It’s silly season in the SF/F world; the season when All the Writers remind All the Readers, and especially those who vote on the Hugo Awards, which of their works are eligible for Hugo consideration.
The 2014 Hugo Awards, for works published in 2013, will be presented at the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, LonCon 3, to be held in London, England, August 14-18, 2014
If you’re not sure if you’re eligible to nominate and/or vote in the 2014 Hugo Awards, here’s the link to the rules.
If you are eligible to nominate, I will now mention that Sharon Lee and Steve Miller published several works in 2013, which are eligible for consideration. They are:
Novel: Necessity’s Child, Baen, February 2013 Trade Secret, Baen, November 2013
Novelette:
“Eleutherios,” Baen.com, January 2013
“Moon’s Honor,” Splinter Universe, February 2013
Short Story:
“Out of True,” Baen.com, October 2013
Y’all have been following the Writing for the Long Haul blog series that Janni Lee Simner’s hosting over at Desert Dispatches, right?
Right!
There’s been a lot of interesting reading going on, by writers, about why they write, why they continue writing, how to write when there’s so little time, and a bunch of other topics of interest to those interested in the process, and the life, of writing.
If you haven’t been following along with the latest installments, what with the holidays and all, today’s a good day to get caught up.
It’s 43F/6C here at the Cat Farm this morning. Also? It’s raining. This is a mixed blessing.
On the one paw, it looks like most the trees I can see from my office window have lost their sheathing of ice.
On the other paw, much of the snow cover has been washed away, leaving a Whole Lotta Ugly on display, as layers of mud and cinders and dead vegetation are revealed. Also, I can now see exactly how many birch trees we lost to the ice.
*winces*
Oh, and our driveway? A sheet of ice. And me without skates.
And? Tonight, the temperature is supposed to fall to 12F/-11C. And continue to rain. Tomorrow’s high is projected to be that same 12F/-11C.
Frequent readers of this venue will recall my feelings on shoveling snow. Still, I find that I’m agin warm rain in January.
Oh, well, at least it’s warm enough that I can open the window in my office. Trooper and Sprite are sitting on the top of the bookshelf, with their noses pressed to the screen.
In other news, I’ve been filling out the tax paperwork required by our accountant, a dab at a time, a dab being about all I can take at any time, and writing, and feeding Mozart gooshy food, and, y’know, pursuing the glamorous lifestyle of an internationally known writer of science fiction and fantasy.
Perhaps today, I’ll vacuum.
Hope everybody has a cheerful and fulfilling Monday.
1. You still have time to pre-order signed copies of Carousel Sun from Uncle Hugo’s. Here’s the link. Uncle Hugo’s is the only bookstore offering autographed copies of Carousel Sun. They have autographed copies of some of our other work in stock, as well.
2. I supported Doug Thornsjo’s Kickstarter campaign, and just before Christmas, received my Majors deck of the Tarot of the Zirkus. These cards are amazing. Provocative art, good hand-feel and weight, slightly larger than my favorite deck, The Halloween Tarot. Take a look at the on-going project, and buy a deck for yourself, here.
3. Mozart continues to make gains. He’s eating wet cat food again, not just beef baby food, is sleeping well, and taking an interest in the various projects going on around him. Thanks to everyone for your good wishes.
4. There’s been some question about the release dates of upcoming publications. This is what we know: January 7: Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 2, trade paper January 15: “The Gift of Music,” free to read on Baen.com February 4: Carousel Sun, trade paper March 7: Necessity’s Child, mass market Early 2015: Carousel Seas, trade paper
5. I wish to report that it is not snowing! It is, however, Pretty Darn Cold (for the purposes of this discussion, PDC is 3F/-16C).
Man it’s cold. Also, it snowed. Not, thank ghod, very much; somewhere over Massachusetts, the wind got tired of toting All That Weather, and let it go all at once. I hear they expect to have Boxford dug out by August.
Up here at the Cat Farm, we have about six inches/15cm of light, broomable snow. We have officially lost the bottom two stairs in the flight from the driveway to the deck. If it snows any more, we’ll lose the third. I expect that Snowplow Hill (being the hill made by the snowplow when it pushes all the snow from the driveway into one place) to come even with the decking today.
With the exceptions of sweeping whatever more snow settles on the deck and the remaining steps, and moving the cars for the plowman, when he cometh, I believe I’ll stay in.
What with the various catmergencies, I have been remiss in letting the world know that my author’s copies of Carousel Sun have arrived; and they’re beautiful! I’m guessing that means I can look for the pre-ordered books for Uncle Hugo soon — perhaps even today!
I have in hand from the Uncle a list of the people who wanted their books personalized, with personalizations, so that part of Our Clever Plan worked out Just Fine. Thank you all! And remember, you can still pre-order signed copies of Carousel Sun, right here.
Mozart thanks everyone for their well-wishes; he has been having some gooshy food, in-between naps, and seems generally pleased to be home. Even if Sprite wants to sleep on his head.
