I love opening nights, and not just when it comes to the theater. When a restaurant opens its doors for the first time, there’s a mood created which no longer exists later on once the unfamiliar rhythms settle into a perfected routine. Both staff and customers are filled with excitement and wonder, and as they’re both experiencing the venue for the first time, maybe even a tickle of uncertainty as well.

Will it all come together? Will confidence be rewarded? At the outset, you can never be sure. But one always begins filled with hope.

Which is why, when Aaron Silverman announced that Pineapple and Pearls—his spinoff from Rose’s Luxury—was going to open in April, I knew Irene and I had to be there. After all, Bon Appétit had judged Rose’s Luxury to be 2014’s best new restaurant in America, so Pineapple and Pearls promised to be something quite special.

And it was.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Pineapple and Pearls opened its first phase—a coffee shop serving amazing sandwiches and sweet rolls—on February 12. Though I wasn’t able to get there for its opening day, I was able to pop in exactly one week later, when I was in D.C. to record an episode of my Eating the Fantastic podcast, and I checked out the entire menu.

To experience the coffee shop, all I needed to do was show up. But to get a table for the fine dining component, I had to work my Internet magic the moment reservations opened. Luckily, I was able to grab a table for the first seating on the first night.

And so, at 5:01 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, we arrived at Pineapple and Pearls—me wearing a pineapple, Irene wearing the pearls—and were immediately handed mint juleps. (Sans alcohol, of course, for we had chosen the non-alcoholic pairings, as we always do.)

Once we were led to our table, I peered over to the kitchen and spotted what felt like a historic moment which cried out to be captured—head chef Scott Muns and chef/owner Aaron Silverman conferring as service began. (more…)

March was another month which brought fewer dreams than usual. What it all means, why the drop-off, I don’t know. I’ve been gathering the dreams I’ve tweeted and sharing them here since December 2009, attempting to keep them a little less ephemeral. But now that I think about it, perhaps all this dream tweeting has made them more ephemeral.

After all, the first dream I shared, back on November 30, 2007, took up nearly 300 words, not a mere 140 characters. So perhaps by tweeting, I’ve lost more than I’ve gained. Something for me to think about. But while I do …

In December, I dreamt of Jon Stewart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Fred Astaire, Daryl Dixon, David Hartwell, and many other surprise guest stars. And here they are …

March 2016

I dreamt I flew to North Korea on a secret mission for the government. Now that I’m awake, though — I don’t remember what the mission was! Mar 31

I dream I was collaborating with Harlan Ellison on a short story … about which I remember nothing other than Ponce de León was involved. Mar 30

I dreamt I explained to a friend the reason I was fearless as a teen was not arrogance, but naïveté. It seemed important she understood. Mar 30

I dreamt I was packing up statues Jack Kirby had made of all the characters he’d created (to send to a museum) and was afraid I’d chip them. Mar 30

I dreamt I got into a conversation with Jon Stewart about kids, ending up reciting the whole of “This Be the Verse.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rjRYSfCJvM Mar 29

Last night, I dreamt I explained a story idea at a convention. It was an intriguing idea. But awake, it’s not one I’d ever choose to write. Mar 26

I dreamt @Nalo_Hopkinson and I were hosting a fundraising marathon and had to talk and entertain for DAYS while urging people to donate. Mar 26

I dreamt I was in a Shakespeare play with Eddie Izzard and Maggie Smith, which was put on hold when he got into fight with the set designer. Mar 25

I dreamt Harlan Ellison was about to climb into the ring for a boxing match, then decided he’d rather live, so we went for deli instead. Mar 24

I dreamt I watched on set as Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh filmed an episode of NYPD Blue with Dennis Franz. Got to chat with them, too. Mar 23 (more…)

A new Eating the Fantastic is now live! Episode 5 was recorded with Carolyn Ives Gilman at Range in Friendship Heights, Maryland.

Carolyn is a Nebula, Hugo, and Tiptree-award nominated author whose first novel, Halfway Human, was called “one of the most compelling explorations of gender and power in recent SF.”

