Monday, September 30, 2002
Morning in Atlanta. I was up until 3:30 a.m. working and am a bit bleary. The meteorologists promised rain and, instead, there's way too much sun. Bleh.
I should have had more tequila last night.
Another reminder that if you'd really like to make me smile (don't worry, I'll endure the pain somehow, and the bleeding only lasts a little while), please give what you can to the Oct. 5th Atlanta Farscape rally. It's easy. Just go to SaveFarscapeCentral and click the pledge button. One dollar, $5, whatever you can do will be a great help. And if you're in the area, get in touch with me and we'll put you to work. Come to the afterparty and meet my Nebari alter ego in person.
I have to get dressed and get out of the hotel before check-out. It'd be nice just to lie here all day.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
I'm writing from a hotel room in Atlanta. I finally got here last night, though it actually took business, not pleasure, to do it. Anyway, I'll be heading back to Birmingham late tomorrow.
Good sushi and miso tonight. The gift of a very fine bottle of tequila last night, Don Alejo, which is probably the finest tequila if ever had (a gift of quality alcohol is always appreciated - thanks, Byron). Lots of work for the Oct. 5th Farscape rally (only five days away now). I'll be back in Atlanta on Friday. This thing's coming off without a hitch and if you're a fan of the show and want to help in the effort to save it, and meet Lani Tupu, Gigi Edgley, and Paul Goddard, please try to attend part or all of the weekends events. All of this has actually been rather dizzying. What started out as plans for a small video party with some great darkwave music, has turned into a national event, in the space of eight days. Weird.
There's a fantastic review by Gahan Wilson of In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers in the latest issue of Realms of Fantasy. That made my day yesterday.
Saturday, September 28, 2002
This is one of those afternoons when I feel like the little beast that lives in my head keeps switching channels. A blur. A smear. Static. White noise. Too much information. Shaken and stirred and spilled on the floor. Blah, blah, blah.
If I don't buckle down and finish the Potter story, Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press is going to have me flayed (and I don't mean that in a good way). But we're in the middle of working the kinks out of the Atlanta Farscape rally, so I hardly have time to breathe. Lani Tupu ("Crais" and the voice of "Pilot") called me last night. That was pretty frelling strange (that I mean in the good way).
If you're looking for an update on the Atlanta rally, go to www.nebari.net/rally.html.
The sun came back today. I had begun to miss it. But at least we made it through the storm with no leaks.
Oh, and I still haven't made it to Atlanta. Supposedly, even as I type this, I'm getting dressed to go tonight.
Friday, September 27, 2002
I discover this morning, as the last dregs of the big storm pass by and the cloudy sky is flat and washed thin, that I've let myself get far too deeply involved with the "Save Farscape" campaign. I haven't written much of anything since I finished Low Red Moon, and that was before Dragon*Con. It's not that this thing is not worth doing. It is. It's just that I've been giving time I haven't got to give. And soon it has to stop. Also, in the last twelve hours or so, I've been treated to a more unpleasant side of such things, where struggles by a few fans for attention and ego-stroking are more important than results. I can't let myself become a part of that. It's ugly and sad and demeaning to the show and its creators.
Anyway, there is some good news. I'm co-coordinating the rally in Atlanta on Oct. 5th and it looks like we will have Lani Tupu, Gigi Edgley, and Paul Goddard present for the evening's functions at The Chamber (there may also be an event with them on Friday, location TBA). It's taking a lot of work and money, but it looks as though we'll work this out. Donations to the airfare fund to get them here from Oz are being accepted at SaveFarscapeCentral and as little or as much as you can give will be greatly appreciated. It's a huge publicity boon for the show. We already have CNN people planning to attend the evening event. If you want more details, write me at Desvernine@aol.com. And yes, I'll be there, too.
All this week I've been trying to get out of here and make it to Atlanta. Today I'll try a little harder. The roof didn't leak. And I really need to unplug and get some time away from this apartment.
Thursday, September 26, 2002
I love the smell of cherry Kool-Aid in the morning. It smells like . . . victory.
Anyway, Tropical Storm Isadore continues to lash Birmingham with rain and wind, but I shouldn't complain, considering the troubles in New Orleans and Biloxi. I awoke to actual chilliness this morning. It felt strange after this long hot summer, but nice to put on a sweater. The ceiling's holding. No leaks yet.
I think most of today will be spent updating various websites, mine and Nebari.Net. Jennifer usually does this stuff, but I'm in the mood for a little html. That's kind of sick, isn't it?
More later.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
So, over on my discusion board, someone (Bond, Gwenda Bond) has asked the inevitable question. What's the book about. The following is an excerpt, fleshed out a bit, from a post I made there earlier today, which finally addresses that long unanswered question:
"You know, I've made myself keep this plot a secret for almost a year now, because I wanted Penguin to see it without any preconceived notions. And word always gets back to publishers, if you start talking. If you start spouting plotlines and making plans on the internet, inevitably, your editor will hear (Hi, Bill!). Actually, my agent at Writers House was very nervous about the whole plot, and I think she was right to be, which is one reason it was kept quiet until after the deal. But now I suppose I can talk.
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SPOILERS (mostly re: Threshold)
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Low Red Moon is a "sequel" to Threshold. Basically, this is what life would be like (or at least one possibility of what life could be like) for Chance and Deacon and Sadie, given that the events in Threshold were, for all intents and purposes, unhappened. This is what happens instead, almost a year later. Deacon and Chance are married. Deacon's trying to stay sober. Chance is eight months pregnant. Deacon's brought in to consult on a murder case in Birmingham, and things go downhill from there. I can't really say more. I don't want to give away the good stuff. Though it sounds like a murder mystery, there's still lots and lots of weird material in the mix, I promise. There's a marvelous character named Scarborough Pentecost, and I can't wait for everyone to meet Narcissa Snow (those at my WHC and Dragon*Con readings already have).
How's that for a teaser?"
If you have questions, feel free to join the bbs. New voices are always welcome. I'll answer what I can, without spoiling anything else.
By the way, Subterranean Press is talking about doing a less-expensive limited hardback (maybe $28-$30, instead of their usual $40) with a larger print run. That edition will be illustrated, but I haven't yet found an artist. There will be lots of extras with the hardback, including, my schedule permitting, the first CD I've done since the Crimson Stain Mystery ep I did for the Silk limited back in 1999. It will be, I think, covers of the songs that were most important to the writing of this novel. I'll announce other extras later on.
Also, since the 66-question interview will be split between two zines, many of the answers edited or missing altogeter, after publication I'll be including the whole interview, in its original form, unedited, on the website.
The day has been terribly hectic with Farscapery, and is likely only to get much moreso as the afternoon progresses.
Did I mention it's raining?
Anyway, looking back on the last entry, I see that the strange, flat calm that has settled over me is possibly reflected in what I wrote. All those months I've been in here, recording the details of the process of writing this book, and the deal comes through and I sound like I'm reporting the time of day. But I'm in a bit of an odd place right now. Unlucky happenstance. Coincidence. Whatever. Also, having been through this dance twice before with Penguin, I think a lot of the edge was taken off this time. The wait was unpleasant, because, for me, waiting always is. And now the wait's over. And that's appreciated, but there's no real thrill. There was a thrill with Silk, and relief with Threshold. This time, there's something else and I don't quite know its name.
Which should not be mistaken for a lack of enthusiasm for the book on my part. I'm far happier with this book than I was with Threshold. I think it's a much better novel, for a host of reasons.
There's just this calm. Maybe it'll pass.
I'll say more later.
The rain from Hurricane Isadore began last night. This afternoon, the rain is sweeping in from the east, torrential, but so far the repairs to the roof are holding. I'd knock on wood, but that's probably not a good idea around here. A little wind, not much. Mostly just rain, which is at least nice to listen to, as long as it stays out there.
News on Low Red Moon: Roc (Penguin-Putnam) has made an offer and I've accepted. The contracts aren't signed yet, but it's a go. They'll be publishing Low Red Moon and my next next novel, Murder of Angels (a sort of sequel to Silk). Both books will be released initially as trade paperbacks, with mass-market paperbacks to follow. Subterranean Press will be doing the limited-edition hardbacks of both books. Obviously, it's too early to have release dates, but I'll pass them along as soon as I have them. So, at least that's a little stress gone.
That's the news for now.
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Yesterday was freakish. It was a gem. Everything that could have gone right did. Days like that kind of freak me out. I didn't make it to Atlanta, because there was too much work, but I'm trying to get out of town to make it tonight.
We have Hurricane Isadore bearing down on us at the moment, and the leaky ceiling has not been fixed. I'm bracing for a damp weekend. Again, thank goodness for the insurance, and that the move to Providence isn't far off and I won't have to live in this disintegrating loft much longer.
Last night, to try and wind down, I watched the director's cut of Aliens and didn't get to bed until after 4 a.m. Which wouldn't have been so bad, but I was up again at 10 a.m. The work on the Oct. 5th Farscape rally in Atlanta is consuming vast amounts of time, but it's going very well. If you're in Atlanta (or anywhere nearby) and want to make me smile (and watch my face bleed with the strain), please help out. There are details and contact info. at Nebari.Net and the site will be updated frequently. If nothing else, the thing's going to wind up with a frelling wonderful party. Show up and meet me as a Nebari.
Monday, September 23, 2002
Just a quick note, because I'm busy, busy, busy this morning. News from my NYC agent. Negotiations are progressing with Penguin. So now I am happy (okay, happy's a strong word, but you get the picture). I know no details. And when I do, I can't tell you until the papers are signed. That's another fun part of publishing, almost as fun as the waiting — the secrecy. But the worst is over.
