…e the grammar is so different from French and the whole act of translating really requires firing neurons in the right mindset. Kind of reminds me of Ancient Greek, actually. In worse… [1]Not totally true. There is a neutral and uncomfy pronoun “I”, “tôi”, which I can use for those cases. And, if the speaker is around my age bracket, “bạn” (friend), has the advantage of being genderless (but it’ll piss off someone much older than me really fast)….

…by the fact that I think I’m getting somewhere with the latest short story brainstorming, yay!). However… this is also offset by the fact that I’ve sold two short stories–one sale I think I can’t announce yet, and the other… Sheila Williams let me know she was taking “Starsong” for Asimov’s. Doing the Snoopy dance here. Many thanks to the November 2010 Villa Diodati crew for reading the first version of this (Ruth Nestvold, John Olsen, Jeff Spock,…

…f vegetables (and nước mắm), if not very nourishing. But I would have felt really out of place making a suggestion to two total strangers, so I didn’t say anything (though, amusingly, I would have done it were we speaking English–I really think my English-speaking persona is more outgoing than my French). And finally steeled myself and said “bye” in Vietnamese, and nobody looked vexed, so at least it worked (though I think I shouldn’t have said “M…

…es tries to duplicate female poses on genre covers, and posts pictures. Hilarious. (even though, yeah, women do move a little more easily at the hips than men, it’s true that none of those poses look exactly comfortable for men). genreviews does the same thing comparing male and female poses on covers. -Related: Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits, or why boob plates are the most impractical idea ever….

…is a little bit better ingrained. I can repeat fairly accurately; I can’t really manage unprompted unless it’s very simple things (“hello”, “thank you”, “please give me a bowl of phở” *g*). Not surprising: I’ve always been more visual than auditive (yup, writer. Why do you ask?) As I was saying to Mom, the main thing where I’ve improved is that I’m reasonably sure that I can read and understand a Vietnamese menu with close to no help (barring the…

…finally got in my nominations for the BSFA (short fiction, since I didn’t actually read any 2011 novels except for the aforementioned Gail Carriger (Heartless, which technically I haven’t started, having just downloaded it to my ereader). Actual content to come, including mini-reviews of Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts (short version: you have to pre-order this book now), and David Gemmell’s Troy….

…ly the source literature of SF, was the province of the bourgeoisie; while the older texts were the province of nobility) In other news, busy weekend ahead: friends coming over on Saturday, and we’re probably headed into the 13e Sunday to see the New Year’s procession….

…lely financed by grants and by generous sponsors, so naturally seeks enough money to award a decent prize. In a field which is over-focused on Western Anglophone works (I’ve rehashed this to death, so I won’t add anything), this is a most welcome breath of fresh air. Plus, awesome works on that list!. I’ve offered up a signed copy of Master of the House of Darts as a donation prize, and there is plenty more cool stuff on that list (and more to com…

…Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! Tôi chúc các bạn mạnh khỏe và nhiều niềm vui. (normally, it should say something like “Happy New Year. I wish you all good health and many joys”, but since I basically cobbled the sentence together with a dictionary, I’m sceptical about the actual meaning…) Hope it’s a great Year of the Dragon for everyone!…

And a last one before I leave on holidays… The longlist for France’s Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire has been released, and, er, D’Obsidienne et de Sang on there a great number of times–the novel’s longlisted for Best Foreign Novel, my wonderful translator Laurent Philibert-Caillat is longlisted for Best Translator for his translations of my book and Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City, and my cover for the French edition (produced by Larry Rostant) is also longl…