I received an email stating that this blog was about to be scrubbed if I didn't "migrate" it, so I guess I"ve migrated it. Could be a handy thing to have, I suppose.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Again with the address changing!
Two things, y'all. First of all, if you're one of the people who call us on telephone machines, please start using our cel phone numbers. We're trying to wean ourselves off the landline. If you're somebody who calls us on telephone machines that doesn't have our cel phone numbers, then send me an e-mail.
Second, I guess this is my last entry here at Blogger, because Gwenda's set me up with a Typepad account, on account it has powerful web authoring tools that I will someday look at.
The all new all new UnCommonwealth is linked off this sentence.
Second, I guess this is my last entry here at Blogger, because Gwenda's set me up with a Typepad account, on account it has powerful web authoring tools that I will someday look at.
The all new all new UnCommonwealth is linked off this sentence.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
The Secret School of Chicken Hauling
So, I was having a looksee at the message boards over at oilburners.net, as you do ("as you do" is Australian for "I'm not going to tell you why I was looking at the message boards at oilburners.net). And I came across this essay, which you really should read. As enticement, I repeat here the excited reaction to the piece that one reader had:
For All the Chicken Haulers AKA Poultry Relocation Specialists:
AIN'T NO FEELIN' LIKE CHICKEN MOBILIN'!!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!
That other obsession of mine...
Besides the sci fi, I mean.
So, this week the World Road Cycling Championships are being run in Madrid. A brief primer: there are basically two different types of races run by three different groups of people. The race types are the road race (basically what you'd expect, a bunch of people all trying to get to the finish line as quickly as possible) and the time trial (which is also a bunch of people trying to get to the finish line as quickly as possible except in this case they race one at a time "against the clock," over shorter distances and with wacky aero helmets and disc wheels and stuff). The three groups of people are the "Elite Women" (basically pro bike racers from around the world), the "Elite Men" (same thing but with different chromosomes and inferior tactics), and the "U23 Men" which are the top men under the age of 23. Where are the top women under the age of 23? In the "Elite Women" race, presumably. Don't ask me, ask the UCI.
Anyway, hate to be provincial and all, but the women's time trial has been run and Team USA placed all three of their TT riders in the top eight! And Kristin "No Relation" Armstrong is on the podium at third!
You can check the results and see pictures and maps and stuff here. And if you've got the bandwidth, you can watch the elite men's TT (tomorrow) and road race (Saturday) on the net at cycling.tv.
I love Worlds for some of the same reasons that I love the Olympics. For one thing, they're not raced (theoretically) based on the structure of the trade teams the riders work for through the season but instead based on national teams, so you get to see tons of cyclists from all over the world that you've never heard of, wearing much cooler kits than the logo laden billboard style kits of the regular teams. What makes them better than the Olympics is that its all bicycle racing!
I believe I've sent everybody who asked for one an "answer sheet" to the quotes from last week. If anybody else still wants one, please let me know. And I know I haven't fixed the typos in the Link and Delany quotes yet (I'm talking to J.S. and N.H. here) but will soonest.
Oh, and in tonight's class we'll be discussing plot and talking about Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess," a novella from the June issue of Asimov's that provides a great foretaste of his award winning novel River of Gods for those of you who are waiting for the Pyr edition to come out here in the states. Here's an excerpt of the story.
So, this week the World Road Cycling Championships are being run in Madrid. A brief primer: there are basically two different types of races run by three different groups of people. The race types are the road race (basically what you'd expect, a bunch of people all trying to get to the finish line as quickly as possible) and the time trial (which is also a bunch of people trying to get to the finish line as quickly as possible except in this case they race one at a time "against the clock," over shorter distances and with wacky aero helmets and disc wheels and stuff). The three groups of people are the "Elite Women" (basically pro bike racers from around the world), the "Elite Men" (same thing but with different chromosomes and inferior tactics), and the "U23 Men" which are the top men under the age of 23. Where are the top women under the age of 23? In the "Elite Women" race, presumably. Don't ask me, ask the UCI.
Anyway, hate to be provincial and all, but the women's time trial has been run and Team USA placed all three of their TT riders in the top eight! And Kristin "No Relation" Armstrong is on the podium at third!
