Blog Without A Name

Mid-afternoon check-in

. . .Now how often do you get double-hyphenations in a title?

I am made of awesome.

In other news, Trooper and I retired to the bedroom to listen to music and doze for about three hours, rising to partake of the dinner that Steve made for us — that’s him and me; not Trooper and me.  I’m not really sure how Trooper feels about mashed potatoes.

At the moment, well-fed and freshly showered, I’m feeling fine.  This is what tripped me up yesterday.  So! In celebration of feeling fine, I’m moving my base of operations from the bed to the couch, where I believe I will read.  And drink water/ice tea, and in general emulate one of those layabout writers y’all see in movies.

The above course of action is in service of the notion that, tomorrow, I’ll actually be in shape to get some damned work done.

Also!  The Plan is Afoot to build a Circus College in Portland, at Thompson Point.  The Point will be mixed-use:  college, condos, offices, and I wanna live next to the Circus College!  Links courtesy of Steve:  Portland Officials to See New Thompson Point Master Plan  and Thompson Point Development Project Moving Forward.

And, Sprite’s burgeoning fan club will be pleased to know that she has achieved yet another honorific:  Jasmine Underchair.

I believe that gives us Jasmine Sprite, Princess of the Night, Warrior Princess of East Winslow, Nemesis of the Springs, Scourge of Lizards, Professor of Centrifugal Studies, Brat, and Jasmine Underchair.

Somebody make a note.

I, to the couch.

 

 

ACA Update

ACA = Affordable Care Act  aka Obamacare

Frequent readers of this blog will recall that, through the Flawed Magic that is the Federal Government’s Healthcare Marketplace, Steve and I purchased health insurance through Maine Community Health Options (“the new kid”), switching out from Anthem (“the evil empire”).

Our previous policy with Anthem was scheduled to rise to $700 a month this month, for a “plan” that covered nothing, and where the co-pay wouldn’t even kick in until we had bankrupted ourselves paying medical bills.  This is the “Anthem’s Stockholders Earn Big, You Lose” Plan.

The MCHO plan that we chose is a Silver Plan, which means, among other things, that none of our generic drugs can cost us more than $15.  This is the, “You Don’t Have to Be Afraid to go to the Doctor” Plan.

Earlier in the month, I had two of my three daily prescriptions refilled, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d saved $76.  Today, Steve refilled two of his three prescriptions and saved $30.

So far, this seems to be working out to our advantage.

Earlier this month, I submitted the required letter, with evidence, explaining the Freelance Lifestyle to the ACA review board, and why I thought we’d earn less this year than last.  We haven’t yet received their determination.  Of course, I’ll be watching our income Very Closely, because you can go back to the Marketplace and adjust your income, if you guessed wrong, which I almost certainly did, and accept less tax credits/take a higher premium payment.  Or, if things really go to hell, accept more tax credits/take a lower premium payment.

 

Again with the award stuff

You say that you’re not eligible to vote for this year’s Hugo Awards, but want to make sure your favorite book/story/movie/fanzine of 2013 and/or your favorite editor/artist is brought to the attention of those who can/will vote?  You’re in luck!

Lady Business is collecting suggestions in a spreadsheet, here.  Note that the tabs for novel, novella, novelette, &c are at the bottom of the page.

Also, Book Smugglers has published their list of favorites, and comments are open to those who want to share their own favorites, here.

Full disclosure: Lee and Miller have five works eligible for Hugo (and Nebula) consideration. They are:

Novel: Necessity’s Child, Trade Secret
Novelette: Eleutherios, Moon’s Honor
Short Story: Out of True

The live links may be read for free.

* * *

In other news, the cold I’ve been pushing away for the last couple days has come roaring back with a vengeance.

I’ll be on the couch.

On the topic of Space Opera

AsyouknowBob, Steve and I write Space Opera, starting when it was neither popular nor profitable, and continuing to, oh, Right Now.  Along the way, we’ve heard our novels described as “Military SF*,” which is where Space Opera goes to take cover when it’s out of fashion; “Adventure SF;” “Romantic SF;” “SF Romance;” “SF Lite;” and “What Do You Call This, Because it’s Not SF, Really, Is It?”

Happily, Space Opera has come ’round again on the guitar as being a recognized, if not exactly lauded, sub-genre of SF.  Unhappily, there are a lot of odd ideas about what Space Opera is, which do seem to arise whenever it surfaces again as a sub-genre.

I recall, for instance, when Mr. Feintuch was still with us and writing his version of Space Opera, which was Very Bleak, and some readers (and editors, too) wouldn’t touch any thing calling itself Space Opera, because Enough With the Bleak, Already.

