Ellen Vandover just alerted me to some Icelandic horses that are currently in the Zillah feed pens and are in need of rescue. The ages range from 2 – 14 and are based off size, body size and tail length. They are halter broken and normally friendly but in the feedlot they seem pretty timid. […]
Icelandic Horses in need of rescue. Set for slaughter on Friday Read More »
Last night when I was flying home and the fellow in the seat next to me was talking about how awful the situation in Iceland was with the whole country blanketed by ash. It’s not. I explained that the area affected by Eyjafjallajökul is very small and that Europe is getting most of the ash
Heavily Inspired by Iceland Read More »
New York was scheduled to get fourteen inches of snow today. I’m not sure how many actually fell, but the blanket was pretty thick today. Rob and I went for a walk in Central Park, which had children on sleds on every possible hill. Their winter coats seemed super-saturated against the monochrome landscape. It reminded
In the snow with Rob Read More »
This is a post that I wrote over two years ago while working on the television show in Iceland. At the time, I held it because there was no way I could talk about this stuff without giving away that we were doing a circus episode. Well, the episode has been out long enough now
After having Icelandic visitors for the last week, I’m missing the place even more. Daddi and Friða left last night, safely, and our apartment seems empty. As much as anything else, I miss the sound of the language when they would quickly chat with one another. I made a few abortive attempts to use my
Our friend Daddi is in town for a big expo and he brought us several packs of our favorite Icelandic treat. Flatkökur are flat cakes, that sort of look like burned crepes. Made with rye flour, they are sooooo tasty and I’ve missed them a lot. There’s nothing comparable here.
We have flatkökur! Read More »
A 6.1 earthquake hit Southern Iceland today. We’ve talked with some of our friends and everyone seems to be fine. Since Iceland is a geologically unstable island, they tend to be more architecturally prepared than we do. Even so, all the residents in Hveragerdi ((Hveragerdi has the hot river where we spent summer solstice.)) and
Earthquake in Iceland Read More »
Elizabeth Barrette asked, “How did you get into your cool practice of acquiring bizarre props and building puppets?” This is one that comes up a lot and, strangely, I don’t think I’ve posted on it, so I’ll give the long answer. I was one of those kids who wanted to do everything. My parents indulged
How I got started in puppetry Read More »
Since my plans with the folks were out, I decided to throw an impromptu party. I was figuring it would be a small turnout, you know, what with last minute notice for a Friday night. To my pleasant surprise, close to twenty people came round. We opened some interesting wines, had hors d’ouerves, ordered Chinese.
My birthday was a splendid day Read More »
Normally I’m all etiquette books and puppets, but there are days when what I really want to see is a movie with things that explode, you know? Today was one of those — don’t ask — and so Rob went out to find something for me. He came back with The Bourne Supremacy, which I
Movies with things that explode Read More »
Last night, Rob and I threw our annual dinner party. I normally have a guest list of 40, but given the size of the apartment, whittled the list down to twenty, fifteen of whom attended. One of the most curious things was how many of our guests had been to the party in Portland or
Friday I had a meeting about a show I’m going to do set design for — one that does not involve any body parts at all — and then… then I had nothing on my calendar. I staggered for a bit, feeling like I had to race somewhere or do something but I didn’t. I
What? A social life? Read More »
Eve’s Alexandria reviewed Twenty Epics and includes favorable comments about my story “Bound Man.” Here’s a snippet of the section about “Bound Man.” Other stories do in fact meet many of the criteria listed in my opening paragraph. Mary Robinette Kowal’s ‘Bound Man’ – one of the longer pieces in the anthology – goes for
Eve’s Alexandria reviews Twenty Epics Read More »
Last week I spent an enjoyable hour being interviewedby Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons‘ podcast. Susan was my editor for “Bound Man,” in Twenty Epics and also “Portrait of Ari” for Strange Horizons. In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Susan Marie Groppi spoke with Mary Robinette Kowal. Mary is a puppeteer
Strange Horizons Podcast interviews me Read More »
Golly, it’s a banner week for reviews. Joe Sherry, at Adventures in Reading, reviewed “Horizontal Rain.” Here’s a snippet. Horizontal Rain is a reasonably short short-story, fewer than 2700 words, but Mary Robinette Kowal packs a good deal of story into those 2700 words. Confusion, fear, fairy tales, trolls, death, driving, construction, meetings, phone calls,
Adventures in Reading reviews Horizontal Rain Read More »