Had pizza for lunch today at a little place down the block from the new office. It’s not as good as the place by the old office, but it’s not bad.
It’s a tiny little place, with just three tables to sit at, and no counter space. But they’ve got two likeable paintings hanging on the walls. Here’s one of them, which I wouldn’t mind having on my own wall.
Liz Zernechel, Director of Clarion, just announced the Clarion class of 2006. They are:
William Alexander
Bradley Beaulieu
Steve Berman
Christopher Cevasco
Brian (BK) Dunn
Jemma EveryHope
Casey Fiesler
Michael Furlong
Stephen Gaskell
Nye Joell Hardy
Vincent Jorgensen
Rahul Kanakia
Sarah Kelly
Felice Kuan
Robert Levy
Livia Llewellyn
Will Ludwigsen
Ceallaigh MacCath-Moran
Sean Manseau
Aimee Poynter
Shveta Thakrar
Alex Wilson
I see some familiar names there. Hmm, wonder where I could have seen them before…
Holy frak! SCI FI just announced a Battlestar Galactica spin-off called Caprica. Why I’m reading about this on GateWorld news instead of SCIFI.com, I have no clue, but GateWorld sez:
SCI FI calls the potential new show “television’s first science fiction family saga,” centering on the history of the Adama family and the birth of the Cylons.
Set more than 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica takes place on the capital world of the Twelve Colonies. There humankind thrives, living in a peaceful society with the benefits of high technology. But the development of an advanced, robotic, artificial life form is about to change everything.
Alas, no word as to when we might be seeing this new show.
In reference to my Office Cat post, a few questions came up:
(1) Is that Gordon’s cat?
(2) Does he interact with the MSS at all?
The cat belongs to the magazine. If Gordon ever decides to sell it, the cat would be included in the deal. He’s been passed down from editor to editor since the magazine was founded. Rumor has it Anthony Boucher found the cat slinking around the magazine’s garbage can one day, saw him throwing up on a particularly odious manuscript, and immediately adopted him, seeing as he was obviously a cat with great literary instincts. Yes, that means he’s very old. See Robert Reed’s upcoming story, “Pills Forever,” to discover the secret of his longevity.
So, yes, he does interact with the manuscripts occasionally. If you ask for the full ms. returned and you find some kind of unusual stain on some of the pages, well, then you’d know what he thought of your story. He also, inexplicably, tries to eat cover letters sometimes. This is why you must put your name and address on both your cover letter *and* first page of the ms. I don’t know why other magazines make you do it, but that’s the reason for it at F&SF; perhaps they have office cats as well (though I doubt their tastes are as discerning).
I hope that clears things up.
SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Kealan Patrick Burke’s Stoker Award nomination for his first novel, The Hides.
Since I review audiobooks, and apparently most audiobook publishers have no way of distinguishing between genres of audiobooks, I’m on the mailing list of a few different companies which just send me every single audiobook they publish. All I really need are SF/fantasy audiobooks, but this is the only way for me to get review copies, I guess. I’m not complaining, just explaining.
Sometimes sending me all these books does pay off though, since I do review for Publishers Weekly; on occasion, I’ll see an audiobook review copy that I might not have otherwise noticed, and if I find it interesting enough to read, I’ll ask my editor if I can review it. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t; most of the time he gives me a list of things to choose from.
But anyway, that’s all a long way of explaining how I got a copy of the following book in the mail the other day: 100 Bullshit Jobs…and How to Get Them by Stanley Bing. I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds interesting. I’ve always wanted a bullshit job, but at the moment I have a job that I quite enjoy, so this won’t be of much use to me at the moment. However, I was thinking that writers are always in need of bullshit jobs, because the more bullshit the job is, the more time you’ll have to write while you’re supposedly working. So, if you’re in need of a bullshit job, you might want to check this book out.
We don’t hang our artwork, we just lean it up against stuff. Of course, with us being drunk on Tiptree Ale most of the time, we’d never be able to hang it straight anyway.
Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press wrote to tell me about a special sale he’s having:
We sometimes get returns from distributors, and have received back from one a healthy handful of Connie’s Hugo-nominated novella in the past week or two. Here’s the deal: These copies are no longer in perfect nick. Some are slightly
dinged, some have a scuffed dust jacket. So w’re offering them for $10 (plus $5 shipping), instead of the usual $35 cover price.
If you’d like to snag a copy, order INSIDE JOB as usual at the SubPress website and mention “Dinged Inside Job” when checking out. (Your shopping cart total and automatic email confirmation won’t reflect the sale price, but don’t worry, we’ll catch it when processing your order. This offer valid until May 1, 2006. If you want to order via PayPal, do NOT use the online store. Email us at subpress@earthlink.net and we’ll invoice you.)
He also gives permission to spread the word about the sale. Go buy it! Come on, it’s Connie Willis!
Superagent Jenny Rappaport just started a new blog.
The purpose, according to Jenny:
Simply put, to let people learn a little bit about me and what I do as a literary agent. I’m very open to answering questions about the publishing business, and also to explaining my own tastes in books. The ultimate goal is for this to be a place that’s got some great comment discussions going on, and where you can learn a little while having fun.
Go read and ask those burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask a literary agent.
