Young Turk

November 21

Hey hey-- happy Thanksgiving, since I'm unlikely to update again... though who knows, I may get bored during the day tomorrow, despite my intention to be virtuous and finish writing my two reviews.

Yup. They aren't finished. I have about 1500 words, total, scribbled in my notebook, paragraphs in no intelligent order... they're bad reviews. They say substantive things, but in a confused, vague way. The fault is in the communication, not in the substance of what I wish to communicate. I just wasn't in a very linear mode two nights ago, when I sat in the tea bar writing them. So, I'm going to turn those 1500 rambly words into 1000 tight words, which with luck you'll all get to read in the January issue of A Certain Magazine. The reviews are of Knuckles and Tales by Nancy Collins (pretty much a rave) and John Shirley's Demons (which is not bad, but the review's not a rave).

We finished the December issue today, tra la, and off it went to the printer, where it will languish over the long weekend. But it'll go out sometime next week. My name's on the masthead (as "Editorial Assistant"), and my picture's in the "People and Publishing" section in the "Publishing News" column. Whee! My review of Edward Lee's City Infernal is also in that issue. Watch your mailboxes and newsstands anxiously.

Hmm. Got a rejection from Asimov's on a long story... a different form, neither the Nice nor the Mean form, but one with my name hand-written and what appears to be an actual, blue-ink Dozois signature (actually executed by some Dozois-underling). I looked at the rejection for a moment, trying to figure out what I should make of it. Then I realized-- it's a rejection. That's really all I can make of it. So off that story goes somewhere else... Also got a three-week rejection from Ideomancer on a short horror story. They liked it, but not enough. So I sent them another story, and while I was in submission-mode, I sent out a couple of other stories. Woo-hoo. Lookit me. I'm crazy-productive.

No other writing stuff going on, rejections or acceptances or otherwise. I got some of my lovely girlfriend, Heather's Xmas gifts in the mail, though, and now I need only to wrap them and put them under the tree, which we haven't actually put up yet, but we're gonna. I gave her one gift early, a Spike Xmas tree ornament. She liked.

Lessee... good stuff at Strange Horizons this week; another "Other Cities" installment from Ben Rosenbaum, and an interesting review of the newest Year's Best F&H antho by Erin Donahoe.

Okay. Enough for now.