and she was

Apex Magazine--subscribe now!

2008-05-04T18:03:34Z

I'm passing this along from the fine folks at Apex digest...

Okay, I'm going to come right out and say it. The magazine needs more subscribers. Probably doesn't come as any shock, as this happens every year.

So we're going to do an old-fashioned subscription drive.

The reality of the situation is that we need 150 new subscribers (or roughly $3000), or we're looking at a hiatus until I have enough disposable income to push out another issue. I use the term "hiatus" because there won't be any mercy killings going on around here. I love the damn magazine too much to let it go (or possibly too stubborn), but the hiatus could be an extended one.

--How can you help?
--By taking out a subscription! Or buying magazines from our store!

Subscriptions are a measly $20 for 4 issues in the US. $24 for Canada/Mexico. $34 for the rest of the world.

We've re-initiated the APEX FOR LIFE subscription option that gives you Apex until you die. This goes for $100.

If you're interested in the magazine, but want to check it out before taking out a subscription, then take a look through our ample back catalog.

Or, heck, if you're wanting to show your support but not necessarily want a subscription, check out our ample back catalog.

Every person taking out APEX FOR LIFE subscriptions will be entered to win the following prizes:
1) ARC copy of Broken on the Wheel of Sex by Jack Ketchum (Overlook Connection)
2) Signed limited copy of Orpheus and the Pearl by Kim Paffenroth (Magus Press)
3) Signed copy of Homebody by Orson Scott Card
4) Limited signed copy of When Dark Descends by Charles L. Grand & Thomas F. Monteleone (Borderlands Press)
5) Hardcover copies of Gratia Placenti and Aegri Somnia edited by Gill Ainsworth and Jason Sizemore

Furthermore, every person taking out a lifetime subscription will receive a TPB copy of either Unwelcome Bodies or The Next Fix.

Here's a link to our store:
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=2

Buy something, then help us get the word out!

SNAFUs and Iron Man

2008-05-03T19:09:05Z

So I finally, finally finished this scene I'm working on that I've been picking away at for about a week, since it is rather fundamentally shifting around some huge things, and anyway it's super confusing and my brain had a hard time wrapping around it, and then I'm done with it (for now, will need some massaging later) and decide to delete some empty files. This is all in Ulysses, a writing program I like a lot. Anyways, of course I erase the damn scene full of my blood, sweat and tears.

After much gnashing of my teeth, I found this button in Ulysses that if I pushed it maybe everything would get better or maybe everything might get erased. Yeah, I'm pretty tech savvy. So I push it, and voila! Ta da! I got my scene back. Yay! Time for a stiff drink, even if it's only noon.

In other news, I saw Iron Man yesterday, and didn't like it. I think everyone else on the planet did. I just couldn't get passed the "it would be okay if he was making all these gnarly new weapons, as long as he only sold them to the US army" conceit. For me, with movies, there's often something like this that bugs me so much it just makes the rest of it seem shitty. Not consciously, it just taints it.

That said, the last line of the movie was my fave. I thought it was a great shout out to all us comic book nerds, taking a known moment in every superhero's journey, and changing it.

may day

2008-05-01T19:18:55Z

Happy International Worker's Day. I'll be marching with parents with babies crowd for a couple of hours, and hopefully be singing some old labor tunes though if anyone starts in with the Internationale I'll have to pass because damn, that song has too many verses. What are y'all doing for May Day?

Stuff White People Like

2008-04-16T19:31:09Z

I might be late to the party, and everyone might already know about this site, but a friend turned me on to--

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Did you know white people like the idea of soccer? And metal water bottles? And 80's night? That's only the beginning of stuff I read and had to say, oh, I am such a white girl.

The whole site is charming and funny, and so excellent, I think, in pointing out that yep, white culture is a culture, and just because it's all over the place doesn't mean it's not as strange and nuanced as any other culture. I also think it points out all kinds of racism/white supremacy stuff in funny ways that get around the throat clenching arm folding reactions of white guilt.

My one critique is the site has a middle-class and up bias, nevertheless, bravo.

The Torch

2008-04-08T14:44:03Z

Saw some gorgeous pictures of a Free Tibet bridge hanging yesterday, and then was fascinated to read girliejones' piece on the nazi reinvention of the torch ceremony, which they brought back at the Berlin olympics. http://girliejones.livejournal.com/903254.html

Tibet is a continuous tragedy, and I'm pleased about all the Olympic protests, and kind of confused about how people don't like impeding the torch, particularly because it symbolizes national unity, and I find it very just that it get disrupted when those nations are committing cultural genocide. All this made me think about my favorite image of the olympics...

"Tommie Smith and John Carlos (bronze medalist) used the podium to express their opposition to racism during the U.S. national anthem at the Olympic Games, in 1968. As members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights their silent ‘black power’ salute resulted in them returning home as hero’s to the African American community, whilst the wider community, who were furious at their political statement, ensured they were suspended from the US team and the Olympic Village."

