I’m off to Pi-Con today. All kinds of interesting things going on there, and interesting people including the guest of honor, Mary Doria Russell. I’m on a few panels, I will be signing books, too. Maybe I should bring a kantele to play just in case no one shows for the signing. I’m also having…
Category: fantasy
Publication: The Princess and Her Pig
On line now at New Fairy Tales magazine, you will find my poem “The princess and her pig” with a cute illustration and a picture of the real princess, Sophie with her pig. The magazine is chock full of gorgeous illustrations and wonderful stories and poems. Enjoy! (If you do enjoy it, please consider giving…
Albacon
My scheduled panels at Albacon (Oct 10-12) include the following (as of publication time): In A Flash“The challenges and rewards of telling a story in under 1,000 words.”Panelists: Mead, Schwabach, Laity, Strock(M) Folktales/Myths in Fantasy and SF“What folktales are ready made for SF&F? Which would you like to see? Which are overused?”Panelists: Grotta, Doyle, McAfee,…
Because I Will Forget
I read Iain [not M.] Bank’s Walking on Glass partly on the trip to Oxford, then finished it in Kalamazoo. Enjoyable — it winds three different stories together. Two strands are mostly mimetic realism (although one character seems to be given to some paranoid delusions), while the third clearly takes place in an unfamiliar realm….
Thursday Already?
My, how time flies! Tuesday night went well — we had a nice chat over an early dinner at the Pearl, then rushed over to the library amid a sudden downpour and an amazing rainbow (okay, the picture to the left is *not* the rainbow from that day, but one of myriad lovely images from…
Talk of the Town
Or at least the Town Library: I’m part of a panel on the World of Tolkien at the Colonie Town Library. Here’s the skinny: 6:30 PM: The World of Tolkien- A panel discussion on the works of Tolkien and the films made (and to be made) from them. There will be insight into the roots…
The Curse
Gene forwarded a link to a Wired magazine article where Clive Thompson actually compared genre writing positively to “literature” (i.e. stories with people a lot like you* to whom very little happens except for a small epiphany by the end of the story/novel; subgenres include stories about people who have really horrible chldhoods yet survive,…
Which Torchwood Member are You?
To celebrate seeing the first episode of series 2 of Torchwood, I offer this BBC quiz. They don’t give easy cut-and-paste code, so we’ll have to go with less attractive cut and paste. You are Jack You’re a born leader – fair, charismatic, inspiring, firm, loyal to your team, and, most of all, measured and…
Review: Beowulf
Two word review: utter pants Why have a movie about heroics where there is not a single person who embodies the supposed ideal? It may have been meant as a critique of the concept, but if so it failed miserably. The script was a mishmash of half-articulated ideas. A barely developed theme of the effects…
Beowulf: Now it’s Educational!
In my continuing efforts to flog the Beowulf film as an official webmaster, I think it important to keep up with the latest goings-on. That includes a new handout for teachers to use the film as a kind of educational tie-in. This handy guide helps students look at how heroism has been identified in Beowulf’s…