We thought we had an apartment found in Providence, but the realtor wanted something absurd and wouldn't come down on the rent, so the search goes on. If I weren't so picky about where I live, this would be easier. But I am.
Tonight I think I will go to Atlanta. I've bloody well earned it.
All night I've had Radiohead's OK Computer on iTunes. It's a good working disc. Smooth in the right places, jagged enough to keep me moving, sad and low and brilliant. All the things I need to keep sitting here, doing the things that need doing.
Tonight that was mostly revamping Nebari.Net. It's better, but still has a long way to go.
Tomorrow there should be news from Penguin. And some progress may be made towards acquiring an apartment in Providence (hopefully one that doesn't have a sieve for a roof). It would be nice to rid myself of some of this stress.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Just got this news from Stephen Jones in London:
"THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR VOLUME TWELVE edited by Stephen Jones won the 2002 British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, presented at the annual FantasyCon 2002 in London on September 21st.
Published by Robinson in the UK and Carroll & Graf in the USA, this is the third occasion that the annual BEST NEW HORROR series has won the award, voted for by members of The British Fantasy Society."
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume Twelve reprinted my short story, "In the Water Works (Birmingham, Alabama 1888)," so, on this morning of leaking roofs and falling sky, it made me smile to get the news (besides, Steve's a great editor and deserves the award).
Last night was rather like Chapter Nine of Winnie-the-Pooh, "In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded By Water." Which is to say, it rained and it rained and it rained. And it's still raining. And the real problem is that the rain is not content to stay outside, but has found at least four routes through the roof and into the loft. One on each side of my bed, one in my office, and one in the bathroom. Floors covered with wet towels. Bookshelves covered with sheets of plastic. Fun, fun, fun. And the realtor still hasn't returned our call from yesterday. We desperately need them to come and not fix it again. So, not much sleep last night. I drifted off on the sofa watching The Thing, just as the rain began again, and Jennifer woke me a little while later because the leaking had started. Sleep was touch and go after that. At least we have good insurance now, unlike the Atlanta roof-collapse situation. Parts of Birmingham, such as Ensley, are being evacuated as creeks rise and overflow their banks. We got six inches of rain between midnight and 5 a.m. It's a bit of a mess, but should begin to clear this afternoon sometime.
My LA agent wrote to say he loves Low Red Moon, perhaps more than Threshold, which it's quite different from, says he. That's something, at least, as the long wait for Penguin's verdict continues.
Contrary to earlier announced plans, I've thrown myself full-tilt into a new round of Farscapery, including organizing a big rally/party in Atlanta to promote the show. It'll be Oct. 5th at an as-yet-unnannounced venue. The plan is to have bands, video, dealers, costumes, etc. It should be a blast and help get a lot of new folks hooked on the show. If you're reading this and are anywhere in Atlanta, or an adjacent state, and want to help, please, please, please, e-mail me (Desvernine@aol.com) immediately. Meanwhile, I also have to get the Potter story written for Subterranean Press. I think I've managed to kill all that annoying "free" time. That's a good thing. More later.
Saturday, September 21, 2002
Up about 8 a.m. this morning. Last night the rain came back, and so did the leak in my office ceiling. We've only called the realtor about that leak three times, and they've only, supposedly, fixed it three times now. How hard can it be to take some pitch and patch a hole, or a crack, or whatever? So, about midnight last night, Jennifer and I were running about, covering things, moving things, as droplets of water rained down on a room full of books and paper and computers. Miraculously, no damage seems to have resulted. We've called the realtor and they've not yet called back. I expect that Monday the handyman will show up and not fix the hole again. Meanwhile, Kathryn may have found us a new place in Providence; I only hope it has a stable roof.
I've been very good with this particular wait. Usually, they make me crazy and nonfunctional for weeks on end. This time, thanks to all the work with the campaign to save Farscape, I was quite distracted until about a week ago. Sometime around then, the anxiety began to set in. Now there's very little else. So, not much hope of working, or sleeping, or doing anything else, until I know what's up with the novel.
I can, though, take a moment to plug The Crüxshadows' new disc, Wishfire. It's hardly been out of the iBook since Dragon*Con. I like it that much. You can find out more about it at their website, and I'm not just saying that because Rogue saved my hard drive.
Also, the dreaded 66-question interview I finsihed with last week will actually be appearing in two parts, in two different magazines. Much of it will appear in Cememtery Dance #44, as Part 3 of the "Our Ladies of Darkness" series (sounds like a rather dubious order of nuns, doesn't it?). Another portion of it will appear in an upcoming issue of Hellnotes. However, some of it won't be published and, seeing as how I spent so much time on the thing, post-publication, I'll be putting it up on the website on the interview page, undivided, unexpurgated, in all its original long-winded splendor.
Apparently, no trip to Atlanta this weekend. Not knowing the news from NYC, I'd just feel like I was goofing off, like I hadn't earned the furlough from the concrete wastes of Birmingham. So, I'm not sure what's in store for today and tomorrow. Maybe I'll find the initiative to clean house a little. Maybe I'll drift back into all the Farcsapery that needs doing. Maybe I'll listen to new CDs I've not had time to listen to. Confession: I hate "free" time, and the only thing worse than "free" time is "free" time combined with intense stress.
Friday, September 20, 2002
It's 6:15 in Manhattan. Hence, there will be no news from Penguin today. Monday, I hope. It really does feel strange, somehow improper, sharing this diffucult part of the process.
We had rain last night, and again today.
We learned from Earthlink today that Nebari.Net has had about 10,000 hits in the last five days, which I personally find rather amazing. A shame I didn't have time to make the place look a little better. This blogger has also had an amazing amount of traffic, about 1,000 per day since the Save Farscape campaign began. We had to check with Earthlink today to be sure we had the bandwidth to handle that much traffic at Nebari.Net; they say all is fine.
Back to Farscape first, then back to Low Red Moon again. So, if you're tired of hearing me go on about the show, simply skip this paragraph. If you were around for the chat on #Farscape last night, if you heard what David Kemper and Ricky Manning had to say, then you know the news wasn't good. But you also know that there's hope. That we have to make such a noise over Farscape in the next three months that when January and episode #412 roll around, people who've never watched an episode will tune in just to see what the fuss is all about. We have to find a way to get that 2.0 rating (and we've gotten 1.8 lots of times, so it shouldn't be that hard). You know that what's happened has happened because the Nielsen system is antiquated and inaccurate and that we have to find a way around it. Most importantly, you know that the people who brought us Farscape are still willing to finish the story they started, if they're only allowed a chance to do it. If you've heard rumors that David Kemper blamed the fans, that's bullshit and you should read the chat transcripts immediately (there's a link from Nebari.Net). Now's the time to get your friends hooked on the show. Loan them the tapes or DVDs. More than anything, we need new fans and that part should be easy. I have to step back from the campaign a little, because things aren't getting done here that should be getting done, because I have this inconvenient life. But I've made it clear to the campaign that I am available to be used as best I can. And I'll keep Nebari.Net up, and keep the updates coming, and I'm already concocting my own little guerilla campaign. It's not over. There are months to go. I know I'll be talking Farscape up at the World Fantasy Convention, and any other chance that I get. But, for now, that's my say on the subject. Keep watching the skies.
As for Low Red Moon, still no word from Penguin. I half expect something today. I've said that if I get the news I want (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), I'm going to Atlanta, getting a hotel room and a bottle of Cuervo Gold, and not coming up for air until sometime on Sunday. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to think about the Potter story. Waiting and writing make poor bedfellows. And, to top it off, we're apartment hunting long distance, trying to find a suitable place in Providence, and that's another distraction.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
No news yet, but it's still early in the day. Not as early in New York as here, of course, but still early.
I'll make a more substantial post later in the day, when I'm less distracted.
It's late and I'm jittery and shouldn't be making an entry at all, but here goes. No news from Penguin today. My agent talked to my editor and maybe we'll know something tomorrow. Or Friday. Or Monday. This is just the way it goes. But it puts me on edge.
I deal very poorly with waiting. A writer who deals poorly with waiting is rather like a fisherman who never learned to swim. I wonder if my proposed career shift to private paranormal investigator would entail more or less waiting?
Hours spent online with people tonight, mulling over the Farscape situation. But I did unplug long enough to eat a salad (I wanted deli sushi, but wasn't up for a trip to the market) and watch The Matrix for the 70th or 80th time. I ought to crawl off to bed now, but I'll probably make another pass around the web. News? Let's see, "Waycross" is almost ready for the printers. Ted's finished the art and I'll have one more look at the layout. I spent a great deal of time today, during the headache that consumed most on the afternoon, staring at the J. K. Potter photo I've chosen for my story. Headaches can lead me places sometimes, if I bother to pay attention. I signed a book today for a girl in Saunderstown, RI, which was a little weird, as Saunderstown is where Thryn's currently living. Guess that's it for now. Sleep tight, kiddies.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
No news yet from my agent today.
I haven't been keeping up the Farscape updates in here. Everything's been going up in Nebari.Net, because I'm trying (with little success) to get my head out of the campaign and back into my own little fantasies. Anyway, that's the place to check for Farscape updates. This space must be kept clear so I can begin to fret endlessly about the fate of Low Red Moon. Of course, I'm uncertain if it's quite the proper thing to do, public fretting. This is all new territory. Authors have always endured this part of the process alone, or only with the reluctant company of friends, family, and other wretched authors. It feels exceedingly strange, this real-time anxiety I'm sharing with you.
I'm still wearing my pathetic broken glasses. I suppose, at some point, I'll see to their repair.
