Martha Wells's Blog, page 187
April 15, 2011
The Fall of the House of Usher, Redux
Okay, the story of yesterday. It started out as a day when I was just going to write and then do a phone interview with a newspaper in the afternoon. This was kind of making me nervous, because (as part of my involuntary disappearance from professional writing) I haven't done an interview for what feels like years. So even though I'd talked to this reporter before and thought he was really nice (I think the article was mostly about ArmadilloCon in Austin and I didn't end up in it) I'm still a bit nervous.
But we've been having our house worked on to plug various leaks and fix problems (see: the fall of the house of usher) and one of the fallouts of that was that our contractor knew a company where we could get a remnant bathroom countertop (to replace the old, discolored, slightly dented one) that was much much better than what we had but that was a really good price and within our fixing-the-house budget. But we had to wait for the company to do another job with that type of counter so we could get the remnant. So yesterday morning I got a phone call that yes the remnant was ready and could they come over and install it, say, now? So that had to be a yes, and I called the contractor to see when he could come over to finish installing the faucet, and he was able to fit us in, so various home improvement people were now converging on the house.
Then while the countertop lady was taking out the old sink and faucet,![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380451598i/2033940.gif)
morfin
called to talk to me about the taxes which yes, were suddenly ready and had to be done today, about the same time as everything else that suddenly had to be done. Then the countertop lady came downstairs saying that thing you don't want to hear during home improvements: "Look at this! Pipes like this just aren't supposed to do that! How could this happen? This could have destroyed your house!"
Me: "Oh my God, what the hell is that?"
Her: "Check under the other sinks!"
(
morfin
said that over the phone it sounded like a Holmes on Homes episode)
I wish I'd taken a picture of the pipe. The stainless steel mesh had unraveled in two spots and the inner part was bulging out. Like the pipe had a very bad disease or something evil was trying to get out of it. It was clearly working up to a spectacular burst, and if it had, it would have caused a lot of damage. If it had happened at night, or while we were out of the house for even an hour, it could have cause a drywall-destroying $30,000 flood.
After the contractor got there, there were four people up in the bathroom trying to figure out how that happened. But the theory the contractor came up with is that the last person to work on the sink (which would have been something like 12 years ago) got a little wild with the plumbing torch and scorched this pipe, and it's been slowly coming apart from the water pressure ever since.
So basically: 1) yay for well-made pipes and 2) it's a really good thing we decided to change out the countertop and faucet.
With all this going on (including hooking up the new faucet taking much longer than it should because of 1) the house's plumbing coming out of the wall at angles and heights not normal for earth human plumbing 2) all the pipes and connections being very old and apparently shipped in from an alternate universe), the counter got installed, the new faucet got connected, the taxes got signed, and the interview got done.
At around 7:00 last night we were talking to the contractor about the hazards of old two-story houses and plumbing, and he said, "Whenever I leave the house for any length of time, I shut off the water."
Me: "You've seen too much, haven't you?"
And that was yesterday. But yay, all the work is now done and all the things are now fixed.
At least the ones we know about.
But we've been having our house worked on to plug various leaks and fix problems (see: the fall of the house of usher) and one of the fallouts of that was that our contractor knew a company where we could get a remnant bathroom countertop (to replace the old, discolored, slightly dented one) that was much much better than what we had but that was a really good price and within our fixing-the-house budget. But we had to wait for the company to do another job with that type of counter so we could get the remnant. So yesterday morning I got a phone call that yes the remnant was ready and could they come over and install it, say, now? So that had to be a yes, and I called the contractor to see when he could come over to finish installing the faucet, and he was able to fit us in, so various home improvement people were now converging on the house.
Then while the countertop lady was taking out the old sink and faucet,
morfin
called to talk to me about the taxes which yes, were suddenly ready and had to be done today, about the same time as everything else that suddenly had to be done. Then the countertop lady came downstairs saying that thing you don't want to hear during home improvements: "Look at this! Pipes like this just aren't supposed to do that! How could this happen? This could have destroyed your house!"Me: "Oh my God, what the hell is that?"
