Myth, the Universe, and Everything

One small piece of advice: after declaring Apollo as a patron, do not then state that you haven't worn sunscreen since July, and therefore have no need of it at the end of August. This is foolish. And also a recipe for sunburn and/or sunstroke. Because the gods are spiteful. That's sort of their thing.

At any rate, it was a fun three-day-weekend of gaming and beaching and aloe, during which some nifty things happened:

1) Amazon and BN.com both have Ransom: The Anthology listed and available for purchase! My comp copy should be in the mail shortly, and I'm so excited to read it. A google search reveals no reviews as yet, but I'll keep looking, as given that it includes stories by eyezofwolf/Dylan Birtolo and Lydia Laurenson, who I know write good stuff, I think there's probably a lot of good things to be said!

2) Amazon and BN.com have both also made available nalini_singh's newest book, Hostage to Pleasure. Happy book birthday! In honor of that publication, Nalini is hosting a contest asking for descriptions of fictional characters you'd like to take hostage or be taken hostage by. Given that I've just been featured in an anthology on ransom... it seemed like a good match!

So, what fictional character would I like to hold hostage? For grins and giggles, I think I'd kidnap Bea from The Dreamer, which should be coming out in print as well as online sometime this month. Why? Honestly, because that would give either heroes Alan or Nathan the mission of rescuing her, and while I hate to be the bad guy, watching another rescue in action by that pair would just be too much fun to pass up!

What fictional character could I imagine holding me hostage (and still having it be fun)? After a brief discussion with my husband about unrepentant rogues in fiction we both read, we came up with Vlad Taltos from skzbrust's series. It could really go either way with him--either something really interesting would happen (as it so often does around him) or the whole thing would go disastrously for me. But there might at least be a trip to Valabar's restaurant, which might even impress a non-foodie like me with its exquisite menu.

If I were going to be held hostage in a fictional setting, I think I'd imagine the fun there being had either by the X-men (because the shenanigans that would ensue would also be fun to watch, and they're the good guys, so it would all get sorted out eventually), or by one of the fairy courts from melissa_writing's Wicked Lovely and accompanying books. Probably the summer court, as that at least involves dancing and fun--the dark court would certainly not be a place I'd like to visit, let alone have to stay for any length of time.

But right now, I should be being held hostage by my own work. I've got several projects up in the air, so you'll be seeing a number of titles circulating through my end tag/signature/footer/thingy over the next while until I actually start finishing some of them.

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I just discovered that Steven Brust has a livejournal (skzbrust). Not only that, but Emma Bull (coffeeem) does as well, and comments on Mr. Brust's journal, along with several other writers I have not yet identified. This feels to me as though I've just walked into a coffee shop where writers I have admired since I was a teen are all bantering back and forth over lattes, tea, and klava.

Along with plugging these amazing writers, I'll plug the short story collection that not only hooked me on their writings, but gave me my first validity as a gamer. The collection is Liavek, and it's likely out of print. Like the Thieves World collections, which I've never read, Liavek is shared world, collaborative fiction. I consider it one of the very best (if not the absolute top) of the genre. It contains both Brust and Bull, as well as Jane Yolen, Will Shetterly, Patricia C. Wrede, and Gene Wolfe. Whether or not these folks actually did roleplaying, I can't entirely remember, but I have this vague memory of finding it at fifteen, the year I started playing Dungeons and Dragons, seeing that the introduction or afterword or some part of the book implied that these stories had come out of role play, and telling my parents that roleplaying was an essential part of the fantasy writing, world creating process. They must have believed me, because they're proud of me for doing game design now.

Liavek inspired a whole series of short fiction I wrote in high school that is now lost on a 3.5 disk somewhere in my files, in fact. So in a very real way, I have to credit the contributors with inspiring me along my apprenticeship. And now I can go and, in an extension of my metaphor, hang out in the same cafe!

The internet is wonderful.

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(Just looked Liavek up on Wikipedia, and it appears that they did several collections. Why oh why must these things have been published in the 80s, when I was too young to be a book buyer! I turn to ebay in hopes of rescue, because now that I know they exist, I must go searching.)

Edit: Powells.com had all four of the other collections, as did Amazon marketplace. I have them all on order. Again, I sing the praises of the internet.

All of you who are reading this are probably already aware of my book, out there in the ether, and how it's not on Amazon (as I know I probably grumble about that more than I ought). Due to some hacker issues on the White Silver Publishing Web site, it's not currently self-evidently available there. This means, at the moment, it is near impossible for someone to get my book (unless they're ordering it through their local game store).

Should you happen to be doing viral marketing for me, please pass on this Web site: www.whitesilverpublishing.com/fiction/. From there, it's pretty easy to find the Online Store link (which has a very strange Web address that no one will remember off the top of their heads), despite the weird looking reconstruction going on with the site.

Of course, you can also always direct folks here to the live journal as well. :)

Despite these set-backs, I'm getting excited about Departure, for which I'll be getting the edit back from my editor any time now, and Regaining Home, which I just started last week. It's going much more slowly than I'd like, which isn't surprising since I don't really seem to hit my stride until I'm about half-way into the story. I also resolved a lot of the actual issues in the second book (not all of them!), and was expecting this one to be more action oriented. But I'm not sure how it will work yet, and as much as I know it's fine for fiction writers who write in an RPG world to break the rules (see R. A. Salvatore), there's stuff I want to do that I'm just not sure I can get away with and keep the spirit of the way magic works in the game... We'll see.

Thanks to the folks who responded about Hero, by the way. I didn't have a chance to reply to comments last week (for a host of reasons, most of them dealing with how I'm behind schedule on a number of projects, which is never fun), but I was glad to stir the conversation. I think what it boils down to, which I wasn't really accepting, is that you can't separate the story from its context, and considering all the human rights violations roughly sponsored by the Chinese government, the value of the state above the individual is worrysome in Chinese film. Taken as a story out of context (my favorite way to read, watch movies, and etc., which is why I was never very good at lit analysis), it's not worrysome--but it's dangerous to treat stories in that fashion when there are real world issues involved. (That doesn't stop it from being a great freakin' movie, of course.)

Now I'm off to organize my head for another week, and listen to my husband read Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett, which I just finished an hour ago so he could have his shot at it. (I say listen because I giggled out loud through the book, and he's already laughed several times. Good fun stuff.)

Currently Reading: Not sure. I think I'll pick up Taltos, the next book in the Stephen Brust "Vlad Taltos" series, since I've really been enjoying those. I may also start either Jeff Duntemann's The Cunning Blood or Julie Kenner's California Demon, which is due back at the library next week.
Currently Playing: Living Kingdoms of Kalamar, but sort of in the editorial capacity... :)
Recently Watched: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which has some of the best DVD extras I've ever seen.