You can check the results and see pictures and maps and stuff here. And if you've got the bandwidth, you can watch the elite men's TT (tomorrow) and road race (Saturday) on the net at cycling.tv.
I love Worlds for some of the same reasons that I love the Olympics. For one thing, they're not raced (theoretically) based on the structure of the trade teams the riders work for through the season but instead based on national teams, so you get to see tons of cyclists from all over the world that you've never heard of, wearing much cooler kits than the logo laden billboard style kits of the regular teams. What makes them better than the Olympics is that its all bicycle racing!
I believe I've sent everybody who asked for one an "answer sheet" to the quotes from last week. If anybody else still wants one, please let me know. And I know I haven't fixed the typos in the Link and Delany quotes yet (I'm talking to J.S. and N.H. here) but will soonest.
Oh, and in tonight's class we'll be discussing plot and talking about Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess," a novella from the June issue of Asimov's that provides a great foretaste of his award winning novel River of Gods for those of you who are waiting for the Pyr edition to come out here in the states. Here's an excerpt of the story.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
No googling!
Been way busy since the semester started. Like the girl said when she was still the girl we loved, "School hard."
Tomorrow is the first meeting of the sf/fantasy short fiction class I've mentioned a couple of times. If anybody reading this is one of the students, then here's a bit of a sneak preview.
Part of my approach in teaching this class is formed by a question Terry Bisson asked us (I think I've mentioned this, too) on the first day of Clarion West 1996. "How can you expect to write this stuff if you don't read it?"
To that end, we're going to learn about writing science fiction and fantasy short stories, to begin with anyway, by reading a bunch of 'em. I'm going to ask the students to read Strange Horizons and SCI FICTION weekly, as well as distribute the copies of F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy and Weird Tales that the editors and publishers of those magazines have so generously provided for the class.
And on the first night, stealing another trick from Terry, I'm going to get a feeling for how well read in the genre the folks in the class are by reading some of the following openings to them to see who can identify what. How many stories can you identify by title and author from these lines? (Order--and inclusion for that matter--determined by arbitrary whim.) (I know some of 'em are dead easy.)
----
"Fashion, nothing but fashion. Virus X having in the medical zodiac its course half i-run, the physician (I refuse to say 'doctor' and, indeed, am tempted to use the more correct “apothecary”)--the physician, I say, tells me I have Virus Y."
"Two pieces of yesterday were in Captain Davidson's mind when he woke, and he lay looking at them in the darkness for awhile."
"Here is a story about a man who had too much power, and a man who took too much, but don't worry; I'm not going political on you."
"It is a Sunday morning in summer and a small brown chimpanzee named Rachel sits on the living room floor of a remote ranch house on the edge of the Painted Desert."
"It is three thousand light years from the Vatican."
"I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia."
"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."
"It was the time of the Sun Dance and the Big Tractor Pull."
"The strange stars of the World of Newhon glinted thickly above the black-roofed city of Lankhmar, where swords clink almost as often as coins."
"I used to go the thrift stores with my friends."
"And came down to Paris: Where we raced along the Rue de Médicis with Bo and Lou and Muse inside the fence, Kelly and me outside, making faces through the bars, making noise, making the Luxembourg Gardens roar at two in the morning, then climbed out, and down to the square in front of St. Sulpice where Bo tried to knock me into the fountain."
"Steena of the Spaceways--that sounds just like a corny title for one of the Stellar-Vedo spreads."
"Were the tower to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days' journey to walk from one end to the other."
"He awoke--and wanted Mars."
"Whatever your gravity is when you get to the door, remember--the enemy’s gate is down."
"I put the shotgun in an Adidas bag and padded it out with four pairs of tennis socks, not my style at all, but that was what I was aiming for: If they think you’re crude, go technical; if they think you’re technical, go crude. I’m a very technical boy."
"With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea."
"Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on."
"Everybody else got off the train at Hell, but I figured, it's a free country."
"He doesn’t know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth."
"I was driving with my brother, the preacher, and my nephew, the preacher's son, on I-65 just north of Bowling Green when we got a flat."
"I saw Archibald Murray's obituary in the Tribune the other day."
"Somehow the idea was brought up by Mom that perhaps the whole family would enjoy a fishing trip."
