Clave's this weekend!

October waxes, as does the Interweb.  Sigh.

The Sobering Saga of Myrtle the Manuscript.

Quality of slush pile items, a discussion on Absolute Write.


When in doubt, volunteer by Christie Yant.

A 2010 link collection post by Amanda Rutter; interesting in that it contains the 2010 online discussion about sexual harassment,* done by a former editor, among other things... but OT, there's the Mad Hatter on steampunk.


* For a lot of great advice about how to help anyone being harassed, ANYONE, read Brigid Keeley, who writes about this very topic.

Penguicon in review.

So... many days have passed since Penguicon 2015.  Many many.

(Okay, WEEKS, but I had foolishly thought I wouldn't be doing another con until October back then.)

Penguicon was a frickin' excellent con -- wicked brilliant!  I wish you had all been there.

Here's some of the pretty pictures, which I am very grateful to fellow attendees for providing.  [I am rubbish at these things.]

Someone thought my little mini-flyer for UnlockedCon combined with the P-con"Sherlocked!" BoF was worth taking a pic of...

@ninja_CE Have you seen the official Penguicon photos yet? https://t.co/AnOD7zawOr

— Penguicon (@Penguicon) May 15, 2015

Penguicon HO!

This weekend's Penguicon. *

Thirteen years and still going strong.

It will be fun.  There will be Doctors and Daleks, anime and gaming, lots of Linux and computers -- and the Chaos Machine, liquid nitrogen ice cream, authors and parties and fans, oh my, and Stuff.  All manner of Con Stuff!

Pic from this blog: Four Doctors and their Dalek

ConClave's in a fortnight.

Please note two updates to this page, marked by the ETA.

I'll be at ConClave October 10-12, 2014 -- it's at ConFusion's Dearborn hotel.

ETA 29-Sept-2014:  Here's the Clave Facebook page.  The programming track is here (subject to changes, as always); and yeah, that Copy Editor Q & A on Friday night is me.



The Dorsai and crew run a nice little con.  I had a lot of fun last year, and usually do, since Clave is one of my hometown cons.

The writing track looks pretty interesting.  I'm also keen because Kelly McCullough, who wrote the fantastic WebMage series, is the GoH.

The Webmage series is full of awesome.  I'm horrified that Goodreads fans have barely quoted any of it, frankly.  Slackers.  OTOH, some of the best bits aren't one-liners.

I have to lay hands on his other books sometime soon.

Weather/life update.

What an exciting winter travail it's been so far, and that's not even counting last month!

Michigan hit a record for January snowfall:  over 31.5 inches as of yesterday.  Our normal snowfall?  Oh, a mere 12+ inches.

The fear is that we'll break the winter cold record too.  Right now we're in the top five coldest January records, matching the year 1875.

Goodbye, Electric Velocipede.

Electric Velocipede and Icarus Closing

Electric Velocipede has a story in the Year's Best SF, 31st edition.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies blogged about our final issue.  Locus has a long review of EV 27, which includes spoilers for some pieces (I like to read my short fiction without knowing anything about it, myself, but YMMV, of course).

"I’m unhappy to bid goodbye to Electric Velocipede, of which we have the last issue here. A loss to the field." - Lois Tilton
— Electric Velocipede (@EV_Mag) December 27, 2013

You can buy issue 27 as an ebook for Kindle or Nook.  All the poems and stories were posted 30-January-2013.  [Will link to second post presently.]

"The Soviet Union needs beasts... Is a beast what you want to be?” http://t.co/d1Imh8TZMW @sentencebender in @EV_Mag
— Lara Elena Donnelly (@larazontally) December 30, 2013

Come to ConFusion next month (17-19 January 2014) and help us remember Electric Velocipede!  And if you're in NYC during February 2014, they're throwing a party too.  Huzzah to Matt and Sam!

Electric Velocipede (@EV_Mag) final issue release party, Feb 28th at Bluestockings Books. http://t.co/chnxMkUamU
— Matthew Kressel (@mattkressel) December 23, 2013

But we're having a wake in Michigan.

