Lisa Mason's Blog, page 12

“Turn Turn Turn” by the Byrds and Adventures at the Burbank Airport Lisa Mason #writer #novels #stories

“Turn! Turn! Turn!”, or “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)”, is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s and covered by the L.A. band, The Byrds. (I’ll provide the Youtube link at the end of this story.)

I love the Byrds’ sound, their precise harmonies and unique guitar work. Other songs I love by the Byrds include a cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man”, written by Bob Dylan, and the enigmatic “Eight Miles High” written by Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, and David Crosby. Musically influenced by Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, “Eight Miles High” was influential in developing the musical styles of psychedelic rock, raga rock, and psychedelic pop.

Tom, as a young teen, met The Byrds at the Burbank Airport in Los Angeles. There they were, with their guitar cases emblazoned with the band’s name. He went up to them and told them he loved their music. Also, at various times at the Burbank Airport (he flew out of there to go to San Francisco, where he attended art school, and back to L.A., where his family lived), Tom met Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon (that’s who he met). A lot of people keep their private jets at Burbank.

Burbank is a pretty little airport, much more peaceful and friendly than LAX. If you don’t have to catch an international flight, I recommend flying into L.A. via Burbank. I did just that in 1996 to attend the Science Fiction World Convention in Anaheim.

I reserved a car from the rental agency at the airport. When I went to pick up the car keys and sign papers, the cheerful customer rep told me, “A car just came in, is gassed up and ready to go. Would you like an upgrade? I’ll give it to you for free.”

I said “Sure!” and walked out to pick up the car. It was a dark scarlet Cadillac Seville with a tan leather interior. The driver’s seat was as comfortable as a luxurious living room couch.

I’d never driven a Caddie before—or since. It was like driving a tank. I had no fear of the treacherous L.A. freeway traffic. When I drove into Hollywood, I got plenty of double-takes and stares. Sharon Stone was big then, appearing in Basic Instinct. Her image was on all the gigantic billboards lining Sunset Boulevard. Maybe at a distance, with my fair hair, wearing sunglasses, I resembled Stone?

I parked in the garage of a hotel on Sunset Boulevard. I’d rented a room there for a night and walked down the boulevard to my film rights agent’s office. We had just sold a very nice, high-five option to Universal Pictures of my OMNI story, “Tomorrow’s Child” and Joel wanted to know what else I had.

That evening, I had a wonderful Japanese dinner with Teresa Phalen Rosen and her husband, Russ. A full moon illuminated the Hollywood Hills. It was a magical day.

In the morning, I drove down to Anaheim to the WorldCon and dropped the Caddie off at the rental agency at the hotel. My “free upgrade” turned out to be not so free, after all. The Caddie was a gas-guzzler and set me back a couple hundred bucks. Never mind. The ride was worth it.

The convention was THE best convention I’ve ever attended. Saw lots of writer-friends and editors there. I almost met Ray Bradbury (a near-miss, but that’s another story). I caught the hotel’s free shuttle bus to LAX and from there flew back to San Francisco.

Here’s “Turn! Turn! Turn”” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX6SuX0Z6AQ

Join me on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206 and help me after the Attack. I’ve posted delightful new stories and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie reviews, original healthy recipes and health tips, and more!

Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

New Review as of March, 2020! Summer of Love, A Philip K Dick Award Finalist, A San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Nominated for the Tiptree Award! In Print in Seven Countries, also an Ebook in Eighteen Markets Worldwide Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAaut

