“Like a fox drunk on honey” is one of my favorite Tamil expressions. My husband says it about Lucy the Mutant Cat when she starts doing that thing where she’s running around like a jackass chasing ghosts. Anyone who’s ever been in close proximity to a cat for more than 24 hours will know what I mean.

But for the moment, I’m the fox. So much is going on, and I loooooove it.

Yeah, the extra “o”s were necessary. Absolutely.

1. Vampire Awareness Month is, sadly, over. Mark Deniz posted a really wonderful recap of the posts and events, plus his own excellent mini-reviews of the films, and a great article about Dracula and the Liminal Zone to cap it off. And then came the announcements…

2. Which involved the lovely Beyond Fiction. This is all reviews and interviews, all the time, with a strong focus on the “stars of speculative fiction” series. I’ve somehow scored a spot as a reviewer there, so– yay!

But wait, there’s more. What with the somewhat unexpected success of VAM, the brains behind the scene have decided it’s time for Ghost Appreciation Month. Or, I should say, that October should be time for Ghost Appreciation Month. It’s going to be huge, and hosted over at the Beyond Fiction site, so check it out. (And never fear, I have no ghost characters with which to torment you this time around.)

3. Oh my gosh, how beautiful is Cate’s Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits? (Hey nice segue, right? She was just featured over at BF’s Stars of Speculative Fiction yesterday with a cracking interview.)

She’s running a fabulous contest, and I was given the Strange Person award by the marvelously strange Michael Stone! And so, since I really want to win the amazing prizes, I’m now going to present the award to seven strange folk myself:

N.K. Kingston
Corinne Duyvis
Meghan Brunner
Amanda Pillar
Mercedes Yardley
Danielle Ferries
Mary Rajotte

Hm, that’s the Strange Women in Pinstripe Suits award, apparently. Well, there are a lot of those around, and it’s best not to argue with them, I think.

I’d encourage you to enter too, but the thing is that I want to win. Ah well, I encourage you anyhow. See, I can be unselfish!

And as for me, I’m heading to Philadelphia tomorrow morning to do some primary source type research for The Resurrectionists. Yes, that early 19th c America meets Frankenstein meets ill-fated romance novel from last year is coming back to life now that I have enough perspective. But before the edit can begin, I’m going to be digging through Philadelphia journals, letters, and– of all awesome things– lecture notes from UPENN’s medical college in 1826 until Friday evening. Welcome to my summer vacation of incomparable coolness.

Also, The Red Penny Papers goes live and opens for submissions in mere weeks. More on that soon, but things are looking great from where I stand.

So, yes. Fox drunk on honey. This is the life.

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Now playing: The Clash – Death or Glory
via FoxyTunes

Another week of radio silence! I had planned to do the WIP Wednesday thing, but I’d spent almost the whole week reading for research and filling in scripted bits between written scenes, so I didn’t feel like I had anything of interest to say. Then I thought I’d do some recs, as I dropped the ball in February and didn’t want a repeat in March–

Wait, this is kind of a long story.

I read perpetually. Much of it is research, which is the usual when I’m writing anything. (In this case I decided that what little magic exists in this fantasy world is not only clockwork and/or drug-induced, but can only be accurately understood by the sane through the application of mathematics that I don’t understand myself. Brilliant, I know.)

But I’ve also noticed that I’m not reading quite as much free online stuff as I used to for one simple reason: after a few years of that, I’ve learned whom and what I can trust to give me the goods and started paying for it. Necrotic Tissue, M-Brane Sci-Fi, Jeremy Shipp’s Bizarro Bites, Apex– okay, you can still read Apex for free, but you know. I’ve also had a load of anthologies and collections from these and other publishers on my plate lately, and find I’d rather read those than anything else. And that’s another post for another time.

Then there’s part where, after all those months of rifling through the online mags, I know which editors produce what I like and I find myself simply going back to them over and over– which doesn’t make for a very interesting online sampling. I invariably read 52 Stitches, a good chunk of Absent Willow Review, Reflection’s Edge almost entirely, The Edge of Propinquity, The New Bedlam Project, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Three Crow Press– hit up the later for the annual erotica issue with a story by the lovely Mina Kelly, by the way.

See, I can’t help myself, I snuck in a rec!

Not that I don’t read anything else or try new things– and I’m certainly leaving things off that list. Just that, you know, why thump on about the same magazines every time?

But I didn’t want to start going on about magazines/stories one must pay for, because the whole point was to go on about things people can see for free, because online free markets are truly a thing of beauty– and quality. So I can either continue on in the previous way, but cut it down to one story a month, even if it is from the usual suspects, or I can completely change up and do the “I paid for this and it’s worth it, so give it a shot” route.

Now’s the part where I reach a conclusion, right? Yeah, I totally haven’t. In the end, I’m just pleased that my search for good short fiction has led me to it so regularly that I don’t even need to look any more. On the other, I’m concerned that I’ve stopped being hungry. Complacency ought to scare me.

But y’all will point me in the right direction when things come up, right?

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Now playing: Camera Obscura – French Navy
via FoxyTunes

Quick addendum to the polls list– how the hell did I forget to mention Fantasy Magazine’s end of year poll?

Oh right, because I voted a week ago, and my brain can only hold information for 48 hours.

