Into the depths of my mind...

Wildside Press used the write up about Tanith Lee I did in Weird Tales as a part of the promotion of the new collection, Hunting The Shadows. "Gothic poetess, comic young-adult author, robust adventure-fantasy novelist: Tanith Lee has more writing personas than Sybil. But in her short fiction, all these aspects come gloriously together. Such stories as 'Antonius Bequeathed' or 'The Persecution Machine,' with their death-defying mixture of prose poetry, genre trope reversals and ominous wit, could be written by no one else."

Noooo! I have no way to know who sent the blu-ray player from my wish list because there was no info in the packing! The player came only in the box it would be in at the store!

Quick question: if I (as Tate Hallaway) write a novel where there's a hereditary group of Witches that ACTUALLY derive their power from, well, Hell, how angry do you think my fans will be?

But wait... see, here's the thing. I already laid idea this out in my young adult novel because I'm tired of traditional vampires and wanted them to be something else entirely. And, really, what it means is that I'm playing with angels again... or, at least, one variety of them. But, you know, I just got to this point in the novel during revisions when Elias (one of our bad boy love interests) explains where vampires come from, and, my editor made a comment in the margins where it's kind of clear that she gets what I'm saying but wonders if it's really what I'm saying... and I thought, "Huh, I wonder if the real question is *should* I say this?"
 
Well, I did. I guess the thing to do now is spin it.

In other news, I finished Jo Walton's HALF A CROWN (Tor). I was really worried about the ending yesterday when I was at about chapter 22, and I even harrassed naomikritzer about it (because she's mentioned as a beta reader in the acknoweledgements) but, actually, things worked out WAY better than I feared. Jo Walton made *me* like the Queen of England, which is no small feat. I was made a little cranky by the fact that the only person to die is( Read more... ). But I didn't cry. And no one actually ( Read more... ) The book is fantastic, despite my personal quibbles, so I highly recommend it. I've said this before, I think, but Jo Walton has a really amazing narrative voice in this series (I can't speak to her other books because I haven't read them). It's just a pleasure to READ, you know?

I'm off in few minutes to go stuff folders at Mason's school, my usual Thursday volunteering. Then, I hope to have time to run off to do some last minute holiday shopping before I have to turn around and pick him up again.

I still have this terrible cough. I wish I had real health insurance. I'd go to the doctor. That's another rant for another day, alas. I know people get worked up about this issue, but it seems pretty straight forward to me. I would like one of two things: afforable health insurance _or_ doctors that didn't cost so much. The thing that's keeping me away from the doctor right now is the fear that to rule out pnumonia, they'd order an x-ray. My insurance is what I call "collision." If I'm hit by the bus, it's worth having, but as it is, the deductable is so high we really can't afford to pay up to it, you know?

Enough of that. (Don't worry about Mason. He's covered by his mama. I can't be. You know, that other rant that involves gay marriage.)

So I have ten of those LJ coupons for a paid journal. It's only for users who don't already have a paid account though so let me know if you want one. In other news I am writing the conclusion to something today. The conclusion! It's nice to finish at least one project before the end of the year. I'm still plugging away on everything else too, but I have to have a moment of squee! before I remember all the other work.

ETA: I think I have 5 left. The LJ utility is a little unclear.

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You know if you write an article full of bigoted claptrap don't be surprised when people call you a bigot.

• 10:52 DC people: do you have any recommendations for temp agencies. (Or better yet, job openings in admin)? #

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Walk in My Shoes: Surviving the walk to school. Okay so pachakuti linked to this one. And you know I understand the whole "If it bleeds it leads" concept of journalism. Really I do. But, we live on the South Side of Chicago too. I grew up here and all those sunny park pictures that I post of my family? They're taken on the same South Side mentioned in this article. There's more to this city than the blighted areas, and while we're talking blight and violence let's talk about how these neighborhoods (which often used to be thriving healthy communities) fall apart.

Our society likes to wring its hands and bleat about the poor pitiful children once the shooting starts, but we don't tend to pay attention to the roots of the problems before everything goes wrong. This latest spate of failed gentrification efforts are going to have brand new bad areas springing up as the residents struggle to make it with no tax base, poor infrastructure, and the same old issues of race and class. It's ridiculous to paint these pictures of scary bad areas that are the result of some foreign event horizon that no one can understand when we know how places get this way.

For starters you get rid of the grocery stores, instead allowing liquor stores that sell food or whatever little corner stores spring up to be the only place within walking distance to get groceries. Then you take away (or never start) bus routes, and the ones that are in the area have shortened hours and limited routes so it's difficult for the remaining population to get to work. Oh, let's not forget schools that lack necessary equipment so the students are ill-equipped to succeed academically in a society where education is key. And of course there's the added impact of poverty and institutional racism. Why the mention of racism? Well, how do you think we get to the place where only certain neighborhoods are allowed to turn into war zones? It's no accident that I can get cops in my neighborhood to respond a lot faster than people living in Englewood.

Those conditions form the underpinnings of gangs and their powerful hold in these areas. As the money and the opportunity and the access fade away? People still have to eat, and despite the hype I have yet to meet a gangbanger or a street level dealer that wasn't hungry, as in literally going to bed without enough food on a regular basis hungry when they decided to get in on the game. Drugs, crime, and poverty go hand in hand, but not for the reasons you'd think they do. It's survival living and people do a lot of things to make it when the wolf is at the door. Generational poverty plays a huge role because these blighted neighborhoods don't get that way in a week or a month. It takes time, and the people with resources move out relatively early in the process but there are always people left behind with no way out.

