readercon this year.

State officials in Hawaii have activated their emergency response plans to prepare for a possible tsunami caused by the massive earthquake in Chile, an official said Saturday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning — its highest alert — for Hawaii, where incoming waves topping out at six feet could cause damage along the coastlines across the island chain. A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.

The first waves were expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST).

What is amazing is how much warning they have now that the wave is coming.  I just hope that people are paying attention and there aren’t too many stupid people who decide to go to the beach to watch.

via Hawaii under tsunami warning, emergency response plans underway – washingtonpost.com.

I’ve been gone longer than this before, but we usually know that I’ll be gone for months and you can prep for that, emotionally. This time, we thought it would be a week and a half. We do manage to talk almost every night, but a month is still a long time.

So the fact that I will see Rob, tonight, makes me a very, very happy girl.

For instance, today the like was “a member of a lofty family,” but I said, “a family of a lofty member.”

Ahem

The other one was a Spoonerism that I committed not once, but twice, “his naze garrowed.”

Some of it also is that I feel like my life is not terribly interesting at the moment. For instance today, I spent in a coffee shop doing some writing and some Nebula stuff. Granted, I’m in Nashville visiting family but there’s not much to say about that besides the fact that I’m here. I like my family and we get along so there’s no drama to report.

In other news, Mom is doing really well. She drove yesterday and has permission to not wear the leg brace all the time.

Tomorrow I head to Grand Rapids to record more audio fiction. That will be fun.

The biggest reason I hear from people who haven’t is that they just haven’t read much this year. I understand that. But here’s the thing, if you read anything that you really liked this year you should put that on your ballot. Maybe it won’t make the final ballot but maybe your nod will be the one vote needed to push it into the running. And if you’re the only one who votes for it? It will make that author’s day just to have the story listed on the tally.

So, participate. Please?

Online Ballot: http://www.sfwa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=626

You must cast your nomination ballot by tonight, Feburary 15th, 23:59 PST.

To login, you’ll need Your Name, with spaces, as it appears in the SFWA Directory.

If you need your password you may reset it here:
http://www.sfwa.org/forum/ucp.php?mode=sendpassword

If you have any questions or need additional help please let me know. And if you have already participated, thank you. Now please, guilt one other person into doing it too.

When I was growing up, it seemed like it snowed every day on my birthday or on the day of my birthday party.  That hasn’t happened in years.  This year it snowed for about three minutes on the 8th, just enough for me to feel like it was a real birthday.

Today, it’s really coming down.  Now, mind you, if I were in Iceland people would laugh at me for calling this snow. Still, this is what Woodthrush Woods looks like in the snow. If you click through there are some other snow pictures plus some non-snow pictures.

From Woodthrush Woods

One of the side benefits to Mom’s disagreement with gravity is that it means I get to be in Tennessee for all of these birthdays. If you haven’t met her, allow me to assure you that my mom is fantastic. If you have met her, then you know exactly what I mean.

She’s an arts administrator and has always made sure that our lives were filled with all of the arts. The fact that I’m a writer and a puppeteer is directly attributable to the fact that Mom and Dad saw nothing odd about a career in the arts.

I hope your birthday is a happy one!

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3 oz. mushrooms sliced
3/4 bottle of leftover cheap white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
6 oz. fontina cheese, grated
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
1/2 lb. macaroni

Boil macaroni until al dente

Heat olive oil over medium flame. Saute shallots and mushrooms until soft, about five minutes. Add artichoke hearts, white wine, balsamic and Italian seasoning and turn heat to medium high. Reduce until only 1/4 of the liquid remains, or about as long as it takes to boil the macaroni. Reduce heat to low.

When the pasta is done, add it to the artichoke reduction with the 3/4 of the grated cheese and the cream. Stir together. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Finish under broiler until the cheese is melted and browned.

I have a contest up on my website right now, and the winner gets a free signed hardcover copy of the new book. All you have to do is go to my site, follow the link to the sample chapters of the book, and, after reading them, answer the contest question. That’s all there is to it. So give it a try. And next week I’ll be posting more about the new release.

via An Exchange of Words: David B. Coe’s Weblog – Win a Signed Book!.

