My Launch Pad classmate Stacey Cochran hosted a live chat about Launch Pad a while back, and I just realized that I haven’t posted the link for those who missed the chat when I mentioned it on Twitter! Plenty of participants joined in, and it’s worth giving it a listen, whether you’re considering applying for the program (I recommend it very highly!) or just curious about what it was like. It was so good to hear so many of their voices — and those who couldn’t make it were definitely missed… You can check out the chat here.
Month: December 2009
Apex Readers’ Poll and Anthology
Well, the final edit for “The Bodhisattvas” is finally in the can (thanks to Jonathan Strahan for very useful nitpicking and questions), and I’ve been nudged to mention that there’s a reader’s poll over at Apex for the best new fiction piece (“Story of the Year”) of 2009. Tons of good work there, so if you’ve been reading Apex Magazine this year, check out the list, maybe refresh your memory, and vote for what you liked best… which of course is my story, “Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands”, right? Right? Speaking of which, the Apex anthology collecting “Cai…” and …
What’s Your Major, Mr. Hippocampus?
A discussion of Steven Pinker in the comments for my last post brought up a memory from grad school, and I thought I’d post it here. I was sitting in the little coffee shop/diner place across from the Second Cup on du Parc, up in the McGill Ghetto in Montreal. It was basically my favorite place for a light meal, and I always had a samosa and a calzone — usually chicken, sometimes beef or veg. This time, I’d met up with my friend Chiraz and we were having coffee and talking. Somehow, I got onto the subject of the …
Six Word Story, Ahem,
Not that I consider this a serious publication, but I figured, if Ernest Hemingway (and a bunch of Wired contributors) could do it, so could I. (Arrogant, I know. Well, actually I figured that if he could do it powerfully, I could do something maybe passable.) The result is, I have a “six-word memoir” coming out in this book. I get a contributor’s copy, but no money, of course. It’s amusing, though I’m not really in the practice of giving away content, really. I am actually not fond of But it is just six words. Since I don’t have any …
Spider & Jeanne Robinson Fundraiser (& Sofanaut Award Shortlist)
So, the crew of the good Starship Sofa are running a fundraiser for Spider and Jeanne Robinson, for the latter is struggling with a pernicious sort of cancer. If you donate, you can have a copy of Lawrence Santoro’s “Lord Dickens’s Declaration” in ebook form, in addition to the free podcast of the story (starting here, continuing here). Yes, I’ve made a contribution, and you should too. Even you godless types, like me, have Newtonmass to celebrate and be thankful for. At the same time, Tony, the captain of the Starship Sofa, also informed me that “Lester Young and the …
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
Another belated review for a Librarything freebie book, here. This one is tough for me to post, for reasons I imagine will be obvious… I try not to be too negative when I review books, stories, or other creative work. For one thing, I know what it’s like to have someone slam my work when they clearly haven’t understood it even slightly. I know what it feels like to see someone who doesn’t care either way about me and my work to stand up and dismiss it — online, which makes it harder because any twit can write a nasty …
The Life and Loves of Mr. Jive Ass Nigger by Cecil Brown
I read this book quite a while ago, and meant to post a review. Librarything is now saying, no freebie books if I don’t, and anyway, I do want to review it. But this is a bit from memory. Anyway, here’s what I posted on the Librarything website: This is, as someone else put it, a novel of a time and place. But it’s an interesting and somewhat alien time and place, even though it’s not so very long ago. Maybe it’s just because I’m projecting onto this text, but some other books that came to mind when one reads …
Wonmisan: Not Quite Lost
Back in September, I wrote about how the municipal government was ruining my favorite mountain in Korea. That is, my local mountain.I figured I’d give a (mostly happy) update about that.
The Asia Pages
Remember The Asia Pages, that blog that Jodi used to run down in wherever-it-was near Busan? Now that was a blog. A good Korea-blog. I miss that blog. Jodi, I hope you’re doing well out there, wherever you are!
IPA, or, The Boys Done Good…
Yeah, yeah, yeast is not gendered. I’m calling them that because the Belle & Sebastian song “The Boy Done Wrong Again” is in my head. (I never saw that video before looking it up just now — how gloomy — so no, that’s not a cry for help.) Anyway… the IPA I bottled a couple of weeks ago has mellowed some, and the carbonation on it is just excellent, excellent. Okay, the head still isn’t staying long — well, maybe the ring around the top, but not a thick creamy head — but that’s okay. It tastes good, good enough …