"Looking for heaven, found a devil in me."

[greygirlbeast]

0. Comments, please. Prove to me LJ is not dead (again). I'm sick to death of self-fulfilling prophecies. You comment, I'll reply. Cause and effect.

1. Never, ever tell people on Facebook that "A release date has been set for the release on my first studio CD since 1999, which is called LOVEAMOEBA (band of the same name). TBA." Because, while this looks, to me, like a very obvious practical joke, many other people will appear to take it seriously. C'mon, guys. Loveameoba? No. Anyway, apologies. This whole humor thing, this beast has yet to master it in any way as to please anyone but herself.

2. I dozed off sometime after four, and woke at nine. Ayem, that is. If there's a part of me that doesn't hurt, please write my brain a letter to that effect. Er...wait. No, if there's a bit of my anatomy that is not in agony, it needs to send a telegram to my brain. Oh, wait. I mean, it needs to phone home. Oh...shit. I mean, it needs to twat at my brain. Yeah, that's what I mean. Hold on. What year is this?

3. A long phone call with my agent yesterday, at 2 CaST (1 EST), regarding Blood Oranges, ebooks, The Drowning Girl, etc. & etc. The usual. It seemed like we talked for an hour, though I suspect it was more like twenty minutes. Still feels like an hour. Afterwards, I discovered I was still so disgusted with the travesty that is "Sexing the Weird" that I couldn't even think about writing. I went with Spooky while she ran errands, instead. Sometimes, even the bland light of late autumn in Providence is better than the light of this monitor.

4. So, yeah. A Question @ Hand will be posted here tomorrow. All replies will be screened and will be confidential. The ten responses that please me the most will appear in Sirenia Digest #72. Anyone with any last moment ideas should post them here today. You know, like "If a circle of Dante's hell were to be designed especially for me, what would it be like?" Or "If you were to choose me as the test subject for an experiment involving the effects of a genetically designed parasite, what would the organism be, and what effect would it have upon me?" See. That sort of thing.

5. If I cannot put it on my shelf, it's not book. And no, placing a Kindle or a Nook or a whatever on the shelf doesn't count. Call it a data-storage or media delivery device. I have no problem with that. But it's not a book.***

6. Later this week Kathryn will be beginning a new round of eBay auctions (the first in a long time), and we'll be including ONE signed copy of The Drowning Girl ARC. Be the first on your block and all that.

7. Last night we played too much Rift again, but this time with a new guild member, opalblack. I dusted off my Eth warrior, Indus, and it was pretty fucking cool tanking for a change. Watchers of the Unseen (Defiant side, Faeblight shard) is always looking for new members, especially those interested in RP.

8. I'm ending the Aunt Beast Book of the Month Club. Results were, at best, mixed. And I think I never recovered from that Carrie Ryan fiasco.

9. The postman just brought Nos. 1 and 2 (Fall 2010 and 2011) of Centipede Press' The Weird Fiction Review. No. 2 includes the first print appearance of my story, "Fish Bride." And, honestly, the Review is a gorgeous thing, more in the fashion of an academic literary journal than a pulp magazine. I'm very impressed. Oh, also, I've sold a poem I wrote last year, "Atlantis," to Strange Horizons. This is the first time I have ever actually sold a poem. Sure, I included "Zelda Fitzgerald" in Tales of Pain and Wonder, but that's different.

Epilogue:

Would you leave me if I told you what I've done?
And would you leave me if I told you what I've become?

~ and ~

You can't choose what stays and what fades away. ~ Florence + the Machine

Anger's Little Petri Dish,
Aunt Beast

*** Please comment on things besides ebooks. Thank you.

Comments

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

It's just a easy way to carry stories with me when I'm out and about, so I don't have to pack the book I'm reading, and a backup book...and oh yeah, I should bring that in case my reading mood changes.

I hear this from a lot of people, but I just don't get it. On rare occasions I might leave home with a single book...but even then I only rarely read it. Two? Three? It's just never come up. Well, unless I'm returning library books, or unless we're counting notebooks.

[vulpine137.livejournal.com]

I'm a fast reader, and having something to read with me helps keep me sane. Seriously, my anxiety will spike if I'm sans reading material. (I worry about the weirdest things). My bag used to be packed with A. the book I was reading, possibly B. the other book I was reading (Yes, I'm a book slut) and an old collection of HPL stories (for those random "I must read something with the Necronomicon in it" moods). Throw in my laptop for work when I'm on call, and the other assorted foo I carry, and it got heavy. Swap the books for the kindle, and I'm less likely to develop a hunch in my middle years.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Plane trips (or buses or trains) are one of the few places I can read for extended periods anymore. Flying to conventions makes inroads on my to-read pile faster than anything else.

My copy of Two Worlds And In Between was waiting for me when I got home from vacation. It's a beautiful book, and much larger than I'd anticipated.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Plane trips (or buses or trains) are one of the few places I can read for extended periods anymore. Flying to conventions makes inroads on my to-read pile faster than anything else.

I can't deal with the distractions during travel. Not that I travel.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

I can't deal with the distractions during travel.

I find my mental powers and full concentration are required to keep the conveyance I am in from falling out of the sky/running off the rails/exploding in a ditch.

When I read, I am willing to read from anything that brings me words, but I do like books best. They are the most sensual of the different print media. Also, electronic media feels impermanent, or, at least, unlikely to outlast me.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I find my mental powers and full concentration are required to keep the conveyance I am in from falling out of the sky/running off the rails/exploding in a ditch.

Generally, I sleep to avoid eye contact with strangers, or overhearing their inane conversations.

Also, electronic media feels impermanent

That's because it is. Most ebooks available today will be inaccessible media in ten years. Why people don't see this is beyond me. Perhaps, they simply do not care. I mean, who ever reads a Robin Cook book more than once.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

I think again of the bags full of cassette tapes I have, and then I look at Pingguo the iPod (without which I would be lost - in travel or in life)... yeah.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Yes. Music definitely helps.

[thimbleofrain.livejournal.com]

I have tried to like eBooks, but I just can't. Wherever I go I have my iPhone with me, so I always have stuff to read. (I'm typing this on it now.) But I wouldn't want to read a book on it. Someone gave me an iPad, and I use it sometimes (but not enough for what it cost). I have even taken it with me on trips. But I wouldn't want to read a book on it.

Even things that aren't

[thimbleofrain.livejournal.com]

particularly long (like your digest), I'll print out before reading. I want to read printed things.

[sovay]

On rare occasions I might leave home with a single book...but even then I only rarely read it. Two? Three? It's just never come up.

I travel with multiple books, but I travel with multiple books. I can't imagine carrying a flat little package of plastic instead, no matter how portable. Reading things off my computer is already weird enough.

[seph-ski.livejournal.com]

My husband and I are escaping Thanksgiving family craziness by running off to a state park and staying at the lodge a few days. Our main plan is to sit at the fireplace reading and napping in between meals in the dining hall. I intend to go through at least two books and well into a third. ...Oddly enough though, the two I want most to read right now are in bound form, so I'll be taking two books and my Kindle. Usually I would just take my Kindle on such a trip.

I also like it for having options. At any given time, I usually have at least a dozen reads in progress. It nice to have some reading options when I'm away from home (even just hiding in a coffee shop one town over) rather than having to read whatever book I'm carrying.

Anyhow, I'm not arguing. I respect your position. But that's why the ebook reader works well for me when I'm away from my stacks.