Tricia Sullivan's Blog, page 15

the c word

This morning I broke down and stole some of fjm  's chocolate eggs out of Rhiannon's basket.   Broke my resolve of laying off the chocolate.  Saturdays and Sundays are university days.  Steve's working, and I'll fend off the kids while alternating between the books and the indoor bike.  I'll bribe myself with a movie while I'm on the bike--guarantees me the 90 minutes' worth of endorphins needed to keep me from going over to the Dark Side.

Today I've stacks of chemistry to do, but what's got me nervous is my very first foray into differentiation.

I ran screaming from all this when I was 15.  Two of my older siblings are super, super-smart at academic stuff.  Smart in a way that makes everyone else look a little bit weak.  My brother works in image processing doing things he's not allowed to talk about for reasons of national security (and which nobody could understand anyway if he did).  He's the math dude in our family.  I was in the honours stream for math, but it was hard and I couldn't really see the point of straining myself when I could be watching MTV instead, so I flaked out and dropped it.

That left me with a kind of awe for Calculus, the pinnacle of high-school math and the road not taken.  And now I'm going to be creeping towards the golden C in my first OU course.  It's ony a 100-level course so it will be pretty basic.  Still  Differentiation!  Ooh, it gives me chills.

keeping up apearances

I am doing this panel at the British Library next Friday 20 May.  This summer at the BL is going to be big in terms of science fiction.  'Out of this World' is a major exhibition to run throughout the summer.  Many cool events, and I'll be doing this one at the very beginning:

Out of this world?:  Why Science Fiction speaks to us all

Friday 20 May 18.30 -20.00

The British Library Conference Centre

Throughout history, people have asked ‘what if?’. We have always allowed our imaginations to create other worlds as expressions of our wildest dreams, hopes and fears, and so better to understand our own. ‘Science Fiction’ expresses this human need in potent ways, but so does the work of Swift, Lewis Carroll and George Orwell. The story and present state of our speculations are explored by Erik Davis, China Miéville, Adam Roberts and Tricia Sullivan. Chaired by Sam Leith.

Tickets £7.50 / £5  available at http://boxoffice.bl.uk, by calling 01937 546546 (9am-5pm Mon-Fri) or in person at The British Library.

This will make the third time this spring I've been off the farm and out in the world in an SF context!  Very exciting.  I'll also be the BSFA's guest at the AGM a week later.  For me, this is a social whirlwind. 

I need to cut out fairly soon after this is over to catch my train, but I'll be wandering the exhibition beforehand if anybody is going to be there and wants to say hi....

Women in 20th Century SF meme

Showing my ignorance here...