I love Beaker… Poor guy.

You know, I’m still a decade away from middle age given my family.

All in all, 40 was a really fantastic year on the fiction front. Sold 2 novels, 10 short stories, made the Hugo ballot, and my 1st short story collection came out. I’ve been doing less puppetry over the past year, which gives me an identity crisis but nothing world-shaking.

In personal life, Rob and I moved back to Portland and it’s a lifestyle that suits us better than NYC. I miss my friends back there and, strangely, the subway, but I like getting enough sleep.

I look forward to seeing what 41 brings. It’s starting off well. Mom and Dad sang to me first thing this morning and I get to spend the evening with Grandma.

As we were getting ready to go, Mom was getting out of her chair, which is a little slow since she’s got a brace on her leg. Grandma looks at the effort it’s taking and with just a hint of a smile says, “Do you need to borrow my walker?”

I love my Grandma.

1. What Book Are You Reading Now?
2. Why did you choose it?
3. What’s the best thing about it?
4. What’s the worst thing about it?

Here are my answers…

1. Storm Front: Dresden Files #1 by Jim Butcher
2. I’d heard good things and he’s also represented by my agent.
3. The character, Harry Dresden, tells the book in first person. He’s a cynical, damaged man with a sense of humor and gallantry that makes him charming.
4. The magic system feels like it totally makes sense, except for the pseudo-Latin. I don’t understand why it’s that, although Harry Dresden does make a crack about the fact that it’s pseudo-Latin so he’s self-aware of it.

(via SF Signal)

I had been on a panel about research we were talking about the importance of primary sources.  One of the panelists said, “Of course, you can’t get a primary source if you want to talk about the Spanish Flu epidemic.”

It suddenly occurred to me that I could, because Grandma was born in 1905. It started me thinking about all the things she had seen in her life. In the story, the main character says:

I’ve lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Collapse. I lived through race riots, saw us put men on the moon, the Spanish Flu, AIDS, the Titanic, Suffrage and the Internet. I’ve raised five children and buried two, got twenty-three grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren with more on the way.

I’m not making any of that up (although I am losing track of the number of cousins I have).  I mean, the things she’s seen and the way the world has changed in her lifetime is staggering.  She’s an amazing woman, still sharp and interested in everything. I can’t introduce you to her for real, but the story comes pretty close.

Yesterday evening, I went out with M– one of the fine folks at Brilliance, who also turns out to be a writer. She and I hung out a Jumpin Java and wrote for a couple of hours. It was a very nice break from the routine.

After work today, I went out to dinner with J– at Kirby’s and it was so nice to just hang out and shoot the breeze. It helps with the whole mental fatigue that comes from reading for hours.

It is surprisingly tiring. I mean, on the face of it, all I’m doing is sitting in a chair and talking, but I have to be word perfect and that requires a weird sort of concentration. I’ll do a post at some point about what that focus is like.

For the moment, I’m heading to bed. We’ll wrap up the book tomorrow.

See, this weekend I sent this message to customer service.

I am deeply dismayed by Amazon’s removal of Macmillan books from their catalog. Since this covers a significant number of books I read as well as books I’ve written, I can’t see the need to maintain a relationship with Amazon.com anymore.

How do I delete my associate account??

Today, I got response and I thought you’d be interested in the way it opens.

Hello,

Thanks for sending us your comments. We will e-mail you when these titles are available again, which we hope will be soon. For more information regarding Macmillan books, please see the latest update posted here:

http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/?cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx2MEGQWTNGIMHV

However, if you still would like us to close your Amazon.com Associates account…

So apparently, the key word in the original response was the word “ultimately” as in, “at the end” but not now.

I’m flying to Chattanooga on Saturday to help my folks out for a couple of weeks. I am, I think, going to try to teach my dad to cook.

I know.

But he’s clever and it’s just like mixing emulsion for silk screening, but not poisonous. Usually. We haven’t decided how long I’m going to stay yet, but I wanted to keep you up to date on which time zone I’m in.

Naturally, I said yes.

And then jumped up and down in the hotel room for a bit wishing I had someone to squee with.

Why can’t you pre-order my book on Amazon.com?

