Untitled Writers' Group

Adventurous Day

I started with an oh-shit morning. This happens when you wake up, look at the clock, and say, "Oh shit!" The clock in question read 6:18, and I usually get up at 5:25.

You are looking at an unshowered man.

Bolted out the door and got to school only ten minutes later than my usual 7:00 (school starts at 7:20). Whew! Let's get moving. Start the day with media literacy, then segue into the stupid MEAP test, go to lunch, teach college writing, and head into another section of media literacy. At about 1:40, the PA came to life.

"Good afternoon, students and staff," said our principal in a cheerful voice. "We're going to conduct a fire drill in just a few moments. Teachers, please tell your students to take their belongings with them." And the fire alarm went off.

Naturally my own alarms were working overtime. 1) Fire drills are always at the beginning of class, never in the middle. 2) They are never announced. 3) The kids generally don't take their stuff with them. The whole thing smelled like a bomb threat or similar. So I threw my own stuff into my satchel, grabbed coat and keys, and headed outside with the kids. Moments later, a fire truck came screaming down the street and hurtled itself around the corner to the front of the building.

Naturally speculation ran rampant, but we didn't learn anything. At least the weather was warm, if windy. The buses arrived and the assistant principals told the kids they could go home at the normal time of 2:10. I spoke to said AP, and he said there was an "immediate threat" to the building, though he wouldn't say what it was. I'm still thinking bomb threat.

Once the kids were on the buses, I went around to the front of the building to go home, congratulating myself on having grabbed my own stuff. (Actually, after the Year of Many Bomb Threats, I grab my coat and keys whenever there's a building evacuation, even if it's just a drill.) Many police cars were in evidence, and one of the officers directed traffic to expedite people getting out. So now I'm home.

From oh-shit to evacuation in six easy hours!

--
Steven

Shrek the Sheep by Lisa

Yet another non-writing post, but it's so strange and funny....

An escaped sheep in New Zeland evaded herders and survived for six years in the wild. Shrek, as the sheep has been named, was finally caught and given his first sheer in six years.

Erdos Number for Sale by Lisa

The world is a strange place...

2003 Nebula Award Winners by Lisa

Best Novel: Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon
Best Novella: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Best Novelette: The Empire of Ice Cream, by Jeffrey Ford
Best Short Story: What I Didn't See, by Karen Joy Fowler
Best Script: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Stephen Sinclair & Peter Jackson

The SFWA website has more information about Nebula Weekend, including blogs and reports.

I'm so pleased that Speed of Dark won. It is an amazing story told from the unique point of view of a mildly autistic man.

Sarah Zettel in Kalamazoo

Yesterday, we went to a booksigning in Kalamazoo at Kazoo Books.

Tim and I bundled Alexander into the car. He's a good and mellow traveller, and fell asleep for a good portion of the drive. Alas, I directed us to the wrong store, and it took a little bit to get to the right one.

The right store was a new/used store run by really cheerful, nifty people. I wore my new vintage haori jacket. I handed my men over to my friend Dawn to chaperone and entertain while I signed. There were four of us signing that day: me, Comrade Steven, Anne Harris and Jaqueline Carey. Steven and I were in the back among the romance and Chirstian fic (seems an odd choice, but the SF was apparently stuffing the basement to the gills). We had several people show up for signatures and stay to chat, which was pleasant. We had a nice lunch of chicken drummies, fresh fruit and veggies.

The best part of the signing was the part I think the store folks might regret. They had promotional kazoos made up that they were intending to give out to school kids at a later event. They gave us four.

Never, ever, EVER give four authors kazoos. They will play them, and play them, and parade through your store playing them. They will play Pomp and Circumstance and The Stars and Stripes Forever and Hail to the Victors and 76 Trombones and the Theme from Jaws. They will take a solemn vow to never again do a signing without kazoos.

It was a whole world of fun.

Signing, With Kazoos by Steven

Had a four-hour book signing today at Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo, along with Comrade Sarah, Anne Harris, and Jacqueline Carey. Kalamazoo about a two-hour drive west of here, so off I went in my trusty Cavalier. The drive was nice, and I had fine spring weather. Found the bookstore easily enough and walked right in.

