Blog

This has probably been floating around for a while, but I’ve just discovered that my favorite television commercial now has a sequel. 

Why do I get such a kick out of these commercials?  Sense of humor, they has it.   I like the best.  I push to limit, every time.

In related news, I’m now #572,156 on the waiting list for my own petite lap giraffe.

Today, in her lunchtime address as the Mistress of Ceremonies at the 35th Annual Jack Williamson Lectureship, Connie Willis referred to me as “leadfoot” (without good cause, I should add).

People in the audience thought she had said “webfoot”.

So now it is generally believed that I am descended from the fish people of Innsmouth.

Busy week.  Today I’m participating in a full day of meetings to discuss experiments at the world’s largest laser facility. 

What does one do with the world’s most powerful laser complex?  Well, I don’t want to give away too much right now.  Early days, and all that.  Let’s just say that when—not if—my plan comes to fruition, we won’t be calling it the “moon” any longer…

[Hi there.  If you’re stopping by to read my infamous blog post regarding the publishing history of my trilogy, it’s here.]

Blog posts will be a bit shorter than usual this week because I’m traveling a lot for the next few days.

This reminder just in from Ur-Bar co-editors (and Wonder Twins) Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray:  there are still a few days left to enter the Tales from the Ur-Bar contest!  They’re taking entries until the end of March, which means you can still toss your name in the hat to win a big pile o’books– something from each contributor to the anthology.  Plus chocolate.

My own contribution to the giveaway is a copy of Bitter Seeds.  Thank you to Josh and Patricia for obtaining a copy for the contest.

Contest details can be found at the link.  No purchase necessary, etc.

About a year before I went to Australia, I read Expiration Date by Tim Powers.  The plot of this book revolves around the concept of sniffing or ingesting ghosts—absorbing their life essence to prolong one’s mortal existence.   Among a certain set of connoisseurs, the demand for new ghosts has given rise to an entire market.  Which, in turn, means that people have developed methods for attracting and trapping ghosts.   

The depiction of revenant spirits in this book is haunting and lyrical; I’ll never be able to see a homeless person without thinking of this book.  And, as in all Powers novels, the magic system is depicted in a way that makes everything sound entirely plausible.   Everything sounds obvious, like common sense, when Powers explains it.  Because of course magic works that way.  And of course you’d trap a ghost like that…

I’m lucky I read it before arriving in Adelaide.  (Which is a lovely city and I’m sure many of the people there are NOT ghosts.)