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I’m so thrilled this book is back in print! And as timely as ever! Bast Books has reported that the print book and the ebook sold in the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany last month.
What readers say:
5.0 out of 5 stars I dig this book!
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2020
Summer of Love is a beautiful work of literature encapsulated within the science-fiction genre. It invites you on an emotionally jostling roller coaster ride.
Lisa Mason is a prolific author who weaves a time-travel story that delves into many underlying themes at a micro and macro level during the famous “Summer of Love” pandemic in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, in 1967.
The author also descends underneath the epidermis of the street’s kaleidoscopic and “groovy” ambiance to reveal what is and what is not through each character’s eyes — and whether or not we can rely on hope to wake us up the next morning.
I felt the characters (even the secondary ones), the moments, the sights, the sounds and the smells of the time. As if I myself was time traveling. I found myself not only reading but tasting each word; sometimes going back to read a sentence, a paragraph or a page again.
This is a novel I will not hesitate to recommend. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548106119
“This book was so true to life that I felt like I was there. I recommend it to anyone.”
“More than a great science-fiction, a great novel as well.”
“My favourite SF book of all time, beautiful, cynical and completely involving….Unmissable!”
2018 review of SUMMER OF LOVE at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2018/02/summer-of-love-by-lisa-mason.html
”Ever since the Save Betty project completed there has been degradation in the archives. The Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, still love that acronym) has determined that San Francisco in 1967 is a hot dim spot. They commission the Summer of Love project. Twenty-one year old Chiron Cat’s Eye in Draco will t-port from 2467 to the summer of love where he is to find the Axis, a teenage girl from the Midwest will have important descendants, and protect her through the summer. This Susan Stein takes an alias, so Chiron has only probabilities to know if he finds the right girl.
In 1967 Susan receives a postcard from Nance, aka Penny Lane, who is in San Francisco. Her parents find the postcard, tear it up and burn it. She runs away that night and takes the name Starbright. She arrives hoping to see Penny Lane, but instead meets up with Stan the Man, manager of the Double Boogie band. She is invited to live with them in a house that is a constant party. She loves it, but a week later Stan hooks up with someone new. She meets Ruby again and Ruby takes her in. That first night Chiron saw an eye symbol by Ruby’s shop, decided to hang around there and Ruby let him sleep on the couch. He’s not sure that Starbright is the Axis, but there is a high probability. 
Without being preachy major themes in the book include the environment, population control, women’s rights, and addiction. These were put into the setting of real life 1967. Street names referenced in the book exist and the Grateful Dead did have a concert there on August 22. I enjoyed the story without any nostalgic feeling, other than references to old Star Trek episodes and other SF works.
I really enjoyed the book.It was excellent and the first chapter or two set up encounters throughout the rest of the book. I loved all three of the main characters, Starbright, Chiron and Ruby.” By John Loyd
Book Description: The year is 1967 and something new is sweeping across America: good vibes, bad vibes, psychedelic music, psychedelic drugs, anti-war protests, racial tension, free love, bikers, dropouts, flower children. An age of innocence, a time of danger. The Summer of Love.
San Francisco is the Summer of Love, where runaway flower children flock to join the hip elite and squares cruise the streets to view the human zoo.
Lost in these strange and wondrous days, teenager Susan Bell, alias Starbright, has run away from the straight suburbs of Cleveland to find her troubled best friend. Her path will cross with Chiron Cat’s Eye in Draco, a strange and beautiful young man who has journeyed farther than she could ever imagine.
With the help of Ruby A. Maverick, a wise and feisty half-black, half-white hip entrepreneur, Susan and Chi discover a love that spans five centuries. But can they save the world from demons threatening to destroy all space and time?
A harrowing coming of age. A friendship ending in tragedy. A terrifying far future. A love spanning five centuries. And a gritty portrait of a unique time in American history.
The cover, hand-drawn by Tom Robinson, is styled to look like a 1960s psychedelic poster.
What the professional book reviewers say:
“Captures the moment perfectly and offers a tantalizing glimpse of its wonderful and terrible consequences.” TheSan Francisco Chronicle
“A fine novel packed with vivid detail, colorful characters, and genuine insight.” TheWashington Post Book World
“Remarkable. . . .the intellect on display within these psychedelically packaged pages is clear-sighted, witty, and wise.” Locus Magazine
“Mason has an astonishing gift. Her chief characters almost walk off the page. And the story is as significant as anyone could wish. This book will surely be on the prize ballots.” Analog
“A priority purchase.” Library Journal
5 stars From the Readers
Calling All Fans
Amazon Verified Purchase
‘Summer of Love is an important American literary contribution that may very well have a strong and viable fan base. Where are you? Join us!
This novel is loads of fun to read. The majority of the characters are hippies from the 1960s who meet a stranger from the future who’s looking to save his world. This fellow, Chiron, needs to find a troubled adolescent teen named Susan (a.k.a. Starbright) for a very compelling reason. The book has a great deal to offer: swift action, lovable characters, spiritual insight, and well-chosen primary documents such as essays, poems, and news articles which round out the reader’s understanding of the worldview of the novel.
I think Summer of Love has excellent potential for a wider audience. I hope it continues to enjoy a healthy amount of sales in the used books market on this site. I wish even more for it to be in wider circulation. Some books talk about the sixties. This novel IS the sixties, thanks to the spirit and scholarship of its author. And, as one reader aptly put it, ‘the sci-fi stuff is just plain off the hook.’ Get a copy. Most people who have read it seem to respect it and enjoy it every bit as much as I do.”
New Reader Review! “Just checked to see if this book was on Kindle. It has been many years since I’ve read it but I remember it as one ofmy very favorite books. Time to go back and re-read it!”
New Reader Review
Kent Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Story
10 February 2015 – Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
Summer of Love, A Time Travel is a fine story. Lisa Mason takes three interesting characters, a time traveller from a future 500 years hence, a 14-year-old midwestern runaway flower child, and hip shopkeeper and places them all in the fascinating place and time that was San Francisco’s Summer of Love, 1967.
Mason has certainly done her homework. You can almost smell the pot and patchouli, see the painted faces and hear the sounds of Janis and the Grateful Dead as Chi, Starbright and Ruby fight to hold on to what really matters at a time when everything seems possible and even the smallest things can have huge consequences.
The time travel plot is nicely (if a bit predictably) done and the glimpses from Chi’s future world are fascinating, frightening and ultimately hopeful. Starbright is 100 percent convincing as a confused, loyal, idealistic, moody teenager who really could hold the key to what is to come. And Ruby Maverick, the shopkeeper who reluctantly gives the two young strangers shelter and strength in a strange and wondrous time is strong and smart and the kind of friend you’d want holding your hand or watching your back when the trip starts going strange.
Summer of Love, A Time Travel is not a rose-colored look backwards. It’s is a kaleidoscopic look at a time of both darkness and light, of confusion and clarity. It’s scary and beautiful, a strange trip where maybe all you need is a little love and some flowers in your hair.
New Reader Review
Eos
5.0 out of 5 starsTime travel done right
20 August 2017 – Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
This is a longtime favorite novel. Mason’s time travel tale is fascinating as both a tale of the future and of the past. I am delighted it is now available as a Kindle edition as my paperback copy is long past its prime.
New Reader Review
paula ferre
5.0 out of 5 stars… the last 20 years – it is such a great story.
26 September 2016
Verified Purchase
I’ve read this book 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years – it is such a great story.
Find the PRINT BOOK in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, BarnesandNoble, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Whether you’re a longtime reader or new to the book, I hope you enjoy this classic.
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206. I’m offering brand-new and previously published delightful stories, book excerpts, writing tips, movie reviews, and more!
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, beautiful covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

