Calamity Cove

Novel and CW again

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:24:38 GMT

Three people have finished my book. So far, it looks like it's not fashioned entirely of poop in the shape of a manuscript. Hurrah!

We'll be at the Clarion West party tonight. I have a present for matociquala, because I really like people who get so excited by something you said that they just randomly hug you.

The Drowning City

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:57:33 GMT

Usually when I have a book with a personal inscription, especially an ARC, I treat it really well. I read it on the couch, without holding a beverage in my other hand, and I put it back on the shelf when I'm done so my friends don't use it as a coaster.

As you can see, I beat the crap out of Amanda Downum's book. And I'm not sorry about it.

It came with me on the bus, on my lunch breaks at work, in my backpack or pockets when I walked the dog, to the beach, to the bathroom. Perhaps I'm biased--I've never read something by Downum I didn't like--but this book has successfully melded several of my favorite fantasy elements.

Reading The Drowning City feels like an urban fantasy. It's quick, savvy, with a competent female character who I imagine wears tight pants and has an ironic curve to her smile. Many parts of the story take place in the city of Symir, dealing with venal authorities and corruption of the system.

But urban fantasies, even the best of them, never satisfy my desire for unique, jaw-dropping worldbuilding. Downum has envisioned fantasy elements that will stay with me long after having read this book. Her treatment of ghosts/demons/zombies struck me as being particularly fun. The almost police-procedural quality of the protagonist's investigations skillfully exposes the magic system, politics, and geography. The monsters in this book, especially those lurking in the water, are creepy and threatening without being one-dimensional frights; they, like every sentient entity in this story, have their own goals and personalities.

In fact, perhaps the best thing about this book is how deeply character-driven it is. The supporting cast are well-rounded and have their own lives to lead, and everyone's choices impact one another in a tangle of engrossing cause-and-effect. The characters make the decisions, and the decisions make the disasters, and the disasters drive the characters to make more decisions. When I guessed what would happen I was usually wrong, but I never felt like I'd been misled.

I regret to inform you that you have to wait at least two months to hold this book in your hands--but you don't have to wait for ~~September~~ August (according to Amazon) to pre-order it. That eight bucks was just going to buy you a couple of lattés that make your ass look big in those jeans,* so spend it on this book instead.

* Personally, I like big asses, but I'm willing to bet you don't feel the same way I do about your ass. And yes, with me, everything just eventually goes back to asses. I can't even review a book without asses coming up somehow.

My brain is 113,000 words lighter

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:14:23 GMT

My humorous fantasy quest told from the point of view of a foul-mouthed, kleptomaniacal closetcase is finished at 113K. I Didn't Want To Go On Your Stupid Quest Anyway needs a new title, however, since right now it sounds like a Fall Out Boy song.

And now, since my brain doesn't work, check out what I did last night:

P.S. davidlevine and kenscholes mud wrestling match: who would win, and how?

Happy Birthdays!

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:15:17 GMT

anghara and stillsostrange aren't dead yet! HOORAY!

Have awesome birthdays, in your very different parts of the country, and may you have much delicious cake.

Clarion West party

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:34:56 GMT

That was excellent. Every time I attend one of these, I'm more convinced I might want to go to Clarion. I always love the instructors, and the organizers, and the students, and the graduates. The talent, the time, and the money will have to come later ;_; For now, I learn more every time I mingle with these fun, friendly, informative people!

Highlights:

Congratulated nisi_la on her Tiptree in person instead of a lame e-mail
Met matociquala and jointly hollered "FISH SEX," to the shock and consternation of surrounding writerly types; also collected Bear hugs
Ogled Susan & Bill's gorgeous house and even gorgeouser cat (who followed us almost to the car)
Became a facet of a magic eightball (well, a sixball) of writers who helped Nancy Kress plan a ~~fictional death~~ character murder!
Worked out a one sentence summary of my book with nisi_la, criada, and Eileen Gunn: "A humorous fantasy quest as told by a foul-mouthed, closeted thief." (But I now think I might change "closeted thief" to "kleptomaniacal closetcase.")
Squeezed mikigarrison and lasirenadolce and listened to them plan "burlesque pigs in space," as well as revenge for the double prank I played on Miki and jaylake last weekend
Squeezed tbclone47 while he helplessly tried to escape
Met quantumage in real life and found him quite entertaining
Interrogated Clarionites, including the charming Sara Ryan, on what they found useful about their Clarion experience (I bet they never get sick of that question. Sorry, Sara!)
I didn't ever get to meet Karen Joy Fowler (whose party this was!), but watching her get a tentacly gift from her students and turn it into an impromptu hat was unforgettable <3
Came home to insightful and mostly positive reviews of my latest novel (the one we tagged above)

Back from Iron Springs Writers Retreat

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:54:16 GMT

awriter looking at the moon.

