Michael Swanwick's Blog, page 76
July 16, 2019
Caitlin Escapes (Monday's Blogpost)
.
A big reminder here: I'll be at Charm City in Baltimore Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
I'm not making many public appearances to support The Iron Dragon's Mother, so if you want an autograph, this is your best chance.
Also, it's going to be lots of fun. So why not?
And I apologize . . .
As always, I was on the road yesterday. I should have gotten this up sometime yesterday, but when I got home but I was kind of washed out by then.
Mea culpa, though far from maxima. It's just a blog, after all.
And from the Image Book . . .
Cat Escapes. This is kind of a cheat because I'd already written that scene when I pasted in his book. But I couldn't resist.
Again, this is not what Caitlin of House Sans Merci literally looks like. But it's definitely how she feels at the time.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, I'm serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. There are only eleven more images yet to come.
*
A big reminder here: I'll be at Charm City in Baltimore Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
I'm not making many public appearances to support The Iron Dragon's Mother, so if you want an autograph, this is your best chance.
Also, it's going to be lots of fun. So why not?
And I apologize . . .
As always, I was on the road yesterday. I should have gotten this up sometime yesterday, but when I got home but I was kind of washed out by then.
Mea culpa, though far from maxima. It's just a blog, after all.
And from the Image Book . . .
Cat Escapes. This is kind of a cheat because I'd already written that scene when I pasted in his book. But I couldn't resist.
Again, this is not what Caitlin of House Sans Merci literally looks like. But it's definitely how she feels at the time.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, I'm serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. There are only eleven more images yet to come.
*
July 14, 2019
Spite Goddess
.
This could well have been a pic of one of Caitlin's fellow dragon pilots. Rather, she became a Spite Goddess.
I think this deity plays a larger role in our world than is commonly acknowledged.
*
This could well have been a pic of one of Caitlin's fellow dragon pilots. Rather, she became a Spite Goddess.
I think this deity plays a larger role in our world than is commonly acknowledged.
*
July 13, 2019
Ben and Ethel on the Moon
.
I'm at Readercon, relentlessly promoting my brilliant New fantasy nove!, THE IRON DRAGON'S MOTHER, and hobbling with various literary types. Alas, I cannot share any photos with you. My electronic devices won't cooperate. They never do.
It's not that I'm a Luddite. It's the MACHINES that are the Luddites. They refuse to work with me. They fear that if they do, I'll take over.
And I would, if I could. But they won't let me. Sure I can't.
Well played, machines.
And the highlight . . .
Undenably, the best event of the con has been not an official one but a Fringe performance. This was the first public reading ever of Greer Gilman's one act play Small Kingdom. Greer herself played Ben Jonson, "playwight, pedant, malcontent," and Marianne Porter was Ethel Smyth, " composer, suffragist, Sapphist. "
It was, in my unbiased opinion brilliant. Also loads of fun.
More, I hope, Tuesday, when I get back home, where my machines are more trusting.
*
I'm at Readercon, relentlessly promoting my brilliant New fantasy nove!, THE IRON DRAGON'S MOTHER, and hobbling with various literary types. Alas, I cannot share any photos with you. My electronic devices won't cooperate. They never do.
It's not that I'm a Luddite. It's the MACHINES that are the Luddites. They refuse to work with me. They fear that if they do, I'll take over.
And I would, if I could. But they won't let me. Sure I can't.
Well played, machines.
And the highlight . . .
Undenably, the best event of the con has been not an official one but a Fringe performance. This was the first public reading ever of Greer Gilman's one act play Small Kingdom. Greer herself played Ben Jonson, "playwight, pedant, malcontent," and Marianne Porter was Ethel Smyth, " composer, suffragist, Sapphist. "
It was, in my unbiased opinion brilliant. Also loads of fun.
More, I hope, Tuesday, when I get back home, where my machines are more trusting.
*
July 12, 2019
Lazy Friday Morning
.
I think that this is the second half of the story begun yesterday but the resolution is too small to read and I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention, so I can refer to the Image Book.
Well, as Dick Cheney once wisely observed, you go to the Internet with the pix you've got.
And given that a major theme of the trilogy. Is the Silence of God...
And on a related note . . .
I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention. I won't say which, because I'm not officially here yet.
The big surprise reveal tomorrow.
Meanwhile, it's a lazy Friday morning, I'm reading Lisa Goldstein's Ivory Apples, and I have nothing to do before I introduce Greer Gilman's Small Kingdom at five.
*
I think that this is the second half of the story begun yesterday but the resolution is too small to read and I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention, so I can refer to the Image Book.
Well, as Dick Cheney once wisely observed, you go to the Internet with the pix you've got.
