Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2010-10-25 12:25 pm
greygirlbeast) wrote2010-10-25 12:25 pm
Entry tags:
"There's always someone getting slaughtered by a bigger stack of splinters somewhere."
Still overcast, but warmer today. Oh, wait. I see a glimmer of sunlight.
Yesterday, I wrote 847 words and found THE END of "At the Reef." I don't know why I've been referring to it as "On the Reef," because that's not the title.
Last night, we were planning to go to AS220 to see Brown Bird play (with three other bands), but after the writing, and a bath, and dinner, I discovered I was too tired to get dressed, much less leave the House. It pissed me off. But I can't be surprised. I just wrote two short stories (or vignettes, I'm not sure) in seven days. Not to mention the usual background writerly work. So, anyway, I wound up in bed, too exhausted to do anything but read and moan about being so old and tired. Oh, and then I slept like crap last night.
At least we can still see Brown Bird in November, when they open for Raspuntina's upcoming Providence show. Maybe I won't be exhausted that night. I am truly in love with Brown Bird. I want to marry this band and have their children.
---
What did I read? Three more stories from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ellen_datlow and nihilistic_kid's Haunted Legends: Carrie Laben's "Face Like a Monkey," Gary A. Braunbeck's "Return to Mariabronn," and John Mantooth's "Shoebox Train Wreck." There is a truly sublime line from the latter. "The dead really don't haunt the living. The living haunt the dead." One of those lines I wish I'd written. But I didn't. I can only admire the skill of the author who did.
This anthology's getting some weird reviews, people complaining because, they say, it purports to be a book of ghost stories, but some of the stories aren't ghost stories. Now, to begin with, Haunted Legends doesn't claim to be exclusively a collection of ghost stories (sensu stricto). The theme of the book is actually urban legends. At the very top of the cover is printed "Local legends and ghost stories..." Note that "local legends" comes first. That said, many of the stories actually are ghost stories, more than I would have expected from an anthology for which the authors were asked to write stories based on urban legends, and not specifically ghost stories. Book reviewers who can't bother to read the books they review need to stop reviewing books.
---
Today I wish I could stay in bed. But I need to address the copyeditors queries for "The Collier's Venus (1893)," which will soon appear inellen_datlow's Naked City anthology. And answer email. And read over and correct "And the Cloud That Took the Form" and "At the Reef." So, yeah. Work. The platypus is a harsh mistress.
Congratulations to William Lindblad of Plano, Texas, who won both my items in the KGB readings benefit auction.
As I write this, the podcast poll stands at 97.3% in favor (143 votes) and 2.7% (4 votes) against. The four who voted against did an admirable job of explaining why they voted against my doing podcasts. Most likely, I'll do one at some point in the next few weeks and see how it goes. And then figure out if I'll make a habit of podcasts.
---
Harlan Ellison is selling his first typewriter, a beautiful old Remington. As I said on Facebook yesterday, Harlan has done me many kindnesses and was a tremendous influence on my own work. I consider this typewriter invaluable, but would happily pay five times the $5,000 it has been insured for, if only I had that sort of money. If only I were a wealthy woman. I can only hope it goes to a museum or collector who appreciates its value and will care for it.
---
Last night Spooky pontificated on the relative merits of various brands of pumpkin ale. Me, I don't drink the stuff, but she loves it. She decalres Dogfish Head the best, and Wolaver's the second best, but isn't impressed with Smuttynose (despite the cute seal on the bottle). I think she's indifferent towards Saranac. She says, "It's weak."
A quote now from yesterday's entry: Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, as nothing has changed since yesterday. That is, the IRS hasn't decided we don't have to pay taxes, after all. That is, they haven't sent back the check Spooky wrote. Speaking of Spooky, I reiterate, all those cool Halloween thingumies in her Dreaming Squid Dollworks and Sundries Etsy shop will be taken down come November 1st.
Last of all (until the next entry), though I love WoW, I'm sickened by the kids (at least, I hope they're kids) who spew "faggot" and "queer" and "gay" and "homo" over the various chat channels, employing these words as though they are the worst imaginable insults. They swamp the chat channels with this shit. It's almost enough the make me quit the game. I've disabled almost all the chat channels, and I mute the individuals. But still. Are gamers today, as a group, really this homophobic?
Yesterday, I wrote 847 words and found THE END of "At the Reef." I don't know why I've been referring to it as "On the Reef," because that's not the title.
