eye of argon

Convention Weekend – Mensa mixed with sf

~ ianrandalstrock ~ Leave a comment

It’s another convention weekend, the second in a row (definitely kicking off the new year with a bang). This time, it’s a Mensa event: Northern New Jersey Mensa’s Blast! Regional Gathering, in Newark, New Jersey.

Echoing the proper “enjoyment” of it at science fiction conventions, I’ll be leading a talk/reading of the “classic” story “The Eye of Argon” at 10:30 Friday night in Boardroom C.

A slightly more prosaic appearance: I’ll be participating in the “Meet the AMC and Members Who are Willing to Run for Office” event Saturday at 1:00pm, also in Boardroom C.

Other than that, I’ll be around, enjoying the weekend. They put on a great event last year, and with one year’s experience, they’re bound to do even better this time! So I hope to see all you Mensans there!

Science Fictionally Productive

~ ianrandalstrock ~ 3 Comments

In the days of LiveJournal, it was “three things make a blog post.” Well, today it was more than three, but it was very productive science fictionally, and felt quite good.

First, there was a productive session of editing a novel Fantastic Books will soon be publishing.

Then I took a very nice walk in the woods. Found an interesting group of green acorns on a fallen piece of branch, and saw a rabbit on the way back.

Then I looked at my email, and found a contract! It’s a story the editor had told me he was buying three months ago, but it didn’t feel “official.” Now, reading the contract, it feels much better, almost official. My next appearance in Analog will be a short-short story called “On the Rocks”!

Then I checked the other email account, and found two messages. One, telling me the panel I’d recorded for ConTinual way back when will finally be posted tomorrow morning, about 9:30. You can access ConTinual at Facebook.com/groups/ConTinual, and I’ll add in a link to the panel when it’s available. The panel was about the enduring and growing legacy of “The Eye of Argon,” with Keith R.A. DeCandido, Hildy Silverman, and Michael A. Ventrella. [Edited: here’s the link for the Facebook-hosted video: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConTinual/permalink/690968394849069/ ]

The other message gave me my schedule for virtual Capclave (online on October 17). At 3:00pm Eastern time, I’ll be talking about “Writing Time Travel and Paradoxes” with Iver P. Cooper, A.T. Greenblatt, and James Morrow. And then, at 4:30, it will be “Centennial Superstars” with Walter H. Hunt and Barbara Krasnoff.

So, yes, it was a pretty good day.

P.S. – I still hate this new “blocks” editor for blog posts. I’ve read several articles, but still can’t figure out how to put the image in a paragraph of text and run the text around it (like I used to be able to). Instead (as you can see above), all I’ve been able to figure out is to post the picture as its own paragraph (“block”), which is just ugly.