Her: "Check under the other sinks!"
(
morfin
said that over the phone it sounded like a Holmes on Homes episode)I wish I'd taken a picture of the pipe. The stainless steel mesh had unraveled in two spots and the inner part was bulging out. Like the pipe had a very bad disease or something evil was trying to get out of it. It was clearly working up to a spectacular burst, and if it had, it would have caused a lot of damage. If it had happened at night, or while we were out of the house for even an hour, it could have cause a drywall-destroying $30,000 flood.
After the contractor got there, there were four people up in the bathroom trying to figure out how that happened. But the theory the contractor came up with is that the last person to work on the sink (which would have been something like 12 years ago) got a little wild with the plumbing torch and scorched this pipe, and it's been slowly coming apart from the water pressure ever since.
So basically: 1) yay for well-made pipes and 2) it's a really good thing we decided to change out the countertop and faucet.
With all this going on (including hooking up the new faucet taking much longer than it should because of 1) the house's plumbing coming out of the wall at angles and heights not normal for earth human plumbing 2) all the pipes and connections being very old and apparently shipped in from an alternate universe), the counter got installed, the new faucet got connected, the taxes got signed, and the interview got done.
At around 7:00 last night we were talking to the contractor about the hazards of old two-story houses and plumbing, and he said, "Whenever I leave the house for any length of time, I shut off the water."
Me: "You've seen too much, haven't you?"
And that was yesterday. But yay, all the work is now done and all the things are now fixed.
At least the ones we know about.
April 14, 2011
We Have Achieved Squash
The garden bed we built a couple of months ago has started to produce food.
This is the Desert Bubba Willow:
I picked the biggest one and we'll see how it tastes.
This is the Desert Bubba Willow:
I picked the biggest one and we'll see how it tastes.
April 13, 2011
Making myself post, because otherwise I won't do it. Let...
Making myself post, because otherwise I won't do it. Let's see. I'm still working on the third Cloud Roads book, bashing away at the plot wall I've encountered at 60,000 words. I think I've found a way through, hopefully.
I have a signing coming up in Houston, Saturday April 30, 4:30, at Murder by the Book. If you can't be there, you can call or email the store to order signed copies.
I planted a tree yesterday, a Bubba Desert Willow, since our normally temperate-swampy landscape is turning into a desert. The dirt was like concrete and I kept having to fill the hole with water and wait for it to soak in to be able to get the shovel through it.
link:
Cracked.com 7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're Doing All Wrong
Book Rec:
The Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton, which is a pseud for Barbara Hambly. This is a murder mystery set during the beginning of the American Revolution, with Abigail Adams. I'm about halfway through and it's excellent so far.
I have a signing coming up in Houston, Saturday April 30, 4:30, at Murder by the Book. If you can't be there, you can call or email the store to order signed copies.
I planted a tree yesterday, a Bubba Desert Willow, since our normally temperate-swampy landscape is turning into a desert. The dirt was like concrete and I kept having to fill the hole with water and wait for it to soak in to be able to get the shovel through it.
link:
Cracked.com 7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're Doing All Wrong
Book Rec:
The Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton, which is a pseud for Barbara Hambly. This is a murder mystery set during the beginning of the American Revolution, with Abigail Adams. I'm about halfway through and it's excellent so far.
April 11, 2011
It hasn't rained here in a very long time, and now the we...
It hasn't rained here in a very long time, and now the weather is saying things like "2% chance of precipitation. 2%. It's never going to rain again and we're all going to die.
I submitted a short story this morning, so wish me luck. (I usually don't have great luck with short stories, so I can use all I can get.) And I've got some new people on my flist, so I wanted to link again to a story I posted on my web site in 2009:
The Forest Boy. This is set in the world of The Cloud Roads, and is about Moon when he was growing up.
