Kyell Gold's Blog, page 46

Coming This Week!

So much happening! I will have a recap of RMFC. I will have a post about “Winter Games.” And I will have a guest blog! I’m very excited about this one. I’m swapping with Deborah Ross of the Book View Cafe blog, who will be writing about her experiences editing queer anthologies. Over on her blog (I will link when it goes up), I will write about the importance of writing from the heart, especially for gay people. Deborah’s post is a chance for us to see some of the queer F/SF world outside furry, so keep an eye out for it.

RMFC was fun–”Green Fairy” sold out, which was awesome. “Winter Games” is going to the publisher this week. And my next con is WorldCon in Chicago, where I will be on four panels, two furry and two not. So things are heating up!

The Dzzk Knrrscht Rzhschses

I know I’m late to seeing this movie–just saw it–and I’m sure this point has been made before, but this is my first big question, pretty spoiler-free:

At any point in the course of creating the incredibly detailed Evil Plan ™ which spanned months and probably years and involved the mobilization of hundreds of men and millions of dollars in equipment and research, did anyone, anyone at all, stand up and say: “Hey…you know those parts of the plan where we have some guy shouting moderately important instructions at huge crowds of people through various amplifying devices, at a distance, and so on? Should we maybe have someone do that who isn’t talking through a voice distortion mask?”

E-Book Update

Green Fairy is also up now on the NOOK store as well as on iTunes (I can’t get the link because I don’t have iTunes on this machine). I actually like the ePub version slightly better than the Kindle version, only because I was able to get the formatting to work better in that one. But it’s the same text, same lovely Rukis illustrations, all that’s included.

Thanks to all who’ve already picked it up. Yesterday when I just typed “Green Fairy” into the Kindle search, my book didn’t make it into the top ten. Today it’s fifth. And unlike most of my other books, there are some competitors when it comes to that title.

If you enjoyed the book, even if you didn’t buy it from Amazon or BN or iTunes, it’d be really awesome if you wrote up a little review in one of those places and/or on Goodreads, if you’re there. Reviews are partly how Amazon, at least, ranks books, and it’s something you can do to help. That doesn’t just apply to my books–several FurPlanet books are also on Amazon, and the more you let people know that you like them, the better they look to the site and the better overall for furry authors.

The evolution of Neanderthals

In my last post, I compared anti-gay-marriage conservatives to Neanderthals, and while this is an emotionally satisfying comparison, it’s not a particularly helpful one in terms of creating dialogue. It’s also not completely accurate. Neanderthals had no choice, no way to join the flow of a river that had passed them by. Conservatives have a choice.

They can look at the montages of happy couples celebrating unions. They can look at the statistics of stable marriages, of equally good homes for children, of stronger communities. They can look at the testimony of other people of faith–of all faiths–who believe that marriage of two people of any gender is consistent with the teachings of their faith.

They can ask themselves in their hearts how they would feel if a law prevented them from marrying the person they love, if they are of a different race or religion, if they are too young or too old or from a different country or state, if they are from a different class. And then they can ask themselves in their hearts: what are they really fighting for? Not against, but for? Is it love? Or is it hate?

For the last time…

(That’s optimism. I know this won’t be the last time.)

In response to people getting worked up over the Chick-Fil-A thing, using rhetoric like “Christians in this country are being treated like Jews in Nazi Germany,” some relevant points:

* You are completely free to express your disapproval of the lifestyle I have chosen to live, and the fact that I am petitioning our government to recognize that lifestyle.

* I am completely free to express my disapproval of your disapproval.

* When a company donates lots of money to groups that are trying to get me to live my life in a way I don’t want to, I am free to express my disapproval of that company in many ways, including telling other people about them, taking my business elsewhere, and asking other people to take their business elsewhere too.

* Most importantly, me living my life in a way you disapprove of IS NOT RESTRICTING YOUR RIGHTS IN ANY WAY. Can I be more clear about that? Your rights as an American do not extend to having other people live the way you feel is right. Thomas Jefferson did not write, “that among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and telling other people what to do.” (In fact, that last one was a deliberate omission seeing as how it was kind of the whole point of the Declaration of Independence, you know?)

