So…

From now until Sept. 5th, I will be mostly off the grid. I might be checking emails sporadically; but this isn’t guaranteed. I might be posting if I get a free minute; but again, not guaranteed. (exceptionally, there won’t an SFnovelists post forthcoming on August 28th, due to major time crunches. Next post due in September).

Also, any good wishes for stellar weather on the 28th in the region of Brittany are much appreciated.

There will be pics when I come back.

H-3 (in this case, H meaning “holidays”, or the closest thing thereof). Arg. Will survive.

Currently reading: my back issues of Asimov’s (haven’t had time to open one all summer long). Really liked Nancy Fulda’s “Backlash”, a story of time-travel and fixing mistakes–a quick romp, but with all-too-believable depths about families, past mistakes (and a particularly nasty and realistic depiction of PTSD). Also, Mary Robinette Kowal’s “For Want of A Nail”, an AI story set on a generation ship, where the protagonists fix one set of problems to find another, worse one behind. Sparse and poignant. And from the July issue, Alice Sola Kim’s “The Other Graces”, a story about a Korean “yellow-trash”, which encompassed a bunch of things about immigration and fitting in.

Currently working on: wedding, wedding and wedding. With a sidedash of blog posts.

Currently making: Murgh Biryani, from Charmaine Solomon’s The Complete Asian Cookbook. Well, almost. Clever substitutions took place, ’cause my shelf spice isn’t that big, and I plain shorted out on saffron, making for rice that was rather whiter than expected. But yum yum.

Via Andy Cox, the title spread for my upcoming “Age of Miracles, Age of Wonders” (forthcoming in Interzone 230, the very next issue).

Er, wow? I am *so* glad Interzone is back to full colour. It looks awesome! (plus, mechanical men. And fallen gods. And Aztecs. You can’t really go wrong with any of those).

The awesome Jenny Barber interviewed me for the British Fantasy Society. You can find excerpts of the interview here at the BFS website: the full interview will be published in the next issue of Dark Horizons (the magazine of the BFS).

Also, if you scroll down to the very bottom of the interview, you’ll see you have a chance to win a copy of Servant of the Underworld–so hop on over there to get yourself some Aztec-y goodness 🙂

Mark Harding’s awesome music-themed anthology, Music for Another World, is now available (here on the Mutation Press website, or on amazon). It includes my novelette “Silenced Songs”, as well as contributions from friends like VDer Stephen Gaskell, LJ friend Vaughan Stanger, Neil Williamson, and Jim Steel .
You get discounted shipping if you order via the Mutation Press website, BTW.

Also, Carl Rafala’s The Immersion Book of SF is available for pre-order on amazon. It contains my story “Father’s Last Ride”, aka the one with aurora riders and weird aliens. Sharing a TOC with Tanith Lee (I will not hyperventilate I will not hyperventilate…), Lavie Tidhar, Gord Sellar, Chris Butler, Gareth Owens, Eric James Stone, Jason Erik Lundberg and Al Robertson . (OK, I’ve just realised I know, in one way or another, 70% of the TOC. Wow).
ETA: apparently, The Immersion Book of SF already ships from some booksellers like Barnes & Noble.
ETA2: it would seem the cover is inspired by my story. *speechless*

…to the reader-hivemind: if I call a soldier a “knight”, does this mean that he *has* to have a horse or be mounted on one?
The equivalent French and Spanish words are “chevalier” and “caballero”, which are formed from the root of “cheval” and “caballo” respectively, suggesting that possession of a horse is imperative. “Knight”, insofar as I can see, doesn’t have that connotation, but maybe it’s irreversibly acquired it by now?

Currently watching Angel (in Spanish, in an effort to keep my vocab up to date. So far, I’ve learnt lots of moderately useful words such as “stake”, “coffin”, “demon”, but you never know, I might need them somehow). I like the show, but the mythology is sometimes… particular. As in, you don’t want to dig in too deeply, because things might crack.

For instance, crucifixes and holy water are clearly harmful to vampires, whether they’re ensouled or not. But, conversely, it doesn’t seem to be a problem for Angel to stroll into a church, which is a. consecrated ground, b. the house of God (ie, the origin of the powers invested in crucifixes in the first place), and c. in a deliberate crucifix layout, like most traditional churches (the nave and the transept forming a rather characteristic shape…).

Interesting…

Mostly on non-writerly things, alas–including tables, mass booklets and tracking down of those last few guests who hadn’t yet answered us. Deluge continues. Hoping to have a quieter weekend with Juliette Wade, who is visiting Paris, and with my grandmother.

Books read: The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott, which was awesome. A trans-generational tale of a Renaissance world where spells can be set in paintings, and where paintings are used to document everything from treaties to victories. An over-ambitious painter, Sario, discovers forbidden magic and sets about to remake the world, with disastrous results. Reminded me of all the stuff I loved in art history; I also loved the focus on women and how the kind of power they wielded evolved with time, as the world moved towards a more equal system.
Currently reading Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy, which is mindless fun, but pretty well done.

And in other news…

Almost done with the tables–now for the actual table plan… I think we’ve sorted out most of the printing problems, even though we still have to drop the booklet at the printer’s.

Actual writing: er… Does research count? Preparing a story to complete the “Shipbirth/Shipmaker” set of stories, still not sure where it’s going other than the fact that it involves transport ships.

Reading: opened a random book taken from the library (Tess Geritsen’s The Apprentice), which had a serial killer raping and kidnapping women. Suppressed an urge to hurl it at the wall, and closed it. I really need to find a decent thriller that doesn’t have a serial killer torturing women in it, before my faith in the crime genre falters altogether…

And your Vietnamese word of the day is mặt trời: “the sun” (lit. “the face of the sky”). Meanwhile, I’ll go back to practising my tones. Still can’t get the level tone right (you’d think it would be the simplest one, but it seems I can’t maintain my voice level at all).

As part of her ongoing series of short writer/editor interviews (which have included fellow AR author Kaaron Warren), the lovely Angela Slatter asked me five questions. Find out what my favourite literary character is, and whether I prefer donuts or danishes here.