I have just returned from my first ever WisCon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with WisCon, it's a feminist science fiction convention, which takes place every Memorial Day weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. The astute reader may recall that this is usually my birthday weekend. Historically, this means I usually spend my birthday weekend watching ( Read more... )

Okay, I'm going out of order on my In California series because it is important to post castles for sartorias on her birthday. Happy birthday to both of us! I love sharing a birthday with an awesome person!

So, somebody decided to build a castle in Napa, Moss and I couldn't resist stopping by on our way to his mother's house. Since I'd been accused at ( Read more... )

Just a teeny tiny one, but if you feel so inclined, you can go listen to me reading "The Transfiguration of Maria Luisa Ortega" by E. Lily Yu at PodCastle. It's a fun little story, and totally G-rated ( Read more... )

I'm in the midst of a busy Tuesday, but I wanted to drop by and say hello, so I've set a 5 minute timer in the form of a song I like. We'll see how well this works.

First, via saraphina_marie, DriveThru Sci-Fi has all Apex e-book titles on sale for $1 right now. If you are into creepy, steampunk adventures with lesbian nuns who wield crossbows (and really, who ( Read more... )

No giant essay this time, just a few notes about things I've enjoyed in the last week.

Two of my Viable Paradise classmates have stories up online right at the moment. theferrett brings us a tale of sheer cosmic evil, with appropriately resonant laughter. "Home Despot" is very silly, and sometimes silliness is exactly what hits the spot.

"Tourists" is by ( Read more... )

My local writing critique group trades magazines at each meeting, and one thing I've noticed is a general quickness to disparage stories in them. I'm not sure anyone has ever come in with glowing praise for a specific story, but I can remember several comments over the past few months about stories which annoyed or bored people. At the last meeting ( Read more... )

First, there's another person out there who needs help to get a big medical issue resolved. The amount she needs ($2,700) is totally doable if enough people band together to make it happen, and it will save her life. I know money is tight all around these days, but if you have any to spare, please consider donating at the above link, or buying a ( Read more... )

I'm very lucky in a lot of ways, and one of the most excellent ones is that I really get along with my immediate family. I can remember being in high school, and telling a friend that I didn't think my sister and I would really ever be close. I'm happy to say I was dead wrong about that. Even though we didn't have much obviously in common when we ( Read more... )

Moss and I went out on a leisurely drive today, exploring back roads to see the foliage. We saw several gorgeous cemeteries all ablaze in autumnal glory, but I hadn't my camera with me, so I just gasped in delight at each of them as we passed. There's been talk of a nor'easter, but though we've gotten sleet, snow, and rain in turns, nothing's ( Read more... )

Today is the official release date for Justine Larbalestier's Liar, the book most people probably know about because of the whitewashed cover that outraged people earlier this year. The US cover for the book has since been changed to picture a black woman, which is good (since, yay! woman pictured on cover is same race as character in book!) and ( Read more... )