greygirlbeast | Howard Hughes Forgets How to Sleep (and Stuff).

Last night, just before she fell asleep, Spooky said, "I want a hamster named Bilbo Baggins." And so I blame her for my inability to sleep last night. How is anyone supposed to have a restful night after hearing something like that, I ask you? Anyway, sometime around 3:30 a.m., I finally gave up and took half an Ambien, and about an hour later, I finally dozed off. I slept fitfully, got up at 10:30, and am not even a little bit awake at this moment.

But...

Yesterday, I wrote 1,093 words on "Teratophobia." It will be appearing in the next issue of Sirenia Digest, which happens to be #48.

Ellen Datlow (

ellen_datlow) just emailed about a review of Lovecraft Unbound that's gone up at Green Man Review. My story gets a very generous nod:

So with the intriguing setup and impeccable contributor list, the only question remaining is whether the stories can bring it home. The answer is that in some cases, yes, and those that pull it off pull it off very well indeed. Caitlin R. Kiernan's "Houses Under the Sea" is magnificent, a superb evocation of the terrifying unknown peeking from under the surface of the waves that takes on a very human aspect.

Not such a bad way to begin a day, even when you're still asleep.

And I am baffled at people who stop updating their LJs and turn their blogs into a wastebasket of autoforwarded retweets. I'm seeing a lot of this, the last few months. Does anyone really think that a random series of 140-character comments is, in any way, comparable to an actual journal? Ah, well. Maybe those people were never cut out for journalizing in the first place (but I do miss what some of them had to say, back when they were still capable of posting complex, coherent thoughts).

And I should mention again that Subterranean Press is now taking pre-orders for The Ammonite Violin & Others, which will be released in June. Based on past experience, it may sell out before then, especially the leather-bound edition.

Anyway...the big news from yesterday is that Merrilee, my lit agent, is very pleased with the proposal for Blood Oranges (working title) and has forwarded it to my editor at Penguin. I'm hoping to be able to begin writing the book by December first.

Also, we have a copy of The Dry Salvages up on eBay.

And really, I'm far too groggy to say much else right now. Bilbo Baggins the Hamster, indeed.