Sword & Sorceress 22

Sword & Sorceress returns!

I’m sure others of you remember this anthology series. I won’t go so far as to say it had a huge effect on me, but it certainly had one; among other things, I was vexed when I saw teenagers getting published in it, thereby highlighting my failure to become a Child Prodigy. (Alas, I didn’t write any non-crappy short stories until I was twenty.) Anyway, it’s good to see that it’s back.

But what to send, what to send? (The reading period doesn’t open until March, but I’m looking ahead.) “Stories should be of the type generally referred to as ‘sword and sorcery’ and must have a strong female protagonist whom the reader will care about.” Clear enough, but where do I go with that?

Well, for starters, it turns out I’ve got a dearth of female protagonists on hand at the moment. Of the fifteen stories I’ve got in circulation, four and a half meet that criterion. (The half is “Driftwood,” which splits pretty equally between two characters, the other of which is male.) So the initial list is:

  • “The City’s Bones”
  • “The Drowning Ships”
  • “La Molejera”
  • “A Mask of Flesh”

TCB is urban fantasy, therefore probably out. La M is one of my strongest candidates for the label “interstitial,” which puts it pretty far away from sword & sorcery. That leaves me with TDS, which is not one of my stronger stories, and AMoF, which might count as having “explicit sex,” depending on how explicit they mean.

Which leaves me with stories not yet in circulation. (I’m very glad, now, for that recent short story census.) “Sciatha Reborn” isn’t ready to see the light of day, though I could try to get it there. “On the Feast of the Firewife” isn’t s&s enough. “The Last Wendy” isn’t what they’re after. “Kingspeaker” could go, but it isn’t my best bet. The faerie trouble story, even if I knew what to do with it, also probably fails the s&s test. I could try to go with “Once a Goddess,” if I can figure it out . . . or with the one story I forgot to include in that list, “The Waking of Angantyr.”

Which is based on an Old Norse poem and has a strong female protagonist dragging up the ghost of her father and brothers so she can get revenge for their murders.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner — if I can get the story working, which it isn’t at present. akashiver gave me some good advice on it, but I foolishly didn’t make use of that advice while it was still fresh in my mind, so I’m not sure where I stand. But I’ll give it a shot, I think.

What about you all? Anybody else thinking of submitting?

rambling thoughts on colonialism and feminism

I didn’t freeze, and we appear to have a functioning furnace again, though it’s striving mightily to drag this old heap up from its freezing temperatures to something livable while it’s barely above zero outside. Learned many interesting lessons about survival in the cold without central heating, and also used up a lot of my candles and lamp oil.

But that’s neither here nor there. I want to ramble on about parallels and differences between two different projects of mine. One, Sunlight and Storm, is a fantasy western that was the fourth novel I wrote, back when I was in college. Its first draft sucked rancid goat cheese; its second draft is better, but I still want to rewrite it substantially before it ever goes public, and that will probably not be any time soon. The other is a series I’m contemplating for the future, which would essentially be about scientific expeditions going to study dragons. They share the common characteristics of being in settings that look a lot like our nineteenth century, and they both have female main characters, hence the desire to ramble on about colonialism and feminism.

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Ladies and gentlemen of the internets,

I am writing you this missive from the kitchen of my residence. It is a southward-facing room, and the doors to the rest of the house are shut. The oven is turned on, and twenty-four candles burn on my counters. Thanks to these measures, I am tolerably warm; though my toes are a bit cold, I am not wearing gloves, and the blanket I had wrapped around me is currently on the floor. I am, however, still wearing thick socks and slippers, sweatpants, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and my nice warm bathrobe.

From this fortress I shall await the arrival of the man who is to fix our furnace.

If you do not hear from me again, please retrieve my frozen body from this kitchen and give it proper burial.

short story census

I have made a good start on “Kingspeaker,” which is the story I hope to finish this month. (For those unaware, the goal is to write a minimum of one short story a month. It’s an eminently reasonable goal; let’s see if that helps me meet it. My short story output has been crap of late.) The beginning is going well. Unfortunately, soon I will run out of beginning, whcih means I need to figure out how to put into the story that thing that needs to go into the story.