I am particularly proud of this as it was somewhat my idea, you see.  And I wanted John to enjoy ConFusion 2014; what better way than a party?  Celebration and farewell.  Come raise a glass with us -- there will be door prizes and raffles and STUFF.  Really!

I loved working on EV.  I'm proud to have been part of the team for 2008-2013.  I'm grateful for the others who became part of the team too -- for a little while or a long time, depending on their lives.

I'm thankful for them all, every one:  Adam, Patrick, Damien, Jamie; and all our slushreaders and proofreaders and support staff and... you.  Thank you.  It's been a wonderful ride on Electric Velocipede.

I'm so glad I got to hitch a ride.  With John and with all of you.

From Amazing and ConFusion to the Open Door 2013.

I was meandering around the Internet and found this about ConFusion.  Fandom memories and history fascinates me.  8)

The Clubhouse: ConFusion at 40 (more or less); Part 2; and Part 3.


I wasn't involved in this, and heard about it too late... but here's the skinny on the 2013 Dragon*con boycott, at the end of the Amazing post.  By the Foglios and others because of the founder's pedophile activities, how he's funded, and his ways of avoiding the law's reach.

Oh dubious-- I hope fandom gets D-con to pay attention on why this sort of crap is NOT good for anyone.  Not fans, not kids, not society.


It's that time -- Angry Robot is having an Open Door for submissions from now through year-end.  Go check out their site for more info!

Some of what I'm reading: Sept. 2013.

I rarely write up lists like this.  My nonfiction reading tends to go in bursts, depending on my free time and what else is happening in life.

Such as ConClave 2013.  It's 11-13 October.  If you were at ConFusion 2013, this is the same Dearborn hotel.

More on 2012 cons, etc.

I met a lot of folks over the weekend, some I knew, some I didn't. I also passed out my card a lot.

Many thanks to Saladin Ahmed, Scalzi, Jim Hines, Daniel Hogan, Daniel Pipe II, Dave Klecha, and everyone else who I met over the weekend for bending my ear (and letting me bend yours as well).

Epic ConFusion

Short version: Went to con, had fun, saw friends, met new people. Did panels... but not as a panelist. Came home underslept and with my brain buzzing.

Longer version:

I'd told the good Jeff Beeler that I wasn't going to be there Sunday, and expected to attend only Saturday afternoon. So he knew I wouldn't be able to manage a Sunday panel.

When I showed up, several people asked me why I hadn't been at my Grammar Police panel... for Saturday morning. My what?? Including Christian Klaver, who had been one of the panelists!

InFusion, Fusion's daily broadsheet, had listed that "Anne Zanoni will not be here Sunday." I felt very flattered and somewhat awed. It was really nice to know that my updating Jeff meant that people cared to let attendees know a panelist would be missing.

When I got home, last night I saw that Jason Sanford had Tweeted

We're waiting for @ninja_CE before starting the Grammar Police panel b/c she's the grammar expert! Anne, we need you ASAP!

Um. Maybe I shouldn't have been Tweeting before con... it does make people think I Tweet when I'm not in the house [like most people]. Pity I can't put up a Twitter away message... but that would be really annoying on Twitter!

Christian said that despite Grammar Police being a morning panel, there was a good turnout. Huzzah!! So I'm glad the topic worked. I'd hoped that would help writers.


I managed to attend four panels. I learned more about how PDFs flow (or don't!) in ebooks, heard about crowdsourcing, Worldcon bids, saw the Sony ereaders that Kathy Becker has, and divers things...

I really enjoyed the panel about anachronisms.

I wish I had managed my time better on Toby's panel; I hate it when I'm meeting people and have to duck in and out of panels. OTOH, I didn't interrupt with a ringing phone either, so that was a win.


I also pushed folks to attend Chicon 7 and WFC 2012. Truly, the more the merrier, and hey, we're helping the economy too! =twinkle=


I found out where friends had moved, saw the kidlets of Ken Strong and Chad Childers, heard about the best place to hold a kid's birthday party -- Jim Hoxsie's place, of course! -- and other stuff. I've missed people.

