so very far behind
Sep. 8th, 2004 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastFirst things first: Due to Dragon*Con and the fact that it left both me and Spooky crud-stricken, the latest batch of eBay packages have not gone out. For this we apologize. They will be mailed tomorrow. We thank everyone for his and her patience.
Second things secondly: Yesterday was the official release date of Murder of Angels. Sales are good, but I have a favor to ask. So many of you have taken the time to send me your thoughts on the book, or to post them to your blogs or to my phorum. I would be very appreciative if you would please repost those comments as reader reviews on Amazon. I'm hoping to get a number of positive reviews before the usual trolling shit weasels show up to drag things down. The more positive reviews there are, the less damage the negative reviews can do. Thank you.
Also. I have four more pages of Leh'agvoi's Nar'eth manga that I've not had time to post. I hope to get them up this evening.
I think I might have made it through the worst of this cold, but Spooky's about where I was yesterday. With luck, by tomorrow we'll both be better tomorrow (WHAT???!!!). Neither of us has time for this dren.
And I suppose I owe you all an account of the con, hmmmm? I'm so lousy at this sort of thing. It's like trying to write a synopsis, all plot ("a what and a what and a what") and no substance. No style. No characterization. But I'll give it a shot anyway.
Friday: I wasn't scheduled for anything until Friday evening, and, of course, I was running late. We made it to the Hyatt about 5 p.m., and I rushed down to VIP registration while Spooky looked for a place to park. I was delighted to see that Penguin had purchased a full-page ad for Murder of Angels in the Souvenir Book. And that the layout people had placed it on the page opposite my bio. Drad. In fact, I was so excited that I sat my purse/backpack down on a countertop and walked off without it. I didn't realize I'd done this until several hours later. Though I feared I'd soon be bidding for it on eBay, someone found it and was kind enough to take it to lost and found. It had my passport. It had all my credit cards. It had my social security card. It had my lipstick. Losing it would have been a certified disaster. Anyway, after losing my bag, I did the "Welcome to the Journey" panel for the Gothic Journey track. After that, I had some especially lame writing panel, "Connecting the Dots," in which I was actually expected to describe the process by which I make a story from such elements as plot, character, mood, setting, and so forth. I'm getting really, really tired of these panels. I can't do this. No honest writer can do this, because writing is not a "connect the dots" book. You don't set your pen down here and move easily along from point to point to point. It just doesn't work that way, and I said so (again). Also, I was truly and openly appalled at one of the panelist's assertion that "unlike literary fiction, genre fiction must offer a resolution." This comment is both trite and wrongheaded, but it also stands as a good example of what's wrong with the writing panels at Dragon*Con. After the two panels, I loitered in the hallway outside Greenbriar for a bit with Sissy, Kat, Jean-Paul, and crew, and Rogue (of The Crüxshadows). Voltaire (the only man I flirt with on a regular basis) and William Faith (of Faith and the Muse) stopped to say hello. Then some security Nazi wookie guy growled at us all for blocking the hallway, and I spent the next hour and a half (with the help of Sissy) searching in vain for the missing purse. That was Friday night.
I'm already bored to frelling death with this. Okay, let's try something different. Here's a list, post-Friday night, of my favorite moments/things @ Dragon*Con '04:
01. Getting to see Harlan for the first time since 2001. I have to say, that is the most violent kiss I've ever gotten. Oh, and learning of the rumours that he and I were once lovers. I collect these rumours. I can now put Harlan on the shelf where I keep the rumours that I have bedded (or been bedded by) Poppy, Neil, and Clive.
02. Having William Faith dedicate "Annwyn, Beneath the Waves" to me during Faith and the Muse's acoustic set on Saturday afternoon.
03. Crashing the superb "Goth: 1980-2004" panel on Saturday (which also included Rogue, Voltaire, Storm Constantine, and the very delightful and talented Anne Sudworth).
04. Modeling Desire's Doc Marten's for Maureen (these will be auctioned at Fiddler's Green, proceeds to go to the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund) late on Saturday.
05. Reading passages from Murder of Angels at my Saturday reading.
06. Having dinner late on Sat. with the Tampa crew, even if we didn't get sushi.
07. Letting Nar'eth out of her cage for the fifth time, even though it meant getting up at 7 a.m. on Sunday, after going to bed at two, and even though this was possibly the most grueling make-up session I've ever endured (four very long hours).