Sooooo . . . let's see. Writing. Embrace the Mutation (Subterranean Press, 2001). A book of 13 short stories based on the surreal, horrific photomanipulations of J. K. Potter. I wasn't asked to write for the actual anthology (these things happen), but I have been asked to do a short story to be published as a separate chapbook and included with the forthcoming deluxe edition of the limited. I guess that sort of makes me like the Tootsie-Roll center, then, doesn't it? Anyway, the limited edition, as opposed to the deluxe limited, included 10 additional photographs for which stories had not been written. Bill Schafer asked me to choose from one of those. I did. The story will be the third in a literary triptych which I began with "A Redress for Andromeda" (October Dreams, Cemetery Dance Pub. and Roc) and "Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea" (Children of Cthulhu, Del Rey), about a strange old house at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the secrets beneath it. That's where I am this morning. Trying to get the new story to begin taking shape behind my eyes (that I have a headache does not help; that I'm fretting about Penguin and Farscape does not help either). I don't even have a title yet. I may go to Wordsworth for one. I should go to the library, but I probably won't. Probably, I'll sit here in my office and fret.
It rained this morning. Last night I finished re-reading Lovecraft's "Herbert West — Reanimator" for the umpteenth time.
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
More Tuesday. I spoke with my agent just a few minutes ago. No news from Penguin yet, so probably no news today. But, truthfully, this wait has been much easier than previous waits, and my stomach is only queasy, not entirely tied in knots. I think my constant involvement in the Farscape campaign has helped, distracting me so much. Distraction is an odd ally, not one I'm accustomed to looking upon as anything but an enemy.
Also, I finally finished proofing the two interviews and they've been sent off to the interviewer. So, that's done.
Oh, and I stepped on my glasses. Ironically, the lenses didn't break. The frames did. The lenses are no big deal. The frames are antique. It figures.
This is Tuesday, right? Right. For a moment I thought it was still Monday, then I thought it was Wednesday, which ought to give you some insight to my mental state at the moment. But it's Tuesday. This morning I have to get back to work on my various neglected writing chores. The two interviews to proof. A conversation with my agent in NYC. Obsessively waiting for news from Penguin on Low Red Moon, which hasn't come yet, but you had probably figured that out already. E-mail to other authors and editors. A trip to the library to do research for the Embrace the Mutation chapbook. A bunch of books to sign for Jennifer's e-Bay efforts (she's still at it, by the way; click here to see). And pretty damn soon I have to deal with all the details regarding the Providence move. I haven't even booked a flight. This is all the fault of the Sci-Fi Channel, of course, or EM.TV, or whoever was ultimately behind the Farscape cancellation. For a while there, I was very much ahead.
Monday, September 16, 2002
My sfsite.com article, Worlds Glimpsed, Worlds Lost: Why Farscape Should Be Saved, is now up.
We're having some nice rain today, heading towards the end of the summer I suppose. Rhode Island looms like a hungry budong on the horizon (you know, these Farscape references are only going to get worse, right?) and I have so much to do in the next two or three weeks I can't even begin to keep it all straight in my head.
Here a link to a second editorial by TV Guide commentator Matt Rousch. Clearly, he supports our efforts:
Q&A
I feel nasty this morning, and not in a good way. I think it's time to cut back just a little on the stimulants.
Anyway, today is supposedly the day I hear from Penguin, the day they deliver their opinion on Low Red Moon. Naturally, calm is not really an option, no matter how many times I've been through this before, or how many printings Threshold has been through, or how many awards Silk and Threshold have won. There are some things that just never cease to be nerve-wracking. That's one of the perks to being an author. The frelling job security. Each time a book's finished, there's always the possibility, however slim, you may find yourself out of work. Nothing is certain. Anyway, since today is the day we expect to hear from Penguin, we probably won't actually get any news for several days more. That's another of the perks. The waiting.
Byron called yesterday to say he'd finished reading the ms. and loved it. I asked if he liked it more than Threshold. He hemmed and hawed. I asked it he liked it as much as Threshold, and he answered with an enthusiastic yes, and noted that Low Red Moon has more action. Which it does.
My third (and, at least for a little while, last) Farscape article will be up at sfsite.com sometime today. I'm not sure what time they redo the site on Mondays.
As for other Farscapery (Cool. A new word. But should it be italicized?), there's the rally in NYC today, and the big meeting between Henson and the SFC. Everyone should be redoubling their fax, e-mail, telegram, etc. efforts today. We need to deluge the SFC yet again. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get some good news this evening. Also, there's a very useful new Farscape Cancellation FAQ you should read, especially if you're new to the campaign. Watch Nebari.Net and the newly redesigned Save Farscape for updates and links. Supposedly, today's the day I get back to my writing. There are things (like two interviews) I've let go too long. But I'm finding it hard to actually do. I've done virtually nothing else but try to spread the word about the cancellation and what can be done to stop it for the last nine days. We'll see.
Don't forget: today, fax and e-mail the SFC, EM.TV, and USA all day long. Don't let up. Flood them.
Sunday, September 15, 2002
Astoundingly, the iBook lives again, this time thanks to Art the Mac tech guy, with some help from Rogue and Byron. What I thought would be a saga of days took only a couple of hours. It's not completely done, but not only was I able to get it up and running again, the "lost" article was even saved, with nary a scratch. It would seem that I was the target of a rare Mac-specific virus, a worm e-mailed to me by someone who'd rather I shut up about Farscape. The idiot actually wrote me earlier this evening from an anonymous remailer to take credit. Kind of frelling incredible, isn't it? I guess that's what comes of being too public about what sort of machine I use online. At any rate, now I'm only logging on via Jennifer's computer, which shall remain forever undescribed and unspecified.
I've finished the piece for sfsite.com and sent it off to the editor; it's supposed to go up tomorrow.
After today, I'm not game for a long entry. Suffice it to say, I'm very relieved and that sick feeling that accompanies losing something you've written has left me. I've only ever had that happen once before, when I was working on The Five of Cups way back in 1992. That time it was my fault. I didn't have my own Mac in those days, and was using an SE II in the computer labs at school. I got up to go to the restroom, forgot to save, and in my absence someone shut off my computer. I lost about ten pages. I thought it was the end of the world at the time.
Nebari.Net
Save Farscape
Last night . . . Well, maybe it's best if I don't start with last night. I think maybe I have to work up the courage to get to last night. So, instead, I'll begin with this morning and work backwards. This morning, I awoke, after only four and a half hours sleep (but hey, you can sleep when you're dead, right?) to find myself lying in a very large puddle of warm cat urine. From there, it's all been downhill. I have a feeling that, when I stand at the end of this day and look back at it from the distance of 24 hours, the warm pool of cat urine will definitely seem like the bright spot. Maybe I'd better just go back to last night, after all.
Last night, and yesterday afternoon, I wrote the first thousand plus words on the Farscape essay for sfsite.com; I figured, when I decided to call it a night about 11:30, that the piece was maybe half-written. And it was a good piece, better than the one up at Revolutionsf.com (which I rather like, so that's saying something). I wasn't sleepy, so I decided the wind down by doing some update work at Nebari.Net. First off, I discovered that Gothic.Net's ISP had crashed again (and Darren McKeeman was at a party in LA with his cellphone turned off), taking all my sites with it. But worse yet, we found that many of the html and jpg files related to the Farscape website, all contained within a single folder on my iBook's hard drive, were inexplicably corrupt. I had to download the main page off the web and, basically, start from scratch. And that should have set off the warning sirens in my head, but I was too busy thinking about ten or fifteen things at once and too pissed at how much trouble the web (and AOL, IE5, Blogger, and Netscape) have given me this week. I tend to nest things on my hd in rather intricate patterns serving a particular mnemonic fuction for me and the new essay for sfsite.com was in a seperate folder, but also within the same more inclusive folder, as all the corrupted Nebari.Net files. It's hard to recall precisely what happened next. I can only say it happened very quickly. As I was trying to solve the mystery of the corrupted files, other files began to disappear from the folder. A search would locate them, but the computer was unable to open them, telling me only that the application that created the files was missing and they might have been deleted. I had deleted nothing. Then, suddenly, everything in the essay folder, including most especially the unfinished piece for sfsite.com, vanished. A frantic search turned up nothing, only the same "may have been deleted message." In seconds, some casacde effect had wiped all the files from the Nebari.Net folders. Everything else on the iBook was backed up, either here or one of Rogue's hds, but not the new essay. Nor had I printed it yet. 16 years of working on Macs with no crashes, no viruses, and no bizarre data losses has made me complacement.
By 3:30 a.m. I finally gave up, hoping against hope I could get help from Apple at 8 a.m., and laid down, not expecting to sleep. I can imagine few feelings as sickening as having lost something that I've written. Knowing I can't put it back together again from memory. But I did fall asleep.
And woke up at 8 a.m. sharp, in a puddle of warm cat piss (there was no sign of the cat), from a dream of an alternate history WWII where all the French resistence fighters were androids. There were paratroopers and topographic maps with precise red triangles drawn on them. After that, the cat piss seemed rather tame.
Anyway, we called Apple and they instructed me to reboot from the start-up disk. I was reluctant, as I suspected a reboot would mean the loss of any possibility of recovering the "invisible" files. I was reassured that wasn't an issue. So I did a restart from the disk. The files were still missing. We ran Disk First aid and discovered there was a problem with the system's tree that couldn't be repaired by First Aid. The Apple tech said to reboot again. I was even more reluctant this time, but what the fuck, I figured she gets paid to know what she's doing. This time, though, all we get are the start-up chimes and then the gray screen with the smiling Mac. And nothing else. About this time, the tech confesses she doesn't know what's up, that there may be a virus at work, and suggests we look into data retrieval. Meanwhile, I can't even access my fucking hd. She may have said she was sorry. I neither remember nor do I care.
