Alice K. Turner graciously hosted a memorial last night for the late Thomas M. Disch so that friends and family could gather to collectively remember him. The night of the 18th had been chosen because that was when the Disch clan, including his younger brothers Jeffrey and Gregory (twins five year’s Tom’s junior) and younger sister Nancy (ten year’s Tom’s junior) could arrange to be there, and I want to thank them and the rest of the family for allowing us in so that we could grieve and celebrate him as a group.

There were many familiar faces from science fiction there, such as Sheila Williams, John Crowley, Chip Delany, Ellen Datlow, Gregory Feeley, Jacob Weisman and others, but there were also people I had previously known only as names, and their presence was evidence that Tom’s work mattered far outside the SF field. (more…)

Due to my New York trip Saturday, my only appearance at Capclave this year was Friday night, so I tried to squeeze in as much as I could. Lunch with Resa Nelson, who included the con as part of her three-week tour in support of her new novel The Dragonslayer’s Sword, dinner with the newest member of the Analog mafia, Oz Drummond, who kindly took pity on me, after which we were joined by Traci Castleberry, and Andy Duncan (the last of whom is pictured with me below), plus two panels.

I was joined on my 5:00 p.m. panel, “Eureka: The New TV Season,” by Perianne Lurie, Resa Nelson, and Davey Beauchamp, who acted as the moderator. I’d brought along a stack of the Fall Preview issue of SCI FI magazine to hand out to the audience so that we could all be on the same page. Most of us were not impressed by what we’d seen of the new shows this season and were disappointed by many of the returning shows. I talked up True Blood, my favorite of the new batch. Perianne and Davey discussed how much better the BBC version of The Eleventh Hour was than the Americanized version the rest of us got to see. Opinions on the latest season of Heroes differed, and when I said that I felt the creators had amazingly figured out a way to make Mohinder even more annoying than before, most seemed to agree. There was a lot of love expressed for Pushing Daisies, though it’s such a delicate show that we all trembled for its future. Most of us wished that last season’s Journeyman was still with us. A lively panel. (more…)

Over at Diversions of the Groovy Kind, a blog devoted to “the far-out comics of the Groovy Age (1967-1980),” the “Groovy Agent” has just featured my character the Scarecrow as part of the site’s month-long Halloween Countdown 2008.

If you follow the link above, you’ll find that my second comic-book story about the Scarecrow from the December 1975 issue of Marvel Spotlight has been reproduced in full. So if you’ve never read any of my comics, here’s your chance.

I wish I could say that it’s improved with age. It hasn’t, but hopefully, I have. Hey, cut me a break—I wrote it when I was 20!

Sharp eyes will spot a reference to the late comedian Andy Kaufman. I wrote him into the story after I’d seen him perform many times at the New York comedy club the Improv. I spoke with him at the bar one night and got his permission (whether I needed it or not) to make the reference.

You can find my own write-up about the Scarecrow here.

In a small snippet of a larger dream, I’m sitting across from Robert Silverberg at a long table while I open my mail, which for at least 15 years—ever since I started editing science-fiction magazines—has consisted not just of envelopes, but of many packages filled with books, DVDs, toys, etc.

As I tear through the parcels and leave the detritus at my feet, I come across a small box with a return address of Wes’ Rib House.

“Ah,” I say in satisfaction, for this what I’d been waiting for.

“Oh?” says Bob. I rip open the box and show Bob the package of rib rub I’d ordered.

Bob, seeing the name on the spices, comments that he recognizes it as a restaurant in Chicago, but when I correct him to say that Wes’ is in Rhode Island, he continues to insist that the place is in Chicago. Even though I’m right, and have eaten there many times in real life, I begin to doubt myself in the dream.

Because after all, it is Robert Silverberg.

We contradict each other for awhile, and then the dream moves on …

I’ll be giving a talk next month at the Library of Congress, and the event is open to the public.

Click on the flyer below for complete details.

The Fall 2008 issue of The Paris Review includes an excerpt from the oral biography of George Plimpton, who edited the magazine for its first half century.