Updated for 2020.3! The Garden of Abracadabra Is In Print In Seven Countries “Very Entertaining Urban Fantasy” Also an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #urbanfantasy #modernfantasy #contemporaryfantasy #magiccollege #magi

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At her mother’s urgent deathbed plea, Abby Teller enrolls at the Berkeley College of Magical Arts and Crafts to learn Real Magic. To support herself through school, she signs on as the superintendent of the Garden of Abracadabra, a mysterious, magical apartment building on campus.
She discovers that her tenants are witches, shapeshifters, vampires, and wizards and that each apartment is a fairyland or hell.
On her first day in Berkeley, she stumbles upon a supernatural multiple murder scene. One of the victims is a man she picked up hitchhiking the day before.
Torn between three men—Daniel Stern, her ex-fiance who wants her back, Jack Kovac, an enigmatic FBI agent, and Prince Lastor, a seductive supernatural entity who lives in the penthouse and may be a suspect—Abby will question what she really wants and needs from a life partner.
Compelled into a dangerous murder investigation, Abby will discover the first secrets of an ancient and ongoing war between Humanity and Demonic Realms, uncover mysteries of her own troubled past, and learn that the lessons of Real Magic may spell the difference between her own life or death.
The Garden of Abracadabra is an ebook on BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords.
On Kindle in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and India.
The Garden of Abracadabra is in Print in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
“So refreshing. . . .This is Stephanie Plum in the world of Harry Potter.”
Goodreads: “I loved the writing style and am hungry for more!”
Amazon.com: “Fun and enjoyable urban fantasy”
This is a very entertaining novel—sort of a down-to-earth Harry Potter with a modern adult woman in the lead. Even as Abby has to deal with mundane concerns like college and running the apartment complex she works at, she is surrounded by supernatural elements and mysteries that she is more than capable of taking on. Although this book is just the first in a series, it ties up the first “episode” while still leaving some story threads for upcoming books. I’m looking forward to finding out more.”
The Garden of Abracadabra was, in part, inspired by the Garden of Allah, a townhouse and apartment complex in Hollywood, California. New Yorker writers, like Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who went to L.A. to write screenplays, and actors like the Marx Brothers and Errol Flynn lived it up there and created quite a scandalous reputation for the place. “Big Yellow Taxi,” the song by Joni Mitchell was inspired when the city razed the place to the ground and built a strip mall over the ruins. “They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot,” the line goes.
So there you have it, my friends! I’m delighted to announce The Garden of Abracadabra is in print and an ebook worldwide.
Join other patrons on my Patreon page and help me after the Attack at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206. I’ve got delightful new and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie recommendations, and more for patrons!
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

ODDITIES: 22 Stories by Lisa Mason Table of Stories OMNI Asimov’s F&SF Full Spectrum 5 Immortal Unicorn Impossible Tales and More! Amazing Stories Review Links #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #magazinestories #anthologystories #publishedstories #sciencefiction #histo