The Excerpts and Free Short Stories page lists all the other stories posted on my web site.
links:
Barbara Hambly has a guest post on the Night Bazaar: Favorite Science Fiction Novels
I submitted a short story this morning, so wish me luck. (I usually don't have great luck with short stories, so I can use all I can get.) And I've got some new people on my flist, so I wanted to link again to a story I posted on my web site in 2009:
The Forest Boy. This is set in the world of The Cloud Roads, and is about Moon when he was growing up.
The Excerpts and Free Short Stories page lists all the other stories posted on my web site.
links:
Barbara Hambly has a guest post on the Night Bazaar: Favorite Science Fiction Novels
April 10, 2011
A few links for Sunday:A great review of The Cloud Roads ...
A few links for Sunday:
A great review of The Cloud Roads from Adventures Fantastic
From Rogue Blades Entertainment's Home of Heroics blog: The Flying Manicurist: For sheer amazing heroics there are few people who can match this… manicurist. She was also a beauty shop owner, a laundress, a chili cook, a college drop-out and a farm hand.
And for a brief time, from 1921 to her death in 1926, she was "Queen Bess", the first African-American woman pilot and a barnstorming sensation. Bessie Colman was someone who not only had a dream and achieved that dream, but was determined to open a path for others.
Google News about the LJ downtime: Russian bloggers accuse authorities of cyberwar MOSCOW — The LiveJournal blogging site, hugely popular in Russia, on Wednesday fell victim to a major cyber attack that bloggers said appeared an attempt to to silence political discussion ahead of elections.
Atlas Obscura: Telegraph Island – Jazirat al Maqlab and Tonina
A great review of The Cloud Roads from Adventures Fantastic
From Rogue Blades Entertainment's Home of Heroics blog: The Flying Manicurist: For sheer amazing heroics there are few people who can match this… manicurist. She was also a beauty shop owner, a laundress, a chili cook, a college drop-out and a farm hand.
And for a brief time, from 1921 to her death in 1926, she was "Queen Bess", the first African-American woman pilot and a barnstorming sensation. Bessie Colman was someone who not only had a dream and achieved that dream, but was determined to open a path for others.
Google News about the LJ downtime: Russian bloggers accuse authorities of cyberwar MOSCOW — The LiveJournal blogging site, hugely popular in Russia, on Wednesday fell victim to a major cyber attack that bloggers said appeared an attempt to to silence political discussion ahead of elections.
Atlas Obscura: Telegraph Island – Jazirat al Maqlab and Tonina
April 8, 2011
I've been feeling very down lately, and not much like pos...
I've been feeling very down lately, and not much like posting or reading much online, so I'm very behind on everything. (Sometimes I win, sometimes the depression wins; this week depression won. But I'm better now.)
But I got a little crap for posting this, so I thought I would post it again:
SF Reviews: Midnight... Racist? A Post on Del Rey's Changes to the Cover of Midnight Riot, with cover examples.
Ben Aaronovitch's debut urban fantasy Rivers of London, retitled Midnight Riot by Del Rey for its US release, has a mixed-race protagonist, with a white father and African mother. In recent years, there have been a number of embarrassing examples of major publishers in the US overtly placing white characters on the covers of books with non-white heroes, a relic of an attitude, perhaps, that black people don't care to read. It's asinine, and in some high profile cases, publishers have been duly shamed into correcting or rejacketing covers following a public outcry.
And the link to the post about it on Neth Space
I'll be happy to post about it again, too. Perhaps I could create a large signature file and include it on every post.
***
I read Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London) and am halfway through Moon Over Soho and really enjoyed them. They're fast-paced fantasy-mysteries, about Peter Grant, a young constable in London who is saved from being assigned to the group that does nothing but paperwork because he can see ghosts. He ends up apprenticed to a DCI who is the last official wizard in England. If you like fantasy, and especially if you watch all the series on Masterpiece Mystery with "Inspector" in the title, you should check it out.
