One Story Ball

Wed 27 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

This Friday in Brooklyn there’s only one place to be: the One Story Literary Debutante Ball—and Small Beer Press are very proud to be one of the sponsors!

When: Friday, April 29, 2011, 7pm – 11pm
Where: The Invisible Dog Art Center
51 Bergen St. (between Smith St. & Court St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11201

The Invisible Dog is located half-block from the Bergen Street F station. There are special cocktails. There is a freight elevator and on the walls of the shaft an Italian painter has drawn the words to Dante’s Inferno. Upstairs, there’s a VIP party with a champagne table hosted by the Bubble Lounge, hors d’oevres and a swing band, Lapis Luna. There are 60 incredible pieces of art in the art auction by both established and emerging artists. Dani Shaprio is the host, there are  cookies baked by the One Story staff, and after the debutante presentations, the dancing begins! If you’re wondering what to wear, Marie-Helene Bertino has written a helpful post here.

All literary events should end with dancing! Sounds like an excellent evening. Maybe even see you there?

7pm – 9pm
Gallery Opening & Silent Auction,
Drinks & Hors d’oeuvres

8pm – 9pm
Presentation of Debutantes & Mentorship Award

9pm – 11pm
Dancing & Celebration


Stranger Things Happen blank book

Wed 27 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Stranger Things Happen Blank BookForgot to post this here yesterday: always thought it would be fun to make a Stranger Things Happen blank book and now it’s available with 200 blank blank blank pages for your sketching and writing.

Best thing to do with it though is to stare at it on the subway (don’t forget to turn the pages!) to freak out your fellow riders.


What I See (14), by Karen Joy Fowler

Tue 26 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 14 by Karen Joy Fowler

Some things happen fast here—the sun comes up and advances during my walk. The tide comes in or goes out. Spring arrives. This seemed to happen overnight. I got up one morning and the yard was filled with wrens, there were butterflies in the park, and the mustard is much taller than Mojito by now. It’s all in purple, white, and yellow bloom. On a warm day, I feel that I could sleep in it like Dorothy in the poppyfields. A man at the park recommended taking the greens home and cooking with them, but I’d have to know which ones no dog had pissed on first. MJ could tell me, but she can’t be bothered to.

Winter is still evident in the landscape. The park trees must be shallow-rooted because so many large ones were upended in the rains. There are vantage points in the park from which the trees all appear now to slant. Up at Natural Bridges, a fallen tree wrecked the butterfly-viewing suspension walkway. No dogs are allowed on it, so MJ and I have never been, but we can see the wreckage from the road.

Down in Lighthouse Field, some new paths have opened and some old ones closed. One trail I used to take is a pond now and other ponds also remain, attracting egrets and mallards, though most of the mud has dried out and tracks are passable again.

Yesterday was clean-up day. The Wallendas did a highwire act at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk that attracted crowds and helicopters; there were fireworks and it was all very tempting, but MJ and I went birding instead. Here is what we saw: pigeons, scoters, gulls, cormorants, blackbirds (red-winged and Brewers), a mallard duck pair, a few brown pelicans, a covey of California quail, two snowy egrets, one blue heron, one hummingbird, and many small brown sorts I can’t identify.

Today we happened on the rangers talking amiably to a man who’d slept in the park last night in a hammock. He was apparently on a long bike ride and I was taken with his high and not so-high-tech gear. I suddenly wished to take a long bike ride myself, a trip of many weeks, with hammocks and portable stoves. But then I thought that eventually I’d have to bike uphill, which I don’t care for much. And where would MJ sleep? Many bugs to be worked out of this mad nomadic plan. Including actual bugs, I’m guessing.

Previous posts

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Karen’s latest story is “Younger Women” available on Subterranean Online. She is also moderating the Tiptree Book Club .


You’re invited to a wedding

Thu 21 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Joan Aiken giveawayThe Monkey’s Wedding! It’s out there in the world and 5 of the first readers will be the winners of our competition.

We used random.org (it was really odd to see if choose 2 consecutive numbers!) to pick 5 commentors each of whom will receive a copy of The Monkey’s Wedding and then used it again to choose 2 of those 5 who will also receive an original copy of the issue of Argosy containing one of Joan’s pseudonymous stories—as well as any goodies we have lying around the office.

Here are the winners and their fave pseudonym, own pseudonyms, or theoretical pseudonyms (you can see more here):

“Alison” said, “My favourite pseudonym has always been Currer Bell, because it sounds like a name for the smartest cat in the world. I have only ever published under my own real name, but I used to blog as Girl Detective. It was a misnomer, though, as I rarely did any detecting. As for a pseudonym I would like to use, perhaps in a nod to my beloved Brontes, I would go by Argyle Bell. Just like the ring of it. (Heh. Sorry.)”

“Kate” told us of her fondness for “Edward Gorey’s pseudonyms, particularly Dogear Wryde and E.G. Deadworry.”

The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories cover - click to view full size“Heather” amused us greatly with her names and stories: “Once in high school we all wrote down fake names on a marching band trip. I was the only one who didn’t get caught, because the band mom didn’t recognize “Emily Dickinson” as a fake name. I was embarrassed for her as I meekly called “here!” I’ve written under H.L. Shaw, assumed by those who don’t know me to be male, and my husband has written under a pseudonym assumed to be female, which amuses us greatly. Not that I’ve had the guts to use it, but I’ve always thought a good nom de porn (for a science fiction writer) would be Jane Pushbush Sr. (sorry, sorry), I can’t get the 360 VR Porn Of Sluty Whores out of my mind.”

“Tammy” picked “Tabitha Stevens” as she “was a big Bewitched fan as a child, and our initials matched.”

And lastly Alissa disappointed us by revealing, “I once had a plan to write some science fiction stories under the name Buck Starweaver, but never actually did. I still think Buck might find his way into a future story or two as a character as opposed to my pen name.”