This is all boring as hell, isn't it?
See, that's the thing about journals, real journals. Reading other people's silly little horror stories is, almost always, boring as hell.
So, Jennifer calls Rogue. 45 minutes on the phone lead to no breakthroughs. The new article is simply gone daddy gone and I can't access my hd, only read it with the machine running off the start-up disk.
I suppose I'll get my head clear and try to begin a new essay for sfsite.com; my deadline is tonight.
And there's still the cat piss to deal with. It's going to be a beautiful fucking day.
Saturday, September 14, 2002
I took a short break this evening and went to the bookstore, where I noticed that the trade paperback edition of October Dreams has been released (Roc). Formerly, only the very pricey limited edition hardback from Cemetery Dance was available. This anthology contains my story, "A Redress from Andromeda," one of those pieces of which I am inordinately fond. If you've never read any of my work and are looking for a place to start, and would also like a book to start getting you into the spirit of Halloween, you should pick up a copy of October Dreams. I can't recall the price of the tpb, but I'm sure you can find it on Amazon.com.
Meanwhile, I'm working on the new Farscape commentary for sfsite.com and trying to keep up to speed on any important developments. Please see Nebari.Net for updates. The campaign is moving into what may be a critical new phase.
Rodger Turner of sfsite.com has agreed to run something of mine on Farcsape, so, for the third time in only seven days I'm racking my brain for words that matter, that will make a difference. What haven't I said already? What argument will sway the unswayed? Just recapping the events since September 6th, for those who don't have the background, and making it brief and readable, is exhausting. I've got that part behind me. Now I have to be convincing. It's been years since I've written non-fiction on a regular basis and I'd entirely forgotten how difficult it is. Anyway, the piece is set to go up on Monday. I'll keep you posted.
Also, there are new, disturbing rumours that a decision will be made Monday regarding the ultimate fate of the Farscape sets, a decision that could have considerable repercussions for those of us fighting to save the series. The news comes from an online chat with Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo); I'll post relevant links from Nebari.Net later on.
And, incredibly, on a note entirely unrelated to Farscape, I saw a new (?) edition of the collected works of Charles Fort (The Book of the Damned, Lo!, New lands, and Wild Talents) last night. It's an attractive hardback volume, published by Dover Books, which I believe is available for under thirty dollars via Amazon.com. So, instead of asking me, "Caitlin, where do you get your ideas," buy this book (and read it). It's a start at answering your own question.
Just as I posted that entry, I got news that, if it's actually raining, the Atlanta rally will meet not at the fountain, but at the McDonald's in the CNN Center Complex. If you're a Scaper in Atlanta, you're needed! Please turn out. There's a very strong chance CNN will actually cover the rally. Thanks to Lisa for the update!
8:58 a.m. I've been up since just before eight. We went to Atlanta yesterday evening, because I desperately needed a break, had dinner at Huey's and then went back to a friend's house where I drank Cuervo, played with nice dogs, and watched 80s videos (including a Shriekback vid I'd never seen). All in the vain hope of finding some much needed enthusiasm and energy for the coming days. No such luck. Back home at 3:30 a.m. It did rain though. Really rain (and still is, for that matter). Atlanta needed it more than us. The trees are dying there. And I fear Atlanta's vying with New Orleans now for the title of stinkiest American city. Passing over any creek or river (and there are many) almost always means enduring the stench of raw sewege. I know that the city has suffered unprecedented immigration since the mid-90s and that the sewer system has been severely stressed, but I'm pretty sure they must have started pumping the overflow directly into the Chattahoochee River.
Ted Naifeh sent me samples of the final art for "Waycross" this morning (or maybe he sent them last night while I was out, I'm not sure). Truly gorgeous stuff. More gorgeous than his work on Gloomcookie and that's saying something. He absolutely caught the essence of Dancy Flammarion. I doubt I'll ever be able to see her any other way than how Ted has drawn her. Anyway, that chapbook should be along from Subterranean Press before too much longer.
As for Farscape, my inboxes are flooded with updates I haven't gotten to yet. I'll filter through it and get a general update onto Nebari.Net ASAP. For folks in Atlanta, though, there will be a rally today at Centennial Olympic Park, at the fountain, at noon, which will proceed as a march to CNN Center, to show gratitude for CNN's support of the campaign and our support for the show. If you can be there, please do. No hot sun to bake your brains, even. You can try e-mailing lisawebster1@yahoo.com for details but, as there are only a couple of hours remaining until the rally, you're probably better off just showing up.
Time to work. Start filtering through the "news" to see what's really news and what's just wishful dren. And to everyone who's been busting their asses on this campaign, you guys rock.
Friday, September 13, 2002
I think maybe I am awake. At least, my eyes are open and that usually means I'm not asleep anymore. I slept for almost ten hours. I haven't done that in months. I feel that way I imagine the Nostromo crew must have felt coming out of cryosleep; at least, I feel the way they looked like they felt. Blegh. At least I have cherry Kool-Aid. I don't think there was any Kool-Aid on the Nostromo. Though they did have a dippy bird. You know, maybe I'm not awake.
The "Save Farscape" campaign has brought so much new traffic through my sites (the blogger, Nebari.Net, and caitlin-r-kiernan.com) and to my editorial at Gothic.Net that, it turns out, the trouble with Darren's ISP the last two days was my doing. Jennifer told me when I crawled groggily out of the cryocham . . . um, bed, and my first comment was, "Cool." I never crashed a server before. Neil's the one who always gets to do that. Darren and the Monkeybrains guy were not terribly happy, I suppose, but I think it's a good thing. I'm not even close to the hub of this campaign and, yet, there are so many people involved we took out a server. Well, honestly, it was a sort of wussy server. But still. So, today all my sites move to Mindspring/Earthlink (Darren and the Monkeybrains guy are also shopping for a new one); let's see if we can't crash that, hmmm? That would rock, I think. I can hear it on CNN now: "Scapers crash Earthlink." Not likely, but it has a nice ring to it.
When I'm a little more awake, or a little less asleep, or whatever, I'll post some updates here and to Nebari.Net. I think Mother wants to talk. You know how it is.
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Twelve hours straight with the "Save Farscape" campaign today. Sadly, the first five and a half of those were wasted trying to get the websites back online, or at least get someone to tell me why they were down. Today has been exasperating in the extreme and I have far to little in the way of results to show for it. But there is good news. Apparently the protest outside the Sci-Fi Channel offices in Manhattan went well today. Also, there are credible rumors from an inside source that UPN is interested in picking up the show, so people should begin directing more mail and e-mail towards UPN (see Nebari.Net for contact info.). I understand that CNN Headline News covered the campaign yesterday and today (again, see Nebari.Net to download the video from CNN), though I've yet to see the footage for myself. I think it's safe to say that a) the Sci-Fi Channel never imagined this sort of response and b) rarely has the cancellation of any sf television series prompted such an outcry from viewers. Right now I'm tired, exasperated (I said that already), pissed off, and almost out of ideas, but I really do think that, when all is said and done, we will have made a difference.
Oh, if anyone's interested in a bbs where the show's been a topic of discussion (among other odd and disperate things), join us at www.caitlin-r-kiernan.com/bbs. Newbies always welcome.
I may call it a night. I may be back later. I'm afraid if I sit down on something comfortable I won't get up again until dawn.
Sometime late last night or early this morning my website, blogger, discussion forum, and Farscape site all went down simultaneously and only just came online again at about 12:30 CST. We're hosted by Gothic.Net and their ISP appears to have crashed, which means we lost service until that server came back online. I wasn't aware of the problem until I got online at 7 a.m. today. I've recieved e-mails indicating some people also had a lot of trouble logging in to my website for much of yesterday. I'm really sorry about any delays or frustrations. Tomorrow, Jennifer is moving www.caitlin-r-kiernan.com (including the blogger and bbs) and www.nebari.net from Gothic.Net to Mindspring/Earthlink and, with luck, this won't happen again. If anyone experiences any additional trouble reaching the websites, please e-mail Jennifer at pndrastn@aol.com. There should be no need to change your links or bookmarks.
Anyway.
There's not a lot to report on the Farscape front. As I write this entry, the demonstration outside the offices of the Sci-Fi Channel is underway. If you're anywhere near Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, please consider making a show and lending your voice to the effort. There was the chat with Gigi Edgely (Chiana) last night, and I'll link directly to the chat transcript from Nebari.Net today. Today, at noon EST, in conjunction with the protest, there was a mass e-mailing to Tom Vitale at Sci-Fi. The Crüxshadows have agreed to put up a "Save Farscape" banner on their website and I'm going to be talking with other bands about doing the same. Also, thanks to Locus online at locusmag.com for getting an announcement up yesterday; I'm hoping to enlist the assistance of other sf/f/h authors. I will continue to give this campaign all my work time through Sunday, but then, unfortunately, I'll have to get back to writing. I have a short story that I should have begun on Monday and two interviews that urgently need proofing. But I will continue my involvement, to varying degrees, with the campaign for as long as it takes to save the show. I'm in this for the duration.
Nebari.Net
Crackers Do Matter: Why Farscape Is Worth Saving
Crackers Do Matter: Saving Farscape
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
I woke about 7:30 this morning and lay in bed a while, staring out the window at the hazy Birmingham air. I think the air downtown here is actually getting chunky. I try not to think about what it's doing to our lungs. Anyway, I lay there, listening to a train passing by, and wondering if anything had happened. I suppose that's what everyone's going to be wondering all day long, Has anything happened?. I haven't even turned the television on. I don't intend to. I think, instead, I shall do a little more here, a little work, a little Farscape campaign stuff, and then go to the movies. Maybe do the Spiderman/Men in Black two-for-one thing. Wait the day out as best I can. There seems little point in anything else.
