I didn’t get to attend the Small Press Expo last year because our trip to Melbourne for Worldcon trumped everything, so I was glad I had no SPX conflicts this time around. I only attended Saturday, but still managed to make it to three programming items—a Q&A with Roz Chast and Kate Beaton about working at the New Yorker, a panel on the Secret History of Women in Comics moderated by Heidi MacDonald and featuring Jessica Abel, Robyn Chapman, Alexa Dickman, and Diane Noomin, and a presentation by Chester Brown on his new graphic novel Paying For It. In between all that, I had drinks with John Sullivan and Jamie Gegerson, and of course made several circuits of the dealers room.

I managed to resist most impulse buys, but here are three things I found I couldn’t resist.

The first book that caught my eye was Frog & Owl: Regret is for the Weak, by Molly Lawless. There was something about the title that attracted me. Maybe it’s from too much reading of Frog and Toad are Friends to my son a couple of decades ago, but the idea of a dysfunctional relationship of a similar animal pair attracted me. So I picked it up and started to read.

The second strip in the book, titled “Love Is” (see below), made me laugh. And as I then told the artist, “OK, you made me laugh. Now I have to buy it.”

It was a good choice, because when I read the book on getting home last night, Lawless made me laugh a LOT. (more…)

If you weren’t in Reno for Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, you missed my reading of a new short story. Heck, even if you WERE in Reno for Renovation, you STILL probably missed it, because it was scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, August 21, when many attendees were already packing up and getting ready to leave.

Whichever of those categories you might happen to fall under, I’ve got your solution right here.

Thanks to the video below, you can see me read my as-yet-unpublished short story “In a Strange City Lying Alone,” which is due to come out on 9/11/11 in the anthology Why New Yorkers Smoke from Nonstop Press.

The anthology is edited by Luis Ortiz, and contains short stories from Carol Emshwiller, Barry Malzberg, Paul Di Filippo, and a bunch of other writers before whose talent I fall back in awe.

Hope you enjoy it!

When Eric Rosenfield asked me to take part in the Wold Newton Reading Extravaganza at Readercon, in which I was invited to take the stage for four minutes while accompanied by appropriate music from Brian Francis Slattery and his band, my immediate thought wasn’t to read any of my own writing.

No, what popped into my head was Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer,” which he refrained from publishing during his lifetime, and which I’d last read aloud during high school to protest the Vietnam War. It was short, it allowed for histrionics … plus Twain was this year’s Readercon Memorial Guest of Honor.

The other brave souls who took part in what I hope will now be an annual Readercon event were Myke Cole, Jeffrey Ford, Theodora Goss, John Kessel, and Matthew Cheney. The whole thing is well worth half an hour of your time, but if you only have a few minutes, you can see my abridged version of “The War Prayer” from 10:38 to 15:17.

You’ll note I introduced my reading by saying I was about to present an “abridged” version of that famous story. That’s because even though the tale is short, it would still have taken more than six minutes to read, and I didn’t want to get gonged off the stage before I reached the moral.

I hope Twain will forgive me!

Barrry Malzberg wanted me to get up for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast, but considering the fact I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 the same morning, how likely was that to happen? But I did wake at 8:15, which pleased me, because I very much wanted to watch Chip Delany interview Katherine MacLean, the winner of this year’s Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.

When I’d seen her in the halls the previous day, and told her how much I was looking forward to her anecdotes of the old days, she said, smiling, something like (which I say only because this isn’t a word-for-word quote), “That’s why I stopped going to conventions! All you fans wanted to know about was who we had sex with. Sex, sex, sex! We did more than sleep with each other, you know! We were also interested in ideas!”

I told her, oh, yes, I wanted to hear about ideas, too, trying to make sure she knew I wasn’t one of those fans. (Though, of course, I did want to know about who slept with whom!)

Here’s that wonderful interview, which is one of the best hours I’ve ever spent at a Readercon. (And as you know, I’ve been to them all.)

After wandering the dealers room and doing general schmoozing, I realized I’d hit the wall, and so returned to my room to put my head down for a moment. After all, I didn’t want to snore during the panel on Joanna Russ! Sadly, I fell asleep, and did not wake until it was over. And so, no video … (Sniff!) But I did capture this entertaining interview of Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick. (more…)

My Readercon Thursday began with a road trip, and so did my Readercon Friday. Only this time I wasn’t heading toward the con, I was headed toward … durian!

