ahmedakhan

• Print out the schedule (after a wrestling match with my printer that I ultimately won after discovering the PEBKAC)
  
• Highlight the schedule so I know where I want to be and when
  
• Box up the books I want to take for signing
  
• Check the weather
  
• Pack clothes, still
  
• Go to the bank and trade my hundreds that I used to save up for this thing for bills that are actually useable
  
• Grocery shop so my boys will have food while I'm gone and I will have snax for the road
  
• Clean my house. Or at least the bathrooms

I'll probably add more to this list as I think of it. Eek.

It’s the third Monday of the month, and you know what that means…yep, it’s another Netwalk Foundations Monday! Free snippets, segments, and worldbuilding short stories in the Netwalk Sequence universe. For your delight today, here’s “Diaspora.”

 

 

 

 

 

Diaspora is one of my early attempts at what later became Netwalk. It’s a partial answer to the question of “what was Diana doing while Melanie was in Japan?” It was written about 1994 and I revised it lightly for this publication.

Links to Kindle, epub and PDF versions here.

And did I mention that all Foundations pieces are FREE?

Mirrored from Peak Amygdala.

This entry was originally posted at Peak Amygdala. You can post here or there.

I review Bruce McAllister's third novel:

http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2013/05/paul-di-filippo-reviews-bruce-mcallister/

Very happy that my story "Sexy Robot Mom" won the Asimov Readers' Award (tie) - very nice!  I was delighted when Sheila Williams told me and then I couldn't share the news until it was announced at Nebula weekends yesterday.  The story is a favorite of mine not because it continues on in the same universe as "Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots," but because it explores gender roles from a robot's point of view. And there's an intersex character. And the apocalypse. So all my favorite stuff, rolled into one.

I was especially pleased to tie with Megan Arkenberg's story "Final Exam," which is one of my very favorites from last year. It too has an apocalypse, but also feminism and wit and such a lovely structure (multiple choice exam). Inventive and smart.

The whole list is here.  Congrats to all and thank you, Asimov's readers.

I'm at Rio Hondo, the writing workshop/retreat in Taos Ski Valley, NM. Critiquing etc starts today, but I suppose yesterday was day one. That involved a lot of travel, a quick visit in Santa Fe with Lisa Costello, who just happened to be there, and a yummy dinner here at the retreat. This morning I woke up to snow.

Altitude isn't treating me badly, but I do have a mild headache. And my classic high altitude sleeping problems are making themselves known. Basically, while I don't have any problem staying oxygenated while conscious, asleep my breathing is reduced and I wake up every hour or so feeling very short of breath. I have to consciously take very deep breaths to restore myself. That process makes it hard to go back to sleep...

My METAtropolis: Green Space novella will be critiqued Thursday, and I believe I am making momos for Wednesday dinner. I've already taken a number of photos, but bandwidth here is quite constrained, so the uploading process is wonky at best. Still, I will leave you with this morning's view:



Photo © 2013, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

So, the Nebs. I'm still processing a lot, specifically in the context of my cancer journey. I can't shake the feeling that I'm going on my farewell tour these days. Which is essentially true, barring some extremely unexpected developments. Even if I hang on past the current prognosis, I'll either be wrapped in the misery of treatment or I'll be wrapped in the misery of my terminal decline. I don't expect to travel again much if ever after this summer. That means that while it's reasonably possible I'll still be alive at the time of next year's Nebula Awards Weekend, it's highly improbable I could attend.

Everyone who knows me knows this, too.

I received an amazing amount of well wishing. Almost all of it was delivered tactfully. I got to have worthwhile conversations with most of the people present whom I know personally. I got to see a lot of a few people, and a little of a lot of people. I had hella fun, as did my family and friends. But all of those memories are overlain by sadness.

At least I lived long enough to go as one of the nominees. This is something I'm quite proud of. And it was very gratifying to be able to give Aliette de Bodard her well-earned short story Nebula.

But beyond that rather pointless melancholy, I can't yet tell you what it means. I can only tell you I was present, at this time my life.

Sometimes that's enough.

Your Monday moment of zen.



Test tank exterior at Hanford Site, 2008. Photo © 2008, 2013, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Abandoned Stars Wars sets in the desert — Are these meta-artifacts? (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Divide & conquer makes quantum light a breeze to detect

One-Time Pad Reinvented To Make Electronic Copying Impossible

The Brick Testament — The world's largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible. Mmm, Legos. Something I think I've featured before. (Thanks to seventorches.)

Beware Social Nostalgia — An essay that cuts the heart out of one of the core impulses of conservatism -- the Myth of the Golden Age.

Lesbian forced from partner, two kids by Texas judge's 'morality clause' — A lesbian woman has 30 days to evacuate her home after a judge ruled only relatives by ‘blood or marriage’ can be around her partner’s kids past 9 pm. Compassionate conservatism strikes again. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Washington Gets Explicit: Its 'War on Terror' is Permanent — Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two. We have always been at war with Eurasia. (Thanks to tillyjane, a/k/a my mom.)

QotD?: What's the highest altitude you've ever been at (not counting flight)?

---

5/20/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (con time)
Hours slept: 7.25 hours (fitful)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

A while back Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov's, called to tell me she'd be in the Bay Area for the Nebulas, and that one of her authors, Gregory Bossert, worked at Industrial Light and Magic and wanted to give her a tour, and that she could bring a guest… And she'd barely gotten the sentence out before I was saying, "Me!  Pick me!!!"

The tour was terrific.  We went to the headquarters of Industrial Light and Magic in the Presidio, and from there Greg drove us to Skywalker Ranch in Marin.  Whatever else you can say about George Lucas, it's clear that he has absolutely perfect visual taste -- and, of course, you can see that in things like the backgrounds of his movies and the sets and costumes.  Both places were furnished in Arts and Crafts style, and Skywalker Ranch, especially, contained so many delightful cozy places to go and work that it looked like paradise.  Greg said that the library, in particular, was the best room in the world, and I'd have to agree.


Greg and Sheila






Library ceiling

But really there was a lot to look at.  The ranch has Charlie Chaplin's hat, for example, and a framed letter from Charles Darwin, and a conservatory, and what might be the only covered bridge in California, and an observatory (which we didn't get to), and a working farm.

Conservatory

The headquarters has more things associated with the movies -- the bicycle from E.T., and props and matte paintings and old equipment and movie posters from around the world.  Hanging between two bathrooms was some squashed guy from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, life-sized and perfectly made and about one inch thick.

Sheila and E.T.'s bicycle

They both looked like pretty great places to work (though now, of course, there's tension because they've been bought by Disney, and they don't know what's going to happen).  We were talking to the librarian at the ranch and a woman came in carrying a butterfly net.  Did she need to capture some butterflies for some reason?  Was she chasing after some worker who had run mad, surrounded by so many strange and beautiful things?  We never found out -- but the thing is, it didn't seem at all odd to see her there.

It was great to see Sheila again, and Greg was the perfect tour guide.  He knew an amazing amount about the place and could answer every question we asked -- but then if I worked there I think I'd learn as much as I could about it as well.

Greg and dining area

(I'm not going to the Nebulas themselves because, well, it's an hour drive both ways and I'm just not up for it.)

I have to sell my membership.  Email if interested, it's cheaper and a juicy deal!