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ODDITIES
22 Stories
Lisa Mason
Table of Stories
Part I
Yesterday
“Every Mystery Unexplained
Ed. Janet Berliner and David Copperfield
Tales of the Impossible (HarperPrism 1996)
“Daughter of the Tao”
Ed. Peter S. Beagle and Janet Berliner
Immortal Unicorn (HarperPrism 1996)
“Ghiordes Knot”
Bast Books, 2020
“The Sixty-third Anniversary of Hysteria”
Ed. Jennifer Hershey, Tom Dupree, and Janna Silverstein
Full Spectrum 5 (Bantam Spectra 1995)
Part II
Tomorrow
“Tomorrow is a Lovely Day”
Ed. Gordon Van Gelder
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (November-December 2015)
“Illyria, My Love”
Bast Books 2015
“Infringement”
Bast Books, 2020
“The Bicycle Whisperer”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2018)
“Arachne”
Ed. Ellen Datlow
Omni Magazine (December 1987)
“The Hanged Man”
Ed. Katharine Kerr
The Shimmering Door: Sorcerers and Shamans, Witches and Warlocks, Enchanters and Spell-Casters, Magicians, and Mages (HarperPrism 1996)
“Anything for You”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2016)
“She Loves You”
Bast Books, 2020
“Taiga”
Ed. John Benson
Not One of Us (Issue #61 April 2019)
“Teardrop”
Ed. Gordon Van Gelder
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2015)
“Bess”
Ed. Jonathan Laden and Michele-lee Barasso
Daily Science Fiction (May, 2019)
“Tomorrow’s Child”
Ed. Ellen Datlow
Omni Magazine (December 1989)
Part III
Fantasy
“Hummers”
Ed. Gardner Dozois
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (February 1991)
Reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual Collection
Ed. Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling
(St. Martin’s Press 1992)
“Starfish”
Bast Books 2020
“Riddle”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2017)
“Aurelia”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January-February 2018)
“Mysteries of Ohio”
Bast Books, 2020
“Crazy Chimera Lady”
Bast Books 2020
Preorder ODDITIES: 22 Stories as a Kindle book (publication date November 17. 2020) at US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL2Q954
Order ODDITIES: 22 Stories in print NOW in the US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GLSSNPS
Here’s the Amazing Stories Online review, Part I, of ODDITIES: 22 Stories at https://amazingstories.com/2020/09/new-book-review-lisa-masons-oddities-part-1/Here’s Part II of the Amazing Stories Online review of my new collection ODDITIES: 22 Stories. https://amazingstories.com/2020/10/lisa-masons-oddities-review-part-ii/
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206.
Leave a tip in the tip jar at PayPal to http://paypal.me/lisamasonthewriter.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

Characters and Themes in ODDITIES: 22 Stories the Second Collection by Lisa Mason #LisaMason #publishedstories #magazinestories #anthologystories #sciencefiction #fantasy #historicalfantasy #SFWApro #SFWAauthor

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As I read through a final pass of ODDITIES: 22 Stories, I found recurrent themes and point-of-view characters as protagonists, though I portray each story as a unique universe. Over the span of my career, I’ve tended not to repeat myself.
As Steve Fahnestalk in his Amazing Stories review said: “I find myself constantly surprised by the breadth of styles, places, and characters in this collection. ….sometimes you want to be surprised; and that’s what Ms. Mason delivers in this collection (which also spans pretty much the whole timeline of her short story publications). Like Ray Bradbury’s short stories, these never fail to surprise you with little sparkles and occasional rockets going off and spreading happy fireworks in your brain!”
Let me see:
Three, no, four supernatural entities
Five POV artists! (I wonder why I’m attracted to that character type.) But only one writer. And only one stage magician.
Two psychiatrists.
Two lawyers, corrupt in different ways.
Two very different teenage girls.
Five medical stories.
Two very different ghost stories.
Two very different time stories.
Two telespace stories and one artificial intelligence story.
Tarot magic and ancient Egyptian magic.
Four alien stories, approaching the theme from different perspectives.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle Preorder worldwide until November 17, 2020, including in the US, in theUK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in theNetherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback now available in the US, in theUK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan.
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206.
Leave a tip to the tip jar at PayPal to http://paypal.me/lisamasonthewriter.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

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Amazing Stories Online Review of ODDITIES: 22 Stories, Parts II and III by Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #publishedstories #magazinestories #authologystories #sciencefiction #fantasy #historicalfantasy

