Almost to 2022!

 What a year it's been. I kept hoping I joked when I'd say, "Year Two of the pandemic" while I feared I was not joking. And sure enough, it was not a joke, just a faint hope, swiftly disproved. 

October relaxacon and onward...

Last week, because apparently I cannot control my hypomanic* impulses, I suggested twice that I create a FAQ page for Fiasco 2019... which I keep typing today as Fiascon.  Urm.  Clearly "con" is meant to be part of any con name in my lizard brain.  Figures.

This relaxacon is just Friday and Saturday, 18-October and 19-October, held by Metro Airport.

NOT a weekend-long three-day con.

Two books, alike in... something.

The first book I officially proofread was a long time ago now. :)

And it was this book. In late 2007, Brothers in Arms was the only Vorkosigan novel I hadn't read. I got a copy of the original novel from PaperbackBookSwap, and set to proofreading.

I had a blast.

The first hardcover edition of Brothers in Arms was published in August 2008 in time for the Worldcon, Denvention 3, where Lois was the GoH.

Fandom welcome -- via Austenland.

Brief summary... 

Maybe you didn't expect this slant about fandom, but it's about you, about me, about friendship. And about Austenland. No knowledge of the book nor the movie required.  

Links at end of post.

Jane says:  "Okay, since we have to spend so much time rehearsing this thing... just....
Let's try not to annoy each other." 

Not looking at her, Mr. Nobley replies: "You don't annoy me.
You make me nervous." 

Labor Day 2016: Writing fail.

{ Draft written 5-Sept-2016, primarily. }

Ooooh, let's discuss Idiot Ball, shall we?

One of the things making me crazy watching The Flash season 2... was the idiot ball plot breakdowns.  Sometimes it was so bad they were idiot plots too.  8(

Character acts out of character, i.e., irredeemably stupid?  Guess who's got the idiot ball tonight!

Worst is when said character had said in a past ep why s/he wouldn't do that thing, only to decide to do it in this ep.

Specifics follow.  Also SPOILERS.  

Skip this if you have not seen the The Flash s2.

Another January death--STOP IT!!!

One of my editors died today (from Making Light and BoingBoing, respectively).

Astronomicon 12

Except I never edited with David Hartwell, at least not directly.  He was unfailing kind to me.  David knew I was part of NYRSF staff and was very enthusiastic about my work there -- so yes, in a way he was "my" editor.

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.

Coolness, NYCC, publishing numbers: also cake.

Jim Hines on Cool Kids in sf/f.  Fascinating.

Kameron Hurley gives us the Cold Publishing Equations: Books Sold + Marketability + Love.  This is important, new writers!  READ HER EQUATIONS.  They will help you.

Really, grasshopper, I joke not.

And yes, this includes anyone who feels that self-publishing makes it All Different.  It really does not, not if you didn't do all the things professionally and did not happen to know how to do them either.  This is no judgment:  everyone learns.

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

Tweets, Tor, Puppies, writing.

Fascinating article by @Suw about @torbooks' recent Social Media difficulties: http://t.co/fgL8BWCeE6

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) June 10, 2015

My thoughts on the Tor mess, a.k.a. Theo Beale jerks people around again. http://t.co/t0jZ13r3KD

— Jim C. Hines (@jimchines) June 11, 2015

Eric Flint on the Sad Puppies' latest [June 2015].

Jim Hines:  Bigots, Bullies, and Enablers.  (FYI:  regarding tags, I also count bullies as predators.)

A few words from our sponsor--

The Internet.

Well, what did you THINK would sponsor an editor anyway?

Cat waxing for fun and profit and... urm.

This is actually to balance out Tuesday's sad news.  We lost Tanith Lee -- see Tor.com, help them keep hanging their poor overus'd site, why don't you.

She died this weekend.  I'll write more about her in the future.  Not today.  Already wrote up a short piece for NYRSF... a love letter to one of my very favorite authors.  Goodbye, Tan.  I wish I'd told you how much you meant to me and how you helped shape my life, mind, heart, soul.

But I didn't.  8(

The Hugos and Worldcon 2015: ongoing.

It is ongoing.  The Saga Continues, forsooth!

I will buy a supporting membership to WorldCon for ten people who cannot afford it. Here's why. http://t.co/QR1M07YDs3
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) April 11, 2015

Mary's blog that week, Talk with me about being a fan of science fiction and fantasy -- is about the Hugo awards, Worldcon voting, sf fandom, assumptions and backstory...

I was offline much of that week, so I missed this membership gifting.

I have read about the 2015 Worldcon/Hugo kerfluffle, as many have been calling it.  John O'Neill over at Black Gate called it The 2015 Hugo Train Wreck.

Thanks to my best friend Bea for sharing about the Black Gate post.

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.

DetCon1.

NASFiC 2014, or DetCon1, was lovely.  (NASFiC only happens whenever North America loses the bid for Worldcon, btw.)  DetCon was the eleventh NASFiC.

I keep writing it as "Detcon" and having to correct it.  Apparently my mind palace has it That Way.


The Ren Cen was a worse maze than I remembered, and it's one of only three con hotels that have been possessed of a glyph of confusion.  At least for me.  Except that I think the Ren Cen actually has multiple glyphs...

I'm sorry that I didn't see many costumes, but then that happened at Chicon 7 as well.

Bernadette Bosky, one of the Fan GOHs, enjoyed the con too.

Jim Hines:  Flickr of DetCon1 pics.

A little ramble back to dear Gen...

Bless you, Goodreads fans of Megan Whalen Turner!

Because I didn't know there was another story about Eugenides.  A little one.  It is called "Thief!" and hanging on her own website.  Whether or not you've read the Thief series yet, check it out.

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!

The Backup Ribbon in fandom.

I wasn't at Worldcon 2013 [LoneStarCon 3] but I have seen some of the Tweets.

This is what the great Saladin Ahmed posted.

If you're being harassed at #worldcon and I'm nearby, say "Hey! Saladin!" I'll run interference. I look like this. pic.twitter.com/WCq888SrX6
— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) August 30, 2013

This is the Backup Ribbon project.  I love it.

I especially adore the "large friendly letters" part, but I love all of it -- concept and execution.  This is a brilliant idea.

New job at EV

An editing position. :D

http://blog.electricvelocipede.com/2008/11/announcement-1-introducing-anne-zanoni.html

Electric Velocipede proofreading

I just wrapped up part of Electric Velocipede 15/16.

This was my first issue, and it's a double issue. I was assigned a quarter, but since some selections were still in editing, I elected to make up for that by starting sooner in the issue.

Wow. Some really lovely stories in EV. When I get back from Clave, I mean to read the earlier half, since I had other projects this week (sf novel, workshop, con arrangements).