You Know You've Been Waiting!

Yes!  It's Martin Tuesday!

More Broken Slate!

Go here for the second half of Chapter Eight, up now on Crossed Genres.

Dead Tropes

So we are lying in bed, the kid and I, as we do on Sunday morning, not getting up, and the kid is ranting to me about her Sims adventures, as she is wont to do, and she is explaining how she can't get two of the characters married, due to some "glitch" I am not precisely following.

(I do not play Sims.)

Me: Can't they just live in sin?

The Kid:  Live in Sims?  They do live in Sims.  What--

Me:  No.  Live in sin.

The Kid: ---

Me:  Live in sin.  

The Kid:  What does that mean?

Ah, Parenting!

Woke up this morning to the kid crying out in alarm because something was wrong with the kitten.

Turns up she was coughing up her first hairball.

It's these Kodak moments that make parenting so worth it.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

There's a job in Bangor, Maine, and another in Dickinson, ND, which I am considering applying for.  The Dickinson job looks most attractive, being an actual Creative writing job; but I have always wanted to live in Maine.

Meanwhile, I have spent the day cleaning house, writing, making pies, mowing the lawn, and dealing with my 12 year old and her BFF.  It is 73 degrees and muggy here in Fuck Smith, and no marmalade is available that is not crap marmalade, filled with corn syrup.

I am going to make a rum mojito and sulk.

Tomorrow, y'all.

Wow! Big News!

I got my first fan mail yesterday (from someone I didn't previously know, I mean.)

Like, rockin'!

Oh Boy!

Look!  

It's Martin Tuesday at Crossed Genres.

Half of Chapter Eight this time.

Also!

It's Opposite month at Crossed Genres.  

We want "stories in which two opposites butt heads. Or inexplicably work together perfectly. Or cancel each other out!"

What have you got?

Win a Free Nook

...or other eReader!

Contribute to The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund via the Carl Brandon society.

See the rules here.

The Kid's First Movie

It's called Hermit Crab.

It cracks me up.

It's Not the Economy, Stupid

Katha Pollit gives us another reason why our newly-elected Teabagger overlords are a serious problem. (Via LGM.)

Senator-elect Rand Paul and incoming Representatives Mike Fitzpatrick and Tim Walberg oppose most common methods of birth control, in vitro fertilization and stem cell research, and join Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey in opposing abortion even for rape or incest; Toomey supports jailing doctors who perform abortions.

Oh dear...

Once when I was a fledgling professor, years ago, still capable of being shocked -- this was so long ago the internet was still in its first years, and students didn't believe professors knew what it was -- I received an essay that was, word for word, a copy of an article from an online encyclopedia.

It took me about 20 minutes, even in those ancient days, with their ancient search engines, to find the article.  As was my standard practice, I printed a copy of the article, paperclipped it to the student's essay, and sent the student an email (we did have email in those days, oh my best beloved) saying I would like to see him in my office as soon as possible.

He arrived, all wide-eyed and innocent.  When I confronted him with the evidence, first he claimed that "it wasn't fair," because I had been "trying" to catch him.  (Apparently he thought of my acts as a sort of entrapment?) But then he claimed he was innocent because he had not thieved the essay off the internet.  

Oh, no.

See, he had not had time to do his assignment; so he asked his girlfriend to write the essay, and she had thieved the essay off the net; so really --

"Dude," I said, wincing.  "Son."

All of this, by way of saying, to the latest revelations concerning George W. Bush's "Memoirs" -- dude.  Son.

Nothing To See, Move Along...

November 12th and nearly 80 degrees here.

But we're just hysterical lie-brals and besides Al Gore is fat.

How Much Now?

I still, from time to time when I'm lurking RW blogs, hear about how Clinton's team "trashed" the White House and stole all the W's off the keyboards of the computers before they left the place for George W.'s occupation.

How much do you want to be this story, how Obama took a 200 million dollar a day vacation in India during our great depression, will become a similar lie repeated over and over by the Wingnuts?

Writing Work for Those Who Do Reviews

Bart Lieb of Crossed Genres needs you!

If you write genre book reviews, that is.

I’m looking for a few people who have experience writing reviews for genre fiction. This is for a new project that’s being developed. Review experience with short or long fiction is welcome.

It's for a new project he's at work on.  Go here for full details.

Martin Tuesday!

A new installment of Broken Slate is up at Crossed Genres.

Chapter Seven: one of my favorites, I don't mind saying.  The first appearance of Dallas Winston.

What's This?

The latest issue of Crossed Genres is out!

And not only is it the long-awaited Characters of color issue, not only is it a double issue -- twice the stories!--not only is there a can't-miss interview with Tobias Buckell -- but, oh, my: a new story from me.

Dangerous Terrain. Hot diggity.