Because on Friday, amazon.com stopped carrying all the Macmillan books. My publisher, Tor is an imprint of Macmillan. You can still buy some through third parties on Amazon.com, but no new books, which means you won’t be able to buy Shades of Milk and Honey there.

How did this happen?

According to Macmillan CEO John Sargent:

This past Thursday I met with Amazon in Seattle. I gave them our proposal for new terms of sale for e books under the agency model which will become effective in early March. In addition, I told them they could stay with their old terms of sale, but that this would involve extensive and deep windowing of titles. By the time I arrived back in New York late yesterday afternoon they informed me that they were taking all our books off the Kindle site, and off Amazon. The books will continue to be available on Amazon.com through third parties.

Basically, Macmillan wanted to be able to control their pricing of e-books and offer them in a dynamic price range from $14.99 to $5.99. Amazon wants to cap e-book prices at $9.99.

Now, Amazon is perfectly within their rights as a company to decide what they will and won’t stock.

I also have the right to decide where I send my website traffic, so I’m swapping out all the links to books to point at Powell’s Books, which is after all, my local independent book store. Meanwhile, I also changed my author bio on amazon.com to explain why you can’t buy my book there.

For fuller analysis of the situation, I recommend the following links:

Tobias’s Buckell’s “Why My Books Are No Longer Available on Amazon.com”

Charlie Stross’ “Amazon, Macmillan: an outsider’s guide to the fight”

Edited to add: You can pre-order Shades of Milk and Honey from Borders!

My sense of what it means to be elderly is wildly skewed since my grandmother will be 105 next week, is sharp as a tack and still lives on her own. Sadly, fantasy has a narrower view of the elderly, and they get short shrift when it comes to adventuring. Fantasy ageism posits that old people have either had their turn, or exist to support the youth who are really getting things done. Thus, if you have gray hair in a fantasy flick, you probably fall into one of three camps.

Read Call the AARP! Middle Earth’s Ageism Needs an Intervention – SciFi Scanner – AMC.

Yes. Yes, there is more than one Southern accent.

To complicate matters, my parents are from East Tennessee which is entirely different from either of the  Carolinas AND I was surrounded by folks transplanted to the Research Triangle Park so while I can sound authentically Southern, it’s a weird hybrid. To someone from South Carolina it won’t sound fake, but it’ll sound like I’m from some other part of the South. Because I am.

I also had little to no accent growing up which we blame on two things, the abundance of transplants in Raleigh and a speech impediment when I was little.

See a sizable part of southern accents is the dropped R. I couldn’t pronounce the letter at all and had it trained into me when I was little. But there are things that betray my regional origin. Words that, because I don’t have an accent, sound like I’m just mispronouncing them.

Two of them, I learned when I was reading A Local Habitation. I’ve said “unfortunately” and “definitely” wrong my entire life.  Since I’m using a southern accent for this other book, I called home to find out how my folks pronounced those two words.

The same way I do, which means it is a regional variation.

I’ve always said “unfortunantly” and “definently.”  Which explains why I’ve never been able to spell either word… It also means that I should switch pronunciations depending on if I’m reading the narrator or a character. That should be fun.

Accents… they fascinate me.

Home in Carolina (Sweet Magnolias)

Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel

Edited to add: Um. I’m actually in Grand Haven. I flew into Grand Rapids.

I know exactly how Mr. Puppeteer feels. In fact, there are parts of this conversation that could be a direct transcription of my life.

Of course the rest of the staff is made of awesome.  A chance to work with Ann VanderMeer and Paula Guran on the world’s oldest fantasy magazine? Heck, yes. I’ll take that, thank you.

If you’d like to read the full press release, step over to Weird Tales

• John Scalzi for President
• Bob Howe for Secretary
• Amy Sterling Casil for Treasurer
• Sean Williams for Overseas Representative

Here is the letter I posted in the 2010 Election area on the SFWA discussion forums.

Dear SFWA members:

I’m running for the position of Vice President. For the last two years, I’ve been privileged to work with an extremely active and committed board as Secretary of SFWA. We’ve made great strides in organizational issues, such as the new Nebula rules, the new website, and the draft of the new bylaws. I’m excited by the changes that are coming to the organization and I would very much like to continue helping SFWA regain solid footing so that it can continue to inform, support, promote, defend and advocate for our members.

