Anne's old blog

changes in publishing and the dinosaurs left behind

2009-06-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

new post on the new blog MONKEY WITH A PEN

new blog!

2009-05-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

MONKEY WITH A PEN

please stand by

2008-09-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

twitter

2008-09-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

join me on twitter

and a good time was had by all...

2008-08-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

DIVERSICON 16 WAS AWESOME!

I was so worried about readings and panels and making a total fool out of myself that it never occurred to me that I might actually ENJOY Diversicon. It was a blast. I went last year for a few hours, but a few hours wasn't enough to give me a feel of the convention. You really have to attend the opening ceremony and the auction and hang out in the hospitality suite. A lot of times even the panel events felt like a group of people just hanging out talking about books and movies. I loved the way the...can't call them audience... loved the way they participated in the discussions. The con was small. I think maybe 100 attendees. They would like to have around 150 next year. The auction alone would be reason to go. Donations of cool, collectible stuff. First edition books and comics. Movies.

The other guest is an absolutely amazing writer, not to mention a lovely person.

Check out her website here:

Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

oh, minneapolis!

2008-08-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

The signing and reading at DreamHaven was well attended. So glad about that!! And what an awesome bookstore! After the signing some of us walked down the street and shared a pizza. Nice day all around.

The Holiday Inn overlooks the 35W bridge. Today is the anniversary of the collapse, so I imagine there will be some kind of memorial and news coverage.

I have most of the day free since the convention doesn't get into full swing until this evening. meeting my daughter for lunch. Maybe we'll go to Bad Waitress? French Meadow Bakery? So hard to decide!

my panels:

Self promotion gone mad (heh!)

Are writers broken? (double heh!)

movie thrillers

the life and art of sir alfred hitchcock

ooh, that's scary! print versus movie

i brought my camera, but forgot the cable so no pics until next week.

DIVERSICON 16

2008-07-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

bumping this to the top to show off the cool T-shirt designed by Marge Simon.

DIVERSICON 16

Oh, sweet mystery...

Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota
When: August 1 - 3, 2008
Who?
Guest of Honor: Anne Frasier
Check out the Diversicon website and click on latest update to download PDF file and registration form.

But wait! That's not all!

Diversicon 16 Flash Fiction Contest

Short stories up to 250 words on the convention theme of "Oh, Sweet Mystery . . ." Submit no later than midnight Central Time July 14 to diversicon16flash@gmail.com. No entry fee, but open only to attending members of the convention. Entries will be judged by the convention Guest of Honor, professional author Anne Frasier. Entries will be judged on the creative interpretation of the theme, the quality of the writing, and emotional/intellectual impact. Top prize is a cool certificate, the honor of winning, a round of applause, the opportunity to read your work to the assembled convention. For more information:

DIVERSICON 16

more about Diversicon

Special Guest: Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, PhD

Author, journalist, and professor Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu uses both her Nigerian and American backgrounds in her fiction: the novels Zahrah the Windseeker (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) and The Shadow Speaker (Hyperion, October 2007), the play Full Moon, as well as stories in the anthologies The Witching Hour, Mojo Conjure Stories (Nalo Hopkinson, ed.), Writers of the Future Volume 18, and So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction (Nalo Hopkinson & Uppinder Mehan, eds.) and the professional online magazine Strange Horizons. Her essay on author Virginia Hamilton appeared in Dark Matter II: Reading the Bones (Sheree R. Thomas, ed.).
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

She holds a PhD in English (emphasis on creative writing) from the University of Illinois--Chicago; an MA in English, also from UI Chicago (thesis: The Legend of Arro-yo); and an MA in journalism from Michigan State University--East Lansing (thesis: Virtual Women: Female Characters in Video Games). She is also a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop.

Posthumous Guests of Honor:
Scheherazade, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jack Williamson

Scheherazade (ca. 800): Legendary Persian narrator of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, a compilation of Persian, Arabic, Indian, and other folktales, including "Aladdin and the Lamp," "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad," and "The Thief of Baghdad." A highly educated woman, Scheherazade distracted her misogynist husband from killing her by telling captivating stories. The various translations of these tales have influenced artists, composers, and screenwriters around the world.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): Director of many films over five decades in Great Britain and the United States, including the haunting Rebecca (1940), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and the SFnal The Birds (1963; guaranteed to make you nervous around flocks of crows!), Hitchcock worked repeatedly with interlocking themes of sex and death. He also featured female characters who were both glamorous and strong actors with their own agendas, and he dealt obliquely with homosexuality despite the Hollywood Production Code.

Jack Williamson, PhD (1908-2006): Author of Darker Than You Think (1948), The Humanoids (1949), a collection of short stories titled The Best of Jack Williamson (1977), and the autobiography Wonder�s Child: My Life in Science Fiction (1984, rev. 2005), Williamson traveled west by covered wagon in 1915, then went on to write imaginative science fiction over many decades. He first saw his work published in an SF magazine in 1928, he cowrote the first story of revolution on the Moon with Dr. Miles Breuer ("The Birth of a New Republic," Amazing Stories, Winter 1931), coined the word terraforming in his 1942 novel Seetee Ship, and saw his last novel (The Stonehenge Gate) published in 2005. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) honored him with its second-ever Grand Master award in 1976 (the first recipient was Robert Heinlein). He won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards (for his novella The Ultimate Earth) in 2001, becoming by far the oldest author to have won these awards. He earned a PhD in English from the University of Colorado--Boulder (his dissertation focused on the works of H. G. Wells) and taught science fiction writing at Eastern New Mexico University from 1960 through the 21st century.

RITA

2008-07-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Romance Writers of America RITA Awards

1) By the time the RITA nominees are announced the books are often out of print.

2) How long has the RITA been in existence? Over twenty years. That means we have over twenty years of RITA titles, many of which were out of print before the awards ceremony.

3) The rights for most RITA titles have long since reverted back to the authors.

4) Somebody -- Harlequin seems the logical choice -- should put out a line of RITA books.

RWA should get behind this idea and push it to publishers. Good for RWA, REALLY good for the lucky publisher, and good for the writers.

short fiction contest!

2008-07-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

from THE CLARITY OF NIGHT

The rumble of the engine beneath you.

The last colors of the setting sun, your invitation.

It's time to race away into the summer night. Welcome to the "Running Wind" Short Fiction Contest!!

This contest is the 9th in what has become a wonderfully fun series. Clarity of Night contest wins have been reported in agent query letters, served as inspiration for a soon-to-be-published novel, and helped to springboard writers to bigger success.

cross-post from my-my-my-myspace

2008-07-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Readers have been asking about my next book, and at this point there is no next book. Which doesn't mean there will never be a next book. I took some much needed time off, but I've been working on a project that is generating quite a bit of interest. We might submit 100 pages to publishers in September, or we might decide it would be best if I wrote the whole manuscript before submitting. If this project sells, it will be literary suspense and it will probably be written under another name. Ugh. Sorry. It's the business. If there is a new name, I'll definitely get the info to Anne Frasier readers. The big downside of this publishing house change? If everything goes as smoothly as it could possibly go, I won't have a new book out until 2011 or 20012. That's because of the way books are slotted. Slots are often reserved eighteen to twenty-four months out, so when a writer switches publishing houses there will be no slots with her name on them until the manuscript is turned in. It could be that if a person sells on a partial a tentative slot might be held, but I've never experienced that. Usually for that first book with the new house the clock doesn't start ticking until the manuscript is completed, read by an editor, and determined publishable.

anne's myspace

little eraserhead

2008-07-02T12:54:00.001-07:00

100_2172,
originally uploaded by annefrasier2000.

this guy's mom was the most persistent swallow ever. i hung chimes. i taped hardware cloth over ledges. then i gave up because it seems i'm the intruder.

blabbermouth!

2008-07-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

i deleted my last blog post. once again i'm running into the problem of wanting to share information, but feeling that it's unwise. so let's just say things are going well in my own personal writing world, and hopefully i'll have some good news to share in a few months.

that's so weird!

2008-06-24T13:24:00.001-07:00

Wild Child Publishing

Congratulations to blogging buddies Jeff Neale, Bernita Harris, Jaye Wells, and John Goodman on the release of Weirdly II.

Weirdly: A Collection of Strange Tales, vol. 2

From paranormal to weird, from chilling to odd to scary, Weirdly Volume 2: Eldritch will sate your lust for strangeness in bite-sized pieces. Each tale weaves its own spell. Vampires, beasts, ghosts, evil creatures and, of course, every day people inhabit Weirdly's pages.

Soldiers must reach their destination before the undead get to them first... What does the picture on the wall mean to Jen? Fate holds something in store for Lewis--but is it what he wants? Lillie embarks on another quest... Is the young man who sees and hears fluffy beings insane? An old letter urges a young woman to the train station--but is the train that puffs into view real? All these tales and more. Dare you read them?

Authors: C.T. Adams, Marva Dasef, James Goodman, Milena Gomez & David Kilpatrick, Bernita Harris, Michael Kay, Gary Madden, Kelly Madden, Jeff Neale, Daniel I. Russell, Jaye Wells, Cora Zane

Genre: Horror/Paranormal
Book Length: Novel
Price: $5.95

pray or prey?

2008-06-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

13 used to be my lucky number.

And Friday the 13th never scared me. But next time Friday the 13th rolls around, I’m not leaving the house.

If you look back at my blog, you will notice that I had car trouble and had to call a tow truck to haul me and my car 25 miles. I was without wheels for over a week. The piston stem came out of the transmission. I’m lucky nobody was hurt, because it shoots out like a bullet when the car is moving down the highway. I decide I should get a new car. Friday the 13th I’m driving to St Paul to pick up my new vehicle when in the middle of nowhere the piston stem goes flying off. Again. Once this happens, the car quits moving. I make it to the side of the highway, pulling to a stop in front of an old cemetery. No houses, no buildings, just the cemetery.

Wait for tow truck. Hot sun beating down.

Now here’s where it gets weird. Well, not quite yet, but soon.

First person to stop is a young farmer in a pickup. Curious kid in the passenger seat. We go through the need help stuff, got a cell phone stuff, and once he knows everything is okay, he leaves. Next comes a giant white Lincoln. By this time I’m outside my car, near the cemetery because it’s too hot to wait in the car, and too dangerous. Passenger window goes down. Blonde bombshell. Platinum hair, red, red lips. Car packed with so much crap it looks like she lives in it. I spot the case of beer.

“You okay, darlin’? Got a cell phone? Need some water? Want me to wait with you?” Once she’s reassured that everything is fine, she blasts off like someone from a Tarantino movie. Tow truck won’t be there for at least another hour, so I mosey down the dirt lane next to the cemetery where there is one tree and shade.

Big rusty white Econoline van pulls up. Wormy weird man inside. “Need help?”

I tell him everything is under control. Go through the waiting for the tow truck thing. He mumbles something, and takes off. I can see the van turn down a lane, vanish, then reappear at a farmhouse on a distant hill. Ten minutes later he’s back. Gets out, opens both back doors of the van, puts a folding chair in the shade next to the cemetery fence, and places a milk crate in front of it.

“Have a seat.” The van doors are just feet from the chair, and even though I know he’s going to hit me over the head and drag me inside the van, I sit down. I’m polite that way. But I feel for my cell phone, and wonder if I should discretely auto-dial a fave.

He adjusts the milk crate, and sits down. He touches my knee.
“I just want to ask you one question.” His face is inches from mine. “Where are you going to go when you die?”

I don’t own a handgun, but I keep thinking I must have one in the car. Surely I have a gun in the car. Or in my backpack. I keep visualizing it there. All nice and cozy.

“Are you going to heaven, or hell?”

“I don’t believe in heaven or hell.”

Oh, why did I say that? He’ll kill me for sure now.

“Just before you die, I want you to do one thing. I want you to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. That’s all you have to do to go to heaven.”

I get to my feet, which is kind of hard with the wormy man right there. I don’t want to turn my back to him. He can see that I’ve had enough. He reaches into his pocket. For a gun? A knife? He pulls out a little religious pamphlet with his prayer line on it, hands it to me, gets in his van, and drives off, back to the farmhouse. I have a book with me – A WOLF AT THE TABLE -- so I sit down in the shade, open it, and read until the tow truck guy arrives. Damn Friday the 13th.

"mother virgin, a nun!"

2008-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

FORGOTTEN FRIDAY

BOOK I

THE WAY TO WINCHESTER

BENEATH the dark cornices of a thicket of wind-stunted pines stood a small company of women looking out into the hastening night. The half light of evening lay over the scene, rolling wood and valley into a misty mass, while the horizon stood curbed by a belt of imminent clouds. In the western vault, a vast rent in the wall of grey gave out a blaze of transient gold that slanted like a spear-shaft to a sullen sea.

And so begins Warwick Deeping's Uther and Igraine.

Warwick Deeping

The Camelot Project

I fell in love with this book when I was about twelve. Over the next ten years I probably read it a dozen times. Since then I've put it on the bookshelf whenever I move, but never opened it again. Yes, the prose is like eating a whole cake in one sitting, but as I looked at it today I was struck by the sound of the words and the way they flow.

Uther and Igraine was Deeping's first book. He wrote a massive amount over his career. I also loved Sorrell and Son. Oh, my. What a heartache.

From Wiki: Sorrell and Son, based upon Deeping's experiences during the First World War, was filmed three times: It first appeared in 1927 as a silent movie, was remade in 1934 as a sound film, and turned into a TV mini-series in 1984.

