…My guest post “Dragons, heroes and spaceships: pushing against received narratives” is up at the Book Smugglers–many thanks to Ana and Thea for the invite, and I’m delighted to be the inaugural piece for their series “SFF in Conversation”, which focuses on inclusivity and diversity in SF. Go here to read it….
…orting to be an encyclopaedia of Asian ingredients. Under fish sauce, it recommends the Tiparos and Squid brands as being the best ones. Maybe, if you’re doing Thai cooking? They’re both Thai fish sauces, and for Vietnamese dishes I have to admit I’ve never found them to be much use (the book doesn’t go into the fact that there are huge regional variations on fish sauces, which is odd because it specifies this for soy sauces…). Bonus points: under…
…In a “good news never come alone” kind of thing, got news this morning that “Scattered Along the River of Heaven” and “Immersion” were both finalists for the Sturgeon Award. The complete list of finalists can be found here (and yes, Ken Liu is also in fine form this year 🙂 ). If you need me, I’ll be busy squeeing……
3000 words, tentatively titled “The Moon over Red Trees”. Major cleanup needed, but I have draft! Night over The Red Trees. Clarisse rises from the bed, casting a glance at the moon that slowly seeps into the room. Raoul, asleep in his bed with his arms outstretched towards her, groans and shifts, looking for her, but he does not wake up. He used to, when she first came here months ago; but he soon got used to her wandering through the house ever…
Ebook cover Aka the shiny… Art courtesy of Nhan Y Doanh, and cover layout thanks to Janice Hardy–thanks to both of them for putting up with my (short-term) deadlines and producing such beautiful things. (MC is Linh; the older woman in lower right-hand corner is Quyen. Slightly more detailed view of the original watercolour is here if you’re interested, since Doanh had to cut bits of it off to fit the cover format). The ebook should be live on ama…
…Have safely arrived in SFO, am now ensconced in Dario Ciriello’s house (and of course have been unable to sleep for 2 hours). Flight was eventless if a bit long, and I was glad to lie down by the end of it. Have to admit am not looking forward to return journey… But in the meantime, Nebulas! Fun! (and naps. The snakelet insists)…
…gnancy plus jetlag is a bad combination… Today is the big day; I’m counting on adrenaline to keep me awake until the Awards ceremony (a nice idea in principle, but in reality I’m not really sure how much I have to spare). Off to have a shower, and to hunt down my breakfast….
…, nominated and voted for “Immersion”; to all my fellow nominees (it was a really strong ballot this year full of strong stories, and I wouldn’t have minded losing to anyone in my category!)–to Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, without whom this story wouldn’t have happened; and finally to my family–to Matthieu, my parents and sister, for putting up with me and my crazy ideas; and a particular thanks to my maternal family in Vietnam who made our visit there su…
…s the unmindful soul” “Dặn dò nợ trần duyên rửa sạch” Dặn dò is “advise, recommend”, “nợ” is a debt (a karmic debt, in this context), “trần” I’m not too sure of (the dictionary suggests “ceiling”, “maximum”). “duyên” is a completely untranslatable Vietnamese word that means “bound to meet as lovers or friends [in a future life]”. “rửa sạch” is “wash”. So probably something like “Reminds it to incur no debt, washes it clean of worldly bounds” “Qua…
…In which John DeNardo was kind enough to let me ramble on and on about the importance of food: read it here. (still swamped, in case you had doubts. What little time I do have is spent napping…)…