I also got to meet the author (Brent Weeks) who blurbed a book for Douglas Hulick, a SCAdian, who I also met this weekend. See, Doug's book was compared to my friend Dave's book, Giant Thief -- isn't it a small world? :D

Got to spend a little time with a lot of people. The cocktail party had lovely toffee. Most interesting costume of the weekend was a Clone Wars trooper.

2012: cons...

I've been thinking about the 2012 cons for some time. I registered for Toronto's WFC way back -- in February 2011? I loved WFC 2010.

I also got a supporting membership for WorldCon -- Chicon 7 -- a month ago. I crunched numbers; I can make it to Chicago, so I upgraded to a full membership.

Which John Scalzi is hustling people for, as of today:

• My promise: If @Chicon_7 gets to 6,000 attending memberships, I'll wear a white Mr. Rourke suit for at least one day of the con. 5 hours ago
• To be fair, I AM the Toastmaster of Chicon 7. Which makes me Mr. Rourke of this particular Nerd Fantasy Island. 5 hours ago

Can't you help him with his goal? :D It'd be fantastic! And c'mon, Chicago Worldcon, it's sooooo close to Detroit!! =bounce bounce=


Here in the Metro Detroit area, there's ConFusion, Penguicon, and ConClave.

I've just registered for Fusion. We usually get a blizzard that weekend -- I swear it's to stymie every visitor into thinking Michigan is full of snow. But Fusion seems to get this snow no matter what, so be prepared.

Cons I'd like to attend, but cannot manage in 2012: Readercon and Fourth Street Fantasy.

Psst. Electric Velocipede plans to have at least part of the staff at either Chicon and/or WFC... =pleased= Now that our staff's grown to five from two, that's pretty spiffy. Also a little crazier wrt meeting up in person, since we're in four states and one province!

Penguicon 2011

I've been at every Penguicon since it first debuted in Warren, MI.

The usual suspects -- Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Tobias Buckell, Jim C. Hines, Merrie Haskell, and many more -- will be there. Our GoH's Brandon Sanderson.

I'm trying to think of something that poor Brandon hasn't been asked a thousand times. I stymied Steve Jackson of SJG one year with a question; I swear it wasn't intentional. Steve's a good sport, though.

But I think Brandon might like getting a good unusual question. Or... maybe not. :]

If you've never been to P-con, here's his schedule and Jim Hines' schedule. To give you a tiny taste -- tiny indeed, since this doesn't include the music, such Tom Smith and the Great Luke Ski! nor the liquid nitrogen ice cream... or the Chaos Machine...

I realized I hadn't posted about the con earlier -- sorry! I'd truly meant to.

Hope to see you there!

Royalties, Borders & EV

Guess who paid lost royalties today? It's a good day to be an e-book author... at Macmillan and Amazon, where they're reaping the bounty from the Amazon Kindle Outage Adjustment.

And if you haven't been following the Borders news -- that they may file bankruptcy -- here's the synopsis from Locus. Kris has been covering details about it at The Business Rusch also, along with an explanation of the nitty-gritty.


We have A Rather Large Announcement over at EV today.

Check it out.

Kris & the Changing Times.

I've been reading the Business Rusch, by Kristine Katherine Rusch. I first heard about her Freelancer's Survival Guide, thanks to John Ottinger -- then got diverted by her Changing Times series. I had added her Guide to my to-buy book list.

I can't recommend her series enough. If you want to understand publishing even a little, particularly if you happen to write, you'll be amazed by the Changing Times.


Angry Robot shows cover love -- their books between now and June 2011.

Matt Forbeck's WFC report.

Next week's ConFusion. I'm wondering if there's enough snow. ;D It seems to be a rule that Fusion has so much snow that even native Michiganders are flummoxed. Visitors must think our winter is like this the entire time... It's not, really, but how would they know?

:D

Moving house -- again.

I got the chance to move back home to Michigan. Over Labor Day.

So if you hadn't already heard, since I have been minimizing email, things are a little chaotic at present.

My kind hosts here in Ohio are letting me do this in stages. I'll get to spend my upcoming birthday in Michigan, and see my niece and my new nephew... and... and... I feel very lucky.

