Catherynne M. Valente's Blog

I have to say it. I didn't get weddings before now.

I mean, I love weddings, and they're wonderful, and I love being around friends and family. But I fundamentally didn't get what weddings are for until I had one.

See, I've been married before, but I'd never had a wedding. I had a divorce before I had a wedding. And you know, when Cher says in Moonstruck that she didn't have a real wedding, so she had bad luck, I kind of believed her, knowing what came after. So this time I wanted the real thin...

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So, it came to my attention through the wonderful maryrobinette last night that Fairyland is eligible for the Andre Norton Award.

For those of you who don't know, the Andre Norton award is associated with the Nebulas and announced and voted on at the same time, but honors YA work.

I had no idea. I assumed self-published e-editions were out of the running. That it would be eligible when the print edition comes out from Feiwel and Friends.

Turns out, it will not be eligible when that happens. It ...

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Exchange reported to us over the phone on this fine sunny autumn day:

Nika (justbeast 's 6-year-old niece): Do Cat and Dima have any children?
Her mother: No, they're not planning to have any soon.
Nika: ...so did they just get married for sex?

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I was going to friends-lock this, but decided against it. So here it is for all to read.

The thing is, I don't really believe in friends-locking. The whole point of a blog, for me, is to live openly, declaratively. I find that a tremendously valuable thing for my personal development, to try hard not to be ashamed of anything I experience or feel or do. Filtering is great for some people--everyone chooses how to run their online space--but for me it is an admission of not being able to talk ab...

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I'm doing that thing where I feel like I can't post about anything until I post about the wedding, and the rest of the honeymoon.

But I am also physically pretty messed up right now. I understand that my body needs recovery, which is possibly why I'm sleeping way more than usual, but I'm also waking up with a splitting headache that lasts for hours. And this morning, it's worse, since I'm getting hateful comments after AOL did an article about ExpediaFail.

And then there's my foot.

I suspect w...

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It's that time of year, when red velvet and white fluff are in season, when pine and mistletoe scent the air, when sleighbells jangle in the distance...and Nebula nominations open.

Now, I've never been nominated for a Nebula. I've rarely even been suggested for one. But I thought I'd list the things I've written this year that are eligible, just in case any of you are SFWA members and want to vote for them. (Plus some little announcements toward the end!

Palimpsest
Obviously, this would mean the...

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Here I am, with a hundred things to post about, the rest of St. Petersburg and the wedding and a new book...and I'm playing Mortal Kombat vs. DC and staying up while everyone else is in bed.

I guess I'm having a bit of wedding withdrawal. For awhile there was so much to do that it could never get done, and then it was done and there were so many loved ones to spend time with that I could never spend time with them all, and then there was the honeymoon and it was all SO MUCH. And justbeast was...

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One, I'm reading at the IAF Interfictions 2 reading tomorrow, 7:30 pm at The Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA. You all are coming, right? Because there's musical accompaniment and possibly an accordion. And Brian Francis Slattery (ZOMG.) Also my last trip to Boston for awhile as I burrow, sick of travel and with a novel due at the end of January (I don't even want to talk about it.)

Two, I'm working on a trailer for Under in the Mere, and searching for music. I want something appropriate to Arthurian...

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The final chapter of Fairyland is up.

Chapter XXII: Ravished Means You Cannot Stay

A mother cannot see every little thing, and glad we may be that she could not, as it would have caused a great deal of trouble September would never have been able to explain.

In the following weeks, we will be updating the Museum, filling out the missing audio chapters, and I will be deep in thought planning the sequel. I don't have a release date from Feiwel & Friends yet, but I'm led to believe it will be soone...

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Was awakened at 2 and cannot get back to sleep. Everything is very silent in our room, and my stomach is empty. How I wish the streetside blini stands were 24 hours. Oh my god, streetside blini.

One of the thoughts I kept turning around in my head today was about fantasy literature and the war. WWII is a favorite garden patch for anchoring Western fantasy in historical and moral authority, from Narnia all the way down to Hellboy. It's irritated me in the past, because it seems like a way to in...

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