Last night, we were planning to go to AS220 to see Brown Bird play (with three other bands), but after the writing, and a bath, and dinner, I discovered I was too tired to get dressed, much less leave the House. It pissed me off. But I can't be surprised. I just wrote two short stories (or vignettes, I'm not sure) in seven days. Not to mention the usual background writerly work. So, anyway, I wound up in bed, too exhausted to do anything but read and moan about being so old and tired. Oh, and then I slept like crap last night.
At least we can still see Brown Bird in November, when they open for Raspuntina's upcoming Providence show. Maybe I won't be exhausted that night. I am truly in love with Brown Bird. I want to marry this band and have their children.
---
What did I read? Three more stories from
ellen_datlow and nihilistic_kid's Haunted Legends: Carrie Laben's "Face Like a Monkey," Gary A. Braunbeck's "Return to Mariabronn," and John Mantooth's "Shoebox Train Wreck." There is a truly sublime line from the latter. "The dead really don't haunt the living. The living haunt the dead." One of those lines I wish I'd written. But I didn't. I can only admire the skill of the author who did. This anthology's getting some weird reviews, people complaining because, they say, it purports to be a book of ghost stories, but some of the stories aren't ghost stories. Now, to begin with, Haunted Legends doesn't claim to be exclusively a collection of ghost stories (sensu stricto). The theme of the book is actually urban legends. At the very top of the cover is printed "Local legends and ghost stories..." Note that "local legends" comes first. That said, many of the stories actually are ghost stories, more than I would have expected from an anthology for which the authors were asked to write stories based on urban legends, and not specifically ghost stories. Book reviewers who can't bother to read the books they review need to stop reviewing books.
---
Today I wish I could stay in bed. But I need to address the copyeditors queries for "The Collier's Venus (1893)," which will soon appear in
ellen_datlow's Naked City anthology. And answer email. And read over and correct "And the Cloud That Took the Form" and "At the Reef." So, yeah. Work. The platypus is a harsh mistress.Congratulations to William Lindblad of Plano, Texas, who won both my items in the KGB readings benefit auction.
As I write this, the podcast poll stands at 97.3% in favor (143 votes) and 2.7% (4 votes) against. The four who voted against did an admirable job of explaining why they voted against my doing podcasts. Most likely, I'll do one at some point in the next few weeks and see how it goes. And then figure out if I'll make a habit of podcasts.
---
Harlan Ellison is selling his first typewriter, a beautiful old Remington. As I said on Facebook yesterday, Harlan has done me many kindnesses and was a tremendous influence on my own work. I consider this typewriter invaluable, but would happily pay five times the $5,000 it has been insured for, if only I had that sort of money. If only I were a wealthy woman. I can only hope it goes to a museum or collector who appreciates its value and will care for it.
---
Last night Spooky pontificated on the relative merits of various brands of pumpkin ale. Me, I don't drink the stuff, but she loves it. She decalres Dogfish Head the best, and Wolaver's the second best, but isn't impressed with Smuttynose (despite the cute seal on the bottle). I think she's indifferent towards Saranac. She says, "It's weak."
A quote now from yesterday's entry: Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, as nothing has changed since yesterday. That is, the IRS hasn't decided we don't have to pay taxes, after all. That is, they haven't sent back the check Spooky wrote. Speaking of Spooky, I reiterate, all those cool Halloween thingumies in her Dreaming Squid Dollworks and Sundries Etsy shop will be taken down come November 1st.
Last of all (until the next entry), though I love WoW, I'm sickened by the kids (at least, I hope they're kids) who spew "faggot" and "queer" and "gay" and "homo" over the various chat channels, employing these words as though they are the worst imaginable insults. They swamp the chat channels with this shit. It's almost enough the make me quit the game. I've disabled almost all the chat channels, and I mute the individuals. But still. Are gamers today, as a group, really this homophobic?
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Unfortunately, it would seem so, yes. And, worse, it's become so much of an aspect of the culture that to bring it up is to invite responses such as "I don't mean Actual gay people! i mean that asshole, right there." As if by equating invective against gays with invective against assholes they were not forming associative conceptual and definitional links in their minds.
It's in much the same vein as "When *I* use the word 'nigger,' it's empowering/ironic/in a manner expressing friendship; it has nothing to do with an epithet against black people."
People daily torture lucid thought and language.
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People daily torture lucid thought and language.
That's almost a definition of humanity.
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music
Re: music
I've seen Rasputina twice, and the Dresden Dolls twice. I don't go to a lot of shows.
Re: music
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I don't know about gamers (as I'm not one), but online in general, especially in forums for stupidity like YouTube? Yeah. Totally homophobic - or maybe just ignorant when it comes to what actually constitutes an insult. It's very sad. YA author & 'vlogger' John Green did a video about this last year when he got sick of seeing it in comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsVgk9oMyx8
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That was frakkin' funny. I'm going to post it here later,
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I was especially fond of the your vs. you're bit.