The goal is also to get one new short story sent out every month. Since I have a small backlog of things I’ve been meaning to revise for a while (in some cases, for years), this means the newly-written stories will have time to get beautified before they go out in public. All in all, it sounds like a good system. Hopefully it will work.

First lines of the stories that need revision:

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Definitions of fantasy I don’t like, #1

I’ve been noodling for a while now with the idea of writing a series of small essays for my website about various genre definitions and how I feel about them — their pros, their cons, their applications, etc. Since Rob Sawyer has started a minor internet dust-up with some recent comments of his on the subject, I thought this seemed a good time to address one of them.

We’ll start with this statement:

Fantasy and SF, on the other hand, are diametrically opposed: one is reasoned, careful extrapolation of things that really could happen; the other, by definition, deals with things that never could happen.

Delany has done a finer-grained version of this in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, which I’ll quote at length because I think any attempt at summary would end up being nearly as long:

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addendum to the fitness post

I begin to suspect that my standards for judging my fitness are slightly askew when I think, “I’ll know my glutes are in good shape when I can do a grand rond de jambe en dedans and not throw my hip out when I go from derrière to à la seconde.”

Not that I did that over Christmas or anything.

(I blame my mother taking me to her adult ballet class. They don’t require you to be at those standards, but the problem is, my muscle memory doesn’t remember how to do anything except at certain standards . . . which I no longer have the muscles for.)

I need to figure out fitness benchmarks that don’t come from ballet.

iconage with an excuse

The boy and I joined a gym recently, which means that for the first time in my life, I’m trying to exercise just for the purpose of exercising. That is, I’m not taking dance classes to prepare for a recital, or doing summer swim team with organized meets; I’m just going to the gym and doing stuff to be in better shape. This is a new experience for me.

Because I’m still having fun with all my glorious new icon space, I have an exercise icon; I figure Demi Moore doing a one-armed pushup in G.I. Jane is a good inspiration/motivator/what-have-you, because man, she was hard in that movie. (Edited to add: Also, a pic of Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby just seemed a little too ominous for my taste.)

This also seems a good chance to pimp something I encountered a while ago (I think from gollumgollum, though I’m not sure): Stumptuous.com. It’s written primarily as a weightlifting site for women, but honestly, half or more of its information is good for men, women, small children, and other humanoid creatures; things like the lowdown on sets, reps, tempo, periodization, nutrition, cardio, and the like are useful for everybody. If you’re a woman, though, you may particularly appreciate the advice that has specifically to do with female body structure and the difficulties that may arise from working out during your period. (I’d say go look at the pictures for inspiration, but the link to the photos seems to be broken.)

I’ve started out with just some very very basic cardio, keeping it easy because right now I think my biggest challenge is simply getting myself into the habit of going to the gym. Time enough to push myself into harder workouts when I’m used to working out in the first place, right? But I’m looking into picking up a bit of weightlifting (hence browsing Stumptuous) because, frankly, I want to look utterly smashing in my wedding dress, and most of them seem to be strapless. ^_^ Plus, y’know, upper body muscle doesn’t suck to have. I’m also stretching again; I love doing it, but apparently need a reason to do it (like an evening of dancing, or a workout I just finished). I’ve often tried stretching for its own sake, and can never make a habit of it. It’s also the one area of my workout that I have experience and familiarity with, where I can not only understand what I’m doing but choose reasonable goals for my progress. Step one: get my front splits back, reliably. (I’m close, but only get them after I’m warm.) Step two: get my side splits to not suck. Step three: get my side splits to the wall/walkover point. (Is there any purpose in pushing myself that far? No, because I’m not a ballet dancer anymore. But dammit, I want my 180 back. Or at least the 178 or so I used to have.)