Wonder Wander

2008-04-04T18:20:53Z

Here's the link to the new Bjork video that some very lovely people put lots of time and passion into making. It may take a little while to load.

http://media.ghostrobot.net/7020_wanderlust.html

Phases of Errors

2008-03-20T01:52:30Z

I go through phases of "the mistakes I always make and have to correct" in my manuscripts. Used to be alot and abandonned, past for passed, and using too many gerunds, but these days I have a truly strange one. Which is, I keep putting in the wrong prepositions. Why, brain, why? Does anyone else have things like this pop up in their writing?

politics politics

2008-03-16T02:01:08Z

As someone who is enjoying the media spectacle of the ping-ponging drama of You Tube videos between Obama and Hillary, I find this latest one interesting, in that Obama is actively talking to and soliciting the blogging crowd. New media has arrived (maybe a long time ago.)

Wanderlust

2008-03-05T20:17:15Z

My brother outlaw (sort of like an inlaw) is soon to release his new video for Bjork's song Wanderlust. Here's a picture from the video. Pretty pretty, no?

TV and Presidents

2008-03-05T01:36:03Z

So, I've grown fond of the Sarah Conner Chronicles, aka the Sarah Chronic. At first I was so annoyed at the weird sexual vibe between mother and son, but then I was like all right, okay, I can dig it, and started to like River Tam as the hottie robot, and David Silver as the bad boy of the future. Last night they aired the finale, which was clearly just two episodes showed back to back. Know what that means?
Another show I like is soon to be canned. I'm the typhoid Mary of TV shows. Maybe all of us in the SF world are, but even when I venture out of the genre, ie Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls, they drop like flies.

Oh, and, Obama vs Hillary? The rallying cry around our house has been go with the crapshoot. Ie, we know the Clinton presidency, and we might as well go with the guy who might be surprising.

Also, neither here nor there, but the Will.I.Am videos? Such amazingly lovely propaganda. They brought a tear to my crusty, cynical heart.

Reason #462 that I am a twelve year old masquerading as a 33 year old

2008-02-27T00:50:51Z

For the third year in a row, the IRS wrote me to kindly let me know I did my taxes wrong. Sigh.

Escape from Witch Mountain

2008-02-20T02:43:33Z

Watched an old movie I hadn't seen since I was a kid, and the best line from it?

"Our planet was dying, and the only industry left was the manufacturing of space ships."

California

2008-02-17T04:00:47Z

Today I went biking down the coast and watched the surfers doing their thing, alternately pulling off heroic feats or eating a lot of sea water. I wove in between lots of tourists and family and everyone was happy at the sun, and the way the ocean makes waves, and the roller coaster, of course. It truly is a lovely roller coaster. I biked around and thought about how this is a pretty great place, even if it doesn't feel like home yet, and even if I was biking alone because I just don't have the kinds of friends yet to do that here, ie, the ones I want to spent an entire afternoon with, just them and me. It's a pretty place to be stranded.

Then I came home and had a nasty fight with E, and then we were all like woah, we haven't had one of those in a while. You know you love someone when you fight hard, because you care enough to fight the very best.

Sigh.

Then I signed some contracts for Pod Castle, who are buying two flash pieces, and I listened to some Escape Pod, and then imagined my stories being read out loud and felt all happy.

Oh, and I read a little bit of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and got all jealous at Foer for creating Oskar. He is a great character.

Sometimes I feel like the story of my life would best be described in really bold colors that indicated moods and most days would be really colorful.

Shiny!

2008-02-07T22:44:30Z

I have a short story in Shiny Magazine. It's my cheerleader and the three nerds go on a quest to win the science fair, and learn about life lessons and quantum physics along the way. You can have a look see at --

http://shinymag.blogspot.com/

Shiny Magazine is the only spec fiction for a YA audience out there, (that I know of.) I loved SF in my youth, and you probably did to, so maybe you should recommend it to some terrible teens. I'm slowly savoring their stories and find them shockingly good, and I would love for this zine to continue on and on.

ktsparrow @ 2008-01-30T08:48:00

2008-01-30T20:28:17Z

Well, I got ordained today. Yep. Now who wants to get married?

Full house.

2008-01-26T16:56:42Z

We have 8 people in our little apartment right now. A couple of planned guests, then several people in town for a media conference who showed up a bit last minute. We have two people sleeping on the couch and holding each other so one doesn't fall off. We have people on the wooden floor stretched out in weird positions, and three people in the double bed downstairs. It reminds me of the muppet movie where six puppets are taking a bath together and Fonzie is making a huge stack of pancakes and everyone is singing and in each others business. Only right now everyone is sleeping, but soon it will be that fun, I'm sure.

Bored at work?

2008-01-15T16:01:30Z

http://darthside.blogspot.com/

Hyper-Awesome

2008-01-13T16:40:35Z

Is anyone else watching Hyperdrive? Does everyone else know about it and is secretly trying to mess with me? Could not stop laughing last night over 'The Office' in SSSppppaaaccce. I don't know how the brits are so clever with the humorous SF. I find most humor stupid. That's what kept me from Doctor Who for years. And now the brilliant hyperdrive. What next, England?