Meanwhile . . . out in the world the book acquired a lovely starred review from Publishers Weekly (yay!) and a few more pre-pub reviews.

We hope you enjoy this lovely and occasionally macabre collection and do feel free to spread the word. It’s readers like you who make the difference with books such as ours!

* “This imaginative posthumous collection includes among others six never before published short stories and two originally published under a pseudonym…. Wildly inventive, darkly lyrical, and always surprising, this collection—like the mermaid in a bottle—is a literary treasure that should be cherished by fantastical fiction fans of all ages.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Aiken writes with surpassing spirit and alertness, never ceasing to find interest or amazement in the traps people set for themselves. Some of the stories are slight, but Aiken’s elegant restraint and dry wit never fail to leave their mark.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“From a bottled mermaid brought home from a sailor’s adventures at sea to a vicar reincarnated as a malevolent cat, fantasy is combined with magic, myth and adventure to form weird, wonderful and immersive tales.”
—For Book’s Sake

“Aiken’s vivid descriptions move nimbly through pastoral meadows and circus chaos, gothic grotesques and quirky romances. In the end, all of her narratives tease the reader by rejecting our desire for neatness or closure. No didacticism here. As Aiken’s narrator sweetly laments, ‘No moral to this story, you will be saying, and I am afraid it is true.'”
—California Literary Review


What list has (2)

Wed 20 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Karen Joy Fowler, Peter Straub, Richard Butner, Laird Barron (many times!), Caitlin R. Kiernan, all in one place?

The Shirley Jackson Awards have announced their

2010 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees(!)

Congratulations to Karen (for being nominated in the short story and collection categories!) and all the other authors. The awards will be given out at Readercon in July—see you there?


The Monkey’s Wedding ships . . .

Wed 20 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Good news from our printer: The Monkey’s Wedding has shipped out to our distributor—and the distro has started shipping it out! So, soonish, we will have it and be able to ship it to you you you, you lovely reader, you. Due to me travelling, the ebook will go out up on most sites (including Weightless)  a day after publication day: April 19th.

And: if you’d like a taste of the book here are a few opportunities for the short fiction reader:

“Hair” will be included in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

“Spur of the Moment” will be reprinted in Eleven Eleven—I love the cover of the 10th issue—which is a fabby multi-genre lit journal from the California College of the Arts.

And, with travelling having stopped everything: you still have a day or two to win one of five free copies of the book—plus two readers will receive an original issue of Argosy with one of Joan’s pseudonymous stories in it!


The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories

Tue 19 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Books, Joan Aiken| Posted by: Gavin

April 19, 2011 · hardcover · 224 pp · 9781931520744 · $24 / ebook · 9781931520430

“Hair” was a Shirley Jackson Award finalist and reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror.

“It’s always the children’s book writers that you have to watch out for.”
—Jessa Crispin on Aiken—including an interview with Kelly Link—in Kirkus Reviews

“Part of a storytelling tradition that predates MFA programs and quiet epiphanies, and she concerned herself with a snappier brand of narrative entertainment.”
—Review of Contemporary Fiction

“Joan Aiken’s collection of short stories The Monkey’s Wedding may sport a creepy cover illustration by artist and author Shelley Jackson, but the stories inside, which make the commonplace sinister, bear more of a resemblance to the work of another literary Jackson: the queen of the Gothic short story and author of The Lottery, Shirley Jackson. Like Shirley Jackson’s elegantly suspenseful tales, Aiken’s stories use the commonplace to show the darker truths beneath the familiar, but with a twist of humor and magic that makes the collection thought-provoking and fun, and one that begs to be shared and revisited often.”
—Bookslut

“Brisk, matter-of-fact accounts of annoying mermaids, hospitable devils, unionizing mice and robot prototypes that make flipping light switches an act of menace. And the women range from self-willed wives to beautiful stunt motorcyclists to knitting spinsters. Sometimes they conform to the stereotypes of the times they were created in, but Aiken is full of surprises: Her plots and characters continually wander off the beaten track, leaving far behind what fantasist Lord Dunsany called ‘the fields we know.'”
—The Seattle Times

“The entire collection is immensely enjoyable. The older stories date from the ’50s to 2002. They are short and sharp—not quite whimsical, though whimsy is a word that occurred to me—but they have a dark edge, simply a shadow sometimes (but rather more oppressive in a story like “Hair”) as well as a sense of unplannedness that somehow elevated the stories in my mind.”
—Rich Horton, Locus

Joan Aiken’s stories captivated readers for fifty years. They’re funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in The Monkey’s Wedding are collected here for the very first time and include seven never before published, as well as two published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you’ll find the story of a village for sale . . . or is the village itself the story? There’s an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his death, a large, black, argumentative cat makes an appearance. . . .

This hugely imaginative collection of incongruous, light, and unexpected stories features Shelley Jackson’s spooky and eyecatching cover painting inspired by the story “A Mermaid Too Many” and includes introductions by Joan Aiken as well by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.

“Hair” was reprinted in the July/August issue of F&SF.
“Spur of the Moment” was reprinted in the eleventh issue of the journal Eleven Eleven.