• I have been an Active member of SFWA since 2007 and served on the board since 2008.
• In addition to my Board duties, I have also supervised the team which built your new website, sourced and manage the new membership management software, and researched options for health insurance.
• I was the 2008 Campbell Award Winner for Best New Writer.
• I’ve sold two fantasy novels to Tor, with my debut novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, appearing this summer.
• In addition, I’ve sold 30 short stories to markets such as Asimov’s, Strange Horizons and Clarkesworld as well as appearing in several Year’s Best. Last year my short story, “Evil Robot Monkey” was on the Hugo ballot.
• Besides writing, I am a professional puppeteer and voice actor and have worked in the arts for the last twenty years. I served on the Board of Directors and as the Vice President of UNIMA-USA, the American branch of the international puppetry organization.
• My work in the arts has give me experience in how effective non-profits function, as well as grant-writing and volunteer management.

• I live with my husband, Rob, in Portland, OR.

My primary focus as Vice President would be to continue the work that the current board has done to give SFWA organization stability. In addition, to the points in John Scalzi’s overall goals I would like to improve our outreach to industry professionals. Since our new website went live last summer 132 new members have joined SFWA, compared with 98 total in 2008. While this upward trend is good, it is obvious that we can improve our communication to both the membership and the larger SF and Fantasy community.

I look forward to continuing my work for SFWA as part of the 2010-2011 Board of Directors.

Yours,

Mary Robinette Kowal

]]> http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/im-running-for-vice-president-of-sfwa/feed/ 12 http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/okeefe-merritt-under-the-hood-before-and-after/ http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/okeefe-merritt-under-the-hood-before-and-after/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:01:34 +0000 Mary Robinette Kowal http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/?p=6352 I started the day by biking down to Voodoo donuts to meet Cat and Mr. Rambo for, well, donuts.  Powered by sugar, I came home to spend more time with our stove.

Which means it’s time for before and after pictures of stove!  We’ll not the whole stove, but just the under the hood part. This is what it looked like with all the burners pulled out.

And this is what it looks like, after cleaning.  I think we can probably get the last little bits of rust off the enamel, but largely I’m pleased by how well this part has cleaned up.

Most of today has been alternating between scrubbing things and attacking the grease trap for the griddle with a wire brush and my dremel tool.  It has serious rust, although as I clean it off, it sort of looks like it might be grease with a dusting of rust on top, because the metal underneath is in good shape.  Rob has been dealing with the mechanics and working on the regulators and such.

Behold! Four burners, a griddle, oven, warming oven and a broiler. It is a thing of beauty. The chrome and porcelain are in great shape and it just needs a little cleaning to be ready to go. We aren’t sure the year and model of this one. The closest I can find is the 1954 model 405.

I think the fellow who was selling it was a little taken aback when we bought it because the first thing we did was disassemble it as far as we could. These things are really heavy and if you pull out the burners and such the stove becomes manageable.  It felt a little like being an auto-team which is enhanced because the interior looks very much like it is made of engine parts.

This is our project for the next week. I’ll post photos as we go.

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The teaser:

A Piece of Valiant Dust

Harloyd walked through Loveman’s department store, swinging his brass thurible from its chain. A fine dust of fern, stream-smoothed stone, willow bark and all the other little things that made up a chilling spell fell from the tiny holes in the cone and drifted to form patterns of cool in the air.

His dark blue uniform, with its double row of shiny brass buttons and neat brimmed cap, marked him as Loveman’s heating and cooling magicker. As he went, the patrons smiled gratefully at him for keeping the venerable building comfortable. Sure, lots of folks bought ready-made cooling powders for their homes, but the temperature always fluctuated as the dust settled out. Only Loveman’s had heating and cooling men working to keep an even temperature, so folks tended to come in to shop more than at other stores.

It had gotten so Harloyd couldn’t walk to catch the streetcar home from downtown Chattanooga without someone tipping their hat to him and saying, “Evening, Mr. Varnell.” Some days he felt like everybody in town knew him. His wife joked that he should go into politics.