Patti Abbott

Thanks, Patti, for the invitation to participate in Forgotten Friday. I cheated a bit and turned it into a walk down memory lane. Not sure either of these books would satisfy the impatient readers of today, but both are lovely treasures.

when a bad weekend becomes a good weekend

2008-06-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

saturday my car broke down along the highway. called my insurance company for a tow truck, then walked to the most desolate and sad place on earth -- a petting zoo. i was dehydrated after being car baked. found a pop machine with water. it took my money, but didn't give me any water. didn't refund my money either. push button push button push button. at this point i figure i must be in a bad movie. i went inside the zoo and got in the restroom line with a pack of kids who smelled like monkeys. inside the gift shop, i asked if anybody wanted my groceries. nobody seemed interested. :D the tow truck arrived about an hour later. i rode shotgun for thirty miles and got to hear about all the fatalities the driver had scooped up so far this year. (this was really very interesting) the repair shop was closed, so we dumped the car in the parking lot.

But Sunday? Sunday was a great day.

Got a phone call from the RWA Kiss of Death chapter informing me that Garden of Darkness has been selected as a finalist in the 2008 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, paranormal division.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the RWA National Conference in San Francisco. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, July 31, 2008, beginning at 9 p.m.

I will be in Minneapolis at the Diversicon conference, and will be doing a reading and discussion at Dreamhaven Books about the time the ceremony begins.

Dreamhaven Books
But you can bet I'll be thinking about what's going on in San Francisco, and I'll be checking my computer when I get back to my room at Diversicon!

scratch and sniff, ya'll

2008-05-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

this is the lilac created in about 1895 by the gentleman who built my church home. lovely flowers and lovely scent. any lilac experts out there? the leaves are smaller and more delicate than what i consider typical lilac leaves, and they have a gorgeous purple blush. i've never seen this kind of lilac leaf before. anybody else? i've been told these are the only lilacs of this kind in existence, but that could have been wishful thinking. makes a good story anyway.

red door

2008-05-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

red doors

a lot of churches have red doors. some say it's a sign of sanctuary, so I'm trying to decide if i should paint my door red. what do you think? any advice? *wink*

file this under WTF

2008-04-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

International Thriller Writers
I was a member in 2006, but intentionally didn't renew in 2007.

So today I receive a dues letter that reads like this:

"we wanted to give you the opportunity to keep your membership active by bringing your dues up to date."

That is followed by a renewal fee for 2008 -- BUT ALSO FOR 2007, when I wasn't even a member. Total 240.00. Umm, okay. Now I'm expecting a letter from the Girl Scouts giving me the opportunity to pay for 35 years of dues.

spring update

2008-04-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

some interesting things I’ve discovered about my new place:

This used to be a town. Everything burned down except for the church, which explains why it’s in the middle of nowhere.

The lumber baron who started the town and built the church had an interest in horticulture. He cultivated his own variety of lilacs, naming them after himself and the now non-existent town. These lilacs grow on both sides of the front door. Lilacs are my favorite flower, and I can’t wait to see the color. I’m guessing white, but I’m hoping for lavender.

I haven’t run into anybody in the area who can tell me anything about the history of this place or the history of the family who built the town and church, but I’ve found some info online. Here is just a small section of the founder’s bio that covers the later years of his. It looks like he semi-retired and lived out his final years here. I know the church was built in 1895, so that fits the bio. It’s so strange to think of someone buying ground and building a town in just a few years. He and his wife had one son who was always in poor health. At one point they moved to California hoping that the weather would improve the child’s health, but the son died and it sounds like both parents were never quite the same after that.

online bio:

"In 1892 he purchased a larger tract of hardwood timber. Here he gave his attention to the manufacture of railway material, chiefly crossties and car stock. Besides his own mill he controlled the output of many smaller mills, which business he conducted for several years, from 1895 to 1899. He passed away June 22, 1903, at his residence in Wis., and his body was taken to Santa Rosa, Cal., for burial at the side of his son. His health failed him during the last five years of his life, though most of the time he was fairly well and able to attend to his business. During the last three years only the care of the farm engrossed his attention. There he seemed most happy since he was particularly fond of animals and outdoor life. Two weeks before his death he had a slight paralysis of his left side, apparently of a few hours' duration. He sat up and read thereafter every day until the end came. His charities were large and unostentatious. He maintained a free hospital bed without disclosing his name, gave liberally to other hospitals, and assisted several young men to an education and in business. He was a large-hearted, generous, kind considerate man, a noble citizen, endeared to his family." Of him it was also said: "No man in the great Northwest more deserved success and none has left a more honorable record."

road closed ahead

2007-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I plan to stop posting at the end of the year. Might be back in the spring. We’ll see. I spent a large part of the day putting together my final post. It was full of things like how much fun I've had, and how I'll miss you, but blogger ate the post. Somehow that seems fitting and certainly reminds me of what I won't be missing. So that touching goodbye is gone and I'm not going to retype it.

But this still seems a good time to reflect on 2007.

The highlight of my year was definitely my trip to Sweden. It’s going to be hard to top that. Ever. Other major events – selling my house and moving. Twice!

On the writing front, an exciting high point was reading Jamie Ford’s HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET (coming spring 2009). I’ve been a fan of Jamie’s writing for a couple of years, and my expectations were high. I wasn’t disappointed. The story is amazing, and I predict it will be a major Hollywood movie.

Other blogging friends have signed with agents and finished books, and sales with top houses can’t be far behind. Look out 2008!

This also seems the place to list the top 3 searches that bring people from outside the writing world to my blog. *sniff*

number 3 -- VODKA ENEMA (a popular search this time of the year. :O)

number 2 -- ROOT CANAL VERSUS PULLING THE TOOTH (I eventually chose root canal.)

and the number one topic that continuously brings new readers from around the world to my blog:

WOMAN BREASTFEEDING PUPPY

I think that pretty much says it all.

acorns roasting on a manifold

2007-12-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

just had to share this:

smoke started coming from under the hood, and the car filled with a horrid smell. i expected to become a flaming land torpedo at any second. got the car to a shop. took them all day, but they finally solved the mystery.

acorns.

yes, the mice have followed me.

grave?

2007-12-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

or not a grave? i think it's a grave.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

book trailer

2007-12-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

here's another one of my daughter's book trailers. i think she did a fantastic job with it.

if you're interested in having her create a trailer for your book, send me an email or leave a comment here and i'll get the contact info to you.

Happy Holidays and Campaign for the American Reader

2007-12-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

It's time for my annual posting of the glogg recipe!

GLOGG
1/2 cup vodka
1 - 3 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom

At least twenty-four hours before serving, put above ingredients in container with lid. Shake well, then shake occasionally throughout day.

2 liters of wine. Sangria works well, but any sweet, fruity wine will do.
1/2 cup sugar (more or less, to taste)
Vodka mixture, with cloves and cinnamon sticks strained out.

Put everything in a large pan. Heat well, but don't boil.

Serve with raisins and sliced almonds. These should be put in individual cups before adding about 1/2 cup hot liquid.

CAMPAIGN FOR THE AMERICAN READER

Marshall McLuhan suggested that you should choose your reading by turning to page 69 of a book and, if you like it, read it.

To further explore this notion another Marshal -- Marshal Zeringue -- started a fantastic blog in 2006 called Campaign for the American Reader where he invites writers to put the page 69 theory to test. I've been a guest twice, most recently for Garden of Darkness. Check out the blog and the archives.

Campaign for the American Reader

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view from front door

2007-12-04T14:11:00.001-08:00

view from front door,
originally uploaded by annefrasier2000.

new pics up at flickr!

huh?

2007-12-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

In all the chaos of moving, I almost forgot I have a book coming out! And apparently it's on shelves a few days early.

I'm still settling into the new place. Absolutely love it, although I have to admit it's a bit spooky walking up to the front door in the dead of night.

I'll be signing copies of Garden of Darkness at my favorite bookstore --
where: Once Upon a Crime
when: Saturday, December 8, 1:00 - 3:00

Stop in and say hi if you're in the area! If you aren't in the area or can't make it, feel free to call Pat or Gary and order personalized, signed copies. They ship!

getting back to the garden

2007-11-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

this was the year to unfuck my life, and i suddenly find myself moving into the third and final phase of that plan. we close on the new place today, and i'll be cleaning and moving until Thanksgiving. i won't have internet until the last week of november, but i'll probably run to a nearby town once or twice to check my gmail and peek in here. (i lost a lot of mail and email addresses with my two computer swaps, so please use my gmail address. i dislike gmail, but i can now really see the benefit.)

i moved to the city almost eight years ago. i've always said living here is a little like being held underwater.

don't get me wrong. i love the twin cities and i always thought i would be able to adjust, but it never happened. I've spent years searching for solitude and quiet in order to write, but solitude and quiet doesn't exist here. This place is all about noise and energy.

I thought the condo would simplify my life, but instead it complicated it in a very water torture, mundane sort of way. By early July i was losing my mind and looking for a cabin in northern MN and WI. cold was no longer an issue -- escape was. i'd been looking for an old church or schoolhouse off and on for seven years, but i'd pretty much given up on that idea when i came upon the church listing.

a weird chain of events led to it -- the sale of my house -- which in this market i now realize was in itself amazing, the unsuitable condo situation, stumbling across the church listing completely by chance, a buyer's market, a seller/architect who had hoped an artist of some sort would live in the world he'd created, an absolutely amazing real estate agent i originally didn't want to work with because i was dead set against working with a guy, a mortgage broker who never gave up. So many people working so hard to make something happen. I also think the trip to Sweden reset my brain and got me off autopilot at just the right time.

As writers, I wonder if we sometimes have a harder time figuring out our own lives because we view the world through so many eyes. We know what our characters want, but we don't always know what we want.

We live so many lives that aren't our own, and maybe we live our lives less fully because of that.

so will this final phase unfuck my life? maybe. maybe not.

on display with nothin' to say

2007-11-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

blogging:

The thing that's been really frustrating is that I can't talk about what I want to talk about. Shortly after starting this blog, I found my locked lips so frustrating that I started another semi-anonymous blog where I vented and talked about my personal experiences in publishing. A fellow writer ended up reporting me and the blog...to somebody. After that experience, I pulled the plug on my "secret" blog, but wow -- I would have had some interesting and unbelievable stuff to post there.

Almost every day I think of something I want to blog about, and almost every day I think I'd better not say that. Even topics that on the surface seem fairly harmless. So anyway, rather than go on and on about me and my boring life, I'm going to close my blog at the end of this year. It might not be a permanent close. I'm going to wait and see if I feel like opening it again in the spring or summer.

defining a generation

2007-11-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

for some it's the Beatles.
for some it's Dylan.
for me it's always been Neil Young.

I love so many bands and so many different kinds of music, but if I had to choose one band or one musician, it would be Neil Young. I've had obsessions with bands that will last a few years, then I tend to put the music away and remember it as a certain period of my life. The Pixies period. The Joy Division period. The Velvet Underground period. The Belle and Sebastian period. But Neil Young was never an artist I put away to bring out occasionally. Been listening to him ever since Buffalo Springfield.

Last night as we filed into Northrup Auditorium, I kept looking at the ticket in my hand. Never thought I'd hold one with his name on it.

He was amazing. His voice sounds like it did forty years ago. He started out with an acoustic set. He was the only one on stage, and would move from instrument to instrument. Then came the electric set and he pretty much blew the place away.

11-08-2007, Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
w/ Rick Rosas, Ben Keith, Ralph Molina, Anthony Crawford & Pegi Young

1. From Hank To Hendrix
2. Ambulance Blues
3. Sad Movies
4. A Man Needs A Maid
5. No One Seems To Know
6. Harvest
7. After The Gold Rush
8. Mellow My Mind
9. Love Art Blues
10. Love Is A Rose
11. Heart Of Gold
---
12. The Loner
13. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
14. Dirty Old Man
15. Spirit Road
16. Bad Fog Of Loneliness
17. Winterlong
18. Oh, Lonesome Me
19. The Believer
20. No Hidden Path
---
21. Cinnamon Girl
22. Like A Hurricane

Restless Dawn

2007-11-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

Jason is holding another short fiction contest!

The Clarity of Night

RIP MacBook

2007-11-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

no, i haven't reposted an old entry. my NEW MacBook started acting sluggish, then quit working after five days. wouldn't recognize the hard drive. i took it to apple and they got it going again. thought maybe things had just come loose during shipping. it started the sluggish thing again a few days ago, then yesterday when i tried to restart, it once again showed no hard drive. this time they gave me a new computer, but acted suspicious and said they'd never seen this problem before. i know the first generation macbooks had a lot of problems, which is why i put off getting one as long as possible. anybody else have a similar macbook experience?

of mice and men

2007-11-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

i'm in the process of packing and i will be moving in two weeks. yay!! i can't wait!! there were so many obstacles to buying the church, but one by one they were resolved and everything is in order and set to close.

the mouse situation here is still unbelievable. i've never experienced anything like it, and i've lived in some dumps. even though it's cold, i have windows open and window fans going around the clock, and still the smell of dead mice is overpowering and makes me dizzy. i was told to put out poison, and i go through one small box a day. i've thought of reporting it to the health department, but i hate to do that because i think the condo owner will get in trouble when it is really the fault of the association. they do absolutely nothing about anything. nothing. after six months, my phone number still hasn't been entered in the box at the front door. but every time I run into the guy who's supposed to do it, he says he'll do it in a few days. haha! it's really a shame, because this is such a cool, beautiful building, but a condo is only as good as the association.

i'm a really negative person, and i know i always look for the negative in every situation, but this mouse thing -- it's bad.

oh, and just having a cat in the house will not keep them away. my poor old cat is scared of them. :D he went to his scratching post and a mouse eeked and jumped out at him. the cat scrambled and has been paranoid and nervous ever since.

but all things considered, i'm glad i tried living here because for years i've wondered if it wouldn't be easier to live in a condo or apartment where somebody else takes care of things. foolish me.

Garden of Darkness prologue

2007-10-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!
This seemed a good day to post a little snippet from Garden of Darkness. The odd thing about this prologue is that it was page 200 in the first draft. While working on the second draft, I decided to move it to the very beginning.