08. My very well-attended Sunday afternoon reading, where I read all 10,000+ words of "La Peau Verte." It was surely one of the best readings I've ever given, and I realized that "La Peau Verte" is one of the best short stories I've ever written.
09. Me and Spooky having dinner on Sunday night with Ted Naifeh and his "extremely clever and attractive" girlfriend, Kelly.
10. Meeting Sa'jathan and his terribly cute son and being given the fundamentals of the Nebari alphabet and numeric system, which he has been working on.
11. Posing as Nar'eth for about a thousand photos.
12. Being backstage for the Sunday night Faith and the Muse/Voltaire/Crüxshadows show. Spectacular!
13. All the beautiful, brilliant costumes, which will drive me to fine-tune Nar'eth even further.
14. The "Farscape Fan" fans.
15. Having someone named Gregory recognize Nar'eth as Nar'eth, instead of as Caitlín-in-costume.
There are many other things, but I feel too icky to list any more. And there were the downsides, too. Like catching this cold. And having to listen to people mispronounce "Crüxshadows" until I thought I'd scream. And being 45 minutes late for my signing on Sunday (because the make-up took forever). And losing my Hello Kitty purse (though I had it back by Saturday). And not getting to see a lot people I'd meant to hook up with, such as Berni Wrightson, Charlie Vess, and Bill Stout. And not having time to see any of the Farscape cast or the Firefly panels. But, all in all, it was a wonderful con, and my thanks to Spooky and Jennifer for getting me through it.
I'll try to post some photos tomorrow.
Can I stop being sick now? Please?
Second things secondly: Yesterday was the official release date of Murder of Angels. Sales are good, but I have a favor to ask. So many of you have taken the time to send me your thoughts on the book, or to post them to your blogs or to my phorum. I would be very appreciative if you would please repost those comments as reader reviews on Amazon. I'm hoping to get a number of positive reviews before the usual trolling shit weasels show up to drag things down. The more positive reviews there are, the less damage the negative reviews can do. Thank you.
Also. I have four more pages of Leh'agvoi's Nar'eth manga that I've not had time to post. I hope to get them up this evening.
I think I might have made it through the worst of this cold, but Spooky's about where I was yesterday. With luck, by tomorrow we'll both be better tomorrow (WHAT???!!!). Neither of us has time for this dren.
And I suppose I owe you all an account of the con, hmmmm? I'm so lousy at this sort of thing. It's like trying to write a synopsis, all plot ("a what and a what and a what") and no substance. No style. No characterization. But I'll give it a shot anyway.
Friday: I wasn't scheduled for anything until Friday evening, and, of course, I was running late. We made it to the Hyatt about 5 p.m., and I rushed down to VIP registration while Spooky looked for a place to park. I was delighted to see that Penguin had purchased a full-page ad for Murder of Angels in the Souvenir Book. And that the layout people had placed it on the page opposite my bio. Drad. In fact, I was so excited that I sat my purse/backpack down on a countertop and walked off without it. I didn't realize I'd done this until several hours later. Though I feared I'd soon be bidding for it on eBay, someone found it and was kind enough to take it to lost and found. It had my passport. It had all my credit cards. It had my social security card. It had my lipstick. Losing it would have been a certified disaster. Anyway, after losing my bag, I did the "Welcome to the Journey" panel for the Gothic Journey track. After that, I had some especially lame writing panel, "Connecting the Dots," in which I was actually expected to describe the process by which I make a story from such elements as plot, character, mood, setting, and so forth. I'm getting really, really tired of these panels. I can't do this. No honest writer can do this, because writing is not a "connect the dots" book. You don't set your pen down here and move easily along from point to point to point. It just doesn't work that way, and I said so (again). Also, I was truly and openly appalled at one of the panelist's assertion that "unlike literary fiction, genre fiction must offer a resolution." This comment is both trite and wrongheaded, but it also stands as a good example of what's wrong with the writing panels at Dragon*Con. After the two panels, I loitered in the hallway outside Greenbriar for a bit with Sissy, Kat, Jean-Paul, and crew, and Rogue (of The Crüxshadows). Voltaire (the only man I flirt with on a regular basis) and William Faith (of Faith and the Muse) stopped to say hello. Then some security Nazi wookie guy growled at us all for blocking the hallway, and I spent the next hour and a half (with the help of Sissy) searching in vain for the missing purse. That was Friday night.