You can take the Great Lakes out of some people, but not certain Michiganders.

More news after Labor Day, I expect.

Honorables and...

Shimmer and Electric Velocipede both got honorable mentions in Ellen's new anthology, Best Horror of the Year 2.

Here's three Shimmery reviews. And isn't this a pretty cover for the new EV? :D


I'm going up to Penguicon in two weeks. P-con moved again, now it's at ConFusion's hotel, the Troy Marriott.

It's interesting to see how things change; I hadn't done panels much because I'd been involved in writing workshop coordination. Now the panels that interest me are about writing and/or publishing... a logical progression, but one I wouldn't have thought about a decade ago.

Images of ConFusion

So... my time at ConFusion was a mixture of seeing friends and meeting new people; room parties; William Jones' launch party for Pallid Light, and William's photos of same; and the Sunday wedding of Richard Tucholka and Melody Natcher.

The latter featured Cthulhu bouquets for the bridesmaids, and the cake had a giant silver UFO hanging off the side. The processional was The Addams Family theme. Most memorable ever wedding.

I can't figure out why the legions of photographers haven't posted pix yet!

I spent much time in the dealers' room, and some time hanging out in the gaming area. :>

Here's Peter S. Beagle singing. :D I also got to Mike Resnick's Sunday reading, which was fantastic.

Some folks I met:

• Monique Magee and Robert Lazich at Dwarf Planet Press [which comes out of ECDI]
• John Grace of Brillance Audio, who then let me lead him around the dealer room
  
• Chris Chivers of Naloomi's Workshop, makers of really cool architecture for miniatures to run amok in
• Gozer Games, the creators of Collateral Damage, an anime boardgame; they also ran a Zombie/Ninja/Pirates/Mad Scientist party :D
• I also spoke with Connor, who ran Peter S. Beagle's booth, and saw the gorgeous new artwork there by a talented young artist
  

And the Rebel Legion was present, so between them and the steampunk crew -- for which I cannot yet locate pix, alas! -- the con was pretty colorful. There is nothing in this world, truly, like seeing Princess Leia in her original white dress leaning over a white laptop.

Mid-January -- right?

I haven't been reading any blogs except EV, so no other links today.

I delivered my January book, and now I'm on my smaller deadlines -- smaller as in lower word counts. So this week is all about 'zines. :> I sent in NYSRF already; time for Locus, Shimmer, and EV.

FYI: That book was about 98k, so one of my higher word counts.

I'll also be packing for my trip. I keep feeling like it's next week, or nearly next weekend, so I look at the calendar a lot. Nothing like living in the future a little too much!

ETA: Moonie on OW, or, the Dreaded Overwriter!

New policy for 2010...

Instead of shouting "A book, I have a new book in!" -- I will start saying just how full my schedule is. Less repetitive, eh?

January:

1. Deliver one proofread this month...
2. ... And then start another, due early Feb.
   
3. Visit Michigan and thus my niece, parents, aunt, cousins, and many friends.
4. Attend ConFusion. That's up in Troy, where I used to live some years back, and north of Detroit. This is where a friend of long standing will get married. :D

So this month is pretty full. Hope your 2010 is starting off well!

Detroit and TIME

TIME Magazine bought a house in Detroit. Because they care, say I.

=smile= Sports Illustrated said because Detroit is at heart a sports town.

I know that to many people who don't live in Michigan, Detroit stands for Michigan. I love my state. I remember coming back on Greyhound once, and seeing Detroit got me all choked up. That meant I was really home, seeing the Ambassador Bridge, the Fox Theater, the Ren Cen... knowing the parts you couldn't see from the road, like Belle Isle and Trappers Alley. Things I cannot describe easily here, even. As much a part of my life as Oakland University is.

Detroit's my city too. Right now I live a few miles from the edge of city limits.

So this hasn't anything to do with my usual links about writing and publishing, or cons -- but there's journalists here.

We're all in this together. ("You, me, her and him," as Sondheim says.) Libraries, cities, states... people.