Author: Don

Bibliotheca Fantastica Is Out!

I’ve been remiss in announcing that at long last, the anthology Bibliotheca Fantastica, is finally out from Dagan Books!  Here’s my introduction to the book.  Trust me, this one is worth the wait!  (Not that I’m biased or anything…)

You can pick it up through Amazon for your Kindle, or in a DRM-free format–the epub file epub, mobi, (which also works on your Kindle), or PDF either individually or as a bundle!

“On the deck of a starship / With her head hooked into Andromeda…”

I’m so not used to having a Monday off after a con that I forgot that I’d put in to have today off. That’s okay, because it affords me some much-needed extra sleep and the chance to do my Readercon write-up in what is, for me, record time!

That doesn’t mean I have the brainspace for anything coherent.  I’m doing this while I’m awake, typing up little bits here and there, and then I’ll set it to post after I get to bed.  Then once I’ve had more sleep and time to reflect, I might talk about some panels later.


1
I think I’ve lost my con “honeymoon period.” But that’s a good thing in that I don’t waste too much time and energy anymore feeling like I’m taking up valuable oxygen better spent on Chiang, Datlow, Edelman, Di Filippo, Van Gelder, Hand, McHugh, Link, Kessel, Clute, &c.  Hence, I didn’t take as many pictures of panels and readings this time around, though I have a few.  I have yet to really look at which are worth posting.
2
Every year, I feel conflicted about buying books at Readercon (and other cons, for that matter). I don’t have unlimited space for physical books and I damn sure don’t have unlimited funds. Most Readercons though, I tell myself, “Screw it,” and buy large quantities anyway. This year though, the internal conflict came to a head to the point where it actually killed my buzz walking into the Bookshop. Still, I didn’t come away empty-handed. I just bought more strategically…

3
I’ve reached the point where going to cons is (slightly) less about the programming and more about connecting or re-connecting with people. And I got to do that with 99% of the people I wanted to see. But on the other hand, I felt that having precious little public space to sit and congregate (due to hotel construction) led to four days of “catch-as-catch-can,” with a number of folks (i.e. others who told me they’d felt this way, too) trying to catch-as-catch-can everyone else they wanted to talk to.
4
All that to say that when I had time with people, I didn’t always have the space and vice versa. But it wasn’t impossible, obviously. When I could have space and time at the same time, it was AWESOME.

5
Having said all that though, I felt the love!
6
I could shout-out/link everyone I talked to, old and new, but there were just too many!  Some folks have already found me on Twitter!
7
Cards Against Humanity is my new favorite game.

8
Panel note-taking with Evernote on mobile devices + swipe typing = WIN!
9
Most valuable panel to me, “The Work/Work Balance.”  There might’ve been very little that I hadn’t heard before, but hearing from seasoned–and I mean seasoned–professionals that the solutions are as old as the problems was exactly what I needed at this point in my life.
10
Money quote:

“No future I ever envisioned had Republicans in it.”
– Howard Waldrop, during “The Real Utopia” panel before going on to talk briefly about all the goings-on in his state of Texas.

    #

    I WILL give a shout-out to the ConCom and everyone who volunteered.  Thanks for the memories and hopefully I’ll see y’all at Readercon 25!

    Chapter LX

    From Heavy Metal

    We’re still 18 years away from 2031 when, if I’m still around, I’ll be 58 but still look the way I do now depending on what sort of genetic and/or cybernetic modifications I’ll be able to afford.  But that doesn’t stop me from feeling like an ancient relic now.

    But believe it or not, I’m in a better space than I was this time last year. Just.

    Let’s just say that I’ve now lived long enough to get to the point where I can completely relate to what the late, great fellow-Clevelander Harvey Pekar says…

    Don’t fret.  Our man isn’t that hopeless.  Granted, I’ve never been one of those people who fully appreciated the whole “adversity makes you tougher” idea.  But I’ll tell you this–adversity has sure made me shrewder.  It’s made me smarter.  It’s made me hungry for the things I want in life.  And it’s damn sure taken my patience away from the things that would stand in my way.

    So, I take the ups and downs.  Because as Robert Lamm sings…

    We’ve all had our highs
    The lows we can’t command
    Sleeping through insomnia
    It is more than you can stand

    Boy, is that right.

    I have a day off tomorrow.  But not the day after.  In the meantime, I’ll not be taking comments from the peanut gallery just now.  In fact, I’m likely fast asleep.  I love time-shifting this stuff.

    See what I mean?  Shrewder!

    “Help I’m steppin’ into the Twilight Zone…”

    Just got word that my presentation proposal, “Singing the Body Electric: The Symbiotic Relationship Between The Twilight Zone and the Literature of Speculative Fiction” was accepted for the 2013 Rod Serling Conference!! Now to finish constructing it–it’d been on the back burner for a bit.

    The conference, up until my previous go ’round, had always been held in town here, where Rod Serling lived and taught.  This year, the conference will be out in Los Angeles where Serling worked.  I knew this beforehand and thus, no WFC or Dragon*Con for me this year unfortunately.  But I’ll still be at Readercon!

