Little paper children

[davidlevine]

I wrote 500 words yesterday, and 500 words the day before, which is the first fiction I've committed this year. Nearly two months of writing time sacrificed on the altar of Mars, but I think it's a decent tradeoff given the learning and publicity I've gotten out of it. Still, it's good to get back to the actual writing, though I don't think I'll be producing any words today.

Although I haven't been writing much lately, my little paper children are still out there in the world working on my behalf. In summary:

• My nonfiction essay "How the Future Predicts Science Fiction" appeared in the final (alas!) issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction. This essay is based on the talk I gave at the Library of Congress last year.
• The audio version of my story "Wind from a Dying Star" was podcast at Escape Pod. It's also available on iTunes. This story was my first professional sale (it originally appeared in the anthology Bones of the World, which is amazingly still available) and I'm still proud of it.
• There's a fascinating discussion of "Wind from a Dying Star" going on in the Escape Pod forums. I'm particularly touched by comment #17, from user Mobius04, which says of this story: "Know that you helped change one soldier's life for the better." (Go read the whole thing.)
• On the same day "Wind from a Dying Star" appeared, I sold another story to Escape Pod: "The Last McDougal's," which originally appeared in the January 2006 issue of Asimov's.
• I learned that Fangs for the Mammaries, including my story "Family Matters," will be published in September. Rich Horton liked my stories in the previous two volumes of this series.
• Finally, the expanded version of Wild Cards Volume One, including my story "Powers," is scheduled for November.