"If you only see Dry Bone: one meager man, with arms and leg thin so like matches stick, and what a way the man face just a-hang down till it favour jackass when him sick!"
"Are you familiar with the scent of extinguished birthday candles?"
Tomorrow is the first meeting of the sf/fantasy short fiction class I've mentioned a couple of times. If anybody reading this is one of the students, then here's a bit of a sneak preview.
Part of my approach in teaching this class is formed by a question Terry Bisson asked us (I think I've mentioned this, too) on the first day of Clarion West 1996. "How can you expect to write this stuff if you don't read it?"
To that end, we're going to learn about writing science fiction and fantasy short stories, to begin with anyway, by reading a bunch of 'em. I'm going to ask the students to read Strange Horizons and SCI FICTION weekly, as well as distribute the copies of F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy and Weird Tales that the editors and publishers of those magazines have so generously provided for the class.
And on the first night, stealing another trick from Terry, I'm going to get a feeling for how well read in the genre the folks in the class are by reading some of the following openings to them to see who can identify what. How many stories can you identify by title and author from these lines? (Order--and inclusion for that matter--determined by arbitrary whim.) (I know some of 'em are dead easy.)
----
"Fashion, nothing but fashion. Virus X having in the medical zodiac its course half i-run, the physician (I refuse to say 'doctor' and, indeed, am tempted to use the more correct “apothecary”)--the physician, I say, tells me I have Virus Y."
"Two pieces of yesterday were in Captain Davidson's mind when he woke, and he lay looking at them in the darkness for awhile."
"Here is a story about a man who had too much power, and a man who took too much, but don't worry; I'm not going political on you."
"It is a Sunday morning in summer and a small brown chimpanzee named Rachel sits on the living room floor of a remote ranch house on the edge of the Painted Desert."
"It is three thousand light years from the Vatican."
"I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia."
"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."
"It was the time of the Sun Dance and the Big Tractor Pull."
"The strange stars of the World of Newhon glinted thickly above the black-roofed city of Lankhmar, where swords clink almost as often as coins."
"I used to go the thrift stores with my friends."
"And came down to Paris: Where we raced along the Rue de Médicis with Bo and Lou and Muse inside the fence, Kelly and me outside, making faces through the bars, making noise, making the Luxembourg Gardens roar at two in the morning, then climbed out, and down to the square in front of St. Sulpice where Bo tried to knock me into the fountain."
"Steena of the Spaceways--that sounds just like a corny title for one of the Stellar-Vedo spreads."
"Were the tower to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days' journey to walk from one end to the other."
"He awoke--and wanted Mars."
"Whatever your gravity is when you get to the door, remember--the enemy’s gate is down."
"I put the shotgun in an Adidas bag and padded it out with four pairs of tennis socks, not my style at all, but that was what I was aiming for: If they think you’re crude, go technical; if they think you’re technical, go crude. I’m a very technical boy."
"With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea."
"Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on."
"Everybody else got off the train at Hell, but I figured, it's a free country."
"He doesn’t know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth."
"I was driving with my brother, the preacher, and my nephew, the preacher's son, on I-65 just north of Bowling Green when we got a flat."
"I saw Archibald Murray's obituary in the Tribune the other day."
"Somehow the idea was brought up by Mom that perhaps the whole family would enjoy a fishing trip."
"If you only see Dry Bone: one meager man, with arms and leg thin so like matches stick, and what a way the man face just a-hang down till it favour jackass when him sick!"
"Are you familiar with the scent of extinguished birthday candles?"
Saturday, August 20, 2005
This one's for all the cops in the doughnut shops...
And it reads...Dear Kasey,
The so lovely so talented Nalo has posted a meme-theng about pop music. Way it works is, you go plug the year you graduated high school into the search box at top right on this page. The first link on the page that pops up will be to a list of the Top 100 (not to be confused with the Hot 100) songs of that year.
You can read Nalo's entry if you want to follow the instructions about highlighting and circling and arrowing which songs did it and which songs didn't for you. I'm not going to do that because I gotta go follow Eurosport's online coverage of today's stage of the Tour of Germany (Allez, Levi!) but suffice it say, reading the 1987 list sure made me smile a lot.