Me grabbing the sun.

Guesses welcome.

Other Iron Springs posts: kaerfel took two videos. criada made a somewhat cryptic post, which will become more fun (and less cryptic) as more photos surface. jaylake has an entry, and calendula_witch has one too.

More from me (photos and anecdotes) as time permits!

Weakly Story Club 2009.017

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:37:41 GMT

I haven't managed to keep up, but I've been so busy I forgive myself. We'll call it a hiatus. ;)

Title: Superhéroes
Wordcount: ~3700
Excerpt:

"Nineteen of us shelter in a church, but they have blocked the doors. It is burning. Do not forget us." - Wambui Maina

The Kenyan man who wrote that text message took off his tee shirt, urinated on it, and wrapped his two-year old daughter in the wet cloth to try and keep her alive long enough for rescue.

Five minutes of vampire hilarity.

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:33:47 GMT

http://blip.tv/file/2261825/

Come on, you know you want to see someone skillfully pit Buffy against Edward Cullen. (Thanks jenwrites!)

The impact of 140 characters or less

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:46:00 GMT

Twitter isn't a toy anymore. It's a tool.

(Soon this blog will merge with my art blog and all will be one; for now, this is important enough to me that I'm going to spam those few of you that are watching both accounts. Sorry! I just want to be sure everyone sees it.)

DYING. LAUGHING.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:19:19 GMT

First date and we're already snogging

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:28:42 GMT

stillsostrange is one of the first writers I started stalking online because I liked her short stories, and now I get a long story. Thank you, Amanda! I'm so happy I could just cry all this glitter right off my face.

Instead, I will eat my grandma's zucchini bread and try to ignore the dog, who is furious that I'm more interested in this rectangular object than I am in taking her for a walk.

P.S. Modern marvels of technology: I just noticed, via my computer screen, that I really need a haircut. >_

Crossdressing Ninja in Pom(egranate) Tree

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:13:24 GMT

These are from our entry for jaylake's contest for the release of Green, which will be funnier if you look at the book's cover. (Pomegranates are out of season.)

kehrli had the idea (and bought Pom).
criada scouted the location (and bought Pom).
kaerfel provided supplies (and bought Pom).
And csinman dressed in drag and dangled by his bare feet from a tree (and also bought Pom).

Captain Procrastinatron! Da da da DA da DA!

Fri, 29 May 2009 17:02:12 GMT

Some day I will learn that just because I like or want to do something, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to put it off until after the things I don't like or want to do.

It doesn't make me do the crappy things faster. It just means the good thing never happens. >:|

Hahahahahaaarrrgh.

Weakly Story Club announcement

Thu, 28 May 2009 20:25:23 GMT

I think this club only has one person, so I don't feel bad about making Weakly Story Club into Every-Other-Weakly Story Club. Haha! I might go back to Weakly, but as an experiment I want to see if the quality of my fiction increases if I take a longer on each piece. I've written seventeen new stories this year, but I haven't had time to polish any of them.

Part of the reason I was doing Weakly Story Club was to be sure that even if no one else submitted anything, our crit group would have something new every single week. Well, I don't have to worry about that--there are enough people now that our problem is choosing whose story to crit, not shaking everyone until a story falls out of their pocket.

So there will be no new story this week, just finishing touches on the last one. If this doesn't work, if I stop producing on a less rigorous schedule, I'll go back to a weekly story and find a new method for quality control.

Carry on!

Congratulations, spencimusprime!

Wed, 27 May 2009 03:33:11 GMT

...You know what you did.

Weakly Story Club 2009.016 + a sale :)

Tue, 26 May 2009 08:15:57 GMT

...And, we're back! Despite my insanely hectic week, I managed to write most of this while sprawled on mikigarrison's airbed. Thanks Miki! I recently read a story by mroctober that reminded me that one of the key ingredients for an engaging story is to make a character we care about. So logically, I wrote about a gross monster. Haha!

Title: Maybe the El Chupacabra Stole Your Baby
Wordcount: 2345
Excerpt:

The day that El Chupacabra ran out of goats, he turned to the west.

He ranged across the hills, his scaled belly hissing over hot rocks. Rattlers remained coiled in their dens, and coyotes whispered away through the tarbush as he passed. The days passed in a smear of shimmering heat and whirling dust devils, owls rustling in the crotches of cactuses, hard-shelled insects cracking under his claws and leaving smears of slime between his toes. Bright flowers caught El Chupacabra's raw amber eyes, but they weren't delicious fountains of blood, just crimson blossoms wilting in the heat.

