Upcoming Conventions for May

On May 22 I drive down to Tampa and hop a plane to Madison, WI. Once I get to WisCon, my schedule is:

Friday, May 23, 8:45-10:00 p.m. -- Poetry reading with the Science Fiction Poetry Association: "Lilacs, Laundry Lists and Lycanthropy: The Magic of Everyday Life," spearheaded by Sandra Lindow, with Jeannie Bergmann and Alan DeNiro.

Sunday, May 25, 10:00-11:15 a.m. -- Panel "Hot Flashes and Power Surges." Description: "In The New Moon's Arms, Nalo Hopkinson gave us a protagonist whose menopausal hot flashes create magic. Carol Emshwiller, Ursula Le Guin, and Terry Pratchett, among others, have also written with force, wit, and creativity about women who have moved into the third stage of their lives. In this panel, crones and those of us currently making the transition discuss the emotional and physical changes of menopause, as well as the ways those around us respond to our changing bodies. Where can we find models for the kind of women we want to be when we grow up? How do we mourn our fertility -- especially those of us who have no children? And how can we be visible, strong, and powerful in a culture where women disappear with the first chin hair?" Moderated by Janice Eisen, with Debbie Smith Daughetee, Karen Moore, and Jamie Feldman.

Sunday, 1:00-2:15 p.m. -- Panel "Writing Working Class Characters." Description: "Many SF writers live in an essentially middle-class world. Perhaps as a result, SF features relatively few working-class characters, preferring stories about warriors, merchants, scientists, military officers, and mages to tales of carpenters, assembly line workers, day care providers, blacksmiths, nursing aides, service center reps, and spaceship janitors. Do we assume characters doing this work don't have interesting adventures? That they don't have interesting thoughts? And if we do write about these characters and don't have a working-class background ourselves, how do we get it right?" Moderated by Paula Fleming, with Eleanor Arnason, Joyce Frohn, and Christopher Barzak.

Sunday, 2:30-3:45 p.m. -- Panel "Revealing Your World." Description: "Now that you've invented the world, you have to reveal it to your readers. Some authors create poetry or myth or maps, some describe clothes in ardent detail, or throw in an invented vocabulary. Some make sure the reader sees everything, while others make it up and then leave most of it off the page. Panelists discuss their personal style, and what they hope to accomplish." Moderated by Amy Thomson , with Betsy James , Alma Alexander, and Alex Bledsoe.

Monday, May 26, 8:30-9:45 a.m. -- Panel "How Much Is Too Much?" Description: "Unless we're reading or writing about a utopia, the societies in our fantasy worlds are going to have problems. In fact, a culture without problems invariably comes off as shallow and unrealistic. Does this mean we need to include things like sexism and racism if we want to tell a believable story? And if so, are we, as authors, guilty of perpetuating whatever-ism in the real world?" Moderated by Sarah Monette, with Catherynne M. Valente (who had a great interview in the latest Locus), Gregory Rihn, and Guest of Honor L. Timmel Duchamp.

Later on that day I'll be part of the Sign-Out book-signing event. I'll also put in time at the Broad Universe dealer table, probably Friday and/or Saturday. Then early Tuesday morning I zip over to the airport for my return flight.

On Friday the 30th I drive up to the Florida panhandle for The Wrath of Con. During the two-and-a-fraction days that I am home, I plan to be a zombie, resting up from WisCon. During Wrath of Con I will plant myself behind the Aisling Press dealer table and do my best to look awake.

I'm traveling light to WisCon -- one checked bag (half of it copies of Covenant), one carry-on, plus laptop. (Lying in bed this morning, it occurred to me that I should try to fit a few books into my carry-on, in case they lose my luggage.) Before I leave for WisCon, I plan to have my extra supplies for Wrath of Con ready to just toss in the car, namely my book poster, standing easel, travel food, TripTik, and iPod speakers for when I lose my classical music signal during the long drive. The only travel food I'm taking on the plane is Power Bars, which weigh in under the Transportation Safety Administration's 3-ounce limit. There's a grocery store four blocks from the convention.

Now all I have to do is make myself travel-worthy.

Have Tome, Will Travel

Photo: This is Elissa's brain on cons.
(Our canteloupe negligence dates back to 2005.)

I did three events in March -- a Barnes & Noble book-signing in Ocala, Mega-Con in Orlando, and a Critique Retreat at the Homosassa Public Library.

Mary and I were also caretaking our cat Red, who passed on March 20 at the age of 16. That leaves his buddy Daisy, making us a one-cat household. We've all been adjusting.