But I got a little crap for posting this, so I thought I would post it again:
SF Reviews: Midnight... Racist? A Post on Del Rey's Changes to the Cover of Midnight Riot, with cover examples.
Ben Aaronovitch's debut urban fantasy Rivers of London, retitled Midnight Riot by Del Rey for its US release, has a mixed-race protagonist, with a white father and African mother. In recent years, there have been a number of embarrassing examples of major publishers in the US overtly placing white characters on the covers of books with non-white heroes, a relic of an attitude, perhaps, that black people don't care to read. It's asinine, and in some high profile cases, publishers have been duly shamed into correcting or rejacketing covers following a public outcry.
And the link to the post about it on Neth Space
I'll be happy to post about it again, too. Perhaps I could create a large signature file and include it on every post.
***
I read Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London) and am halfway through Moon Over Soho and really enjoyed them. They're fast-paced fantasy-mysteries, about Peter Grant, a young constable in London who is saved from being assigned to the group that does nothing but paperwork because he can see ghosts. He ends up apprenticed to a DCI who is the last official wizard in England. If you like fantasy, and especially if you watch all the series on Masterpiece Mystery with "Inspector" in the title, you should check it out.
April 5, 2011
The regular denial of service attacks on LJ are getting o...
The regular denial of service attacks on LJ are getting old. But I guess that's the point of denial of service attacks.
Genre for Japan raised over £11,000 in one week for Japan Tsunami relief.
The giveaway drawing for a free copy of Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is still going on through this morning, since people didn't have much of an opportunity to enter yesterday. There are only 39 entries so far, so your chances are good! ETA: The contest is over and the winner of the drawing was![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380449247i/1833871.gif)
wiredferret
!
links:
Writer Beware: Lies Dishonest Fee-Charging Publishers Tell
Juliet McKenna: Equality of Opportunity and Visibility But our genre still suffers from that Default/Lazy Sexism which results in, for instance, the British Fantasy Society publishing a book about horror without a single female contributor and an anthology I contributed to, which when I got my contributor's copy, turned out to have one woman writer - me. When I mentioned this to the editors, a woman among them, they were genuinely shocked and contrite.
Black Gate: Back Issue Sale
The Rumpus.net: DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #69: We Are All Savages Inside
I feel compelled to note these facts at the outset because my gut sense of your letter is that you've conflated the book with the book deal. They are two separate things. The one you are in charge of is the book. The one that happens based on forces that are mostly outside of your control is the book deal. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous book of poems and nobody would give you $200,000 to publish it. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous novel and maybe get that. Or not.
Genre for Japan raised over £11,000 in one week for Japan Tsunami relief.
The giveaway drawing for a free copy of Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is still going on through this morning, since people didn't have much of an opportunity to enter yesterday. There are only 39 entries so far, so your chances are good! ETA: The contest is over and the winner of the drawing was
wiredferret
!links:
Writer Beware: Lies Dishonest Fee-Charging Publishers Tell
Juliet McKenna: Equality of Opportunity and Visibility But our genre still suffers from that Default/Lazy Sexism which results in, for instance, the British Fantasy Society publishing a book about horror without a single female contributor and an anthology I contributed to, which when I got my contributor's copy, turned out to have one woman writer - me. When I mentioned this to the editors, a woman among them, they were genuinely shocked and contrite.
Black Gate: Back Issue Sale
The Rumpus.net: DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #69: We Are All Savages Inside
I feel compelled to note these facts at the outset because my gut sense of your letter is that you've conflated the book with the book deal. They are two separate things. The one you are in charge of is the book. The one that happens based on forces that are mostly outside of your control is the book deal. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous book of poems and nobody would give you $200,000 to publish it. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous novel and maybe get that. Or not.
April 3, 2011
The replacements for the leaky bedroom windows were all f...
The replacements for the leaky bedroom windows were all finished late on Thursday, though it was a bigger job than the contractor originally thought. (It's easier to do it on a brick or wood house than it is on a house with old vinyl siding that nobody in town sells anymore.) But they are done and it is such a relief!
