BrooklynWriter

On Tuesday, I'm going to be attending a class at PEIR -- about one of my stories. PEIR -- Personal Enrichment in Retirement -- is a program at Hofstra (located on Long Island) where seniors create their own classes, taking advantage of all the academic learning and life experience that they've accumulated.

This is a class about literature, and they're actually going to discuss my story Waiting for Jakie; when they're finished dissecting it, I get a shot at defending myself .

How/why do I know about this? My mother has been a part of the PEIR program for years now. So I'm actually appearing in my character of "Dorothy's daughter." I'll let y'all how it goes.

This afternoon, I wandered over to the Web site of From the Asylum Books, which is publishing the anthology Things Aren't What They Seem (which will include one of my stories), and it had a listing of the Table of Contents. The listing dates from August 30th; as yet, no word as to when the anthology will actually be published. You'll know when I do.

Here's the TOC:

Open for Business - Richard Dansky
Unsafe Sex - Chris Donahue
I Married an Alien - Linda Donahue
The Human Contingent - Rhonda Eudaly
Screamer - C.S. Fuqua
The Boyfriend from Hell - Fiona Glass
Lover Unseen - Ken Goldman
Word Warp, Too - Liza Granville
General Sherman - Alissa Grosso
The Perfect Barbecue - Cathy C. Hall
Three Deep Breaths - Kim Kofmel
The Call Comes - Barbara Krasnoff
The Harvester of All Things: Now and Then - Bobbie Metevier
The Pet - Tracy Morris
The Hustle - Aaron Polson
Living in Hell - Selina Rosen
The Shop on the Corner - Jennifer Schwabach
Infestation - Anna Stephens
New Skin for the Old Ceremony - David Tallerman
Making Contact - Raoul Wainscoting
Under Calcutta - John Walters
Cosmetic Purposes - Desmond Warzel
Saucer-Men of the Second City - John Weagley

Jim and I went to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve in Queens yesterday. We went rather late in the afternoon, and weren't sure what to expect, but ended up seeing a lot of birds -- hundreds of them. Nothing really exotic, but interesting and very plentiful. There were flocks of starlings, ducks, terns, swans, gulls, geese, and at least one black-bellied plover, amid some smaller shore birds that I couldn't identify (partially because my binocs weren't up to the task, and partially because I wasn't).

The most exciting view of the day was of a couple of dozen herons/egrets, more than I usually see in one place. They were gathered on the shore and in a nearby tree -- at first, we thought we were looking at several different types, but then when we got home and went through my photos, we saw that we were actually looking at families -- notice on the left that there's a Great White Heron feeding its chick. (You can click on the photo for a larger version.)

The most disturbing view of the day was of a Black-Backed Gull we named Hannibal, for reasons that will become obvious. Jim first noticed a large gull dragging something across the sand; when we looked closer, we saw it was the carcass of another bird. Once Hannibal got its prize down to the water -- where presumably it was safe from the competition -- it started to feed. (Hannibal, incidentally, is the gull on the top right of the photo that's enjoying its dinner.)

At first, we were a bit perturbed -- we knew that gulls ate almost everything, but other birds? When we got home, I checked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site and sure enough, gulls -- especially Black-Backed Gulls -- will eat fish, chicks, mammals, and anything else they can get hold of, including other birds.

You learn something new every day....

Okay, insufferable boasting alert:

It's nice to be mentioned in a review, and it's really nice to be mentioned really favorably. Short fiction review site The Fix reviews several small press books/sites, including Apex Magazine, and it recently included a really nice write-up about my story "Waiting for Jakie." Among other things, reviewer Kimberly Lundstrom says:

The only thing missing from this beautifully rendered story is the protagonist’s name. She may have been no one to her Nazi tormentors, but I would like to know the name of this character I’ll not soon forget.

That was so nice to read...