April has been a month of rest and planning, and even some writing in the midst of it all. Here's what's coming up:

May 23-26: WisCon (Madison, WI), the world's leading feminist science fiction convention. I'll be on panels, have signed up to do a reading, and will be at the Broad Universe book table. This will be my first WisCon, and I can tell I'm going to have a lot of trouble choosing among the panel offerings to attend. They rock something fierce.

Electric Velocipede #14 debuts at WisCon, containing my story "Hermit Crabs." You can see Lisa Snellings-Clark's terrific cover and pre-order the issue at
blog.electricvelocipede.com/2008....html

Three days after I return from Wisconsin I drive to...

May 30-June 1: The Wrath of Con in Panama City Beach on the Florida panhandle. This is an Aisling Press event, so I'll be hanging out with staff and fellow Aisling authors at the sales table(s). This will also be my first trip to the panhandle. I've got my AAA TripTik in hand.

June 21: I pop down to Tampa for a book-signing at Barnes & Noble.

July 17-20: Readercon (Burlington, MA). "A typical Readercon features well over 100 writers, editors, and critics (attracting prominent figures from Canada, the U.K., and occasionally even Australia) and more than 400 of their readers. Readercon is the only small convention regularly attended by such giants of literary sf as Samuel R. Delany, John Crowley, Barry N. Malzberg, and Jonathan Lethem." Lethem is this year's Guest of Honor (I loved his novel Motherless Brooklyn). I was a professional guest at the first Readercon in '87, then held in Boston (I think in Brookline, unless I'm confusing it with Arisia). I could take the subway to it, then (*insert wistful sigh*).

August 6-10: Denvention (World Science Fiction Convention) in Denver, CO. This will be my third Worldcon -- my first was Noreascon II in Boston in 1980 (where I discovered the Science Fiction Poetry Association); my second was ConStellation in Baltimore in 1983. This is the progenitor of sf conventions, with the first held in New York in 1939. (The first Denvention dates back to 1941.) This is also where the Hugo (Science Fiction Achievement) Awards are given. It will mark my first stay in Colorado beyond an airport stopover.

About 2-1/2 weeks after I get home from Denvention, I drive up to Atlanta for...

August 29-Sept. 1: DragonCon, "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US" and an Aisling Press event. This one gets around 30,000 attendees. I have yet to order my TripTik for this one, but I did get AAA's latest Georgia Tour Book. It will mark my first stay in Atlanta beyond an airport stopover. Mary and I drove through Georgia when we moved from Boston to central Florida five years ago, but I haven't seen the state beyond looking out the window at pretty landscapes.

October 10-12: Necronomicon in St. Petersburg, FL (moved from Tampa). So far I'm on a dark poetry panel (as I was last year). This is also an Aisling Press event. In 2006, Necro marked my return to sf conventions after an almost 20-year absence. My 2007 attendance marked Covenant's debut. By the time of the 2008 convention I should have the sequel, Deviations: Appetite, in hand.

October 17-19: Florida State Poets Association annual conference, which moves around the state and this year occurs in Ocala, about 30 miles from me. I'm giving a workshop on the 18th, topic TBD.

November 14-16: Florida Writers Association conference in Lake Mary, FL (outside Orlando). I'm giving workshops in metaphor and in character and plot development, and will be available for one-on-one interviews, plus I'll have use of the convention bookstore. By that time, if all goes according to schedule, I can place three and maybe four titles -- two novels (Covenant and Appetite) plus two anthologies: Riffing on Strings (Scriblerus Press), with my story "Arachne," and (if released by then) Unspeakable Horror (Dark Scribe Press), with my story "Memento Mori."

I'll see if I can increase my number of panels, readings, and whatnot as the year progresses. My "To Do" list includes putting together handouts and talking points, some of which I've already done because I'm recycling/expanding on workshops I've given in the past. I'll also be doing the work that precedes Appetite's release, along with my usual freelance assignments.

The buzzword for this year is: Stamina! I've got some serious motivation to keep myself healthy. Links to the conventions can be found on my website at
home.earthlink.net/~deviati...ions.html

Click on the "archive of past events" link to access photos and blog entries of my events during and preceding March.

Interview Addendum

Jordan and I had a great 5-minute interview, after which I had my "V-8 moment" about a question that I would answer differently if I could do it all over again. Within the context of my writing roots (New Wave SF), Jordan asked about my current SF reading that could fall into the New Wave category.