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Here’s Part II of Steve Fahnestalk’s review of my new collection ODDITIES: 22 Stories. He compared me to Ray Bradbury! Thanks to Gordon van Gelder, C.C. Finlay, and Ellen Datlow for your support as story editors over the years to help me make this happen. https://amazingstories.com/2020/10/lisa-masons-oddities-review-part-ii/
“Welcome back to the second half of my review of Lisa Mason’s Oddities, her new short story collection. Figure 1 was the “artsy” photograph of Lisa used in OMNI (December 1987), for the first publication of her first short story, “Arachne,” later to become a full novel. The accompanying illustration, I’m happy to say, was by Swiss artist H.R. Giger. Not a bad deal for your first story! Anyway, moving on from Part I, Yesterday, to the second and third parts of Oddities, I find myself constantly surprised by the breadth of styles, places and characters in this collection. Some writers have a—not necessarily monotonous—consistent style and tone, let us say, in their writing. Sometimes that’s what you want, but sometimes you want to be surprised; and that’s what Ms. Mason delivers in this collection (which also spans pretty much the whole timeline of her short story publications). Like Ray Bradbury’s short stories, these never fail to surprise you (well, me, anyway) with little sparkles and occasional rockets going off and spreading happy fireworks in your brain!
I don’t want to make this too long, but I have to give you at least capsule reviews of the remaining 18 stories, so let’s get to it, shall we?
PART II: TOMORROW
“Tomorrow is a Lovely Day,” published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (November-December 2015). Benjamin lives in a tomorrow that could be our tomorrow: acid rain, earthquakes, volcanoes, wars. He’s got a job as a security guard at a facility where a possibly mad scientist has invented a machine that tells the future. But time’s awry, and Benjamin lives the same day over and over, because time will stop tomorrow. Or will it? Can the machine answer a question that hasn’t been asked yet?
“Illyria, My Love,” published by Bast Books in 2015, is another time story…. Maya lives in Illyria, another planet after people fled Earth, and she lives with Yuri, who’s in the militia. War comes to Illyria, but Maya just wants to live in her little cottage and raise produce. But time seems to be flowing the wrong way.
“Infringement,” from Bast Books, 2020, is about the multiverse and writing. One of the things some authors have to worry about is someone claiming plagiarism or copyright infringement, though that usually only happens when a writer is extremely successful. But what do you do when the person suing you is yourself? And what if they’re right?
“The Bicycle Whisperer,” from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2018), is about the Lone Rangerette, finder of lost bicycles. What kind of person is needed when the bicycles themselves have AI? (Especially Shimano Stella.) A heart-warming little tale.
“Arachne,” Lisa’s first story, in Omni magazine (December 1987), is sort of more up-to-date today—what with telepresence and social distancing—than maybe it was in 1987. It’s kind of nice to find a 33-year-old techno story that hasn’t dated! I won’t spoil the surprise for you.
“The Hanged Man” is from the anthology The Shimmering Door: Sorcerers and Shamans, Witches and Warlocks, Enchanters and Spell-Casters, Magicians, and Mages (HarperPrism 1996)… whew! What a title! Snap works in telespace; he’s a programmer who’s never quite caught onto the corporate “how-to,” and although he’s a great programmer, he’s always broke. (I can relate; the best thing about working for a corporation or big government entity is the people around you. The corporate lifestyle sucks for someone like me.) When a mysterious “gridlock gypsy” offers to tune up his grid connection Snap is dubious, but she introduces him to the Tarot. An interesting meld of cyberpunk/technology and mysticism. A fun, well-written tale.
“Anything for You,” another from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2016), is a bit familiar, like something you might have seen on the original Twilight Zone, with Rod Serling intoning “Submitted for your consideration….” Willem lives for his interactive TV, where he can choose at any time from a menu; choices for the main character of the show; choices that will determine how her life goes. For Willem, Virginia Isley, from the show Dr. Virginia Isley, is more real even than his own wife. He doesn’t see how these choices affect his own life.
Continuing the Beatles theme in titles (what? You didn’t notice Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow?) is the story “She Loves You” from Bast Books, 2020. Dr. Martina Hawke, psychologist, is called in (in Berkeley, California) to help with Jacob “Jack” Strathmore, who owns a pair of stores on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, offering vintage books and vinyl records. He’s suffering a mental fugue of some sort. I can’t say too much about this story without giving stuff away that’s crucial to the plot. (But I will say that seeing some of the place names took me back to the Bay Area in the late 1960s.) This is partially about music. And earworms. Well done!
