Going Mad

May 21

Here it is, the last pre-Wiscon entry, and you'll get nothing else until next Monday at the earliest, so enjoy!

I've been working on graphic novel reviews this week, and haven't written a line on the Frog novel, I'm afraid. I'm reviewing 5 books for the July graphic novel issue, so it's quite a bit more nonfic writing than I normally have to do in a month. On the other hand, it doesn't take me nearly as long to read a graphic novel as it takes me to read a novel, so there's a trade-off. If you're interested, I'm reviewing The Furies by Mike Carey and John Bolton, Hellboy: Conqueror Worm by Mignola, Orbiter and Hellblazer: Haunted by Warren Ellis, and Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft. I'd like to review Hellblazer: Good Intentions too, but I doubt I'll have time, and since I already have one John Constantine review, that's the one to drop. I'm having a lot of fun writing these reviews.

***

I wrote a poem last night (very late), called "Ammut in Her Later Years", and sent it off to Strange Horizons. If they want it, it'll be the latest "A Bestiary" poem, and if they don't want it, I'm sure I'll place it somewhere -- it's good, one of the better pieces I've done lately. I'm really starting to discover new possibilities in this "Bestiary" format; I think I'll keep the series up for a while.

***

I watched the Buffy series finale with Heather last night; I wish Susan could've been here, as it wasn't the same without her. I was delighted with the final episode. If you're going to end a show, end it big, and wow, they did, totally changing the rules of the world, totally obliterating their setting. There were some wonderful lines, some nice nods to old episodes, unexpected twists, several moments when I laughed out loud, one moment when I cried... lots of good stuff. There are things I'm annoyed with, sure, and loose ends I would've liked to have seen tied up, but all-in-all, I liked it. The show didn't just trail off. It really ended. Things changed. One bit that really annoyed me is the fact that Buffy and Giles never really dealt with Giles's complicity in trying to kill Spike -- they snapped at each other for a couple of episodes, but by this episode, it seemed all was forgiven. I read a spoiler a while back that said Giles was going to reveal to Buffy the fact that he'd killed Ben/Glory -- reminding her that sometimes unsavory, despicable things have to be done for the greater good, and that he was willing to do those things. But that never happened, so I suppose the scene got dropped, or that the rumor I read was never actually real. It's a shame; that would've tied up that relationship thread for me nicely.

Anyway. Didn't mean to go all Buffy-geek on you there, but hey, the show's over, so if not now, when? I bet there'll be lots of talk about this show at Wiscon...

***

Mike Jasper wrote to Heather and I last night and told us he's taking our Oakland collab, "Broken Branches", for his Intracities project -- whoo! He wants some edits (which is understandable, as the story clocks in a bit over his word limit). I think y'all will like this story -- it's the best collab Heather and I have done, I think.

Speaking of collabs, yesterday I got galleys for "Helljack", the story I did with Mike. The people at H.P.L.'s Magazine of Horror work quickly! I'll have to proof the story on the plane tomorrow and mail it back to them from Wisconsin...

***

I am hoping, improbably enough, to do some writing this weekend. On the plane, in occasional quiet moments at WisCon, whatever. I need to get a story ready for Rio Hondo (I've decided not to take the beginning of my novel), probably this one I'm writing about the furies. I want to take something incandescent, ambitious, and cool to the workshop. I don't expect to wow the other writers -- the more ambitious my stories are, the more flawed they tend to be, which is only natural -- but I don't want to waste their time on something unimportant, you know? I won't be too hard on myself if I don't get much writing done, though. Conventions aren't about getting writing done, after all, and Rio Hondo isn't for another two whole weeks...

***

For those following along at home, the cold is mostly gone, and I think my sore gums are getting better, too. Good health looms! Let's just hope that too-little sleep tonight combined with air travel tomorrow (starting at 6 a.m.! So we have to get up at 3 a.m.!) doesn't bring about a relapse...

Words written since February 1, 2003: 52,400

Words written since last entry:
1,200

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