It's going to be very nice this winter to work without a cold breeze blowing on the back of my head. I wish I could afford to have the last three windows done; it would probably really help our utility bills.
I'm finally going to get new glasses next week. I can't afford them either, but a massage person at Sherwood Forest Faire told me my back looked like I had scoliosis, and that it's probably from a year and a half sitting with my neck hunched forward to see the laptop.
***
SF Reviews: Midnight... Racist? A Post on Del Rey's Changes to the Cover of Midnight Riot, with cover examples.
Ben Aaronovitch's debut urban fantasy Rivers of London, retitled Midnight Riot by Del Rey for its US release, has a mixed-race protagonist, with a white father and African mother. In recent years, there have been a number of embarrassing examples of major publishers in the US overtly placing white characters on the covers of books with non-white heroes, a relic of an attitude, perhaps, that black people don't care to read. It's asinine, and in some high profile cases, publishers have been duly shamed into correcting or rejacketing covers following a public outcry.
The only thing that will stop things like this is if people email or write to the publisher Del Rey and complain. The writer has no control over the cover, and complaining to him is preaching to the choir.
Other links for Sunday:
Don't miss the giveaway drawing I'm doing for the wonderful fantasy novel Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. You still have until Tuesday morning to enter! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.
The Genre for Japan auction ends today! The entry for The Cloud Roads is here.
Writer Beware: Karma's a Bitch: Robin Price, David William Caswell
Robin Price, a fake literary agent and film producer accused of bilking writers out of more than £500,000 over a number of years, admitted in a UK court on Wednesday to six counts of theft. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Alchemy by Carla Hall Carla from Top Chef's web site. She sells cookies!
Book View Cafe: Unfacts Concerning the Google (Un)Settlement by Ursula Le Guin
Discussion: I don't understand why Google did what they did. If they'd just done it right – followed their own motto "Don't be evil!"
SF Site: SF Site Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2010 Editors' Choice and Readers' Choice
It's going to be very nice this winter to work without a cold breeze blowing on the back of my head. I wish I could afford to have the last three windows done; it would probably really help our utility bills.
I'm finally going to get new glasses next week. I can't afford them either, but a massage person at Sherwood Forest Faire told me my back looked like I had scoliosis, and that it's probably from a year and a half sitting with my neck hunched forward to see the laptop.
***
SF Reviews: Midnight... Racist? A Post on Del Rey's Changes to the Cover of Midnight Riot, with cover examples.
Ben Aaronovitch's debut urban fantasy Rivers of London, retitled Midnight Riot by Del Rey for its US release, has a mixed-race protagonist, with a white father and African mother. In recent years, there have been a number of embarrassing examples of major publishers in the US overtly placing white characters on the covers of books with non-white heroes, a relic of an attitude, perhaps, that black people don't care to read. It's asinine, and in some high profile cases, publishers have been duly shamed into correcting or rejacketing covers following a public outcry.
The only thing that will stop things like this is if people email or write to the publisher Del Rey and complain. The writer has no control over the cover, and complaining to him is preaching to the choir.
Other links for Sunday:
Don't miss the giveaway drawing I'm doing for the wonderful fantasy novel Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. You still have until Tuesday morning to enter! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.
The Genre for Japan auction ends today! The entry for The Cloud Roads is here.
Writer Beware: Karma's a Bitch: Robin Price, David William Caswell
Robin Price, a fake literary agent and film producer accused of bilking writers out of more than £500,000 over a number of years, admitted in a UK court on Wednesday to six counts of theft. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Alchemy by Carla Hall Carla from Top Chef's web site. She sells cookies!
Book View Cafe: Unfacts Concerning the Google (Un)Settlement by Ursula Le Guin
Discussion: I don't understand why Google did what they did. If they'd just done it right – followed their own motto "Don't be evil!"