Funny how strongly I associate the videos with the song titles. Maybe I should have dedicated this entry to Tawny Kitaen.
The so lovely so talented Nalo has posted a meme-theng about pop music. Way it works is, you go plug the year you graduated high school into the search box at top right on this page. The first link on the page that pops up will be to a list of the Top 100 (not to be confused with the Hot 100) songs of that year.
You can read Nalo's entry if you want to follow the instructions about highlighting and circling and arrowing which songs did it and which songs didn't for you. I'm not going to do that because I gotta go follow Eurosport's online coverage of today's stage of the Tour of Germany (Allez, Levi!) but suffice it say, reading the 1987 list sure made me smile a lot.
Funny how strongly I associate the videos with the song titles. Maybe I should have dedicated this entry to Tawny Kitaen.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Joe College
I'm all registered for classes up at college now. I'm taking four courses totalling 13 hours to kind of ease my way in. Here's how all the undergrad goodness is looking for yours truly:
Elementary French I: MTWR (R is college for Thursday) 11:00-11:50.
History of Kentucky: MW 2:00-3:15
Cultural Diversity in the Modern World: TR 8:00-9:15
Literature & Genre, Special Topic: Kentucky Masters of the Short Story: TR 9:30-10:45
I did manage to hit two of my three scheduling goals (done by 4:00 pm, no classes on Fridays) and missing the third (nothing before 9) isn't really that big a deal now that I'm no longer nineteen years old.
Next up, finding a part time job downtown somewhere.
Elementary French I: MTWR (R is college for Thursday) 11:00-11:50.
History of Kentucky: MW 2:00-3:15
Cultural Diversity in the Modern World: TR 8:00-9:15
Literature & Genre, Special Topic: Kentucky Masters of the Short Story: TR 9:30-10:45
I did manage to hit two of my three scheduling goals (done by 4:00 pm, no classes on Fridays) and missing the third (nothing before 9) isn't really that big a deal now that I'm no longer nineteen years old.
Next up, finding a part time job downtown somewhere.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Just a link
Strange Horizons has an excellent interview with Kim Stanley Robinson, a good man and a great writer.
Classified
Tomorrow I'm off to college to sign up for college classes. It'll mostly be exciting 200 level coursework, foundational "gotta know algebra before you can study Elizabethan drama" type stuff. If anything interesting comes out of it I'll let y'all know.
Perhaps of more interest to you, my core audience, is that the details have been finalized on the class I'm teaching. You'll remember this from an earlier post, I'm sure:
Introduction to Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories
Christopher Rowe, a 2005 finalist for the Hugo, Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, will lead a workshop that addresses the unique challenges and opportunities associated with writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. We'll begin with group discussions of recently published stories; the later stage of the class is a full-fledged workshop where you'll write a story and also critique the work of other students. Heavy reading load! The 12 week workshop meets Wednesday nights from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and is limited to 12 participants aged 18 and above. First meeting, September 14th. Cost: $100
The class will be here in Lexington at The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. I'm going to be working up some fliers to put up at local colleges and libraries, as well as in the comics and gaming shops. And of course, as you can see, I'm using the limitless marketing potential of the internet. I'd like to fill up the class if at all possible so that the folks at the Center might have me back for future sessions. If anybody has additional ideas for getting the word out, I'd appreciate it if you jumped on the comment button or dropped me an e-mail. If you live in Lexington and are interested in attending the class, you can contact the Carnegie Center through the website above or via telephone at 859-254-4175.
Perhaps of more interest to you, my core audience, is that the details have been finalized on the class I'm teaching. You'll remember this from an earlier post, I'm sure:
Introduction to Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories
Christopher Rowe, a 2005 finalist for the Hugo, Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, will lead a workshop that addresses the unique challenges and opportunities associated with writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. We'll begin with group discussions of recently published stories; the later stage of the class is a full-fledged workshop where you'll write a story and also critique the work of other students. Heavy reading load! The 12 week workshop meets Wednesday nights from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and is limited to 12 participants aged 18 and above. First meeting, September 14th. Cost: $100
The class will be here in Lexington at The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. I'm going to be working up some fliers to put up at local colleges and libraries, as well as in the comics and gaming shops. And of course, as you can see, I'm using the limitless marketing potential of the internet. I'd like to fill up the class if at all possible so that the folks at the Center might have me back for future sessions. If anybody has additional ideas for getting the word out, I'd appreciate it if you jumped on the comment button or dropped me an e-mail. If you live in Lexington and are interested in attending the class, you can contact the Carnegie Center through the website above or via telephone at 859-254-4175.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
All the News that Fits
While we were "travelling" last week (it's hard for me to use such an evocative word to describe such a banal experience--maybe "to travel" should be reserved for journeys on foot or by bicycle) I had a couple of opportunities to flip through USA Today. For those of you who don't live in the states, USA Today is kind of like a newspaper.
