Liz Williams's Blog, page 12

Worldsoul and other

The latest Guardian article is up here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/apr/14/glastonbury-meditation

In other news, Worldsoul 2 is coming along at a current 10K. I'm currently trying to tie up plot threads from the previous novel. Couple of short stories on the boil as well.

I should be finishing the 100 Stories today - a huge thank you for anyone who has supported this campaign. A progress report on where the actual project is at will be with you soon.

Eastercon

Well, my congrats to the concom, because this convention seems to have gone very smoothly, notwithstanding some difficulties with the hotel itself. Everyone I spoke to had had a great time and were very complimentary. We thoroughly enjoyed it - we didn't stay at the Radisson, but in west London where a friend runs a pub on Ladbroke Grove, just round the corner from the top of Portobello Road. So T and I got back to the Thai Garden, which is an old haunt, and also sampled some of Portobello's Spanish and Mexican places, too. Last night, on our hostess' suggestion, we took her out to a marvellous establishment called the Churchill Arms, in Kensington, which also incorporates a Thai restaurant, and more plants than I've ever seen outside a greenhouse.

I managed to get to two panels - F's excellent interview with Tricia Sullivan, and an equally good interview with George R R Martin, whom I caught up with this morning. He deserves his current success - he's a great guy. Too many people to mention but it was lovely to see everyone. I have come away, as usual, with a lot of ideas and food for thought, sparked off by conversations. And next year we'll be up in Bradford, via a concom in whom I have the utmost confidence.

Revenge of the night dog

Me: But you cannot eat your dinner if you won't come down the stairs.
Elder cat: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Me: There are no monsters. Look. Under the chair? Monster free.
Elder cat: There might be a DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG!
Me: As in, the same dog you slept on the bed with all last night? When you kept purring? And did your laundry?
Elder cat: Those are night dogs. This is different. And...there's that Thing.
Me: Henry. The kitten. Whom you also slept on the bed with. Whose nose you kiss when you meet him in the kitchen?
Elder cat: That's different.
Me: So are you going to come downstairs?
Elder cat: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

...and so on....

Days of judgment

I'm actually rather in favour of a really first class literary row from time to time and the SF community in the UK hasn't had such an interesting one for years (I'm referring to Chris Priest's remarks about the Clarke Awards). While feeling that this whole process has been rather hard on both Charlie Stross and the jurors, not to mention the silent but traduced Mark Billingham, I nevertheless haven't read such entertaining remarks in various comments threads for some time. But with heated debate across the blogosphere, articles in the national press, a commendably dignified if necessary reticence on the part of the current jurors, and letters flying off to the papers of the 'Dear Sirs, I was shocked/sickened/revolted....etc' variety, it's not a bad lead up to one of the genre's major awards.

I haven't read any of this year's shortlist, nor am I on the jury (I was last year, and if all goes to plan, will be again for next year's list), so it would be disingenuous of me to comment on the books themselves. Nor am I too happy with ad hominem attacks, but over the last couple of hours I have noticed a couple of comments about an 'obvious agenda' on the part of the Clarke jury. If you want it from the (talking) horse's mouth, this isn't how the process works. Doubtless you do get a bias according to the makeup of a particular combination of people, as it's a consensual process, but I think it's verging on an unecessary degree of paranoia to start discussing 'obvious' ulterior motives.

Signal boosting

I've been extremely grateful to everyone who has supported me in my various crowdfunding enterprises over the last 2 years, and it's good to be able to pay some of that support both forwards and back:

Laura Anne Gilman has been writing in the "Cosa Nostradamus" universe for the last few years and is now planning two new stories centering on the character of Danny Hendrickson: ex-cop, current PI, and halfbreed. The two stories featuring Danny, "Miles to Go" and "Promises to Keep," are open to crowdfunding here on Kickstarter, so do consider popping over and subscribing. The Cosa Nostradamus universe is great fun and you won't regret it:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/980297055/miles-to-go-promises-to-keep-a-cosa-nostradamus-pr?ref=live

And while you're over there, Judith Tarr has a very interesting project on the go as well:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/834883724/living-in-threes

Writing

Writing has got to be fitted in around everything else at the moment, as per usual, but it's getting done. I've just finished a rather belated subscription story, featuring Isis Dane, and am halfway through another Mondhile tale. The next instalment of the Chen prequel is due, and the last 2 weeks of the 100 stories are coming up. After that...Worldsoul 2 and Morningstar.

