News or Comments? vera.nazarian@sff.net
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Van Nuys, California
Order SWORD AND SORCERESS #16 here!
6-29-99
NEWSFLASH!
I came home last night and found an e-mail from Randy Dannenfeltser saying he's going to be reprinting my story "Sailing The Eye Of Sun" in YEAR'S BEST SWORD & SORCERY Woohoo!!! :-) This is one of my Compass Rose stories, and it had originally appeared in Maelstrom SF #2 in October 1998, edited by David L. Felts.
I am psyched!!! :-)
Congratulations to Laura J. Underwood whose story "His Heart of Stone" will also appear in the volume!
6-26-99
NEWSFLASH!
No, I have not been kidnapped by llamas and taken to a galaxy far far away. Yes, I am still here, but life has been too damn crazy to post. Lots of new big stuff happening. The first, is a new job. :-)
Yesterday, Friday 25th, I gave notice at my current job, because I had accepted the position of Help Desk Manager at a business software (Oracle-based) company. After a decade of slaving away in tech support, and having serviced over 40,000 printer-owning customers (their faces are like the faces of the planet -- VAR resellers, service centers, network administrators, programmers, consultants, CEOs with an attitude, Latin American technicians in Spanish, three-level international conference calls with a crowd of nameless businesspeople, little old ladies, and even smart-alecky kids -- and hey, maybe even YOU!), it is time for me to take a rest from immediate phone duties. Hallelujah!!!
I will be evaluating methods and procedures, hiring and building a small support department from ground up, and this is a wonderfully creative opportunity! It is also a 35% salary increase, plus other valuable benefits such as company shares. :-) I will be reporting to a wonderfully nice woman boss with whom I had worked before as an SQL consultant, about a decade ago (so yes, she remembered me all this time). And, they are letting me take time off between starting, and also letting me keep my pre-planned vacation in August, which includes NASFiC! Can you see my *big grin* from here to the moon?
Of course there will be stress at the new job. But it will be different, healthy, creative. No more frustration with routine! And now I will be in a position to cut down my debt and buy a house. :-)
Life is good. Finally. :-)
The other crazy thing this week has been my mom's US Citizenship. We've been going back and forth to INS, and things just might be nearing an end -- hopefully. The INS officer has told me to call next Friday. :-)
Okay, writing. Hehehe. I haven't been doing any lately. Not with all of this stuff. However, who am I not to congratulate folks who have done well? Therefore, without much ado, congratulations to Jon Hansen on his sale to MZBFM, to Ron Collins and Lyn Nichols on their co-sale to Altair! Congratulations to Al Sirois on the sale of his novel PENGUIN ISLAND to an e-publisher Hardshell Word Factory!
Huge congratulations to Zette Gifford on her sale to Jackhammer, her first sale! :-) I am so proud of you, Zette, I love your writing, and it's about time the editors publically acknowledged your fine work! :-) This is only the beginning of a strong writing career!
Another huge belated congratulations to Dorothy Rothschild on her Fullbright Award! Awesome academic achievement! :-)
And of course, a running congratulations and "hang in there" to Toby, Jenn, and John, the Clarion NAW trio. :-)
Also, Ron comments on the discussion going on in my newsgroup, on the subject of "why write?" Lots of folks, including myself, tend to say, we write because it is our life, because we must. However, I like what Ron says to that: "Writing is not life. You don't HAVE to do it. Life is life." I think this is something we all should keep in mind, no matter how intensely we take writing. That way, even if we do live and breathe writing and nothing else, at least we will have enough outside perspective to let our characters experience real life through our authorial voice. I mean, someone's got to do it! :-)
Good news from MZB: I got an invite to submit to SWORD AND SORCERESS #18. MZB is basically inviting all the people who had sold to her at one point or another. The other unusual aspect about this anthology is the reading period, September 6-30, 1999.
As far as rejections go, I got one from Weird Tales, saying the story was too much like a part of a larger work. *snarf!* Well, Criminy, or course it is, it's one of my Compass Rose pieces, but it certainly is a standalone, like all of them are. :-) I think Weird Tales is just being silly. Give me a better reason, like "this story sucks marrow out of a dog's bone."