I'm already bored to frelling death with this. Okay, let's try something different. Here's a list, post-Friday night, of my favorite moments/things @ Dragon*Con '04:
01. Getting to see Harlan for the first time since 2001. I have to say, that is the most violent kiss I've ever gotten. Oh, and learning of the rumours that he and I were once lovers. I collect these rumours. I can now put Harlan on the shelf where I keep the rumours that I have bedded (or been bedded by) Poppy, Neil, and Clive.
02. Having William Faith dedicate "Annwyn, Beneath the Waves" to me during Faith and the Muse's acoustic set on Saturday afternoon.
03. Crashing the superb "Goth: 1980-2004" panel on Saturday (which also included Rogue, Voltaire, Storm Constantine, and the very delightful and talented Anne Sudworth).
04. Modeling Desire's Doc Marten's for Maureen (these will be auctioned at Fiddler's Green, proceeds to go to the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund) late on Saturday.
05. Reading passages from Murder of Angels at my Saturday reading.
06. Having dinner late on Sat. with the Tampa crew, even if we didn't get sushi.
07. Letting Nar'eth out of her cage for the fifth time, even though it meant getting up at 7 a.m. on Sunday, after going to bed at two, and even though this was possibly the most grueling make-up session I've ever endured (four very long hours).
08. My very well-attended Sunday afternoon reading, where I read all 10,000+ words of "La Peau Verte." It was surely one of the best readings I've ever given, and I realized that "La Peau Verte" is one of the best short stories I've ever written.
09. Me and Spooky having dinner on Sunday night with Ted Naifeh and his "extremely clever and attractive" girlfriend, Kelly.
10. Meeting Sa'jathan and his terribly cute son and being given the fundamentals of the Nebari alphabet and numeric system, which he has been working on.
11. Posing as Nar'eth for about a thousand photos.
12. Being backstage for the Sunday night Faith and the Muse/Voltaire/Crüxshadows show. Spectacular!
13. All the beautiful, brilliant costumes, which will drive me to fine-tune Nar'eth even further.
14. The "Farscape Fan" fans.
15. Having someone named Gregory recognize Nar'eth as Nar'eth, instead of as Caitlín-in-costume.
There are many other things, but I feel too icky to list any more. And there were the downsides, too. Like catching this cold. And having to listen to people mispronounce "Crüxshadows" until I thought I'd scream. And being 45 minutes late for my signing on Sunday (because the make-up took forever). And losing my Hello Kitty purse (though I had it back by Saturday). And not getting to see a lot people I'd meant to hook up with, such as Berni Wrightson, Charlie Vess, and Bill Stout. And not having time to see any of the Farscape cast or the Firefly panels. But, all in all, it was a wonderful con, and my thanks to Spooky and Jennifer for getting me through it.
I'll try to post some photos tomorrow.
Can I stop being sick now? Please?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 05:51 pm (UTC)I am a bad person and I make the baby Jesus cry.
It's only to keep me from physically slapping pretentious Brisbane proto-goths who talk about them but don't actually own any of their albums or even really know any of their songs except Marilyn, my bitterness. I love that song, by the way. I'm not knocking the song itself.
Sounds like the con was a lot of fun though *envy much* I'd love to have gone.
You take care of yourself now, don't push your recovery. Have some soup (I usually prefer pumpkin or chicken noodle when unwell) with buttery toast cut into strips or triangles, it's the best thing when you're under the weather. Or at least when I'm under the weather.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:02 pm (UTC)I'm going on an Amazon reviewing spree tomorrow, too, if I have five minutes free--so I'll definitely hit up Moa as well as M. John Harrison's Light, the new China Mieville, and about thirty or forty other things I've picked up lately including the lost Vanilla Ice classic, Ice on Ice: The Unauthorized Autobigraphy.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:18 pm (UTC)Bingo.
I'm going on an Amazon reviewing spree tomorrow, too, if I have five minutes free--so I'll definitely hit up Moa
Thanks! Sorry you could make D*C. You were missed. And Nar'eth still owes you a kiss.