Reviews

* “This imaginative posthumous collection includes among others six never before published short stories and two originally published under a pseudonym…. Wildly inventive, darkly lyrical, and always surprising, this collection—like the mermaid in a bottle—is a literary treasure that should be cherished by fantastical fiction fans of all ages.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Each story has a surprise or twist. Many are ironic, go-figure pieces. They are just like real life, only more so. VERDICT: This book will appeal to readers of short stories and literary fiction. Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal

“Aiken writes with surpassing spirit and alertness, never ceasing to find interest or amazement in the traps people set for themselves. Some of the stories are slight, but Aiken’s elegant restraint and dry wit never fail to leave their mark.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A writer of great skill and charm.”
—Booklist

“Almost all the stories assembled in The Monkey’s Wedding—except for the devastating title story itself, from 1996, and “The Fluttering Thing” from 2002, which is set on a journey towards Final Solution; it is even more terrifying than The Scream, also 2002—flow with a porcelain lucidity and gaiety that manifests the high energy of Aiken’s early prime.”
—John Clute, Strange Horizons

“William Powell and Myrna Loy needed only ninety minutes to sparkle in The Thin Man, and the good-natured, prevaricating, meet-cute stars of “Spur of the Moment” require just twelve pages to showcase their equally impressive bantering skills.”
—James Crossley, Weird Fiction Review

“From a bottled mermaid brought home from a sailor’s adventures at sea to a vicar reincarnated as a malevolent cat, fantasy is combined with magic, myth and adventure to form weird, wonderful and immersive tales.”
—For Book’s Sake

“In the author’s introduction, Aiken claims that many of her stories are inspired by dreams. I only wish my dreams were half as entertaining as Aiken’s tales.”
—New Pages

“Perhaps one reason Aiken’s stories have weathered the decades so well is that they are concerned with the lives of ordinary people–they just happen to be ordinary people who live in a world where a mermaid or other such mythical or supernatural being might suddenly appear in order to play mischief with one’s well-maintained schedule.”
—Green Man Review

“Aiken’s vivid descriptions move nimbly through pastoral meadows and circus chaos, gothic grotesques and quirky romances. In the end, all of her narratives tease the reader by rejecting our desire for neatness or closure. No didacticism here. As Aiken’s narrator sweetly laments, ‘No moral to this story, you will be saying, and I am afraid it is true.'”
—California Literary Review

Things You Might Like

  • Aiken’s brilliant characterization
  • The fantastic mix of fantasy and realism
  • Incredibly visual writing
  • The ease with which the author skips from twee to slightly disturbing
    —Bullet Reviews

“A fine introduction to her work – and may very well ensnare you forever.”
—Aishwarya Subramian, Practically Marzipan /  The Sunday Guardian

Table of Contents

Introduction by Joan Aiken
Introduction by Lizza Aiken
Girl in a Whirl
Hair
Harp Music
Honeymaroon
Octopi in the Sky
Reading in Bed
Red-Hot Favourite
Second Thoughts
Spur of the Moment
The Fluttering Thing
The Magnesia Tree
The Monkey’s Wedding
The Paper Queen
The Sale of Midsummer
Water of Youth
Wee Robin
A Mermaid Too Many
Model Wife
The Helper

Praise for Joan Aiken:

“Aiken writes with the genius of a born storyteller, with mother wit expanded and embellished by civilized learning, and with the brilliance of an avenging angel.”
—The New Yorker

“The wit is irrepressible, the invention wild. . . . Such delicious lightness, paradoxically, is the fiction’s raison d’être.”
—Ed Park, Los Angeles Times

“An extremely active and creative mind, in all ways dedicated to the enjoyment of the reader.”
—The Short Review

“Admirable stories for any age because they are dug from a delightful mind. Many will drop into their readers lives like those enriching stones which break the surfaces of still pools and leave rings long after their splash.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“A consummate story-teller.”
— The Times

“Joan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.”
—Philip Pullman

“The best kind of writer, strange and spooky and surprising, never sentimental or whimsical.”
—Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners)

“Distinguished and sometimes beautiful writing.”
—Naomi Mitchison, New Statesman

About the Author

Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books (including The Serial Garden) and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband’s death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women’s Own, and many others. Visit her online at: www.joanaiken.com.


What list has

Mon 4 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Kathe Koja, Emma Straub, Paolo Bacigalupi, Grace Krilanovich, Jenny Erpenbeck all in one place?

Melville House has announced the longlist of finalists for the first Independent Booksellers Choice Awards.

Congratulations to Kathe Koja and all the other authors! The short list goes out on May 1st, but everyone knows: it’s an honor to be nominated. So thank you, indie booksellers. We loves ya!


What I See (13), by Karen Joy Fowler

Wed 30 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 13 by Karen Joy Fowler

The song in my head today is all about Japan. “Ue o muite, arukou, namida ga kobore naiyo-o-uni.” It’s the only Japanese I know.

This from my buddy, Tim Sandlin in an email:

I don’t know the proper response to all the end of the world stuff. Sometimes I’m petrified into emotional catatonia. I’ve always tried to picture what the average citizen felt in 1938 Germany, how they could have let what was happening happen? Now I sort of see it. You get up and have coffee and get dressed and try to figure out what else you can be doing, other than loving and protecting your family. Then it all gets out of hand.

Here’s what I’m doing while it all gets out of hand: walking the dog. We’ve had a whole week of heavy wind and rain here. Huge trees upended. Small birds flung against the windows. The waves have been enormous and the beaches, while not closed, have been posted with warnings to stay out of the water. The dog beach is covered in crashing, roiling foam. I don’t know if this could still be caused by the tsunami, or just the winter storms, or possibly the super moon that we never saw, stuffed as the whole city was into a sock of clouds.

Yesterday was flying nun weather and MJ and I fought for every step. There was a kayak competition at Steamer Lane and it was sadder than it was inspiring to see the kayaks working so hard against the wind and water for so little headway.

Today we started in the rain, but walked into clear weather and a blue sky above. Natural Bridges State Park was closed due to weather, but we ducked the gate and went in only to find the road blocked by trees the storm had felled. By the time we turned around, the gate had been seriously augmented with tape; getting out was much harder than getting in.

On the way back I could see the dark sky ahead and we hit the rain again. There was something magical about the act of walking out of one weather system and into another. Like I was slipping through a door into a different dimension. It reminded me of an afternoon when I was small girl in Indiana. I was playing with some kids across the street from my house, and we saw a rainstorm coming toward us down the Ballantine hill. I made for home and, like some superhero, outran the rain, which hit just as I ducked under the porch overhang. I don’t have a lot of superhero moments in my life so I tend to remember them.

