I know, I know. The only interesting blogging I’ve been doing lately has been on behalf of S.J. Willing. It’s not that I’ve given up blogging for un-Lent or anything. I’ve just been busy, working on some fiction, nonfiction and, for the first time in ages, some fan fiction.
You’ll like the short story. It’s the new and improved “Syren Bridge”, twice as long with more characters, more fun and all the strudel-ly goodness you loved in the first version. I hope to be able to tell you more about its new home in a couple months.
It’ll be a lot longer before I can talk about the nonfiction project. It’s very different from anything I’ve done before, but you’ll definitely want to read it.
On the guilty pleasures front, I succumbed to the lure of John Scalzi’s June fan fiction challenge. Scalzi is a very evil man, and I say that in full knowledge that he is now president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and therefore ruler of the known SF/fantasy multiverse. But he’s still ebil, Ebil, EBIL.
To benefit the Lupus Alliance of America, Scalzi, Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton), Catherynne Valente, Patrick Rothfuss created a chapbook for electronic publication by Subterranean Press later this year. If that’s all they did I would’ve give them a karmic pass and scoped out the book when it appeared. But noooooooooooo, they couldn’t let it go at a good deed. Somebody (and I think we know who that is) commissioned Jeff Zugale to create the attached cover art. But that wasn’t all they did. Scalzi, Wheaton and SP solicited fanfic writers to create stories explaining the picture. The best story, as determined by the Jury of Awesomeness, will be awarded double the SFWA-defined professional rate/word and be included in the chapbook.
And this is how I spent my June.
Before it was over, Scalzi & Co. received over 350 submissions—which tells you how the Jury of Awesomeness is going to spend their July, August and possibly September. From the links posted after the contest closed, some of the entries were mind-boggling. How does anyone compete with a complete play? Meep!
In other news, I’m attending a new con. I’ve been added to the guest list of Intervention, the Washington DC-area webcomics con. Intervention will be held at the Rockville Hilton (home of Capclave) September 10-12. I’ll be sharing the bill with fellow DC Area Storyteller Anthony Stevens and, for the first time, the love of my life. Yes, Greg Uchrin of IV Caffeine will be attending Intervention as a guest and a dealer. Come and cheer him on…and buy lots of stuff.
In the meantime, there’s ReConStruction and DragonCon.
ReConStruction (August 3-8 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is the tenth occasional North American Science Fiction Convention—in other words, what happens when WorldCon travels somewhere other than the U.S. or Canada for the summer, like this year. It boasts all the usual WorldCon events, including dances, masquerades, auctions, interviews and panels. Laurie Toby Edison, one of my very favorite jewelers, will be there, too. No word on the final program yet, but the interim list of participants and panels looks really good.
Then there’s DragonCon, the ultimate end of summer party. It’s bigger than ever this year. We even sucked in the Westin. Soon all the business district will be ours! Then…
Er, leaving off the plans for world domination, programming is coming together for that, too. What I’ve seen looks fabulous. And if you’re there, be sure to join us for the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Readings. I’ll firing up two new stories: “Syren Bridge” and “Lord Bai and the Magic Pirates”. I am told my impression of a Wagnerian soprano singing about strudel is enough to scar a person for life. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