I answered that most of my reading nowadays is nonfiction (which is true), and rattled off a few SF authors and books that were formative for me -- relying on my answers to print interview questions at the back of Covenant. Nothing wrong with that. But among the SF books I *have* read recently, I could have and should have mentioned Bruce Boston's The Guardener's Tale (Sam's Dot Publishing), the collection Speculative Japan (Gene Van Troyer and Grania Davis, Eds., Kurodahan Press), and Stephen Baxter's Time's Tapestry series (Orion/Ace). Excellent reads, all.

On the Air

I was at the WBZ studio in Boston for my first appearance on the Jordan Rich Show in October 2002. Tonight I'll be taking a call here at my home workroom (shown above), to do a phone interview as part of the "Jordan Rich Show Book Club, Winter 2008 edition." The photo above is about five years old, but my desk still looks pretty much as it had except that I have a fair degree more material on the walls.

The interview will occur at around 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, February 2 (the show runs from midnight to 5 a.m.). It can be heard on

www.wbz.com/pages/6202.php

where you can click the blue "Listen Live" button in the upper right. And many thanks to Jordan for having me on the air again!

Tally Ho!

My fifth short story acceptance of the year just came through this morning. "Memento Mori" will appear in the Dark Scribe Press anthology Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet.

That rounds out this tally of publications (not counting blogs and various newsletter items) and acceptances during 2007:

*****Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Appetite, the second volume in the Deviations series, forthcoming from Aisling Press.
"Prometheus Rebound," forthcoming in Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly.
"Memento Mori," forthcoming in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press, 2008).
"Arachne," in Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory (Scriblerus Press, June 2008).
"Hermit Crabs," forthcoming in Electric Velocipede #14.
"Identity Theft," forthcoming in The Drabbler #10 (Sam's Dot Publishing, February 2008).
Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations series (Aisling Press, November 2007).
"January 1985: A Day in Lawrence, Massachusetts," Reed, Issue 60, 2007.

*****Poetry
"Derivative Work," forthcoming in Asimov's.
"Forest Dragons" (honorable mention) and "Salvage" (top ten) forthcoming in anthology of best entries in the Science Fiction Poetry Association's sonnet contest, to be released by Spec House of Poetry.
"Evolution," Star*Line 30(6).
"After the Standoff," Poets' Forum Magazine 19(2).
"Getting the Last Laugh," Poets' Forum Magazine 19(2).
"First Things First," Harp-Strings Poetry Journal 18(3).
"Running Moebius," Poets' Forum Magazine 18(3).
"Eye of the Beholder," Star*Line 30(4).
"A Multiple Personality Contemplates the Pleiades," Star*Line 30(1).

*****Articles
"A New Lens on Life," Wagner Magazine, Fall 2007
"The Many Shades of Dark Poetry," Poets' Forum Magazine 19(2).
"Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave!" Poets' Forum Magazine 19(1).
"The 'Rights' Stuff," Of Poets And Poetry 33(2).
"Genre Poetry Panel at Necronomicon," Of Poets And Poetry 33(1).
"Speculative Poetry: It's Not Just About Spaceships," Poets' Forum Magazine 18(3).
"Using Metaphor to Terrify," Star*Line 30(1).

*****Photography
A photograph of statues at the Homosassa Public Library is forthcoming on the cover of Poets' Forum Magazine.
"Moths and Snapdragons," cover photograph in Harp-Strings Poetry Journal 19(1) and accompanying "A New Lens on Life," above.
"Beach Sunflower," in "Going Native in the Garden" on This Old House (online magazine), May 2007.
Photos of McCoy circus flatcars in "Grandpa" Nelson G. Williams, "Have You Seen These Big Circus Trains?" The Layout (Train Collectors Association, Southern Division) 41(3).
"Flagler College," in Schmap's Guide to Jacksonville (online), Historic Buildings page, October 2007. (Flagler College is in St. Augustine, which is close to Jacksonville on Florida's northeast coast.)
Cover art (photo montage) in Star*Line issues 30(4), 30(5), and 30(6).

In addition, my photograph "Swamp Lily" sold at a juried live auction that was part of "Savor the Art of Citrus County," an evening fund-raiser to benefit the Art Center of Citrus County in February 2007.

I was also interviewed by speculative poet Scott A. Kelly for his article, "Meet Elissa Malcohn: Former Editor of Star*Line," in his online magazine Vacuum Genesis, originally posted in December 2006 and reposted in January 2007.

This entry with links is also posted at:
hurricanecountry.blogspot.com/200...html

Blessings to you all for 2008 and beyond. Happy New Year!

Season's Blessings

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, safe, and blessed holiday season!