We discussed what’s kept her coming back to her Twenty Planets universe for a quarter of a century, how her first science fiction convention was “total sensory overload,” what it was like working with David Hartwell as an editor, why she’s not visible on social media, and more.

Here’s how you can listen in— (more…)

Someone who’s been in podcasting far longer than I have—after all, I only launched the first episode of Eating the Fantastic on February 10—has taken note of the file size for each of the first four episodes and suggested I begin uploading them in mono rather than stereo to save listeners from straining their bandwidth. The episodes so far, all stereo, have have ranged from 72-77 megabytes, and if they’d been mono, the file size would have been cut approximately in half.

I’ve been advised that those with capped data plans might be unwilling to download these files to their mobile devices for fear of maxing out on their monthly usage allowances, and I’d hate to lose out on potential listeners due to that. But my gut feeling is this file size won’t discourage downloads, as I assume everyone these days has access to wifi, which makes those monthly data plans not as much of a barrier as they once might have been.

As for the storage issue, I assume that others, like me, have podcast episodes deleted automatically once they’ve been listened to, so they won’t stack up and clog anyone’s phone.

The reason I don’t simply go ahead and shrink the files is because, having listened to both mono and stereo versions of the upcoming Episode 5—which will go live on April 1 and feature Carolyn Ives Gilman—I find the stereo version preferable to my ears, more filled with life, with a greater sense YOU ARE THERE to it. And yet—if potential listeners are put off by the file size, what good does that do?

Of course, there might be also be people who find the amount of ambient restaurant noise of the whole Eating the Fantastic concept distracting, and would be unwilling to put up with it regardless, but that I can’t help. That’s what this podcast is.

So what do you think about the state of podcasting today as it relates to optimal file size and the mono vs. stereo sound issue? I don’t want to be shooting myself in the foot by retaining stereo sound out of my own personal preference if the larger resulting file size keeps people away.

Any thoughts?

Last June, I told you I’d sold my 10,000-word story “That Perilous Stuff” to the anthology Chiral Mad 3, and then in August I shared the illustration artist Glenn Chadbourne whipped up for that tale.

Now that the book’s about to be released—over on Facebook last night, editor Michael Bailey announced a March 29 release date—here’s the final front and back cover, with the name EDELMAN sandwiched between CHIZMAR and GOLDSMITH.

A spooky cover for what will surely be a spooky (and awesome) book!

If you’d like a small taste of “That Perilous Stuff,” here’s my reading at last year’s World Fantasy Convention of the first third or so.

I hope it will leave you wanting more.

Writer Tom Doyle and I recorded Episode 4 of Eating the Fantastic at Ethiopic Ethiopian restaurant nearby the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and Union Station in Washington D.C.—which unless I’m mistaken has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Ethiopia after so many resettled here during the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Tom’s the author of a contemporary fantasy series from Tor which began in 2014 with American Craftsmen, returned in 2015 with The Left Hand Way, and continues in the third installment War and Craft—the manuscript of which he handed in to his editor mere days before we met.

We talked about how what was was originally pitched as a standalone novel turned into a surprise trilogy, his fascination with apocalyptic fiction, what effect the Clarion workshop had on his growth as a writer, and much more.

Here’s how you can listen in— (more…)

I find it hard to believe I haven’t shared this Al Jaffee drawing before—but perhaps I was saving it for a milestone moment like this, when I could wish the man a happy 95th birthday!

Jaffee sketched out this self-portrait for me at a National Cartoonist Society Ruben Awards banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria in 1973, to which I was invited by Bill Kresse, a cartoonist I’d met during a class trip to the Daily News. I was an annoying teen fanboy in those days (now I’m only annoying), yet he was willing to put up with me when I interrupted his chowing down on rubber chicken and presented him with my pad and marker.

Forty-three years later, I am still grateful for his patience. (And for the patience of Curt Swan, Gary Trudeau, Paul Fung, Jr., and others that night as well!)

