Deep Winter Bleck

F this winter.  F this cold weather.  It was zero degrees F this morning when I went to work (not counting the windchill) and fifteen this evening when I got home.  F that!  (that's a temperature double entre', kids!)

Supposed to snow between four and twelve inches of snow here overnight and into tomorrow.  I am not looking forward to that white crap from the sky.

I am officially tired of winter.  Tired of being cold.  Tired of shoveling snow.  Tired.

New Cover for Upcoming Empress of Clouds eBook

Shayla Mist's design for the new Ebook edition of Empress of Clouds coming to Amazon Kindle April 2015

Empress of Clouds Online Begins Today

Fans of the Moonsword Online Blog will be glad to hear that, as promised and as my Valentine's Day present to you, the first chapter of Empress of Clouds is up on the blog.  Tolian's adventures continue in the free serialized, blogified online edition here:

http://moonswordtrilogyonline.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

Coming Soon: The Locket and Other Tales

I'm really enjoying the process of e-publishing The Moonsword Trilogy waaay more than I expected.  I'll be sharing the all new cover for the new e-book edition of Empress of Clouds soon, btw.  I'm so thrilled with what designer Shayla Mist is doing with the series.  Anyway, this summer I (if not sooner) will be publishing on Amazon Kindle The Locket and Other Tales, a collection which will include my novella pubbed in an anthology I was never paid for, but for which the contract has expired, "The Compassion", "The Confessions of Frankenstein(GIRL)" (which depends on whether or not that is picked for the upcoming anthology QUEERS DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION or not.  I may have to wait until May to know if they're going to use it), "The Flight of a Wild" and another tale or two I whip up for it.  Watch this space for updates on all my projects.  And Today Empress of Clouds begins over at The Moonsword Trilogy Online.

Real Life is Not a Faerie Tale

Exactly twenty-four years ago Liz and I went on our first date.  We had drinks at Alephia's in Deptford, NJ before going to see the movie, Kindergarten Cop.  As I've been knee deep in lately in revising and editing my Moonsword Trilogy which spends a great deal of time on the relationship of Tolian and Brythia, who are indeed based on our relationship, I'm forced to note that real life is not a faerie tale.  Whereas the fictional couple are tied by the magickal bonds of druidic love spells for all eternity, Liz and I are separated and will be getting divorced shortly.  It's a bit bittersweet for me.  Maybe that's why fiction is better than real life.  Well, Happy Valentine's Day to Tolian, Brythia, and you and yours good reader.

Moonsword is Completely Online Now

Meanwhile over on The Moonsword Trilogy Online blog, I've finished posting the free serialized, blogified edition of Moonsword, the first novel of the trilogy (and my first published novel from back in 2002).  People all over the world are reading it.  It's a great feeling.  Check it out or feel free to wait for the Kindle version coming March 2015.

http://moonswordtrilogyonline.blogspot.com/

OMG! It's Weird Facts Thursday Again!

As regular readers of this blog know, it is Weird Facts Thursday.  So for your mystification and amusement I offer you the following:

-When I was at La Muse, in France, I selected a copy of Philip K. Dick's novel VALIS from the Living Library there to read.  As I opened it up to see the following inscription:

This book is, quite simply, about my family, extended and otherwise.  The Lamptons and Sophia live in the house where I grew up (which was not in the town mentioned in the book); conversations here are virtual transcripts, especially between Fat , Phil, and Sophia; the child on the cover is apparently based on a specific picture of me as a toddler.  Which would make sense were this book not generally regarded as not only fiction, but a masterwork of science fiction—and by those who love it as a magnificent work of philosophy.  To me it’s fairly straightforward memoir, mixed with a little Plato’s Republic.  So that is where I am from: a place and background where the lines between life and science fiction are never firm.  Make of it what you will.  Anne Midi, May 2009.

If you've ever read VALIS you know that this is quite a claim.  I was stunned, especially after I finished reading the book and everything that additional context provided.  I looked up the inscription's author, who had indeed stayed on retreat at La Muse, and who had written a book on Dick and her family's (Dick was her mother's ex husband)  relationship over the years, but the publisher caved from threats of Dick's children and pulled the book just before they were about to release it.

- In the book VALIS, the protagonist, Horselover Fat (Horselover = the translation of the Greek "Philip", and Fat = the translation of the German word "Dick") is urged to see a movie that he and his friends find filled with cosmic truth, called VALIS in the book.  The fictional movie, which stars a fictional rock star, Eric Lampton was based on The Man Who Fell to Earth with David Bowie.  One wonders if Phil and his friends went to see that film dozens of times.