Falling back onto the face of the Earth...
...because it's oh-so-easy to slip off.
A few updates:
The raffle smackdown, I'm ashamed to say, ended in a draw. Jason Sizemore and I received an equal number of bids on our short story critiques, which means neither one of us can gloat and some naive soul (who shall remain nameless unless you click here to read all the gory details) actually accused us of rigging the vote--as if a rigged contest between us would ever end in a tie.
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I never had the energy to post about Mile Hi Con, but let me just say that I had a great time, met a lot of fun and interesting (in the good way, not the bad way) people, and was privileged to hang out with a stellar bunch of artists who made me feel right at home (and only mocked me a little for ordering club soda in the bar). I also met the exceedingly kind owners of Who Else Books. If you live in (or are visiting) the Denver area, check them out. They're part of the Denver Book Mall at 32 Broadway, and they might still have one or two Apex books and magazines to sell. They also have a bunch of signed work from a wide array of authors (I got two signed Connie Willis pieces when I went there after the con).
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A little more Apex: our annual(ish) subscription drive is going on now. The point of the subscription drive is to get enough paid subscribers that we can bump up our pay rates. Our Evil Editor Overlord is not satisfied with being less than a pro market and is determined to at least bump us up a half cent at a time.
apexdigest says:
With the main impetus being a payment rate change, naturally I am looking hard at the writers for assistance. I'm not necessarily asking that you pitch in $20 for a subscription (though if you do, you will be loved). But I am asking that you help spread the word, to help us reach beyond the bounds of the Apex blogs, newsletter, and forum, to help us find new readers. New readers means more subscriptions. More subscriptions means more we can pay our writers. It's a friendly circle of life type of thing.
You'll find the specific breakdown of goals here, including options for one-year, two-year, gift, and lifetime subscriptions. Subscribe now and have the satisfaction of helping struggling writers earn a bite to eat. Buy a lifetime subscription and know in your smugly sadistic little heart that you are condemning me, personally, to alien editorial slavery for a long, long time to come. Come on, you know you want to find out how to do that. The drive ends November 30th.
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Not really an update, just a little setting: the Northwest is showing its wild side again, and windstorms are pelting the roof with pine cones and (hopefully!) small branches. The cats are huddling up because, of course, blankets will protect them in any sort of emergency caused by all of that noisy wind and rustling outside. Somehow, I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight.