Locus Awards

The Locus Awards in Seattle were a hit. Bill Gibson's interview with Nancy Pearl was better than I had thought it might be, and the audience was definitely into it. She has her own action figure -- that is very cool. The reception after was small and friendly (except for the errant nutjob who wandered in and had to be escorted out) and gave me a chance to meet some of the folks running Clarion West. I'd never been to the campus at the University in Seattle -- it's beautiful. Made me wish I could go back to school.

Locus Awards ceremony went over without a hitch. Connie, of course, was brilliant as MC, and Duane of University Books said they did all right selling books, which is a good sign. We could probably do one more year at the hotel, then we will be too big for their largest space if the event keeps growing the way it has. On the down side, the SF Hall of Fame ceremony was smaller this year. I know there are a lot of people who think they'll go one of these times, just not this year, but if that keeps up it won't be an event anymore. We'll have to try to drum up more support next year. The SF Museum, on the other hand, seems to be doing very well now and is planning new exhibits for 2009. There is a palpable enthusiasm from the curatorial staff that I haven't seen there since they first opened up.

Feeling blah

I've been reading my friend netmouse's website, and feeling a bit underwhelmed by my own attempts to get back in shape after a long year of no working out (injury followed by pregnancy followed by having an infant to take care of...). Everyone keep saying, "You just had a baby. Stop worrying about it." But I've got to start worrying about it at some point, or I'll just never get back in shape.

I don't fit into my gi.

Those that know, might be able to imagine how depressing that is. I have to order a larger one through my dojo. Agh.

In other news, my baby is awesome. I know, we all feel that way about our own. But she is.

ooh baby

Kyra at work.


Hangin' out at home.

Hugos

It's really the whole staff at Locus, and all the hard work and love that goes into the mag that makes it happen.

All Hugos (the physical award) are not created equal, and this one looks especially cool. Imagine that on the ole mantel. Congratulations to everyone who won, especially my friend and co-worker Tim Pratt, who won for his story "Impossible Dreams".

I would have loved to have been able to go to Japan for Worldcon this year, but giving birth to my daughter was certainly the best reason for missing it. She is asleep in my lap as I write this, my little rockstar.

She's been going into work at Locus with me for the past few weeks, with only a couple of rough spots so far. It's great to be back; I really missed it. I think it's actually going to work.

The 2007 Hugo Awards, held at Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention, on September 1st 2007, are as follows:

• Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 2006]
• Best Novella: “A Billion Eves” by Robert Reed [Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2006]
• Best Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald [Asimov’s July 2006]
• Best Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt [Asimov’s July 2006]
• Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon by Julie Phillips [St. Martin’s Press, 2006]
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro. Directed by Guillermo del Toro [Picturehouse]
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who - “Girl in the Fireplace” (2006) Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Euros Lyn [BBC Wales/BBC1]
• Best Editor, Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder
• Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
• Best Semiprozine: Locus ed. by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong and Liza Groen Trombi
• Best Fanzine: Science-Fiction Five-Yearly ed. by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan, and Randy Byers
• Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
• Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu

The winner of the John W. Campbell Award
for Best New Writer is Naomi Novik.

Almost back at the mag...

Feeling like I'm up and running again here, which is great. Signed back on at the dojo, and could finally have my black belt by next year if I really stick to it. I've been back at the mag for two days a week for the past 3 weeks, trying to minimize the mountain of work I have to do to catch up. Everyone there has been great about the baby, and very patient.

I'm just mastering the art of getting out the door with baby, which is hugely liberating, though not always entirely successful.

Wow, Facebook is wacky. Someone invited me on, and then suddenly it seems like everyone is on there, and just newly on there, too. I'm not really into the various networking sites -- I have something minimal up on MySpace; I'm on Tribe but really only for local events. But Facebook seems to be more interactive and social. Still deciding if it's worth the time or not...

So here are some more photos, and a video clip.

Kyra Paige

Born on the 15th. 7 pounds, 3 ounces. 20.4 inches. She is a marvel and a source of constant entertainment. It's [Kee-rah] by the way.

The birth was quick, and by all the medical-types' accounts a "great" birth, which is not to say that there was not a stretch of pain-filled, contraction-per-minute hours that I can only vaguely remember now. Epidurals are medicine's greatest acheivement, IMO. She came out squawking and purple. Needless to say, she was beautiful from the first moment.

