Off with the fam today for a month:  a few days in Paris, then the rest of July in Scotland.  Posting will be infrequent; hopefully, Scotch will not be.

Current Mood: excited

Well, sort of--tomorrow night, we board the plane for Paris.  In the meantime, my doctor has told me he's concerned about my blood sugar--hello, forty, what fun you promise to bring.  And I still haven't figured out what books I'm bringing with me to read.

Current Mood: stressed

If you go over to Laird Barron (imago1 )'s journal, and scroll down an entry, you'll see he advises new writers in particular to attend a convention or three each year.  As someone who has benefited immensely from his yearly weekends at Readercon, not to mention Boskone and the occasional World Fantasy, and who regrets missing this upcoming Readercon, I'd very much like to second Laird's advice.  Go, be polite, don't be afraid to introduce yourself to people.  At first, the panels seem like a great idea because they're full of people talking about all these things you usually have to reserve for your conversations with the rearview mirror on the way into work, but lately, I've gotten much more out of trying to make as many of the readings as I can.   

has anyone spared a second to think of how this is affecting Weird Al Yankovic?  Huh?  Anyone?

which we practiced in my karate class tonight, is more painful than it sounds.

Current Mood: drained

As someone whose first book was published when he was thirty-nine, and whose second book, his first novel, will appear when he's turned forty, I found this post by John Scalzi on the ages of first novelists quite interesting.  It's worth noting that Toni Morrison didn't publish her first novel until she was forty, while Chandler had to wait until he was forty-four, if memory serves.

Current Mood: thoughtful

In six days, now, Fiona, David, and I will be leaving for a month abroad.  The majority of our time we'll be spending with Fiona's mother in Scotland; first, though, we'll have four days in Paris, where Fiona's going to be delivering a paper at a William S. Burroughs conference.  This is going to leave David and I to wander around the City of Light on our own.  It's my first time in Paris:  any recommendations for a Dad and his six year old son?

Current Mood: excited

To my brother and sister-in-law's third child, my niece, who turns the big three today!  Hope it's a great day, kiddo!

Current Mood: cheerful

...is now available from Hippocampus Press here.  It features my review of Cherie Priest's very nice Fathom, as well as lots of thoughtful and provocative takes on books from Gene Wolfe's An Evil Guest to Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book.  I write for these guys because I very much believe in what the editors, S.T. Joshi and Jack Haringa, are trying to do, which is to say, to promote intelligent discussion of contemporary works of horror/dark fantasy/etc.  I don't agree with everything I read there--indeed, some reviews I rather strongly disagree with--but I appreciate the time and effort the reviewers put into their work.  It makes a lovely solstice gift, too.

Current Mood: accomplished

...to all the fathers out there!  Hope it's a good day for you and yours!

Current Mood: happy