And given that a major theme of the trilogy. Is the Silence of God...
And on a related note . . .
I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention. I won't say which, because I'm not officially here yet.
The big surprise reveal tomorrow.
Meanwhile, it's a lazy Friday morning, I'm reading Lisa Goldstein's Ivory Apples, and I have nothing to do before I introduce Greer Gilman's Small Kingdom at five.
*
94
.
I think that this is the second half of the story begun yesterday but the resolution is too small to read and I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention, so I can refer to the Image Book.
Well, as Dick Cheney once wisely observed, you go to the Internet with the pix you've got.
And given that a major theme of the trilogy. Is the Silence of God...
And on a related note . . .
I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention. I won't say which, because I'm not officially here yet.
Big surprise reveal tomorrow.
*
I think that this is the second half of the story begun yesterday but the resolution is too small to read and I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention, so I can refer to the Image Book.
Well, as Dick Cheney once wisely observed, you go to the Internet with the pix you've got.
And given that a major theme of the trilogy. Is the Silence of God...
And on a related note . . .
I'm in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a convention. I won't say which, because I'm not officially here yet.
Big surprise reveal tomorrow.
*
July 11, 2019
A Holy Story, The Best I Know
.
Have you ever wondered what my handwriting looks like? I didn't think so. Now, however, you know.
Even I have trouble reading it.
The doodle is of a trickster and, for some reason, I wrote the beginning of what I characterize at the bottom as ...a holy story. The best I know.
Here's how the story begins: And then the years blur into one another. I remember staying up all night, afire with inspiration, one Friday, typing, typing, typing, & when I finally ran out of inspiration realizing first that it was Saturday morning, next that I wanted to fall into bed and sleep for eighteen hours, and finally that I had no clean clothes [indecipherable]. So I could either sleep and, awakening on Sunday, put on my sweated clothes and take my stuff to the laundromat
I have no idea what that story was doing in this particular notebook or why I cut it off midway through. I won't go into detail here because I've narrated it elsewhere. But what happened was that on my way to the laundromat I ran into a young woman I knew who was sitting with her visiting father upon her stoop, both of them eating ice cream cones. I said hello, apologized for my unshaven and disheveled appearance, and explained why I looked (and smelled) so bad. Then I went on to the laundromat, cleaned my clothes, went home, and crashed.
I made an impression, though. The young lady's father went home and told her mother about this remarkable young man he'd met, leaving an indelible impression that never quite went away.
And the young lady? Reader, I married her.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, I'm serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. This is the 93rd of 108 images.
*
Have you ever wondered what my handwriting looks like? I didn't think so. Now, however, you know.
Even I have trouble reading it.
The doodle is of a trickster and, for some reason, I wrote the beginning of what I characterize at the bottom as ...a holy story. The best I know.
Here's how the story begins: And then the years blur into one another. I remember staying up all night, afire with inspiration, one Friday, typing, typing, typing, & when I finally ran out of inspiration realizing first that it was Saturday morning, next that I wanted to fall into bed and sleep for eighteen hours, and finally that I had no clean clothes [indecipherable]. So I could either sleep and, awakening on Sunday, put on my sweated clothes and take my stuff to the laundromat
I have no idea what that story was doing in this particular notebook or why I cut it off midway through. I won't go into detail here because I've narrated it elsewhere. But what happened was that on my way to the laundromat I ran into a young woman I knew who was sitting with her visiting father upon her stoop, both of them eating ice cream cones. I said hello, apologized for my unshaven and disheveled appearance, and explained why I looked (and smelled) so bad. Then I went on to the laundromat, cleaned my clothes, went home, and crashed.
I made an impression, though. The young lady's father went home and told her mother about this remarkable young man he'd met, leaving an indelible impression that never quite went away.
And the young lady? Reader, I married her.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, I'm serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. This is the 93rd of 108 images.
*
July 10, 2019
Rabbit Escapes!
.
Text: Rabbit Escapes. Alas, in the book, he does not. But perhaps that is only right and proper in Faerie.
'
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. This is number 92 out of a total of 108. I finally counted..
*
Text: Rabbit Escapes. Alas, in the book, he does not. But perhaps that is only right and proper in Faerie.
'
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. This is number 92 out of a total of 108. I finally counted..
*
July 9, 2019
The City Under the Stars -- Gardner Dozois' Last Book
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Tor.com has made the announcement, so now I can talk about it. The City Under the Stars, Gardner Dozois' last novel, will be published next summer.
What's the story behind this? Well... roughly a quarter century ago, Gardner and I wrote a novella titled "The City of God" and published it in Omni Online and then Asimov's Science Fiction. (Gardner recused himself and Sheila Williams made the decision to pick it up.) Here's how it began...