There was one feature in the paper that I thought was kind of interesting. It was sort of a state by state headline roundup, where many of the fifty remaining states of the former hegemony were listed by name, followed by a brief precis of the big news story in that state.
My question is this. Is there a comparable thing anywhere out there in the electrical universe for the whole wide world? Google News is close to what I have in mind, but they only list the top five or six stories in a handful of categories. I'm not looking for categories, I'm looking for geography--and of course I don't just want a bullet point version of the item, I want to be able to drill down through a link to more detailed stuff.
In short, I want to know everything that's going on everywhere in the world, but I'd like it packaged in an easy to read, easy to navigate form. Oh, preferably the stories linked to will be in English. But otherwise, no bias or agenda that isn't in line with my own, okay? Finally, if this kind of aggregator doesn't in fact exist, could one of you computer types whip one up? Thanks!
There was one feature in the paper that I thought was kind of interesting. It was sort of a state by state headline roundup, where many of the fifty remaining states of the former hegemony were listed by name, followed by a brief precis of the big news story in that state.
My question is this. Is there a comparable thing anywhere out there in the electrical universe for the whole wide world? Google News is close to what I have in mind, but they only list the top five or six stories in a handful of categories. I'm not looking for categories, I'm looking for geography--and of course I don't just want a bullet point version of the item, I want to be able to drill down through a link to more detailed stuff.
In short, I want to know everything that's going on everywhere in the world, but I'd like it packaged in an easy to read, easy to navigate form. Oh, preferably the stories linked to will be in English. But otherwise, no bias or agenda that isn't in line with my own, okay? Finally, if this kind of aggregator doesn't in fact exist, could one of you computer types whip one up? Thanks!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Just so you know
George Rowe the Dog? Big fan of Afro-Celtic synthpop. Don't believe the naysayers! I have the evidence of my eyes!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
NoMoFoLiPa
FoLiPa is a sign-off I use sometimes when I write e-mails. It's a shortening of the phrase "Forklift Papers" and I use it to indicate that I need to get off the interweb 'cause I got big deal forklift papers to work on. Important dayjob stuff, y'dig? Richard suggests that I should put some kind of counter on this journal to count down the days until my move to the exciting world of underemployed studentdom. I don't know how to do that, so I'll just tell you that NoMoFoLiPa liftoff is scheduled for around 4:30 pm local time on Friday, August 19th.
Speaking of that dayjob, check out this pic that's one of the entries in this week's VeloNews photo contest.
And while you're just messing around looking at pictures on the internet anyway, check out this fab entry by Susan Marie Groppi and follow the link at the bottom to a great 1865 photo of a famous gray old man snapped (did they snap in 1865? maybe it was fwoomped) before he was famous and gray and old.
Also, there was a big sci fi convention over there in Scotland. I didn't win any big rockets, but some Californians gave me a little one (hopefully it's in the bag that US Airways has managed to find and not the one that Air Canada is denying the existence of) and we had a fabulous time. My reading went pretty well (I read the first chapter and part of the third chapter of my novel-in-progress) and the weird little "meet the 'pro'" thing I had was fun too, with actual people I didn't know there, even people from exotic foreign lands like Holland, Germany and Texas.
I'm not much on the con reports, so just go read this one, which kind of looks like a poem.
Speaking of that dayjob, check out this pic that's one of the entries in this week's VeloNews photo contest.
And while you're just messing around looking at pictures on the internet anyway, check out this fab entry by Susan Marie Groppi and follow the link at the bottom to a great 1865 photo of a famous gray old man snapped (did they snap in 1865? maybe it was fwoomped) before he was famous and gray and old.
