good
fosteronfilm was feeling blicky after fighting off a mini-migraine, and a few hamsters came out of the woodwork to harry my ankles. So we stayed home and re-watched the first two X-Men movies to prep to see the 3rd, and I did some hamster herding. But no fear, I still plan to celebrate our new-found financial security by purchasing a pretty accessory item. Although now I'm thinking I want to buy a new purse instead. With the reality of my new job, I suddenly find that the hamsters I've been juggling have become lighter and more aerodynamic. Just knowing that I can put some down without having to be concerned about starving is a huge load off my mind. Plus, I'm enjoying the juggling again, when before I was just wanting to fling 'em away as fast as I could.
Nice hamsters. *pets*
X-men: The Last Stand was shiny. It would seem to wreak havoc with the comic book X-men universe, which is why I suspect a lot of the fans really panned it, not to mention all the plot-device-ish writing. It was pretty, and there were many explosions, which is what I was going for. Nevertheless, I found it to be a downer. Oh, well. There's still Superman Returns to see.
Writing Stuff
I normally don't have time to write Tangent reviews anymore, aside from the rare story here and there to fill in for conflict-of-interest situations, or the occasional special issue/publication I'll snag to review; having first pick of review material is, after all, one of the perks of being the Managing Editor. The name Harlan Ellison® in the table of contents of the September issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction caught my attention. He's one of my all-time favorite writers, one of the main reasons we attended our first Dragon*Con (the other big reason being Ray Bradbury, who also attended that D*C).
I'm awed by the man's sheer fire when he speaks. I've met him--and got hit by an embarrassing episode of star struck, barely managing to babble something trite and inane along the lines of "I'm your biggest fan!"--and I aspire to write prose as visceral and compelling as his. So, of course, I had to review this issue of F&SF.
As it turns out, Harlan didn't offer up a new story (alas), but rather the kernel of a story idea, a la a writer's group "Shelley" exercise. Cool and interesting to see the results. My review here.
Received:
- Contract from Realms of Fantasy for "The Devil and Mrs. Comstock's Snickerdoodles." It's slated for publication in the Feb. 2007 issue. I was hoping that it'd make it into an '06 issue, but since they pay on acceptance, it's all good. And I seem to have gotten a per-word raise compared to my last sales to them. Sweet!
® Harlan Ellison is a registered trademark of the Kilimanjaro Corporation