MJ ate some grass that she immediately threw up. It’s a thing she does. But today was the day she, usually so reserved and diffident, decided to extend the paw of friendship. She bounded up to everyone we passed, demented strands of vomitous grass poking out from her mouth, streaks of green dribbled down her chin. She got a mixed response. I blame the moon.

Previous posts

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Karen is also moderating the Tiptree Book Club .


Up. Down.

Wed 30 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

2 links from Locus. Amazing news and very very sad news.

Shaun Tan Wins Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

Tue 29 Mar 4:03 pm
Australian artist and writer Shaun Tan is the winner of the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, honoring children’s and young-adult literature….The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will be presented to Tan at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden on May 31, 2011.

Diana Wynne Jones (1934 – 2011)
Mon 28 Mar 9:30 am
Diana Wynne Jones, 76, died March 26, 2011 of cancer. Jones was a respected and prolific author of fantasy novels, many for children and young adul…

The Guardian‘s obit is well worth reading.


To read pile and oops

Mon 28 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Flurb has a new issue, guest edited by Eileen Gunn which features three authors who also have stories in Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Stories of the Fantastic: Bef, or, Bernardo Fernández, Pepe Rojo, and Alberto Chimal. And, the stories are available in English or Spanish: nice.

If you’re in the Easthampton area, the Garage Annex runs some lovely classes including this weekend letterpressing class with Art Larson that Kelly and I did a couple of years ago.

The Tiptree Award! You have, I hope, gone and read this post already but if not: go on! After being a juror a couple of years ago I know the work that goes in to making the honor list so that now, even more than before, I think the honor list is a real honor and makes for a great reading list.(And: Meeks is on the long list, so yay!)

In the Wiscon newsletter they noted that the James Tiptree, Jr. Award Motherboard “was selected as the recipient of the 2011 Clareson Award. . . . The award is presented at the annual SFRA conference, which will be held this year in Lublin, Poland. Founding members Karen Joy Fowler and Pat Murphy will travel to Poland in July 2011 to accept the award.” I’d never heard of this award but this is lovely new!

And: my laptop died. Oops. So if you try and contact Small Beer/Weightless and don’t hear back it’s because I am doing my damndest (sacrificing chocolate bars, weeping in my beer) to rescue the damned drive and/or get a new one. Yes, I do seem to have a mildly deleterious effect on technology, why do you ask?


Joan Aiken Nom de Plume Giveaway!

Mon 21 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Joan Aiken giveawayWe just sent none other than a new collection by the late and much missed Joan Aiken to the printer. What a storyteller! It’s been pure pleasure working on The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories. It’s full of spooky, funny, heartbreaking, enchanting, clever, and sometimes wicked stories.  There are 19 stories in all, six of which have never been published(!), and two of which were first published in Argosy Magazine under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee.

Which is where the fun comes in. Tell us either

  1. your favorite pseudonym (and, if you want, why it’s your fave)
  2. your pseudonym (own up!)
  3. or a pseudonym you’d like to use (it can be serious or . . . not so serious!)

On publication day April 19, 2011 we’ll use random.org to pick two winners each of whom will receive not only a copy of The Monkey’s Wedding, but also an original copy of the issue of Argosy containing one of Joan’s pseudonymous stories—as well as any goodies we have lying around the office. And, three more readers (in the US & Canada only, sorry) will receive copies of the book!

Here are the Tables of Contents of Argosy with “Red-Hot Favorite” (this issue also has a story by Isak Dinesen) and “Girl in a Whirl” and above is a pic of the original magazines. (Which make for fascinating reading, btw: from the ads it looks like there were as many people willing to part new writers from their money then as there are now!

And of course you can make sure you get your copy (hardcover or ebook) of The Monkey’s Wedding by ordering it here.

That’s it! Enter as many times as you like. Can’t wait to find out who you all really are!


Teabreak reading

Mon 21 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Solitaire has been out a month or so (er, two!) and people, they like it. It’s a truism that a reprint is only a reprint for those who’ve read it, which was one of the reasons we wanted to bring this awesome book back in print. Nice to see the print book is getting out there (prrof? bloggity reviews: one, two, three, four!)—it’s not all ebooks all the time.

To celebrate the publication, there’s a lovely big interview with Kelley Eskridge at the Lambda Literary Review. Kelley, she is one smart cookie:

If we don’t see ourselves reflected in the stories around us… well, that’s just one more way of being made marginal, invisible. On a particular level, culture is story, and if we aren’t in the stories, then we sure as hell aren’t in the culture either.

That’s what it’s all about. And since you have the cup of tea already in hand, how about another interview, this time at the Daily Monocle:

Alright to start things off, how about a fun question? Can you describe yourself in three words or less?
Resistant to limitations.
And now I must take more words to explain, or risk being labeled snarky and uncooperative (which certainly describe me in moments, but not, I hope, in general). I have spent so much time trying to expand – in my life, in my work – that I find it hard to be reductive, even in jest. In my house, I am known as the Option Queen.


Wanted: College Building League

Thu 17 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

File under projects for other people to follow up on: here’s a pitch for a reality TV show I want to watch and a league I want to follow.

How about the top 100 colleges and universities in this country (and internationally, too, why not?), alongside the football, basketball, lacrosse, table tennis, etc., teams they already have, field design and building teams for an intercollegiate building league?

Teams would be made up of students from every part of the school—it’s the ultimate resume booster and the best way to get some work experience and do a little networking along the way.

In the first semester, students would identify and design a project that would benefit their local community. In the second, they’d build it.

Impossible? Weeeellll, no. The Rural Studio does it every year.

The good people from Habitat for Humanity, Rural Studio, and Architecture for Humanity could be involved as mentors and judges.

There are a few TV channels (calling HGTV . . . Bravo . . . ) where this would be a natural fit but I’d just as happily tune in to ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox to see it.