GARDEN OF DARKNESS

Prologue

Where does the wind begin?

A dank breeze rose from the ground like one long exhaled breath. It lifted fallen leaves and swirled them up into the night sky. The leaves moved as if they knew where they were going, as if they had a destination. They flew past open windows where children were tucked in bed, hushed words snatched from sweet mouths and replaced with new ones.

“Where does the wind begin?” one child asked another.

“The Tuonela River,” the other child replied.

“What’s going on up there?” a mother called from below.

The children looked at each other in fear. “Nothing.” But they felt strange. Had a soft hand caressed them? Just a brush down the cheek, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind?

Sweet, sweet babies.

He drew nearer and inhaled their soap scent, and his breath stirred the fine hair on their heads.

Time was different here.

He could smell the river: wet driftwood, shells and bones gleaming on the shore. In the black mud of the river bottom, giant catfish slept the deep sleep in filtered light that was bent and reshaped. Never surfacing, the catfish waited patiently for prey to come close enough to catch and swallow whole.

Sweet, sweet life.

The damp night wind was tinged with sorrow and loss and longing.

Oh, to be complete, to be whole.

Some people said he was bad. But that was like saying a bear was bad when it caught a fish. It was like saying a cat was bad when it ate a bird. It was all about survival and nature. The bear wasn’t bad. The cat wasn’t bad.

He wasn’t bad.

Two places called to him, the old and the new.

For a moment he was confused. In his mind the two places meshed and he couldn’t separate them. Time moved forward and backward and the passage of a hundred years seemed like hours. Time unfolded and turned in on itself and his loss became something that hadn’t yet happened, and the strength and power he’d once known could possibly be found again.

He left the children and soared from the house, up through the roof but not as far as the stars. He joined a flock of night birds as they moved out of town, shifting and changing, blocking the moonlight.

On the ground far below, a man walking his dog felt the curious movement of air. He looked up, his face a white oval. He seemed to shrug and dismiss the sudden heaviness. But when the dog whimpered, he turned and hurried home.

Something was coming. Something had been coming for a long time. Something big. Powerful. Something that would shake the residents of Tuonela.

He soared.

To the old place.

His home.

Over the house built from native stone. Over the bare, rolling hillside that met dark woodland. Through the trees, silent and secret.

A light in the night.

A lantern and the sound of a shovel striking rocky ground.

This must be what it was like to astral project. To find yourself watching yourself. Because the man below was him, but not him.

The dead – they were everywhere. He could see their faces in the bark of the trees and the patterns made by the twisting leaves. Like him, they were looking for bodies to inhabit. Unlike him, they would take any vessel. He wanted one and only one.
The man on the ground seemed unaware of the dead surrounding him. He remained focused on his digging, never looking up. His heart pounded from exertion; steam rose from his shoulders.

Go inside.

The coaxing command seemed to come from the faces in the bark and the faces in the leaves. Who were they?

Don’t you remember us?
Don’t you remember your followers?

One face in particular became more distinct, the voice seeming to separate from the singsong chant of the others.
The scent of sage and lavender invaded his head. And somehow he could feel the softness of her skin under his fingertips.

Come inside, Richard.

Richard. That’s who he was. Richard Manchester, the Pale Immortal. And this was his land -- the land of the dead.

Come inside.

The man below stabbed the shovel into the ground, then released it and straightened, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

The night birds were gone. They had done their duty by bringing him here, and now they were asleep in the trees, heads tucked beneath black wings.

Richard hovered above the man with the shovel. Foolish person. Digging for secrets on the ground when the secret is above you. When the secret is in you.

Garden of Darkness
a paperback original coming December 4
from Penguin and Onyx Books

sharpen your brains

2007-10-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

CRIMESPACE SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2008!

Crimespace

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.
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would you buy a book written by this person?

2007-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

my interview is up at in for questioning, and i finally really, really get why people never believe it when i tell them i'm a writer. heh!!

angie did a fantastic job!!! i had so much fun. a little too much maybe, but that's okay!

In for Questioning

2007-10-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

don't forget to check out
In For Questioning

New interviews every Monday. I've even added the link to my google homepage so I can see when a new post goes up. It is all so fun and laid back, which means Angie was able to talk me into a phone interview. gulp. I think that goes up on the 29th. everyone else sounds so together and intelligent. this was my typical response: i dunno. giggle, giggle. i dunno. giggle giggle.

and when she asked for a photo, i happened to come across this:

yep, that's me. that's the kind of photo a person should never let anyone else see. but it's also entertaining and just weird as hell. we were playing around with shadows and intense stage lighting. apparently it revealed the weird old shadowman who lives inside me.

this was taken at the same time:

the beginning!!

2007-10-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

my wonderful mortgage broker appealed the loan rejection, and my file was personally delivered to another group of decision makers. dave called this afternoon to tell me they signed off on it and everything is go again!!!!!!! i'm still trying to process the whole thing. it's like digging up a body after you've had the funeral. so now the last hurdle is the inspection, which will take place next week.

i'm still in shock.

the end

2007-10-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

well, i didn't get the place. i was easily approved for the loan, but in the end the unusual property was considered too risky for lenders. i guess because GOD USED TO LIVE THERE. what a farce. took almost two months to reach this end. so apparently the only way to buy an unusual property right now is to pay cash.

yes, i'm pissed.

feeding the addiction

2007-10-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

hello MacBook. It arrived yesterday and still needs most of the applications. love the weird, flat keyboard, and the screen is so crisp and clear compared to the iBook screen.

the signing went about like i'd expected. mall signings never go well, not even big group signings. i'm not sure why. maybe the lack of intimacy. small indy store signings usually do much better. i also think there's just too much going on at the mall of america. sensory overload. kind of like holding a signing in the middle of a midway. people don't want to slow down for something like that.

BIG HUG to the people who came and braved MOA on a saturday!! it was nice meeting you!! thanks so much for supporting local writers and the Minnesota Literacy Council!!

the house thing is still in limbo!! i'm discovering that the whole national mortgage mess has made it really hard to buy a home. i can get a loan, but making sure the place is worth what i'm paying has brought everything to a standstill. the appraisal is being questioned since there were no comps in the area. a third party has been brought in to find 3 local realtors who will come up with their own value figures. we've been waiting for them for a looonggg time, and are pretty much at their mercy right now. then it goes through underwriting again. another long wait. at that point they can ask for another appraisal or turn down the loan if they aren't satisfied. and this is all before the inspections, which could turn up something i don't want to deal with. so buying property ain't what it used to be. sometimes i think i should have given up, but i keep thinking each hurdle in the last one. the mortgage consultant, real estate agent, and seller have been amazing through this whole ordeal, which also makes it much easier to follow this through and see what happens.

RIP iBook

2007-10-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

my computer died on friday. i hope to be back soon!

Booksigning and fundraiser

2007-10-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Midwest Fiction Writers and Barnes & Noble come together to raise money for The Minnesota Literacy Council.

Take advantage of this rare opportunity to meet so many local authors and purchase autographed books with a portion of the sales going to The Minnesota Literacy Council. Join us on Saturday, October 6 at 5:30 in the Macy's Court of the Mall of America for this once-a-year event. Hear authors read excerpts from their books. Visit favorite authors and discover new authors. Signing will be Midwest Fiction Writers authors Judy Baer, Helen Brenna, Kathleen Eagle, Anne Frasier, Jay Gilbertson, Lois Greiman, Tate Hallaway, Michele Hauf, Emma Holly, Patti O'Shea. Joining them in this event will be local authors Sujata Massey and Kelly McCullough as well as author and creativity coach Eric Maisel.

Date: October 6, 2007
Time: 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Place: Macy's Court, Mall of America

far from the maddening crowd

2007-09-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

or not~~

I thought I might have some news to share this weekend, but I don’t. All I can say is that I made an offer on a house in – of all places – rural Wisconsin. (No, not Tuonela! Drat!) My offer was accepted, but the inspection won’t take place until October 8 – so everything is up in the air right now, and there is no sense in saying much else about it until it happens. I can say it is a place with some really big negatives and some really big positives, so that’s very strange. It’s a space that’s not extremely livable at the moment, so it will be a project. And I know everybody will wonder what happened with moving south. Well, I’d love to live there in the winter, but not sure I’d want to do it year round. And it was just too hard and time consuming to find a place down there from up here. And once I moved into this condo, I realized the most important thing was to simply get out of town and away from people, at least for right now. I moved to the city over seven years ago, and I’ve always had a harder time writing here. Never could get used to all the distractions. So anyway, if this thing goes through I’ll post a few pics and tell everybody about it!

it's not you

2007-09-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

My trip to Sweden made me realize just how much the computer was contributing to my chronic neck pain. The only time I experienced any significant pain during the entire trip was at the Stockholm airport (return flight) when I got online to check my email.

I’m addicted to the internet, so now that I’m back home I’m making a conscious effort to stay away. I’m not reading blogs – not because I don’t want to read blogs, but because I’m forcing myself to stop. But it’s hard. I’m also trying to stay away from forums for the same health reason. Sorry, Daniel! I thought about shutting down my blog completely, but I’m going to try posting once a week – I’m thinking Sundays – and see how that goes. But anyway, just wanted people to know I haven’t been sucked into a black hole and I’m not depressed and I’m not pissed off and I miss you.

WRITING STUFF

Getting some reader/reviewer feedback on Garden of Darkness. Some of you might recall that I agonized over point of view in that book, finally deciding to take the riskier path and write one new character in first person – something that was quite possibly a self-indulgent experiment. So far one reviewer (Word Nerd) didn’t care for it, and I think it impacted her enjoyment of the book. Another reviewer (Armchair Interviews) loved it, and it enhanced her read. I’m guessing it might alienate quite a few people, so it probably wasn’t the thing to do. I should have written all characters in third person. On the other hand, I think this very kind of thinking is what is contributing to the sameness of books – so it’s a tough call. I hope to have a better handle on it as more reviews come in.

In For Questioning -- the podcast

2007-09-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

In the first weekly podcast at In For Questioning, Angie Johnson-Schmit interviews Daniel Hatadi, founder of Crimespace. Let the cool fun begin!

In For Questioning

Daniel Hatadi

Crimespace

Sweden

2007-09-07T05:03:00.002-07:00

photo descriptions:
view from the poop cabin
forest in borlange with our friend sofia and her dogs
stockholm -- where I actually saw the troll from my troll post!
some idiot tourist

Thanks for all the well wishes in the previous comment section! I’m home and wanted to give you a bit of info about our amazing trip.

We took off from Minneapolis at 7:00 pm and flew into morning to arrive in Reykjavík five hours later. Iceland is such a bizarre, barren moonscape and I have to go back. We caught another flight to Stockholm, then a two-hour train to Borlange to arrive early afternoon.

What initially struck me about Sweden:

The quiet

Even in town, even in the train station and the airport.
Quiet. So quiet I thought my ears were plugged.

We were met by friends Karin, Linda, and baby Elvira who frowned at us like an old man.

Then it was off to our cottage on the lake, which would later be affectionately called the poop cabin because the septic system wasn’t working.

Things I learned:

I knew about the red houses, but I didn’t realize that 99% of the homes are red. And 99% of Sweden is beautiful. Organic. They live in the landscape, with narrow, winding roads and secret dark forests and deep glass lakes that can turn black in a moment. Clouds that constantly move across the sky. Boulders covered with blankets of moss, and the repetition of white birch and red pine. Fika, fika, and lights in every window. Lots of vivid accent colors that are perfect there, but never look right when you bring them home.

Cute
Cozy

I loved it and miss it.

I didn’t have much trouble adjusting to the time difference. We lost a night of sleep on the way over, so I think that first crash helped me catch up. On the return, we didn’t lose a night of sleep and I’ve had a harder time adjusting. I’m eating breakfast at 3:00 am, and chips and salsa at 7:00 am. Which would be noon in Sweden.

i didn't take enough photos, but i have a few up on flickr:

Sweden photos

cost of our adventure: even though the dollar isn't worth anything right now, the total cost for the trip was a little over 1K. My daughter and I split everything down the middle, we borrowed a friend's car, plus got a partial refund on the poop cabin.

be good while i'm gone

2007-08-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

My bags are almost packed, and I'm almost ready to go.

The plane leaves Sunday evening. A five hour flight to Iceland, switch planes, three hours to Stockholm, another two hours by train to Falun, Dalarna, the folklore district.

Be good while I'm gone. I don't want to have to spank anybody when I get back.

Not sure I'll have time to reply here before I leave, but here's an old photo to ponder from one of my earlier posts.

hehe!

2007-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

thank you, david.

movies: disturbia -- very good! thanks for the recommendation, kelly! ;)
on the stereo: signal to trust -- golden armour

guess where i'm going

2007-08-06T17:08:00.001-07:00

here's a clue:

the bridge

2007-08-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everybody know that my family is safe. both of my kids work within walking distance and use the 35W bridge on a daily basis. M crossed it three times yesterday before the collapse. a friend was getting ready to cross and witnessed the collapse and began calling people from her cell phone. i think i got a call from my daughter about 6:15. it was very strange to hear about something of that magnitude without yet being able to get info from the internet or local news. of course now the coverage is intense, so i've been glued to the local stations.