I’d be interested in hearing advice from the peanut gallery, since I’m so very new to this whole “gym” thing.

a day of random research

Today has featured two e-mails to random strangers about research questions (for writing, not academic purposes). Climatology and contact information for a Spanish musician — we’ll see if either turns up results.

(Yes, I’m still trying with “Hijo de la luna.” A very helpful person pointed me at the Spanish poem that inspired Cano’s song, but having translated it, turns out it doesn’t contain the elements I’m basing my story on. I did, however, come up with a purportedly official website for Mecano that had some actual contact information [unlike Cano’s own site], so I’m making another attempt to find the man and ask him if I can story-ize his song. The site is even in English! Though I said in my e-mail that I can correspond in Spanish if necessary. As tough as that might be for me, I kind of want to, partly to continue validating my supposed proficiency in the language, and partly to not be a Stupid Monolingual American.)

(Okay, that parenthetical digression ended up longer than the supposed body of the post. Oh well.)

post of random linkage

Memento players in particular might be entertained by news of the International Alchemy Conference, billed as “the largest gathering of alchemists in 500 years.” Order of Purification, anybody? Let me know if they have a giant argument that results in one half going one way and the other half going another; it means we’ll have the Philosopher’s Stone in approximately 650 years.

(Either that, or Nicholas is calling them all together to let them know they can stop trying.)

(And hey look, it gave me an excuse to use my Memento icon!)

In totally non-Memento non-alchemy news, pandas! Click for cuteness. And be sure to scroll down for the rest of the pictures.

Campbell Award deadline

Please pardon a moment of shameless self-promotion.

One of the awards given at WorldCon during the Hugo ceremony (but not a Hugo) is the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Nominations and voting are based on WorldCon membership, which probably isn’t most of you, but there’s a post on Deep Genre with some timely information, namely, that if you weren’t a member of last year’s WorldCon and aren’t going to this year’s, then you have until the end of the day tomorrow (the 31st) to buy a $50 supporting membership that would allow you to do things like, oh, say, nominating me for the Campbell. ^_^

Given the financial state of a lot of my friends, I don’t expect people to drop $50 on this, nor to be making the pilgrimage to Japan for the upcoming WorldCon. But some of you might have been at last year’s, so I thought I’d toss it out there. And this is information worth spreading regardless, to newsgroups/websites/whatever that might have interested parties.

Normally I don’t shill for awards like this, but the Campbell is kind of a Holy Grail in my mind. Just getting on the list of nominees is a giant boost to a writer’s career, let alone winning, so it’s worth putting my modesty aside for a few minutes. (Fortunately for me, I’m only in my first of two years of eligibility, so I get another chance at this.) Anyway, spread the word, let people who have gone or will be going to WorldCon know.

And if I end up on the list of nominees, I will so totally give you a cookie. ^_^

VeriCon

Oh, right. Con report.

VeriCon ’07: The Little Con That Could. Seriously, I’m just bursting with pride that it’s going so strong, and has lasted for seven years (with more to come!). This alone makes me happy about attending.

But there were other things to be happy about, too. Awesome guests; I was on panels with Guy Gavriel Kay, R. A. Salvatore, Sharyn November (editor of Firebird, for those who don’t follow YA stuff and aren’t giddy that she’s brought so many awesome things back into print), Vandana Singh, and Jeffrey Carver, with whom I shared a signing at the Harvard Book Store. And I got to pick Salvatore’s brain for my ICFA paper: double bonus! He gave me some invaluable intel about the backstage processes behind his dark elf series and others; I want my paper to be about not just the texts, but about how they have been produced. (Can you tell I’m an anthropologist going to a mostly-lit conference?) I also got to have a lengthy conversation with Sharyn, interesting chats with various people outside the Masq, and numerous meals with friends, thus fulfilling my social quota for the weekend. (So if I’m hermit-ish for a while, you’ll know why — that, and my pile of Stuff To Do.)

