Through Summer's heat, a shadetree pool...

A little over a week ago, I wrote and shared with you an essay on interstitiality and what it means to me. It's a concept that has become increasingly important to me for a large number of reasons, personal and otherwise. More and more, I see art, writing, music, performance pieces, and more that simply can't be defined, or filed under one category or genre, and these can easily fall through the cracks. I am committed to IAF's mission of ensuring that these get the recognition they deserve.

Right now, IAF's biggest venture is the creation and distribution of a fiction anthology, the first volume of which was published last year: Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing. Another volume is slated for release this Fall. In addition, we have begun planning a series of Salons in different locations (Boston, NYC, Washington D.C., etc). I'll go into more detail on Interfictions 2 and the Salons in another post. At this time I'd like to focus on the first Interfictions anthology.

The Interstitial Arts Foundation is the brainchild of Ellen Kushner (writer & host of Sound & Spirit), Delia Sherman (writer & editor), and Terri Windling (writer, editor, artist & director of The Endicott Studio). You can read a wonderful essay (by Ellen Kushner) on IAF's origins here.

The first Interfictions volume was edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss. You can read an interview about them and about the book here. It was, and Interfictions 2 will be, published through Small Beer Press, an independent publisher bringing you work from the likes of Kelly Link, Greer Gilman, Poppy Z. Brite, Holly Black, and many more.

(By the way, you can still buy the first volume here. A few reviews and other links of interest can be seen there, as well as the Table of Contents below.)

Here is the Table of Contents, or what you will find upon opening the book:

Heinz Insu Fenkl, Introduction
Karen Jordan Allen, "Alternate Anxieties"
Christopher Barzak, "What We Know About the Lost Families of —— House"
K. Tempest Bradford, "Black Feather"
Matthew Cheney, "A Map of the Everywhere"
Michael DeLuca, "The Utter Proximity of God"
Adrián Ferrero, "When It Rains, You'd Better Get Out of Ulga" (translated from the Spanish by Edo Mor)
Colin Greenland, "Timothy"
Csilla Kleinheincz, "A Drop of Raspberry" (translated from the Hungarian by Noémi Szelényi))
Holly Phillips, "Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom"
Rachel Pollack, "Burning Beard: The Dreams and Visions of Joseph Ben Jacob, Lord Viceroy of Egypt"
Joy Remy, "Pallas at Noon"
Anna Tambour, "The Shoe in SHOES' Window"
Veronica Schanoes, "Rats"
Léa Silhol, "Emblemata" (translated from the French by Sarah Smith)
Jon Singer, "Willow Pattern"
Vandana Singh, "Hunger"
Mikal Trimm, "Climbing Redemption Mountain"
Catherynne Valente, "A Dirge for Prester John"
Leslie What, "Post hoc"
Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, "Afterword: The Space Between"

Christopher Barzak, it should be noted, edited the forthcoming Interfictions 2 along with Delia Sherman.

K. Tempest Bradford is also an artist. She contributed jewelry to the IAF Auction in support of Interfictions last year, creating Button Down & Inwood Hillfor her story, and One Shoe for Anna Tambour's story.

K. Tempest Bradford's "Black Feather" inspired other artists, including this necklace by Deborah J. Brannon, talkstowolves:


Rachel Pollack, in addition to writing, is known for some of her work with the Tarot and similar subjects. (I have a copy of her book The Kabbalah Tree, which examines the amazing artwork of Hermann Haindl of Haindl's Tarot.)

Catherynne Valente should need no introduction simply because I have talked about her time and again, however, I can't say enough about her. In addition to being an amazing author and wordsmith, she is a warm and creative individual. She cooks, she knits, she appreciates lovely jewelry and inspires the gypsy souls who have gathered around her. Pick up copies of The Orphan's Tales, Palimpsest, order electronic copies of her older work, subscribe to her Omikuji Project, read her serial online YA novel nicknamed Fairyland, and so much more... or all of the above! And above all, drop her a line at her LJ: yuki_onna. She appreciates feedback.