Anyhow, I obviously threw my vote behind Cate Gardner, because Trench Foot was amazing. Not that I’m trying to influence you. (But only because I don’t need to.)

I’m done spamming you for now. You’ll be spared WIP Wednesday, even. That is love <3

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Now playing: Franz Liszt – Sonata In B Minor: III. Allegro energico
via FoxyTunes

Right, December! I didn’t read as much as usual, but there were a few things about which I still feel it necessary to rave.

1. The winner of this year’s Spec the Halls contest happens to be an old writing pal of mine (she’s not old, but our acquaintance is), Sue Penkivech. Sue’s work always has this brilliant mix of humor and sci-fi/fantasy that, well, it shows both her talent and her love of Marvel comics, for sure. I mean, the story is called Zombie Elves. If that doesn’t make you want to read it, man, I don’t think there’s any help for you.

I know it’s a bit late for holiday stories, but no mention of December is really complete without one, is it? And this is a fabulous one. I’m so looking forward to more of Virginia and Doug– which Sue has kindly promised us.

2. I’m into fantasy that’s set in a world a little less– hm, how to say this? WASPy. Yes, that. Or, if it’s WASPy, at least give me some part of the world that’s not. It’s a popular thing to do now, luckily, with most large fantasy worlds having a proper eastern or southern hemisphere influence. (I love Tolkien, but this whole Evil Swarthy Men From the East thing is just a little, er, Colonial.)

Right, off the soapbox. I ran across Aliette de Bodard’s In the Age of Iron and Ashes in Beneath Ceaseless Skies this time around, and it has this killer South Asian influence. Yes, I’m vaguely biased in that direction– I studied it, I drag my husband to temples every time we visit his parents, and I write about it sometimes myself. But I really liked the way the whole thing was woven around the Shiva concept. It even incorporates a little of that Mahabharata– specifically around the Bhagavad Gita*– sentiment.

Of course it all goes bugf@$k there in the end, but it’s a great story. Packs a wallop.

I will say, however, that I think it needed some better editing. There are a couple of sentiments that are repeated, as in overstated, in a way that would’ve been easy to fix– and would’ve made the whole thing even more effective. But for all that, it’s still rad. Beautiful images, and really engaging writing.

That’s all I’ll do this time, but I did want to briefly discuss the season of polls, since it’s relevant. Of course there are the P&E polls, which are nearly over, and offer a staggering variety of awesome. Speaking of writing about South Asia, somehow** I’m nominated in there for Boudha on the sci-fi and fantasy short stories poll. First nom ever for a writer thing since, well, high school! Woo!

The New Bedlam Project and Apex Magazine are two of my unfailing reads, and they’re both having best of polls just now. I still can’t decide which one I want to vote for at TNBP, but with Apex I voted for Glenn Lewis Gilette, who I crowed about in a previous edition of my online rantings. But you know, it’s good publicity for your favorite mags, editors, and authors. Most people have done all these ages ago, but if not, last chance for some of them!

*Gross oversimplification–
Arjuna: But, but, but I don’t WANT to fight my cousins!
Krishna: Shut up, hop on this chariot, and save your country, you pansy.

**Actually I know exactly how, because Mark said he was doing it on his blog. I was glad no one was around to see me blush. My whole face turns red, because I’m pink anyhow.

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Now playing: The Small Faces – Hey Girl
via FoxyTunes

October was full of awesome, as usual. That said, I’m going to stick to flash-type stories this time around, since it’s Nano month, and if anyone actually reads these things I rec, they’re not going to have much time for a big old 8k treatise. Another common thread is that they all made me laugh– some in a slightly more black way than others. Good times: fantastic, horrific laughs.

#1 is technically from the September issue of Niteblade, but hey, I read it in October. It’s The Real Snow White by Kristen Lanoue. (If she has a site, I haven’t found it. Let me know if you’re hooked up!) It’s a quick retelling of Snow White from a grouchy dwarven perspective. And I find my life is always better when there are more grouchy dwarves in it. (You think that unlikely, but let’s remember I’m a gamer.)

#2 is from 52 Stiches, king of dark flash sites: Not Easy by Michelle Howarth. Thing is, Jackie is just my kind of character– not the smarmy kind, but the, er, screwed up underdog, I guess. It probably shouldn’t have made me laugh, in retrospect, but there’s such a thing as an evil cackle at the cleverness of execution, right?

#3 is Dumping the Dead by Barbara A. Barnett. Really, I just thought it was an adorable little ghost tale, with some great lines in it. And for some reason (wonder why…) every time I see the name “Warren” I think of Angel. Not the vampire, but you know, Warren K. Worthington III. And it made me laugh to picture him in this situation. Because he totally would be.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent, but really, it’s fun and ghosty even if you don’t have X-Men issues!

And again, in the frantic spirit of the month, I’ll let it be at that and not plague you like I usually do. If you need a little break, these are good stories to look into.

Also, one of my favorite magazines, Apex, is now offering $10 subscriptions. Small price to pay to support such a quality venue, so I thought I’d point it out in case y’all are fans too. Details can be found here.

Short and sweet this time. Back to work now, right? Right, I’ll get on that…

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Now playing: Phish – Weigh
via FoxyTunes