I also read “Nine Sketches, in Charcoal and Blood” at Milk and Cookies. It really was a hair on the long side, which I feel bad about, but since I wrote a large portion of it at VeriCon two years ago, I really wanted to read it there. And enough people came up to me afterwards to ask questions about it that I’m pleased with how it was received.

Now I’m back home. Apparently the cold in Boston was training me for the cold here. Hello, winter. Nice to see you. Please go away soon.

Stupid Psychological Trick #449

Maybe if I have a wedding icon, I’ll be more likely to stay on top of this whole “wedding planning” thing.

At least I managed to make myself an icon that is topical without leaving me in a mood to stab my eyes out with a sugar-coated fork. I rather suspect that, were I to have hired a wedding consultant, she would have despaired over my intolerance for all the cutesy baggage. And hey! It even has text! I generally don’t (can’t) do icon text without it coming out looking like crap.

It is a very, very good thing that a month or two ago, when I actually had some spare time in which to read, I read a couple of good books and wrote up recommendations for them right away, to be used at later dates. Otherwise, I might have inaugurated my fifth year of recommendations by being late with the first one. (I very nearly was anyway.)

But the month isn’t over yet, and I have something to recommend to you: Blood and Iron, by Elizabeth Bear (aka matociquala). Tasty urban faerie fantasy goodness.

In other news, I’m off to VeriCon, in the soon-to-be hellishly cold wilds of Boston. The high tomorrow is supposed to be 12. I may, in fact, die.

Marie Brennan’s Patented Three-Step Process for Finishing Stories That Aren’t Working:

  1. Realize that you’ve been doing it entirely wrong.
  2. Start doing it right instead.
  3. Finish the story.

It’s really quite simple, when you look at it that way.

And it means that I am not starting off the new year by immediately failing at my goal to write one short story a month. I may fail next month, but let’s not gallop to meet future difficulties, shall we? I have “The Last Wendy” finished, and this is a Good Thing.

iconage

I keep not getting around to the substantive posts I mean to make, so this will have to stand in lieu of them.

Some of you may have noticed my abundance of new icons. It’s because I’ve upgraded to a paid account, and can now have 35 instead of 6. I’m slowly filling up the slots; you can see my latest (and cutest) addition on this post, and the rest of them here. (Yes, folks, I finally have a Memento icon, well after I’m done running the game. I put it in there anyway, ’cause I have the space.)

I turn to you, my readers, for assistance in finding/making two new icons. The Long Room pic is my academic icon, but I’d like one for teaching specifically; I’m not sure what I want out of it, but not a generic apple-chalkboard-etc. kind of thing. Maybe something fairy-tale related, since I’ll mostly be using it next fall, when I teach my own course for the first time. Also, I would like an icon for my costuming endeavours, and again, I have no idea what it should look like — a sewing machine just doesn’t seem exciting. Something that reflects my tendency to end up in homicidal rages when I sew? (If you have the capacity to make animated gifs, let me know; I usually don’t favor those, but a montage of me-in-costume pics might be appropriate.)

Maybe a LARPing icon, too, so I can save the Roman d20 for tabletop gaming.

I mean, I have all these slots; I might as well use them. ^_^

goal anxiety

I’ve come to realize I have a moderately dysfunctional relationship with goals.

(This applies to more than just writing, but writing offers a good, clear-cut illustration of what I mean.)

Let’s say I’m working on a novel and my goal is 1000 words a day. One evening, out of laziness, I write only 800. Or — more likely — I just don’t write at all. (If I put my butt in the chair, I tend not to leave until I have quota.) I treat that as a deficit I need to make up; I write 1200 words or 1500 words until I’m back where I would have been had I not been short one day.

This is moderately okay. Especially since I usually manage to cut myself some slack for occasions when something (like travel) takes me out of commission for several days at a stretch.

The dysfunctionality comes in when I write above quota. Take a recent example: I’m working on something where my weekly goal is 10K. Which means, in general, 1500 a day, with one day where I can cut back a bit and just do 1000. This past week, I wrote 1500 (and change) for a couple of days, and then 2K one day. I built up a surplus.