Out of curiosity -- and the urging of a friend or two -- I've put some of my stories into AnthologyBuilder, an innovative Web site that lets you build your own anthologies -- you choose from a number of short stories, either by classic or current writers, up to 350 pages worth. You come up with a title, choose a cover, and pay $14.95, and they send you your anthology. Not a bad notion.

Anyway, I've got three stories with them: Signs of Life, which was the first story I ever sold (and one of the most traditionally SF); Hearts and Minds, which is sort of a comic afterlife tale; and Means of Communication, and not-so-comic SF tale.

Even if you're not interested in my stories (or if you've read them already <g>), it's not a bad site to check out. Just saying.

As a follow-up to my kaffeeklatsche at Readercon 2009 on earning a living as a writer, I've updated the Web page called Resources for Freelance Writers. It's only a simple list, but provides some hopefully useful organizations and other resources. If anyone has anything they think should be added, I'd be happy to do so.

It was a fun meeting, by the way. Thanks again to everyone who participated.

The final Readercon Schedule is out, and I'm impressed (and a little nervous) about my schedule, which includes two (count 'em, two!) readings, a panel, and a "themed kaffeeklatsch." Here it is for anyone attending who wants to drop by and say hello:

Thursday 9:00 PM, Salon A: Reading (30 min.)
I'll probably read "Waiting for Jakie," which was published in a recent issue of Apex.

Friday 12:00 Noon, Room 458: Kaffeeklatsch
Topic: How to Write for a Living When You Can't Live On Your Fiction

Friday 9:00 PM, ME/ CT: Panel
Exceptions to the Rule. John Crowley, Jim Freund (L), Stephen Graham
Jones, Barbara Krasnoff, Robert V. S. Redick

[Greatest Hit from Readercon 1.] All con long we've talked about the
ideas, styles, and aesthetic values that distinguish good literature,
because written literature is the medium where we expect the creative
cutting edge of the f&sf field to be. But is it always that way? Can the
intelligence and subtlety that inform a great novel or short story
translate to other forms? Are there ways that those forms, properly used,
could surpass written literature at the things we expect written
literature to do best? As well as identifying some outstanding existing
work, we'll talk about what we'd like to see in the future.

Saturday 2:00 PM, VT: Group Reading
Clockwork Phoenix 2 Group Reading (60 min.) Mike Allen (host) with
Saladin Ahmed, Leah Bobet, Mary Robinette Kowal, Barbara Krasnoff,
Catherynne M. Valente

Readings from the second volume of the annual non-theme anthology
(subtitled More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness) edited by Allen and
just published by Norilana Books.

A young teenage friend of mine gave her opinion on books vs. films, as least as far as film versions of written material. In her view, as she gave it last evening, films can never be as good as the books that they represent, because they narrow your vision of what was in the book. Both she and her best friend pointed at Twilight as an illustration -- both are fervent fans of the book series, but were not very happy with the film, because, they said, it didn't portray the depth of feeling between the two main characters that they found in the book.

I think that we all, even those of us who are film buffs, have been similarly "betrayed" by film versions at one point or another. Mine came very early; I was a huge fan of Travers' Mary Poppins books when I was a kid, and the idea that this smiling young woman singing about spoonfuls of sugar could possibly be the stern, magic, somewhat frightening Mary Poppins of the books irritated me terribly.

I found out which panel I'm going to be on at Readercon: "Exceptions to the Rule." What are we discussing? The description says, "Can the intelligence and subtlety that inform a great novel or short story translate to other forms? Are there ways that those forms, properly used, could surpass written literature at the things we expect written literature to do best?"

In plain English: Can a movie or TV show be as good as a book?

How do people find time to blog, and Facebook, and LinkedIn, and Twitter, and everything else? Besides earning a living and maybe doing some writing on the side? Just asking...

Looks like Clockwork Phoenix 2 is in stock at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble (thanks to time_shark  and cristalia  for the heads-up). So if you want to read my story "Rosemary, That's for Remembrance," plus a bunch of other stories by some really excellent writers, you may want to take a look.

