We are back from RavenCon, where we were feted and treated like sci-fi royalty. Despite the 1900 mile round-trip from Maine to Williamsburg and back again, we arrived home fresh and bouncy and ready to deal with the laundry. Or maybe not.
If you get a chance to go to RavenCon, do it! Splendid con, well-run, and offering something for everyfan. Kudos to Chair Mike Pederson, and his staff (whom I will not name, for fear of inadvertently leaving someone out). And a special shout-out to Ginny Barnett, who volunteered to be our minion for the weekend, and did a superb job.
The week going forward includes the writing of a short story, now that a workable idea has, however belatedly, finally shown up; finishing The Gathering Edge, which no, is not playing nice, but which will, byerlady, be off our desks before we leave for BaltiCon, or I’ll know the reason why.
Steve will be leaving for Portland and the Maine Democratic Convention on Friday; I plan to join him on Saturday morning, for a full day of Democracy. Since Bernie won Maine in the caucuses, I remain somewhat baffled as to the purpose of this particular exercise, but I suppose All Will Become Clear in time.
In other news, Baen has republished in ebook form Janet Kagan’s Mirabile and also Hellspark. Those who read here regularly know that Hellspark is one of our — that’s Steve and me — favorite books in any genre; and between us, we’ve read a LOT of books. Here’s your link to Baen’s Janet Kagan page; I hear that Mirabile has made it into Amazon’s catalogue, but that Hellspark has yet to make an appearance. (And, forestalling the inevitable — No, Baen was not able to acquire Uhura’s Song, which was of course, written as a work for hire in the Original Trek tie-in series.
In other, other news, we came home from RavenCon to find that the house-sitter had taken delivery of a case of Dragon in Exile mass markets. They’re pretty!
And that? Is all the news that’s fit to print.
Look again at Amazon! They’ve just Kindled both “Hellspark” and “Uhura’s Song” which I have in ragged paperbacks. There is also an anthology, but they don’t say what it includes.
Yippee for Janet Kagan ebooks! (Runs off to Baen to get them). BTW – have the cats suddenly decided to snuggle? Is this a new thing (possibly triggered by absence of Their Humans)? It seems to me the last I heard was of a sort of armed truce – “I’ll put up with you if you don’t get too close”, particularly in regard to Belle. Of course I may have missed some news along the way.
A) I get a nice list including both Hellspark and Mirable when I follow your link (may have been fixed long since, I’m way behind reading Twitter).
B) Oh my! Even better than the novels, there’s a collected short stories too! I _have_ the novels (in paper), the shorts are harder to find.
I went to the Gem Faire and bought a string of Ethiopian opal beads.
The coon cats pretty much hang together. When Belle first arrived, Trooper was a Little Unsure, because of course it meant increased responsibilities for him as Coon Cat Security. That problem was ironed out inside of the first two weeks. The outlier is Scrabble, who Does Not Approve of the Silly Fluffs, but is willing to allow them in Her House as long as they obey Her Rules. Which they often do, because this bunch of coon cats, among their many sterling attributes, are Not Ambitious.
One of my fave authors. I wish she had had more time to play in the Universe she was building in Hellspark. Like you and Steve, Janet Kagan had that gift of building universes; cultures peopled with intelligent, fascinating, like able characters; and intriguing plots … There’s a depth and richness to writing like yours and hers that I wish was more available.
I quickly followed the link you provided, and bought ebooks of *Hellspark* and *Mirabile*. Enjoyed *Mirabile* so much I started over at the beginning the minute I finished. And I’ve just now bought the anthology.
Thanks for the fun I’ve had!