This does not get treated the way a deficit does — as slippage that should get averaged out.

No, instead my obsessive, goal-driven self tends to ignore all surpluses. Who cares that I’m more than 500 ahead; I should still write 1500 every day. Including that day that was supposed to be an easy 1000. Then I’d be a thousand ahead of where I meant to be! But don’t let that fool you into thinking I could do just 9K the next week. No, it’ll be 10K or bust, and if I can squeeze out more, than full steam ahead!

From the perspective of finishing books (or whatever else I might be working on), this seems pretty good. I’m beginning to notice, though, that it might be a little hard on me — it means I never earn a break. Any such break would have to be earned in advance, and once I’ve done that, I just keep pushing. More words written, more pages read, more cleaning done, whatever the task at hand is, I keep going. Until it’s done.

And then I look for something else to do.

My fiance is probably beating his head into a wall, having read this far; he’s a big advocate of me relaxing and not being so hard on myself. But he (and the rest of you) can take heart: I’ve made a baby step in mending my ways. Having built up a surplus earlier this writing week (which is, for uninteresting reasons having to do with this project, Thursday through Wednesday), I let myself cut back a bit for the last three days. I wrote over 1K each time, to hit my weekly goal, but didn’t make myself do 1500. Right now I’m sitting pretty at 53 words over target — in the middle of a scene, no less, which I decided to leave as a carrot for tomorrow, rather than finishing it tonight.

Mind you, I’ve got other things I need to get done, which is another argument for not driving myself to oblivion on one project only. But nevermind that.

Goals: they’re to be met, but not always exceeded.

“And died stinkingly martyred.”

Don’t ask me why, but the squirrelly part of my writer-brain, the part that finds odd things to ponder (and then usually buries them somewhere and forgets about them thereafter) started thinking about death lines this evening. That is, the things people in books/movies/plays/etc. say when they’re about to die or in the process of dying. Shakespeare, for all I love him, was a melodramatic little wretch where those are concerned. I think one of my favorites comes from Dorothy Dunnett — it’s a bit of a cheat, since the hit doesn’t actually kill Lymond, but he believes it’s going to (and it really would, were it not for some bloody-minded medical intervention) — anyway, having done something good at what amounts to the sacrifice of his life, this is how he exits:

“And died stinkingly martyred,” said Lymond, with painful derision; and losing hold bit by bit, slipped into Erskine’s gentle grasp.

Which is why I love Lymond: he mocks himself even as he’s bleeding out of rather too many holes for anyone’s peace of mind.

What’s your favorite death line?

Order now!

Want to get on an FBI watchlist?

(Those of you who aren’t already, that is. Which might be several of you, for a variety of
reasons.)

There is now a website
for Glorifying Terrorism, Farah Mendlesohn’s anthology of politically provocative
fiction. It’s a British publication, so my USAian friends will have to get it shipped, but
there’s a PayPal button up now, and Farah tells us it’s going to press in the next two
weeks.

And really, it only breaks a British law, not an American one (yet). So you have no reason
not to buy it and support the cause of free speech.

A sort of anti-NaNoWriMo

Many of you know that my reservations about NaNoWriMo include the pace (1500+ wpd is a
pretty brutal rate for people not used to it) and the goal (a 50K novel isn’t saleable, at
least in my genre).

If you’re interested in having a public boot applied to your ass, but you share my
reservations, try this on for size: Novel in 90. Short form is
750 words a day for 90 days, for a goal of 67,500 words (which need not be the end point of
the novel). It’s the brainchild of Elizabeth
Bear, and it’s growing like rather scary kudzu, but over there you’ll find everything from
professionals (including her and me) to people who have never written a novel in their lives.
She’s taken down the bit in the profile that said in large letters “WE WILL MOCK YOU IF YOU
FAIL,” but the idea is to prod yourself into productivity through public accountability.

I know some of my friends are looking for help in motivating themselves, so if you count
yourself among that number, go over there and sign up.

I will mock you if you don’t. ^_^