I can't remember if I've written here about the events of 9/11. It seems as though I must have, at some point, but my memory is for shit right now. Too little sleep, too much work, too much stress. So if I've been through all this before, forgive me. It's all in my head this morning and I'd rather write it out than keep it inside. This year at Dragon*Con I was on a panel, something like "the effects of 9/11 on dark fiction," I don't remember exactly, something like that. I mentioned it in a blog I made during the con. For many reasons, it was one of the worst panels I've ever had to endure in my career of enduring panels. One panelist finally, quietly, walked out; she was the smart one. At some point near the start, another panelist (I see no point in giving her name), loudly, brashly, stated that no one in the room, on the panel or in the audience, could possibly have any real, valid insight to the events of 9/11, unless they were in Manhattan when the WTC went down. She, of course, had been there, and we were, of course, privileged to her first-hand observations on the matter. I don't mean to sound so catty, but her attitude was pissy and I'm still angry about that whole absurd panel.
No, I wasn't in Manhattan that day. But nothing's been quite the same for me since. I had a lot of friends and colleagues who were there — just about everyone in publishing did — and it was days before I knew if they were all safe. I watched lower Manhattan vanish beneath what looked like the mushroom cloud of a small nuclear blast. Thanks to CNN, I was treated to endless replays of those jets plowing into the towers and the walls of ash and pulverized glass and concrete rushing through the streets, chasing down the people who were trying to escape. But I was not there. I was in Atlanta, waiting to see if there was an airliner cum missle hurtling towards the CDC or Hartsfield International. After about an hour of news, not long after the second tower went down, I packed Jennifer, Thryn, and a few, almost randomly chosen belongings into the van and headed for Birmingham. It made sense at the time. Who the hell's going to blow up anything in Birmingham, I thought. Besides, I have friends and family here. Most of downtown Atlanta had already been evacuated and the interstates were deserted. That, in and of itself, gets to the heart of how surreal that morning was. The interstates through Atlanta are rarely even passable, much less deserted. We drove beneath an overpass, one with a huge digital sign that usually reported traffic delays and wrecks and such. That morning it read simply, "National State of Emergency; Airport Closed." It was all the nuclear anxiety fears of my childhood (and adulthood) finally realized, like moving through a scene from The Stand or a George Romero zombie film, escaping the city for someplace that might be safe. We had no idea if it was over, when it might be over, how far things would go.
That night, and many nights thereafter, and for the first time in my life, the sky was empty of passenger planes.
But I wasn't in New York, or in Washington.
And I'm not today.
Birmingham didn't do its regular Wednesday morning 10 a.m. test of the civil defense sirens. What I've always referred to as the end of the world drill. I had a feeling they wouldn't. Sometimes, even Birmingham manages to grasp the inappropriate.
Wherever you are, I hope you're safe, and if you lost someone last year, I hope you're strong and have the support you need. That's about the best I can do for anyone, hope.
Which brings me back to something from the Farscape fiasco that David Kemper said on #Farscape irc last night. It seems to fit the occassion. He said, "'Hope' is a word you will find in all of my scripts. I give it to Crichton whenever I can. I always have hope." Myself, I often find hope in short supply, but I am trying.
With luck, Gothic.Net will let me upload this entry now. It's sluggish this morning, and I fear it's from all the hits that my essay and blogger are getting. Darren's being a great sport about the traffic situation. Then again, a lot of the people coming in to read my article are also subscribing, which makes him happy. Try it. Maybe it'll make you happy, too. Gothic.Net rocks. Anyway, I must go Do Things now.
I'm finishing my last Red Bull of the day. You know, this dren sort of tastes like fermented Sweet Tarts. Ugh. Anyway . . .
In less than ten minutes, it'll be 9/11. Again. The fastest year of my life.
Farscape news: There's some reason for hope. Executive Producer David Kemper announced tonight that negotiations with SFC have resumed. The workmen are no longer pulling Moya apart. We may only get a 2 hr. extra episode at the end of Season Four. David Kemper says don't stop mailing, don't let up the pressure, but keep it kind.
I've done virtually nothing but chase Farscape rumours and post news and write articles for three days now. I just spent about an hour and a half on irc at SFC (a very annoying hour and a half, I might add). I think a few people are beginning to think I'm off my bean, but I just couldn't see letting the show go without doing whatever I could do. I'm beginning to feel as if I've done most of what I can do. Maybe a few more articles, a few more letters, but, sooner or later, I have to go back to my own neglected fantasies. The teetering work piles will bury me, otherwise.
Thanks to everyone. Everyone.
Hope is a good thing.
2 minutes to 9/11. The nation on Orange Alert, which wouldn't have meant anything this time last year. I talked to Thryn earlier and she said that jets have been roaring through the skies over Rhode Island all day. I've heard none here. I've kept CNN off. One minute until 9/11. I can't even begin to imagine how strange the next 24 hrs. might be. Perhaps the strangest . . . wait. It's midnight. 9/11.
Be safe, people. See you tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
The RevolutionSF.com article is not officially up, but you can see it at:
Crackers Do Matter: Why Farscape Is Worth Saving
There's also a very short, but somewhat interesting, bit about this fiasco up at CNN.com, but I don't have the link on me at the moment. I'll post it later.
Weird things going down over on the IRC server running at the Sci-Fi Channel's website. Energy being wasted that ought to be devoted to letters, faxes, phone calls, etc. I think maybe Sci-Fi would like nothing better than to see the efforts of those hoping to save Farscape become diluted by tangential issues and infighting. Which is to say, talking about the problem on IRC doesn't help solve the problem and fighting with the SFC about possible censorship on their server may be making the problem worse. Keep flooding them with letters. Don't allow them to distract us.
If that's even what's really going on, and I honestly don't know. I know I am very, very tired, my judgment is impaired, and I need a break. But every time I try to take one, there's a new development or article or I just can't stop thinking about frelling SFC dumping the best thing they've got going.
The article I wrote for RevolutionSF will be up sometime this evening. There's been a delay, over some formatting problems, but it will be up soon. Thanks to Kenn McKracken and Shane Ivey for all their help and hard work on this piece.
I was supposed to go to the library today, wasn't I? And the grocer. There is no edible food in this apartment except, ironically, crackers. Yeah, that is kind of funny. I just laughed. I haven't been doing much of that. Wait, crackers and olives. And peanut butter. That's sort of a meal, isn't it?
Note from Jennifer (Caitlin's taking a Sobe break)
Just found this on http://farscape.wdsection.com/. Caitlin calls this some of the most encouraging news she's heard yet. It's been passed along from someone working at the Sci-Fi channel:
"Hey it's me again. I tried to tell everyone on the scifi chat room what's up but too many which is ok. I spoke with my mole at Scifi in NYC and here are a couple of things that are going on:
(1) Scifi is totally to blame. They know that going into season five would be expensive and they wanted to pay less for the show, they went to EMTV and is strapped for cash they said no and SCIFI opted to get out. Scifi knew this well ahead of everyone, they employed a win-win situation, by this I mean their programming strategy. By constantly airing the show and ratings didn't go up they could claim that its core audience did not grow and vice versa. By changing time slots, the network hoped to increase ratings for SG1, a show that costs less to produce, they were implementing a preemptive strike blaming poor ratings but what happened was the opposite SG1 fans watched Farscape INCREASING its core base making the press release a lie. Numbers don't lie. Scifi did not plan to announce the cancellation of the show until mid or near the end of the season.
(2) The network execs told everyone not to say anything about this, DK,BB, & &RM all jumped the gun to try to let everyone know what was happening ASAP so that fan momentum would start.
(3) They are reading all emails, letters, faxes, and telegrams sent to the office but are throwing ones out that are vulgar and nasty. They are getting flowers, crackers and Farscape toys. My mole also told me that they don't mind calls as long as it's professional and polite. They will hang up on you if you start yelling and cussing. Everyone has a good chance to reach an exec or at least their assistant and they are more than happy to help you with any info. My source also suggested that all correspondence contain your full name not chat or BB name as well as some demographic info like your age, household income. If some fans are still in HS then use the parent's income, my source believes that Scifi is going to try to convince advertisers to pay for more advertising if it can show them the demographics thus willing to pay for a fifth season. This is very important, also to write to all of the sponsors and threaten to stop buying or using product. Mention in the letter that you bought their product after seeing a commercial aired during Farscape and if possible send the UNUSED product back to them. Don't forget a sponsor may make a variety of products that all of us can be using so look hard.
(4) start to email etc. to your local papers first. If they run a story a larger media outlet will most likely pick it up i.e. AP and call your local cable company and threaten them by telling them that you may switch to direct TV or satellite.
(5) Because of the leak Scifi knew what was coming so it was expected but not to this degree. They thought that only the BBs would be the only place to vent and did not expect such a huge backlash. However the suits think that this will fade by Wednesday so everyone has to keep the heat up at least a week or two or they won't take us seriously. My source said that you can mail, fax or email everyday and to reference the previous letter that was sent.
(6) Right now no one is talking to [any]one, network suits, Henson people, DK etc. there is a lot of anger and shock and betrayal as to what happened so there is an informal cooling off period."
That's it for now. Caitlin will be around shortly with news regarding the forthcoming RevolutionSF.com article.
