Ex-girlfriend of H.G. Wells narrating, explaining her refusal to marry him once he was available to her. London, around the turn of the century (which I’ll need help with). Possible alien invasion (long before the end of the 19th century) hidden by the writings of a popular early SF pioneer, but… why? And who are the aliens? Oh, not who you think. Muhahaha. Into the idea file it goes.
The book is H.G. Wells in Love, a text I happened upon in the University library. I have no idea why it was purchased, but the card in the back of the book shows it not having been signed out… ever. (Of course, everything’s electronic now, so one never knows.) It’s a bunch of posthumously published biographical material written by H.G. Wells about his later sexual/love life, edited by his son. It’s a rather strange text which I feel is very much open to cryptic paranoiac readings, all kinds of weird notions such as the Lover-Shadow (a kind of second persona within the self, apparently of opposite gender to the conscious personality, or something). Wells was a weird guy, and there’s plenty of room to capitalise on that, I think. Prep for the story, however, will probably have to include rereading _The War of the Worlds_ and maybe _The Island of Doctor Moreau_ as well, plus some basic information about the early Enlightenment…
Of course, all of that research shall have to wait till after I finish all of the other readings, editing, and preparations I have to do. I’m finally semi-free to get into Ian R. MacLeod’s Breathmoss & Other Exhalations, and maybe even finish John Gardner this weekend, too. Then The Light Years and probably Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber, some of The Dark: New Ghost Stories edited by Ellen Datlow. Thereafter, we’ll see how far I get, but the lineup is Maureen McHugh’s Mission Child followed by Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky (which is likely to be my carryon baggage-in-case-I-can’t-sleep-on-the-airplane book), and finally Paul Park’s Three Marys.
Ha, and that’s not counting my research books, some of which I’ll have no choice but to bring with me. But unlike those, I won’t be able to bring the Wells book, so it needs to get at least a good skimming, if not a complete quick readthrough, before I leave.
But all of that shall go aside for now. At the moment, what’s necessary is sleeeeeeeeeeeeep. I’m running short, and while I’m mostly staying on top of the editing and grading, it’s about to hit like a tsunami and I need at least one good night’s sleep before I start grading essays on Thursday. All I can say is thank goodness Thursday’s a holiday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday free, and I have only one class’s assignments to grade, and two chapters and a bit to edit for this editing job, and I’ll be done the English magazine’s editing work, and have very little in the way of unfinished class preparations to do for the next couple of weeks.
The time when I shall board the plane to Seattle is fast approaching, to Lime’s chagrin; she supports me in this Clarion West thing, but I know my absence will be hard on her. All I can say is I’ll be a newer, fresher, better Gord when I come back. Of that, I’m very certain.