And the rest of the day

A bit of a nothing day, in some ways. I did get some domestic chores done, and I made headway on the tax paperwork. There’s nothing untoward there, but it always manages to make me at least mildly anxious. I’ll peck away at it for the next few days and then hand it over to the accountant.

It’s a pity really because it was a lovely day outside. Jessica and I made our weekly trip to Yahava, and it really was heavenly.  But we were home before 10 am so that Gary and I could record the podcast. That was enjoyable, as it always is, but then I settled into the paperwork for four hours or so. Then I made a not particularly great roast chicken dinner before watching an episode of Veronica Mars with Sophie.

I got effectively no reading done today, and no editing. That needs to change this coming week. The goals for this week are to finish the 2020/21 taxes, get the Tordotcom short fiction edited, and clear the backlog for The Book of Witches.  If I can do that, and maybe sketch out some proposals and get some house repairs done, it’ll have been an okay week. Let’s see how we go.  Oh, and with masking changes, I’m back in the office three days a week, and working from home for the other two. That will take some adjusting to.

Episode 578: Kind of dull, but it’s something

This week’s discussion begins with Gary wondering about what he tentatively calls the use of absurdism in some recent novels, mentioning Kelly Barnhill’s When Women Were Dragons and Sunyi Dean’s forthcoming The Book Eaters, each of which features a powerful central metaphor that refuses to resolve itself into traditional SF or fantasy systems—somewhat like the old Theatre of the Absurd playwrights like Ionesco.

This leads to yet another discussion of what may be happening with the notion of genres, and how an earlier generation of gatekeeping editors has given way to editors more welcoming to a variety of voices and approaches. We more or less conclude that, while this reinvigorates the traditional genres, there are plenty of options for readers who still prefer the familiar formulas and traditions. Finally, we talk a bit about getting together for a possible live podcast at Chicon 8 later this summer.

 

The Book of Witches

A quick update. I am running behind on The Book of Witches. I hope to have the acceptances for the open-reading period done in the next week, and then will get back to everyone. I have some wonderful stories come in, both from the open reading period and from authors who I have solicited work from, so this should be pretty special. Next thing is to get edits done and to talk to my editor, David, about artwork.

May and on anon…

It’s the first day of a new month and I’m going to try to use that as a kick-off for a bit of a fresh start. I need to exercise, organise, and work more if 2022 is going to work out. I also need to read more, watch less, and just do things. Today is a Sunday and it’s a slow-ish start. I’ve had my first and only coffee of the day and it’s still only 7.30 am.  Soon, shower, breakfast, out to Yahava to pick up some stuff, then back to work on taxes and edits while the family is out.

As to my intentions for the day – actually work on things. I’m reading some things for Tordotcom right now, working on The Book of Witches, looking at proposals, and more. I’m busy, but not as busy as I should be.

Yesterday, Saturday, was an odd day. With the pandemic still far from over, just moving into ever more different phases of itself, yesterday (Saturday) I attended my first convention of 2022. Swancon Not-A-Con was a very small placeholder event run to make sure Swancons didn’t disappear from the earth and to give people a good time. I would guess somewhere between 80 to 120 people, and most of them seemed busy gaming. I had no plans to attend originally, but in the end spent a couple of hours there.

Everyone was masked, which was fine, but made it impossible for me to function, really. My hearing has deteriorated to the point where masks are enough to make it very difficult to make out what anyone is saying, which is a concern for Chicago. We’ll see how that goes, though. I had an enjoyable time. Saw a few old friends (Gina, Dave, Russell and Liz, Stephen), went to a book launch, an informal memorial for Jeremy) and then home.  All quite pleasant.

We continue to watch more TV than is probably a good idea. Last night was the ninth episode of the second season of Star Trek: Picard, which continues it’s long slide from interesting to ST:NG spinoff. So be it. It was ok.

Since this is the first post in a long time, really, I’ll make note that it is now four months since my last Meniere’s attack. I don’t have an exact date, but it was at the end of December, or very early January. There seems to be a direct correlation between exercise and diet, and having attacks. This is both good and bad news, depending on how you look at it.

I am not reading enough, or what I should. I want to read some William Gibson, but should be reading something new. Will see what happens there, and maybe say something here.  In the meantime, Kathleen Jennings is writing interesting things about short fiction over here. Check it out.