I'm pleased to report that my WOTF-winning novelette "The Frozen Sky" has just been reprinted in Apex Magazine along with new stories from Glen Lewis Gillette and Jennifer Pelland.

Apex #1 Vol. 3 is available online or as a sharp-looking pdf or as a print magazine. You can order it here and, hey, this is a collector's item, folks!

If you didn't catch "The Frozen Sky" in Writers of the Future 23, here's your chance.

Amazing.

Tags: apex magazine, the frozen sky, writers of the future 23
Current Mood: happy

For anyone (like me!) who hasn't read Douglas Preston yet, jeez, people, get out there and get into his stuff.

I picked up a copy of Blasphemy at the behest of an online friend. Naturally it sat in my to-read stack for months. You all know how much leisure reading I'm doing these days... nearly zilch... but I had the chance to bring a book with me on a short vacation last week.

Whammo! Talk about your high-octane big idea tech thriller! He's got God. He's got science. Romance. Politics. Explosions. Dark caves and burning deserts. Just as important, he's got readability. The eye moves easily through every page & there's no surprise why this guy's on the top of the NYT bestseller lists.

I guess I'm done gushing now. But I'm going out to read more asap.

Tags: blasphemy, douglas preston, recommended reading, wow
Current Mood: cheerful

And Now It's Time For Your REWARD...

Apparently I've got old movies on the brain. Who can name me the classic horror flick in which someone gets their reward? Someone most hungry for it... :)

In the meantime, we've had two winners in my torturously scattered trivia challenge, Kimberly Arnold, known previously to me only as Cat Whisperer on MySpace, and Lewis Bornmann, an awesome fan who disqualified himself months ago by acing the Name Game Contest, for which he'll be appearing in Plague Zone as USAF Captain Bornmann, no doubt to experience a horrific death. Wait for November! Asimov's is already into page proofs for "A Lovely Little Christmas Fire" and they'd scream if I tried to swap in a new name at this point, so Ms. Arnold will find herself suddenly in... whoops! I almost said the title! Ms. Arnold will find herself suddenly in the Big New Secret Thriller, again no doubt to experience a cinematic and awful death. What is my problem!?

This goofy contest originated at Norwescon, post PKDs, where I was talking with some strangers when I abruptly went sideways with the conversation and declared, "And then... the oral sex!"

The woman looked at me oddly but the guy laughed, recognizing the line from Monty Python's The Holy Grail. He told us a funny story about an office gag in which his co-workers needed ask, on TV, "When is a duck not a duck?" "WHEN IT'S A WITCH!" he screamed. But his co-workers only looked at him as blankly as our current partymate looked at me when I said it was time for you know what. Well. The next day, talking with the astounding SunnyJim Morgan, one of the organizers of the con, she mentioned that she could read and write fluently in Elvish. Don't ask me how this came up in conversation. I was wasted on caffeine and sleep deprivation. I said, "Oh yeah?" She said, "Oh yeah." So I said, "I bet you can't write 'When Is A Duck Not A Duck?' in Elvish." But sure enough, when I was home, GirlJim emailed me that phrase exactly.

What was I to do with it? Certainly I wasn't going to hide it forever in my computer! So I put it on my blog.

How were you to know all of this? Beats the heck out me. ;)

Even worse, the line "When is a duck not a duck" doesn't even appear in the movie. But close. Oh, so very close.

Tags: monty python, norwescon 32, trivia contest winners
Current Mood: chipper

Tags: podcast gunfight starshipsofa asimov's y
Current Mood: chipper

Life has been like John Irving novel. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but very busy. I'm behind on everything. Maybe someday I'll dish about it. In the meantime, StarShipSofa has released "Gunfight" as a podcast narrated by Diane Severson, who strikes just the wry note of humor.

Somebody needs to do this story as a film, that's what I think. It's peppy and action-packed and original. Heck, there are zombie deer! :)

If you haven't already, you can check it out here.

Tags: asimov's, gunfight, podcast, starshipsofa
Current Mood: busy

Tags: ace books, plague zone cover art
Current Mood: cheerful

"The Niners are set to take the snap. Here comes the ball... It's a fake! It's a fake! The kicker takes the ball and runs for the strong side of the line! I think he's going to make it!"

That's what the announcer would be saying if this was a football game. I have yet to see cover art from my American publisher, who has the book, but here's some nice, spooky, eye-grabbing cover art from my German publisher, who doesn't have the book. Go figure. Fortunately, the cover makes sense with the storyline. Piper Verlag did ask me what the book is about and clearly they're not messing around. They've got INFEKT slated for February 2010. It's ready to fly. Except for the pages that, you know, go between the covers. We'll translate that stuff soon. :)

Tags: infekt, piper verlag, plague zone
Current Mood: bouncy

Tags: antidoto, book porno, spain
Current Mood: chipper

Tags: long eyes, starship sofa, youtube
Current Mood: busy

This is a joke from a friend in a fictional language. For the prize of finding your name in an upcoming story, maybe the new piece for Asimov's, who can tell me what this simple statement reminds me of?

It gets trickier. The simple statement isn't wholly accurate to what it reminds me of... and how the heck are you supposed to know what I'm thinking?

I dunno. Good luck! :)

Tags: name game contest, trick question
Current Mood: cheerful