“Taiga” is from a magazine called Not One of Us (Issue #61 April 2019), and is ostensibly about a bunch of Russian cosmonauts hijacked by an alien to an icy alien planet. Something goes wrong and the crew is killed except for Katarina. As the alien seeks to help and communicate with her, she recalls a Soviet invasion of Ukraine when she was a child, leading to her life in Lithuania. Sometimes communication requires both inwardness and outwardness.
“Teardrop” comes from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2015). The editor, C.C. Finlay, obviously likes Lisa’s writing as I do! NanaNini is a “loke,” a local, an inhabitant of planet XYK-834. The lokes are classified as “Grade 12 primitives” who live on the mountains of XYK-834, which has two atmospheres: a dense “lowsky” and a lesser “highsky” which allows them to breathe; in fact, they can “surf” the lowsky on teardrop-shaped boards called “olos.” The lokes are not human; rather they are humanoid, but there’s a lot of interaction there. You’ll have to read this one to get it. Humans are again not necessarily the good guys here, but when they see The Sparkle, they can learn.
“Bess” was published online, at Daily Science Fiction (May, 2019). Bess is about a person captured by aliens (shades of “Taiga”), and kept pregnant by her captors. Just why they do it is the crux of the story. I didn’t get it early, which surprised me; I usually do.
“Tomorrow’s Child” is the last in the SF section of this book; it’s from Omni magazine (December 1989). Turner’s child Angela has always been a wild child. With more money and political clout than he knows what to do with, he’s let her do as she pleases and always bailed her out of trouble; but when she crashes her car, there’s little he can do to save what’s left of her. Except that there’s this stuff from what sounds like (to me) the Roswell “alien crash site,” and it includes something very much like a bandage. The story grows organically from that. It might be a feature film from Universal soon.
Part III: FANTASY
“Hummers,” from Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (February 1991) (reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual Collection, (St. Martin’s Press 1992), resonated with me, because we have hummingbirds (mostly Anna’s) that visit us daily. Many people don’t know about how many birds there are in San Francisco (including the wild parrot flocks on Telegraph Hill). Laurel is dying from cancer; she’s memorized Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s “stages” and is fascinated by the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Her caretaker, Jerry, is no stranger to death himself; his partner is dying of AIDS. One day Jerry gives Laurel a hummingbird feeder (almost exactly like one I have), and she becomes enchanted by the magical little birds that come to it. Does the soul survive after death? Can the little hummers be psychopomps?
“Starfish,” from Bast Books (2020), reminded me a bit of a bad British horror film I was watching, where a werewolf’s cut-off arm was rampaging around a hotel. Hey, if you cut off a werewolf’s arm and it regrows on the werewolf, does the arm grow a new werewolf? Alice and Jonathan are not the ideal couple; in fact, she’s never been in an ideal couple. All the men in her life eventually break up with her. But she keeps busy with her life at the fertility clinic—she’s helping other women conceive. But something goes wrong. Oh, boy, does something go wrong. You might be surprised at what does.
“Riddle” is another story from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2017). Edwin Ecco has been a famous artist in San Francisco; his painting adorns the front of Vesuvio, the club he frequents most often. Edwin’s not been too successful lately, but when he rescues a sphinx from an alley, his life takes a surprising turn. Good one!
“Aurelia” is the last one published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January-February 2018) in this collection. Robert is a lawyer, and Aurelia hires him to stop someone from encroaching on her property. This property turns out to be a mansion on a rich bit of land in Sausalito, north of San Francisco, worth a bundle. Robert ends up marrying Aurelia. And he learns a few surprising things about butterflies, too.
“Mysteries of Ohio” like the last story, was published by Bast Books, in 2020. Elizabeth Kovac recalls when she was a young woman in Russell Township, Ohio. She’s not sure where she is now, or who these women are who are caretaking her, but she has one clear memory of a day when she “stole” a horse from the stables where she was holidaying, and went for a ride. She’s going to find out what happened that day. Nice and creepy, this one.
“Crazy Chimera Lady,” also from Bast Books (2020), is about adopting animals. Not your usual animals, either. These are chimeras, and from the description, anyone who likes cats will love chimeras… if they can afford to build an aerie for them to exercise in. A fun, and cute, ending to a terrific collection!
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle Preorder worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback right now in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, worldwide links, beautiful covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, round-tables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, and more!

