It’s been a busy couple of weeks, with birthdays and holidays and various little things eating up my time in dainty bites so small you hardly notice until there’s nothing left but the bones.
Speaking of which, this film is either brilliant or disturbing. Or both.
Either way, I want one of those zombie puppets.
Which gives me a nice reason to mention that the latest episode of the Cthulhu podcast features a recording of my short story “Summer Salt” — which makes me quite happy. New episodes of the Cthulhu ‘cast are one of the things I check for whenever I fire up iTunes, so I was doubly pleased when FNH told me he’d accepted the story.
If you’d prefer to use your eyes instead of your ears, you can read the story here.
But you might soon be outnumbered as there are new subscribers still signing up for the “Assam & Darjeeling” and “Matters of Mortology” podcasts. You could still be one of them, just click on the download links here and here.
I received a very nice note last week from a listener in Singapore who has been loving “Assam & Darjeeling” — which gave me a silly smile to wear for a few days.
And while we’re on the subject of smiles, although The Dark Knight had it’s problems I have to say that I agree with most of the hype about Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker. My only quibble is that it overshadows Aaron Eckhart’s work as Two-Face, which was also excellent. And we got a trailer for the Watchmen movie, which I have no doubt will begin to generate more and more hype until it comes out next year.
And, yes, the “other” hype is true too: The new iPhone is outstanding. I’m still saying thank you to the powers that be for giving me one. Doublestuff kickass, to say the least.
(Oops. I forgot to mention that once the two current podcasts finish up, I’ll be starting a brand new one. This next one will be a bit broader, more of an anthology, and much more collaborative with the audience. Details shall follow later this week.)
On the publishing side, I’m currently regrouping after most of my efforts on the BEA trip this year have yet to produce anything fruitful. There’s still a few open leads that I’m waiting to hear back from but this weekend will mark a change in my efforts to connect with an agent, thanks to some good ideas and resources that proved worthwhile for an author friend of mine. As always, stay tuned.
The new project proceeds apace. The writing is going well. It’s going to be a long book.
For what it’s worth, the new book is called Pantheon.
In other news… Most of my writing right now is given over to the new project. It’s very early and there’s a lot of old notes and pre-draft materials to sort through, but it feels good and it’s coming together well. Since I’m in the first draft, everything is being written in longhand with the excellent fountain pen and orange ink that the