Which was a magical opening to one of the bleakest stories Gardner had ever written--and he had a reputation as a very bleak writer indeed. The protagonist, Hanson, suffers a great deal before entering the City of God and even more afterward. It was a very good story and one that, at the end, slammed the door on any sequels.
And yet... Over the decades the two of us often talked of turning "The City of God" into a novel. We planned to write two more novellas, "The City of Angels" and "The City of Man," telling one long, extended story.
One with a happy ending.
We were both extremely busy, though, on other projects. Time passed. Then, a year or so ago, the second novella came alive again and we started swapping it back and forth.
"The City of Angels" was half-finished when Gardner, who was Pennsylvania Hospital for congestive heart failure, caught a systemic infection. His son Christopher called to let me know that if Marianne and I wanted to see Gardner one last time, we should get there soon.
We said our goodbyes and, shortly thereafter, Gardner died.
There was no way I could finish that third novella by myself. But I knew how much Gardner had been looking forward to having another novel published. And then there was that ending...
I wanted the world to know that Gardner had written something with a happy ending.
It took enormous work to bring about that happy ending earlier than planned. But I managed it.
The City Under the Stars is a short novel, but a good one. Gardner was a brilliant writer and one of the finest stylists in all of science fiction.
It's a dark book but--have I mentioned this yet?--it ends well.
You can read the official announcement here.
And from the Image Book . . .
*
Tor.com has made the announcement, so now I can talk about it. The City Under the Stars, Gardner Dozois' last novel, will be published next summer.
What's the story behind this? Well... roughly a quarter century ago, Gardner and I wrote a novella titled "The City of God" and published it in Omni Online and then Asimov's Science Fiction. (Gardner recused himself and Sheila Williams made the decision to pick it up.) Here's how it began...
It was high summer in Orange, in York, in the Human Domain of Earth. There was commerce in the town, crops in the field, beasts in the byre, bandits in the roads, thants and chimeras in the hills, and God in His Heaven--which was fifteen miles away, due east.
Which was a magical opening to one of the bleakest stories Gardner had ever written--and he had a reputation as a very bleak writer indeed. The protagonist, Hanson, suffers a great deal before entering the City of God and even more afterward. It was a very good story and one that, at the end, slammed the door on any sequels.
And yet... Over the decades the two of us often talked of turning "The City of God" into a novel. We planned to write two more novellas, "The City of Angels" and "The City of Man," telling one long, extended story.
One with a happy ending.
We were both extremely busy, though, on other projects. Time passed. Then, a year or so ago, the second novella came alive again and we started swapping it back and forth.
"The City of Angels" was half-finished when Gardner, who was Pennsylvania Hospital for congestive heart failure, caught a systemic infection. His son Christopher called to let me know that if Marianne and I wanted to see Gardner one last time, we should get there soon.
We said our goodbyes and, shortly thereafter, Gardner died.
There was no way I could finish that third novella by myself. But I knew how much Gardner had been looking forward to having another novel published. And then there was that ending...
I wanted the world to know that Gardner had written something with a happy ending.
It took enormous work to bring about that happy ending earlier than planned. But I managed it.
The City Under the Stars is a short novel, but a good one. Gardner was a brilliant writer and one of the finest stylists in all of science fiction.
It's a dark book but--have I mentioned this yet?--it ends well.
You can read the official announcement here.
And from the Image Book . . .
*
July 8, 2019
Little Kingdom
.
Here's something extremely cool. Greer Gilman and Marianne Porter will be doing a reading of Greer's play Little Kingdom this Friday on the Terrace at the Boston Marriott Quincy. The hotel is, by a confluence of events, the same one where Readercon will be taking place. But this is not a Readercon event. It is an independent theatrical piece.
There will be no admission charge, and it should be noted that the location is contingent upon its being available. If it's not, an alternate locale will be found.
I'm really, really, really looking forward to this one. Having read the play, I can promise you that it's very Greer Gilman. 'Nuff said.
And that reminds me . . .
Here's my Readercon schedule. No reading, alas. I believe Readercon subscribes to the theory that has overtaken fandom that readings should be no longer than half an hour. I tried that a couple of times and it was just too painful. So Homie don't play that.
Autographs: Tananarive Due, Michael Swanwick
Sat 1:00 PM, Autograph Table
Food at the Corner of Fiction and Community
Andrea Martinez Corbin (mod), N.S. Dolkart, Greer Gilman, Michael Swanwick, Sabrina Vourvoulias
Sat 9:00 PM, Salon A
Food plays a central role in many cultures and accordingly takes center stage in the work of many speculative fiction writers. How does cuisine help define, or build, a community? How can food be used to communicate important information about a people to the reader? What are some particularly noteworthy examples of the way food can be used to set, or subvert, expectations?