Ok, now please someone make it happen!


What I See (12), by Karen Joy Fowler

Wed 16 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 12 by Karen Joy Fowler

I’ve been reading about the staggering numbers of people missing in Minami Sanriku. Apparently the tsunami was channeled and focused by the walls of bay on which it sat. This helped me understand why, halfway across the world, Santa Cruz was also considered to be at risk.

I wasn’t here on the 12th. I was in Idaho at the Rocky Mountain Writers’ Festival and away from the news so I learned quite late about the Japanese earthquake. When I saw the magnitude listed on the television chyron, I thought it must have been a misprint. Today even that unbelievable number has been raised. But my husband says that locally it was a non-event. There were big waves, he says, but we’ve seen bigger. The beaches were closed, but surfers turned out in large numbers and people lined the cliffs with binoculars and cameras. A young man died in Crescent City trying to see the waves, but I’d have done the same thing if I’d been here. I would have wanted to see.

The media are breaking the news of nuclear meltdown in tiny increments—a slow drip of disaster. Like the aftermath of the gulf oil well, I suspect we will never completely comprehend the damage done here. It will be with us into another generation and beyond.

Meanwhile the waters in the bay here are calm. The mustard in the park has grown taller than my knees, which means Mojito can disappear into it. There is a crow building a nest in a leafless tree. Ponds have appeared where there were no ponds and many of the paths are muddy and impassible.

When we first moved here, the rock out past the lighthouse was covered in sea lions. Then they left it to the cormorants and pelicans, went to live noisily under the pier at the wharf. Last week I saw a single sea lion back on the rock, the first in nearly a year. I’m waiting to see if she’s a harbinger or an outlier. Sea lions are caniformia, or dog-shaped animals, but MJ admits to no fellow feeling.

Previous posts

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Karen is also moderating the Tiptree Book Club discussion of Maureen F. McHugh’s story “Useless Things.”


On how to quiet a baby

Tue 15 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Mystery baby by Adam Tinworth“I will only mention that, after a good deal of experiment, I found one infallible method of stopping the baby’s howls. This was to put it in the pram and race it at top speed (I should say here that I had won the fifteen years and under three-quarter mile at the village sports) round and round the field. The baby liked this. Unfortunately Tweetie the dog didn’t care for it; he was nervous about my running, maybe he thought I was trying to kidnap the child, and insisted on racing beside me, taking a nip out of my calf every so often and barking in a high-pitched hysterical manner.”
—from “Harp Music” by Joan Aiken in The Monkey’s Wife and Other Stories

Photo by Adam Tinworth.

Sandstorm day and more

Wed 2 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Sandstorm: A Forgotten Realms Novel (Forgotten Realms) Cover

Just sneaking this in before the end of . . .

Sandstorm Day!

Woot! And I am not even a player of said game but I sure am going to read that book.

Also: Carrie Frye is the new editor of The Awl! (Ok, so this is last week’s news, but the internets, they don’t always work around here.) Magnificent!

Holy crap: we’ve had bagels for breakfast with an Oscar winner! Congratulations to Shaun Tan et al! ((Locus says: “The film can be viewed in its entirety at www.indiemoviesonline.com.”)

Go join Karen Joy Fowler and the Tiptree Bookclub talking about Maureen F. McHugh’s excellent story “Useless Things” from Eclipse 3 (edited by Jonathan Strahan).

A new book award voted on by indie booksellers: could be fun. Also: any suggestions for a name for the award are welcome. Could be more fun!

Two nontraditional places to find our books (and we have a cool announcement about that very thing coming here soon, too): a fundraiser and an awareness raiser!

Con or Bust is expanding and they are having a huge fundraiser. We’re offering Small Beer Sixpacks (if you go up to $200, they come with your own engraved, wooden sixpack holder!), LCRW subscriptions (—Avec chocolat? —Mais oui!) and advanced reading copies of some sekrit yet-to-be-published books! Bid here please!

The Ranting Dragon is running a huge giveaway to encourage/challenge more readers (especially younger readers) to vote in the Locus poll. Seemed like a good idea to us (and to many other publishers!) so there are tons of books being given away including all of our included titles—including 5 copies of LCRW 26. Freebies! Tons of them!


Redemption nominated for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

Wed 2 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

We are immensely honored to share the news that Karen Lord’s debut novel Redemption in Indigo has been longlisted for a major new award for books by Caribbean writers, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

The OCM Bocas Prize will be awarded for the first time in April 2011. The prize includes an award of US$10,000, sponsored by One Caribbean Media.

The Longlist:

Poetry
Elegguas, by Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados) — Wesleyan
A Light Song of Light, by Kei Miller (Jamaica) — Carcanet
White Egrets, by Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) — Faber

Fiction
The Loneliness of Angels, by Myriam Chancy (Haiti/USA) — Peepal Tree
Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord (Barbados) — Small Beer Press
The Amazing Absorbing Boy, by Rabindranath Maharaj (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — Knopf Canada
How to Escape a Leper Colony, by Tiphanie Yanique (US Virgin Islands) — Graywolf

Non-fiction
Beauty and Sadness, by Andre Alexis (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — House of Anansi
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti/USA) — Princeton
The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief, by V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago/UK) — Picador

The winners in the three genre categories will be announced on 28 March, and the Prize will be presented on 30 April, during the first annual Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain. More information on the longlisted books is here.


What I Hear, by Karen Joy Fowler

Tue 1 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I Hear, by Karen Joy Fowler

I made a decision at the start of this blog to leave the iPod behind when I walked, but it doesn’t mean there’s no music. I spend most of my life with a song in my head. Not a song, really, so much as a bit of a song, a few lines that repeat. With great effort I can finish the song or substitute another in, but the original snatch returns as soon as the effort ceases. This is not usually unpleasant. It depends on the song. Sometimes I enjoy trying to track back how that particular song ended up in my head at that particular time. Sometimes I can’t. In any case, I’m used to it.

