Spilogale Skunks
Spilogale, Inc. is the name of the publishing company that publishes F&SF. The company was named after the genus name of a spotted skunk, pictured here.
That picture is hanging above the archway that leads into the reading room.
World Fantasy Awards
There they are, Gordon’s Howies. That’s what the World Fantasy Award looks like, folks, isn’t it snazzy? (Hats not included.)
I don’t know where that Oscar came from; I think Gordon must have stolen it. They look so much bigger on TV…
I pity the fool
Mr. T
One of the many silly things around the office. (Note: that’s not actually Gordon.)
Gordon and his sister apparently have a tradition of trying to give each other the ugliest gift every year. This was one of the things he received. More recently, she gave him that soap-on-a-rope gargoyle I blogged about earlier.
Pizza Place Art, Part 2
Pizza Place Art
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.
Clarion 2006
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…
Caprica
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.
Origin of the Office Cat
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.
Hides Haunts Irish Hometown
SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Kealan Patrick Burke’s Stoker Award nomination for his first novel, The Hides.