In a larger sense, the fact that a fast-food chain has become a referendum on social policy is kind of laughable. Amazon announced that Jeff Bezos is donating $2.5 million to support same-sex marriage in Washington state. Microsoft and Starbucks and Google have come out publicly in support of same-sex marriage. None of those announcements caused a hundredth of the stir that Chick-Fil-A did (admittedly, the Jim Henson Company’s action and CFA’s ham-handed handling of it helped keep it in the spotlight). CFA is one of the few corporate entities (sorry–individuals) to come out publicly against same-sex marriage in recent years, and the fact that it made headlines and has attracted so much negative attention is a real indication of how the larger currents of society have shifted. It is shocking to us that a company would make a statement like that (and they backpedaled unsuccessfully from it) in 2012, because it’s such an unpopular position, and that in itself is a pretty startling and encouraging indication.

What the poor oppressed “Christians” (*) are screaming now is fear-based. They were, not so long ago, the policy-makers of this country, with a hand in the dominant political party and a confident grip on the social agenda. That grip has slipped, not because of any missteps, but because of the continuing evolution of social consciousness in this country. It’s evident that we have more pressing issues to deal with than the gender of the two people next door who want to build a life together. But some people persist in viewing this as the be-all and end-all of this country’s moral compass. They know their number is dwindling. They know that while they may win a few more popular votes on the issue, the tide is turning, and their victories will be fewer and fewer. They are not the Jews in Nazi Germany; they are the Neanderthals looking around in bewilderment as more evolved humans take over their territory, beating their chests and screaming ineffectually in the face of inexorable progress. They are the people who protested integration in the sixties, women’s suffrage in the nineteenth century, and so on. And like those people, society will nod politely to them as it goes on down the road, leaving them shaking their fists, remembered mostly as obstacles that were overcome.

* Most of the actual Christians I know are terrific, lovely people who are delighted to meet me and my husband, and are just as horrified at the people making Nazi Germany analogies as we are. Important to keep in mind.

State of the Fox

Periodic non-regular update: I am home for a short stretch in between Comic-Con and Rocky Mountain Fur Con (western area furries: I will see you there, yes? I am doing some panels and we will be doing a live podcast and stuff and I’ll be selling and signing in the dealer’s room!). Kit and I will be hitting the road sometime next week to travel these dusty western mountains to bring you fine furry fiction and entertaining discussions! I have been to RMFC enough that there is a group of regulars there that I look forward to seeing again. And of course, even though we have JUST come back from Denver, it’s never too soon to go back.

So, things I am working on:

* OOP3 has been returned to me and is currently sitting in the back of my head while I think on some of the feedback. Probably it’ll move to the front next week and for the remainder of August. Still hopefully on track for a January release, but I’m not going to be definite until it’s off to the printers.

* Winter Games, my Cupcake for September, is in what will hopefully be the final major editing pass. I have a few things to do with it but most people have agreed it’s in decent shape. Hope that by the end of the week I’ll have a near-final draft. Also the artwork for it looks A-MA-ZING thanks to the talented Sabretoothed Ermine–take a look at the cover preview if you haven’t already.

* I am also writing the sequel to Green Fairy. It’s mostly a sequel in that it involves some of the same characters, but the protagonist is different and the style is a little different. It’s not three narratives woven together–I would feel a little derivative if I tried that trick again in the very next book. But it does have two protagonists and multiple voices evident in it. It’s also probably darker than Green Fairy, amazingly.

* Speaking of Green Fairy, I’m prepping the e-book right now AS YOU READ THIS and it will go on sale August 1. Hopefully on most platforms, although B&N is often slow and I have no idea if Google Books uploads only on alternate Tuesdays or what. If you are undecided about it, check out the very nice review by Fred Patten from the print version. The e-book version has all illustrations and I have attempted to keep all the typeface trickery involved.

* The Calatians book is getting a last polish and I will be figuring out more things to do with it in the coming weeks.

So there you go–the life of a full-time writer. I’m sure I left out some things, but that’s enough for now, don’t you think?

New Novella Teaser Art!

