Eugene Fischer

Author: Eugene Fischer

Two Exciting Forthcoming Books

Martin Millar blogs that he is under contract to deliver a sequel to his novel Lonely Werewolf Girl, provisionally entitled Queen Vex.  I just read Lonely Werewolf Girl last week and I thoroughly adored it, saying that it should be made into a television miniseries immediately.  I even spent some time after I finished it writing, with an eye toward emulation, about interesting things Millar does with tying character motivation to dialog.  My only complaint about it was that it didn’t end as neatly as the the other Martin Millar novel I’ve read, the also excellent Good Fairies of New York.  So I welcome news that the story is going to continue.

The other exciting news, which I comes via Nalo Hopkinson, is that Beacon Press, the publisher of Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred is in the process of recruiting an illustrator to produce a graphic novel adaptation for the 30th anniversary of the book’s publication.  Graphic novels and Octavia Butler novels are two of my favorite things in the world; I can’t wait to see how these tastes go together.

A Message to the Applicants for Clarion 2009

And you should be finished with your Clarion and/or Clarion West workshop application right about…now.

Well, actually you probably should have finished and uploaded your application a while ago, giving yourself a comfortable cushion of time to correct any problems that might arise with the process.  But that isn’t what I did.  Around this time a year ago I was furiously pounding out the first science fiction story I had written in years, and it was taking twice as long as I had expected it to, and I couldn’t stop for anything, not even my dog dying, and I finally finished the damn thing and filled out the online forms and uploaded the documents in the middle of the night at my girlfriend’s apartment, eyes barely able to focus on my laptop screen, girlfriend trying to sleep through my typing ten feet behind me.  I got my application in with minutes to spare.

Then, for better or worse, it was done.  And I was proud of myself.  Whether I got accepted or not, I had identified going to Clarion as something that I would value, and I got over any fears I harbored of critique and rejection.  I had never seriously submitted for publication before, so it was my first time sending my fiction out to strangers to be judged.  That wasn’t a small thing for me, and I suspect it isn’t a small thing for many of you.  For a hundred different reasons, just applying can be hard.  So, now that the deadline for this year has passed, allow me to say to all the new applicants: well done!  I’m proud of you.

Now what?

Well, again, if you do as I did, you should be reading this blog post right about…now.  Because after I submitted my application I spent the next several weeks scouring the internet for other applicants.  I searched blogs and fora for any recent mention of Clarion.  (For the equally obsessive, I recommend Google Blog Search, Icerocket, and any forum dedicated to genre fiction in general or fans of a specific instructor or their work.)  I filled a folder with bookmarks to the blogs of everyone I could find who was in the same boat as me, starting the same waiting game.  And it seems possible that others may be doing the same thing now and stumbling upon this place.  So:  If you are reading this and you just applied to one of the workshops (1) congrats on getting it done and (2) leave a comment, let me know who you are.

And good luck!

“Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie

While we are on the subject of awesome animation, here is a fabulous, live action stop-motion music video.  (The song isn’t bad either.)  I first saw this on Maureen McHugh’s blog before I had set up this website, and was reminded of it today when I visited Nina Paley’s blog to write the post about Sita Sings The Blues.

Sita Sings The Blues

Sita Sings The Blues is a beautiful animated movie exploring various versions of the Ramayana, with about five distinctly different visual styles and a soundtrack of 1920s jazz.   It was written, edited, directed, conceived, and everything-else-importanted by Nina Paley.  Everything else except distributed, of course.  Because film distribution companies handle all that stuff.  Right?

Not so in this case.  Despite a growing mountain of well deserved accolades, Sita Sings The Blues cannot be distributed nationally due to rights issues related to the Annette Henshaw songs in the soundtrack.  So Nina is doing that herself too.  Check out the link above:  she has negotiated and purchased a limited set of rights, enough to let her release her amazing film into the creative commons.  Completely free, full, DVD-ready downloads are forthcoming.  Also, due to there apparently being special rules for public broadcast stations, though the film can’t have a traditional distribution, WNET in New York is allowed to broadcast it.  They will be doing so on March 7, and, more exciting, have already made the full movie available in streaming format from their website.  (If you want a little taste before you watch the whole, approx. 90 minute movie, check out the trailer.)