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*cough* (http://www.gwscomic.com/GWS849.html)
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
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Pumpkin Beers
Re: Pumpkin Beers
I'll pass this along to her.
Re: Pumpkin Beers
Re: Pumpkin Beers
That's the one that's Spooky's favorite.
Re: Pumpkin Beers
I looooves the Punkin Ale! I've never had a Dogfish head I did not like.
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I can't claim to speak with any authority on this as I tend to game with people who are reasonably mature (even those who are fairly young), and those who start using hate speech are the ones I start ignoring proto or make at least a token attempt to point out they are being fuckwits before ignoring them. I think much of it has to do with the baseline maturity level of internet users - which is greatly influenced by the mean average age and social experience level of internet users (which scales low). Do I think that gamers are largely homophobic? Ehhh... not specifically, but I think that gamers as a population are largely unexperienced youths who are ignorant about what it is like to be an "outsider" member of society. Also, take into consideration the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, which is explodes expotentially in forums and environments where competitiveness and "trash talk" are not discouraged.
On the other hand it is because of this pheonomenon that I have a bigot-hunting pistol fighter on CoX known as "The Gunsel".
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I think much of it has to do with the baseline maturity level of internet users - which is greatly influenced by the mean average age and social experience level of internet users (which scales low). Do I think that gamers are largely homophobic? Ehhh... not specifically, but I think that gamers as a population are largely unexperienced youths who are ignorant about what it is like to be an "outsider" member of society. Also, take into consideration the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, which is explodes expotentially in forums and environments where competitiveness and "trash talk" are not discouraged.
Very thoughtful reply. Thank you.
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The only downside is that I'm pretty sure you also have to use BadBoy Anti-Spam Automatic Reporter (http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8736-BadBoyAntiSpamAutomaticReporter.html) with it, but as the level of spam has gone up in game, I don't mind using that one either.
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Ah ha!
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Pumpkin Ale
Re: Pumpkin Ale
One of the liquor stores here has a good selection of singles, so I may be able to pick up a bottle to try. It's the only reason I got the Smuttynose and the Saranac. I'll have to check today.
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Looking forward to receiving it and the one you are working on now!
I think someone else said pretty much the same thing, but my experience with gamers is that when they use "gay" as an insult...they should really just use "asshole". They don't even seem to mean it in the way people did when using it 10 years ago. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with sexual orientation. But I don't play a lot of multi-player games anymore. The l33t gamerz took over and I got tired of it.
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I've just ordered the back issue of Sirenia....I believe #14, with the Sphinx's Kiss in it. Thank you for reminding me how to order previous issues! I did see you mention that it was going to be reprinted in the "best of" anthology but....there is nothing like having the entire Digest of stories and illustrations. =)
Good. Thank you. Though, it was reprinted in The Ammonite Violin & Others, and won't be in the "best of" collection.
I think someone else said pretty much the same thing, but my experience with gamers is that when they use "gay" as an insult...they should really just use "asshole". They don't even seem to mean it in the way people did when using it 10 years ago. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with sexual orientation.
I think I see that sometimes, but the negative association is still there. I think I may begin referring to things I find offensive as "het" or "straight."
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I just read the story and LOVED it. It helps that I also love men in dresses/corsets (Tim Curry, I love you!). I'd like a fox boy of my own. Gorgeous, luscious story and Vince's illustration is perfect.
And using "straight" or "het" for things you find offensive is JUST fine with me. Time to start a new fad.
Homophobic Channels
Re: Homophobic Channels
Children...
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The average age of a "gamer" is about 30-35. So it's not all "immature youth" doing this.
I've been told the average on CoX is 14-21, but I don't know how reliable this is.
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The effort has been mocked though,(ex: http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/8/17/), because it is based on the assumption that it is possible to reason with the stupid.
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As a group, my answer would be "no." But, many gamers can unfortunately be the folks who are socially inept because no one has given a shit to let them know that those words are prejorative and not adjectives. That they are slurs and not jokes.
Fortunately I play on servers that the general population doesn't tolerate that -- aside from Proudmoore (where I have two Horde toons) -- non of the servers I play on mostly -- don't profess to be specifically GLBTQ friendly, but I have found that the realms I spend most of my gaming time, folks don't tolerate any slurs -- no matter for whom they are directed. One of the reasons I stopped playing on RP servers and gave up any hope of RP in WoW and just work the lore in my own way and sometimes with my guildies is that the RP servers do tend to be more "angry." Just my experience and I don't meant to overgeneralize. Like I said, just sharing my experience.