Hey hello again!

In 2019 I published one novel (WHEEEEEEE!) and four shorter works that are eligible for awards, if one is so inclined to consider them:

Finder
Book One of the Finder Chronicles
Novel
DAW, April 2019

Taking Icarus Home
(Novelette)
Asimov's, Jan/Feb 2019

The Painter of Trees
(Short Story)
Clarkesworld #153, Jun 2019
Read/listen here

Waterlines
(Novella)
Asimov's, Jul/Aug 2019

Dave's Head
(Novelette)
Clarkesworld #156, Sep 2019
Read/listen here

Thanks as always (-:

I had four works published this year:

Novelettes:
* Books of the Risen Sea, Asimov's, Sept/Oct 2017
* The Secret Life of Bots, Clarkesworld #132, Sept 2017 (read it online here)

Short Story:
* Number Thirty-Nine Skink, Asimov's, Mar/Apr 2017

Poem:
* Pinned, Asimov's, May/Jun 2017

I had four works published this year:

Novella:
* Lazy Dog Out, Asimov's, Apr/May 2016

Novelettes:
* Ten Poems for the Mossums, One for the Man, Asimov's, July 2016
* Detroit Hammersmith, Zero Gravity Toilet Repairman (Retired), Analog, Sept 2016

Short Story:
* Belong, Interzone #265, July-Aug 2016

And that concludes the late 2016 deeply-anxiety-provoking self-promo post. :)

Yeah, I don't post here nearly enough. ( But I'm gonna post something long so I should probably put a cut here. )

This is the stuff-I-wrote-in-2015-you-might-like post. I spend a lot of 2015 revising a novel, and I wrote a few pieces (including a novella) that'll be out in 2016, so again it's not a huge list. I really hate self-promo, so if you do too, I promise not to do this again until next year :)

Short stories:
Tuesdays, Asimov's, March. Strangers in a diner in the middle of the night, middle of nowhere... Science Fiction.

Moogh and the Great Trench Kraken, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #181 (& podcast). My ridiculous barbarian story.

Poem:
October Leaves, Asimov's, Oct/Nov. Autumn and trees.

This replaces my earlier post about this. Much of the text is the same. However, I had both bad information and missing information that I think is important enough to restart this discussion cleanly. Also, I want to be clear from the very beginning that what I want from this is not to foster recrimination or dwell on my own aggravation, but to look proactively at ways to make this situation better throughout con-going fandom.

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( So let's talk about this )

Many years back, there was a summer where there were three or four separate news stories about people rolling their cars into ditches and surviving trapped there for a number of days, collecting dew off the windshield, eating old McDonald's sauce packets, etc. I thought about that, and what it would be like to be trapped in my car for days and days, and immediately went and put a book in my car.

(After longer thought, I decided that Ellison's "All The Sounds of Fear" was maybe not the best choice and swapped it.)

Anyhow, I've kept an Emergency Book in my car ever since. I've even finished several, not because of any ditch-related adventures but just the progression of everyday life and a lot of the endless waiting-for-one's-children thing that goes with the parent gig. The key is to find a book engaging enough that it'll sustain you in those long, soul-despairing, crushed-by-your-own-dashboard-amongst-the-shrubbery or waiting-for-the-field-trip-bus-which-is-three-hours-late times (remarkably similar in the toll they take on one's psyche) but not *so* engaging that you'll take it with you back into the house to keep reading. I will not suggest specific authors for that perfect balance of not-too-wow/not-too-meh as I expect everyone has their own list of such, and for the sake of author-universe-harmony it's best to let it go unspoken.

Anyway, I had to clean everything out of my car not too long ago for various reasons, and I forgot to put a book back, and this morning I spent five hours sitting in the ER waiting room* so bored I thought I might cry. Also, I had no McDonald's sauce packets.

So consider this your PSA: have you checked your Emergency Book lately to make sure you have one** anywhere you are likely to become trapped? If not, do so now!

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(* everything's fine. Kid fainted and bonked her head on the floor, needed to get checked. Instead of reading I spent all morning tweeting #BoredERHaiku.)

(** yeah yeah yeah, ebooks, feh. You can't live on ebooks.)

Pending: Bear Creek Country Kitchens

Email sent via their Contact Us form on their website:
Hi! I used to love your creamy potato soup, but in the last few years I've developed a potentially fatal allergy to peppers. One thing I've found is that often peppers are lumped under the term "spice" or "natural flavors" on ingredients labels, which means I do not know if I can safely eat them. I'm not the only person allergic to odd, hidden ingredients like this. So I'm writing to ask if you could consider listing the full ingredients on your products instead of using ambiguous, catchall terms. It would certainly make a lot of lives easier, and possibly even save some, too.

No response yet. Will update if/when one comes.

Thus far, companies that have Failed With Excessive Stupid and/or Die We Don't Care are:
Heinz
Campbell's
WeightWatchers

Arisia is Jan. 16-19th in lovely winter Boston.

Sat 1:00 PM: Making Makers Make
Sat 7:00 PM: Character Dynamics
Sun 10:00 AM: Reading (with Other Fine Authors)*
Mon 10:00 AM: Memorable Characters
Mon 11:30 AM: Managing Backstory

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* So yeah, last year I read you horror, which surprised a few people. This year I'll be reading something much lighter. It may involve Barbarians.

I should mention that I had a massive allergic reaction to a Weight Watchers product about six months ago. At the time, I wasn't aware that red pepper could be included under "spice". I called their consumer hot line to find out what was in "spice" and they couldn't even tell me.

I wrote the company a letter about it, and got no response whatsoever. Even though, you know, they could have killed me.

That was sort of the start of emailing cos about "spice" and "natural flavorings". Would love to hear from anyone else out there who has severe allergies to something that falls under either of those umbrellas.

I get that you can't patent recipes, but if you use good quality ingredients and aren't a company of douchebags, I don't think there's as much risk to someone undercutting you as the paranoia seems to think. And. frankly, a great way to build (or increase) brand loyalty is to be seen actually caring about your customers.