1 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818)
2 Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
3 Orlando, Virginia Woolf (1928)
4 Lest Ye Die, Cicely Hamilton (1928)
5 Swastika Night, Katherine Burdekin (1937)
6 Wrong Side of the Moon, Francis Leslie Ashton (1951) <- Not actually a woman...(Patrick Samphire says)
7 The Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Brackett (1953)
8 Pilgrimage: The Book of the People, Zenna Henderson (1961)
9 Memoirs of a Spacewoman, Naomi Mitchison (1962)
10 Witch World, Andre Norton (1963)
11 Sunburst, Phyllis Gotlieb (1964)
12 Jirel of Joiry, CL Moore (1969)
13 Heroes and Villains, Angela Carter (1969)
14 Ten Thousand Light Years From Home, James Tiptree Jr (1973)
15 The Dispossessed, Ursula K Le Guin (1974)
16 Walk to the End of the World, Suzy McKee Charnas (1974)
17 The Female Man, Joanna Russ (1975)
18 Missing Man, Katherine MacLean (1975)
19 Arslan, MJ Engh (1976)
20 Floating Worlds, Cecelia Holland (1976)
21 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm (1976)
22 Islands, Marta Randall (1976)
23 Dreamsnake, Vonda N McIntyre (1978)
24 False Dawn, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1978)
25 Shikasta [Canopus in Argos: Archives], Doris Lessing (1979)
26 Kindred, Octavia Butler (1979)
27 Benefits, Zoe Fairbairns (1979)
28 The Snow Queen, Joan D Vinge (1980)
29 The Silent City, Élisabeth Vonarburg (1981)
30 The Silver Metal Lover, Tanith Lee (1981)
31 The Many-Coloured Land [Saga of the Exiles], Julian May (1981)
32 Darkchild [Daughters of the Sunstone], Sydney J van Scyoc (1982)
33 The Crystal Singer, Anne McCaffrey (1982)
34 Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin (1984)
35 The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)
36 Jerusalem Fire, RM Meluch (1985)
37 Children of Anthi, Jay D Blakeney (1985)
38 The Dream Years, Lisa Goldstein (1985)
39 Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind, Sarah Lefanu & Jen Green (1985)
40 Queen of the States, Josephine Saxton (1986)
41 The Wave and the Flame [Lear's Daughters], Marjorie Bradley Kellogg (1986)
42 The Journal of Nicholas the American, Leigh Kennedy (1986)
43 A Door into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski (1986)
44 Angel at Apogee, SN Lewitt (1987)
45 In Conquest Born, CS Friedman (1987)
46 Pennterra, Judith Moffett (1987)
47 Kairos, Gwyneth Jones (1988)
48 Cyteen , CJ Cherryh (1988)
49 Unquenchable Fire, Rachel Pollack (1988)
50 The City, Not Long After, Pat Murphy (1988)
51 The Steerswoman [Steerswoman series], Rosemary Kirstein (1989)
52 The Third Eagle, RA MacAvoy (1989)
53 Grass, Sheri S Tepper (1989)
54 Heritage of Flight, Susan Shwartz (1989)
55 Falcon, Emma Bull (1989)
56 The Archivist, Gill Alderman (1989)
57 Winterlong [Winterlong trilogy], Elizabeth Hand (1990)
58 A Gift Upon the Shore, MK Wren (1990)
59 Red Spider, White Web, Misha (1990)
60 Polar City Blues, Katharine Kerr (1990)
61 Body of Glass (AKA He, She and It), Marge Piercy (1991)
62 Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler (1991)
63 Beggars in Spain [Sleepless trilogy], Nancy Kress (1991)
64 A Woman of the Iron People, Eleanor Arnason (1991)
65 Hermetech, Storm Constantine (1991)
66 China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F McHugh (1992)
67 Fools, Pat Cadigan (1992)
68 Correspondence, Sue Thomas (1992)
69 Lost Futures, Lisa Tuttle (1992)
70 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis (1992)
71 Ammonite, Nicola Griffith (1993)
72 The Holder of the World, Bharati Mukherjee (1993)
73 Queen City Jazz, Kathleen Ann Goonan (1994)
74 Happy Policeman, Patricia Anthony (1994)
75 Shadow Man, Melissa Scott (1995)
76 Legacies, Alison Sinclair (1995)
77 Primary Inversion [Skolian Saga], Catherine Asaro (1995)
78 Alien Influences, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (1995)
79 The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell (1996)
80 Memory [Vorkosigan series], Lois McMaster Bujold (1996)
81 Remnant Population, Elizabeth Moon (1996)
82 Looking for the Mahdi, N Lee Wood (1996)
83 An Exchange of Hostages [Jurisdiction series], Susan R Matthews (1997)
84 Fool’s War, Sarah Zettel (1997)
85 Black Wine, Candas Jane Dorsey (1997)
86 Halfway Human, Carolyn Ives Gilman (1998)
87 Vast, Linda Nagata (1998)
88 Hand of Prophecy, Severna Park (1998)
89 Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson (1998)
90 Dreaming in Smoke, Tricia Sullivan (1999)
91 Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle (2000)

One thing about the list.  With some of these writers I haven't read the specific work cited here, but something else, and sometimes more than one something.  Those writers include Nalo Hopkinson, Linda Nagata, Nicola Griffith, Patricia Anthony, Lois McMaster Bujold, Maureen F McHugh, Karen Joy Fowler, Gwyneth Jones, Sheri S Tepper, RA McAvoy, Julian May, James Tiptree, Jr, Doris Lessing, Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Andre Norton, Virginia Woolf.

I suspect I've done better with this list than I would have done with a general SF Masterworks list.  But I can't say I've read nearly as many of these authors as I'd like to have read.  The recent death of Joanna Russ reminds me that I've never read her, nor Marge Piercy.  I've never read Mary Gentle.  I could do with rectifying that.

All about me, me, me

I can’t really articulate the ways in which it was energizing to spend a day at Eastercon and then an evening at the Clarke, but it was definitely a charge.  Just seeing so many people whom I hadn’t seen in years and years was fabulous.  I loved meeting new people, too.  I met Patrick Ness and his publicist and his agent--she is lovely and apparently has read this blog.  That really made me think: oh, my.  Who else drops in here?  I tend to babble quite happily in my obscurity, confident that the blog gets very little traffic.  I hope I haven’t become too relaxed.  I don’t think I’m posting about my family’s toilet habits or anything.

Well, anyway.  It was good for me to get an airing.

