I’m very pleased to announce that Jennifer Brozek has accepted my story “Vinegar Pie” for her Coins of Chaos anthology. Thanks Jennifer, I’m very excited to be a part of the collection! Details to follow soon.
I must say that I got very hungry writing this story. Very hungry. Some days, being a writer means intensive research. You have to sample all your sources. Critically. Carefully.
Preferably a la mode.
The good folks at Innsmouth Free Press just announced the final cover and release date for their upcoming anthology, Fungi. 
I’m especially excited about this collection for many reasons, not the least of which is I have a story appearing in it!
You can get the full details at the link, but in short, there will be three editions: ebook, softcover, and hardcover (the hardcover will have three bonus stories to boot!) Preorders will be in November and official release day in December.
I won’t say much about “Last Bloom on the Sage,” right now (don’t want to spoil the surprise) except how much fun I had writing it. Special thanks are due to all of my beta readers (you know who you are) and to Silvia and Orrin for including me in this great collection of amazing authors. I’m humbled.
And now I want to go write more mushroom stories…
Ray Bradbury died today. He lived to be 91, and from all accounts, was feisty and prolific up until the end.
I’m sure the internet will have no lack of obituaries, profiles, and homages to Ray today, but I can’t let the day go by without adding my own.
I have been inspired by many writers to take up the pen, but none more so than Bradbury. I had the good fortune to meet him several times, though I can’t say I ever knew him. Except maybe I did, through his tales and fables about Mars, Ireland, Mexico, and the shadows of Waukegan Illinois.
The first book signing I ever attended when I moved out to California was one of Ray’s, at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.
I was sure I wanted to write at that point, but I had no idea how to get started. I’d been scribbling out half-finished stories for years but lacked the confidence to complete them, let alone send them out. Zen and the Art of Writing had been my bible for years, though, and Ray’s work hard/have fun philosophy resonated with me like no other advice ever had.
I don’t even remember what new book Ray was there to promote but I approached him with my dog-eared, paperback copy of Zen, and in a small voice I said something like “I write, too, Mr. Bradbury.”
He smiled warmly as he signed my book and said, “Great! Don’t ever stop!” (Everything he said, he said with exclamation points. I always loved that about him.)
His is simple advice, and persistence is one of the most common refrains in any writing blog or book. But to me, that moment was as transformative as the one in Bradbury’s life where Mr. Electrico told a young Ray to “Live Forever.”
I wish you could have, Mr. Bradbury. I wish I had a chance to tell you once more what an influence you have been, and how my own small successes have been so inspired by you. “Thank you,” can never quite suffice, but it’s all I know how to say.
I’ve taken your words to heart: I’ve got great momentum going and I don’t plan to stop, not ever.
Not until I reach the October Country.
I’m sure most of you have heard by now that Ralph McQuarrie, one of the chief visioners of that Galaxy Far, Far, Away, died on Sunday.
McQuarrie was a key concept artist on the original trilogy. He wasn’t the only one responsible for creating the look of the Star Wars Galaxy (there’s also John Mollo, Joe Johnston, and Nilo Rodis-Janero, to name a few very others), but McQuarrie’s designs are so iconic you can’t crack an “art of” book these days and not find at least a dozen homages to his look and style. I mean, the guy pretty much gave us the look of Darth Vader — you can’t get much more iconic than that!
McQuarrie helped design the look for a lot of other famous universes, too. He did extensive work on the original Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and even a proposed
Star Trek reboot that never got off the ground. Oh, and you might recognize the drawing on the left. Dr. Jones did.
I’m an avowed Star Wars geek. Other kids had posters of rock bands, basketball players, and swimsuit models on their walls — I had Ralph McQuarrie prints on mine. In the days before Wookiepedia, iPhones, and Blu-Ray discs, if I wanted to revisit the Star Wars universe, I pulled out one of McQuarrie’s paintings and it brought the galaxy to life in vibrant hues. (I was also a huge fan of Al Williamson’s large-format The Empire Strikes Back comic adaptation from Marvel, but that’s another story.)
The thing about McQuarrie’s Star Wars art that fascinated me was the glimpses it gave of the “rest of” the Galaxy – the one you’d no doubt see if you could just get George to swing
the camera the other way. Stormtroopers with lightsabers? Check. Boba Fett in white armor? Yes! Monumental cityscapes that cover planets and moons? Check! In fact, we got to see Alderaan’s lush cities and Coruscant’s imperial architecture in McQuarrie’s art long before they appeared on screen in the prequel trilogy.
In the years after Return of the Jedi, when there was a dearth of any new Star Wars adventures, I turned to roleplaying games to get my fix (true confession, sometimes I still do). McQuarrie’s designs illustrated those early books, and intrepid game designers statted out those heroes, creatures, and spaceships. His work lent an authenticity to the almost bootleg feel of the “Expanded Universe.” Of course, Many of McQuarrie’s unused designs eventually did make it into the novels, the prequel films and now especially the TV show The Clone Wars. The team there seems to delight in turning old concept art into new iconic images, and I love them for it.
Speaking of authenticity, there are times when McQuarrie’s visions of Star Wars seem to me more real than the movies themselves. I’m a big fan of his original look for Chewbacca.
I love his designs for the snowspeeders — they are smaller and have a bit more of a deathtrap feel to them. His painting of stricken soldiers in the trenches of Hoth as AT-ATs tower overhead is one of those quiet moments where you feel the real impact of the battle. His paintings often capture those little moments as well as the frenetic action and sweeping vistas we’re accustomed to from the Star Wars galaxy.
Rest in peace, Ralph. I hope you’re discovering new worlds to draw.
Today, dear readers, marks the first day of my 39th year on this earth.
Last week I promised to blog a little about my 2012 resolutions, but I’ve decided not to do that. You all know the drill, anyway: more novel. More short stories. More submissions. More writing-related stuff. More reading. More time with loved ones. Lose weight.
So instead of elaborating on all that, I have a birthday wish for all of you:
May 2012 bring you lots of words written and read, fine new friends to share the journey with, and old friends for laughing through the tears.
* * *
Yesterday, I learned that Tangent Online picked “The Parting Glass” as one of it’s Best of 2011. I’m stunned and thrilled. I’m also in exceedingly good company so a hearty congratulations to everyone on that list, especially friends Rachel, Liz, and Ferrett. I’m hoping 2012 brings more pleasant surprises.
But I’d settle for at least 39 more years. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
