Bday Highlights, Zombies, BARFODDER, & WHC 2009
Lots to talk about, I know...I've just been so darn busy it's tough to keep up on the blog.
Bullet points:
--Birthday Highlights
--A Cool New Book Is Coming Your Way (and Not By Me)
--Updates on BARFODDER
--WHC 09 in Canada
1) This year my birthday was sort of a week long celebration, the highlights of which have already occurred, and the lowlights will probably be winding down tomorrow night. I only say lowlights, because Technoexpatriate was going to have his House Boat Warming (pirate themed) tomorrow night, but due to weather and availability of guests with children on Halloween, that's getting pushed out. So...I have three costumes to wear and no place to go at this point.
On Saturday, I held my routine Birthday Drink-fest at the Bigfoot Lodge. My thanks to Abel, Lauren, and Lucas for taking care of my guests (and me!) at the bar, and to everyone who made it out. That would be Sea Slut, Accident Prone, MixerGal, Donnamite, ShereeDevil, Mikey, Technoexpatriate (who gave me the odd gift of a very nice kitchen knife in the middle of a conversation about how psycho Sea Sluts ex's have been), Midnight, xtine, LilyDove, Mot, Chinese Cowboy, Valericious, Sparkle, and of course...The Muppet.
One highlight of the evening may have been when I was tossing out candy, and a random person in the crowd said, "oh! Me! Me me me!" and when he got the candy, he was so excited about what it looked like (omitted on purpose) he came over to explain it was his gang's name. A rather well known gang. Tee hee.
It was really good to see everyone, as some of these folks I only get to see once a year.
Sunday we went to brunch with Thumbelina, LilyDove, and Mot at a lovely seafood place, then dropped into a wine bar and picked up some of the Penfolds Old Grandfather Tawny Port I love so much. I swear to the gods, that stuff is pancakes in a bottle. We also picked up some blackberry balsamic vinegar and a chocolate cabernet sauce that I'm itching to roast a turkey and drizzle it over. Or maybe pork chops.
The Muppet gave me a beautiful pen and ink writing set with 6 different colored inks, a lot of different nibs, and a replacement for the glass pen that was broken earlier in the year. He also gave me a gorgeous set of Tanzanite drippy jewelry. Its fancy stuff though, so not for every day. The Drag Queens will be so jealous.
I stopped into Borderlands Books looking for a specific type of journal with a vintage appeal, and ran into jlassen, who showed me a copy of Nightshade's latest zombie anthology, which is in its second printing. A thick brick of a book, it was only $17 or so - a steal considering all the wonderful stories in it. I bought it on the principal that it had one by George R. R. Martin I had not yet read...and as I am an addict, I had to get my fix.
My thanks to Jude and jlassen on their suggestions for my journal hunt. I finally found what I was looking for at Aspinal of London, under their "historic" section and with free shipping through Halloween--it's not killing me to purchase from the UK.
2) For fans of zombies, you should pay special attention to Scott Browne's new book, BREATHERS, which will hit shelves sometime in March. For a sneak preview of what its all about you can check out his website, Undead Anonymous. Hey - if vampires get to have an online community, why can't zombies?
3) Brian Keene tells me he stopped into Cemetery Dance offices the other day, and commented that the cover for BARFODDER was just gorgeous. Of course, we know this...Daniele Serra is very gifted. But this is proof that the book truly is on the way. He saw proof! Daniele has also done artwork for ELEMENTS, which I'm wrapping up work on with Charlee Jacob, Linda Addison, and Marge Simon.
4) I have agreed to help host World Horror Convention 2009's Annual Gross Out competition once again, but this year it will happen in Canada. Unless I am able to get that pesky .08 DUI expunged from my record, Canada won't let me in due to the strict laws associated with it there. It was the reason I was unable to attend and be in Sephera Giron's wedding, and could be the reason I won't be up North for the next 4 years. However, I've paid my debt to society and could travel on a waiver if the expungement is granted.
Typically you have to wait two years for that to go through, but you can legally file for it after one year. PianoMan told me this last year...so we do have a chance, even if it's a 50/50 one. Because of this I have added a disclaimer to my proposed attendance - I will be asking a co-host to help out in the event I can't make it. I had initially asked Brian Keene, as we've been trying to co-host for some years now, but he will not be able to attend the con. Stay tuned for the announcement of my evil cohort.
November will be a busy month for me. I've got to finish up ELEMENTS this weekend. Napa for wine shipment pick-up next, and Technoexpatriate's Pirate Boat Warming. A girlfriend from High school, Lady Katherine, will be visiting the weekend of the 14th (you might recall the wedding I attended in Denver this past year), Turkey Day either out of town or at Accident Prone's, and then a weekend to rest and begin finishing up one of many set-aside projects [for Elements].