Amazing Stories Online Review, Part I, of ODDITIES: 22 Stories, Part I Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #publishedstories #magazinestories #authologystories #sciencefiction #fantasy #historicalfantasy

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Here are excerpts from Steve Fahnestalk’s new review, Part I, of ODDITIES: 22 Stories at https://amazingstories.com/2020/09/new-book-review-lisa-masons-oddities-part-1/ Steve is an author, editor, and critic:
“For my 300th column for Amazing Stories®, I’ve chosen to review a new book by San Francisco’s Lisa Mason. It’s a collection of 22 previously published stories from such varied publishers as The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Omni, and several anthologies…..So I’ll be splitting it into at least two parts, possibly three. …..
She’s the author of several books, many set in this city, and a large number of short stories, twenty-two of which appear in this new volume. The ebook version is available in print now in the U.S.; and on Kindle on November 17. Lisa is a very versatile writer, and this is a great collection. You may have read the occasional story by her in one of the above places, but I doubt you’ve read them all. The book’s divided into three sections, titled “Part I Yesterday” and (guess what?) “Part II Tomorrow”; and “Part III Fantasy.”
Part I comprises only four stories, but they’re goodies. The first, “Every Mystery Unexplained,” takes place in San Francisco in 1895. Danny Flint is the son of a traveling stage magician; he and his father and “Uncle Brady,” a freed slave, move from engagement to engagement in a huge covered wagon drawn by a team of four horses. Danny’s father has an illusion where he fences with “Death,” who is actually Danny behind a mirror, which is very popular with audiences, and Mr. Flint tells the audience he can communicate with the dead. (The mirror illusion is called “Pepper’s Ghost,” and can be seen in an episode of The Mentalist, as well as being used instead of CGI in the movie Home Alone.) Danny is disillusioned (sorry) with the life of a traveling magician’s assistant, and feels he is responsible for the death of his mother earlier. After a performance of the duel with Death, a mysterious, beautiful woman calling herself Zena Troubetzskoy asks Mr. Flint to communicate with her husband. Stage illusionists know that mentalism—that version practiced in the 19th century, at least—is a scam, and he refuses, but he’s broke and she has gold. Lisa weaves these disparate threads into a very engaging tapestry that will have you guessing till the last minute.
”Daughter of the Tao” is about Sing Lin, a mooie jai—a household slave girl bought from another family. Sing Lin works for the Cook in Tangrenbu, a 10-block area in what would eventually be called Chinatown in San Francisco. It’s either the 19th century or early 20th, some time before the famous 1906 earthquake. One day, when sent to buy shrimp for the Master’s dinner, Sing Lin meets Kwai Yin, a mooie jai who’s two years older than she. At this time, the Chinese are forbidden to bring their families to California, so Sing Lin and Kwai Yin must disguise themselves as boys to do their shopping (the Powers That Be at that time were afraid of what eventually happened anyway, that a lot of Asians would fill the state, along with other People of Colour including Indigenous, Hispanic, Black, and so on. What fools we mortals be, as Shakespeare said!).
When she’s with Kwai Yin, Sing Lin somehow sees magical creatures (there are four main ones: dragon, unicorn, phoenix and turtle); she learns that Kwai Yin is a Daughter of the Tao. Alas, there is only one end for a mooie jai that grows up, and that is to become a daughter of joy. (The joy is for the men who pay a procurer for a short time with the Daughters; there is no joy for them.) A bittersweet tale of a time gone by.
”Ghiordes Knot” begins in 220 BCE, in the time of Darius the King of Persia. We learn of the artistry of a man named Latif, who feels he is blessed by Ahura-Mazda, and has visions that he incorporates into the rugs he weaves (a non-manly art, but his own). In a short hop, we are in the current year (2020, remember? It’s gonna be one of those we want to forget about). Gabriella was an artist, nearly 30, whose gay life in San Francisco’s art colony was cut short when she succumbed to the blandishments of Geoff, a financial wizard of some kind. After they were married, he whisked her across the bay (to somewhere in the North) where she can only see the city itself dimly through the windows of their model home. Weaving the strands of this story, from 220 BCE to today, Lisa makes twin pictures: one of a woman held captive by an abusive husband; the other an artist who fails to please an abusive king.
I’m not sure how to characterize “The Sixty-third Anniversary of Hysteria.” On the surface, it’s about a Surrealist painter named Nora, who fled Europe in 1941 with a playwright named “B.B.” for Mexico. Arriving in Mexico City, the two became friends with people like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—the whole surrealist crowd in Mexico at that time—and a woman named Valencia. Now, my mother was a painter and a sculptor; she had studied with (not as a pupil of his) one of Australia’s premier artists, Russell Drysdale, so you can believe I know a little about art. This story makes it clear that Lisa Mason is also conversant with art; her descriptions of not only artworks and their process, but also the making of egg tempera and its uses show that art is something Lisa knows about and cares about.
According to the story’s afterword, it’s meant to parallel, or perhaps just echo, the story of two of her favorite Surrealist artists, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo—the Nora and Valencia of this story. They were both independent women bucking the male-dominated—in spite of Kahlo—world of Surrealist art at that time. The story itself, perhaps echoing the year Carrington spent in an asylum, dips into surrealism off and on…..”
So there you have it, my friends. I’m awaiting Parts II and III of Steve’s review!
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle Preorder worldwide, including in the US, in theUK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in theNetherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback right now in the US, in theUK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan.

ODDITIES: 22 Stories by Lisa Mason Table of Stories OMNI Asimov’s F&SF Full Spectrum 5 Immortal Unicorn Impossible Tales and More! #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #magazinestories #anthologystories #publishedstories #sciencefiction #historicalstories #fantasystories

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ODDITIES
22 Stories
Lisa Mason
Table of Stories
Part I
Yesterday
“Every Mystery Unexplained
Ed. Janet Berliner and David Copperfield
Tales of the Impossible (HarperPrism 1996)
“Daughter of the Tao”
Ed. Peter S. Beagle and Janet Berliner
Immortal Unicorn (HarperPrism 1996)
“Ghiordes Knot”
Bast Books, 2020
“The Sixty-third Anniversary of Hysteria”
Ed. Jennifer Hershey, Tom Dupree, and Janna Silverstein
Full Spectrum 5 (Bantam Spectra 1995)
Part II
Tomorrow
“Tomorrow is a Lovely Day”
Ed. Gordon Van Gelder
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (November-December 2015)
“Illyria, My Love”
Bast Books 2015
“Infringement”
Bast Books, 2020
“The Bicycle Whisperer”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2018)
“Arachne”
Ed. Ellen Datlow
Omni Magazine (December 1987)
“The Hanged Man”
Ed. Katharine Kerr
The Shimmering Door: Sorcerers and Shamans, Witches and Warlocks, Enchanters and Spell-Casters, Magicians, and Mages (HarperPrism 1996)
“Anything for You”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2016)
“She Loves You”
Bast Books, 2020
“Taiga”
Ed. John Benson
Not One of Us (Issue #61 April 2019)
“Teardrop”
Ed. Gordon Van Gelder
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May-June 2015)
“Bess”
Ed. Jonathan Laden and Michele-lee Barasso
Daily Science Fiction (May, 2019)
“Tomorrow’s Child”
Ed. Ellen Datlow
Omni Magazine (December 1989)
Part III
Fantasy
“Hummers”
Ed. Gardner Dozois
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (February 1991)
Reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual Collection
Ed. Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling
(St. Martin’s Press 1992)
“Starfish”
Bast Books 2020
“Riddle”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September-October 2017)
“Aurelia”
Ed. C. C. Finlay
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January-February 2018)
“Mysteries of Ohio”
Bast Books, 2020
“Crazy Chimera Lady”
Bast Books 2020
Preorder ODDITIES: 22 Stories as a Kindle book (publication date November 17. 2020) at US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL2Q954
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Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