So thank you for that, Al Jaffee—and for ensuring I own no copies of MAD in mint condition due to my inability to resist folding and creasing those famous inside back cover fold-ins of yours.

Happy birthday!

The Paris Review—to which I’ve had a lifetime subscription since the late ’70s—has provided me with yet another comics-related mystery. Over the years, they’ve published many collages which have used comics imagery, such as this one, by poet John Ashbery, which incorporated one of the most famous faces of all and so was immediately identifiable by me, and this, by an artist known as Jess, for which I needed help tracking down the original source.

In the current Spring 2016 issue, to accompany an interview with Luc Sante, the magazine published a flyer the writer had created in 1980 promoting a gig by the band the Del-Byzanteens. As you can see below, the promo repurposed panels from comics which seem to me to have the feel of comic strips rather than comics books, though I might be wrong about that, and I could instead be perceiving the style difference between UK and U.S. comics.

Of course, I could easily be wrong about it all.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

So?

I have no idea who the original artist might be here. Do you?

UPDATE: Well, that was fast!

Sean Howe, author of the wonderful Marvel Comics: The Untold Story as well as the upcoming Agents of Chaos (about the founder of High Times) reached out directly to Sante—because Sean knows everyone—and was told:

They’re from a stack of promotional offprints I found when I was working at the Strand, aimed at newspapers and syndicates, for a strip called “Drift Marlo,” by Tom Cooke. Never having seen the strip anywhere else, I’d always assumed it had gone nowhere, but I was wrong …

Sante also provided a link to an entry on Ger Apeldoorn’s blog which included some of the strips from which Sante created his flyer. Including this one, the center panel of which provided the central panel above.

Mystery solved! Thanks, guys!

My dreams have been sparse the past few months—not the having of them, but the remembering of them—which meant that January and February were light compared to what I usually can save from my subconscious. But I still like gathering together what I’d previously shared on Twitter to see whether any theme arises.

So far this year, I’ve dreamt of Josh Holloway, David Letterman, David Hyde Pierce, Ian McKellen and more …

February 2016

I dreamt that while I was on a panel at @Readercon, in came my wife with a Colt .45, which she said she’d just used to kill a mouse. Feb 29

I dreamt I visited @dreamoforgonon, and when we laughed until we cried, he pulled out a box of tiny kittens with which we dabbed our tears. Feb 29

I dreamt I leapt up with two friends (don’t remember who) and spontaneously danced that famous Bande à part scene. https://youtu.be/u1MKUJN7vUk Feb 28

I dreamt I was in the Old West, chatting with a bad guy, and realized I forgotten to wear my pistol. And wondered how I’d get out of this. vFeb 26

I dreamt I drove to @StokerCon2016, and once I got there, I found I’d forgotten my luggage, and had only the clothes on my back. Oh, well! Feb 21

I dreamt I looked outside to see ducks nesting with their baby ducks. In a lake. Which we don’t have IRL. A fact which didn’t disturb me. Feb 8

I dreamt I was teaching a fiction writing course, leading an exercise which involved imagining the lives of characters in classic paintings. Feb 7

I dreamt that I visited DC Comics and found Bill Gaines (long dead IRL) holding court. I tried to take a pic, but my tech failed, of course. Feb 4

I dreamt I was at David Hartwell’s house editing a manuscript while he worked outside in his garden. But he eventually came in and chatted. Feb 2

I have no idea what dream was supposed to be brought to mind by this middle-of-the-night note: NAT KING COLE SHOWS UP. All memories — gone! Feb 1 (more…)

I got together with writer, editor, and Rosarium Publishing mastermind Bill Campbell yesterday at The Jerk Pit in College Park, Maryland for lunch—and to record the third episode of Eating the Fantastic.

Bill opened up about many things, including the genius of Samuel R. Delany, how Rosarium’s first book Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond gave birth to a new publishing company, the challenges of crowdfunding creative projects, why he was once blacklisted at a convention, and many other topics which I hope you’ll find as fascinating as I did.

There are three ways you can join us at the table— (more…)