WorldCon program and scheduling…
Well, after a couple ups and downs it looks like my schedule for WorldCon is beginning to come together. So far, my program commitments are:

Saturday
12:00pm Autographing
02:00pm Kaffeeklatsch

Sunday
10:00am The Best Books of 2004 (so far)
12:00pm The New Weird: What, Who, and Why?

Monday
11.00am Best Short Stories of 2004 (so far…)

I get into Boston on the Tuesday before the convention, and will probably grab dinner with the Locus cohort, which should be fun. After that, I’ve got a smattering of commitments that I’m looking forward to, and am expecting to have a good time. you’re going, hope ty

Texas community newspaper The Good Life has a solid piece on Howard Waldrop that’s worth reading. The bibliography the accompanies it is a bit spotty, but you get that. Speaking of Howard, I just got an early look at his next story, “The Wolfman of Alcatraz”, which Ellen Datlow will be publishing at SciFiction on September 22. It’s a very solid Waldrop short that I’ll post more about a little later (I want to re-read it), which I think may mark a change in his work. As always, I’m up to my ears in other reading. I just received the new Terry Pratchett, Stephen Donaldson, and Jon Courtenay Grimwood books. I’m obliged to read the Donaldson, but the others look really good. I’m also tearing through as much short fiction as I can before I head off to the States. It’s beginning to feel like those year’s bests are due in about 20 minutes.

The fine folk over at Golden Gryphon are just about to publish their latest chapbook, Mere, by Robert Reed. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at it, and it’s a worthy addition to their list.

Set in the same universe as Reed’s novel, Marrow, it tells of the unlikely survivor of a failed journey to join the interstellar circuit of the Great Ship, and how that survivor goes well and truly native over some thousands of years, before being faced with her past. It’s odd, touching and disturbing. I’m not sure yet if it’s one of the year’s best, but it’s well worth checking out. Kudos to Gary and Marty for another great job, well done.