This morning’s was Acadian Driftwood.

Try’n’ to raise a family. End up the enemy
Over what went down on the Plains of Abraham

What did go down on the Plains of Abraham? You might be surprised to hear that Canadian history wasn’t covered much in school here. Read more


What I See, part 11, by Karen Joy Fowler

Mon 28 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 11, by Karen Joy Fowler

The weather here has been erratic. MJ and I have taken our walks in rain and in wind so strong I was knocked off my feet. Snow was predicted here at sea level one morning, but never materialized. Other days have been like spring. I meant to report on all of them. But I’ve been distracted by travel, work, and family. And mesmerized by the events in the Middle-East and the midwest. I’ve been so discouraged by the drumbeat of men with money (fresh off the windfall of the Bush tax-cut extensions) soberly insisting on the need for a shared sacrifice in which they’ll have no share. Put the people who are actually sacrificing on my television please instead of these buffoons. Let me look at the incredibly bravery of the people in Libya and be awed. Let me look at the crowds in my beloved Madison, Wisconsin, and be hopeful.

Read more


Founder of Palm has trouble getting health insurance

Sun 20 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

This shows precisely why the US needs a new health insurance system. As I’ve said before, “In the USA I don’t know a single person, rich or poor, who doesn’t worry about their health insurance.” And here is a fantastic editorial in the NYTimes from Donna Dubinsky, a co-founder of Palm Computer and Handspring who struggled to find health insurance. And you know if some rich computer exec can’t get covered, what chance do the rest of us (those outside the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts) have?

“THIS isn’t the story of a poor family with a mother who has a dreadful disease that bankrupts them, or with a child who has to go without vital medicines. Unlike many others, my family can afford medical care, with or without insurance.”

At the end she has a superb suggestion:

“If members of Congress feel so strongly about undoing this important legislation, perhaps we should stop providing them with health insurance. Let’s credit their pay for the amount that has been paid by the taxpayers, and let them try to buy health insurance in the individual market. My bet is that they all would be denied. Health insurance reform might suddenly not seem to them like such a bad idea.” In addition, to learn on other insurance services, visit homeowners insurance silverdale wa for more information.

Oh absolutely yes.

Let those senators and congresspeople go out and see how just wonderfully transparent and easy to use the market is. Once they get a taste of that medicine, they’ll be on the reform train in no time.


Boskone

Thu 17 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Hey, we’re going to be at Boskone this weekend. Here’s Kelly’s and my schedules—all dependent of course on all people with colds/flus/con crud staying away, por favor, so that we can bring Ursula and have some fun running around with her. Not sure what we’re going to do at naptime. Maybe go off home. Michael will be there, too, although I’m not sure if he’s panelling after all. We’ll be sporting some nice new shirts and will be experimenting with a Weightless thing.

Kelly Link:

Saturday 11am Harbor 3: New Faces of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

These exceptional writers may still be in the early stages of their career, but already we catch glimpses of greatness. Let’s name names — and talk about what makes them so special.

Laird Barron, Peter V. Brett, Paul Di Filippo (m), David Anthony Durham, Kelly Link

Sunday 1pm Harbor 1: A Child’s Garden of Dystopias — the Boom in Nasty Worlds for Children

Why do dystopias and YA literature seem to go together? Are YA dystopias more common now than previously? Are there differences between YA and adult dystopias — perhaps a different ratio of cynicism to hope? How does “if this goes on” fit in? Consider this article.

Bruce Coville, Theodora Goss, Jack M. Haringa (m), Kelly Link

Gavin:

Saturday 1pm Lewis: The Small Press: Bigger Than Ever?

Boutique publishers and small presses are publishing more of the best stuff in the field every year. True? Who? How? Why? And what about the future? What’s the role of the small press in a world dominated by e-books?

Neil Clarke, Gavin Grant, Valerie L. Grimm (m), Joe Hill

Sunday 11am Harbor 3: The e-Book Market

E-books appear to be the wave of the future. How does a professional who wishes to continue to make a living surf that wave?

Jeffrey A. Carver, Neil Clarke (m), John R. Douglas, Gavin Grant, Charles Stross, Eleanor Wood


A new year with Georges-Olivier

Tue 15 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

100 Years of Unease by Edward Gauvin (translator of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s A Life on Paper: Stories)

The Hôtel de Massa is a handsome historical edifice in the 14th arrondissement, not far south of the Sorbonne, on the rue du Faubourg St. Jacques. It is the headquarters of the Société des Gens de Lettres, a sort of French Authors Guild, of which Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud was president from 2000 to 2002. He had told me to meet him there at a quarter to one, and he was late.

The receptionist rose from her desk and came to the lobby to tell me that his RER commuter train had been delayed. Later, striding briskly toward the restaurant, Châteaureynaud explained that someone had committed suicide by leaping onto the tracks. They were probably still cleaning the remains off now. If he hadn’t given up and changed trains, he might still be waiting. The thought of another year was apparently, for some, a terrible prospect. Read more


What I See, part 10, by Karen Joy Fowler

Mon 14 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 10, by Karen Joy Fowler

Recently our walks have been curtailed by Mojito’s surgery. Not abandoned, but shorter and slower. She’s sporting some Frankenstein’s monster stitchery and is only just recovering the bounce in her step. The vet described her as a relatively young dog, which surprised me as she’s ten, but according to the chart in his office, ten for a dog is comparable to fifty-six for a person, which does make her the youngest creature in the house, a mere sprig, and explains her youthful attitudes and behaviors.

Odd sightings today.

A singing tree: Just west of the dog beach, along the clifftop is a Monterey pine. There are many Monterey pines along the cliff and one tries not to have favorites, but this is a very appealing tree. Today it was making a tremendous racket as I approached and I had to get quite close to understand that a congress of blackbirds was hidden among the needles, each of them shouting as loudly as possible. There were so many that if they’d all flapped their wings at once, the tree would have taken flight.