Right now I’m gearing up to send the kids back to school on Tuesday.  They have been home far too much in April.  ‘Back to your cages!’ I’ve told them.  Tyrone had the grace to laugh.  I just really need to get things done.

After a horrible winter of feeling ick and watching my fitness fall off, I’m finally back in reasonable shape for running and stuff.  Not great shape, but I’m at a baseline I can deal with.  I’ve cut out a lot of the caffeine and chocolate that I was living on all winter, and I feel better for it.  Also virtuous.  Not that I’m particularly invested in feeling virtuous.

I’m doing 90 credits of entry-level math and science with the OU.  I guess I’m approaching the halfway-point of the courses, and there’s definitely a sense of wear-and-tear on me.  The work is not particularly difficult, but it takes a lot of time and organization.  Neither of which are strong points in my life right now.  And while I’ve been adjusting to the workload I’ve had nearly two months off serious writing, which is too long.

The other day I was looking through my files and I found an awful lot of projects that I’d started but hadn’t finished.  I think there’s something important about finishing.  I need to do more of it.  Naturally, finishing is exponentially more difficult than starting.  But I’m going to make it a point for the next while to finish things that I’ve begun.

The first thing will be a short story I’ve promised for an anthology.  And after that, we’ll see. 

Also: I bought a Kindle that we can ill-afford but I feel that I need it.  I need to find a way to start reading again.  I haven’t really read in nine years.  I’m hoping the Kindle will help me do that.

My SFF Song of the Week is on Philip Palmer's Debatable Spaces

Actually it's been up since Wednesday.  Go see what it is?

Zoom!

That went fast, last night.

I need to write a real post but I am pathetically tired after less than 3 hours' sleep and the kids are about to descend on me for yet another 4-day holiday.

So I'll just say that I was in a lucky position last night.  I was sitting next to Patrick Ness, who is a major YA writer.  He has been particularly kind to my work and I was happy.  I was on the list myself but with no expectation of winning, so I could enjoy the spotlight without anxiety.  I expected the award to go to ianmcdonald, whose work I have admired for a fair many years before he was so famous as now.  But I felt from the beginning that if anybody could challenge Ian, it was Lauren Beukes.  And talking to her at Eastercon, what can I say?  She wowed me, absolutely knocked me out.  So it was a delight to see her win the Clarke Award.  My feeling is that Lauren is only beginning to do wonderful things in the world.

I'll post a bit more about the evening when I have more energy.  For now, just want to say that I'm feeling most optimistic about SF.

This is all uncharacteristically exciting, for my life

Eastercon was fun!  Even for one day!  I met so many amazing people.  It all went by far too quickly.  Huge congratulations to aliettedb  and ianmcdonald  for their BSFA wins!  I loved hanging with rcloenen_ruiz , too and I finally got to meet mevennen!  And maeve_the_red !  And la_marquise_de_ !  You LJ peeps are all so cool.  I wish I could get out more.  

Thank you, fjm  and rcloenen_ruiz  who were in the audience at my reading.  I hope the reason there was nobody else there for me was that people didn't know about it, rather than that I am universally hated.  I'm going to go with 'didn't know about it' out of generosity to myself and others.  I was invited at the last minute to be on 'Women Invisible' but by that point I was a bit peeved with my invisibility.  So I guess you could imagine me there, only invisible :-)

I met lots of other people and managed to space Gareth Jones when he introduced himself.  I told you, I'm terrible with names.  Figured it out about ten minutes after we walked away from each other.  Sorry, Gareth, and thanks for that review, which I greatly appreciate.

I have returned to masses of waiting work.  Have a maths tutorial tonight for which I am NOT prepared.  Evidently I did a lot of stuff before Easter break but going over it now it's all gibberish, so it hasn't set in my memory.  In a few more weeks we start differential equations so I don't know wtf I'm going to do.  Also chemistry.  The low-level OU stuff isn't difficult, but it's a lot of work and my rhythm's all messed up with the kids being home from school for over two weeks.  And the damned royal weeding on Friday--I do not need that!  I need my kids to be in prison school. 

I've got the clobber for the Clarke thanks to the suggestion of brownnicky to try Asos.  They have little catwalk videos for all the dresses.  Looking at the models without much hope, I glumly ordered three.  Startlingly, two of them looked good (the third made me look like a giant bat) but of the two, one was super-short and rather alarmingly see-through. I opted for the (slightly) more dignified alternative.  The whole process took maybe an hour and I never had to leave my house!  And it was cheap.  Asos FTW!  Many thanks to my friends who helped me get over my shopping phobia.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy.  Leaving here noon-ish.  Hoping to see fastfwd  before hand.  We have a wonderful babysitter coming and she can stay late, so we are doing to try to hit some of the afterparty.  Everyone I saw at Easteron said 'See you at the Clarkes,' and I know there were a lot of people I didn't see who will be there, so I guess it's going to be pretty crowded!  I can honestly say I will not mind not-winning at all, because it will be so exciting to be going out at night and seeing people and being part of the scene.  And I'm sure Lightborn has enjoyed its time on the shortlist very much. 

