Back at the day job desk after a  mixed weekend.  Friday seems a lifetime ago.  I got home from the office expecting a quiet hour or two before the arrival of the Horde, but plans had changed (they were headed for a friend’s house for a play date) and they were in the door just as I was sitting down to relax.  Given the gathering storm, I opted to head over to JB HiFi and do a little unnecessary shopping. I came away with the new Angus and Julia Stone cd and an old Bill Withers one.

I then sat down to read for a bit, looking for something to follow the novel-that-can’t-be-named. I’m in the mood for some SF and haven’t been able to settle on anything since. In the end I found myself re-reading an old favorite, C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station.  It has the tough-edged space opera feel that I’m in the mood for, annd seemed to hit the spot. I may abandon it if pressures to read other things grow, but for now it’s just the right thing. 

The evening was whiled away with Cherryh, the new cds, and some cricket from India.  Saturday, though, was different. Last weekend I’d promised Sophie that if we skipped going to the park then we could go to the zoo this weekend.  Well, promises are made to be kept.  We opted not to tell Jessica, who is afraid of animals, our destination, and that proved a wise choice.  She wasn’t thrilled when we got there, but in the end had a good time she wouldn’t otherwise have let herself have. The weather was perfect, and we wandered idly around seeing ghost bats, lions, lemurs, kangaroos, and penguins(!).  Sophie rode the Carousel, we had lunch, and walked a lot. It was fine day.

We got home late, collapsed for a while, then grabbed pizza before Family Movie Night. The film was typically execrable, but didn’t change what had been a good day.  Sunday was Tax Day.  In amongst meals, I basically spent six hours sorting papers so that I’m now ready to start the 2008/2009 taxes.  We’re going out tonight to see Lyle Lovett, so I’ll probably do them in dribs and drabs over Wednesday and Thursday evening. Yay.  The main thing, though, is that April Holidays Approacheth, so I want taxes done and everything else up to date by then. 

And just to repeat: come April 2 I’m on holidays for a month.  For the first time ever this means I’m not just on holidays from the day job, I’m on holidays from EVERYTHING. I shan’t be editing, reviewing or anything.  Emails shall go unanswered (unchecked!), and the days shall be spent relaxing and not worrying about such things.  I’ll check in again on around April 20, but between the beginning of the month and then I shall be absent.  We’re spending a week away on a family holiday (while my mum’s at our house), then time back in Perth with the kids, and then I even get a week or so when the kids are back at school and  I’m just whiling away time.  It should be glorious.

The only thing, apart from taxes, that is harshing my mellow right now is my right ear. It’s been blocked for nearly three weeks. I saw a doctor last Wednesday, after I spent some time throwing up, but things haven’t improved much.  I have tinnitus and can’t hear well. It feels blocked, though there’s no wax there. It’s almost certainly an inner ear infection. Gack.  I want to get it cleared up as soon as I can, so if it doesn’t improve tomorrow, then back to the doctors.

The good folk at the British Fantasy Society have released the long-list of the British Fantasy Awards. It is a very long list, but I’m delighted to see Eclipse Three, The New Space Opera 2, and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Three amongst the thirty-seven anthologies recognised by the Society. Whilst Iwould be surprised, and delighted, if any of my anthologies made the final list (I’m not being modest. All contain SF and other stuff, and this is a fantasy award), I would like to thank Society members for this recognition and will work to make electronic texts for the books available to voters, should any of them make the final list.

I have occasional problems with my right ear. It tends to get blocked with wax from time-to-time, and every now and then I get a virus or something affecting it. What this usually means is a week or so of tinnitus, and then all’s back to normal.  The tinnitus struck up about two weeks ago and I’m still dealing with that, but on Wednesday morning I woke feeling dizzy and not at all well. Like an idiot I got up and started to head to work. I made it less than a kilometre before turning around and heading home. I spent some time violently throwing up and feeling rotten, before sleeping deeply for the rest of the morning.  I then saw the doctor and spent Wednesday and Thursday doing nothing much but being sick.  Friday wasn’t too bad, and Saturday is still up in the air.  Meh.

In the meantime I turned my attention to WorldCon and flight/hotel bookings.  Some friends of ours are staying in an apartment hotel, and we may well stay there. We are also considering the Hilton, which has some very nice apartments too.  Dollars are a big consideration, though. I was annoyed to discover that room rates went up while we pondered, so we’ll push to get this, and airfares I suppse, dealt with soon. This means nudging a few people out there to pay some bills so we can, but this is the life of everyone so I while I’m complaining, I’m not complaining (if you know what I mean).

I seem to have dropped off the radar for another week.  The march to finish Wings of Fire is complete.  Marianne and I delivered the final manuscript of the anthology a few days ago.  As always seems to be the case, though, I’m waiting on a few details before we release the table of contents.  There’s still a healthy chance at least one story will be added very late in the piece, and maybe two, so I don’t want to pre-empt that. However, I’d say we should have a list to go public with in the next week.

Now the Wings of Fire is done Marianne is about to get started on cyberpunk research, while I get taxes done. Once taxes are done, then it’s our April holiday (yay!!!), most of the rest of the year will be occupied with Engineering Infinity (June), Eclipse Four (July), The Best of Joe Haldeman, and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 5 (November). That should see us through till December, when I think I might close the editing doors for a little while for Christmas (that’s assuming we’re on schedule!). Then it’ll be Locus end of year stuff and Under My Hat.  A busy year, but quieter than last.

With all that in mind, I actually read a book this week. I can’t tell you what it was, but I really enjoyed it.  I also picked up a few cds, and tried to watch some cricket.  Taxes, however, are most on my mind now.  How I don’t love them.

There comes a time in any project, no matter how much you love it and have enjoyed working on it, when you’re ready for it to be done.  Marianne and I spent time today putting the finishing touches on Wings of Fire. We’re not quite done – we need to tinker with story notes a little and one or two other things – but we’re nearly done and when we are it goes off to the good folk at Night Shade for the next step on its journey towards becoming a book. When it does come back to us, as a copyedited manuscript for checking some time in early May, I’ll be delighted to see it again. Right now, though, I think I’ve seen enough dragons stories for a few days.