Diversicon 15

2007-07-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

I swore I'd never be on another panel, but Diversicon seems pretty laid back so I'm going to give it try. The topics really appeal to me, and that helps.

update and entire schedule:

Thursday, August 2, 2007 CE:

6:30-8:00 PM Andrea Hairston Reads at DreamHaven Boooks, 912 Lake St W, Minneapolis--part of SF Minnesota?s The Speculations Readings Series

Friday, August 3, 2007 CE:

1:30 PM Registration Table opens (2nd floor)

2:00 PM SF Minnesota Tables (next to Registration) open

2:00 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge, Room 1332) opens

2:00-4:00 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
28 Days Later (UK; Technicolor, 2006; 113 mins.). Dir.: Danny Boyle; scr.: Alex Garland. Cast: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Kim McGarrity, Alexander Delamere, Brendan Gleeson. Octavia E. Butler?s work is as yet unadapted; we wanted to honor her spirit with a gritty speculative film featuring a strong lead performance by a black woman. 28 Days Later, an unrelenting tale of survival in a scientifically plausible plague-ravaged Britain, fits the bill. There are several strong performances, but Naomie Harris steals the show. (See also Octavia E. Butler 2:00 PM Saturday; End of the World Movies noon Sunday)

3:00 PM Vendor Room (Empire Room, 2nd floor; Dealer Tables & Art Show) opens

3:00 PM Hospitality Suite (Presidential Suite, Room 1321) opens

3:00-3:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess Room; 2nd floor)
Panel: Artistic Inspiration
Authors and artists discuss what inspires them to write or create. What sorts of things spontaneously inspire you? What things do you seek out when you need inspiration? What doesn?t work to jog or instigate inspiration? We?ve all heard of writers? retreats; is it possible to force inspiration? What squelches your enthusiasm (big picture?general things, not specific tiny things)? Martha A. Hood, mod.; Andrea Hairston, Christopher Jones, Melissa S. Kaercher, P.M.F. Johnson

4:00-4:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Know What You Write, Write What You Know
The maxim ?Write what you know? will show up in nearly any good introductory class on writing, from journalism to fiction. Often we are told to write about things that are familiar to us. But what happens when you get an idea that includes elements that you aren?t familiar with?a scientific principle, a culture, or a part of the world? Or in the case of SF/F, you want to write about things that you can?t necessarily find good research on (magic and science beyond our current level)? This kicks in the corollary to write what you know?know what you write. Learn what?s necessary to tell the story or pass along the information that you want to. Rachel Kronick, mod.; Andrea Hairston, Ellen Kuhfeld, Richard K. Lyon, Pan Morigan

4:00-4:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Presentation: Giant Reptiles: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo! And Seoul. And?.
A multimedia survey of past and present mythological reptiles from across Asia! From the Zaj and Naga to the Lung and Godzilla. It?s a scaly survey of strange lizards and the people who know them?. Bryan Thao Worra

5:00-5:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Six Feet Under, or "Why We Talk to Dead People"
Juxtaposing sex and death, Alan Ball's HBO series explored what gives life meaning. Living characters frequently engaged in conversations with the dead ones. What did the "ghosts" bring to the show that living characters couldn't? The show included gay, lesbian, and bisexual; white, black, and Hispanic; young, middle-aged, and old; strong male and strong female characters (and, of course, living and dead characters). How did this range support the show's thematic substance? Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Martha A. Hood

5:00-5:50 PM Regent/Waldorf Room (2nd floor)
Writing Workshop: Write Now!
?Join us for a creative writing event. Participants will randomly select five whimsical cards?one each describing motivation, character, item, event, and place. The challenge is to incorporate the descriptions into a story, poem, or lyric. With pencil and paper provided, participants will have 20 minutes to loose their creative muses. Humor and imagination a plus. The remainder of the workshop will be devoted to reading aloud what has been wrought.? ?Terry Faust, Workshop designer, instructor; Richard K. Lyon, Mike Schoenberg

5:00-6:35 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Destination Moon (Technicolor, 1950; 92 mins.); prod.: George Pal; dir.: Irving Pichel; scr.: Alford ?Rip? Van Ronkel, R(obert) A. Heinlein, & James O?Hanlon, from Heinlein?s 1947 novel Rocketship Galileo; mus.: Leith Stevens; tech. adviser: Heinlein; astronomical art: Chesley Bonestell; fx: Lee Zavitz; Woody Woodpecker by Walter Lantz. Cast: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O?Brien Moore, Ted Warde, Mike Miller. After a 48-year prehistory, including a several-year lull, science fiction cinema was properly reborn in this sincere attempt to realistically portray travel to the moon, while seeking to convey, through its effects, the awe of space travel. (Bonestell?s matte paintings are particularly impressive.) This genre of the future owes more respect to its past. If parts of Destination Moon seem clunky by today?s standards, we need to remember that without this pioneering film today?s standards would not exist. (See also Robert A. Heinlein noon Saturday; George Pal 4:00 PM Saturday; Heinlein in the Movies 1:00 PM Sunday)

6:00 PM Vendor Room closes

6:00-6:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: The State of GLBT Characters and Issues in Speculative Fiction
Our annual look at the state of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender characters and issues in science fiction and fantasy, both in print and electro-celluloid media. Rachel Kronick, mod.; Catherine Lundoff

7:00-7:30 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Opening Ceremonies
Rick Gellman, MC; Andrea Hairston, Christopher Jones, Melissa S. Kaercher, Eric M. Heideman; Frida Kahlo, Robert A. Heinlein, George Pal, Octavia E. Butler, in absentia

7:35-8:25 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Comic Books as Movies: What Works, and What Doesn?t
Hollywood has fallen in love with the comic book movie. Where has it gone right, where has it gone wrong, and where is it going next? Melissa S. Kaercher, Christopher Jones, co-mods; Andrea Hairston, Cynthia Booth

7:35-8:25 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Empires: Sustainable or Doomed? The term "American imperialism" is sometimes used to describe U.S. economic and military power. Informed by historical precedent, the term implies that the seeds of decay are already planted. Let's discuss empires past, present, and fictional. What's bad about them? What?s good about them? Must a world (or a galaxy) be divided between conquerors who feel entitled and victims who feel resentful? Are all empires inherently doomed to fall? Are other empires destined to replace them? Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Phyllis Ann Karr, Philip Kaveny, Richard K. Lyon, John Till

8:30-9:20 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Science Fiction/Fantasy Films: The Year in Review
Diversicon?s annual look at science fiction and fantasy in the movies. Bryan Thao Worra, mod.;
Andrea Hairston

8:30-9:20 PM Regent/Waldorf
Reading: Lady Poetesses from Hell
If you haven?t heard the Lady Poetesses so far you?re in for a treat! They?re a performance art group with a twist. Terry A. Garey, host; Ruth Berman, Rebecca Marjesdatter, John Calvin Rezmerski

9:30-9:55 PM Regent/Waldorf
YA Fiction Reading: Pan Morigan

9:30-10:20 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Workshop: Coaching at Warp Speed: The Benefits of Life Coaching
Do you feel stuck in your life and want help to move forward? Do you have plenty of goals and motivation but need balance? This workshop will give you a taste of the life coaching process. You'll be given tools you can take away to help you design the future you deserve. Kathy Amundson, Instructor

9:30 PM-2:00 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
A Party for Readers and Viewers
Hosted by Second Foundation, a Twin Cities speculative fiction-book discussion group, whose members are also film buffs.

9:55-10:20 PM Regent/Waldorf
Poetry Reading: Bryan Thao Worra reads from his new book, On the Other Side of the Eye

10:00 PM Registration & SF Minnesota Tables Close

10:30-11:20 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Wordplay Seminar
Earn a Bachelor?s or Bachelorette?s of Wordplay from Dr. Knowledge. This seminar will probably include: 1.) Wordfacture. It?s often necessary to use a lot of words to describe a thing or situation because we haven?t thought of one economical word for it. Let?s remedy that. 2.) Retirement Party for Cliches. We?ll identify clichés that need to be euthanized and think of clever new phrases to replace them. 3.) Jabberwacky. We?ll A.) identify some silly-sounding words that already exist & B.) make up silly-sounding words which may or may not be accompanied by silly definitions. Rick ?Dr. Knowledge? Gellman, instructor

10:30-11:20 PM Regent/Waldorf
Recital: Free Form Storytelling
Make up a story, rehearse, and deliver without notes. Not an ?open mike;? performers signed up for a 10-minute slot before the convention. Mike Schoenberg, mod.; Paula L. Fleming, Philip Kaveny, Brian K. Perry, John Calvin Rezmerski

10:30-11:20 PM Krushenko?s Annex (Room 1320)
Discussion: Dave & Eric & Whoever Wants to Join Them Sit Around & Talk about Films for an Hour
The sixth in our series of semi-formal lateish-night discussions on a wide range of film topics. David Christenson & Eric M. Heideman, co-mods.

11:30 PM-1:45 AM Krushenko?s Annex (Room 1320)
Cinemasia 2007: More Horror from an Asian Perspective. Ka Vang, host
Cinemasia Film & Discussion One: Pulse (AKA Kairo; Japan; color, 2001; 118 mins.)
Dir., scr.: Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Cast: Haruhiko Kudo, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Karume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo, Shinji Takeda. Ghosts and people are just the same, says a young woman in this eerie tale of revenants, loneliness, computers, and perhaps the end of the world. The film will be followed by a short discussion. (See also Dark Water 10:00 AM Sunday; End of the World Movies noon Sunday)

1:00 AM Hospitality Suite closes

2:00 AM Krushenko?s & Krushenko?s Annex close

Saturday, August 4, 2007 CE:

9:30 AM Hospitality Suite (Presidential Suite; Room 1321) opens

10:00 AM Vendor Room (Dealer Tables & Art Show; Empire Room; 2nd floor) opens

10 AM Registration & SF Minnesota Tables (2nd floor) open

10:00 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge, Room 1332) opens

10:00-10:50 AM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess Room; 2nd floor)
Panel: What do I Read Next?
Our annual look at new and interesting book and magazine SF. Michael Levy, mod.; Janice Bogstad, Greg L. Johnnson, Russell Letson

10:00-10:50 AM Regent/Waldorf Room (2nd floor)
Panel: Cosmological Conjectures
An infinite number of infinitely expanding universes? Ouch?our brains aren't infinitely expanding! Let's geek out about the latest in string theory and discuss how insignificant we really are. Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Phyllis Ann Karr, Rachel Kronick, Richard K. Lyon

10:00-10:50 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge, Room 1332)
Presentation: The Art of Christopher Jones
A visual history of Christopher Jones?career, ranging from Street Heroes 2005 to The Batman Strikes! and his artwork for CONvergence.

11:00-11:50 AM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Andrea Hairston Interviewed
Eric M. Heideman and John Till, interviewers

11:00-11:50 AM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Fanfiction (or, What to do when 7 Harry Potter books are not enough!)
Do you love to read it? Do you love to write it? Or, do you think it's evil? Why are so many people into fanfic, and what is it doing to (or with) commercial publishing? Share your ideas, recommendations, and writing tips. Anna Waltz, mod.; Phyllis Ann Karr, Ellen Kuhfeld, Joan Marie Verba

11:00-11:50 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Panel: Good Blog/Bad Blog?Modern Technology and Artists
What modern technology is available for artists (for self promotion, research, etc.)? What purpose can a blog serve? What are the ways things can go wrong? Discussion boards?good, bad, or dependent on how they?re used? S.N. Arly, mod.; Melissa S. Kaercher, Greg L. Johnson, Rachel Kronick, Catherine Lundoff, Lyda Morehouse

Noon-12:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Ranger Through a Strange Land: Robert A. Heinlein, 1907-1988, and His Impact on SF
On the author of Double Star, The Door into Summer, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Job. 100 years after his birth and 19 years after his death, sales of Heinlein?s books are still strong. No other SF writer achieved the sort of sustained popularity he did, with so many books that have done so well. What is it about Heinlein's writing that has been attracting SF fans since 1939, in contrast to almost everybody else? Eric M. Heideman, mod.; Brian K. Perry, Polly Jo Peterson, John Calvin Rezmerski, Ed Rom

Noon-12:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: The Garden in Speculative Fiction
What role or purpose can gardens serve in speculative fiction (particularly fantasy)? Sometimes it is merely a setting or resource for characters, but sometimes it?s much more, almost a character in its own right. Who uses gardens well or in an interesting way in spec fic? S.N. Arly, mod.; Ruth Berman, Anne Frasier, Terry A. Garey, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Mark Rich

Noon-12:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Workshop: A Voice Class for Poets and Prose Writers
As a reader and a storyteller, your voice is your most important instrument. Do you want to learn new techniques for warming up and fine-tuning your voice for readings? Would you like to learn how to project your voice powerfully without fatigue? Would you like to explore dramatic voice-techniques that will keep an audience riveted as you read to them? Come prepared to work your breath, move your body, and make noise!! Pan Morigan, instructor

1:00-1:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: The Politics of Battlestar Galactica
We?ll talk about the politics that may or may not underpin the series, as well as the opinions expressed by various political commentators who?ve claimed the show for their own. Greg L. Johnson, mod.; Janice Bogstad, Philip Kaveny, Scott Lohman, Lyda Morehouse

1:00-1:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Fantasies as Mirrors for Real World Fears
Dracula (1897) was popular in Victorian and Edwardian England. In the novel, the vampire?s victims are drawn to him by desires they cannot control, female sexuality being something with which Victorians were uncomfortable. In 1898 H.G. Wells published The War of the Worlds, in which Martians invade England but are destroyed by diseases. At the time the story was easily read as a protest against England?s colonization of Africa and a fear of tropical diseases. When, however, in 1938, the Orson Welles radio broadcast had the Martians invading New Jersey, the panic was fueled by fears of a German invasion. Superman appeared in 1938, a refugee from the exploding planet of Krypton. In 1939 World War II began, making Europe look very much like an exploding planet. It seems that in the past the most successful fantasies were those that mirrored the fears of their age. What, then, does replacing Superman with Buffy say about us? Why zombie movies and novels? Why erotic novels with vampires as heroes? Richard K. Lyon, mod.; Anne Frasier, Phyllis Ann Karr

1:00-1:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Presentation: Coloring without Numbers
Melissa S. Kaercher talks about her career as a comics colorist and letterer, and gives some nuts-and-bolts insights into how it?s done.