Wondering about the victory icon? :D I sold this Weakly Story Club, a piece of horror microfiction, to Necrotic Tissue! They run 100-word short stories called "Bites," and they've accepted my story Trapped for Issue #9.

This is the first WSC to sell. Which reminds me! Please cross your fingers, because the first WSC I ever wrote is still being considered at one of my favorite SF magazines. (Even if they don't take it, I'm already flattered by the fact they've held it so long.) Edit: Haha, just got my rejection. And apparently I was supposed to get it long before now, so I have to retract being flattered. That's okay, I'll try again. :)

Weakly Story Fail!

Mon, 18 May 2009 07:15:43 GMT

The past two weeks have been so busy I actually haven't had time to finish a short story--I've not worked much on my novel either. >:| Lame! One writerly hara kiri, coming right up.

If I have to murder Hermione for her little time-changey-pocketwatch thinger, so be it.

Well, if I don't bleed out from this pen I've jammed into my abdomen, look forward to next week's. It will be super-awesome to make up for the last two weeks sucking... Scout's Honor!*

* I was never a Scout, and also, I have no honor.

This is why I don't get paid to blog.

Sat, 09 May 2009 17:10:13 GMT

One of eight snazillion reasons you should be reading lex_of_green instead of me.

I cannot wait for the 24th, when I can give kenscholes and jens_fire A LARGE BOX FILLED WITH THE BEST GIFT FOR BABIES. Actually, the best gift for parents, since babies won't care one way or the other. Did you know it's a scientific fact that if you give a baby some poop to play with, it will?! Because that's totally true. Try it.

And now, a photo taken on a walk with kehrli.

HAHAHA

Wed, 06 May 2009 08:08:16 GMT

Christian Charity Raising Money To Feed Non-Gay Famine Victims

Caveat: I actually am a big Jesus fantard.

Review of StereoOpticon

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:51:31 GMT

Ooh, I'm mentioned! This is the first time a stranger has reviewed something I've done. V. pleased.

"One of the pleasures of parenthood is sharing the stories you love with your children...'Castle Of Masks' by C.S. Inman includes some neat twists on the classic beast.

This version will become one of my new favourites and a tale I'll be sure to share." - Kelly Jensen, SFCrowsnest.com

The problem I always have telling people about this story is it's hard to explain why it's more fun than any other Beauty and the Beast story without giving away the mystery. (The reviewer did a great job not spoiling it.) You just have to read it! ;) (And you can get it from Drollerie Press right here.)

Before I forget... Free book!

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:50:44 GMT

the_flea_king sent me a copy of Federations signed by Jeremy on his story (and JJA on the title page), because I won his question drive! I received it yesterday, and it looks pretty snazzy.

Perhaps even better, I won good answers to my question.

THANK YOU :)

Weakly Story Club 2009.015

Mon, 04 May 2009 07:41:49 GMT

I started this one at Story Ninjas last week. (It has suffered a stupid ending, but I think after I let it sit for awhile, I can tie the threads together with a more finesse.)

Title: The Rose Baby
Words: ~4,500
Excerpt:

When Abigail came upon the first rose, at first she thought it was a pigeon sleeping with its tiny beak pointing straight toward the starless sky. Hesitant fingers found it to be cold, however, cold and tight and hard as the dead child in her arms. She'd found the first rose of the Briar Night, but it was only a bud.

And now, even though I'm sleepy and I have to open the store tomorrow, Immortal Showdown is like "please write me, pleeease..." so I'm going to heed its siren call.

Immortal Showdown

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:28:07 GMT

Chapter One is finished, and now I'm galloping through Chapter Two. I wrote one of these latter scenes a few months ago, and I think I'll probably rewrite it to suit what happens in Chapter Three, but for now it serves its purpose.

Immortal Showdown: 6015 / 100000 words. 6% done!

Words today: 1147
Accomplished: Juggling balls! (Mysterious shadow, bank robber on the loose, secret superpowers, and unorthodox mail.) And for bonus points, the star of Chapter Two is wearing a fake mustache.
Excerpt:

His paunch looked like he drank it there on purpose, as a shield against kicking horses and runaway freight trains.

Congratulations, Jesse!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:28:32 GMT

Jesse's flash piece, "Lights on the Highway," is today's Everyday Weirdness!

My friends are on a roll ;)

Congratulations, Gabe!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:36:00 GMT

An excerpt from gogoangelgunboy's Mercy Following featured here.