A leaping cat: MJ and I were coming home along the north edge of the park when I saw a flash of white. It appeared briefly above the blackberry vines and then disappeared again. This repeated until I was close enough to see that it was a cat, bouncing straight up and down in the bramble as if it were on a pogo stick. Of course, MJ’s appearance put an end to all such joyous behaviors and I never did figure out what the what was there.

A drunken surfer: Or maybe not. He was headed back from the beach, still wet, still in his wet-suit, surfboard under one arm and carrying an enormous, almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels in the other hand. Though it’s entirely possible that he hadn’t been drinking—drinking while surfing certainly seems inadvisable in the extreme. It’s entirely possible that he was merely picking up someone else’s litter.

There was a monthly community clean-up underway. When I first walked through the park this morning, it looked fine, but later I had no trouble filling a pail with trash. I found many cigarette butts, wrappers from straws, beer bottles, and napkins. Empty bean cans and bits of tin foil. Condoms, which I’d rather not find, but at least suggest responsible sex. There are many things I’ve done in my life that it shames me to remember, but littering is not among them. Put it on my tombstone. She Didn’t Litter.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6
What I See, part 7
What I See, part 8
What I See, part 9


1/2 story, Locus, TK

Mon 7 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

I have a story up at Strange Horizons this week! Or, at least, the first part. Part 2 will be up next Monday. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Last week’s story at Strange Horizons was a reprint of “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken, nicely presented with an Introduction by one of the fiction editors, Jed Hartman.

We have four books on the Locus Recommended Reading List, Meeks, Redemption in Indigo, The Poison Eaters, and What I Didn’t See. Not too bad!

We published nine books last year (+ 2 issues of LCRW!), these four plus four that weren’t eligible for the list: a reprint (Ted Chiang’s collection), two novels that aren’t spec fic, (Kathe Koja’s Under the Poppy and Alasdair Gray’s Old Men in Love), the Daily Planner, and the first publication in English of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud (A Life on Paper: Stories). It’s disappointing that A Life on Paper didn’t make the list but to make up for it there’s a nice review up at Devil’s Lake—a well-named lit journal from UW Madison.

Last week I was looking for any recs on mobile broadband devices and while Verizon gets the thumbs up, it’s pricey so I was leaning toward Virgin Mobile—but they’re putting on a data limit of 5GB/month (which I think I’d pass given we’re always uploading new things to Weightless). So now I’m wondering if anyone has used localnet? Looks old fashioned, but I only need better internet access for 3-6 months. Anyone know it?

And, Later this week Karen Joy Fowler and Edward Gauvin will be popping by.


Wind me up

Thu 3 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

It’s been a while since I looked at where our electricity company gets its power. The last one I can find is October 2009. I’d stacked up this year’s reports so here is far too much info on the New England GreenStart program’s power source. Looks like we are up to 13.2% power from solar and wind. Which means it has tripled since 2008: not bad. Bummer for me though: they just sent me a note saying the unit cost price for the “green” electricity is tripling (! . . . I think because they can) by about $20 a month. Hmm.

Not sure they can keep increasing the solar and wind power quite as fast—so bring on the the Cape Cod Wind Farm, and as many more as they can build asap.

Our office in Easthampton is 40 miles south of Vermont’s leaky old nuclear power plant, Vermont Yankee (seen here being gently buzzed by Greenpeace’s thermal airship) and here in Boston we’re 40 miles south another nuclear plant in New Hampshire. Eek! Build me a windfarm and coat my building in solar panels now!

March 2018 Update: We have installed solar panels on our roof so this is all going to change!

Update: As far as I can see it’s pretty much always 75% “small hydro” (is that “greener” than “big hydro”? Is there less damage from dams?) and then a mix of mostly wind, then solar, and digester gas.

Update: Vermont Yankee is closing, yay!

Spring 2018

This is where GreenStart have started dropping non-Class 1 hydro power:

  • 33% old hydro
  • 24% wind
  • 5% solar
  • 2% new hydro
  • 36% standard mix:
    • natural gas 40%
    • imported power 19%
    • nuclear 11%
    • oil 9%
    • wind 7%
    • solar 3%
    • hydro 3%
    • municipal trash 3%
    • coal 3%
    • other renewable 2%

Winter 2017/18

This is where GreenStart have started dropping non-Class 1 hydro power:

  • 53% old hydro
  • 21% wind
  • 5% solar
  • 2% biomass
  • 1% new hydro
  • 17% standard mix:
    • natural gas 42%
    • imported power 19%
    • oil 10%
    • nuclear 7%
    • municipal trash 5%
    • wind 5%
    • coal 3%
    • solar 3%
    • hydro 3%
    • biomass 2%
    • other renewable 2%

Fall 2017

  • 71% old hydro
  • 6% new hydro
  • 3% biomass
  • 6% solar
  • 14% wind

Summer 2017

  • 74.9% hydro
  • 3.4% landfill gas
  • 5.4% biomass
  • 4.2% solar
  • 12% wind

Spring 2017

  • 75% hydro
  • 7% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 13% wind

Winter 2017 — hydro back to 75%

  • 75% hydro
  • 7% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 12% wind

Fall 2016 — first time hydro has dropped 1%

  • 74% hydro
  • 8% biomass
  • 4% solar
  • 14% wind

Summer 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 8% biomass
  • 2% solar
  • 15% wind

Spring 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 6% biomass
  • 3% solar
  • 16% wind

Winter 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 5% biomass
  • 4% solar
  • 16% wind

Autumn 2015

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 4% gas digester
  • 5% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2015

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 1% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 19% wind

Spring 2015:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 2% digester gas
  • 7% solar
  • 16% wind

Autumn 2014:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 3% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2014 was nearly the same as the previous 2 quarters:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 3% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 17% wind

It is depressing to look at our supplier, National Grid’s “standard mix” of power. Lot of change to come here:

  • 36% “natural” gas
  • 28% nuclear
  • 15% imported
  • 6% oil
  • 5% coal
  • 5% municipal trash
  • 3% wind
  • 1% biomass
  • 1% hydro

Spring 2014 was exactly the same as:
Winter 2014 (back to “disgester gas”—how is your digestion?)