Mozart is back home. The tests today showed that the kidney levels are indeed up. The vet gave him a painkiller, after which he ate a little bit of regular gooshy food. So, we have him back, with painkillers, and instructions to feed him whatever he’ll eat, and call tomorrow with a progress report.
So…I’m not sure we’ve made any forwarder progress, here…
As I write this, Mozart is at the animal hospital in Waterville, undergoing evaluation.
After his last vet visit, before the new year, we had seen some improvement in his appetite due to the vet’s Magic Pills. Unfortunately, he did not continue to rally, but stopped eating the vet-sent food altogether, then stopped eating chicken baby food, then refused turkey baby food…beef and ham baby food were still acceptable, but he really wasn’t interested to eating much of either. Occasionally, he would take a crunchy or two, and a sip of water. Mostly, he wanted to lie in His Corner in my office, kind of stretched on his side, with his eyes open — not sleeping, and not at all restful-seeming.
So, I made an early call, the vet said to bring him in, and so we did, braving the -8F/-22C temperatures, and the small drift of flakes out of the sky, which one set of weatherbeans seem to think is going to become a blizzard by this afternoon.
The hope at this point is that the x-rays and a repeat blood test will give us some idea of what’s going on, and if he’s in pain. He had actually gained some weight since Monday. Given that he hasn’t actually been eating that much, the vet is concerned that this is fluid retention, which might indicate something new, and not good, going on with his kidneys.
It’s been a leisurely start to the new year, including a long and far-ranging discussion with Steve over coffee, and Princess-snuggles. I revised yesterday’s pages, and now I need to move on to some other mundane chores before coming back later to open Chapter Eight. For those who keep track of such things, One of Five now stands just about 27,000 words high. That’s 106 manuscript pages.
For those who come to this blog entry from Facebook, remember that I will not see any comments left on my wall, since I must and will cut back on the time I’ve been spending there. You’re welcome to leave comments at The Blog Without a Name (this is a moderated venue, so it may take some for your comment to show up), or at Eagles Over the Kennebec, using either your FB or LJ logins.
I hope that you welcomed in the new year with joy and moderation, and that this first day of 2014 is the beginning of an entire year of health, prosperity, and happiness.
And yes, I did promise a muse, in the title of this blog post. Here is Trooper, editing One of Five:
Trooper, Musing for all he’s worth. Photo by Sharon Lee
As I type this, Central Time Zone Midnight is a bare eight hours away. If you’ve been putting off pre-ordering your signed-and-personalized copy of Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee — procrastinate no longer. Go here, place your order, and type your requested personalization into the “Special Instructions” box. It’s that easy.
This has been your Final, the Ultimate, reminder on this topic.
Fans of Sprite will of course recall that the vet was scheduled to attend her yesterday, for the purpose of administering rabies and distemper vaccinations.
Sadly, Her Princessness had assumed that, as the mountain to Mahomet, the vet would come to her. She was Most Displeased to find that this was not the case, and that she was going to be required to submit herself to the inconvenience of a Winter Journey.
She made her Displeasure known by throwing herself out of the bedroom window when The Steve entered the room with the intent of having her down. She dodged under the bed, zoomed down the hall, knocked Trooper over and fled to the window in the kitchen.
The Sharon arrived and again an attempt was made to have her down, which she thwarted by hurling herself over The Sharon’s shoulder, hitting the floor with a stumble and a zoom, knocking Trooper over again as she sought sanctuary in The Steve’s office.
Followed a chase perhaps merrier for the Princess than her lackeys, as they pursued her up and down the hallway, and up and down the basement stairs, closing doors as each room was cleared, until there was only One Option left.
The Princess flew into the bedroom, meaning to make a sharp, high-speed U-turn and head down the hall for the living room, and perhaps the lower back corner of the cat castle. But the lackey Sharon was hot on her heels.
Before the Princess could turn, the varlet had closed the door.
Thwarted, yet our Princess kept her wits about her, and handily dove under the bed. Whereupon The Steve was heard coming down the hall, bearing the Loathly Cat Carrier. He placed his hand upon the knob, and called out —
“It’s locked.”
“What?” quoth The Sharon. She rose from her knees and tried the knob. It was, indeed, locked.
Here is the doorknob in question. Note the lack of any locking mechanism.
The Fatal Doorknob
The Steve began to laugh. The Sharon, pluck to the backbone, had a hanger from out the closet on the instant, and set to work with the bolt.
The Steve said, “I’ll be back.”
Valiant Princess Sprite, in the meanwhile, ventured out from underneath the bed, the better to observe this extraordinary happenstance.
The Sharon’s efforts with the hanger had yielded no results save colorful language by the time The Steve returned with his hook.
“Let me try,” he said, and The Sharon stepped back, dropping the hanger on the bed, and going to one knee on the floor.
The bolt shot back like magic, and Princess Sprite stood, enrapt, as the door came open. . .
. . .and The Sharon swooped upon her, scooped her up, and stuffed her into The Loathly Box.
And with all of that, we actually got to her appointment on time.
Princess Sprite in her fortress. Photo by Sharon Lee