Along with David Shaw and Josh Jasper, I drove over to H Mart at 9:30 a.m. to pick up more of that noxious fruit to serve Friday night to those with adventurous palates. (And if you don’t know from durian, you can read about a previous planned adventure here and its aftermath here.)

But a durian alone was not enough … because upon discovering that H Mart also sold jackfruit, I bought one of those as well. After all, you want a palate cleanser after eating a durian, don’t you?

We returned from our adventure just in time for the 10:00 a.m. panel, “The Readercon Classic Nonfiction Book Club: The Jewel-Hinged Jaw,” with Matthew Cheney, Elizabeth Hand (who moderated), David G. Hartwell, Donald G. Keller, and Barry N. Malzberg. And just because you weren’t there doesn’t mean you can’t be there now, via the video below.

Next came my own 11:00 a.m. panel, “Writing Within Constraints,” which I should have had someone record, just so you could hear all the talk of zombie penises (thanks to my bringing up of the subject), which spread through the panel like a meme. (more…)

Once I made my mind up that I’d be attending last weekend’s Stoker Awards banquet, I decided to bookend the event with two unrelated lunches—one on Thursday with the Junior High School drama teacher who changed my life, the other on Sunday with Mirthful Marie Severin, with whom I worked a lifetime ago in the Marvel Comics Bullpen. But I ended up spontaneously having another lunch that had absolutely nothing to do with the Stokers, and for that I blame Jeff Strand.

Jeff had joined me in Austin at the Salt Lick as I attempted to recreate an episode of Man v. Food, and is now hooked on the show, so he joined me again—this time with his wife Lynne Hansen and friend Sally Bosco—as I worked my through a Long Island Man v. Food quest, visiting Ciao Baby and the International Delight Cafe. And during dinner Friday night, we swapped stories of our favorite restaurants, which of course led me to talking about Shopsins. That’s Shopsins of the infamous rules and the dizzying, ever-changing menu, where I’ve eaten (among other things) brisket in cherry gravy and slutty cakes (that is, pumpkin, peanut butter, and pistachio pancakes).

Surprisingly, I began to fall in love with Shopsins not by eating there, but from the documentary I Like Killing Flies, which I watched on a whim on IFC. And as soon as I saw it, I thought, this sounds like my kind of place.

Here are a couple of clips from the documentary that’ll give you an idea of the tone of the restaurant and the personality of owner Kenny Shopsin.

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Balticon 45 ran from Friday through Monday, but as usual for this local con, I only attended for a single day, Saturday. But on that day, I managed to squeeze in three panels, a reading, an autograph session, and on top of that—a durian feast!

My 1:00 p.m. panel, “Fantastic Books Presents,” was hosted by Ian Randal Strock, owner of (you guessed it) Fantastic Books, which published my collection of science fiction short stories, What We Still Talk About. While Ian explained why he does what he does, a few of his authors (me, Walter H. Hunt, and Daniel Kimmel) talked up our books, and actually managed to sell a few copies.

At 2:30, I read my short story “Goobers,” which originally appeared in The Book of More Flesh and was collected in my all-zombie collection What Will Come After. You were probably not there, but in case you wish you were, my performance has been preserved below.

Immediately following my reading, I rushed to the 3:00 p.m. panel, “Name-Droppers,” during which I was supposed to talk about my “personal contacts with the field’s departed giants,” along with Michael Swanwick and Ian Randal Strock. I shared anecdotes about my early encounters with Gordon Dickson, Nelson Bond, and Ted Sturgeon, while Michael talked about R. A. Lafferty and Ian discussed meeting Isaac Asimov. But mentioning only the dead turned out to be a bit depressing, so we moved on to sharing our stories of the living, too. (Including an extremely embarrassing encounter I had with Chip Delany when I was only 17.) (more…)

When I arrive at Balticon tomorrow, I will be bearing two durian with me. If you’re not familiar with this exotic fruit, you should know that it is banned on public transportation and in many hotels in Singapore, ingesting one has been described as like “eating custard in a sewer,” and I’ve read that, “You can kill a person by throwing a durian at his head. It’s just like a ball of spikes.”

