I’ve finished First and Last and Always, but an unfortunate situation has come up and I haven’t transferred all of my handwritten bits to the computer yet. After that I have to code it up for the web, which will take a little bit longer.
Expect it Monday or Tuesday.
Sorry for the lateness.
This post seems to have turned up a small technical glitch in the website. I’ve fixed it now, but it may have shown up twice somehow.
Usually I prefer to let people explore the Brain Food links unguided and draw their own conclusions, but I think Don Peck’s How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America over at The Atlantic is worth a particular mention. One in eight Californians is presently unemployed, nearly one in ten Americans, and things don’t seem to be in much rush to get better. I’m not sure if the long-term effects will be as bad as Peck projects, but the possibilities are definitely sobering.
It makes me a little bit grateful to say that I have a job to complain about. I have a few responsibilities there that will no doubt distract me over this long weekend, but I’ve finished dinner now and a few other chores, so I’m going to settle in for a weekend of writing now. The alarm clock is set for 7:30 AM tomorrow morning. At some point I will have to leave the apartment to do laundry and get some sunshine, but aside from that, after I finish this post I plan to reboot my laptop, open up First and Last and Always, and start writing.
Before I go, I found for you an upload of P!nk’s very awesome Grammy performance, and you can click through to a preview of my upcoming story.
Wild Cards, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a series of shared-universe books where a space-alien germ bomb was set off over New York City on September 15, 1946. The virus, dubbed “Xenovirus Takis-A”, killed 90% of the people it infected (they “draw the Black Queen”). Of the survivors, 90% were horribly mutated (“Jokers”), and the remainder – that lucky 1% – developed superpowers (“Aces”). From there, the world wanders forward in a very roughly-parallel history to our own, with the butterfly effect in full force. For example, McCarthy investigates “dangerous wildcards” instead of “potential Communists”, and, misappropriating something Terry Pratchett said of Discworld, black and white set aside most of their differences so they can gang up on green. They’re very well-written, grown-up superhero stories, and I’m a huge fan (warning: the books are streaked with violence, sex, politics, and moral greys, and even longstanding favorite characters can and do die).
Aside from a hiatus in the late 90s, the series has been going on for a good twenty-odd years now, and a lot of very big science-fiction/fantasy names have taken part (George R. R. Martin edits, which should say something). Somehow I missed the release of the latest volume, Suicide Kings, back in December, but I got a chance to correct that this Monday. It was a good read, in that way that only a favorite, familiar series can be, though I have to admit that the older books felt more immersive. Unfortunately some of those (and even the reprints) have gotten disturbingly expensive, but the new trilogy (Inside Straight, Busted Flush, and Suicide Kings) is still in print. I’ll be happy to offer some good starting points if anyone is interested.
Also, while I’m pretty sure she isn’t playing Chrysalis, this cosplayer takes “anatomically pretty” to a whole new level. It must’ve taken hours to get ready.
It’s been a long and slightly painful week and I’ve drifting in and out of sleep for a couple hours now (hence the post-midnight update), but I have most of tomorrow (today?) set aside for writing. We’ll see how that goes.
Back near the beginning of the month, I asked Ten-Chan to illustrate her pick of the four Elves versions, leaving most of the specifics open to her best artistic judgment. Yesterday morning (I suppose I should say “Monday morning”, by now), I opened my laptop to find her finished art waiting for me, and I think I can safely say that it’s been well worth the wait. Click through the thumbnail to see for yourself.
At the moment, I plan to commission a different artist for each version of Elves, but I’m not sure. Either way I’m sure I’ll have Ten-chan return in the future. What do you think?
So… this is my first Notes from the Void, the name for the posts I discussed last week. I’ve decided against making it a strictly-weekly feature; to keep them from overwhelming the site by sheer numbers, I’ll only post them on weeks where I don’t add other content (reviews, fiction, illustrations, etc).
It’s very fashionable right now to donate money to Haiti, but please be careful where you donate; anywhere money flows, there will be unethical people trying to take a cut, and even legitimate organizations can be astoundingly poorly managed. Charity Navigator seems to be a good place to check things out first; they don’t have the resources to check every charity, but they rate most of the big players. Personally, my Haiti-bound donation went to Doctors Without Borders.
On a lighter note, I’ve been spending a lot of time wandering RedBubble lately. My friend Caitlin introduced me to it back in August, when I bought a print of her “Tokyo” project, and I keep coming back, usually just to explore. They have a great talent pool, and their print quality is fantastic if you feel the urge to buy something. One of my favorite recent finds is JenniferB. Really, I think the best way for me to introduce her is to shut up and let two of her poems speak for themselves:
Some of her writing is a bit morbidly uncomfortable, but I think it’s still worth reading.
In site-related news, I’ve commissioned Ten-Chan to illustrate one of the Elves stories I finished back at the end of 2008. She says she should be finished soon, and I’ll post it appropriately as soon as I can.