By the way, I get more overtly Lovecraftian again with Daughter of Hounds, promise.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 09:47 pm (UTC)So you're rumored to be the lover of Harlan, Neil, and Poppy? Scandalous, my dear, scandalous. You're going to be one of those writers that will make another a lot of money on your post-mortem autobiography. (Though, with your luck, the made-for-TV-adaptation will show on Sci-Fi. Better write your will!)
Seriously, I hope you feel better soon, and I can't wait for the photos. I would have loved to go, but the move (which finally ended last week) has left me feeling used up. I'm glad I don't go back to work for another 10 days...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 09:54 pm (UTC)If that's true, I'm honored. But I was in contact with so many ill people at Dragon*Con, I lost count.
So you're rumored to be the lover of Harlan, Neil, and Poppy?
And Clive. Don't forget Clive. I get around.
Seriously, I hope you feel better soon, and I can't wait for the photos.
Thanks. I'll try to get a few up tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 09:56 pm (UTC)I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm only about two fingernail widths in. I've been thinking about how the setup with Niki and Marvin is keen, how the live-in nurse seems the perfect punctuation for isolation--the fact that the only person with her is someone who clearly doesn't want to be, except he's a "good person", works really well.
I have four more pages of Leh'agvoi's Nar'eth manga that I've not had time to post.
I sure picked a fine time to send 'em to you, didn't I?
With luck, by tomorrow we'll both be better tomorrow (WHAT???!!!).
Oh, what what? It's as opposed to being, by to-morrow, better yesterday. It has to do with filing. The space time continuum isn't made of t-shirts, you know. Papers belong in these drawers.
You don't set your pen down here and move easily along from point to point to point. It just doesn't work that way, and I said so (again).
You should have told them, "A little known, but fundamental, secret to setting up a piece of written fiction is to choose your constellation--and by that I do mean stars in the sky. If you're writing crime, don't choose Big Dipper, and if fantasy, be certain that Orion isn't involved. But when you graduate to second order, the Stone Masons give us licence to craft our constellations. For example, Mark Twain is responsible for the Dead Deer constellation--so, as you can see--" pull out a chart, "No novel should begin with any less than seventeen characters, even if most of those characters are invisible. These are the Masonic watchers, and each represents a star, sometimes invisible stars. Now draw lines amongst them, and carefully break down the lines into tiny line parts. These you will then reassemble into words--the advent of the computer has made this much easier--and these words shall be your novel."
Also, I was truly and openly appalled at one of the panelist's assertion that "unlike literary fiction, genre fiction must offer a resolution."
What would we do without the caste system?
Can I stop being sick now? Please?
Yes. You can stop now. You've been good.
The most amazing eight hours
Date: 2004-09-09 01:23 am (UTC)You're very kind to say so. We didn't mean to leave so quickly after the last reading but we were to meet my lovely wife on the back side of Courtland Street (an easy pick-up spot, but twenty minutes through the throng) at 7PM and Jacob had to visit the WC. Since he was starting to dance like Fred Astaire I think we made it not a moment too soon. Dads have to make these decisions I guess.
He did ask me if I would be going next year and if I did could he please go with me again. He enjoyed looking at the architecture as much as the costumes and wasn't afraid to ask why about anything.
I'm really quite proud of him. After our time with you and "bumping" into Harlan Ellison (classic memorable moments) how could I not be? He was perfect.
[i]and being given the fundamentals of the Nebari alphabet and numeric system, which he has been working on.[/i]
With more to come. I worked on the line graph sheet Sunday morning and will present a new one (and to each of the "greys") when the 2.5mm black calligraphy tips come in the store early next week.
Take care of yourself and thryn (also a pleasure). I hope you both feel better soon.
Polyamorous?
Date: 2004-09-09 11:50 pm (UTC)Would that be all at once, or one at a time? And what, not by Joss Whedon, not even once?
I swear people make up rumors about who's jumping who's bones like it were a competitive sport, and that's just in normal life. I can only imagine what it like once people know your name for things like, I don't know, writing great books?
MOA is on my Must Get list, and that's while I'm still a starving college student. Hope it does great, you deserve to have it do great.
scorp