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 4% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 15% wind

Autumn 2013 (same as spring except with a new title for hydro. But, really, is hydro low impact? Relatively. Maybe.)

  • 75% hydroelectric (now retitled small hydro. hmm)
  • 3% biogas
  • 6% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2013 (same as spring except with a new title for hydro. But, really, is hydro low impact? Relatively, maybe.)

  • 74.9% hydroelectric (now retitled low impact hydro. hmm)
  • 14.5% Digester Gas (cow power)
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Spring 2013

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 14.5% Digester Gas (cow power) [that’s really what it says!]
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Winter 2013

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 14.5% biomass (“wood, other plant matter, or landfill gas”)
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Falll 2012

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 16.2% landfill gas
  • 3.3% solar
  • 5.6% wind

Spring 2011

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 9.9% biomass
  • 6.9% solar
  • 8.2% wind

Winter 2010

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 11.8% biomass
  • 7.2% solar
  • 6.0% wind

Read more


Calendar, idiocy, limitations, 1 in 25, us & more

Thu 27 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Do yourself a favor: order Swamplandia now.

coverHere’s a suggestion for next year’s calendar: Storytellers 2012: The Author Interview Calendar from Balladier Press. Locally made and full of interviews with good people including Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Sara Paretsky, Robert Pinsky, and Shaun Tan.

I find it hard to believe that Nick Bilton is “the lead technology writer for the New York Times” because in this article he seems clueless about books and rights &c. Maybe it’s because I’m mired in them everyday. It’s funny: if he’d gone to a library, I’d be fine with this (ugh, teasing apart behaviours!) as they would have bought the books. At least pay your coffee rent if you’re going to sit there playing with the books for hours. (Via firebrand Pat Holt)

BTW Nick, yes, you are doing wrong. But as Nicola Griffith says readers are who we’re trying to reach and it frustrates me when I can’t make the customer happy. (Well, most of the time. I’ve worked retail: the customer is frequently right but sometimes completely wrong.) I’m completely frustrated because agents and writers won’t sell World English ebook rights even though no one else is going to buy those rights which means readers everywhere except in North America (hello Mexican readers, hello Brazil, hello Charles, & so on) will be left to either go without (go on, try it, you’ll love not reading that book . . . er, wait . . .) or pirating. Wonder which one they’ll choose?

LucilleAnyway, in happy news today, A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud and translated from the French by Edward Gauvin, is on the 25-title long list for the Best Translated Book Award. In March they throw 15 of those books out and “Winners will be announced on April 29th in New York City, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.” Just in time, we have a post coming up from Edward about a recent conversation he had with Châteaureynaud about his career. Edward’s in Belgium reading and translating—can’t wait to see what he comes up with—and here he writes about the best fry joint in Brussels and to going to a comics signing with Ludovic Debeurme, Top Shelf are going to publish his book Lucille in the US this spring, and he will be at the PEN World Voices Festival. Maybe everyone will be there! Maybe we should go. See you there?

And there’s a great closely read review of LCRW 26 at SFF Portal.

You have to go see what Australian zinester Vanessa Berry did to her house when her book club read Magic for Beginners.

Hey look, there’s a profile of the press in one of our local papers, the Valley Advocate—except I am not in the Valley this week. Someone save me a copy! (Also, it got picked up by io9, nice!) I like that the writer takes the story wider at the end:

It’s an oft-heard story in the Valley: an idea that coalesces from the background noise of urban hipster climes comes to rest here. Such moves are often generated by practical concerns like lower rent and quality of life, but the accretion of cultural capital like that of Small Beer or a hundred more arts-driven enterprises has made the Valley a place like few others.

He’s right. You can hardly toss a caber down Northampton’s Main Street (as with Easthampton, Amherst, Hadley, Holyoke, etc.) without it bouncing off two artists (they make them strong out there), being photographed a couple of times, having a dance piece choreographed about it, at at last squishing a couple of writers.


What I See, part 9, by Karen Joy Fowler

Thu 27 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 9, by Karen Joy Fowler

According to today’s paper, sea otter deaths are increasing. The probable cause is various diseases carried in the water run-off. Kitty litter is particularly suspect. So that feeling I had that all was well in the bay has been short-lived.

This week Mojito is scheduled for some major surgery. She has to have a large, (benign!) fatty growth removed from her chest. What this surgery will cost us would, in the 1800s, have bought a comfortable house in San Diego or four sea otter pelts. I just wish we were spending it on something she’d enjoy.

So I’m thankful that today’s walk was so perfect. The big surprise was to find the dog beach completely free of seaweed. The beach has been adopted by both a hydroponics firm and a spezialtiefbau construction company, but I can’t imagine they would, or could, have managed such a clean-up. It must have been the tide and I noticed that while usually the curl of the waves are black with seaweed, today they were an empty, glassy green. We have apparently arrived at the dog beach’s no-seaweed season.  I never noticed before that there was one.

We had that clean sand all to ourselves, which is the way MJ likes it. And she found a tennis ball. I don’t take tennis balls to the beach because they result in certain obsessive behaviors that spoil the rest of the walk. But finding a ball on the beach works for everyone. MJ chased it in the waves. She dug holes and buried it. She played a game of solitary catch, tossing it up and catching it again. She was one happy dog.

Afterward, she carried it carefully up the stairs and for another block or so before it got to be too much of a responsibility and she abandoned it in the ice plant.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6
What I See, part 7
What I See, part 8


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