And without a proper foundation at an elementary school level, few or no role models, and of course the stress and trauma of living in an area that's dangerous all the time the kids in these places don't have boots, never mind bootstraps to pull themselves out. Or to pull their own kids out once they're adults. Oh sure there's always a success story that gets lauded, but the reality is that the combination of luck, support, and intelligence required for those stories to happen isn't a recipe that's accessible for every child. And to paint the South Side with such a broad brush instead of talking about the actual issues that lead to these conditions is just further exacerbating the problems. Less pearl clutching and more urban planning is the key here.

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I lol'd. Also, I learned an important lesson today about medicine and hair removal. Namely, if the dermatologist gives you medicated strips to shrink a keloid it's good to remove the hair before applying the strip. And if you forget to remove the hair then Nair (or the nearest equivalent, that might be Veet that I bought) will not feel good on skin that's been covered in said medication for the last 18 hours. Especially if the medicine was only supposed to be on there for 12 hours. You may now sing Stupid Girls at me and laugh. I'll be over here hoping my skin doesn't fall off.

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This waiting to hear back about interviews thing is super tedious. I think I lack patience on the molecular level. Distractions? Patience enhancing exercises? I already wasted some time in sf_d talking about my pseudo-kidnapping (ex boyfriend thought it was a great way to get me to take him back, for obvious reasons it didn't work out) and I can't seem to focus on anything productive. You people should supply me with entertainment or something.

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I spent this morning at my least favorite place (the Mall) again. Worse, the place I went to *cough*theLEGOstore*cough* didn't have what I was looking for. (I'd say, but it's a secret and Mason might read it here.)

Plus, I decided I hate the Mall's Barnes & Noble. Specifically. More precisely I hate the people in the children's department, but I think maybe it extends to all the book buyers. Here's the thing. I'm looking for a particular book to buy for a friend. The book is NOT out of print, but it isn't very THIS year, shall we say (although a book in this series did come out this year.) Are there copies of any of the books in this series at the Mall's B&N? No. In fact, I got a very snotty, "Oh, [author's name]... no, we wouldn't have any of those." Like what, because it's more than a day old it's to DIRTY for your store???

What I hate is that in terms of floor space/shelf space for books B&N has an embarrassment of riches. They have a lot of room. Much more, than say Uncle Hugo's, our local, independent SF/F speciality bookstore. Yet Don manages to find space for more than the most recent book in a series... heck, he finds space for out-of-print books like mine. I would probably be wrong about this, but I would bet that Don probably shelves more books than some B&Ns.

I'm also irritated by the fact that certain series, of course, like Twilight and other hot sellers, take up a disproportionate part of B&N's floor space. But there are Twilight plushy dolls, calendars, board games, book bags, toothbrushes....

I'm mad because I went to the Mall for two things and I walked out with neither. But it also irritates me as an author, because I know that even my Tate books are often hard to find at a B&N because they aren't this week's "it" thing. Tall, Dark & Dead is still in print as far as I know, but you won't find it at the Mall.

Man.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. I'm off to work on my editoral notes for ALMOST, so I can get those off my plate and on to more important things (like RESURRECTION CODE.)

a glorious mash-up of horror, fantasy, madness, dreams, and poetic prose--one of those "beautiful mess" books. kudos for the 3-D characters, expertly rendered the subculture of rock/goth/punk/hardcore, the believable gay relationships and the cultural/racial diversity of the cast.

Am reading Pride and Prejudice at the moment. Not the one with zombies, so therefore not for the lulz. I mean the real one.

While this may lower some folks' opinion of me, I never liked this book in high school. It wasn't that I didn't grasp the language, but that the plot and the stakes just seemed so frivolous and disconnected from what mattered to me. Then again, I was also a sexually traumatized, cluelessly in the closet (mostly gay) bi girl who wouldn't have known what to do with a boyfriend and ultimately didn't know when she got one for two weeks five months later, so it was more likely that my speedometer was broken than my mileage just varied.

Which is just to say that I'm enjoying it this time around. Quite a lot, actually.

This year has been one of the worst in my life, but if a re-evaluation of Jane Austen's work is part of its last few gasps, it will not have been a total waste.

(Note to norilana: Now I can fully appreciate your book!!!)

p_dilla is playing 50 cent's video game. I don't know this man. Clearly. In other news while discussing the possibilities of our next home if I get one of these Fed jobs we ran across this place. Decent neighborhood. Great price for investment property. But we'd be landlords. I think we could handle it, but maybe I have the crazy?

Wow! All along, my readers have just been the best, but you guys never cease to amaze me! =D A Wapsi fan just sent me a blu-ray player from my wish list! O_O

*does a happy-little-kid-on-Christmas dance*

Seriously, all you guys rock! ^_^

Hey folks! Here's some more original Wapsi Square comics! Best of luck to all bidding and thanks so much for all your support! ^_^

Any Questions

Selenium Finds a Home

Tastes Like Chicken

Christmas Sledding

Hat in Hand

Scum on My Tongue

That‘s Better

Things Like That

Pick This Up Later

A Sphinxiated