We're settling in as a family here. The hub is working from home, which is a huge help, and I'm still fielding stuff for the mag, having never had time or even the inclination to try to explain Quickbooks and all the financial stuff to other staff members. It's just too complicated and I'd spend more time answering questions than I do just dealing with it. And I like to stay in touch with everything that's going on, especially with the current Post Office drama. Did I mention that the PO fucked things up majorly? They got rid of all of the international economy rates, and did so with out any warning. They also raised the rates for periodicals by about 30%, hammering yet another nail into the coffin of the magazine industry. Bleah.

Until I'm back full time though, Mzmelia is traveling with Z'boss, and they're off to Readercon next week. I'm looking forward to Saratoga Springs, though...

Home

We made it.

Details to follow.

In limbo (whinge warning)

Simply put. Ten days till my due date, full bed rest, so tired of being horizontal, excruciatingly uncomfortable 40% of the time... and waiting.

People keep telling me to enjoy this part, "the easy part." Not only am I not really the kind of person who seeks out "easy" on a regular basis, but who likes "easy" when it's effing uncomfortable? Everything hurts. I can't put weight on my right leg in the evenings without my pelvis separating (click, grind, OW!). Mind you, I am very happy to be having a baby. And I am SO ready to meet her. Blame it on anticipation. But enough complaining already...

I love my friends. Blake texted me in the middle of the night from Wiscon, something along the lines of "Dude!! Getting drunk, miss you!" in what was apparently one of his last sober moments of the con -- ain't that sweet. Hanna, Tracy, Jessie, and my sis have all been keeping me from going crazy by calling and visiting me at home regularly. Soon, soon, she will be here and I will be up again.

Bedrest Buddy

My next con will be WFC in New York in November. I can't wait. The hub has already been told he's on baby duty for the week and will have to take time off for it.

Totally low-tech (no scanner at home) alien-looking ultrasound shots .
Baby cross sections = creepy stuff.


39 wks LMP (37 wks gestation)

Baby weighs 7.25 lbs or 3288 grams. Baby is 19.96 inches or 50.7 cm long.

Lloyd Alexander

One of the perks working for the magazine is meeting so many authors I would never meet otherwise. I'm usually not intimidated by meeting famous folks and rarely find myself feeling nervous, but last year when I was conscripting people to write essays for the YA issue, I called up Lloyd Alexander to ask him for a piece and found myself completely fluttery before I called. Discovering his Prydain series at age 11 was my entry into genre reading, my transition from my early mainstay of all the mythology and "real ghost" stories I could get my hands on to fantasy, horror, and then the final inevitable plunge into science fiction. When I spoke to him, he was completely charming, though apologetic that he could not write something for me as he had recently taken a spill and broken his leg (or maybe his hip? can't remember). We chatted for about ten minutes, and at the end of the call, I blurted out something about how his books were the reason I love SF today. He was very sweet.


It's a strange thing, when an author who's writing had a strong effect on you passes away, it feels like something irreplacable has been lost.

Primigravidas

Week 36 is Friday. Week 37 is term, my first goal; her lungs will probably be finished developing by then... and maybe they'll induce. Or not. Modern medicine, sheesh.

Lunar Month 10, 36 wks LMP (34 wks gestation)

Baby weighs 5.78 lbs or 2622 grams. Baby is 18.66 inches or 47.4 cm long.

In the meantime, I'm on full bedrest. I had a brief period where I could go to work three hours a day, which was at least something. I now am stuck in bed full time, trying to do some work on my laptop, and finding it a frustrating prospect. It's all because of my blood pressure, which has always been a bit high, but it makes the doctors very nervous now. So I go in three times a week for testing, but all the tests show the baby is doing great. Which is a relief.

I can now watch my belly do the boogaloo all by itself, which is a fascinating event I could stare at for hours. Never boring. Right now Savannah is high in the running for names. Thoughts?

Of course, I didn't finish getting ready to leave work, with new people trained up and all my work done in advance, as I had hoped. But I'm trying to do as much as I can from here. Z'boss keeps calling and checking on me, as does Mzmelia. So I have a lot of support, despite the fact that my mother and sister both are out of the country for the next two weeks ):(|), one in Australia visiting the family, and the other in Spain for work. And both have said they'll be upset if I have her before they're back, like I can cross my legs and hold her there if she decides she's done...

