8/19/06: Another one in the mail

[davidlevine]

Up until a few days ago I considered the F&SF Slush Bomb of women writers proposed by ccfinlay for 8/18 (see here) to be of only academic interest to me. But late Wednesday I realized that the New Orleans story, which I was planning to revise and submit to F&SF as soon as I was done with the revisions on the novella, had a female co-author. Duh! So I took the train to work on Thursday, laptop in hand, and tackled the revisions during my commute.

I finished the revisions on Thursday night, then we joined my co-author andrine and her housemates at their home on Friday for a previously-planned get-together. After a truly wonderful dinner, we looked at Andrine's photos from her trip to New Orleans (it was weird to see actual photographs of scenes that until now I'd only visualized from Andrine's diary -- many of which made it into the story), after which I gave a reading of the story. I put it into an envelope that night, though it wasn't picked up by my mail carrier until today.

I don't know if this really counts as part of the Slush Bomb, both because I'm not of the designated gender and because it lacks the 8/18 postmark. But it is done and in the mail.

I feel pretty good about this one. I've never written anything so explicitly based on real people and incidents (in addition to andrine and the other members of her troupe, it features bearfuz and melancharisbron as minor characters -- by their request, I hasten to add!), and it makes me a little nervous, but since I have everyone's permission I'm sure it's okay.

Today we attended a delightful backyard party where various fans and geeks, many of whom I hadn't seen in years, feasted on fresh roasted corn and burgers. In the evening we watched the intriguing and puzzling film Primer (I enjoyed it, which is not to say I understood it completely) and I added nearly a hundred words to the novella. And now to bed -- tomorrow is my last day before the Worldcon with any free time and I have a lot to get done.

Oh, and Bento is back from the printer and looks fabulous. We'll be handing out copies at the Worldcon, and mailing them shortly thereafter to people who aren't there.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

(melancharisbron here) This is a test, this is only a test - but if it gets through, I may have licked this Open ID thing.

I'm capering a bit as one of the minor characters, tee hee! but thinking, "Oh dear, now I have to get my act together and bootstrap myself to something resembling semi-cheerful for the guests..."

One does one's best...

(PS Mighty big thank you! PPS oh, and our copy of Bento? Why don't you and kateyule just pop on over with it? After the Worldcon, say? *evil wink*

PPPS fooey, the open ID still refuses to play...

[davidlevine]

*sigh* Love to come for a visit, but the Day Job takes up so much time...

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Bento Bento Bento! ::grin:: Looking forward to seeing you down south, sir! And your charming spouse. And your charming zine.

And thanks for the link and explanation about the Slush Bomb. I'd seen mentions of it here and there, but no one except you chose to link to the all-important informative post about it. A-ha! Edification! Wish I'd known about it sooner; would have participated. GVG has rejected everything I've sent him (I have my sturdy little stack of Alas-o-grams in that drawere there). I don't expect him to buy anything from me (my sensibilities may be too pop for his taste), but it's always worth a try, given his quick turnarounds.

[davidlevine]

You know, if you have something to hand you could pop it in the mail even if it's a day late and a dollar short.

Slush Bomb

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Oh great. Now I have the Tubes' "Love Bomb" running through my head ...

Re: Slush Bomb

[davidlevine]

Love Shack, baby, yeah.

Re: Slush Bomb

[allanh.livejournal.com]

No, that's a different earworm, thank you.

Along with "Love Hurts", "Love Sweet Love", and of course the ultimate Mutually Assured Destruction Anti-Earwarm,

"It's a Small World After All"

Re: Slush Bomb

[davidlevine]

I have found that "Sledge Hammer" is capable of driving out "Small World." It might be because it's one of my favorite songs ever.

Re: Slush Bomb

[allanh.livejournal.com]

The Beatles' "Drive My Car" and "Eleanor Rigby" do a good job, too.

But can all of these stand up to ... "The Macarena"?!

Re: Slush Bomb

[davidlevine]

Nothing can withstand The Macarena.

[deedop.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Save a Bento for me and I can collect it in person after I've returned to the big city.

[davidlevine]

Guaranteed. Give us a holler when you get back and we'll slay the fatted calf.

[tbclone47.livejournal.com]

Oooo, I love PRIMER. I've seen it a bunch of times because I show it to my Sci Fi Lit class. Always good for mouth-dropping and animated discussions. And I still don't think I've quite got what's going on. :)

[nwl.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!!

[davidlevine]

Thanks!