Since Plimpton is no longer around to be interviewed the way Peter Matthiessen and others were, he’s represented with quotes from his diary, such as this passage in which he wrote about the search for a title during the magazine’s founding 55 years ago:

I know The Paris Review is a sensible and safe title. It might not sell a million copies but it’s safe. It has snob appeal. Paris—God what that connotes everywhere, and its life and its literature, and its eccentricities. But not quite enough for them. Merde, Phusct, Venture, MS, Manuscript, Counterpoint, Baccarat, all these evocative names which symbolize countless magazines with similar names which have failed in one respect for that every reason—zero, Blast, Transition (although that a fine one), Wake, etc. I said I’d never read a literary magazine of any sort with a one name supposedly striking title which hadn’t folded within a year or so. “Time, Life, Fortune?” asked du Bois. Well, he may be right but we shall see. The title can certainly ruin it. We’re all thinking about it. I hope if there’s a better one and a safer one than The Paris Review I can open my mind to it.

Considering some of those alternatives, I’m glad that his mind didn’t get that open.

To follow up on my most recent post, here’s the complete table of contents for Talebones#39, which has just been posted by Patrick Swenson, the magazine’s editor.

Of all of the following titles, the one that intrigues me the most (other than mine, of course) is the one from Caroline Yoachim. As you can perhaps tell from some of my own short stories, I’m a sucker for that sort of title!

MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL — Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery
SCOTT EDELMAN — The Only Wish Ever to Come True
DAVID SAKMYSTER — Blackout Man
ARI GOELMAN — Bird of Paradise
PATRICIA RUSSO — Swoop
TIM McDANIEL — Discards
MARSHALL PAYNE — Sausages
EDWARD McENEELY — All Sparks
BRIAN HIEBERT — How Thunder Dog Shed His Shadow
CAROLINE M. YOACHIM — The Best Last Choice I Ever Made
GREG SCHWARTZ — Second Time Around
GREG SCHWARTZ — horrorku
K.S. HARDY — The Weeping Woman

As you can see, I’ll be in good company!

Editor Patrick Swenson just bought my short story “The Only Wish Ever to Come True” for the Spring 2009 issue of Talebones.

And as I’ve learned from reading other LiveJournal entries, Mary Robinette Kowal (winner of the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) and Marshall Payne will be in the issue with me.

Patrick must have had a busy weekend!

I came across two different concepts this week which I think could easily be adapted—or should I say stolen—for science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

The first was brought to mind by an article written by Archie Thomas on the Hollywood Black List—and no, it’s probably not the blacklist you thought of first—in the October 6-12 issue of the weekly Variety:

Soho’s members clubs, coffee shops and pubs were abuzz last week as the second edition of the Brit List, which details the most respected unproduced movie scripts by non-American writers, was released and pinged from BlackBerry to BlackBerry, hitting Hollywood almost instantly.

The eagerly anticipated list, inspired by Hollywood’s Black List of best unproduced scripts, was voted on anonymously by more than 40 top-level figures in the U.K. and Irish film industries. Agents, producers, sales agents, distributors, studio execs and public funders provide up to 10 titles for voting on the privately circulated list. This year’s list features 46 scripts from 160 original choices, all chosen from scripts that were not shooting at the time of the list’s circulation.

I wondered, when I first heard of the concept a couple of years ago, and sparked by the article, I wonder again now—would it be possible to survey our top editors and agents and, under the promise of anonymity, get them to spill the best novels that came across their desks which couldn’t get published in the past few years? (more…)

I spotted these two Phasmatodea outside today, the first time I’ve ever seen more than a single such insect at once.

These bugs are known to be difficult to find in the wild, because they keep still when people are near, which allows them to remain hidden as they blend in with sticks, twigs, and so on.

In fact, I’ve never spotted one in the woods, only when they’ve happened to be against the plain background of our house.

I’m taking a guess that I came upon them mating.

Perhaps Paul Riddell or Elizabeth Moon, who also chronicle the outside world, could tell me whether that’s indeed what’s going on!