2:00-2:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Sower of the Parables: Octavia E. Butler, 1947-2006
On the author of Mind of My Mind, Kindred, Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites, Parable of the Sower, and Bloodchild and Other Stories. Michael Levy, mod.; Andrea Hairston, Eleanor Arnason, Janice Bogstad

2:00-2:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Massive Reading: Poetry
Not an ?open mike? reading; readers signed up for a 10-minute slot before the convention. P.M.F. Johnson, host; Phyllis Ann Karr, Philip Kaveny, Sandra Lindow, Pan Morigan

2:00-2:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Panel: Comics from the Asylum (aka Living the Dream aka Be Careful What You Wish for) Christopher Jones & Melissa S. Kaercher talk about a life in the comics industry, working together and separately on comics ranging from Batman to Dr. Blink to Troma. What are pros and cons of going pro?

3:00-3:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Why Doesn?t Superman Look Like Me?
Comics have long been a stronghold of muscular Aryan men and buxom babes in skimpy costumes. There are more racially & culturally diverse characters now than ever before, but comics still fall short of being representational of real world diversity. Why are comics still associated with these archetypes that date back to the 1930?s? Melissa S. Kaercher, Christopher Jones, co-mods.; Cynthia Booth, Lyda Morehouse

3:00-3:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: The State of the Solar System: 2007
Our annual update on the latest findings about our neighbors in the solar system and beyond. Paul F. Richards. mod.; Hank Lederer, Richard K. Lyon

3:00-3:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge; Room 1332)
Panel: Blogged Again: How the Internet is Changing the Language of Politics
We?ll talk about slang terms used on political blogs, e.g. epu, watb, iokiyar, and the like. Greg L. Johnson, mod.; Scott Lohman

4:00-4:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Speculative and Fantastic Theater
Numerous plays include fantasy or science fiction elements. Let's discuss some of our favorites and talk about what works and what doesn't in presenting speculative elements on stage. Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Andrea Hairston, Cynthia Booth, Roy C. Booth, Martha A. Hood

4:00-4:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Serious Games: Genre, System, Setting, and Story in Role-Playing Games
A game player and a game designer talk about RPG?s setting and game design. ?This will be a very interactive panel, as we know that tons of Diversicon folks are into RPGs.??John Till, mod.; Chad Davidson

4:00-4:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge; Room 1332)
Panel: Worldmaker, Worldbreaker: George Pal, 1908-1980
On the animator-par-excellence, producer of Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, The Naked Jungle, The Conquest of Space, The Time Machine, and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. Eric M. Heideman, mod.; David Christenson, Scott Lohman

4:55-7:00 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge; Room 1332)
Frida (b&w & color, 2002; 123 mins.) Dir.: Julie Taymor; scr.: Clancy Sigal, from the 1983 biography by Hayden Herrera. Cast: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Mia Maestro, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas. Disturbing, inspirational tale of Kahlo, who struggled through terrible difficulties to produce an inimitable body of artwork. Co-producer Hayek was robbed on Oscar night; her Frida Kahlo is one of the cinema?s great performances.

5:00-5:30 PM SF Minnesota Table (by Registration)
Massive Autographing: Andrea Hairston, Melissa S. Kaercher, Christopher Jones, Anne Frasier, et al.

7:00 PM Vendor Room closes

10:00 PM Registration & SF Minnesota Tables close

7:00-7:30 PM Pippin Room (1st floor)
SF Minnesota Auction: Items available for inspection

7:30-10:00 PM Pippin Room (1st floor)
SF Minnesota Auction: Bidding
Rick Gellman, Auctioneer; Eric M. Heideman, Quartermaster; David Christenson, Sugar Daddy & Vanna 1; Mike Schoenberg, Recorder; ?, Vanna 2; Andrea Hairston, Christopher Jones, Melissa S. Kaercher, moral support. Cool books, videos, artwork, toys, etc. benefiting Diversicon?s Sponsoring Organization and its projects. To donate or consign material, see Eric M. Heideman or David Christenson.

10:00-10:50 PM Executive Conference Room (2nd floor)
Panel: Religion in Anime and Manga (or, Usagi gets married in the Church of the Ascended Rabbit?) How is religion and spirituality portrayed in anime and manga? Why the mystique around Christianity? A look at Trinity Blood, Inuyasha, Bleach, Gundam Wing, Innocent Bird, Evangelion, and others. Anna Waltz, mod.; Rachel Kronick, Rebecca Marjesdatter

10:00 PM-2:00 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Tales of the Unanticipated #28 Publication Party
See the spectacular ?Heroes Issue? of this long-running Twin Cities publication. Meet lots of staff, contributors, and lovely & talented back issues!

11:00-11:50 PM Pippin Room (1st floor)
Discussion: Collaboration Between Writer and Psychic?You Don't Have to be a Mind-Reader, but it Helps!
Kathy Amundson is speaking for the first time about her experience collaborating with psychic Debra Yeager on two books, Encounters with the Sixth Dimension and its sequel, Intervention Across Time, self-published through www.lulu.com. Debra did the channeling, had the connection to the spirits and guides, and provided the descriptions of all of the psychic events. Kathy developed the characters, wrote the dialogue, the narrative, and kept the plot on track. What was the process? What was the hardest part? What was the best part? Why was it necessary to self-publish? Why are these books important?

11:00-11:50 PM Executive Conference Room (2nd floor)
Panel: Gender Issues in Anime & Manga
We?ll examine the portrayal of men and women in anime and manga, with a focus on gender, culture, and media. Anna Waltz, mod.; Rachel Kronick

11:05 PM-12:30 AM Krushenko?s Annex (Room 1320)
When Worlds Collide (Technicolor, 1951; 83 mins.). prod.: George Pal; dir.: Rudolph Mate?; scr.: Sydney Boehm, from the 1933 novel by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer; mus.: Leith Stevens; FX: Fordon Jennings, ASC, & Harry Barndollar; astronomical art: Chesley Bonestell. Cast: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, John Hoyt, Peter Hanson, Larry Keating, Judith Ames, Stephen Chase, Frank Cady. Pal?s follow-up to Destination Moon shows marked improvement in the art of storytelling. The ultimate end of the world movie, When Worlds Collide carries the viewer right along. The FX remain impressive, and John Hoyt is memorable as the cynical, self-absorbed millionaire financing the space ark. (See also George Pal 4:00 PM Saturday, End of the World Movies noon Sunday)

1:00 AM Hospitality Suite closes

2:00 AM Krushenko?s & Krushenko?s Annex close

?I don?t like anything past 2:00 AM. Anything past two is all losers and weirdos.??Paris Hilton, Late Show with David Letterman, June 14, 2004

Sunday, August 5, 2007 CE:

9:30 AM Hospitality Suite (Presidential Suite; Room 1321) opens

10:00 AM Vendor Room (Dealer Tables & Art Show; Empire Room; 2nd floor) opens

10 AM Registration & SF Minnesota Tables (2nd floor) open

10:00 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge, Room 1332) opens

10:00-10:50 AM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess Room; 2nd floor)
Panel: Natural Families
Some people who espouse "traditional" family values phrase their arguments in terms of what's "natural" and what isn't. Yet not only have humans historically formed families in many different ways, but so do other animals. Extended family groups of crows and wolves work together to feed nestlings and pups, respectively. Males of a number of fish and bird species care for the young. Spontaneously sex-changing self-fertilizers aren't just creatures of science fiction. Let's explore the diversity of natural family arrangements. Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Melissa S. Kaercher, John Calvin Rezmerski

10:00-10:50 AM Regent/Waldorf Room (2nd floor)
Panel: How Literary and Other Theory Helps in Reading SF
Esp. post-colonial, psychoanalytic, & textual analysis. Janice Bogstad, Philip Kaveny, co-mods.; Roy C. Booth

10:00-11:55 AM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Cinemasia 2007: More Horror from an Asian Perspective. Ka Vang, host Cinemasia Film & Discussion Two: Dark Water (AKA Honogurai Mizu No Suko Kara; Japan; color, 2002; 101 mins.). Dirs.: Hideo Nakata, Kyle Jones (English language version); scr.: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Hideo Nakata, & Ken?ichi Suzuki, from the novel by Koji Suzuki. Cast: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kamo, Miri Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yukiko Ikari. Dark Water is enough to make you swear off apartment life! This low-key tale of a single mother and her daughter beset by the unknowable deals not so much in conventional suspense as in unease. Once seen, it lingers. The film will be followed by a short discussion.

11:00-11:50 AM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: The Many Lives of The Batman
Murderer, respecter of life, scientist, inventor, detective, athlete, playboy, ascetic, psycho, champion of reason, master of disguise, high camp, dark knight, everybody?s pal? Since artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger gave birth to Bruce Wayne, AKA The Batman, in 1939, the character has been many things to many people. We?ll sprint through his complicated history and consider some reasons for his enduring appeal?with special attention to Christopher Jones? work on The Batman Strikes. Eric M. Heideman, mod.; Christopher Jones, Cynthia Booth, Roy C. Booth

11:00-11:50 AM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: The Year in Anime and Manga
Looks at the best of the new stuff! Rebecca Marjesdatter, mod.; Ellen Kuhfeld, Anna Waltz

Noon-12:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: End of the World Movies
Part of our series about film genres (past entries included Westerns, films noir, spy, swashbuckler, combat, heroic fantasy, gangster, & con/caper/heist/sting movies). This year we look at films concerning global Armageddon, achieved or narrowly averted. David Christenson, mod.; Andrea Hairston, Melissa S. Kaercher, Eric M. Heideman, Scott Lohman

Noon-12:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Marion Zimmer Bradley: Robert Heinlein for Women?
MZB's books were the ones we turned to when we were shy 13-and 14-year-olds looking for strong female characters and situations we could imagine ourselves into. For some of us, the Free Amazons of Darkover were the first positive portrayals of feminists and queer women that we read in SF. So is that enough to make her the equivalent of Heinlein for the other half of the fen population? Catherine Lundoff, mod.; Terry A. Garey, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Joan Marie Verba

Noon-12:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Acoustic Concert by Keg Salad
Mark Rich, Martha Borchardt

1:00-1:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Heinlein in the Movies
Destination Moon, The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers, as well as trivial matters?Project Moonbase, The Brain Eaters. Which do you like best? Least? Which are truer to Heinlein?s vision, and how much? Why so few, compared with e.g. Philip K. Dick? Scott Lohman, mod.; Ed Rom

1:00-1:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Generic Panel
Wide-ranging discussion of various topics. These are usually continuations of the topics explored at other panels. New topics will also be welcomed. Arthur C. Johnson, mod.; Phyllis Ann Karr, Ellen Kuhfeld

1:00-1:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Prose Reading: Andrea Hairston
Our Guest of Honor reads from her fiction and her theatrical work.

2:00-2:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Recital: Diva from Another Planet
Pan Morigan performs her repertoire of speculative songs and spoken word poems. With instruments from all over the world and a voice ranging over four delicious octaves, Pan?s story-songs take us on a wild ride through time and space and bring us home breathless and excited.

2:00-2:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: The Dark Side of the Fey
Traditionally capricious and dangerous, the fey are now often portrayed very differently. Why have we moved toward a purely cuddly and kindly fey? What authors draw on the more traditional characteristics and do it well? Why does this work? What purpose do tales of the dark fey serve? Why should we ?stay on the path?? S.N. Arly, mod.; Janice Bogstad, Phyllis Ann Karr, Philip Kaveny, Jody L. Wurl

2:00-2:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Presentation: Ordinary Creatures, Extraordinary Legends
Not everything has to be strange and exotic. We?ll be discussing interesting legends from Asia surrounding seemingly everyday creatures. Bryan Thao Worra, presenter

2:00-2:50 PM Vendor Room (Empire Room)
Meet the Artists
Artists who participate in the Art Show spend an hour talking/answering questions about their work. Christopher Jones, Melissa S. Kaercher, Terry A. Garey, Mark Rich

3:00-3:50 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Panel: Who Are Your Influences? It could be argued that we are all influenced by the things we are exposed to all our lives. For writers, this carries over into our work. Can you see the fingerprints of the artists and events that have influenced you? Where are they most prevalent? If you can?t see them, why
do you suppose that might be? Are you conscious of the things that influence your writing? S.N. Arly,
mod.; Christopher Jones, Martha A. Hood

3:00-3:50 PM Regent/Waldorf
Panel: Old School: YA Fantasy Before Harry Potter
The precursors to Hogwarts are many and varied, and deserving of a much wider audience than they generally get today. E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, Mary Norton, Margot Benary-Isbert, the list goes on. Let's talk about pre-H.P. kid's books that are worth a reread. Catherine Lundoff, mod.; Ruth Berman, Terry A. Garey, P.M.F. Johnson, Rebecca Marjesdatter

3:00-3:50 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Panel: Hispania: Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
Continuing our annual examination of topics and creators in fanciful Hispanic culture. ?This year is the centennial of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican, surrealist, disabled, bisexual, Communist, artistic sensation. Her volatile life and visceral art pose compelling questions about femininity, cultural inheritance, and personal and artistic identity. We'll look at some of her paintings and discuss the impact of her early life, chronic pain and limited mobility, marriages (two?both to prominent muralist Diego Rivera), sexuality, cultural identity, surrealism and symbolism, and raw talent on her work. The Walker Art Center will premier an exhibit of Kahlo's paintings and photographs of the artist starting October 27, 2007. Paula L. Fleming, mod.; Pan Morigan

4:00 PM Vendor Room closes

4:00 PM Registration & SF Minnesota Tables close

4:00-4:25 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Discussion: When Cons Collide
Looks at Diversicons past, present, and yet to come. Rick Gellman, Eric M. Heideman, co-mods.