Clockwork Phoenix 2, which is due out this July (and which includes my story "Rosemany, That's For Remembrance"), has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Judging from the reaction from the publisher, Norilana Books, this is a very Big Deal indeed. According to the reviewer, "Allen finds his groove for this second annual anthology of weird stories, selecting 16 wonderfully evocative, well-written tales." Mary Robinette Kowal and Saladin Ahmed (both of whom are in my writer's group, Tabula Rasa) are mentioned specifically.

Click here to fine the Publishers Weekly review; go down to the bottom of the page.

I wonder, sometimes, if we consider enough the kind of upset that this economic "downturn" has on all those who are experiencing layoffs and cutbacks and unpaid vacations and salary cuts. You listen to the news, and they talk about how an upturn is expected and less people are being laid off this month than next.

But losing a job is not something that disappears as soon as the stock market starts to recover. Somebody who loses a job -- especially somebody older -- may not easily fit into another position. (And "retraining" usually ends of making money only for those doing the training.) Salaries reduced are not automatically raised back to their former levels when things get better. Savings and retirement accounts that were decimated by the market and then by necessity may never be restocked.

Once an economic recovery begins, the media will invariably start acting as if everything is back to normal. But people's lives are being changed in ways that they will not quickly recover from.

The folks at Apex Magazine are showing the piece of art that will be used as the cover of Descended From Darkness: Apex Magazine Vol. I, the anthology that "Waiting for Jakie" will be included in. It's a really impressive scape from artist Vitaly S. Alexius.

Incidentally, thanks to Michael Burstein (mabfan ) for mentioning the anthology in his  recent Livejournal entry-- and thus leading me to find this sneak peak of the art on the Apex blog.

I've just found out that my story "Waiting for Jakie," which appeared in the April issue of Apex Magazine, will also be part of the anthology Descended From Darkness: Apex Magazine Vol. 1. According to the Web site, the book is scheduled for an early December release. I'm really pleased -- especially since I'll be keeping company with so many great writers.

Here's the Table of Contents:

“Hideki and the Gnomes” - Mark Lee Pearson
“Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens” - Peter M. Ball
“Waiting for Jakie” - Barbara Krasnoff
“The Last Science Fiction Writer” - Jamie Todd Rubin
“The Mind of a Pig” - Ekaterina Sedia
“The Puma” - Theodora Goss
“Dark Planet” -Lavie Tidhar
“Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands” - Gord Sellar
“On the Shadow Side of the Beast” - Ruth Nestvold
“Starter House” - Jason Palmer
“A Night at the Empire” - Joy Marchand
“Organ Nell” - Jennifer Pelland
“PLEBISCITE AV3X” - Jason Fischer
“Shaded Streams Run Clearest” - Geoffrey W. Cole
“A Splash of Color” - William T. Vandemark
“Behold: Skowt!” - Jason Heller
“Blakenjel” - Lavie Tidhar
“I Know an Old Lady” - Nathan Rosen
“The Limb Knitter” - Steven Francis Murphy
“Scenting the Dark” - Mary Robinette Kowal
“The Nature of Blood” - George Mann
“In the Seams” - Andrew C. Porter
“These Days” - Katherine Sparrow
“Post Apocalypse” - James Walton Langolf

Colette Douglas Home from The Herald has it in her recent commentary:

The answer is that only the pretty are expected to achieve. Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect. If, like Susan (and like millions more), you are plump, middle-aged and too poor or too unworldly to follow fashion or have a good hairdresser, you are a non-person.

'nuff said.

Apex Magazine has published this month's edition, which not-so-incidentally includes my short story "Waiting for Jakie." Which is very exciting.

The issue also includes original short fiction by Jamie Todd Rubin and a reprint from Jeffrey D. Kooistra; poetry by Michael Ceraolo and Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith ); interviews with Paul Jessup and Ekaterina Sedia, and a forward by special guest editor Michael A. Burstein. Cool stuff.

Here's the opening of the story, if you'd like a taste...