His rounds took him onto the ladies’ floor, where gleaming cases of walnut and glass held the latest in jewelry and cosmetics. His wife, Addie, worked in the evening wear section helping the most notable society ladies find the right dress for whatever event they needed. She was with one of her regulars, young Miss Priest. Harloyd just tipped his head at the ladies and kept walking with his thurible. While it made him proud to see Addie working here, there was always that worry that her powder might wear off while she wasn’t paying attention. Loveman’s didn’t let the colored in. Not that Addie had more than a touch of the paintbrush, but there was no telling what they’d do to her. Him either, since mixed marriages were a illegal in Tennessee. For all that, the day she’d come into his life, looking for a spell to help her pass had been the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Meanwhile, I realized that I badly needed to update my bibliography, which has been ignored since my bilbiofly plugin broke. I kept hoping that there would be an update, but alas, no.

This led to two further realizations.

1. There is a pre-order sale on Shades of Milk and Honey at Amazon right now, so the hardcover is only $16.49 instead of $24.99 Edited to add: 1-31-10 Amazon has removed all Macmillan books, including mine.
   
2. I’ve sold stories that start with every letter of the alphabet except I, K, M, N, O, Q, U, V, X, Y and Z.

Clearly, I need to consider my next titles carefully.

If your first pro-sale has appeared in print in 2008 or 2009, make sure you contact them to get included on the list of Campbell eligible authors.

One of the things I found interesting was that on “Some Other Day” he said that the first time he read it he focused on the mosquitos and that this time he focused on the love story. The difference? I’m fairly certain I didn’t add a word. But I rearranged them. In the draft Dad read, I started with what is now the second scene in the story. It was really hard to decide to move it because it has one of the best opening lines.

“The summer the mosquitoes died began as the best one in Josie Landon’s childhood.”

I hated losing that opening line, but as my Dad has noticed, it puts all the emphasis on the mosquitoes.  The published opening is “Josie Langdon leaned back from her microscope and rolled her neck to ease the kinks.”

While this opening line isn’t as attention grabbing, it sets the scene, tells you that she’s been at it a while and that she’s some sort of scientist. Two lines later I introduce the boy and this puts the emphasis on the love story by making it the first source of conflict I introduce.  All by flopping the first and second scenes.

This is an example of fixing the ending of a story by changing the beginning and I’d totally forgotten that I’d done that until Dad called today. Pretty cool, huh?

In epic battles of good vs. evil, the outcome often comes down to a one-on-one combat. A duel if you will. Historically, duels have been fought to settle a disagreement: Don't like what someone called your mother? Out come the swords! Fantasy movies, as it happens, have some of the best duels — and the best reasons for fighting them.

via Mary Robinette Kowal – The Top Ten Fantasy Duels – SciFi Scanner – AMC.

Maddening.

I’m not even getting loads of writing done because if one of those brief bars show up I pounce on the machine.

Technical support has no idea what’s wrong. They are very apologetic and sending someone out. Just not until next Tuesday.

I’m anticipating a lot of coffee shops this weekend. If you want to do a writing date, call me.

I’ve bolded my favorites. If the story title has a link, you can read the story online.

Short Story

The Conciousness Problem — Asimov’s, August 2009

At the Edge of Dying — Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness

Jaiden’s Weaver – Diamonds in the Sky (February, 2009)

Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery — Talebones #38

Prayer at Dark River — Innsmouth Free Press

Novelette

First Flight — Tor.com

Body Language — Intergalactic Medicine Show #15

My copy editor is Deanna Hoak and she has given me permission to post the stylesheet for Shades of Milk and Honey. If you are curious, feel free to download the pdf.

One of the things that fascinates me is that there are a few names and places in there that I have no memory of writing.  Like, what is the Spider’s Collonade Colonnade*? I also changed a character’s name mid-novel, which Deanna caught for me.

And this is only a tiny part of why a good copyeditor is worth her weight in gold. Or more, since Deana is slim…

*Deanna emailed me to let me know I’d just misspelled Colonnade here. See! A good copy editor see everything.
Edited to add: Deanna has two great posts about copy editing and style sheets. The Importance of Style Sheets and A Funny Note on Style Sheets