I have talked on and off about a new novella coming out this fall at RainFurrest. Well, you can now find out the title and see a part of the cover! I am really delighted to point you to the art of the very talented Sabretoothed Ermine, who is illustrating the book. She has been a real joy to work with and if you think the cover is good, wait ’til you see some of the interiors…

Oh, right. The link. Go feast your eyes and tell her how awesome it looks. And keep an eye out at RainFurrest’s site for more info on the book and its release. Of course, you will see more about the book in this space, too, and in fact, I have anticipated your early questions. Because I love you THAT MUCH.

Comic-Con Doings

As I have the last couple years, I went to Comic-Con with the Sofawolf Press gang, and as with the last couple years, it was a great deal of fun.

Comic-Con is this big, huge, bigger-than-the-biggest thing event where you can wander around all weekend and then run into another person who was there and not have seen any of the same things. I went to a reading by an author I like and need to read more of (N.K. Jemisin), and a panel on media coverage, and otherwise mostly hung out at the booth talking to people and helping sell Sofawolf products.

The thing about Comic-Con is that it is so big that it does, as the saying goes, encompass multitudes. The center of the exhibit hall, like the center of the programming, is taken up with media: movies and TV. If you are looking for art and/or comics, you will find those at the ends of the hall, in the smaller rooms, and those little areas are worth checking out. In small press you will find people driven by their vision to create their own books, from people like Keith Knight, who is an institution and still remains in his corner of that group, to people like Reid Psaltis we were encountering for the first time. We also meandered over to the Independent Press Pavilion, where we found amazing work like our perennial favorite Arsenic Lullaby (warning: dark humor). It is, in short, an experience unlike any other.

This year, we also attended the Eisner ceremony to cheer on BlackTeagan, nominated for the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Alas, the award was won by a Crook, but the Nordguard book and Sofawolf got some good visibility out of it and Blotch got a dinner. So all was not in vain.

As you may have seen, we also talked to Penny Arcade a little bit, continuing a conversation started two years ago that has continued to be enjoyable and, dare I say, educational on both sides. They are nice guys–I’ve talked to Tycho more, but this year Gabe was also engaged while we were over there.

We had a ton of artists at the booth hanging out and helping sell. In addition to Blotch, Lynn Hogan (Prydwen) and Mitti (Peachy Keen) attended their first Comic-Con, and I think both came away loving it and wanting more. We hope to see them (and maybe you!) as regulars at Comic-Con in the future.

(How to go to Comic-Con, because it merits a small section of its own: if you are a professional author, illustrator, comics person, publisher, etc., then you can get a Professional membership and attend for free. If you are fast and have something like $100, or whatever the rate for a four-day membership is, you should go to their website and wait for tickets to go on sale in August. If you don’t have the money, you can show up and register to volunteer for the con; they always need volunteers, but get there early, because there’s always a line. And then you will have to sort out your housing. If you don’t know someone who lives in the area, your best bet is to find a hotel somewhere out on the trolley line and commute in, because the housing fills up in literally something like half an hour after it goes on sale. But with those two things settled, you can show up at San Diego and just wander around and be amazed and have fun. And if you come by the Sofawolf booth next year, you might see me, Blotch, Lynn, or Mitti–or all of the above!)

Panels at Cons!

I am all full of posting today, it seems. Okay, so if you have attended a panel of mine and thought it particularly helpful, can you please let me know in comments (1) what the panel’s name was, if you remember, (2) what convention it was held at, and (3) what you found useful about it? I am trying to compile a list so that when con programming/writing track people write me to say, “Okay, what panels do you want to do?” I can search something other than my memory.

Also, con programming/writing track people: I will be happy to do panels at your convention. Just saying.

Oh, also, while I’m thinking about it. It looks like I may be doing a few panels at WorldCon in Chicago this year! There are a couple on furries, one on gay F/SF, and maybe a couple more. Those first three are the ones I’ve actually been invited to do. We will see if they actually come to pass. I’m excited, though!

And, um. By the way, I’m going to WorldCon. Labor Day weekend, in Chicago.

Scattered E-mail

By the by, through traveling and stuff, a bunch of e-mail got downloaded to one machine and not another, and then erased from the server, and so, um. Yeah. If you sent me something in the beginning of July and it’s been weeks and I haven’t answered and you really wanted an answer, go ahead and send it again. It might’ve been misplaced on a different machine.