And from the rapidly dwindling Image Book series . . .
Caption: Quickly! Pack for the journey! The journey is life. Who knows where you will wind up? In the meanwhile, you are traveling.
So much of my life has been like that.
I have seen many terrible things and lost many people dear to me during that journey. Life is serious business. It's not for wusses. There should be a sign posted by the womb-door reading: HEROES ONLY.
I was thinking of that observation when I wrote the Guardian of the Gate scene in The Iron Dragon's Mother.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. There aren't a lot left to go.
*
Here's something extremely cool. Greer Gilman and Marianne Porter will be doing a reading of Greer's play Little Kingdom this Friday on the Terrace at the Boston Marriott Quincy. The hotel is, by a confluence of events, the same one where Readercon will be taking place. But this is not a Readercon event. It is an independent theatrical piece.
There will be no admission charge, and it should be noted that the location is contingent upon its being available. If it's not, an alternate locale will be found.
I'm really, really, really looking forward to this one. Having read the play, I can promise you that it's very Greer Gilman. 'Nuff said.
And that reminds me . . .
Here's my Readercon schedule. No reading, alas. I believe Readercon subscribes to the theory that has overtaken fandom that readings should be no longer than half an hour. I tried that a couple of times and it was just too painful. So Homie don't play that.
Autographs: Tananarive Due, Michael Swanwick
Sat 1:00 PM, Autograph Table
Food at the Corner of Fiction and Community
Andrea Martinez Corbin (mod), N.S. Dolkart, Greer Gilman, Michael Swanwick, Sabrina Vourvoulias
Sat 9:00 PM, Salon A
Food plays a central role in many cultures and accordingly takes center stage in the work of many speculative fiction writers. How does cuisine help define, or build, a community? How can food be used to communicate important information about a people to the reader? What are some particularly noteworthy examples of the way food can be used to set, or subvert, expectations?
And from the rapidly dwindling Image Book series . . .
Caption: Quickly! Pack for the journey! The journey is life. Who knows where you will wind up? In the meanwhile, you are traveling.
So much of my life has been like that.
I have seen many terrible things and lost many people dear to me during that journey. Life is serious business. It's not for wusses. There should be a sign posted by the womb-door reading: HEROES ONLY.
I was thinking of that observation when I wrote the Guardian of the Gate scene in The Iron Dragon's Mother.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. There aren't a lot left to go.
*
July 7, 2019
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
.
If you've never worked in a bureaucracy (and if not, you haven't missed a thing), you won't get this joke. There is a government document (I used to know its Federal document number) which is a blank page. Or rather, a page blank except for the message, THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
A lot of government documents are regularly updated, see, with information added and information subtracted. The relevant pages are then sent to everyone who works with those documents. Pages are removed from the documents and other pages added. If the information replacing that on page 9 comes to two pages, the pages are marked 9.1 and 9.2, for example. If the information replacing that on pages 10 and 11 comes to only one page, the new Page 11 is an official blank page. That way, anyone using the document knows that a page hasn't gone missing and there are no relevant regulations being ignore.
Long explanation for a short payoff:
The second page reads THIS PAGE UNINTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
And the third page reads: THIS PAGE DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT.
So that's bureaucrat humor and now you know all you ever need to know about working in a bureaucracy.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. Having used up three images in one day, I've got something like a dozen left to go.
*
If you've never worked in a bureaucracy (and if not, you haven't missed a thing), you won't get this joke. There is a government document (I used to know its Federal document number) which is a blank page. Or rather, a page blank except for the message, THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
A lot of government documents are regularly updated, see, with information added and information subtracted. The relevant pages are then sent to everyone who works with those documents. Pages are removed from the documents and other pages added. If the information replacing that on page 9 comes to two pages, the pages are marked 9.1 and 9.2, for example. If the information replacing that on pages 10 and 11 comes to only one page, the new Page 11 is an official blank page. That way, anyone using the document knows that a page hasn't gone missing and there are no relevant regulations being ignore.
Long explanation for a short payoff:
The second page reads THIS PAGE UNINTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
And the third page reads: THIS PAGE DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT.
So that's bureaucrat humor and now you know all you ever need to know about working in a bureaucracy.
Above: For those who came in late, as a way of drawing attention to my newly-published novel, I've been serializing the Image Book I put together as a way of helping me to visualize Faerie and its inhabitants. Having used up three images in one day, I've got something like a dozen left to go.
*
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