An update, which I should have caught last night, but I missed in my haze of exhaustion. This from Barbarella, moderator of #Farscape on the Sci-Fi Channel website (what she's calling the "war room"), who was moderating the chat at Farscape Weekly when Browder, Kemper, and co. broke the news on Friday. This is cautious good news, and I know we all need good news right now:
"We've stopped the chainsaws! 10pm 9/09/02
[Barbarella] I'll tell you this
[Barbarella] I closed the floor for this
[Barbarella] Our efforts have at elast postponed the chainsaws
[Barbarella] now instead of destroying the sets
[Barbarella] they're disassembling them
[Barbarella] so keep pushing scifi and EMTV
[Barbarella] our efforts are working
[Barbarella] we MUST stay united"
Thanks to the Guiding Star Farscape site for posting this excerpt.
Morning. I feel like I ought to open with something like, "Day Four, The Farscape Crisis," the way CNN or MSNBC would do. I finally fell asleep last night about 12:30 a.m., too tired to do anything more, but angry at my own exhaustion.
The RevolutionSF.com article will be up sometime today. It was laid out last night, but hasn't gone live yet. You'll know as soon as it does.
There's a new statement from The Henson Company this morning:
"Farscape is a flagship show for The Jim Henson Company. We are proud of its achievements over the past four years, which have included international critical recognition, three Saturn Awards, and a recent Emmy nomination. As always, your show of support is a true inspiration for our company and has been integral to our success.
Although SCI FI Channel has chosen not to pick up a fifth season, The Jim Henson Company is in active development on a new Farscape film, an anime project and is currently discussing syndication of this highly acclaimed series. We are eager to move forward with the Farscape creative team in developing new projects that will resonate with our overwhelmingly loyal fan base."
As I've already said elsewhere today, it's very good to hear that such plans are being made, but, for myself, I'm nowhere close to giving up the fight to keep the series alive on television, at Sci-Fi or somewhere else. The momentum I've seen building the last four days is amazing and I thank everyone who's involved in the campaign. We just have to keep pushing, harder than we pushed yesterdy, not as hard as we'll push tomorrow.
Monday, September 09, 2002
I think I'm about to call it an "early" night. I just finished a second Farscape op-ed piece, this time for RevolutionSF.com. It should be online any moment now. Jennifer will come back in later and post the appropriate link. I think it's frightening me, how quickly these things go from ideas and phone calls to articles online. But the Gothic.Net piece is getting a lot of hits, over a thousand between about midnight last night and 9 a.m. this morning alone, according to webmaster Darren McKeeman. So, we're getting the word out.
Again, thanks to everyone who e-mailed and linked today. Your words and actions are greatly appreciated.
I made myself take a brief lunch break (I shared a can of tuna with my cat) and I'm trying to work up a second wind to carry me through the night.
Here's something from Matt Roush of TVGuide.com, a long-time Farscape supporter, that I wanted everyone to see:
September 09, 2002
Moya no more? I couldn't be more disappointed to hear that Sci Fi has opted not to support a fifth season of its signature series, Farscape. Since its unexpected and unheralded arrival in March 1999, this lavishly produced (for basic cable) space adventure quickly established itself as the most irreverent, unpredictable, sexy, intelligent and exciting sci fi show on TV. By comparison, Enterprise is a lumbering dinosaur. Ben Browder and Claudia Black have incredible chemistry, and are surrounded by some of the most vivid and compelling fantasy creatures ever created. Farscape is a joy to watch, and I've always been puzzled about why its rabidly loyal audience hasn't swelled in numbers each season. The show requires attention to be paid — maybe it's too much TV for some people — but the rewards are great. (Meanwhile, an inert movie like the latest blah Star Wars epic rakes in the bucks for no discernible reason I can think of, except for genre fans' lemming-like devotion.) For Sci Fi to cite economic reasons for denying fans a final year of Farscape would seem to be at odds with the network's mission as an entertainment brand. This decision is likely to be compared years from now to NBC's short-sighted cancellation of the original Star Trek after a mere three seasons.
Also, it seems unanimous that the best route for contacting Showtime about possibly picking up the show, should Sci-Fi refuse to budge, is via e-mail. See my 11:07 a.m. entry from today for details. They are counting e-mails at Showtime. All hope is good hope.
Here in Birmingham, which seems even more remote than usual today, it's 2:34 p.m. and I've been going at this Farscape business non-stop since I got out of bed and walked into my office at 10 a.m. Mostly the morning has been spent updating Nebari.Net, faxing letters to the Sci-Fi Channel and the USA Network, answering the e-mail that my involvement in this campaign is generating (keep it coming), and making connections with other scapers out to save the Uncharted Territories. My apologies to everyone who might be tuning in for the usual sort of Low Red Moon programming. It'll be back. In fact, I'm going to force myself to go to the library tomorrow to begin researching the short story for the Embrace The Mutation chapbook. And I signed a few books for people today. But, mostly, I feel the need to do the little bit for the show that I can do, while there's still time.
I'm beginning to feel the first signs of exhaustion setting in. I can deal with exhaustion. It's discouragement that has me worried. The sense that all this is futile that's just starting to peep at me through the blur of work. That's the thing I have to fight, the thing we all have to fight, if we're going to win this campaign. And we are going to win, one way or another.
Also, if you haven't seen the editorial I did for Gothic.Net yet, it's up at Crackers Do Matter: Saving Farscape. I think maybe I should eat something now. One Sobe will only go so far.
Just got an e-mail from Jason D., who's just created SaveFarscape.com. There's a little information there I haven't listed on Nebari.Net, including links to free fax services, so check out the site.
I'm up, later than I'd intended, and I feel like ass. Which is not to say I'd like some ass now please, but that I, literally, feel like ass. Going from 7 a.m. until 12 a.m. yesterday has me wiped. But, as Mr. Shakespeare said, "Once more into the breach dear friends, once more . . ."
A little news. I'm trying to gather stuff up, but so far I have only a little news:
Series creator Rockne O'Bannon is now asking that fans focus their efforts not only on the Sci-Fi Channel, but on other networks that have a strong likelihood of picking up Farscape, should the campaign to have them reverse their decision fail. He names, specifically, TNT (who has apprently expressed some interest in the series), UPN (because they have Enterprise) and Showtime. Don't stop hitting Sci-Fi, as I think they're still our prime target, but extra energy could be directed towards these networks. So, below is contact information for each of these three networks:
TNT:
Jamie Kellner Chairman and CEO of TNT
One CNN Center
PO Box 105366
Atlanta, GA 30348
Besty Newman - V.P. Program Development For Turner Network TV
Garth Ancier - Executive Vice-President, Programming
Robert DeBitetto (pres, original programming)
Julie Wietz (exec vp. original programming)
Turner Network Television
1888 Century Park East, 14th Fl.
Los Angeles, CA 90067
phone: 310-551-6300
Turner Network Television
1050 Techwood Dr. NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
phone - 404/827-2599
phone - 404-827-1647
fax - 404/827-1700
fax - 404 - 885 - 4318
TNT: Turner Network Television --
Box 105366, Atlanta, Ga. 30348.
Call 404-827-1700
e-mail: tnt@turner.com
UPN
11800 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025 USA
Phone: +1 310-575-7000
Fax: +1 310-575-7220
Fax: 1 310 575 7210
email: feedback@upn.com
Dean Valentine
President & CEO
Adam Ware (COO)
Todd Lituchy (Sr VP, Sched & Aquisitions)
Danielle Greene (Alternative Development, Current programming)
United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Showtime
East Coast
Showtime Networks
1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019 USA Phone: +1 212-708-1600
Fax: +1 212-708-1217
Mathew C Blank (Chairman, CEO)
Frank Pintauro (Sr VP, Creative Director, Original Programming)
West Coast
Showtime Networks
10880 Wilshire Blvd. Stes. 1500 & 1600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
phone 310-234-5200
fax: 310-234-5393
Matthew Blank, CEO & Chairman, Showtime Networks
Jerry Offsay, President, Programming, Showtime Networks
Mathew Duda (VP, aquisitions and planning)
Gary Levine (VP., Original programming)
There's not a readily available e-mail address for Showtime, but they can be contacted online in the following manner:
Go to: http://sho.com/util/custhelp.cfm
Login with your name and email address.
On the next page, select, "Ask a Question -- Submit a question to our technical support staff who will reply to you by e-mail."
Don't let the word "technical" throw you -- you can ask programming questions, as you will see.
On the next screen there will be a form. Select the topic, "SHO Original Series," but leave the second menu blank (as this would be a new show).
Write your letter, and address it to Matthew Blank, CEO & Chairman, Showtime Networks and Jerry Offsay, President, Programming, Showtime Networks. Tell them that you want to see this fine series finish what it started and let them know how you feel about the series.
Sign it and send. Follow the rest of the directions.
Now, please keep in mind that these people are our friends. We are, essentially, trying to sell them something, trying to convince them of the wisdowm of picking up Farscape, should the Sci-Fi Channel refuse to change its present course of action. So, be nice. Extra nice.
Also, if you haven't signed the i-petition, please do so at once. It's at: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SAVE_FARSCAPE/. There are a few other petitions going, but this is the main one, with far more votes than the rest, and I urge you to concentrate on it. We don't need new petitions dissapating our voice. We need one petition with a lot of signatures!
Now I'll go add the TNT, UPN, and Showtime information to Nebari.Net. This is going to be another long day.
Maybe I'll give up sleep for good. I'm back in here to say that the intrepid Darren McKeeman has already posted the editorial to Gothic.Net. It's at:
Crackers Do Matter: Saving Farscape
And yes, the photo at the bottom is really me. I'll tell that story later. Now I think I go and drool.