Kazoo Books is a used and new bookstore set up in what used to be a house. It’s very large, with three floors of shelves and an enormously fat cat named Tink. I was later told that the owners put Tink on a diet but he didn’t lose weight. Eventually they discovered the customers were feeding him! Now they have signs posted around the store asking people not to do that.

Anyway, I met the very friendly store owners and got a tour. (The place is big enough to warrant one.) The SF books were in the basement (rather like those stereotypical SF readers), and I found the workers unpacking and shelving a whole slew o’ boxes. It seems some guy died and his heirs found box after box after box of SF and F novels in his house. They called Kazoo Books. “How much would you charge to haul them away?”

“Er . . . ”

Despite temptation, the owners paid for the books and quintupled their SF collection. Some of the books were really old and pulpy. A worker and I found two erotic SF novels translated from French--the adventures of a sexologist and her great adventures in space. Despite temptation, I didn’t buy them.

Also found some Chicks in Chainmail books, which I signed.

Upstairs, Sarah and Anne and Jacqueline finally arrived and we went to our assigned places. We had comfy armchairs set next to tables loaded with our books. I signed a set right off for a collector, then had a lull, then signed several more. Many people wandered through, and Sarah and I engaged in long, relaxed conversations with them, punctuated by more signatures and browsing about the store.

Somewhere in all this, the owners made a serious misake. They gave us all Kazoos.

The fun began when Sarah and I marched off in search of the food table, kazoos clenched firmly in our teeth. We did a duet of “It’s a Small World After All,” and segued into a Sousa march. We were followed by the owner and a pair of giggling customers. Anne and Jacqueline’s table was at the other end of the store, so Sarah and I went to visit them. We did a quartet of “Pomp and Circumstance.” (Only later did we learn someone had a video camera rolling. Oh dear.) Later, we added “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” and the University of Michigan fight song. The customers were alternately fascinated and horrified. Sold a few more books, though.

And then home.

--Steven

Lisa's Belated Penguicon Post

Joe and I arrived at Penguicon on Saturday around noon. We found Sarah and Steven in the restaurant, and we joined them for a late-ish lunch. We visited with John and Erica in the dealer's room, where John was running the Underworld's booth. It had been a busy day for the Underworld, both in sales and in thefts. (Shoplifting was rampant, I regret to report.) I bought my friend Liz an amber pendant she had been staring at: a three-leaf clove with one leaf each of yellow, orange, and green amber.

Guys with red air guns surprised us in the hallways. I didn't know what these large red gun-like things were, and I thought for certain that I was about to get shot with a soft styrofoam ball or something of the sort, so I was much surprised when the bullet turned out to be a blast of air. I had to try it out myself, and I gave our friend Tracy, just passing in the hallway, a blast of air. Joe speculated on how our cats would react to an air gun, and we decided that while the results would be highly amusing to us, the cats would be far less amused.

Erica and I went up to their room and had a good time hanging out. Jack was well behaved — saving it up, we later learned, for that night, much to John's distress. Since Erica had watched Jack all day, she left him in John's care for the evening. We picked up Joe in the lobby. Liz was there, and I gifted her with the pendant. Then Erica, Joe, and I went to Everest Express, the "first true Nepalese restaurant in the US." If you're looking for a "quick bite," this is NOT the place to go. Be prepared to enjoy a leisurely dinner in the true sense of the word. Everything is cooked fresh, so courses can take some time. Buddhist and Hindu items cover the walls and hang from the ceilings, and black lights lend a mysterious air and make an otherwise small, plain space very intimate and atmospheric.

(food porn, room parties, and comic books follow)

Anne Harris Signing Saturday in Berkley, MI

Anne Harris will be signing copies of her novel Inventing Memory at Readmore Books in Berkely on Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also present will be Kathe Koja andPatrick O'Leary.

Readmore Books is a new store on Coolidge in Berkley, next to Elaine's Bagels. The address is: 2829Coolidge, Berkely, Mich. 248-548-1922.

Newsflash! — Dozois Leaving Asimov's

According to www.scifi.com, Gardner Dozois is leaving Asimov's to pursue other projects. Asimov's new editor will be Sheila Williams.

Louis Wu in a Box by Lisa

I named Lou after Larry Niven's character Louis Wu. Ringworld was one of the first SF novels I read, and it started me on a Niven kick that lasted a long time. You can see more picture of Lou and his brother on my website.