Sorry about the lack of real updates lately. Hope to post some more soon. But you can blame it mostly on the two following things:
(1) I’m remodeling my house (and today saw my bathroom completely demolished so as to start from scratch)
and
(2) I got a new Verizon XV6700 phone, which I’ve alternately loved and hated, and so it has occupied much of my time trying to figure out how to use it exactly (and to decide if I want to cancel my contract before my 15 day trial period ends)
Seeing as I recently read A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, and I’ve been watching all the Family Guy re-runs that I’d previously missed, I can’t help but think that it would be totally awesome if Seth MacFarlane did a spin-off of Family Guy that revolved around Death. I mean, the one where Peter helps Death get a girlfriend is pure comic genius.
I’ve been trying to get rid of this piano for a while now, without luck. You want it? It’s yours. Just come get it. Location is Perth Amboy, NJ (08861). I recently tried posting a notice via Freecycle.org, but have been frustrated by the lack of communication with my local group moderator. I haven’t given up on it yet, but hey, might as well cast my net as far as possible. I just want to get rid of this thing.
It’s in fine working order, except that one key seems to be disconnected from its hammer. Easy enough to repair, I’d think. There’s no bench either, but other than that, it should be a fine addition to any music lover’s home.
Why do I want to get rid of it? Dude, because it’s in my library. I want to put books there.
As I mentioned previously, Gully was a bit listless at first, but he’s come around. He’s bonded with me now, trusts me and all that. Still doesn’t play with toys or anything, or have any interest in fetching, but he likes hanging around me, and is always looking for me when I’m not around (so I’m told).
He’s very quiet; I’ve barely heard him make a noise. When a series of emergency vehicles went by one night, he howled along with them, which was kind of amusing. Other than that, the only noise I’ve heard him make happened the other night; I was petting him, and apparently he was full of energy or something, because he launched himself into some kind of game, which entailed him spreading his front paws out in front of him as if it pounce mode, barking, then taking off running away from me, at which point he’d stop, turn around, get into pounce mode again, bark, and run back toward me. He did this a couple times, then must have got tired out and went and layed down. This is apparently known as a “play bow.” I don’t know how to trigger it, but I’d love to capture it on film, because, man, it was *weird.*
Speaking of dogs, check out this blog post by Jonathan Carroll.
This weekend, I attended the Fantastic Genres II, a very small academic conference held at SUNY New Paltz, in New Paltz, NY. The con director was John Langan, a semi-regular F&SF contributor, and a friend of mine. The conference was held once before, two years ago. The first one was really great; this one was good too, though not quite as well-organized. Apparently they received a grant to put on the first one, but this time they did not, so there weren’t as many resources at their disposal.
SF/fantasy artist (and frequent creator of F&SF covers) Maurizio Manzieri has just started a blog. His first few posts detail the creation of his most recent F&SF cover, which was for Donald Mead’s “iKlawa.” For those of you who have had illustrations based on your work, it’s an interesting insight into the creative process of the artist as he tries to translate your vision from prose into pictures. And for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure as of yet, well, it’s still interesting.
Subterranean is serializing Cherie Priest’s new novella “The Wreck of the Mary Byrd,” which is the first part of a new book called Dreadful Skin (Feb. 2007). The first three chapters are up now, and updates will be posted throughout the month. Go read!
John Scalzi is auctioning off a bound manuscript of his new novel The Last Colony (which is months and months ahead of the May 2007 pub date) to benefit the John M. Ford Book Endowment. Last bid I saw was $460. The higher the bid price goes, the more free stuff Scalzi throws in. At the level it’s at now, you not only get The Last Colony, but you get a copy of Scalzi’s limited edition chapbook, Questions for a Soldier, and it’s very close to being eligble for an ARC of his novel Agent to the Stars.
Good cause! Bragging rights! Scalzi stuff!
Go bid!
Some commenters asked some questions about Gully, so here’s what I know:
He’s around seven years old.
He’s a German Shepherd mix. When I questioned what he might be mixed with, Hannah suggested that he looks labrador-like, and I agree (after looking at some lab photos). So I’m going to go with German Shepherd/Labrador mix.
He doesn’t seem to know any tricks, except that he will sit when he thinks you want him to (though telling him to sit doesn’t seem to be what makes him do it), and he’ll also come to you when you snap your fingers, slap your leg, or make smoochie noises. Can’t seem to fetch, and shows no interest in the chew toy bone or the tennis ball-like balls I bought him. However, I ordered a dog training book to see if there’s stuff in there I can use, as I have no real idea how to train an animal to do something. Though just by reading reviews to some of these books, I picked up some stuff, such as: you’re not actually supposed to say “No” to a dog when they do something wrong; instead you’re supposed to reinforce what the correct thing to do is. Or something like that. I suppose it’ll all become clearer once I read the book.
One bit of concern is that he seems frequently listless, and mostly lays around. When I let him outside into the yard, he sniffs around, but doesn’t seem to want to stay out there (and, as I said, he shows no interest in fetching–perhaps I need to get one of those tug-of-war toys). He does seem to enjoy going for walks, though; he’s a very eager walker, and seemed to like smelling the smells of the neighborhood. If I were inclined to run with him, I expect he’d like that; because he was so eager, I started jogging for a little while so he could go faster.
And as you can see from this photo, he’s obviously a literary sort of pooch. His preferred place to crash appears to be right next to my bookcases. Curiously enough, on the top shelf of that particular case are two copies of the book of his namesake…
