(no subject)

So...because I am an ass, I keep forgetting to plug Michael Kelly's upcoming Apparitions anthology--which is doubly stupid, since it contains my never-before-published (and brilliant, remarkable, oh the cleverness of meeee) story "The Jacaranda Smile"! Therefore, via Mike, some info:

If anyone in North America is interested in reserving a copy of Apparitions before the publication on Halloween, I'm taking reservations (but no money, yet), and I will ship the book free of charge, a $5 savings. Once the book is in hand, sometime mid-October, I will contact you via e-mail with PayPal (or alternate) payment instructions.
Unfortunately, shipping costs overseas are quite prohibitive and I cannot make the same offer to overseas customers. Sorry. You can still reserve the title now, though, with no prepayment. And I hope you will, of course.
The book is priced as follows:
$14.95 U.S customers (free shipping with reservation)
$16.95 Canadian customers (free shipping with reservation)
$14.95 (in U. S. Funds) for U. K. and overseas customers + $10 shipping.
To reserve a copy of the title, please send an e-mail to undertowbooks@gmail.com with RESERVE in the subject field.
Thanks very much for all the support. I really do appreciate it.
Best
-Michael

And who's in this great book, aside from me, you rightfully ask? Well, the full TOC (in alphabetical order) goes as follows:

Simon Bestwick - The Suicide Chairs
Gary A. Braunbeck - Coming Soon
Michael Colangelo - Behind the Black
Christopher Conlon - A Certain Slant of Light
Steve Duffy - Certain Death For a Known Person
Patricia Esposito - Finishing the Dig
Gemma Files - The Jacaranda Smile
Paul Finch - Men of Old
Joel Lane - High Water
Gary McMahon - Proof
Jessica Reisman - Incantation
Iain Rowan - There Stood the Dead
Barbara Roden - Home on the Range

Erin S. Wells did the cover art, which you can see through the link here (http://www.undertowbooks.com/), and Steve Upham did the design; sure, I'm partial, but it does look excellent. And now my work is done.;))

But Wait, There's More!

Since I just finally managed to have Rook trick a woman into killing herself in order to let an Aztec god take over her body, I'll celebrate by talking about stuff I like these days--the parameters which currently define my world, hella-narrow as it is.

First off, tomorrow I'm off to see Inglourious Basterds, which I've been looking forward to for dog's years. In Toronto, eye Weekly--my old employer--has celebrated the film's release with an "all-Basterds" issue, which means wading through a fair deal of repetitious Basterds-related shite stuck where a lot of the more normal columns et al usually go. My favorite thus far is Eli Roth giving "sex advice" at the back, especially considering that his idea of advice is to say: "I used to be skinny and funny-looking, but then I packed on forty pounds of muscle, and watch out, world. Sexiest bad-ass Jew ever, Y/N? Indisputably Y!"

Oh, Eli--I'm frankly scared to disagree, because you'd probably hit me with a baseball bat until my head caved in; also, you DO look pretty hot now, in a ravenous, annoying way. It's just that I can't ever really get away from the fact that you're Eli Roth, a dude with very specific ideas about satisfactory entertainment. And yeah, I do believe that the rage you claim to channel into "killin' NAH-zees" on behalf of your murdered relatives is real, but tell the truth--doesn't it feel good to be killing people onscreen who most of the audience actually want you to kill, instead of sad/stupid girls and clueless frat-boys bought over the Internet? When Valerie Harper admires your Nazi skull-bashing skillz in public, you can't tell me that's not some sort of pop-cultural dream come true.;)

Anyhow. Other stuff I'm liking includes my brand-new copy of The Choir Boats, already exponentially better than Thirteen Orphans, and (weirdly) my copy of Britney Spears' Circus, which manages to make her sound A) genuinely adult and B) not crazy anymore. Of course, any CD which contains a track like "If U Seek Amy" can't be reckoned too mature, but still. My favorite song right now is "Unusual You", which sounds like it was written for someone else entirely (and maybe it was. But she does it well, nevertheless).

Also: Some VividCon fanvids, which I'll try to link to later. Evan Dahm's new webcomic, The Order of Tales, in which hapless froggy storyteller Koark and the constantly-riled Bottle Woman are quickly becoming a new OTP. The Phoenix Requiem, which may be meandering, but is amazingly beautiful. Setsuled's Venia's Travels, whose endless perversity often seems like a sort of holy mystery being haphazardly worked out in public, to the tune of ten or more pages every couple of weeks. The Quay Brothers' "new" film The Piano-Tuner of Earthquakes, which I stupidly only try to watch late at night, either the worst or the best time for it. Etc.

Okay...I think I'm tired enough, finally. I'm closing down. 'Night.

Said Vids

Two great Wanted fanvids, both with generous helping of Fox—the bulletproof nun herself—being unspeakably bad-ass. First, there’s “Break Teen Spirit in Four Minutes”, by dragonchic, here (http://bananainpyjamas.livejournal.com/118895.html). I’m also fond of this one, “Hold My Hand”, by Luminosity (http://sockkpuppett.livejournal.com/555699.html) ....more linear, but just as fun. Amusingly, the latter says she hasn’t hasn’t actually “seen” the film, and I don’t think it matters at all.;)

And speaking of Luminosity (plus ozonebaby)—she also did an amazing Supernatural Season Three/Four Ruby-centric vid called “Legion”, about “taking one for the Hell team”. I think it shows why, exactly, I like Long Tall Sammy Winchester so much, amongst other things. Find it here (http://sockkpuppett.livejournal.com/555468.html). Plus a return to dragonchic for “We Are”, for Sarah Connor Chronicles (http://bananainpyjamas.livejournal.com/119279.html), more women/machines with guns plus destiny ‘n’ stuff, and this starkly apt Fank Lucas character vid for American Gangster, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (http://bananainpyjamas.livejournal.com/95463.html#cutid1). Damn, I love her style.

And then…there’s charmax. Queen of the killer robots herself. People everywhere have already linked to “Unnatural Selection”, her Pixies/Pussycat Dolls/Charles Darwin mash-up (http://charmax.livejournal.com/115942.html), but the New Shit is this: “Seven Nation Army” (http://charmax.livejournal.com/122262.html). Oh, boy. Apocalypse, please.;))

One of my enduring pleasures right now is watching stuff like this, even though I know full well I could never make it. It reminds me of what plays behind my eyes whenever I hear songs reminding me of...stuff, which is...well, pretty much always.

A Book of Tongues: THUD

1,281 words added, taking me to the end of the current section. Unfortunately, there's a whole other section before the chapter's end! FUCK!

...actually, I'm sort of joshing with you there: The section to come is fully outlined, will play like a back-and-forth conversation, and is only 1,200 words long even in note-form. Simple hook-up shit, basically. Still, I'd've loved to be able to say I was done already, and well into part three/Chapter Thirteen.;)

Chapter Twelve overall: 8,509 words. A Book of Tongues manuscript overall: Once again, just over 80,000. It's like it's a magic number for me, or something.;)

Okay, off to Surrey Place, then the pool. Gotta make up for that damn strike somehow.