So, Sita Sings The Blues: not only an utterly delightful work of art, but now also a fascinating experiment in movie distribution.  I can’t wait for the downloads to go live.  I know I will be giving DVDs away as gifts and having at least one viewing party.  And I will definitely be dropping some money in the donation jar, because what Nina Paley is doing is new and exciting in about ten different ways at once, and deserves admiration and support.

LiveJournal Synch Test

I have a LiveJournal account which, prior to my setting up this website, has seen intermittent activity.  I’ve decided that I want to experiment with synchronizing these two blogging services.  If all goes well, what I post here should show up there.  Let’s see if it works.

EDIT: Huzzah!

SECOND EDIT: But if I save a post as a draft on the blog, it publishes the draft to LiveJournal.  Boo!

THIRD EDIT: It looks like I can specifically tell it not to synch when I save a draft, but I have to do so by hand for each entry I am saving to post later.  Irritating, but not completely unworkable.  Meh!

Five Books I Want To Buy

I’m not currently allowing myself to buy any books.  I’ve been cataloging my library on LibraryThing (the site that powers the random book widget at the bottom of the sidebar), having a lot of fun with tagging and categorization.  In the process I have discovered that I currently have 46 books at home that I’ve bought but not read.  So no new books for me until I make a dent in that stack.  But there are a few books that I’m quite excited about, any of which would probably jump to the top of my reading stack if it were not for my self-imposed restrictions.  Here are five of them.

Black Juice by Margo Lanagan – I’ve read two stories by Lanagan, her Hugo-nominated “Singing My Sister Down,” which was incredible, and “An Honest Day’s Work” from the anthology The Starry Rift.  I’m eager to read more.  I’ve also heard good things about her novel, Tender Morsels.

It’s Too Late To Say I’m Sorry by Joey Comeau – I first encountered Joey Comeau through his webcomic, A Softer World.  Then I read his novel Lockpick Pornography (which is available for free download) and greatly enjoyed it.  Some of the stories in this collection were originally published online, including a couple at Strange Horizons, which will be publishing one of my stories soon.

Theory Of Light And Matter by Andrew Porter – Won the Flannery O’Connor award last year.  I took two fiction writing classes from Andrew Porter while I was at Trinity University.  I might not have ended up going to Clarion if I hadn’t gotten back into writing thereby.  I’ve only ever read one of his short stories, though, so I can’t wait to get my hands on this.

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente – I know little about this author, but trusted sources are recommending this book everywhere I turn.  As far as high-concept fantasy goes, this book apparently has a city which is also a sexually transmitted disease. I want to read this book on the strength of that concept alone.

The Manual Of Detection by Jedediah Berry – I paged through a copy of this in a bookstore and was intrigued.  Add in positive recommendations from both Kelly Link and Megan Kurashige, and I’m sold.  I understand that Jedediah Berry works for Small Beer Press, whose entire catalog is on my “want to buy” list at one level or another.

“Don’t Stop” Nominated for Nebula Award

The final ballot for the Nebula Awards has been released, and my Clarion instructor James Patrick Kelly’s story “Don’t Stop” is on it!  Jim is a prolific podcaster of his fiction–in fact he has previously won the Nebula specifically for the podcast of his novella “Burn,” the first ever awarded for a podcast.  When it was originally nominated for the Nebula, Jim released “Don’t Stop” on his Free Reads podcast, which you can listen to here.  It is a hauntingly sweet story, and I listened to it while exercising, which, given the focus on running, is maybe not a bad way to go.  There is a scene with a track coach which should resonate strongly with anyone who has ever had the experience of losing themselves in transcendent physical activity.

Congratulations, Jim!  Good luck!

Are you there, Eugene?

This place is still a bit dead, isn’t it?  Perhaps some music would liven things up.

The Hook

The hook is the bit that grabs your attention at the start, intrigues you enough to keep reading.  This entry isn’t much of a hook, but that’s okay–this blog isn’t much of a blog.  Yet.  We will see how it develops.

Regardless, I’m glad you are here.  Chances are, if you stick around, you will see a lot of changes going on here in the near future.  Do not allow yourself to be alarmed by this.  You are perfectly safe.  And while there isn’t much in the way of diverting content here yet, the upside of that is you can easily appreciate what is here in it’s entirety!  There’s an “About” page that has some links in it, and I’ve already filled the sidebar with some seriously awesome people.  And more is coming, I assure you.

Newer Posts