Bedrest, ack.

33 wks LMP (31 wks gestation)

Baby weighs 4.23 lbs or 1918 grams. Baby is 17.2 inches or 43.7 cm long.


Bad news from doctor. My blood pressure is up, and I'm on bedrest till next week. My workaholism is flaring rapidly, but I'm doing my best to not stress out about the mag. It's actually not the worst time: deadline is over, the next few issues should be business as usual, with any luck, and all I have to get done right away is some billing... I've got four doctor appointments in the next week, though, now, so they can see if I have pre-eclampsia or not. Bleah.

I had a fantastic baby shower last weekend. Coed, lots of friends, a keg, great food. Can't thank Miss Amie and my sister enough for throwing it. Not to mention the 30-some hand-painted onesies and 590 q-tips I now have... crazy.

My belly feels like it is growing at a ridiculous rate. I can feel her when she's shifting position in there now, not just when she kicks. The bad news is I think she's found my bladder and is playing "make mum run to the bathroom" with it. Still working on the name thing, though we're closing in on a few good candidates.

Went to ICFA and World Horror since I last posted. Both were great: fun, but tiring. Ft. Lauderdale was warm and muggy, but not crazily so. Had some good meetings and ended up with 4 interviews in the can, when we had only scheduled one. Got to hang out with Gary Wolfe and Graham Sleight a bit, had a fantastic lunch with Geoff Ryman (more joke swapping, the repetoire continues to grow), had a wee spot of late night by the pool hanging out with guitar and singing and conversations (my favorite part of ICFA actually). I wonder how Orlando will compare...

WHC was in Toronto, a city I had never visited before, always a plus. I got to a lunch with Guy Kay, hung with John & Traci and Chris & Allison a bit (my favorites to see at cons). I hadn't spent much time with Liz Gorinsky or George Mann before, and am pleased to have done so now. Roberta Lannes is a kick, and I hope she will keep coming to cons. Didn't get to hang out with a few folks I had hoped to spend more time with, but isn't that always the case. Seemed like it was over before it really got going (mostly since my late-night partying days are on hold right now), but I was still exhausted by the time I got on the plane.

Edited 60-some pages of Clute, Straub, and Wolfe down on the plane, eventually to the requisite 25 (with some help from Tim!), a task I wouldn't wish on anyone. Got the horror essays in shape. Did photo layouts for both ICFA and WHC, which is by itself more than we would usually put into a single month. My god, it was a crazy issue. But it's done, and I have no more special issues coming out or travel planned till after the baby arrives. Thanks to everyone that helped us ID folks -- that's always the tricky part. AndI hope everyone enjoys our Look at Horror. We try to keep the dark stuff in the mix, sometimes more difficult depending on what is being published... Last year's issue was light on the articles, this year's is more substantial. Gives us a chance to dig in a little deeper and see what the folks who are on the inside have to say about it.

Belly, by request

Have received requests for belly updates... I've had about every prenatal test known to mankind, and they've all had good results. It's a girl, and we have about 15 names in the running, so the debate continues. I'm about ready to have a "Name That Baby" contest.

At 28 wks out of 40, I'm starting now to freak out slightly about the whole birth gig. Under strict orders from my doctor not to let anyone tell me birthing horror stories, and other than a certain writer/med student telling me about how smelly newborns, and births in general, are, I've managed to. I've gained about 15 pounds, which combined with my inability to work out earlier this year because of my back & shoulder problems, leaves me feeling like a whale! But a happy whale. Wondering when my belly button will disappear...

Lunar Month 8, 28 wks LMP (26 wks gestation)

Baby weighs 2.22 lbs or 1005 grams. Baby is 14.8 inches or 37.6 cm long

DreamHaven and more...

We received a note from Greg Ketter that DreamHaven Books was broken into this week, and though insurance will cover what was taken, the robbers wreaked havoc, destroying the office, etc. More about this can be found on Neil Gaiman's blog. This is a hard hit for them, and they are an important part of the community. Please take a moment to look at their online catalog, show some love, and buy something you've been wanting.

On that note, I like a good deal as much as the next person, but I also try to keep in mind that if I don't shop regularly from my local stores like Dark Carnival, Other Change of Hobbit, and Borderlands, they will go away. You can't replace the feeling of going into a brick-and-mortar store chock full of the books you want to read, yet every year we lose more specialty stores, with people shopping from the chains and online mega-retailers in increasing numbers. So in addition to taking the time to show some support for DreamHaven, remember to shop at a local bookseller, as well. Thanks.