Also, there was a big sci fi convention over there in Scotland. I didn't win any big rockets, but some Californians gave me a little one (hopefully it's in the bag that US Airways has managed to find and not the one that Air Canada is denying the existence of) and we had a fabulous time. My reading went pretty well (I read the first chapter and part of the third chapter of my novel-in-progress) and the weird little "meet the 'pro'" thing I had was fun too, with actual people I didn't know there, even people from exotic foreign lands like Holland, Germany and Texas.
I'm not much on the con reports, so just go read this one, which kind of looks like a poem.
Friday, July 22, 2005
You like rambly?
Hmmm, it's all of a sudden been awhile. And boy, are you behind on what's going on around here.
News of various degrees of bigness, most of which y'all probably know. We're off to Scotland in a couple of weeks for the World Science Fiction Convention. My programming schedule is intentionally light--I've got a reading and a "kaffeeklatsch," both on the convention's Friday afternoon--so we'll be taking at least one day trip away from Glasgow. Sunday is the big day, as that's when the Hugos are announced.
Back at home, while the final schedule has yet to be set, I'll definitely be teaching a 12 week course at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning here in Lexington starting in September. Here's the description that will appear in the course catalog:
Introduction to Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories
Christopher Rowe, a 2005 finalist for the Hugo, Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, will lead a workshop that addresses the unique challenges and opportunities associated with writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. We'll begin with group discussions of recently published stories; the later stage of the class is a full-fledged workshop where you'll write a story and also critique the work of other students. Heavy reading load! The 12 week workshop meets [Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday] nights at 6:00 pm and is limited to 12 participants aged 18 and above. First meeting, September X.
The very first question our Clarion West class was asked by our Week One instructor, Terry Bisson, was "How do you expect to write this stuff if you don't read it?" I took that very much to heart, so in this class much sf/fantasy short fiction will be read. Thanks to Gordon van Gelder, Shawna McCarthy and Sheila Williams for arranging donations of course texts in the form of recent issues of the "Big Four" genre print magazines and to Ellen Datlow and the editorial team at Strange Horizons for editing magazines that are, y'know, free and online.
Finally, in the "blogs as group e-mails" department, if you've got my cel phone number (the one with the 494 exchange) please lose it. My cel is a perk of my dayjob, which will be changing after we get back from Scotland. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity and support of Miss G (and, hopefully, the federal government), I'm taking advantage of an unexpected change in life circumstances to go back to school. Higher education and I struck each other a few glancing blows in the years after I graduated high school, to no noticable effect on either side. I'm going in with different expectations this time. Also, less hair. (And a less annoying haircut.)
On the writing front, the two projects on the front of the stove are revisions of the story I took to Sycamore Hill and a new story that's given me the opportunity to make a phone call to a place here in town called the Asphalt Institute.
There's no good transition sentence away from asphalt, so bye-bye.
News of various degrees of bigness, most of which y'all probably know. We're off to Scotland in a couple of weeks for the World Science Fiction Convention. My programming schedule is intentionally light--I've got a reading and a "kaffeeklatsch," both on the convention's Friday afternoon--so we'll be taking at least one day trip away from Glasgow. Sunday is the big day, as that's when the Hugos are announced.
Back at home, while the final schedule has yet to be set, I'll definitely be teaching a 12 week course at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning here in Lexington starting in September. Here's the description that will appear in the course catalog:
Introduction to Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories
Christopher Rowe, a 2005 finalist for the Hugo, Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, will lead a workshop that addresses the unique challenges and opportunities associated with writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. We'll begin with group discussions of recently published stories; the later stage of the class is a full-fledged workshop where you'll write a story and also critique the work of other students. Heavy reading load! The 12 week workshop meets [Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday] nights at 6:00 pm and is limited to 12 participants aged 18 and above. First meeting, September X.
The very first question our Clarion West class was asked by our Week One instructor, Terry Bisson, was "How do you expect to write this stuff if you don't read it?" I took that very much to heart, so in this class much sf/fantasy short fiction will be read. Thanks to Gordon van Gelder, Shawna McCarthy and Sheila Williams for arranging donations of course texts in the form of recent issues of the "Big Four" genre print magazines and to Ellen Datlow and the editorial team at Strange Horizons for editing magazines that are, y'know, free and online.