SF Site: SF Site Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2010 Editors' Choice and Readers' Choice
April 1, 2011
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente Book Giveaway
Doing something a little different: I'm going to do a drawing for a free hardcover copy of Catherynne M. Valente's new fantasy novel Deathless
Publishers Weekly said: Twentieth-century Russian history provides a background for Valente's lush reimagining of folkloric villain Koschei the Deathless and his dalliance with Marya Morevna, a clever but troubled young woman. After Koschei sweeps Marya away from her family's home in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, Baba Yaga assigns her three tasks that will make her worthy of marrying Koschei. As she spends more time in Koschei's Country of Life, Marya starts to become too much like her unearthly lover, until naïve Ivan Nikolayevich helps her regain her humanity (as well as the sympathy of the reader). Valente's lush language and imagery add to the magic and fundamentally Russian nature of the story, drawing pointed parallels between the Soviet Union's turmoil and the endless war between Koschei and his brother, Viy.
"Romantic and blood-streaked, and infused with magic so real you can feel it on your fingertips—Deathless is beautiful." —Cory Doctorow
You can read an excerpt on Tor.com here.
How to enter: Just comment on this post to be entered. The winner will need to give Catherynne a shipping address so she can send you the book. You have until Tuesday April 5 around 10:00 or so in the morning to enter. After that, I'll randomly draw a winner.
Publishers Weekly said: Twentieth-century Russian history provides a background for Valente's lush reimagining of folkloric villain Koschei the Deathless and his dalliance with Marya Morevna, a clever but troubled young woman. After Koschei sweeps Marya away from her family's home in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, Baba Yaga assigns her three tasks that will make her worthy of marrying Koschei. As she spends more time in Koschei's Country of Life, Marya starts to become too much like her unearthly lover, until naïve Ivan Nikolayevich helps her regain her humanity (as well as the sympathy of the reader). Valente's lush language and imagery add to the magic and fundamentally Russian nature of the story, drawing pointed parallels between the Soviet Union's turmoil and the endless war between Koschei and his brother, Viy.
"Romantic and blood-streaked, and infused with magic so real you can feel it on your fingertips—Deathless is beautiful." —Cory Doctorow
You can read an excerpt on Tor.com here.
How to enter: Just comment on this post to be entered. The winner will need to give Catherynne a shipping address so she can send you the book. You have until Tuesday April 5 around 10:00 or so in the morning to enter. After that, I'll randomly draw a winner.
March 31, 2011
Hopefully LJ will stay up long enough for me to post this...
Hopefully LJ will stay up long enough for me to post this.
Today we have the leaky, rattling 47-year old windows in our bedroom and bathroom replaced, so I got up early to take down blinds and curtains and move furniture and vacuum (so it will look nice for the construction guys). Wish us luck. We had the downstairs windows done ten years ago and it was easy, but these are upstairs and they have to use a scaffold and ladders.
Strange Horizons: Gender Balance in SF/F Review Venues
Cynsations: Author-Illustrator Interview: Melanie Hope Greenberg & Take a Chance on Art at the TLA 2011 Raffle
Writer Beware: Why Your Self-Publishing Service Probably Didn't Cheat You
Dancing Horse: The Great Send Judy to the Nebulas Sale Mentoring and Editing Services, Camp Lipizzan, plus a book sale!
Today we have the leaky, rattling 47-year old windows in our bedroom and bathroom replaced, so I got up early to take down blinds and curtains and move furniture and vacuum (so it will look nice for the construction guys). Wish us luck. We had the downstairs windows done ten years ago and it was easy, but these are upstairs and they have to use a scaffold and ladders.
Strange Horizons: Gender Balance in SF/F Review Venues
Cynsations: Author-Illustrator Interview: Melanie Hope Greenberg & Take a Chance on Art at the TLA 2011 Raffle
Writer Beware: Why Your Self-Publishing Service Probably Didn't Cheat You
Dancing Horse: The Great Send Judy to the Nebulas Sale Mentoring and Editing Services, Camp Lipizzan, plus a book sale!