Eastercon

We've been dithering over whether Eastercon is possible this year and have finally pulled out the collective Witchcraft Ltd finger and organised it. We'll be staying in the Portobello Road rather than the hotel, so will be back and forth, but we will be running the usual dealer's room stall if the usual suspects would like to put books on it/help out/amuse me etc. Because we've left it late to register, I am not registered for any programming, but we'll see what happens when we get there. Hope to see many of you at Heathrow!

REPOST: Spring Sale

I am having another Spring Sale. Here is what's in it this year:

STORIES

1 x NEW Chen story, in hard copy. I've been working with Papaveria Press over the last 6 months, to have these properly bound this time (marbled end papers etc), so you will get a proper little book. They make great gifts.

£20 / $30 each

TUCKERIZATIONS

All in Worldsoul 2:

£10 / $15

ARTWORK - mounted prints, limited to 20 copies.

1 x cartoon (by me) of the main characters in the Chen books and some extras - this is quite a lot of people!

£20 / $30

1 x cartoon of Chen, Zhu Irzh and the badger.

£10 / $15

Unlimited:

BIRTHDAY PRINTS: these feature Chen, Zhu Irxh and the badger, although you can request people if you really want to. I'll add names and dates, as specified.

DIVINATION

1 year of Tarot readings (one per quarter)

£30/$50

1 year of Green Man readings (one per quarter)

£30/$50

1 year of Lenormand Card readings (one per quarter. The Lenormand deck is a late 19th C divination deck)

£30/$50

TALISMAN BAGS

15 x magical talisman bags, made by me, containing hand-blended incense, hand blended oil, hand made candle, and protection spell, plus a rowan berry charm.

£8/$13

Email me at: mevennen@hotmail.com for paypal details (this is the paypal adress, too). Postage on anything hard-copy will be about £2.50 - $4.00. There will be a short lead time of a couple of weeks with some of these as the short story bindings, in particular, take time. But not too long.

I'm currently in the middle of the last round of tarot readings so if anyone is waiting, they should be with you by the end of the week. Do let me know if you've ordered anything and haven't received it yet.

Vernal Equinox

The week has been greatly enlivened by the presence of La Marquise, who very kindly put up with being terrorized by dogs (dragged into swamp, sat on, bounced at), cats (woken up, 'offering' left on bedroom floor in middle of night), this house (sudden failure of internet, insufficient breakfast materials) and Glastonbury itself (enough said). However, we did manage to visit Wells market, have several civilised meals, see the glorious Chalice Well - particularly lovely right now - and invent a new game: Knife/Dog/Trousers, which is rather like Paper/Scissors/Stone and is based on Welsh compensatory law. Also in the works: 'Lesbian Trapeze Artists of Avalon,' a new novel which will deal with Pythagoras' renegade daughter. You might have to wait a while for it, though. And she has met Henry, who Approves, as he does of any human prepared to be a minion.

La M has now returned and I have been doing endless laundry, shopping for food, sorting out accounts and renovating the household altar - the last bit has been the fun bit.

SPRING SALE!

I am having another Spring Sale. Here is what's in it this year:

STORIES

1 x NEW Chen story, in hard copy. I've been working with Papaveria Press over the last 6 months, to have these properly bound this time (marbled end papers etc), so you will get a proper little book. They make great gifts.

£20 / $30 each

TUCKERIZATIONS

All in Worldsoul 2:

£10 / $15

ARTWORK - mounted prints, limited to 20 copies.

1 x cartoon (by me) of the main characters in the Chen books and some extras - this is quite a lot of people!

£20 / $30

1 x cartoon of Chen, Zhu Irzh and the badger.

£10 / $15

Unlimited:

BIRTHDAY PRINTS: these feature Chen, Zhu Irxh and the badger, although you can request people if you really want to. I'll add names and dates, as specified.

DIVINATION

1 year of Tarot readings (one per quarter)

£30/$50

1 year of Green Man readings (one per quarter)

£30/$50

1 year of Lenormand Card readings (one per quarter. The Lenormand deck is a late 19th C divination deck)

£30/$50

TALISMAN BAGS

15 x magical talisman bags, made by me, containing hand-blended incense, hand blended oil, hand made candle, and protection spell, plus a rowan berry charm.

£8/$13

Email me at: mevennen@hotmail.com for paypal details (this is the paypal adress, too). Postage on anything hard-copy will be about £2.50 - $4.00. There will be a short lead time of a couple of weeks with some of these as the short story bindings, in particular, take time. But not too long.

I'm currently in the middle of the last round of tarot readings so if anyone is waiting, they should be with you by the end of the week. Do let me know if you've ordered anything and haven't received it yet.