4:00-4:25 PM Krushenko?s (Concierge)
Poetry Reading: Angela Albee

4:30 PM Krushenko?s closes

4:30-5:00 PM Mainstage (Beacon/Duchess)
Closing Ceremonies
Rick Gellman, MC; Andrea Hairston, Christopher Jones, Melissa S. Kaercher, Eric M. Heideman; Octavia E. Butler, George Pal, Robert A. Heinlein, Frida Kahlo, in absentia
4:30-7:30 PM Hospitality Suite closed for Dinner Break

7:30 PM-1:30 AM Hospitality Suite (Presidential Suite, Room 1321)
There?s Still Life in the Old Dog Party
Krushenko?s merges with Hospitality for a mellow send-off. Probably including a film or two?.

a sad day for sweden

2007-07-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

Ingmar Bergman died today on the island of Faro, off the coast of Sweden.

it seems appropriate to rerun this post from January 2006 about my favorite Bergman film and the Oak Street Cinema. (The first 14 replies are from 2006.)

this breaks my heart.

save the oak street

Oak Street Cinema is one of the reasons I moved to the Twin Cities, and one of the reasons I remain. When I look back over the six years I've been here, almost every highlight involves the Oak Street.

The big one:

In the Presence of a Clown

Made for Swedish TV in 1997 and shot on video, Ingmar Bergman's triumphant return to the screen (at age 80) is nevertheless characteristic in mood and theme--enough so, in fact, as to offer itself as a career summation. Set just before the advent of film sound in the mid-Twenties, it observes the art and angst of yet another Bergman surrogate (Borje Ahlstedt)--an aging inventor who claims to have conceived "the living talking picture," a medium in which actors stand behind the movie screen reciting dialogue in sync with the film's images. Assembling a troupe of loyal actors, the auteur/inventor shoots a speculative bio-pic about the last days of Franz Schubert. When the time comes to perform the soundtrack, though, the film technology fails and the thespians gamely act out the movie on stage for a minuscule audience, Death (Agneta Ekmanner) among them. Is this Bergman's way of saying that the cinema--his cinema--is at the end of its life? If so, Clown's pixilated video look serves its allegory far better than its mise en scene, but the result is essential nonetheless.

(Rob Nelson) City Pages

At the point when this came to the Oak Street, Bergman wasn't allowing screenings. The Oak Street contacted his assistant and through months of back and forth phone calls and emails finally got permission to screen it one time (I believe). Am I dreaming, or was there something about the movie being rowed from an island???? When it finally reached Dinkytown and the Oak Street, it was on a VHS tape that didn't play? I swear I'm not making this up, but I'm trying to remember!! So they had to rent another player at the last minute. Anyway, all of the obstacles lent an even greater magic to the event. And the movie itself seemed a culmination of Bergman's career. When it ended the theater was silent. People stood. Then came a huge eruption of noise.

When I go to the Oak Street there's a feeling of knowing the other people in the theater even though I don't. We are all there for the same reason. We love film.

I saw Elliot Gould there. Just walking around looking cool in his suit. They screened the Long Goodbye. Afterward he sat on the stage and chatted with everybody. And Bruce Campbell came to visit for Man with the Screaming Brain. James Ellroy screened a documentary there. One guy told me he drove four hours to see it. Unfortunately Ellroy was sick and didn't make it, but the documentary was amazing. This summer was the Twin Peaks Festival. Moviegoers baked cherry pies for the audience. I've stood in lines that went around the block. I've come out of the theater to see even longer lines. The line is part of the experience. It sets up the feeling of camaraderie and builds excitement as we wait for the doors to open.

Okay, here's the big thing. The Oak Street is in debt but 130,000.00 isn't that much. This place should be supported by endowments and grants and fundraisers. It shouldn't have to make enough money on ticket sales to stay open. That's impossible.
Dammit, Minneapolis. Don't let this happen!!

is this anything?

2007-07-27T14:21:00.001-07:00

sometimes -- a lot of times -- it's hard for me to know if my writing sucks or doesn't suck. especially if i'm venturing into new territory. i didn't want to waste another day on my rural decay story if it sucked, so i decided to send the first 40 pages to my agent for some of his painfully honest feedback. this isn't the type of stuff he represents (YET!), but i completely trust his judgment as a reader for pretty much any kind of writing. so i was trying to decide how i would proceed if he called to tell me to put this project away. far, far away. instead, he called and said he really liked it. a lot. more than a lot. (paraphrasing here.) when i explained that it was really nonfiction, he felt it could be especially powerful if published that way.

so anyway, what a relief. i needed that honest feedback to give me the incentive and confidence to continue with the story. don't we all?

on the stereo:

innocence and despair, the langley schools music project

wikipedia

movies:
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE -- 4 out of 5 stars

49 Up

THE DEAD GIRL -- 3 stars

and in honor of bush's colon:

The tunnel was dark and slimy underfoot. I wanted to pull out my Bic, but I could smell something rank, like sewer gas and a million farts. One click and this place could blow us both to Jesus. But maybe that’s what it would take. Maybe that’s what it would take to end the madness. No, that’s the drugs talkin’. Crazy talk. Crazy talk. So I move on. Just another night. Just another tedious, winding alley that will end in bad shit. It always ends in bad shit. And Poly? Well, Poly’s like a cancer. Might find her; might not. It’s the journey. Always the journey….

perfect cure for the summertime blues

2007-07-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

Jason Evans is holding another one of his wonderful short fiction contests, so sharpen your brains and send your entry!

From Jason:

Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 1st (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect, but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email. Each entry will be posted and indexed.

To make things interesting, I'm offering the following prizes (not to mention bragging rights):

* 1st Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Halo" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
* 2nd Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
* 3rd Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
* 4th Place: $10 Amazon gift certificate
* 5th Place: $5 Amazon gift certificate
* Readers' Choice Award $15 Amazon Gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Halo" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills become clear when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Rules:

1. 250 words maximum.
2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
3. One entry per person.
4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog.
6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of judging and helpful hints, see A Note on Judging.
7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your name to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments. Also, if you send a request to me by email, I would be happy to offer any constructive comments I might have. Constructive comments will be by private email only.
10. The Readers' Choice Award is awarded by vote of the contest participants. The entry with the highest number of votes wins. The rules for this portion of the contest will be posted after the entry period closes.
11. Public critiques in comments are encouraged, but must remain respectful. I reserve the right to delete comments and ban participants who do not abide by the collegial spirit of Clarity of Night contests.
12. For prior contests and their results, see the links on the sidebar.

visit Jason's blog for all the info and links to past contests!

The Clarity of Night

.
.

garden of darkness ARCs

2007-07-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

GARDEN OF DARKNESS ARCs should be arriving this week.

18 is the count, so I'm going to have to be stingy with them. Sorry! I probably won't have any drawings this time around, but I'll know more later.

If you're a reviewer, bookseller, or librarian and would like a copy, please email me at:

anne.frasier@gmail.com

I also thought about passing around a few copies. You read it and send it back or send it to the next person on the list. but on the other hand, I won't have another book out for a long time, so it might be best for people to wait and read the real thing rather than an uncorrected proof. that's kinda what i'm thinking.

St. Martin's Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition

2007-07-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Daniel J. Hale, Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America
(MWA), and Andrew Martin, Vice President and Publisher of St. Martin's
Minotaur are pleased to announce the first annual St. Martin's
Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition.

This contest provides a previously unpublished writer an opportunity to
launch his or her career with a major mystery imprint, St. Martin's
Minotaur. The winner will receive a one-book, $10,000 contract.

Entries will be accepted immediately through December 15, 2007. The winner
will be recognized at the 2008 Edgar Awards banquet, and his or her novel
published in 2009.

The competition is open to any writer who has never been the author of a
published novel. Details, rules and specific guidelines on eligibility, as
well as entry forms, are available at the St. Martin's Minotaur website:

competition

The winner will then be recognized at the Edgar Awards Banquet in New York
City in April 2008.

my passport story

2007-07-16T16:20:00.001-07:00

I'm sure you've heard all the stink about passports and how people aren't getting them back in time for their trips abroad. i didn't really pay much attention to it because i have a passport. every time i heard another sad passport story, i would think: thank god i don't have to deal with that.

wrong.

apparently passports expire after 10 years, and mine expired a year ago.

I might get the chance to go abroad next month, so I ordered a new passport. I'd heard it could take months to get it back, so i chose to expedite.

total to expedite: 127.00

photo from walgreens: 7.00

priority mail: 4.00? (can't remember the exact amount.)

without overnighting either way, I received my new passport in exactly 11 days.

Diversicon 15 -- the coolest conference on the planet?

2007-07-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

This looks like a really cool, fun conference for writers and fans of sci-fi and fantasy, along with crossover fiction that overlaps additional genres such as mystery and suspense. I've had the totally amazing and humbling honor of being invited as Guest of Honor at next year's Diversicon, Diversicon 16, which will be held August, 2008 in the same location.

Bloomington, MN, is a first-ring suburb and just three minutes from the St. Paul/Minneapolis International Airport. The hotel is across the street from the Mall of America. We have a
light rail
that can easily haul your ass all over town, from the airport to the mall, to the hotel, to downtown Minneapolis. You don't have to buy dressy clothes. I've been told jeans and T-shirts are delightful evening wear.

Please go to the link to read more about location, events, panels, parties, food, screenings, guests, etc.

DIVERSICON 15

Here's some info on this year's event:

Diversicon 15 and ConSume Relaxacon Dates: August 3-5, 2007

Holiday Inn Select International Airport
- Mall of America
3 Appletree Square,
Bloomington, MN 55425
1-800-45-HOTELS
or 952-854-9000

Rates:

Through The Ides of March 2007 (March 15):
Adult $25, Student (ages 5-17) $15

Through Bastille Day, 14th of July 2007:

Adult $30, Student $20, Supporting $5, Converting $25

At the Door
Adult $40, Student $30

Other Options:

Supporting: $5/Converting: $25

For further info write to:
PO Box 8036, Lake Street Station Minneapolis, MN 55408

Or call:
Eric M. Heideman, 612-721-5959

Or you can reach us via our new Gmail email address.

Diversicon: A Brief History

SF Minnesota was founded in February 1992 by a group of veterans of other speculative fiction conventions—and some newcomers—who believed that there was room for a Twin Cities convention with a different tone and focus. Over the next 16 months, they hammered out a philosophy of Diversicon: it would be a convention that would celebrate and explore the connections between speculative fiction (SF) and diversity, particularly in three main areas: 1) Cultural diversity. Slightly more than two thirds of Diversicon's guest professionals have been women. A number of guests have been persons of color. A number of guests have been openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual and/or have written SF that explores issues of alternate sexuality. "Readers and writers of speculative fiction often pat themselves on the back about their openness to the possibilities of alien life forms and radically different ways of thinking," said Eric M. Heideman, one of SF Minnesota's founders. "Sometimes, notwithstanding this commitment to imagined cultures, the field loses track of the diversity of culture that exists right now on this planet. In our small way, Diversicon works to broaden the field’s possibilities." 2) Diversity of fan groups. Diversicon would be openly welcoming, friendly, and respectful to the wide range of SF-related organizations in the area, ranging from book clubs to writing groups, Star Trek and anime clubs, creative anachronists and futurist organizations, and anyone else who shared an interest in diversity and the imagination. 3) Diversity in media. Recognizing that different people come to SF through different paths, Diversicon would be inclusive of all media. In addition to a strong core of literary programming—including items for both writers and readers—the convention also includes a rich sampling of panels and discussions related to SF in film, TV, graphic arts, and other media as well as speculative science. Diversicon 1 premiered in June 1993 and subsequently settled on August as its regular month. A milestone for the convention was hosting the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 2000. Eric Heideman said, "We take pride in being a convention that’s willing to lead, not just follow. For example, we were the first SF convention to invite Tananarive Due and Minister Faust, among others, as guests. Having the courage to often invite little-known but exciting guests is a challenge, when we could get higher numbers by celebrating the already-celebrated." Heideman recalled some of his favorite moments at Diversicon as "many mental snapshots of times when I realized what a wonderful, civilized group of people we had in attendance and what a worthwhile thing we were doing together." Acknowledging the issues that face a convention like Diveriscon, Heideman said, "An ongoing challenge is retaining our front-and-center commitment to diversity, resisting the pull to make the convention more generic. We need to continue to work at being a first-rate convention whose subject is diversity in SF." Diversicon also strives to reach out to and welcome those who enjoy reading, writing, or viewing SF but who haven't yet found a community of like-minded people. "We need to do a consistent job of getting the word out to people who would be interested in this sort of convention," said Heideman. "We have done an effective job of getting out the message that we’re a woman- and gay-friendly convention. We need to do a better job of drawing persons of color to Diversicon, including persons with little or no prior experience of SF fandom."

updated GARDEN OF DARKNESS cover

2007-07-03T13:18:00.001-07:00

It's kind of strange how this updated cover came about. People can post their list of favorites on Amazon. I came across J.A. Konrath's list and Pale Immortal was on it, along with a really nice quote. I sent the quote to my editor, and she immediately asked if we could use it on the cover of GOD. I contacted Joe, and that was that.

moving on -- the new project

2007-06-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Whenever editors discover I lived on a farm they always ask for a farm story. I've probably had five editors ask for farm stories over the past twenty years. But they all wanted the romanticized view of a farm, not a dark portrayal of farm life.

So maybe it's time for the real thing.

I think it was good to get away last weekend because my current project really started falling into place this week. One day I was ready to toss it; the next I'd solved a major problem. I'm guessing the book will be about 90% nonfiction, but will be sold as fiction. I found myself getting really depressed because I was spending so much time living in the past. So I started another project, a thriller. Now when I need to get away from the real world I shift to the thriller. I never thought I'd write two books at once, but this might work out.