ETA: I am probably forgetting loads of people from LJ but I just have to add that suzannemcleod  gave us these supercool sparkly Spellcrackers.com pencils.  Another time I will post up the drawings that Lauren Beukes did to entertain my four-year-old so I could talk to Tom Hunter.  Lauren is terrifically fierce and formidable, of course, but also incredibly kind.  One of the most charismatic people I've met in a long while.

Eastercon

I'll be at Eastercon on Saturday in the daytime.  I was going to stay over weekend, but could not manage to get myself on the programme so I decided to keep it to the one day since I live close to Birmingham. 

Thanks to the kind intervention of suzannemcleod I've been offered a last-minute reading at noon on Saturday.  I will be reading with Marion Pitman and I'm not sure which of us is going first, but if you are free and would like to stop by you would be very welcome.  The rest of the time I will be roaming, hoping to meet up with as many people as possible. 

Please say hello if you are there.  And if I am confused about who you are, I ask forgiveness in advance.  I am half in a daze most of the time and have a terrible time matching names and faces and so forth--especially when most of my contact with people in recent years has been online.  Please bear with me!

If you live in North America I'll ... oops, offer now closed

I am pretty sure most people on my friends list know about this, but just in case: here's a link to Vera Nazarian's appeal for people to buy Norilana books to help her move her elderly mother, four animals, and what few possessions they can fit in their car across the US due to losing their home.  I don't know all the ins and outs of the story of what happened with the bank, but I do know that Vera and her mother have been struggling for years against a system that is uncaring and, from what I can gather about this case, unfair. 

Money is scarce for most of us and there are a million places it is needed.  I will just say that if you have a little bit to spend, Vera is a member of our community as an author and as a publisher who supports writers by giving a home to excellent work that doesn't quite fit the increasingly-strangulated model of major house publishing.  She is also the sole carer of an elderly person. 

For myself, I don't buy a lot of books because I haven't time to read (that's another post--but really it is getting silly, me and wanting to read things but not managing it).  Also, the transatlantic shipping is appalling. 

So here's my idea.  If you live in North America and would like something fromthe Norilana catalog, for yourself or as a gift to someone you know, please leave a comment and I will BUY YOU A NORILANA BOOK.

First come, first served--I'll go up to what I can afford and then I'll have to draw a line, so have a look and let me know.  If nobody comments, I will be very sad.  It won't cost you a penny.

For starters, you could ask for this book:



And then Vera will get the income not just as publisher, but as author.

Have a look at the catalog and let me know?

ETA: Thank you all for coming by.  THIS OFFER IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO LIMITED FUNDS.  Special thanks to everyone who signal-boosted or bought titles.  If you asked me for a book, please PM me your details & the name of the book. 

If you live in North America I'll buy you a Norilana book

I am pretty sure most people on my friends list know about this, but just in case: here's a link to Vera Nazarian's appeal for people to buy Norilana books to help her move her elderly mother, four animals, and what few possessions they can fit in their car across the US due to losing their home.  I don't know all the ins and outs of the story of what happened with the bank, but I do know that Vera and her mother have been struggling for years against a system that is uncaring and, from what I can gather about this case, unfair. 

Money is scarce for most of us and there are a million places it is needed.  I will just say that if you have a little bit to spend, Vera is a member of our community as an author and as a publisher who supports writers by giving a home to excellent work that doesn't quite fit the increasingly-strangulated model of major house publishing.  She is also the sole carer of an elderly person. 

For myself, I don't buy a lot of books because I haven't time to read (that's another post--but really it is getting silly, me and wanting to read things but not managing it).  Also, the transatlantic shipping is appalling. 

So here's my idea.  If you live in North America and would like something from the Norilana catalog, for yourself or as a gift to someone you know, please leave a comment and I will BUY YOU A NORILANA BOOK.

First come, first served--I'll go up to what I can afford and then I'll have to draw a line, so have a look and let me know.  If nobody comments, I will be very sad.  It won't cost you a penny.

For starters, you could ask for this book:



And then Vera will get the income not just as publisher, but as author.

Let me know?