A quick follow-up to my abbreviated MadCon report just past. Harlan Ellison arrived at the hotel Thursday evening, around eight o’clock. Only a few of us were in the lobby. Allen Steele, Peter David, Donna, and myself. Peter David’s wife Kathleen and their daughter (who Harlan “terrorized” to our surprise and her later delight). From that point on it became a really good experience. All the rumors that had been floating around about Harlan’s imminent demise proved exaggerated. Though he didn’t look his best—clearly he has been ailing—and he arrived wearing a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms (Pierre Cardin, as he repeatedly joked, since he wore them all weekend), as the weekend progressed he came more and more alive.…
Category: Whimsy
On The Road
Tomorrow morning, probably before the sun is up, we will be on the road to Madison, Wisconsin. We’re going to attend a little convention called MadCon 2010. When you click on the link you will see a note explaining that the guest of honor, Harlan Ellison, will not, due to illness, make it. Well, that’s changed, apparently. Harlan says he is feeling up to it and will be getting on a plane tomorrow and will appear.
Last time we saw Harlan was in 1999, at a convention called Readercon (which is a genuinely spiffy excellent convention because it is ALL ABOUT BOOKS—no movies, no anime, no costumes, none of that, just BOOKS) and he was in great form and we had a marvelous time.…
Didn’t They Throw The Tea In The Harbor…?
Christine O’Donnell is one of those public figures that emerge from time to time that make any writer of fiction envious of reality. Only a truly gifted writer could make someone like this up and then sell her as a plausible character.
At the heart of it, she is the problem with the Tea Party.
Here’s the thing I’ve never understood about the far right: fiscal responsibility is well and good and certainly we could do with a lot more—we could have used some for the last thirty years, certainly, a period during which Republicans (and by inference conservatives) have been largely in control of Congress—but how come is it we can’t seem to get candidates who are just about that without dragging all the social issue crap along with them? …
A Week’s Worth of Stuff
This past week some things have moved forward which please me. The Missouri Center for the Book is about it have a new Facebook page. I made the decision to put it up now, in advance of the total website make-over, because I think it will be necessary to get the upcoming Celebration promoted more efficiently. That event will be October 23rd, again in Columbia. Barring other avenues of advertising, I think this one will be essential.
It’s happening. Also, the new website design is coming along quickly and when that is up there will be regular blog posts, and a special section from the state poet laureate. …
A Moment of Celebrity Type Stuff
A friend of mine, the estimable Erich Veith, came by my home a bit over a year ago and we recorded a long interview. Erich has finally gotten around to editing it and has begun posting segments on YouTube. Here’s the first one. (I still haven’t figured out how to embed videos here, so bear with me.)
Erich runs the website Dangerous Intersection, where I post opinionated blatherings from time to time and Erich graciously allows me to hold forth in my own idiosyncratic manner. Why he thought people would also enjoy watching and hearing me as well, I can’t say, but I enjoyed the process and from the looks of the first three (which are up at Dangerous Intersection) I don’t think I came off too badly.…
Radio Markets and Discontent
Personal gripe time. This is one of those instances where I believe The Market is a hydrocephalic moron and people who put their undying faith in get what they deserve.
Shortly after the 4th of July just past, a St. Louis radio station changed hands. KFUO 99.1 FM had, for sixty-plus years, been our commercial classical station. Before the first Gulf War, our local NPR affiliate, KWMU, was largely a classical music broadcaster, but after that first foray into Mid east adventurism they became pretty much All Talk All Day. Mind you, I like some of what they offer—Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, Diane Rheem—but I am a lover of music. …
Test Flight
Last night we did something in this house we’ve not done in years.
We broiled steaks.
Oh, yes, we like our new stove. We filled the manse with the aroma of good things to eat and lo, they were good to eat. Our taste buds did happy dances while we feasted. I assume our guests likewise experienced satori, possibly with each bite.
Steak, asparagus, rice, sour dough rye bread, salad…we did it up royally. Two excellent bottles of wine. (My mother, by the way, would be amazed that I’d eaten asparagus willingly. As a child I was most decidedly anti-vegetable. I’m still less interested in them than in meat, but since I’ve learned what some of them taste like when properly prepared…)
Yes, I am a carnivore. …
The Great Kitchen Update
When we bought our house, it came well-equipped. Two bathrooms, a refrigerator, central air, a garage…and a stove. This one, in fact.
I have no idea how old that thing is. It’s a Fridgidaire all-electric, 40 inches wide. Side-by-side ovens, self-cleaning, for its day no doubt state-of-the-art.
And Donna couldn’t wait to get rid of it. She wanted a gas range. Well and good. Of course, having just shelled out money to buy the house, we didn’t have a lot left over to start replacing appliances. We did get a new refrigerator and over the years we’ve updated things as needed. …
A Few More Memories
I thought I’d post a handful of photographs from Clarion ’88. Just a few. The temptation to try to do humorous captions is great, but I decided to simply be informative. Enjoy.
The entrance to Owen Hall, the dorm building
Van Hoosen, where the workshops were conducted
Tim Powers, our first week writer-in-residence, in session
Pizza with Powers
Daryl Gregory, doing his Tim Powers “I Got No Story” Clarion Blues
Kelley Eskridge arrived already injured, with sprained ankle, but as optimistic as the rest of us
One of many outdoor meals held in the courtyard of Van Hoosen. Lisa Goldstein, second week instructor, is in the midst of students here
One of the other eateries in East Lansing frequented by Clarionites
Chip Delany, third week instructor
Nicola Griffith
Andy Tisbert, Me (attempting inscrutability), and Kimberly Rufer-Bach during a workshop
Kate Wilhelm, Kim Stanley Robinson (fourth week instructor), and Damon Knight. …
New Look
Not for the blog. For the house. Today we are having painting done in the bedroom and the downstairs bathroom (gosh, that makes the house sound huge, doesn’t it?) We’d intended to do the painting some time ago, after we bought our new bed. But just as we were lining all that up, our stove blew up. (Not massively—it’s an electric stove, so the blow-up was a very large white spark and then complete inertness for the mass of metal). Well, a new stove was on the menu for a long time. The one that died was here when we bought the house. …