Here's my little pitch for the farm story:

WHO KNEW LIFE ON THE FARM COULD BE SO EVIL?

My one-sentence description:

Bohemian drug addict meets Midwestern farm boy and marries into a rural life of death, repression, mental decay, and environmental destruction.

My plan is to write the whole manuscript before submitting it anywhere. If you're a publisher or editor and would like to see the project, please contact my agent, Steve Axelrod.

Woodbury Minnesota book signing

2007-06-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

weekend tunes

2007-06-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Patti Smith -- Gloria

Book of the Month and the Dreamin' Demon

2007-06-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

PLAY DEAD was chosen as the book of the month at the Dreamin' Demon. This looks like an active and interesting place to spend some time! If you want to check out the Play Dead discussion, go here:

The Demon's Den

kool-aid suicide?

2007-06-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

I posted this on Crimespace a few days ago, and thought I'd also post it here.

I’m worried. Really worried.

About how self-promotion has become not only expected but required. And the more the better. I recently heard a small-press publicist say their writers should invest more than their advance on promotion. Three years ago I was presented with a verbal list of possible self-promotion ideas:

Start a blog, attend conferences, get involved in more online groups and online events, give talks at libraries, travel to small towns and speak, make a book trailer, have online contests and possibly a writing competition, join more organizations, enter my books in more contests, do a monthly newsletter, put together a mailing list, visit more bookstores.

The argument for all of this is that publishers have no idea if any of it helps, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Wrong.

The few who agree with me about the futility of self promotion usually say it takes away from a writer’s writing time.

It took away all of my free time and left me mentally exhausted.

It wouldn’t be so bad if my efforts had mattered, but we are all just kids at our individual Kool-Aid stands, holding up our signs, begging people to stop and buy. And on every corner is another Kool-Aid stand serving up another version of cherry-flavored anxiety.

Our family and neighbors shuffle over. But mainly we just stand around and drink our own stuff and go check out the other stands to see what flavors they’re selling that day. And while we’re there, delivery trucks go by taking Kool-Aid to stores all over the country.

Is our willingness to wear ten different hats, no matter how poorly, giving publishing houses more of a reason to step back and do less? As a group, are we hurting ourselves? Especially when publishing houses already have a system in place that we can never come close to touching no matter how hard we work or how much money we spend.

The national decline in reading can’t be fixed by opening a Kool-Aid stand.

I’m giving myself permission to write. Just write. And maybe enjoy life a little bit while I’m at it.

a few photos of the new place

2007-06-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

what tarot card are you?

2007-05-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

i spotted this on jason's blog. thanks, jason!

You are The Empress
Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.
The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.
The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

so the bed started shaking...

2007-05-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

my cat was at the foot, and at first i thought he'd decided to go into a hind leg/ear scratching frenzy. no, he was sound asleep. and the bed was still shaking, and my laptop was bouncing. this went on for about 30 seconds, then gradually stopped. and i'm not talking about a little shake. i did hear a faint, steady rumble and wondered if it could be a train. but then i looked at the foot of my bed where i'd just plugged in one of those kitschy, religious nightlights of a woman being consumed by flames. my new place was built by a powerful catholic. i can't go into detail, but he probably performed a few exorcisms in his day.

so anyway, other than the poltergeist, i'm really loving the new place. but have been too busy to be online. closed on my house yesterday, still don't have a real phone, just got internet but it's screwed up. i thought maybe i could keep my comcast address, but it doesn't look like it, so if you emailed me at comcast it would have bounced. and if you posted here, i might have missed it since i hadn't changed my profile address.

the ceilings here go up to the sky. and speaking of sky -- i can see it from every window! no more staring at the side of the neighbor's house! stars! sunlight! fresh air!! no exhaust fumes! it's like staying at a bed and breakfast without the breakfast. and with a shaking bed.

post-its and editing

2007-05-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

I just received the copyedit for GOD and I have to say I don't know how I ever lived without Post-its.
Here's what works amazingly well for me:

I read through the entire manuscript, and if I can't make a decision in 60 seconds on a copyeditor's question or something I think needs to be tweaked I slap down a post-it and move on. Once the manuscript is done it might contain 150 Post-its. The second time through I just read the flagged stuff. This allows me to completely focus on the problem. I can usually make a decision in less than a minute, and am able to remove the sticker. If not, I leave it and by the time I'm finished with that round I usually have around 20 Post-its left. Repeat the previous trick and that usually takes care of them all. I've used this method for the last three books and I'm still amazed by how well it works.

I've also had this copyeditor before and she's excellent. With some copyeditors you might spend a lot of time trying to decide if something is worth fighting for, but there's none of that going on here, which makes the process pretty painless.

oh, I've added a link to the previous post in case anybody wants to watch the video about the little pop-up trailers.

2007-05-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

watch video

KELLY PARRA AND GRAFFITI GIRL

2007-05-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

The release date for Graffiti Girl is May 15, but it's now shipping from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and has also been spotted in stores!

Was it a year and a half ago that a rude, drunken psychic named Madame Sosostris gave Kelly a reading telling her she would be selling soon? I suppose Madame S will try to take credit for this wonderful writer's success, when we all knew it was going to happen. We're proud of you, Kelly!

Graffiti art. It's bold. It's thrilling. And it can get a girl into serious trouble....

Raised by her single mom (who's always dating the wrong kind of man) in a struggling California neighborhood, Angel Rodriguez is a headstrong, independent young woman who channels her hopes and dreams for the future into her painting. But when her entry for a community mural doesn't rate, she's heartbroken. Even with winning artist Nathan Ramos -- a senior track star and Angel's secret crush -- taking a sudden interest in Angel and her art, she's angry and hurt. She's determined to find her own place in the art world, her own way.

That's when Miguel Badalin -- from the notorious graffiti crew Reyes Del Norte -- opens her eyes to an underground world of graf tags and turf wars. She's blown away by this bad boy's fantastic work and finds herself drawn to his dangerous charm. Soon she's running with Miguel's crew, pushing her skills to the limit and beginning to emerge as the artist she always dreamed she could be. But Nathan and Miguel are bitter enemies with a shared past, and choosing between them and their wildly different approaches to life and art means that Angel must decide what matters most before the artist inside of her can truly break free.

"With characters as bold and exciting as the art they love, and an honesty that keeps them raw and real, Graffiti Girl shows us that the only thing better than discovering your talent is finding yourself along the way." ~ Jenny O'Connell, author of Plan B and The Book of Luke

"Graffiti Girl is a fast-paced story that boldly looks dreams and temptations in the eye. 16 year-old Angel Rodriguez steals your heart as she tries to find her place in the world--artistically, socially, and even inside her own family. Don't miss this one!" ~ Tina Ferraro, author of Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress

"Breaking into the YA market with the edgy debut novel Graffiti Girl, Kelly will surprise readers with her hip yet mature voice." ~ RITA Award-winning author, Dianna Love Snell

"This book blew me away. Kelly Parra writes with the keen eye of an artist. Graffiti Girl is warm, gutsy, and true-to-life -- an unflinching, honest portrayal of young adults. A seamless and impressive debut." anne frasier

available now! Amazon

Kelly's blog

the witch of blackberry hill

2007-05-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

here's a piece of flash fiction I couldn't resist writing for Jason's wonderful contest at The Clarity of Night.

THE WITCH OF BLACKBERRY HILL

When the snow melts, they come.

Curiosity seekers searching for my house, looking for a thrill and maybe a bit of immortality. They bring cameras and equipment meant to find me, meant to capture my shadow or the whisper of my feet against the stairs. Some of them have been here before. Some have been here many times.

But they don’t know me. None of them know me.

There is no one left to tell of the rivers I swam, the sandcastles I built, or the hearts I broke. They will never know of the man I loved and the children I never had. It doesn’t bother me. I look forward to the spring when the snow melts. Occasionally I will caress a cheek or the back of a neck. The curious will turn and almost see me, the fear and life in their eyes a reminder that I was once more than this.

I can hear them now, their voices echoing through the woods.

They come.

by Anne Frasier

buried in books

2007-04-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

i have close to 30 boxes of books. my own books, dating back 20 years. i have over a hundred new copies of a single book. i have boxes and boxes of multiple foreign copies. i can't keep hauling these around, and i've actually contemplated throwing most of them out because i simply don't know what to do with them. most are romance and romantic suspense. those never stayed in print long, so after a few books i learned to buy extra copies and also purchase the remainders when offered. years ago i tried to sell them online, but that was such a pain in the ass that i quit doing it.

killing the main character

2007-04-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

a lot has been written about killing off a main character. I tend to think this should never be done simply because most readers aren't going to like it. i get that, because i don't like characters i care about to die when i'm watching a movie or reading a book.

i just sent in my option proposal for a third book in the Tuonela series. I wanted to kill Evan, but didn't. But without killing him the book seems to lack the impact and feeling of completion it should have brought to the trilogy. when you put the three books together his death would have brought everything full circle and finalized a story arc that carries through all the books. but i don't want to betray readers by killing off somebody they care about.

ENDLESS HOUR short fiction contest

2007-04-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Jason at The Clarity of Night is hosting another one of his wonderful fiction contests.

from Jason:
Whether you're an old friend, or new to The Clarity of Night, welcome!

Spring is finally underway (I think). Let's celebrate with a contest, shall we? It has been about a year since my first contest, and this one will be my fifth. Thanks for the great run!

Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 25th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect, but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email. Each entry will be posted and indexed.

To make things interesting, the following prizes are on the line:

* 1st Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Endless Hour" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
* 2nd Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
* 3rd Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
* 4th Place: $10 Amazon gift certificate
* 5th Place: $5 Amazon gift certificate
* Readers' Choice Award $15 Amazon Gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Endless Hour" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. It's amazing how many perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start from the same place. There is so much we can learn from each other.

read more at The Clarity of Night

my dearest manatee

2007-03-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Bill's debut is here!

Bill's website

I'm a big fan of Bill Cameron's writing, so I'm thrilled to be able to finally announce the April 1 release of LOST DOG.

(Okay, I'm a day early, but I've heard the book it out there and people have received their copies from Amazon.)

My take:

On a gray Portland morning, unemployed Peter McKrall searches the park for his niece’s lost stuffed animal, but instead comes upon a dead body. The trauma of the event is an uncomfortable reminder of his own dark history, and soon Peter, a man trying to break a kleptomania habit, finds himself trapped in the middle of an investigation he wants nothing to do with.

Cops make him uncomfortable. Dead people make him uncomfortable. Having his name and face on the evening news makes him uncomfortable.

He’s alone with no one to trust or confide in until he meets Ruby Jane. When a second murder takes place, Peter’s painful past comes back to haunt him and Ruby Jane’s life is put in danger.

LOST DOG by Bill Cameron is a beautifully written and masterful work of character-driven crime fiction. One of the most fascinating and compelling main characters I’ve read in a long time. A bad guy real enough to smell. A plot that fits together like a puzzle.

I was starving for a personal story. Give me real people. Give me a story with truth. As soon as I started LOST DOG my heart began to beat faster. This was the book I’d been craving.

Bill Cameron manages to deftly strip away the distance. Not only does he give us a knockout plot, he gives us real people in real settings. He gives us characters we care about, characters we know and want to know. And like real life, the darkest moments often contain humor. I laughed out loud several times.

SLICE OF PIE, one of Bill's short stories, will be included in the upcoming killer year anthology.

My take:

Real is the word that immediately comes to mind when stepping into a world created by the exceptionally talented Bill Cameron. The landscape he illuminates is one we’ve seen before, but never with such focus or appreciation. Bill shines a light on real life, and suddenly we recognize an object, a person, an emotion. Yes, that’s exactly the way it is… He brings clarity to private spaces, and helps us see the familiar with new eyes.

Bill’s short story, SLICE OF PIE, is a wonderful slice of life, a small and intimate world as immediate as a whiff of moth balls, urinal cake, or Tabu.

I wish Bill a wonderful debut full of great reviews and great sales -- and I hope he gets his butt to Minnesota soon.

spinetingler

2007-03-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

The spring issue of spinetingler magazine is now online. Looks like another good one!

new low video

2007-03-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

breaker

for your entertainment

2007-03-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

guess the title

2007-03-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

the acronym for my new book is GOD.

care to guess the title?

no prizes! no drinks! no nuthin!

progress report 2: i'm having an open house sunday. gulp.

crimespace

2007-03-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Crimespace

Daniel Hatadi has started a cool hangout for crime fiction writers. It's kind of like Myspace, but much more user-friendly with a lot of nice features.

Crimespace is "A place for crime fiction writers, readers and lovers to schmooze, booze and draw up plans for the heist to end all heists. Find new authors to delve into and discuss the latest in crime fiction. Join up and enter the forums, add photos, videos and make some friends.

Pull up a chair at the bar and share your poison."

yeah, things are as bad as you think

2007-03-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

.
.

link to story

WTF in today's email:

Amstel Pilsener Beer,
Herengracht 282,
1016 BX Amsterdam.
Postbus 3462,
1001 AG Amsterdam.

Good Day,

This is to officially notify you that you are amongst the ten winners of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Euro (€1,500,000.00) from Amstel Pilsener Beer Company Annual Promotions, with REF: 7649082 and PIN: 5628454 number please contact the promotional officer with the details below for further advice.

Name: Mr. James West.
Amstel Pilsener Promotional Officer (UK)
Email:amstelrewardpromo@yahoo.co.uk

Accordingly.