Several Auction pieces were inspired by Cat's story, "A Dirge for Prester John."
* Mia Nutick's Like A Heavy Dream
* Cris Fisher's The Lapis Tree
* Joselle Vanderhooft's The Blemmyae

You can see all the pieces supporting the first Interfictions volume at the gallery page on the IAF Auction website. As I recall, there will be another auction to support Interfictions 2, which is planned for release sometime in November. (More information on release dates, events, and how you can help support Interfictions 2 can be found here at the Interstitial Arts Foundation website.)

* * * * *

There are many creative individuals volunteering on behalf of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Even dabblers like me are welcome; what matters is your passion and commitment and willingness to do more than anything else. What you see above is just a sampling of what's been done so far; there are many more things in the works.

Do you make portable or wearable art? How about music? Would you be interested in creating and donating a piece of your work inspired by Interfictions or Interfictions 2? Click the link to find out more! You don't have to be a professional artist, interstitial or otherwise. Proceeds go to publishing the anthologies; IAF is a not-for-profit foundation.

Other ways to support Interfictions 2 include a direct donation, and if you do so before July 31st, your name can be printed as a donor in the printed copy of Interfictions 2. Click the link for more details on who, what, when, where, and how -- because you already know why. :)

Gamers LOVE to goob about their characters and now, Pimp My Character, is a weekly podcast show where you get to do so for all to hear you.

Scott McQ interviews gamers about their character, asks them questions not only about the character, but by using the Proust Questionnaire, made popular by Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio, interviews the character themselves.

It's a chance, in 15 minutes, to show just how AWESOME you are!

http://pimpmycharacter.blogspot.com/

And follow us on Twitter: PimpMyCharacter

http://www.metafilter.com/83385/Dont-ask-and-dont-tell-and-especially-dont-tell-your-life-partner

'Silent partner' examines what happens when people 'don't tell' "We can really see the destructive effects of 'don't ask, don't tell' . . . when you see the pain that these spouses and partners go through". Lt. Dan Choi introduces a new documentary film about three gay partners of military personnel.
"One of the rarely discussed effects of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule is the burden it places on the civilian partners of gay and lesbian service members. When their loved ones go to war, they do not have access to any of the counseling, financial assistance or support networks offered to heterosexual spouses. And if their loved ones die, no one will come knocking at their doors to notify them."

""Silent Partners" is being launched as gay rights advocates are pressing President Obama to make good on a campaign promise to repeal the rule that bars an estimated 65,000 service members from disclosing their sexual orientation."

http://www.metafilter.com/83384/You-say-you-want-a-revolution

Free Republic founder calls for overthrow of US. Free Republic founder Jim Robinson has posted a draft manifesto calling for the overthrow of the United States government, the ouster of the President, Vice President, all members of Congress, the repeal of the 16th & 17th Amendments, defunding Social Security into private accounts held by individual citizens, handing ownership of all Federal properties outside Washington DC to the states those properties are inside and a number of other measures, all to be enacted by a mass march of millions of citizens upon Washington DC and simply demanding it happen. That is all.

http://www.metafilter.com/83383/Why-We-Must-Ration-Health-Care

Why We Must Ration Health Care by Peter Singer.

Can anyone give me recommendations for a good veterinarian for a 15 year old lab? I live in the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody area, but can drive up to Alpharetta/Roswell as well if needed.

( Read more... )

I know I've mentioned this before, but The Independent Insurgency is a fabulous gaming podcast with a focus on small-press games and interviews with some excellent game designers, but it certainly bears repeating.

I was just about to post about the Thursday podcast where indie_insurgent interviews J.R. Blackwell about her Zombie LARP in development, "Shelter in Place" (which sounds like an awful lot of fun and should make it's debut at GenCon).