Tahoe

Weekend in the Sierras with Dina, Brian & Hannah, JR, & Amelia -- not much snow, but we went sledding, took a hike by the lake, played liar's dice till the wee hours...

Surprise, surprise.

I just converted my blog to Google, and a pile of posts came tumbling out asking to be moderated. So to all those whose posts weren't showing up (JP especially, who tried multiple times before giving up entirely) -- sorry! I wasn't deleting you, I didn't have comments set on moderate, and I have no idea why some came through but others didn't. Weird, but I'm a n00b anyway and expect stuff to not work. It seems to be fixed now, at least. And I changed the song I had up from Peachfish. Couldn't stand listening to myself sing flat!

Spike is kicking regularly, which is comforting. Without that, I have nothing other than my ever-expanding waistline to let me know things are still going well in there.

Things are crazy at The Mag. Trying to get the horror coverage together and the awards ceremony organized, while doing a Forthcoming Books issue and still looking for a replacement for Karlyn, who quit last month. So we're short-staffed and overloaded with work. Eh, business as usual, but it would be nice to have a new person in place to start picking up the slack. We'll get there. We've got a bunch of applicants, but it's such a particular kind of job....

Five Things You Don't Know About Me.

Memes, memes, the magical fruit...
Abi, stinkbug that she is, memed me. I never do these things, but for her, this once....

And this is harder than you might think, for someone with ZERO sense of privacy. I keep thinking up these morbid confessional tidbits that won't do at all. Ah well, here goes:

1. OH, THE DOMESTICITY
I knit. Not very quickly, and certainly not very well. But I do knit. I know, not exactly mind-blowing, but I'm warming up...

2. THE NICKNAME
My nickname (in my family) is BR. At about the age of three, I announced I wanted to be a football player. To be later modified to aspirations of kangaroo-hood. This was followed by a brief period of wanting to be a bunny rabbit, which unfortunately stuck, and my nickname throughout my childhood (and for a few family members even still today) was BR. You can figure out what it's short for.

3. ZOOM-ZOOM
Okay, more contemporary stuff: Every time I see one of those commercials on the telly with high-performance cars zoom-zoom-zooming along Black Rock salt flats, with their synchronized fishtailing and all that, I feel extremely jealous. I would love to drive like that. Left over from my motorcycling days, maybe. I love the feeling of riding the perfect line, but pushing it fast enough that the tires are just on the edge of tearing off the asphalt.

4. SPIKE
Hmm, this is getting tricky... I can do that same thing that Martin can with his eyes, in fact we compared techniques when I was out visiting in Scotland, but have no pictures of myself doing it.... That's copying, anyway. Let's see.... Oh, my yet-to-be-born baby, now a whole 22-weeks old (in utero) and who will make her grand entrance sometime this June, has been dubbed "Spike" by Gary K. Wolfe, and now is referred to by that name at The Mag. Go figger... Spike....

5. A TUNE
How about a song? I doubt anyone reading this has actually heard my old band, Peachfish. This is our bass player Alex and myself, singing a "bar hall" tune.


Cafe de la Presse © Peachfish 1999

Wow, am I a lame blogger, or what? Despite regular pangs of blog guilt, I still have failed to post anything lately. All those photos I was gonna put up, brilliant witticisms to drop on the unsuspecting masses, groovy links to clever postings by other folks, yeah... that was gonna be great. But after working all day on my computer at The Mag, I just don't find much energy to get back online at home.

I do have an excuse for all that exhaustion though -- I'm pregnant. Wacky, huh? 16 weeks. It's a rollercoaster, but I'm enjoying it. I kind of go from random euphoric moments of bliss to wanting to rip people's heads off for moving too slowly in the grocery store... but I *am* trying to keep all the hormonal swings in check. If I growled at anyone at WFC, accept my heartfelt, pregnant apologies.

I also just stopped fitting into all of my pants in one fell swoop last week, which is a bummer. I've still got six months to go!

So virtual smooches to all my friends; I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday, and have a drink for me on New Year's Eve. Toodles!!

In case you haven't actually seen the geek chart.

Fave photo of the con.