Since I have been so lax in posting lately, while many other good NAW folks haven't, here are not one but two NAWticisms: the first from Chiara: "I've learned my lesson -- no more sniffing fire."
The second NAWticism comes from Tippi: "What do guitar solos and sex scenes have in common? Sometimes, they both seem totally gratuitous and pop up in the middle of nowhere."
6-13-99
NEWSFLASH!
Happy birthday to Tamela Viglione! :-) A fellow Gemini! :-) :-) :-)
Congratulations to Paula E. Fleming and Erin Cashier-Denton on their sales to Jackhammer, to Lisa Silverthorne on the adoption of a new kitten Bailey, and to Erin Cashier-Denton on her Wedding! :-) Congratulations to Jenn, Toby, and John on the beginning of Clarion!
I got two more bouncies from Quantum SF, and now it's closed to submissions. (Oh well.) Meanwhile, Kurt's on a 2 week novel-writing retreat. Awesome! Have a great productive time, Kiwosabe!
The weather here in Los Angeles is finally more like normal for this time of the year -- steeenkin' hot! Only yesterday it was 60-70s! I wasn't complaining however, since I prefer cool weather. Honestly, it was perfect, though unnatural and bizarre. :-) Now it's gonna get all gross and normal.
On the writing front, I got the page proofs for THE AGE OF REASON, corrected and returned them via e-mail. I've also started a new short piece, and am continuing to revise LOR.
Oh, and thanks to Tippi, I've found a wonderful Dark Courier font that prints out dark and not skinny and whispy on an HP printer! Download it for free!
6-6-99
NEWSFLASH!
Happy belated birthday to Jim Bailey!
Congratulations to Ron "Analog" Collins, on the you-know-what sale.... Hehehe. And congratulations to Mary Soon Lee on her sale to the new Canadian magazine Waxing & Waning. Where the heck do you find these new markets, Mary? *grin*
Huge congratulations to Stephen Leigh's novel DARK WATER'S EMBRACE placing as finalist for the Spectrum Award!
Congratulations to our own Deputy Sheriff in the making, Diana Rowland!
Welcome back, Tamela! :-) Glad you had a qool trip! Neile, hope you feel better with the eye infection and the rest of the sickies! :(( And Lorrie, I am so sorry about your sick kitty Kira! Crossing all appendages for her! {{{HUGS!}}}
If you ever wondered about fair use of excerpts of others' work in your own writing, read the excellent article by John Savage in this month's Speculations.
I blame Douglas and his talk of poetry, for the dream I've had recently of doing a poetry reading at a great outdoors Woodstock-type consert. In this dream I had to read my own poems, but the horrible thing was, I couldn't make out my own handwriting, so I had to improvise poetry on the spot, and did a heck of a fine job! LOL! Ok, I haven't written poetry for years, so this was definitely amusing.
Okay, John Sullivan, put down that phallic gun! I am sorry, I am bad. *snarf*
And hey, Samantha, my dear fellow Obi Wan Kenobi (don't even ask, but take the Star Wars Personality Test), four hours of sleep is what I get on a *good* night during the week! So hush! Talk not about little sleep to this woman. ;-)
On Thursday my contributor copy of Visionair SF #3 came, wrapped in a clean brown envelope, and enclosed was my payment in crisp dollar bills, and an invitation to submit more work. And not only is it a glossy high quality gorgeous paper edition, but my story is the lead, with 3 classy b&w illustrations, and it is followed by such writers as Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Mike Resnick! Those nice Dutch readers seem to really like me! :-)
Also this week I got an invitation to be a Program Participant at NASFiC. Need to fill out the info form and return it to them, this is gonna be lots of fun. :-)
As far as writing is concerned, I have decided to give my poor novel LOR one last re-write. This should take me a couple of weeks, and then, I will return to the Ruricca novel. No more short stuff, at least for a while.
Finally, today's NAWticism comes from Tippi: "Writing a short story is like running to the store to get some milk. Writing a novel is like driving out to the farm, milking the cow, driving back home, realizing you got some cow hairs in the milk, and having to start all over again."
I tell you, folks, I am gonna start collecting the NAWticisms. Maybe even put them on a separate page off the main NAW page. What do you think? :-)
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![[VISIONAIR SF Issue #3]](visio3.jpg)