Sales

2008-01-11T18:28:44Z

Two sales, two pretty sales coming to a magazine near you.

First up we have "The Future is Already Seen," bought by Shiny. As I write YA, I'm super-pleased by this one. It's the tale of the truth behind the fiction behind the lies of popular girls and deja vu.

Next, we have "These Days," bought by Apex Digest. Yay! My second sale to them. Double yay! And they have illustrations, yahoo! It's a fairy tale of a band on the run at the end of the world as we know it. This story sort of kills me, in a good way, and I'm shocked and pleased that someone (anyone) else understood what the hell I was thinking when I wrote it.

Storm

2008-01-10T16:29:29Z

So, California had a big storm. With big winds. And after our power went out, and I was sitting in my living room writing a scene in my book about a storm (because I'm creative like that) the window right behind me exploded. From the wind. Shard of glass, as big as my arm, were everywhere, and lots of little ones too. I just got a little cut on my arm, but the rest of the day was like, shit, there's another pane of glass that might break, and another, etc.
E and I went downtown to buy a flashlight and everything was out there too. We ate avo sandwiches at a dark deli, and bought our flashlight at the dark outdoor world, and it was all traffic jams and flooding streets. Ocean waves were crashing over the sea wall on Westcliff, which meant they were at least 20 feet high. I'm used to the weather being something you wear a coat or flip flops for, like most kids on the west coast. This felt a little more hurricane-ish.

Yay!

2007-11-26T18:22:16Z

Happiness is Aeon 12 with stories I want to read and one I know well enough that I probably won't read. That is to say, my fourth week Clarion West story, "Welcome to Oceanopia." This is my 'squirrel-girl makes good at the end of the world as we know it tale. It is one of my favorites, and I love the graphic. I hope others read it!

Teasers at:
http://aeonmagazine.com/aeontwelve.html

Zombies in Plain English

2007-10-27T14:20:33Z

Happy Halloween!

Wanna write messy, ugly, strange things?

2007-10-26T16:47:18Z

Or beautiful, stirring, poetic things?
Or robotic, funny, tearful things?
Then you should try to go--I went to Clarion West in 2005 and it was profound.

NEW CLARION and CLARION WEST APPLICATION DEADLINE

Both Clarion and Clarion West Writing Workshops have changed their
final application deadlines to March 1 for 2008. If you're
recommending the workshop to anyone, make sure you let them know.

This earlier deadline gives people an extra month to rearrange their
lives, and allows more time for organizations sponsoring workshop
scholarships to select recipients.

In case you haven't heard, this is Clarion West's 25th anniversary,
and there is a truly fabulous lineup of instructors--Paul Park, Mary
Rosenblum, Cory Doctorow, Connie Willis, Sheree R. Thomas, and Chuck
Palahniuk.

Spread the word!

www.clarionwest.org

Oh, baby!

2007-10-13T17:17:08Z

I'm an Aunt! My sister had a baby a day ago weighing in at 6-ish pounds and bearing the name Henry Jay Daily. He looks very baby like and not at all like my family, though my mom has freakishly dominant genes, so I have high hopes Henry will join the 'You look just like Linda' club.
I can't wait to run up to Seattle and meet him, and see my sister and brother in law in action before the month is through.
My other sister has claimed the title Auntie M (for Molly) and I'm trying to come up with something just as rakish. My first inclination is to go for Uncle Katie, or Unca Katie, depending on Henry's diction, which is sure to annoy/piss off certain members of my family, but which makes me laugh. But maybe an even more fabulous name will emerge--any ideas, folks? I think this is the first time I've ever had a familial title.

Oh! Wow! Thing!

2007-10-05T23:02:12Z

A while back I was reading some letters between Ursula and Alice (Le Guin and Tiptree) and they were talking about how certain writers--and they were this to each other--made them sick to read, because those writers were doing what they wanted to do, only in ways they could never have come up with and it just made them feel small and shitty and jealous.

So I started reading Feed the other day, by M.T. Anderson, and it did that to me. I just can't believe what he got into that book, with a voice that just lulls you into this dystopic political story about corporations, consumption, and media that just is the full package. So smart, precise, and devastating. And hilarious, did I mention that? Somewhere in the first third of the book I dropped my jealousy and dived in and swam underwater until the very end. Wow.

I feel really lucky to be writing SF YA in a time when he is writing and giving those stories to the world. I just finished it on the bus ride home, and sat there feeling nauseous (okay, reading on the bus and having drunk a gallon of hot chocolate half an hour ago probably contributed to that), teary, and completely overwhelmed in that way that a good book does for me so rarely.

I wish there was someplace you could go and find all those books that you are supposed to read that will really matter to you, so all books could be like that, but they're not, not very often for me. Wow.