Finally, in the "blogs as group e-mails" department, if you've got my cel phone number (the one with the 494 exchange) please lose it. My cel is a perk of my dayjob, which will be changing after we get back from Scotland. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity and support of Miss G (and, hopefully, the federal government), I'm taking advantage of an unexpected change in life circumstances to go back to school. Higher education and I struck each other a few glancing blows in the years after I graduated high school, to no noticable effect on either side. I'm going in with different expectations this time. Also, less hair. (And a less annoying haircut.)
On the writing front, the two projects on the front of the stove are revisions of the story I took to Sycamore Hill and a new story that's given me the opportunity to make a phone call to a place here in town called the Asphalt Institute.
There's no good transition sentence away from asphalt, so bye-bye.
Monday, July 11, 2005
giveaway
And the winner of the subscription drive's fabulous prize is:
(drumroll)
(tense silence)
Darby Dixon III.
(drumroll)
(tense silence)
Darby Dixon III.
Friday, July 01, 2005
maybe just one last one...
... before the cat reaches a landline.
Your alter poet is Allen Ginsberg. Quick, go nuts,
because THIS IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Who is Your Alter Poet?
brought to you by Quizilla
Courtesy of Southern Blog Cabal member Jeff (whose blog you should be reading if you don't already).
Ciao!
Your alter poet is Allen Ginsberg. Quick, go nuts,
because THIS IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Who is Your Alter Poet?
brought to you by Quizilla
Courtesy of Southern Blog Cabal member Jeff (whose blog you should be reading if you don't already).
Ciao!
Thursday, June 30, 2005
cat's away: day four OVERKILL
congratulations. you are the "you smell like
butt" bunny. your brutally honest and
always say whats on your mind.
which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Raver Bear
Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
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You have a Purple Lightsaber.
Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity,
independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
Purple denotes high spirituality and religious
aspiration. Purple also represents Peacefulness
and Purification. It also has a sense of
intuitive understanding and a feeling of
intimacy with the world.
What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
cat's away: day three (or something like that)
You are Dorcas Meadowes.
Image
(c) Katrina Young aka Rohanelf, all rights
reserved.
They are not to be stolen, altered, or sold without
my full written permission.
Anyone who disregards the copyright laws WILL face
immediate legal action, as well as the delight
of meeting me on their doorstep
with my sword to rip their guts out and use them as
a necklace.
You are the ultimate individual. You are very
resourceful, creative and extremely
imaginative. You don't really live in reality,
you tend to laps into your imagination all
the time, only being dragged into the real
world when someone has gotten your full
attention. This results in you being quite nave
about the world and people hate to see your
dreams crushed because of it. You like to be
different; in fact you go to extremes sometimes
to be different. A lot of people admire you for
that kind of bravery and you end up having a
whole bunch of people trying to copy you which
annoys you because then you have to go and
change yourself again so they're not the same
as you are. You are completely random, you
come out with odd sayings, weird jokes and
maybe just add a completely unrelated word into
a conversation because... well you don't know
why, you just do.
Sarcasm is you best
friend, it goes with your dry sense of humour
and it just comes naturally!
You use yourself as an example, to prove to people
that you don't all have to be what so society
declares normal to be accepted. You'rejust one
big living contradiction... You are mature
because you decided at a very young age that it
doesn't matter at ALL what others think of
you... and yet you really didn't make it past
the mental age of 6, dressing up is fun!
Dancing randomly at any given time or place is
a given, that goes the same for singing. You
are the nicest, calmest, laid back person in
the world... but there are a few obscure things
that REALLY get to you, and once someone had
pissed you off everyone needs to dive for the
bomb shelter because you can be incredibly
violent when provoked!! If there's a topic
you're not interested in, you can't concentrate
from more than 2 seconds before your
imagination distracts you, but if it's
something you are interested in you can
concentrate for hours, days, weeks months,
years even!! You trust people waaaaaaaay too
easily, but you don't trust people to know
what's behind the hyper, happy-go-lucky, crazy
wall for years...