Mr. Hendrik Klaas.
Amstel Pilsener Online coordinator (Amsterdam).

easy websites

2007-03-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

if i can do it, anybody can do it.
my website hadn't been updated in since 2005. i don't do websites, but i really wanted to find something similar to a blog that i could easily update myself. i'd heard of citymax, but knew it required Internet Explorer. Well, apparently it does work with Firefox. A bit glitchy, but it can be done. It's not the greatest looking website, but it's going to be so nice to be able to update whenever i need to. i'm not quite finished, and some weird things are going on that i haven't quite figured out, but i don't think it looks too bad. oh, and i want to say thanks to sandra and kevin of Spinetingler Magazine for the very nice jpeg i was able to use on the home page!!

my new website

citymax has a 10-day free trial, which is pretty handy. i would never have attempted a website without it.

and speaking of covers....

2007-03-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

here is the original Pale Immortal cover.

the final version is in the sidebar.

i felt the artwork was much better on the original version even though i wasn't crazy about it. what's weird is that the new sequel cover looks like it features the same model, but it's done in a way that really work.

Electric Boogaloo

2007-03-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

got the cover for PI 2: Electric Boogaloo yesterday.
wow.

it's stunning.

i SO want to share it! but i'm concerned about showing it off too early. i'm afraid people will be sick of the book before the release which is still 9 months out. i'm thinking the cover exposure should come more like 6 months out or even 4? i don't know. anyway, the cover is amazing. i'm also really happy with the title. i sent a list of ideas to my editor and several people at the publishing house chose this one. it's also a very amusing acronym. well, some might not think it so amusing, but i do. i might post the acronym soon and see if people can guess the title. unfortunately i let it slip to a couple of people, so that will spoil the fun for them. sorry!

Once Upon a crime fifth annual write of spring

2007-02-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

Snow is falling heavily in Minnesota, so it seems the perfect time to announce the Fifth Annual Write of Spring event.

Where: Once Upon a Crime, Minneapolis
When: Saturday, March 24, 2007, 12:00 - 4:00

Except for mystery conventions or rehab reunions, you will never see as many Minnesota authors in one place! A great day and way to celebrate Minnesota writers, Once Upon a Crime, and buy autographed copies of your favorite Minnesota authors’ books.

12:00 PM: Robert Alexander, Laura Childs, Monica Ferris, William Fietzer, Erin Hart, Judith Koll Healy, E. Kelly Keady, Peter Rennebohm, Rick Shefchik, R.D. Zimmerman

1:00 PM: KJ Erickson, Margaret Frazer, Brian Freeman, Bob Gust, Lori L. Lake, Jess Lourey, Michael Mallory, Marilyn Victor

2:00 PM: Gary Bush, Chris Everheart, Pete Hautman, Mary Logue, Bruce Rubenstein, Quinton Skinner, Anthony Neil Smith, Deborah Woodworth

3:00 PM: Harold Adams, Carl Brookins, Philip Donlay, Anne Frasier, Lois Greiman, Ellen Hart, David Housewright, William Kent Krueger

making the switch

2007-02-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

i'm going to make the switch from old blogger to new this week. if anybody has any advice, i'd appreciate it! i'm afraid everything is going to vanish. i have the entire template saved, but it could take several days to get it unmessed up. I noticed that blogger is now saying nothing will change when the switch is made. not sure i'm falling for that.

fiction crash and the dollar value of a writer

2007-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Measuring success

The clock is ticking.

(edited to remove whining.)

horror

2007-02-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

this article is making the rounds. Thanks, Jaye! I find it especially fascinating because i've always been a horror fan but have only recently realized how much horror novels and movies have influenced my writing. over the years i've grown tired of other genres, but i'm more infatuated with horror now than ever before.

Why horror writing will be big in 2007
Keep all the lights on! Horror is set to be one of the coolest literary trends of 2007, but these ghosts, beasts and ghouls are subtle, not schlocky.
Danuta Kean reports on a reanimated genre

read entire article:

here

some good news: the POV discussion has ended and the first-person narrative is staying. whew. i was not looking forward to that massive revision. the book has officially gone into production which means i should receive payment in about four months.

walking on water

2007-02-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

it's been cold enough to freeze lake superior so people can hike across the water to the ice caves. the pictures were taken by my daughter. i web optimized them so they've lost quite a bit of their impact, but still... wow. i think i might be willing to freeze my bum to see this. i didn't post pictures of the actual caves -- i was more taken with frozen lake superior and the spectacular giant ice shards.

ice caves

Kiss her goodbye

2007-02-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

while i was away, friend and blogger Robert Gregory Browne saw the release of his debut novel KISS HER GOODBYE.

Rob has a great blog where you can find tons of information on writing.
You can also find a link to a book trailer and the first three chapters of KISS HER GOODBYE.
I haven't picked up my copy yet, but I read the first three chapters online. wow. fantastic stuff. Be sure to check it out.

Rob's blog:

anatomy of a book deal

Point of view

2007-02-12T07:44:00.000-08:00

I just heard back from my editor about the revisions I mailed a couple of weeks ago. She thinks everything looks fine

BUT---

some of you might recall my indecision about writing one character in first person when all of the other characters are third person. i originally wrote Kristin in first person, then i switched to third, then back to first. my editor is wondering if I should switch her to third. i can completely understand her reservations because i've gone back and forth on this issue myself. i think first person gives us more of an emotional punch for the most powerful scenes. some of that will be lost in third. but if the switch from third to first is jarring for some readers...

it's a tough call.

ahhhhhhh

2007-02-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

i'm back from florida!
the weather was beautiful. sunshine every day, highs 65 - 74. the air smelled wonderful.
here's something i noticed both times i traveled to a warm location -- somewhere around day 3 something strange happens. in the cold north every muscle is tight -- as if bracing for a blow. but around day 3 of warm weather those muscles relax. it happens all at once, as if the body finally realizes it no longer has to be in severe clench mode.

this is the cottage where i stayed before heading to my dad's house.

paynes prairie state park

this preserve is amazing. fifty miles long; fifteen miles wide. located between gainesville and ocala off 75.

paynes prairie

another cool place:
micanopy

Dark City

2007-02-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm gonna give this thing a go. When my mom asked me to guestblog, I thought, "Why not? Can't be that hard." But now I've spent the last two days trying to figure out how to even start -- school? band? book trailer stuff? someone side-swiping the mirror off my car and not leaving a note? I guess I almost deserve it, it is my choice to live in Minnesota in the winter afterall. Like I deserve to never see the sun, or how every winter I forget what the color green looks like. It all sort of meshes into one big brown blur -- ugly, leafless trees juxtaposed against piles of brown muck that used to be snow. Get up, trudge through it then trudge home again. It gets a tad bit monotonous and makes even the simplest tasks seem ridicuously hard. Swedes do a good job combatting the darkness and depression that sets in -- cute little lamps in every window, cozy cafes every three blocks, light, light, and more light. I was half-expecting a similar approach when I moved to Minnesota considering the heavy Scandinavian heritage, but found the common combatant here seems to be excessive drinking and way too much time at the bar. It certainly doesn't help that the band I'm in plays the bar circuit -- it's starts to feel like that's all there is and suddenly I imagine myself white-haired and toothless, spouting off about the glory days between hacking my lungs up and pounding my fifth beer of the night. No. I definitely need to find some other way to fight the SAD that descends every year about this time. It's funny, every time I turn on the tv, I see that Alan Thicke ad where he's knee deep in some giant pool of water saying, "What happens in Las Vegas...should be happening to you." It's lush, green, and warm -- everything I seem to be missing. But funny enough, it makes me glad to be where I am.

Almost.

martha

this is nuts

2007-02-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

today's high was -7.

i'm guessing the wind was blowing at least twenty miles an hour. maybe more. low tonight is supposed to be -15, with wind chills of at least -40.

i bundled up to take out the trash and almost died. it's brutal. and breaking some records. the furnace never shuts off, and the house is creaking and popping.

i am so glad i have julia buckley's ARC to read. delightful, and funny as hell.

frequent flyer miles....

i love frequent flyer miles. yes, they're impossible to use over holidays, but most of my plane tickets have been purchased with frequent flyer miles. that means i've flown to oregon for free. to boise for free. to georgia for free more than once. florida for free twice. 3 free trips to iowa. well, not FREE. there's a ten dollar charge. 60 bucks if you don't purchase the ticket 3 weeks in advance. i just got a new credit card that is free for one year. it gave me 20,000 miles right off. that's almost one round trip already.

i've never been a coupon clipper, but i love frequent flyer miles.

Heavy Metal Noir and the duende

2007-02-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

The Heavy Metal Noir entries are up at Hillbillies and Hitmen!
Please check them out and vote!

HILLBILLIES AND HITMEN

From Patrick's site:

Heavy Metal Noir: Reading and Voting
I received five entries for the Heavy Metal Noir Flash Fiction contest, and they are all posted here. The authors' names have been removed from the stories to eliminate any possible bias. These stories have not been edited.

Now it's up to you. We need you to decide the winner. Vote for the one story you think is best. Please include the entry number and title. Send your vote for the best story to patricksbagley@yahoo.com with the subject header "Heavy Metal Noir Vote." One vote per person. Please do not cast votes in a story's comments section; I will not count those.

Voting will end at 12 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday February 15, 2007. The winner will be announced February 16. The prize is a copy of The Drummer, signed by Anthony Neil Smith, and the winner's choice of one CD from a list of "classic" heavy metal albums.

So please give each story a close reading (there are only five, after all) and send in your vote.

I also want to mention Daniel Hatadi's most excellent and thought-provoking post at Down in the Hole.

DUENDE

DOWN IN THE HOLE

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the bad the good the bad the good the maybe

2007-01-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

the bad news: we're supposed to have the coldest temps in 3 years. considering that last year we had temps that were at least 50 below zero that's saying a lot. okay, that's a lie. not sure what the lowest temp was last year, but our high Sunday is supposed to be -3.

The good news: I'm heading to Florida Monday. yee-haw!!!

The bad news: I'm not going to be gone long, and it will still be pretty nasty when I get home. hoo-haw.

More good news: The Pale Immortal sequel has been moved to December 2007. I've always heard December is the worst month for a release because December shelf space is for big names. But does it matter as much if the book is a paperback? I'm thinking it probably doesn't, and I'm thinking December might actually be a good thing considering all the traffic bookstores get in December. The book does have a title, but I'm not going to mention it until the cover is done. It's just too far in the future to mention a title yet. I should have a cover in a couple of months. I emailed the revised manuscript a few days ago.

Some possibly good news: I'm trying to talk my daughter

into blogging here while I'm gone. She's actually thinking about it and seems a bit intrigued by the idea, so I'll keep you posted on that. her concern was content and feeling she had nothing to blog about. i felt the two obvious things would be the book trailer she made for me and her band. or she could do what i do and talk about whatever is on her mind that day.

and about that...

i've had a lot of things going on that i can't talk about on my blog. That's been extremely frustrating. my blog is therapy, dammit! but anyway, for the past month or so i haven't been myself and that's partially because almost everything on my mind isn't bloggable. the good news is that i'm learning to keep my mouth shut. i put together a couple of posts that i actually never posted. gasp! i think that's a first for me.

heroes and villains

2007-01-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

I missed the first two episodes of Heroes when it started this fall. I tried to watch later episodes, but couldn't engage. Caught the final before-holidays episode and I was hooked. I even put the return date on my calendar so I wouldn't miss it. So now I've seen two new episodes and I can understand why I lost interest early on.

What works: The main story arc is fantastic. That's what keeps people coming back. Acting and characters are good.

What isn't working: Heroes is all about the mini scene. Since I write that kind of ADD fiction, I'm particularly interested in what works and what doesn't. It isn't enough to just cut up the scenes - that won't be enough to keep people glued to the screen. The main problem with Heroes is that many of the mini scenes don't drive the plot forward, and are almost filler. You also have mini scenes that are lies. They end on some breathtaking image of imminent danger, but when we come back we find there was no danger.

This criticism could be premature. Heroes is still on my calendar and I plan to watch at least a few more episodes.

memories of snow

2007-01-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

jason at the clarity of night has been busy digging through the attic. He recently put together a short piece called YESTERDAY'S WINTER where he layered one of his haunting poems with old home movie footage. It blew me away.

enjoy:

rejected blog posts

2007-01-24T01:04:00.000-08:00

not much going on around here. i've had several ideas for blog posts, but keep tossing them. here are a few of the boring rejects:

WHEN A TEN DAY RUN OF ANTIBIOTICS ISN'T ENOUGH:

Dear Mister Pharmacy Man,
Please give Anne Frasier any drugs she wants.

Yours truly,

Dr. Coathanger

FIRST REAL SNOWFALL:

the new tires suck.

MANUSCRIPT IS PRINTED OUT:

will put it aside for a few days, then do a final proof and polish.

SECRET MESSAGES:

light hit a lamp base at a weird angle and i noticed some smartass had written SHIT in the dust. i plan to don a Hazmat suit and clean house.

MYSPACE:

if you leave a massive ad comment on my page, you will be deleted. i'm not talking about people i know, and i'm not talking about some bit of advertising along with something else. i'm talking about those comments that are the most blatant of blatant. like buy my book. blurb. cover quotes. price. link. giant image of book.

delete.

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS:

i'm really enjoying two CDs.

William Elliott Whitmore's SONGS OF THE BLACKBIRD.

BLACKBIRD

Cat Power -- THE GREATEST

who is kristin blackmoore?

2007-01-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

i'd forgotten about this blog until yesterday.

i started it in september 2005 to go with the proposal i sent in for the pale immortal sequel. my idea had been to keep the journal as i wrote the book. the proposal was accepted in april or may of 2006, and the blog was never mentioned so i just let that idea go. but last night i switched it to the new blogger and spiffed up the colors. kristin blackmoore is one of four main characters in the sequel, but she's less obnoxious in the book. i don't think i could get away with a character this obnoxious. she would alienate too many readers. oh, and an interesting aside about the name -- i didn't know stephen blackmoore at the time!

who is kristin blackmoore?
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new blogger and firefox seem to be having a problem, so the blog might not even open.

edit: problem solved. i had to remove the giant photos. :(