Samhain '06
I was up until 3 a.m. (CaST) working on Sirenia Digest 11, and Franklin's interview with Vince came in this morning, and even as I type this long sentence, Gordon is busy PDFing the whole thing, so you should have it in your inboxes in only another hour or two. Again, my apologies for this issue coming so late. I will strive to do much better next month.
I think the most interesting part of working on this issue of the digest was reading over "Lafayette (Murder Ballad No. 2)" for the first time in five or six years and discovering that I still like the story a great deal. It still works. I'd pretty much forgotten all about Sticky and Harper. I did permit myself to make quite a few changes in the text, mostly grammatical stuff, so the version that appears in Sirenia Digest this month is a bit different from its original published form.
The table of contents for Subterranean Magazine #6 have been posted. It will include not only my new sf story "Zero Summer" (formerly "Night"), but also “Limerent” by Elizabeth Bear, “The Tenth Muse” by William Browning Spencer, and “The Long Dead Day” by Joe R. Lansdale. Good stuff. Order a copy ere they're all spoken for and gone.
Final Fantasy XII is released in the US today. Huzzah! I think Spooky's going to EB Games to pick up our copy as soon as she finishes carving pumpkins (which she's doing right now).
This morning, tagplazen posted some gorgeous photos of the exquisite glass undersea creatures created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the 19th-Century. Spooky and sovay and I were lucky enough to see many of these at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology when we visited Cambridge back in August, along with the thousands of glass botanical replicas. Wonderful things.
This has turned out to be another rambly post. Ah, well. Curlicues and Golden Curves.
Last night, a reader asked if I would be comfortable talking about why I found working skyclad at Saturday night's Samhain celebration to be a wonderful experience. I said I'd think about it. And I have, and I suppose I am not uncomfortable saying just a little more (though it has occurred to me that perhaps I should set up a paganism/Wicca/magick filter for those who aren't interested in these things; for the moment, a cut should suffice).
To put it as simply as I can, I suspect that the reason I found the experience so very positive arose mainly from the knowledge that I stood there before the whole universe, that vast and largely unfathomable cosmos, and nothing stood between me and it. No clothing, no walls, no rooftops. The star-dabbed wheel of the sky, the brilliant waxing quarter moon, our chants, the cold air, the crackle and smoky smell of the bonfire, the knowledge that I stood as all creatures throughout all galaxies have ever stood, naked in every sense, in every way, as perfectly devoid of barriers as I am presently able to be. There was a grand giddiness, an ecstasy. For me, ecstasy is at the heart of Neo-paganism. Ecstasy and celebration and communion, and Saturday night was my most...what word, what word...my most complete experience of all three to date.
Spooky just brought in the first jack-o'-lantern for me to see. I need to wrap this up and get a bath. We're having Hannah and Jim and maybe Byron over this evening to help us dole out unhealthy treats to the neighborhood children. And TCM is showing Vincent Price movies all evening. Superb!
I think the most interesting part of working on this issue of the digest was reading over "Lafayette (Murder Ballad No. 2)" for the first time in five or six years and discovering that I still like the story a great deal. It still works. I'd pretty much forgotten all about Sticky and Harper. I did permit myself to make quite a few changes in the text, mostly grammatical stuff, so the version that appears in Sirenia Digest this month is a bit different from its original published form.
The table of contents for Subterranean Magazine #6 have been posted. It will include not only my new sf story "Zero Summer" (formerly "Night"), but also “Limerent” by Elizabeth Bear, “The Tenth Muse” by William Browning Spencer, and “The Long Dead Day” by Joe R. Lansdale. Good stuff. Order a copy ere they're all spoken for and gone.
Final Fantasy XII is released in the US today. Huzzah! I think Spooky's going to EB Games to pick up our copy as soon as she finishes carving pumpkins (which she's doing right now).
This morning, tagplazen posted some gorgeous photos of the exquisite glass undersea creatures created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the 19th-Century. Spooky and sovay and I were lucky enough to see many of these at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology when we visited Cambridge back in August, along with the thousands of glass botanical replicas. Wonderful things.
This has turned out to be another rambly post. Ah, well. Curlicues and Golden Curves.
Last night, a reader asked if I would be comfortable talking about why I found working skyclad at Saturday night's Samhain celebration to be a wonderful experience. I said I'd think about it. And I have, and I suppose I am not uncomfortable saying just a little more (though it has occurred to me that perhaps I should set up a paganism/Wicca/magick filter for those who aren't interested in these things; for the moment, a cut should suffice).
To put it as simply as I can, I suspect that the reason I found the experience so very positive arose mainly from the knowledge that I stood there before the whole universe, that vast and largely unfathomable cosmos, and nothing stood between me and it. No clothing, no walls, no rooftops. The star-dabbed wheel of the sky, the brilliant waxing quarter moon, our chants, the cold air, the crackle and smoky smell of the bonfire, the knowledge that I stood as all creatures throughout all galaxies have ever stood, naked in every sense, in every way, as perfectly devoid of barriers as I am presently able to be. There was a grand giddiness, an ecstasy. For me, ecstasy is at the heart of Neo-paganism. Ecstasy and celebration and communion, and Saturday night was my most...what word, what word...my most complete experience of all three to date.
Spooky just brought in the first jack-o'-lantern for me to see. I need to wrap this up and get a bath. We're having Hannah and Jim and maybe Byron over this evening to help us dole out unhealthy treats to the neighborhood children. And TCM is showing Vincent Price movies all evening. Superb!