I'm really not quite sure where this day began. Four hours of sleep after Atlanta and then the last sixteen and a half hours spent on the Farscape Campaign (with an hour and a half for a short nap and a salad). Thank goodness for Sobe Power and Red Bull. Anyway, Nebari.Net 1.0 is up and running and I hope it's of some use to people looking for a way to help save the show. The rest of the day was spent on letters (Jennifer did much of this), Usenet, etc. Many thanks to Darren of Gothic.net for all his help. My editorial should be up in a non-subscriber section of Gothic.Net soon (I'll post a link here), and will be distributed by e-mail to the Gothic.Net newsletter e-mailing list of about 19,000 people.
So. Write the letters, telegrams, e-mails, faxes and make the phone calls. But, mostly write the letters and send the faxes. To Bonnie Hammer at the Sci-Fi Channel, if to no one else. Series creator Rockne O'Bannon has identified the Sci-Fi Channel as our single most important target.
I don't think I can do much else tonight. Thanks for the supportive e-mails. Thanks again to Neil Gaiman for starting the ball rolling with his blogger. I think my frelling eyes are bleeding . . .
Sunday, September 08, 2002
The Gothic.net editorial is finished and turned in. Hopefully, it'll be up sometime tomorrow. I'm utterly frelling exhausted, having been at this keyboard since 7 a.m., but, also, I'm encouraged at the sheer amount of pro-Farscape activity I'm seeing online. We may have a shot at saving this thing yet. Back to work . . .
I've agreed to provide Gothic.net with an original short story, in exchange for running an editorial I'm writing this afternoon regarding the Farscape cancellation. The editorial should be up within 24 hrs. (that's part of the deal) and I'll post the relevant URL as soon as I can. Thanks to Darren McKeeman and everyone else at Gothic.net for this one.
Also, here is a new, streamlined "hit list" of people (producers, financiers, SFC) you need to write, fax, e-mail; see yesterday's entry for additional contact information, including sponsors, but these contacts are probably our top priority:
Sci-Fi Channel
Bonnie Hammer, Senior Vice President of Programming
c/o Sci-Fi Channel
1230 Avenue of the Americas, F115
New York, NY 10020-1513
Viewer Comment Line: 212-413-5000
Fax: 212-413-6531
program@www.scifi.com
feedback@www.scifi.com
Vivendi Universal Entertainment
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
USA
818-777-1000
Feedback@vivendiuniversal.com
The Jim Henson Company
Hollywood, Company Headquarters
1614 North La Brea Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90038
323-802-1500
Fax 323-802-1825
-----
West Office Bldg., 3rd floor
Hollywood, CA 90038
Contact: Janelle Courts
323-960-4096
Fax 323-960-4935
Hallmark Entertainment
1325 Avenue of the Americas
21st Floor
New York, NY 10019
212-977-9001
Fax 212-977-7407
info@hallmark.com
EM.TV & Merchandising AG
Betastrasse 11
D-85774 Unterföhring, Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-995-00-0
Fax: +49-(0)89-995-00-11
info@em-ag.de
Oh, I almost forgot. Here's a link to an online petition. It already has over 8,000 signatures, just a drop in the bucket, but a start. It's been up for less than 24 hours.
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SAVE_FARSCAPE/
And remember, crackers do matter!
I got back from Atlanta about 6 a.m., slept about four hours, and woke from a nightmare. That's what happens when you mix too much Cajun food with too much Cuervo (thank you Jim and Byron), I suppose. Anyway, at once, all I could think of was the Farcsape situation and I was unable to get back to sleep again. So, I'm up, doing what I can. I've resolved to put most of my work on hold for the coming week, to have time to do the few small things I can do to try and add to the rising tide of viewers trying to save the show from vanishing down a one-way wormhole. All day today I'll be posting useful stuff, as I make contacts and gather information.
Please write letters. Tomorrow, when offices are open again, start faxing.
Here's something useful from Gigi Edgely's (Chiana's) website:
Date: Sat, Sep 7, 2002 11:00 AM
If anyone would like to send a free fax to scifi about the cancelation of
Farscape here's where you can do it.
The Sci-fi FAX number is 1-212-413-6531
You can send a free fax over the internet at: www.tpc.int/sendfax.html Copy and paste the fax number.
Free faxes are our friends. If anyone comes up with other free fax services online, please e-mail me the URL @ Desvernine@aol.com and I'll put it up here.
Also, here's a message from Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo) sent to Usenet that I just want to pass along:
Sat Sep 7 02:36:43 2002
210.50.30.4
Dear Friends,
What can I say? Yesterday I went to set. Things were normal,
discussions about the holiday's, ideas for next season - then the word
came.
Cancelled.
Poor Brian [Henson] has done EVERYTHING to make this happen but in the end...
I would just like to say thank you to everyone for supporting the
show. Farscape has been an incredible experience for me and I have
enjoyed every last second of it.
One of the greatest joys has been the fans - and I'm not just saying
that. The conventions have been a hoot and meeting and talking to
folks has been a blast. This show was claimed by the fans and we
happily gave it to you - Farscape was/is your show. Be proud of the
community you have built around the show - I know we all are.
I will miss D'Argo so much. It was such a transformation for me, which
gave me a lot of joy playing him.
I will miss too many people to mention. I have laughed every working
day for the last four years. What a gift!!!
I can't really think straight now - too upset and totally in shock.
I'm off to meet Gigi for a cocktail.
If someone could post this on the sci-fi bb for me that would be
greatly appreciated.
All my love,
Anth
Anyway, thanks to everyone who's writing letters. We still have a little time. We just need to make the best use of it that we can. I'll have www.nebari.net up as soon as possible, as a clearinghouse for contact information, and will post a link from this blogger to the website as soon as it's marginally operational.
Saturday, September 07, 2002
This time it's not a rumour. Farscape has been cancelled.
Farscape Weekly
The Sci-Fi Channel declined their option on Season Five. Next week, the last episode, #422, will be shot and then, as Ben Browder put it, they'll "take the chainsaws to Moya." I'm still unclear exactly what's going on, why this has happened. It clearly wasn't an issue of ratings. Ratings were fine. It may have a lot to do with financial strife at the parent network, USA (cringe) and perhaps with financial troubles at The Henson Company, as well. But the series will not end. It will just stop. The cliffhanger for Season Four, the final eleven episodes of which will begin airing in January, will have to stand as the conclusion. Unless there is a miraculous reprieve. I've surprised myself, getting so upset at the cancellation of a television series. But I am. I think maybe Farcsape had come to represent, for me, the hope that something good can come of the system, of the meat-grinder that is mainstream pop culture. Television is a wasteland. There's a cliché for you. It's as true now, or truer, than when Harlan Ellison was writing the "Glass Teat" columns back in the 1970s. The crap floats, the cream sinks. This is especially true for science fiction and fantasy programming. And, in the midst of that, we were lucky enough to get four brilliant seasons of Farscape, a series that has defied convention and expectation and has been truly intelligent, truly witty, at times profoundly dark and moving. In short, too good for television. All that positive press from the mainstream, from magazines like TV Guide, should have served as a warning. "The best science fiction series on television," I think TV Guide wrote. And now, like so many innovative and "best" shows on television (Frank's Place, James at Sixteen, Millennium, etc. etc.), it's being pushed aside to make way for more of the stuff that's a little easier to digest.
But, for what it's worth, fans of the show do not have to go down without a fight, or at least not without being heard. I'm posting below a list of corporations and individuals you should contact, in writing, immediately. We have one week, so, if we move now, there's just exactly enough time left for snail-mail letters. Faxes are even better. If you loved the show, if you liked the show, if you'd just like to do me a good turn, write a few letters and tell Sci-Fi and Co. that, in your opinion, they're making a big mistake. Be polite. Check your spelling. But, if you have passion for Farscape, let them hear it. It's not impossible to make a difference, it's just very hard. But I know there are hundreds of people reading this journal. If only half of you write letters, that's something. A lot of people all around the world will be doing the same. The most recent episode, "Unrealized Realities," had a rating of 1.5. That means there might be hope, if enough voices are heard. If I can make time for this, so can you. If we settle for second and third rate programming without a fight, we have only ourselves to blame. Well, no, that's not exactly true. But we will at least be partly at fault, if we're not heard. We have the internet. Make it work. Feel free to circulate these names and addresses and phone numbers on your websites, on Usenet, in your online journals, by e-mail, however you can get the word out.
Contact Information for Write-in Campain
Call, send telegrams, send emails, write letters to SCI FI Channel. Here are the relevant names and addresses, phone numbers, and emails.
Remember to be reasonable and courteous. It also doesn't hurt to beg SCI FI to at least be willing to sell the rights to the first 4 seasons to another network so Henson could shop it around and try to find someone to pick it up to produce
new episodes. SCI FI is notorious for hanging onto rights.
E-mail the SciFi Channel at scifiweekly@scifi.com.
E-mail the SciFi Channel at program@www.scifi.com.
E-mail the SciFi Channel's feedback page at feedback@www.scifi.com.
Call the SciFi Channel viewer comment line: (212) 413-5000.
Call the SciFi Channel programming line: (212) 413-5821.
Call the SciFi Channel comments line: (212) 413-5577.
Barry Diller is now Chairman & CEO, Ron Meyer is President & COO.
ADVERTISERS
Please Note! This list was compiled from internet sources late Friday night on 06 September. No addresses, phone numbers, or emails have been verified at this time. It will be corrected and updated as necessary. If you have better information, please email me with the corrections and I will post it asap. Thanks!
Ace Hardware
email: http://www.acehardware.com/root/contact_form.asp
(630) 990-6600
Ace Hardware Corporation
Attn: Consumer Affairs
2200 Kensington Ct.
Oak Brook, IL 60523-2100
Mazda
(949) 727-1990
Mazda North American Operations
P.O. Box 19734
Irvine, CA 92623-9734
or, check parent company's Ford Motor Co's Investor Relations page.
