Wen Spencer's Blog, page 8

Hope I get to keep this one...

The fire alarm screamed Oilcan awake. It died moments later, a wooden sword through its heart, but its death only muted the sound slightly as all the fire alarms in the condo were going off.

"It's a fire alarm!" He shouted to forestall the killing of his other alarms. "Something is burning!"

Guest of Honor -- Confluence

I'll be Guest of Honor at Confluence, in Pittsburgh, on July 23-25th, 2010 at Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh Airport.

http://www.parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Pre-Reg Deadline is July 2, 2010 and Room Block expires on July 2nd too. Now is the time to act!

Learn something new every day

So I'm typing along and hit this sentence.


He poured her a tumbler full of ouzo.


And I wonder "am I using right word?" So I use the WORD look up function and read the definitions for the word. Number Five amazes me on many levels.

5. pigeon that does somersaults in flight.

A domestic pigeon that can perform backward somersaults in flight.

WTF? Pigeon's can tumble backwards in flights? How do you train a pigeon to do that? Obviously enough have been trained over time that its become an o...

Something that probably will make the final draft

Even when Oilcan was young, he always knew his tiny cousin would eventually find something large enough to express her soul. He'd assumed that it take the form of a sixty foot tall robot that she could ride around in, smashing cars underfoot like Godzilla. It was somewhat of a relief that she settled on a collection of heavily armed elves. She was better off with flesh and blood that loved her than a thousand tons of quasi-intelligent metal. Still, it was a little bit startling to open th...

Another snippet that didn't fit in

Loathe.

That was the word Tinker was looking for. She typed the English into her datapad and tilted it slightly so Stormsong could see the screen. The tall female sekasha-caste elf with spiky short, blue-dyed hair was standing at Tinker's right shoulder, acting as a shield. Stormsong glanced downward without tilting her head and breathed out a nearly inaudible scoff, a smile twinkling in her blue eyes but otherwise not touching her stern face. The warrior gave the slightest shake of her he...

Playing around

Wrote this but can't figure out how to fit it in...


Oilcan

The unofficial, unintended theme of the party was "Are you still alive?"

Moser was hosting it at his place down on Liberty Avenue in the Strip District, since he had the biggest place. Ala Flashdance, he had a tiny winter-proof studio overlooking a big shadowy warehouse that worked great as a dance floor. They planned music and dancing, once they got the electric all run. Oilcan used it as an excuse not to add to the conversations going ...

Marcon GoH

I'm getting ready to head out to Columbus for Marcon.

http://marcon.org/

I'm Guest of Honor this weekend!

Other Guest of Honors include: BGilly Tacket, Seanan McGuire, C.O.P.S, Twilight Creations, RICHARD HATCH!, Casey Daniels, Shane Moore, and Donnie Dunagan

wen_spencer @ 2010-03-20T13:51:00

My husband showed me this commercial the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

I can't watch it without bursting into tears. I have to admit to be stunned and amazed at the empathy that the creators managed to implant into such a short segment.

We have the everyman: strong hands, bare feet, clad in blue jeans, middle age but happy with life in his quiet family home. He could be ourselves, our father, our husband, our brother. We identify with him. He sits in a house that ...

Workshop for Young Writers (ages 14-19)

The ALPHA SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers (ages 14 - 19) will be held at the University of Pittsburgh's Greensburg Campus July 14 - 23, 2010 in conjunction with Pittsburgh's science fiction convention, Confluence, July 23 - 25th. Deadline for application and story submission: March 1, 2010. The ten-day residency workshop features author guests Holly Black, Tamora Pierce, Timothy Zahn and Mike Arnzen.
http://alpha.spellcaster.org
alpha@spellcaster.org

Upcoming Appearances

This year I'll be Guest of Honor to three conventions. Because of time and money and conflict of schedules, they will be the only three conventions I'll most likely be making.

Marcon
May 28-30, 2010
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.marcon.org

Confluence 2010, July 23-25, 2010
Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh Airport
Pittsburgh, PA
http://www.parsec-sff.org

Con*Stellation 2010, September 17-19, 2010
Huntsville, AL
http://www.con-stellation.org