This collage (done using MS Paint and MS Photo Editor) combines images from the following shots:

A neighbor's statue, taken in June
www.flickr.com/photos/302.../529319270/

A sunset Moon, taken in October
www.flickr.com/photos/302...1720696673/

The October shot shows the Moon at 93% of full. The Moon is currently 99% of full.

The Week In Publications

Photo: A Covenant Transport truck stood across the county road from the post office where I pick up my mail. A flatbed was parked not far from the truck. Naturally, I had to cross the county road and set up this shot.

That's a lot of books. :-)

This past week (for the most part) has seen:

One story acceptance
Two contracts received
Cover art published
Poem published
Cover photo solicited (this actually happened about two weeks ago)
Radio spot arranged

-----1. Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly ( www.helixsf.com/index.htm )

My story "Prometheus Rebound" has been accepted to Helix. I'll post the story URL when it's live.

Seven stories published by Helix received honorable mentions in the 2006 Year's Best Science Fiction collection and four of its poems were nominated for the Rhysling Award (for the best speculative poetry of the year), of which one received third place. Five stories made the "Notable Short Stories of 2006" list put out by storySouth, and Helix received an honorable mention in storySouth's Million Writers Award for best new online magazine of 2006. (Among other accomplishments, storySouth is listed as a "Contributing Small Press" for the Pushcart Prize, the most honored literary project in America.) To read more about accomplishments at Helix, go to www.helixsf.com/news_announcements.htm .

As of this date, "Prometheus Rebound" joins three other stories I have forthcoming. "Identity Theft" will appear in The Drabbler #10 (from Sam's Dot Publishing, samsdotpublishing.com/contents.htm ), "Hermit Crabs" will appear in Electric Velocipede #14 ( www.electricvelocipede.com/ ), and "Arachne" will appear in Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory (Scriblerus Press, www.banyancollege.org/scrible...ndex.php ). "Arachne" originally appeared in the November/December 1988 issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction.

-----2. Contracts received from Helix and from Aisling Press ( www.aislingpress.com )

And on the same day, no less! Deviations: Appetite, the second volume in my series, is now forthcoming from Aisling. Stay tuned for updates.

-----3. and 4. Star*Line ( www.sfpoetry.com )

Star*Line 30(6) contains my cover art and my cinquain sequence, "Evolution."

-----5. Poets' Forum Magazine

PFM has solicited a shot I took at the Homosassa Public Library's grand opening to appear on the cover of a future issue. You can see the photo at www.flickr.com/photos/302...2094705782/ .

-----6. The Jordan Rich Show ( www.wbz.com/pages/6202.php )

I was a guest on Jordan's show in October 2002, and we spent a great hour talking about science fiction with each other and with listeners who called in. Afterwards, he invited me back when I had a book published. The show broadcasts nationwide out of WBZ Newsradio 1030 Boston and is also accessible on the Web.

Jordan's show on Saturday, February 2, 2008, will focus on fiction authors. The show runs from midnight to 5 AM Eastern time. We plan to do an interview by phone around 12:30, and will firm up details as we get closer to the air date.

May you all have a wonderful Solstice!

Book Paradise

Shown: Entrance to the new Homosassa Public Library.

The library celebrated its Grand Opening on Friday, December 7, 2007. This branch marks the latest addition to the Citrus County Library System.

Loretta Rogers ( lorettacrogersbooks.com/ )and I were two "local authors" present at the event, which included addresses given by state and local officials and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Our keynote speaker was Florida Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning. CCLIB director Flossie Benton Rogers organized the event, which also owes much to the library staff and to Friends of the Library of Homosassa Florida, Inc.

My entry at
deviationstrilogy.blogspot.com/20...tml

provides more info and a photo tour.

Coming Next Year to a Cosmos Near You

I received this flyer earlier today from Sean Miller, co-editor of the upcoming Scriblerus Press anthology Riffing on Strings. I'm one of the contributors. Félix Sorondo is the artist. More information about the anthology is at scriblerus.net. The large view is at
farm3.static.flickr.com/2184/2...b_o.jpg

Scriblerus Press has some cool promotions planned for next June and July, including a "virtual book tour." Stay tuned!

Festival and Covenant News

The longer version of this entry, with more photos and links, is posted at:
elissa-malcohn.livejournal.com/7700.html

I've still got a long way to go, but three overflowing trash bins later the studio now has a significant chunk of visible floor and I can actually see some desk. We won't discuss the need to catch up on filing. In the meantime, I've finally finished drafting and have submitted the short story I'd begun during the summer and have also added new material to Book #6.