Tenets of the Grandmother Principle Summer of Love The Gilded Age Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #SummerofLove #TheGildedAge #StrangeLadies7Stories #publishedbooks #publishedstories #sciencefiction

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Anticipating the new film by Christopher Nolan, “Tenet”?
Try the Tenets of the Grandmother Principle in Summer of Love and The Gilded Age.
I renamed the traditional “Grandfather Principle” as “Grandmother”. The principle works with either grandparent. Why did I do it?
As a feminist statement. And as homage to my beloved maternal grandmother, Mary.
In Nolan’s film, Tenet is the name of the somewhat shadowy organization in the future managing time travel projects to the past.
Forthwith, here are the Tenets developed by MY shadowy organization in the future managing time travel projects to the past
Tenets of the Grandmother Principle
[Developed for tachyportation projects approved by
the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications]
Tenet One:  You cannot kill any of your lineal ancestors prior to his or her historical death.
Tenet Two:  You cannot prevent the death of any of your lineal ancestors.
Tenet Three:  You cannot affect any person in the past, including aiding, abetting, coercing, deceiving, deterring, killing, or saving him or her (except as authorized by the project directors).
Tenet Four:  You cannot affect the world in the past.
Tenet Five:  You cannot reveal your identity as a time traveler to any person in the past, including yourself.
Tenet Six:  You cannot reveal the future of any person in the past, including yourself.
Tenet Seven:  You cannot apply modern technologies to past events or people, except when the result conforms to the Archives and, in that case, you cannot leave evidence of modern technologies in the past.
The CTL Peril:  You are capable of dying in the past, including your personal past. If this occurs, the project is transformed from an Open Time Loop (OTL) to a Closed Time Loop (CTL).
You cannot escape a CTL.
So there you have it, my friends.
Summer of Love is In Print at https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Love-Travel-Lisa-Mason/dp/1548106119/
Summer of Love is on US Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OIBGLC
The Gilded Age is on US Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QUIWDQ
The Gilded Age in Print at https://www.amazon.com/Gilded-Age-Time-Travel/dp/1975853172/
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle Preorder worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback on November 17, 2020 in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Review of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in The Hollywood Reporter It’s a Time Travel! Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #SummerofLove #TheGildedAge #StrangeLadies7Stories #publishedbooks #publishedstories #sciencefiction

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Christopher Nolan’s new film, Tenet, is a time-travel thriller! I didn’t know that. The advance notices described it as a “spy thriller”.
A critic from The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film in the latest issue, says it most resembles Inception, which we liked very much. “Tenet” is a palindrome, the name of an organization in the future. There is much talk about time travel paradoxes. I hope Nolan and his writers read Summer of Love and The Gilded Age. I spend time (and space) in those books carefully laying out the paradoxes.
I love palindromes. My car license plate is a palindrome. The name of the protagonist in my story “Triad” (published first in Universe 2, edited by Robert Silverberg [Bantam], reprinted in Strange Ladies: 7 Stories [Bast Books]) who is an androgyne capable of becoming either male or female, is a palindrome.
The THR critic stated that she viewed the movie twice, and she still can’t exactly tell what the plot is. That tends to happen in time travel stories. Apparently agents of Tenet travel to the past to retrieve artifacts from the future that have been carelessly left there (I’m paraphrasing from the THR review) to avoid an apocalypse in the future.
Right off, that violates Tenet Seven of the Grandmother Principle (in Summer ofLove and The Gilded Age): “You cannot apply modern technologies to past events or people, except when the result conforms to the Archives, and, in that case, you cannot leave evidence of modern technologies in the past.”
I’m curious to see how Nolan deals with that! But we’ll have to wait until the film is released on DVD. The theatrical release is in limited areas, not ours.
So there you have it, my friends.
Summer of Love is In Print at https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Love-Travel-Lisa-Mason/dp/1548106119/
Summer of Love is on US Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OIBGLC
The Gilded Age is on US Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QUIWDQ
The Gilded Age in Print at https://www.amazon.com/Gilded-Age-Time-Travel/dp/1975853172/
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is in print at https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Ladies-Stories-Lisa-Mason/dp/1981104380/
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is on US Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DNMBSFS
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!