Honda
American Honda Finance Corp? Probably not, but it's worth a shot.
(310) 212-6619
Dell Computers
Dell's Media Relations Team
(512) 728-4100
see this page:http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/media_media.htm
Kia
Consumer affairs email: ca@kia.com
Volkswagen of America
Customer Care contact number: 1-800-822-8987 (USA & Canada)
Land's End
recently acquired by Sears
try their Investor relations contact:
Shareholder Services Department
3711 Kennett Pike
Greenville, DE 19807
Phone: 1-800-732-7780
Fax: 1-302-434-3156
Email: sears@sracweb.com
OfficeMax
(order line) 1-800-283-7674
Cingular
Customer care number: 1-866-CINGULAR.
Or, try this number in Torrance, CA: (310) 782-7903
Orkin
Parent company: Rollins, Inc:
Rollins, Inc.
2170 Piedmont Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
Phone: 404-888-2000
Fax: 404-888-2662
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 647
Atlanta, GA 30301
Home page: www.rollinscorp.com
Best Buy
Corporate Headquarters
Best Buy Co., Inc.
PO Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312
Tel: (952) 947-2000
If I can come up with more relevant contacts, I'll post them here later. I'm going to Atlanta this evening and maybe I'll get righteously drunk and try not to think about this.
Yesterday I sent the Cemetery Dance interview off, and worked on the manuscript for Low Red Moon. I attended to the many odds and ends that have piled up while I was thinking about nothing but finishing the novel. So, I wasn't able to make the Crüxshadows show at The Masquerade, but hopefully a few of you did. We had some rain, I think (my office has no window and I have to rely on the noise of raindrops on the roof), but the temperature reached about 95F. Ugh. Maybe I'm beginning to look forward to a cold Rhode Island winter. About sunset, First Avenue, and our building, was deluged by some sort of "art" festival. People in the streets. Music blaring from loudspeakers. I stayed in and waited it out. But I think it starts up again today.
Keep watching the skies.
Friday, September 06, 2002
Today I finished the Cemetery Dance interview and I have to say, as a veteran of a frell of a lot of interviews over the years . . . damn. More than nine hours, sixty-five questions (I dumped one), eleven-thousand words, and twenty-five pages. It could be a small book, this interview. Needless to say, I did very little else today. Tomorrow, I'll proof it and send the thing off to the magazine. I think it'll be appearing in #44, unless plans have changed. If you're not a regular reader, the most recent issue was #39, which may or may not tell you anything about when this will be published. My typing arm (right) went numb somewhere around question #43 and it still doesn't feel quite right.
Rogue called today from somewhere. I don't know where. With a band on the road, one never really knows unless one asks, and I forgot, as I was knee-deep in the interview and probably not the best conversationalist. The Crüxshadows have a show at The Masquerade in Atlanta tomorrow night. I may try to attend, if I can get away from here in time.
I've received word that the first issue of Bast: Eternity Game will have a March '03 cover date, so expect it in stores in January.
I'm not sure what's up next, workwise. It's probably time to start work on the story for the Embrace The Mutation chapbook story and begin the long proofing of the Low Red Moon manuscript. Work-type work. Jennifer spent the day searching for a new loft in downtown Providence. We have to find a place fast, as I expect to head for Rhode Island on October 4th. Things are about to get crazier around here.
Thursday, September 05, 2002
A long and dissatisfying day. We did get a nice rain, though.
I had to write a two paragraph synopsis of Low Red Moon for my agent to use at the Frankfurt Book Fair. I despise writing synopses. They're, at best, inaccurate things, and, at worst, idiotic. But the results were pronounced perfect, so at least I didn't have to do it twice.
Then I began the aforementioned CD interview, making it through only 16 of 66 questions. This is an exceptionally long interview and there are times I feel very odd writing about myself. Odd and annoyed, as I know that, no matter how carefully I consider and compose a reply to a question, I'll probably come to hate whatever I've said somewhere down the line. I'm fickle. My mind changes. I'm given to passing fancies and brief infatuations. It makes interviews hard. Anyway, I hope to finish with it tomorrow, if I do little else.
Sorry to sound so cranky tonight. It was just a not-quite-bad-but-not-very-good-day. Mood swings. The siren song of estrogen. Lots of stress over all the things I have to get done in such a short span of time. I'll be nicer tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
My stomach is vile this morning. I hate vile-stomach mornings. I've spent the past two hours trying a) not to barf and b) to catch up on all the e-mail. Oh, and yesterday the air-conditioning went on the fritz and, by late afternoon, the temperature inside the loft was approaching 100F. An un-air-conditioned third-floor apartment in Birmingham in early September is nothing to sneeze at. It was miserable. But now it's fixed and I feel much less sweaty.
A little news this morning from my editor at Penguin. She loves Low Red Moon. I'll keep you posted, as I can.
Oh, and Jennifer wanted me to mention that her eBay Sale-O-Rama is on again, so check out the goodies at her eBay page.
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
Time for the dreadfully long post-Dragon*Con entry. At least I expect it to be dreadfully long. It may not be. My head's a bit of a boggy place right now, so we'll just have to see.
Where did I leave off on the Sunday night entry?
The Crüxshadows. As always, a fantastic show. I am in utter amazement of Rachel McDonnell's violin and keyboard work (not to mention her stage presence). These guys are simply the best goth/synth pop band out there today and you absolutely owe it to yourself to check out their new disc, Wishfire, at the Crüxshadows' website. And, if you can, catch a live show before they head back to Europe. Anyway, after the show, there was a very small gathering in my room, not the elaborate fête of years past because I was just too busy to make all the arrangements, but at least The Green Fairy was in attendence (along with a bottle of very fine mead contributed by Voltaire).
Monday afternoon, I awoke to discover that, while I slept, a power surge had so severely corrupted the hard drive of my iBook that the computer was incapable of even finding it. In nine years of owning Macs, nothing even remotely resembling this has happened to me. I've never even had a crash before. There are not words to express my panic and horror when the screen began displaying a big question mark on a gray field and nothing else at all. Jennifer immediately called Rogue (of the aforementioned Crüxshadows and a Mac guru) and whisked my stricken machine off to the band's room. In short order, Thryn whisked me off to the dealers' room in an attempt to keep me thinking about anything but the situation with the computer. As I'd said at my reading on Saturday, this iBook is practically the left side of my brain at this point. So, we spent hours walking about looking at Farscape stuff, knives, jewelry, Lovecraftiana, and such while Rogue worked his ass off trying to salvage my hard drive (with the help of former Bella Morte guitarist and Macintosh tech dude Bn Whitlow). About 4:30 p.m., I finally received word that there was hope and, miraculously, by 7 p.m., Rogue had saved just about everything on the iBook and had it up and running again. Turns out, I was at fault, not the iBook (maintaining my faith in Apple), as I'd made the mistake of leaving it plugged into an outlet without a surge protector, after having turned it off at about 5:30 a.m. So, needless to say, Monday was mostly pretty awful, with Rogue saving the day (and my ass). The band and my own entourage, the bunch of us starving, attended the after-con "Dead Dragon" party. And Rogue made me introduce myself to Lani Tupu, who was delightful and signed a Farscape trading card for me, almost making up for the long nightmare of the day.
Afterwards, we quickly packed and, with the help of various gothlings from Florida (thanks to Chris, Kat, and Jean-Paul) were headed back to Birmingham by about 11 p.m. Thryn and I fell asleep in the back of the van (fortunately, Jennifer did not fall asleep at the wheel). I'm not even sure what time we got home, I was so utterly wiped. But, all in all, and the iBook emergency of Monday notwithstanding, it was the best, most enjoyable, Dragon*Con I've ever attended. Oh, and thanks to Jhonen V. for all the cock (long story, please don't ask).
About all that's left is the matter of my abduction by agents of Nebari Prime, my subsequent (though temporary) transmutation, the MIBs, and all that followed. But maybe I'll leave that until the photographic evidence arrives.
Now I have to get back to work. I have a short story to write for Subterranean Press, an interview to finish for Cemetery Dance magazine, the manuscript of The Five of Cups to be edited (I haven't even read the thing since 1996), all the rewrites on Low Red Moon, all the packing and moving arrangements to be made for the relocation to Providence . . . I don't want to even think about what I might be forgetting. The "vacation" is over, kiddies. Back to school.
1:54 a.m. here in Birmingham. Which means I'm home again. And I'm way the frell too tired to say much of anything now, except it was a hell of a day. Good and bad. Very good and very bad. My Rhode Islander goes home tomorrow, and then I'll say much more. Promise. Right now, I'm going to do something sensible, like go to bed . . .
Monday, September 02, 2002
Sunday night at Dragon*Con. I'm waiting to go downstairs for the Crüxshadows show. Voltaire was great last night. All in all, this is probably the first time I've genuinely had fun at a Dragon*Con, and it's my ninth in a row. Sushi two nights running. Today, Jhonen Vasquez spread a rumor I'd been abducted by leprechauns and beaten with a shilaylee, then proceeded to impersonate me. It was that sort of a day. I had a great reading yesterday and thank everyone who came. Of course, the big news has been yesterday's indiscretion, wherein I let slip, in a major way, my unfortunate secret ultraterrestrial identity. You've probably heard already. There will be stories and pictures, I'm sure; fortunately, Division Six has the matter well in hand and I have spin doctors who can make a little blemish like not being human a good thing. This will probably be my last post before the drive back to Birmingham tomorrow evening. Keep watching the skies.
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