Don't change for ANYONE do it in your own time
where you're good and ready! You're perfect and
people want to be just like you because you
have broken free of the chains of society! Just
remember that some people are
trustworthy, don't hide the sentimental 'soppy
feelings' side from them forever.
:.*.: Who are you in Rohanelf's Destined Tragedy? :.*.:
brought to you by Quizilla
I don't even know what this one means! But do not pirate, steal or otherwise impersonate this lady's art. You do not want her on your doorstep. She will elf your ass.
(And I think I just caught some Jane Espenson dialogue on the so-far disappointing The Inside. But still, snappy, funny Espenson dialogue spoken by Jayne!)
Image
(c) Katrina Young aka Rohanelf, all rights
reserved.
They are not to be stolen, altered, or sold without
my full written permission.
Anyone who disregards the copyright laws WILL face
immediate legal action, as well as the delight
of meeting me on their doorstep
with my sword to rip their guts out and use them as
a necklace.
You are the ultimate individual. You are very
resourceful, creative and extremely
imaginative. You don't really live in reality,
you tend to laps into your imagination all
the time, only being dragged into the real
world when someone has gotten your full
attention. This results in you being quite nave
about the world and people hate to see your
dreams crushed because of it. You like to be
different; in fact you go to extremes sometimes
to be different. A lot of people admire you for
that kind of bravery and you end up having a
whole bunch of people trying to copy you which
annoys you because then you have to go and
change yourself again so they're not the same
as you are. You are completely random, you
come out with odd sayings, weird jokes and
maybe just add a completely unrelated word into
a conversation because... well you don't know
why, you just do.
Sarcasm is you best
friend, it goes with your dry sense of humour
and it just comes naturally!
You use yourself as an example, to prove to people
that you don't all have to be what so society
declares normal to be accepted. You'rejust one
big living contradiction... You are mature
because you decided at a very young age that it
doesn't matter at ALL what others think of
you... and yet you really didn't make it past
the mental age of 6, dressing up is fun!
Dancing randomly at any given time or place is
a given, that goes the same for singing. You
are the nicest, calmest, laid back person in
the world... but there are a few obscure things
that REALLY get to you, and once someone had
pissed you off everyone needs to dive for the
bomb shelter because you can be incredibly
violent when provoked!! If there's a topic
you're not interested in, you can't concentrate
from more than 2 seconds before your
imagination distracts you, but if it's
something you are interested in you can
concentrate for hours, days, weeks months,
years even!! You trust people waaaaaaaay too
easily, but you don't trust people to know
what's behind the hyper, happy-go-lucky, crazy
wall for years...
Don't change for ANYONE do it in your own time
where you're good and ready! You're perfect and
people want to be just like you because you
have broken free of the chains of society! Just
remember that some people are
trustworthy, don't hide the sentimental 'soppy
feelings' side from them forever.
:.*.: Who are you in Rohanelf's Destined Tragedy? :.*.:
brought to you by Quizilla
I don't even know what this one means! But do not pirate, steal or otherwise impersonate this lady's art. You do not want her on your doorstep. She will elf your ass.
(And I think I just caught some Jane Espenson dialogue on the so-far disappointing The Inside. But still, snappy, funny Espenson dialogue spoken by Jayne!)
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
cat's away: day three
So, despite being busted, the games continue:
*************
Your wise quote is: "The best
antiques are old friends" by Unknown...
Your buds is the source of your happiness
(maybe not all but still). Even if it's just
one, a couple or a whole group they are the
ones you can't wait to see. It does not matter
if you're shy with everyone else or not, with
them you let your true spirit shine and can be
as loud as you want. They accept you, and you
love them for that.
What wise quote fits you?(pics) UPDATED
brought to you by Quizilla
(posted by Gwenda)
*************
Your wise quote is: "The best
antiques are old friends" by Unknown...
Your buds is the source of your happiness
(maybe not all but still). Even if it's just
one, a couple or a whole group they are the
ones you can't wait to see. It does not matter
if you're shy with everyone else or not, with
them you let your true spirit shine and can be
as loud as you want. They accept you, and you
love them for that.
What wise quote fits you?(pics) UPDATED
brought to you by Quizilla
(posted by Gwenda)
Monday, June 27, 2005
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