Ellen Datlow's Blog, page 36

Philip Pullman on saving the Oxfordshire libraries

Leave the libraries alone. You don't understand their value

photos from Florida January 10-18

Here are the photos from my trip down to Florida where I overlapped with my sister and brother in law for a few days.
On the way home from the airport we stopped at the VA cemetery to see my dad's grave.

http://tinyurl.com/4m8mh8v

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Sophie

Rick Lieder house and cat sat for me while I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago. He just sent me a gorgeous photo of Sophie he took while herel

A very satisfying day

Last night I sent out the summary of the year. Today I finished going over the copy edit of Blood and Other Cravings (although I await responses from there contributors--you know who you are) so I can mail it to my in-house editor tomorrow or Saturday). I filled out all my 1099s --except for one person for whom I need their official address (you know who you are).

So now I can clean out the rest of the 2010 books I'm not going to save and start logging in 2011 titles. I was going to watch movies tonight in celebration but think I'll just wait till my regular Friday night.

I didn't feel inclined to go out into the snow today except to go as far as the supermarket. I'm soooo glad I don't have to go out to work.

Con Ed has been doing something very noisy on and off since yesterday evening and when they do I get little brownouts --which make me very nervous. I'm afraid they're going to royally screw up the electricity...now there's this huge dark green ugly truck I've never seen outside my window. This is NOT a good sign. Paranoid, me?

I think I'll finish editing my photos from Florida and The Museum of Natural History tonight. Butterflies :-)

Oh good. Awful truck drove away.

Finally....

I emailed in my summary of the year in horror 2010 about an hour ago. I have a couple of people vetting it in case I missed something major but I'm pretty happy with it. Adieu 2010, wilkommen 2011.

I'm now going over the copy edit of Blood and Other Cravings and contacting contributors when I need to. Due back to my editor Tuesday so I have to get it out Monday.

And I've got to do my 1099s (only 12 thank the gods) and get them mailed out by Friday...so no lingering here.

But I feel this great weight off me for now. Sorry I've been so boring lately. I have more photos to load (my trip to Florida and my trip to the Museum of Natural History this past Sunday and perhaps a photo of my Hugo award and maybe I'll even take new cat photos).

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Three --Table of Contents

The TOC is done and the contributors have all been contacted. I was given 140,000 words of fiction this year as opposed to 125,000 words in the past.

I'm still cleaning up my summary of the year but knew that the authors are dying to announce their inclusion so:

At the Riding School by Cody Goodfellow
Mr. Pigsny by Reggie Oliver
City of the Dog by John Langan
Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls by Brian Hodge
Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
When the Zombies Win by Karina Sumner-Smith
-30-by Laird Barron
Fallen Boys by Mark Morris
Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert
The Fear by Richard Harland
Till the Morning Comes by Stephen Graham Jones
Shomer by Glen Hirshberg
Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside by Christopher Fowler
The Obscure Bird by Nicholas Royle
Transfiguration by Richard Christian Matheson
The Days of Flaming Motorcycles by Catherynne M. Valente
The Folding Man Joe R. Lansdale
Just Another Desert Night With Blood by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Black and White Sky by Tanith Lee
At Night When the Demons Come by Ray Cluley
The Revel by John Langan

KGB photos from January 19, 2011

Gregory Frost and Linda D. Addison read at KGB

While I'm busy with my deadline--some pre-pub reviews of Teeth

Still in deadline hell but to keep all of you happy (or at least occupied ;-) )here are three blogger reviews of Terri and my forthcoming (in April) teenage vampire anthology Teeth:

Teen Reads Too, Karissa's Reading Review, and best of all
Late Into the Night

movies

Yesterday, my mom and I went to see TRUE GRIT. Young girl hires corrupt and drunken US Marshall Reuben Cogburn to catch her father's murderer and bring him to justice. We both loved it. I only vaguely remember the original (I remember John Wayne and that's about it) so had nothing to compare to. Thought Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Hailee Steinfeld all great. My only quibble was that the narration at the end made mash of the age of LaBoeuf - the events happened 25 years before and according to the narrator he would have been over 55--Matt Damon was about 25-30 tops as he was played. I really despise that kind of sloppiness in movies--all it would have need was a one word change in the narration.

Last night my mom and I watched KICK-ASS on DVD (the second of the three I brought down with me) and we both enjoyed that a lot. Teenage boy decides what New York needs (and it never ever looks like NYC except from above) a superhero and so he recreates himself. Trouble ensues.
I knew nothing about the movie in advance except that there's a girl in it and that it was supposed to be very violent. I warned my mom. No problem. I thought Nicolas Cage the best he's been in years (low-key characterization for him). Lovely early scenes with him and his daughter Mindy. Chloë Moretz was fantastic and so now I am compelled to check out the Americanized LET ME IN. Silly but a lot of fun.

A cold day in Florida & some movie watching

Worked all day yesterday so didn't experience the weather. But today we all went to lunch at the cafe in the clubhouse then my sister, bro-in-law, and I went walking some scrub area in Delray Beach which was pretty empty of people and animals (that we could see--although we did spot some very interesting spiders --all the same species--kind of square shaped-when I get home I'll post photos) and then went to Wakodahatchee Wetlands where we saw lots of birds including Rosette Spoonbills, lots of egrets,ibis, herons nesting, a big turtle and one hell of a big gator. And it was cold enough out to wear the winter coat I brought with me from NY. Turns out Florida is the only state where it did not snow the other day (including Hawaii)

Last night I re-watched Miami Blues, the movie based on Charles Willeford's great novel with gorgeous young Alec Baldwin as sociopath, Jennifer Jason Leigh marvelously sweet/southern/innocent as his girlfriend, and Fred Ward as cop with false teeth Hoke Moseley. I loved it as much this time as I did when I first saw it. Syncronistically, my sister and brother in law were watching It's Complicated--with Alec Baldwin, 22 years older. I re-watched the second half of that with them and found it funny yet very sad.

Had a lovely dinner with Adam-Troy Castro and his charming wife Judy.