I like the blue pills best. I have others, of course — the purple ones, and the green and yellow ones. The tiny white ones? Those are just for blood pressure, and all they really do, in my opinion, is give a living to the drug companies. Not that I have anything against drug companies, God forbid; after all, they not only allow me to face each day, but gave my son Benjamin a decent living for many years until the AIDS got him, poor boy.

Anyway, the blue pills are the ones I take when I’m feeling nervous or depressed, which is most of the time, actually. I tell the doctors this, and they try to put me on other medications, more long term, they call it, but a week goes by and I’m feeling like taking a steak knife to my wrists, so I throw away the new ones and go back to the ones that at least keep me operating on, as Samuel used to say, all six cylinders.

And sometimes, if I’ve taken just a little bit more than I’m supposed to — not much, only a few more milligrams, nothing, an extra pill or more, who would begrudge it? — then, if I squint my eyes a little and let the living room furniture blur a bit, then sometimes, if I’m lucky, I can see Jakie. Not very clear, I admit, and usually only a little, but it’s him. It’s him.

I'm pleased to announce that my story "Waiting for Jakie" will appear in the April issue of Apex Magazine. This issue was guest-edited by Michael Burstein, and deals with "the slipperiness of history and the dangers of forgetting the past."

Which is exactly what my story is about. Partly, anyways.

John Klima has published the cover art for Electric Velocipede 17/18 (the one that my story "In the Gingerbread House" is going to appear in). It's a really great cover; reminds me a bit of some of the stark protest art that I used to see as a child in the early 1960s.

I'm very impressed by the company I'll be keeping. It includes Rick Bowes, a member of my writers group Tabula Rasa and one of my favorite writers; several members of the Altered Fluid writers group, including K. Tempest Bradford, Matthew Kressel, and Mercurio D. Rivera (apologies if I'm missing anyone); and a bunch of other folks, some of whom I know, and some of whom I've read. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Just read (through a link provided by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols; thanks, Steven!) that Computer Shopper is going completely digital after it ships its April issue.

This isn't unexpected; CS made most of its money through mail-order computer vendors when I was there, and after that market completely dried up and blew away, it was really only a matter of time. The magazine, which was once the size of two Manhattan phone books, is now barely more than a leaflet. But this was the last remaining print magazine for whom I once worked -- PC Magazine went away a couple of months ago, while the other three (Personal Computing, PC Sources, and Portable Computing) died while I was working for them. So it's a bit sad.

A word of warning to folks who get into car accidents -- your rates may go up whether or not it's really your fault.

The other day, I got my renewal papers for my car insurance, and on one of the pages I saw the following statement: "Based on your driving record and longstanding relationship with our company, you qualify for a benefit under our Accident Forgiveness Program. As a result, we have waived the increased premium associated with the accident on 01/20/07."

The accident in question was a frightening incident on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway early on a very cold, wet morning. A driver was weaving in and out of traffic at top speeds; in order to avoid him, another auto had to suddenly brake, hit black ice, and set in motion a pile-up that eventually involved about 12 cars. Jim was driving the 12th.

Our car was totaled, but luckily Jim's injuries were limited to a cleanly broken knee (so no surgery was needed) and a sprained ankle. The guy who caused it was eventually arrested. We were clearly not at fault -- Jim was driving well within speed limits and there wasn't a whole lot he could do to avoid hitting the car in front of him -- and everyone agreed.

So why would they even think about increasing our premium?

I talked to a very nice young woman on the phone today, who explained that the owner of the car that Jim hit got a payment of about $4,000. No matter what the circumstances of the accident, if one car hits somebody else's -- even if that car is pushed into the other by a car behind them -- that car is considered "at fault." If the payout is over $1,000, an increase is added to the owner's insurance. It was only because I've got a really good record with the insurance company that I was able to avoid the increase -- this time. If we're in any kind of accident before 2012, and are found "at fault," all bets are off.

The moral of the story? That the circumstances of an accident aren't really considered pertinent to whether or not the drive is held financially responsible.

Just so you know.