    “Are you gatherin’ up the tears? Have you had enough of mine?”

    My goals for the past Memorial Day weekend are clearly stated in the first two verses of this song.  And got’dammit I needed it because the pace of my life has been breakneck.  Two days back at work, and it almost doesn’t feel like I’ve had a break. 

    I had I week where I had meetings on 3 out of the 4 edges of campus.  I’ve “achieved” the level where I have to leave a meeting early just so I can arrive 10 minutes late to my next one.  Where it’s up to me to make executive decisions about which meetings to beg off meetings, or face walks like this.

    Hell no.

    For these, and other reasons, I’ve been on silent running.  Every day is a battle to reclaim energy to have a high-level of executive functioning the next day.  I’ve time-shifted this entry–I’m sleeping as this goes out.  It’s fine for now.  But my life just hasn’t left me much to talk about on teh social medias on a daily basis without sounding like I’m just aching and moaning.

    I am catching up, though.  I’m closer to it than I’ve been in a long time, but not as close as I want to be.  I’ll get there soon.  And then, that’s when the last verse of “Funk 50” will become relevant.

    “I’m gonna take the stone of Sisyphus. I’m gonna roll it back to you.”

    Alternative Alamat: Stories Inspired by Philippine MythologyAlternative Alamat: Stories Inspired by Philippine Mythology by Paolo Chikiamco
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    In his introduction, editor Paolo Chikiamco spells out the payoff and the problems involved in putting together an anthology of remixed Filipino myths. “We are a nation of many indigenous cultures–numbering anywhere from sixty to over a hundred, depending on who you ask–with distinct oral traditions.” There are resources and strategies aimed at sussing all this out (see the appendices at the end of the book); guideposts to avenues of research in which even some Filipino scholars fear to tread. In the end though, the most meaningful way to relate to these myths (or those of any culture’s, for that matter) is through story.

    Some stories were weaker than others, as can be expected, but even these had something to offer–one in particular that I thought might’ve been the weakest might have had the best writing. These stories seemed to share a similar overall flaw IMO: the focus on the inscrutability and strangeness of the supernatural characters who didn’t seem to be too bothered by it one way or the other. (An attitude that seems distinctly un-Filipino).

    The anthology really picks up steam in its latter half, though. The better stories weren’t just simple retellings, but remixings and straight mash-ups of various myths, time periods, genres, and even modes of storytelling. One of my favorite pieces has an ending which cleverly hinges on the blending of Christianity and folk belief for which the Philippines is famous.

    All in all, an easy 4 stars for me.

    View all my reviews

    @SF Signal’s Mind Meld

    …I answer a question of mythic proportions!
    I could’ve gone a lot of places with my answer, starting with my extensive knowledge of Norse mythology in third grade, starting with Marvel Comics’ The Mighty Thor, through my extensive cross-referencing with The Encyclopedia Brittanica and poring through the footnotes of every mythology book I could get from my grade-school library.  But, that would’ve just been geeking out instead of answering the question.  And when the big kids at SF Signal offer you a seat at their table and ask you a question, you best answer it!

    “Jumpin’ up, fallin’ down / Don’t misunderstand me…”

    I knew this week was going to be bad.  It’s started off even worse.  But I’m getting by. My coping mechanism of the day has been playing this video on a loop.  It’s Joe Walsh playing “Funk #49” with Daryl Hall.

    Yes, you read that right.  And your brain is short-circuiting at the cognitive dissonance, isn’t it?  It’s that short-circuit that keeps me from falling into a black hole of depression, because who can not get fired up hearing that guitar riff?

    “Here we go marching to Mars / On a rainbow bridge, it don’t seem so far…”

    Continuing my tradition of talking about events I’ve gone to days and weeks after the fact, here’s what I did last week.

    Science Cabaret

    Last Friday was apparently Yuri’s Night.  I had no idea Yuri’s Night is a thing.  Definitely, worthy of a toast.  So, having had a hard day, I had two much-needed pints of Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Edmund Fitzgerald Porter at the bar hosting the event, and went to the upper lounge to enjoy a presentation and slideshow from a member of Cornell’s Department of Astronomy.

    The most interesting parts of the presentation were the more mundane details, like how my phone has a more storage and a more powerful camera than the rovers that went up years ago, or just how ridiculously easy it is to shoot something to Mars and miss it.

    When I complain about the cognitive disconnect of working in a place where people are beaming shit to and from Mars while there are spots on campus where I lose cell service, this is what I’m talking about.  Still though, the photos from the show, especially the ones from Mars, are pretty cool.

    “I will not forgive you / Nor will I accept the blame…”

    It’s that time of year once again where I celebrate that one special aspect of my cultural and religious heritage…

    SAN FERNANDO, Philippines–Catholic zealots in the Philippines re-enacted the last hours of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, whipping their backs and nailing themselves to crosses in a grisly Easter ritual that persists despite Church disapproval.

    (link)