My personal definition of Space Opera has always been that, on some level — though, yes, we are Saving the Universe and All Like That — at some level, I say, Space Opera needs to be fun.

And, yanno, just like Real Operas, Space Opera is a place where any old unlikely thing can happen (so long as the authors make it believable, which, to be fair, isn’t always the case with Real Opera), including telepathy and all the other Psi skills, if you want them; Giant Turtles; FTL drives; Deathless Wanderers of the Star Lanes; True Love, and whatever yer havin’ yerself.

So, anyway. . .in another part of the InterTubes, someone has put forth the observation that Space Opera has drifted away from including aliens, in order to focus of the diversity of human cultures.  It’s an interesting observation, and certainly we here in the Liaden Universe® celebrate the richness of human cultures.  But we also celebrate the strangeness of Clutch Turtles, and of Korval’s Damned Meddling Tree.  And while we didn’t exactly celebrate them, the Iloheen were certainly aliens.

However, as mentioned above, we started down this path more than a quarter-century ago.

What about newer Space Operas?  Have we moved away from aliens, in favor of more human-centric stories?  Or is it all in what you’re reading?  And, if that’s the case, what are you reading?

Have at it.

_______

*I had the. . .surreal. . .experience of standing in an elevator with two young men at the Chicago WorldCon-but-one.  And the first young man was describing this Really Cool Military SF Book he had just read.  The plot, as he short-formed it, sounded Awfully Familiar, and just before they got off at their floor, the second young man asked after the title, and the first young man said, “Conflict of Honors.”

#SFWAPro

Saturday cat census

The cats have had quite a bit of extra work pressed upon them over the last week, as Steve and I ran back and forth to Bangor, and down to Augusta, and out on Friday night.  “Holding the fort” is hard.

But!  It’s Saturday at last, and we’re home, and intend to stay here until Monday morning.  Scrabble and Mozart are taking this opportunity to Rest Up in preparation of the Rigors of Next Week.

Scrabble sleeps with the stars. Photo by Sharon Lee
Scrabble sleeps with the stars.
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

Mozart naps with the orange monkey in the Warm Spot. Photo by Sharon Lee
Mozart naps with the orange monkey in the Warm Spot.
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

The coon cats, however, are indefatigable.

Coon cats at work. Photo by Sharon Lee
Sprite and Trooper at work
Photo by Sharon Lee

 

Authors’ Night Out

Last night, Steve and I braved the Cold and Dark to journey across the river, to the old Hathaway Factory, which is now a combined condo/retail establishment, and includes the justly-famous Hathaway Creative Center.

Why did we do this, you ask?

Because it was PechaKucha Night.

In fact, the 14th PechaKucha Night in Waterville.  I was plying my secretarial arts at Colby when one of my favorite professors tried to convince me to present at either the first or second PechaKucha Night.  I thought he’d lost his mind, but figured that I’d get to one someday soon, when Things Calmed Down.

Then I quit my day-job and lost track of things like PechaKucha Nights.

What brought it back onto my radar was the announced participation of Doug Thornsjo and of Uri and Gabe Lessing, all of whom we think kindly of.  And, really, PechaKucha seemed a fine ending to a week fraught with dental adventures.

So, anyway, there we were with a record crowd of almost 200 like-minded residents of the Waterville/Winslow/Wimsy megapolis scrunched into the Hathaway Creative Center to hear seven presentations on passions.

If you’ve never PechaKucha’d, it’s a system of presentation that lasts six minutes and 40 seconds, or 20 slides x 20 seconds, with commentary.  Here’s a link to the Official Description.  Presenters speak on a variety of topics; the PechaKucha tag-line is: Share Your Passion, Present What You Love.

Last night, for instance, we heard a presentation on the joys of old-fashioned paper mail pen-paling; the process and purpose of making feminist paper dolls; the efforts of Rotary International to eradicate polio in Nigeria and other far-flung places; and the high points of a work-study session spent tagging sharks in the Caribbean.  We heard from a visual communications teacher at a local high school, and from three of his students.  Doug spoke about his current creative projects, including the production of the Zirkus of the Magi Tarot Deck.  Uri and Gabe were co-emcees for the event, introducing each presenter, and reading copy for the “spotlight ads”.

It was a startlingly positive experience.  Everyone seemed to be having fun.  The presenters were all well-prepared and engaging; no one was at all rushed during their 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame.

If you have a chance to attend one of these things, I’m betting it would be worthwhile, if only for the real-time reminder that people are endlessly fascinating.

If you’re within the sound of the Waterville/Winslow/Wimsy megapolis, the next Waterville PechaKucha is on Friday, April 11; then, proceeding quarterly, on July 10 and October 17.  The group has a Facebook page, here.