I have never before done so much research for a piece of short fiction -- my notes top 9,000 words for a story under 6,000, and only a small percentage of those notes actually made it into the draft. But that's all worth it if it adds believability to the tale and especially if the story makes the cut for the anthology that inspired the idea in the first place. Mary's technical term for this is "armwave-armwave."

The anthology deadline isn't until February, but that story's been nagging at me to get it out the door. That makes eight prose pieces off to market (four fiction, four nonfiction) and two poems, with more waiting in the wings for me to do something with them.

Before my critique group meeting, I talked with Bill Bissell of Rainy Day Editions, a terrific bookstore in downtown Inverness (Citrus County, FL). He said something that at first seemed counterintuitive to me and that I'd heard nowhere else, but that made sense as I thought about it. He said, "The best thing that can happen to me is if a Waldenbooks opens up across the street."

I was used to thinking of the chain stores as threats to independent booksellers and asked him to explain.

"We're not competitors," he said. He added that the chain stores attract customers, who then go to the nearby independent store to see if (a) they can find the same book for less, and (b) they can find books the chain store no longer keeps on its shelves. This can prove especially profitable with expensive coffee table books that are in vogue one year and are old news the next.

Coexistence! That made me grin. I compared the relationship to that of one bicyclist being able to draft off another, though that's not an exact analogy.

Two days later I was volunteering at the Citrus County Festival of the Arts at the Art Center tent, and followed up some associated heavy lifting with an evening of dancing. I got a good workout that Sunday.

Our booth at the festival held costumes and props from the Art Center's theater department; drawings, paintings, and photographs from various visual arts groups; and books (including mine) from writer members. We had on hand our general brochure, fall class schedule, and the theater's show season brochure.

One of my favorite pieces in the display was a drawing of an occipital bone made by Stacey Griffis, our visual arts VP, who took a course in anatomical drawing while a pre-med student. Her textures and shading are exquisite. I'd seen her perform on stage (she's wonderful), but I wasn't familiar with her art until now.

Our Art Center renovations are now complete. On Thursday we held our first post-renovation membership meeting and artist demo in the "new" place:

Vicki Pritchard was our demonstrator in both portrait painting and copying the Old Masters. Her art has been exhibited at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, the Jacksonville Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Ted Williams Museum in St. Petersburg, and her designs have been used by various churches for stained glass windows. At the request of her local Congressman, she displayed work on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

I had a chance to sit in on part of her fascinating talk before my free-writing meeting began. Vicki has taught Old Masters material in prisons, with detailed instructions on technique that can range over 40 pages. They're not only amazing blueprints, they're great philosophical treatises.

In the meantime, Covenant is listed on the Science Fiction Poetry Association's "SFPA member books" site (generously provided by Malcolm Deeley) and its cover is up on the New Covey Awards site for November as entry #27.

The New Covey Awards ( thenewcoveycoverawards.blogspot.com/ )are monthly awards given to both the best new book covers and the best book trailers. Anyone can visit the Covey Awards site and vote, but no matter what the outcome the site provides a month of free publicity to authors, which is the whole intent of the exercise. Covers are voted on in two categories, most eye-catching and most relevant -- which means that synopses are presented along with the artwork. The site showcases a very neat collection of different genres and artistic styles. Thanks to Bruce Boston (whose cover for his novel The Guardener's Tale is also posted for November) for informing me of this venue.

October's winner for "most eye-catching" is Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc's horror sinisteria novel Left To The Night Alone. Andrea's table was next to mine at Necronomicon -- she's also an Aisling Press author -- and Mary and I enjoyed meeting and speaking with her.

Thursday's mail brought two journals. My art is on the cover of the September/October 2007 Star*Line. And my article has appeared in Wagner Magazine (pictured).

I learned yesterday that TriggerStreet is now accepting short stories and novels. Up until recently, TriggerStreet was accepting only short films and screenplays. Since then, they've added plays and now short stories and books to their site.

From their e-mail to me:
"Since its inception, TriggerStreet.com has been the place to go if you wanted to find exposure and feedback for your Screenplays and Short Films online. Now, in addition to being able to upload your Short Stories to the site, a section we launched earlier this year, you can now also upload Books that you have written."

Normally a member must submit a couple of reviews of others' work before submitting their own, but there is currently a "free" period (meaning no previous review is needed) for short story and book uploads.

Creative Commons has a post that pretty much encapsulates what TriggerStreet is about, at
creativecommons.org/weblog/e...ntry/4419

I haven't used the Trigger Street site, myself, but I became interested in it after seeing Kevin Spacey (who founded it) interviewed on the Charlie Rose PBS show a while back.