Take a look at a boy and his durian. You’ll note that due to those lethal spikes, I’m holding it with a leather glove.

What else do you need to know about durian? How about the fact that it has thrice defeated Andrew Zimmern, the host of Bizarre Foods, eater of everything from lamprey to bats to stinky tofu? Check out one of his failures below.

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I had a wonderful time at the Nebulas last weekend, which I guess is kind of redundant, since I always have a wonderful time at the Nebulas. I missed last year’s, which were held in Florida, the first I’d skipped in about 20 years, because with two international trips planned for 2010—World Horror in Brighton and Worldcon in Melbourne—something had to give. So I was glad this year’s Nebula weekend was being held in my backyard.

Well, sort of my backyard. The Washington Hilton was 100 miles away, but that was close enough to make it feel local. So I hopped in the car mid-afternoon and drove to D.C., always a hellish thing to do. Once I parked and checked in, the first members of the tribe I found were a group in the bar which included Myke Cole, John Joseph Adams, and a guy I’d never met before who was scribbling away in a sketchpad. I commented that his drawings reminded me of the art of Basil Wolverton, and he was astonished, because he loves Basil Wolverton, and no one had ever caught on to that resemblance before. (Guess having been into comics since I was a bean has its advantages.)

Turns out I was talking to Barry Deutsch, who was nominated for this year’s Andre Norton Award for Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword.

We had a good, long talk about artists most modern comics fans don’t remember, such as Lou Fine and Reed Crandall, and I pulled out my iPad to show him the Eisner-esque Joe Kubert comic Jew Gangster. Meeting someone new who was also entertaining was a nice way to start the weekend.

Next it was off to dinner with John Kessel, Liza Groen Trombi, Paolo Bacigalupi, and John Joseph Adams. We went to Meskerem, an Ethiopian restaurant, which happened to be JJA’s first time with that cuisine, resulting in a lot of teasing.

The fact that an Ethiopian virgin was present led to us discussing other exotic foods, such as the guinea pig I’d had in Quito and the durian Paolo had eaten. A warning: One result of that discussion is that I’ll be bringing durian to Balticon Saturday, which Paolo and I will crack open and share with the masses. So if you’re there, and are adventurous, make sure you’re watching me on Twitter so you hear the call!

When we returned to the hotel, I happened to be discussing Michael Blumlein with John Kessel and Paul Park when the strangest moment of the weekend occurred. A woman in the lobby who had nothing at all to do with the Nebulas perked up at the mention of Blumlein’s name. It turned out that her sister is married to his brother! We chatted a bit, which might not have been such a good thing. I hope we didn’t lower Michael in her eyes by the mere fact of our knowing him!

Then came the evening reception to honor the nominees. You should have been there! Well, actually, you can be there, since I was there, and I happen to be a dangerous guy with a Flip camera. So here’s SFWA President John Scalzi, aided by Steven Silver, handing out certificates and pins to those finalists who were present. (more…)

My original plans for yesterday included puttering out in the garden, hitting the local farm market, recovering from the Nebula weekend and writing up a post about how much fun I’d had there. But that all changed Friday night when I discovered that though I was able to make and receive calls with my iPhone, and could see the seconds ticking away, I couldn’t hear or be heard once the call was made. So those plans were replaced with a trip to the Apple store. And the closest Apple store is 86 miles away …

Luckily, my son and sister-in-law live along the way, so I was able to combine it with a visit to them … and with a trip to an Asian market to pick up the durian you’ll be forced to eat this weekend during Balticon.

We got home late (with a replacement iPhone thanks to the warranty), and there was no time to catch you up on the Nebs last night. Nor is there any this morning, as I dive into my workday. Maybe I’ll find time much later tonight. Meanwhile, here’s a trifle.

I downloaded the Everyday iPhone app two months back and have been snapping a daily picture of myself ever since. So here’s a video of my face from March 23-May 22. As you’ll see, I tried to grow a beard for a week to make the transition more dramatic, but I gave up as it began to feel as if weasels were eating my face.

I won’t be sharing a similar video again until I’ve got six month of my mug, so you should be safe until September!