And then today he posted a new episode where he interviews Emily Care-Boss of Black and Green Games about Pirate Jenny, a booth of six female small-press game publishers (Booth Number 2023) at GenCon. I'm going to borrow from his show notes to tell you about some of the super cool stuff coming out of this booth:

* Julia Bond Ellingboe's Stone Baby Games is releasing the full version of Tales of the Fisherman's Wife, a game of sexy Japanese ghost stories.

* Shreyas Sampat (Mist Robed Gate) and Elizabeth Shoemaker's Two Scooters Press will have Homecoming, Elizabeth's game about the re-integration of returning war vets.

* Anna Kreider of Tasty Bacon Games has Thou Art But A Warrior, which is a Muslim knights setting supplement for Ben Lehman's Polaris, which indie_insurgent interviewed her about here.

* Danielle Lewon's Cream Alien Games has Kagematsu, a game about the seduction of a samurai by women who need his aid; Danielle is the wife of Paul Czege.

* Emily Care Boss' own Black & Green Games is going to release her game of alien exploration, Sign in Stranger.

* Kat and Michael Miller's Incarnadine Press will have Serial Homicide Unit, a game where you play civilians at the mercy of a serial killer, and the cops who are out to catch him; indie_insurgent interviewed the Millers about this game here.

On top of all that, there's some interesting new zine called RPGirl, described as "an anthology of essays by and about women who play role-playing games. We're also building a community of like-minded women gamers around the project."

http://www.metafilter.com/83382/Cell-time-for-cellphone-drivers

“We’ve spent billions on air bags, antilock brakes, better steering, safer cars and roads, but the number of fatalities has remained constant,” said David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and a leading researcher in the field of distracted driving. “Our return on investment for those billions is zero,” he added. “And that’s because we’re using [cellphone and messaging] devices in our cars.”
Despite an estimated death toll of up to 2600 each year, attempts to ban device use has made little headway. Regardless of how you feel about cellphone bans, Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman had this insightful comment : “There are so many things that can be forbidden. The stranger thing is that we believe everything that isn’t forbidden is allowed.”

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

I have some costumes, books, dvds, etc. that I would love to find new homes for. Links lead to entries in my personal LJ.

All items, unless otherwise specified, are gently used/worn, and from smoke-free home.

Shipping charges are for US only - international and insurance are extra.

I accept payments via PayPal, but no credit card payments, please.

Contact info for me is included in each listing.

Thanks for looking!

Books

Costumes-belly dance, sari

DVDs - belly dance, fitness

Hat (Pirate!), wigs

Does anyone know how much Patrick Stewart and Leonard Nimoy 

Originally published at The Whitechapel Project (for MP3s and polls, click this link). You can comment here or there.

For those who have followed my Twitter and LiveJournal for the past few weeks, I’ve made a few cryptic remarks about an upcoming fiction project (which, by the way, is totally unrelated to my work at my day job with CCP/White Wolf Publishing). After a while, I dropped the name “Whitechapel.” After weeks of messing around with a variety of things and seeing what works and what doesn’t, I’m now at the point where I can make a formal announcement about what the hell I’ve been working on.

Whitechapel is an interactive serialized horror novella published both in text and as an audio podcast (read by me, the author). It’ll be primarily hosted on this website (whitechapelproject.com), but I have a lot of avenues to get it in front of your eyes and into your ears as time goes on. Every two weeks, a new episode will be released, which will end with a plot point unresolved and a poll in which readers can vote on how they want the story to proceed. After a week of voting, the most popular option is used to help write the next episode.

The first episode is written, and I’m hoping to have it recorded in time for release on Wednesday, August 5th, but that’s just a hopeful target, not a firm release date.

I tried to predict a lot of potential questions, which I’ve placed below the cut. There will also be an evolving FAQ on the main site.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

http://www.metafilter.com/83381/Lovelace-and-Babbage

Lovelace and Babbage Semi-historical webcomic adventures of mathematicians. Bonus: guest appearanace by Isambard K. Brunel

Had a fabulous time at the DW party at xb95 and janinedog's place yesterday. I happened to be in the Bay Area for the weekend and jumped at the chance to drop in and see everyone. Much fun was had, and there was a whole lotta swearing and trash-talking going on during the Settlers game (courtesy of the very entertaining patti).