Bullet points:
--Birthday Highlights
--A Cool New Book Is Coming Your Way (and Not By Me)
--Updates on BARFODDER
--WHC 09 in Canada
1) This year my birthday was sort of a week long celebration, the highlights of which have already occurred, and the lowlights will probably be winding down tomorrow night. I only say lowlights, because Technoexpatriate was going to have his House Boat Warming (pirate themed) tomorrow night, but due to weather and availability of guests with children on Halloween, that's getting pushed out. So...I have three costumes to wear and no place to go at this point.
On Saturday, I held my routine Birthday Drink-fest at the Bigfoot Lodge. My thanks to Abel, Lauren, and Lucas for taking care of my guests (and me!) at the bar, and to everyone who made it out. That would be Sea Slut, Accident Prone, MixerGal, Donnamite, ShereeDevil, Mikey, Technoexpatriate (who gave me the odd gift of a very nice kitchen knife in the middle of a conversation about how psycho Sea Sluts ex's have been), Midnight, xtine, LilyDove, Mot, Chinese Cowboy, Valericious, Sparkle, and of course...The Muppet.
One highlight of the evening may have been when I was tossing out candy, and a random person in the crowd said, "oh! Me! Me me me!" and when he got the candy, he was so excited about what it looked like (omitted on purpose) he came over to explain it was his gang's name. A rather well known gang. Tee hee.
It was really good to see everyone, as some of these folks I only get to see once a year.
Sunday we went to brunch with Thumbelina, LilyDove, and Mot at a lovely seafood place, then dropped into a wine bar and picked up some of the Penfolds Old Grandfather Tawny Port I love so much. I swear to the gods, that stuff is pancakes in a bottle. We also picked up some blackberry balsamic vinegar and a chocolate cabernet sauce that I'm itching to roast a turkey and drizzle it over. Or maybe pork chops.
The Muppet gave me a beautiful pen and ink writing set with 6 different colored inks, a lot of different nibs, and a replacement for the glass pen that was broken earlier in the year. He also gave me a gorgeous set of Tanzanite drippy jewelry. Its fancy stuff though, so not for every day. The Drag Queens will be so jealous.
I stopped into Borderlands Books looking for a specific type of journal with a vintage appeal, and ran into jlassen, who showed me a copy of Nightshade's latest zombie anthology, which is in its second printing. A thick brick of a book, it was only $17 or so - a steal considering all the wonderful stories in it. I bought it on the principal that it had one by George R. R. Martin I had not yet read...and as I am an addict, I had to get my fix.
My thanks to Jude and jlassen on their suggestions for my journal hunt. I finally found what I was looking for at Aspinal of London, under their "historic" section and with free shipping through Halloween--it's not killing me to purchase from the UK.
2) For fans of zombies, you should pay special attention to Scott Browne's new book, BREATHERS, which will hit shelves sometime in March. For a sneak preview of what its all about you can check out his website, Undead Anonymous. Hey - if vampires get to have an online community, why can't zombies?
3) Brian Keene tells me he stopped into Cemetery Dance offices the other day, and commented that the cover for BARFODDER was just gorgeous. Of course, we know this...Daniele Serra is very gifted. But this is proof that the book truly is on the way. He saw proof! Daniele has also done artwork for ELEMENTS, which I'm wrapping up work on with Charlee Jacob, Linda Addison, and Marge Simon.
4) I have agreed to help host World Horror Convention 2009's Annual Gross Out competition once again, but this year it will happen in Canada. Unless I am able to get that pesky .08 DUI expunged from my record, Canada won't let me in due to the strict laws associated with it there. It was the reason I was unable to attend and be in Sephera Giron's wedding, and could be the reason I won't be up North for the next 4 years. However, I've paid my debt to society and could travel on a waiver if the expungement is granted.
Typically you have to wait two years for that to go through, but you can legally file for it after one year. PianoMan told me this last year...so we do have a chance, even if it's a 50/50 one. Because of this I have added a disclaimer to my proposed attendance - I will be asking a co-host to help out in the event I can't make it. I had initially asked Brian Keene, as we've been trying to co-host for some years now, but he will not be able to attend the con. Stay tuned for the announcement of my evil cohort.
November will be a busy month for me. I've got to finish up ELEMENTS this weekend. Napa for wine shipment pick-up next, and Technoexpatriate's Pirate Boat Warming. A girlfriend from High school, Lady Katherine, will be visiting the weekend of the 14th (you might recall the wedding I attended in Denver this past year), Turkey Day either out of town or at Accident Prone's, and then a weekend to rest and begin finishing up one of many set-aside projects [for Elements].