I have pictures, but the hotel wireless is cranky this morning, so they'll have to wait. Having a lovely time here, looking forward to the Feast of the Magdalene service later this morning at The Sanctuary, be home on Tuesday. Ta!

 Oh bliss!  I knew such lovely pictures as I viddied the updated list.  Real horrorshow con, oh my brothers and LJ friends, your humble narrator.

Droogie (Rob)

Originally published at Nice Mommy~Evil Editor. Please leave any comments there.

So when Angela asked for any volunteers to post while she was away, I happily volunteered because, hey, I’ve got a book coming out in print August 2009.  My happiness quickly deflated when she said “But, this can’t be a strictly promotional post.  It should be fun and informative.”  Ugh!  I had five days to come up with something witty and I’m not very witty, especially on the spot.   In any event, with a little help from a friend, I came up with something that I hope meets the standards.

TWELVE THINGS I’VE LEARNED SINCE I STARTED WRITING PROFESSIONALLY……

1.  There are guidelines even for your imagination.

2.  Writing is a solitary profession.

3.  I can come up with enough words to write an entire book.

4.  Characters don’t like it when you ignore them.

5.  Research can be fun and interesting.

6.  A plot is more than a final resting place.

7.  Research can be boring and tedious.

8.  The right critique partners are a blessing.

9.  It’s still about being in the right place at the right time.

10.  Promotion sucks.

11.  Getting published is only the beginning.

12.  Every story has already been told; you have to tell it with a new twist.

Now these are not in any particular order.  Over the eleven years I’ve been writing on a professional level, all of these things have come into play at different stages.  I know I’ll be dealing with them again.

Have a wonderful Sunday….

~~Sloan McBride  (www.sloanmcbride.com)

P.S.  Book One of my Time Walker Series, “The Fury” is coming out in print August 2009.  Please drop by my website to read reviews, an excerpt, and see the new book trailer I created.

Let this wet your appetites! Can't wait to see you at con!!!

Well, I wanted to let you folks know what changes we have made since my post last week.   You guys had a lot of great suggestions and ideas and my husband and I kind of chewed them all over, trying to decide what would work best for us.  Here's what we've done.
Step one-- I redoubled my efforts at finding at counselor for Elias, and located one practically right outside our front door.   We went on Thursday and I really like her, and he has another appt scheduled for Tuesday.  So hopefully we will make some good progress with that.  We also established a "token economy" with quarters that he can gain for good behaviour and lose for bad behaviour, and can cash in on Saturdays at the dollar store if he so desires.
We made the rule that when we go grocery shopping he can buy one box of treats that are just for him.  He may have one when he wants, but he may not get up at night to get them, they must last the week, and he may not take them in his room.  We are hoping that having those available will discourage him from sneaking stuff.  We also stocked the fridge with fruit, and he is basically allowed to have that at will. 
If he chooses not to eat his dinner he may not have dessert or snacks.  He may choose to have cereal or a sandwich instead.  I don't know how to get around this one, because I just can't allow him to skip dinner and eat snacks.
We picked up a package of alarms and my husband rigged one on his door.  Frankly, I would rather rig the fridge or the cupboards.  We have problems with toileting as it is, and I think this basically halts any progress in that regard.  I suppose my husband is correct when he points out that he just goes in the goodnight anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference, but I think it discourages the possibility of making progress.  So we may make some changes on that.
Anyway that's where we are at.
Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Track will be hosting an Early Bird Book Swap on Friday afternoon at Dragoncon. Bring your old books, ones you'll never read again, ones you'd like to introduce others to and take home something you've been looking for, or just something that piques your fancy/

Join us in the Hyatt on Friday!!!