I should be sleeping. Let’s put it that way. In the meantime, here are a few things.

Newsarama has the full creator list for the Tori book. There is also a glorious Carla page from our story. Yes, that is “Here. In My Head” (as the Undented peeps have concluded). I’m totally amused at how they put one of the naughty pages up there. (I’m referring to the hand-down-the-pants, not the makin’ out. Click to see what I’m talking about - I wouldn’t put it as not-worksafe, so don’t worry.)

The IAF jewelry auction is on!! All money goes to Interfictions 2, I believe. Here’s my contribution, which is based on K. Tempest Bradford’s story “Black Feather”:

Yes, all knotting (read: a lot of it) was done by hand. Some of those beads are vintage glass. Athankyewverymuch!!

And the copy gigs just keep on coming. I gotta figure out how to write copy faster. I’m typing as fast as I can!

Found at Powell’s:

A 1st edition. Very very happy. Midori’s “Alison Gross” is in this one - I’ve wanted to read it for a while.

I can’t believe we’ve been here for a week already.

Wow, is it mid-October already? Say it isn’t so! Where’d my year go?

As usual, I’m late to the party to promote my own stuff. Negative Burn 13 came out last week, featuring my story YES, MOTHER. Here’s another fun promo image by artist Sami Makkonen (yes, I snitched it from his blog):

It’s a great issue. Sami and I share space with a story by fellow Chemsetter Neil Kleid and Dash Shaw, and there’s a heartbreaker by Elton Pruitt. Definitely worth a pick-up, but then again Negative Burn always is! You can also read YES, MOTHER online in its entirety at Chemset.

I just posted a review of Melissa Marr’s WICKED LOVELY over on the Endicott Studio blog. I really, really loved this book. Really!

Busy as usual over here. I’m off to Arizona on Thursday for about five days, which means missing SPX. A bummer, but there’s a chance that Leland will hitch a ride with Nick for the day on Saturday to scope the scene out.

What else? A few amusing links:

1. An entire website devoted to missed connections. That just kills me.

2. An octopus takes refuge in a coconut, parts 1 and 2. The coconut magic doesn’t happen ’til the end of part 2. Indie crafters, have a ball.

3. Speaking of octopuses and indy crafters, hansigurumi over on Etsy is blowing my mind. I’m a stickler for an anatomically correct octopus pattern and she appears to have this thing down. Her nautilus shell pattern was featured in a recent CRAFT magazine podcast.

Snapbang! Had my head down for about, hrm, 12 hours today (most of it copywriting, though I did spend about three hours on a pitch this morning) and only just now remembered that this dropped today:

Latest anthology from Terri and Ellen Datlow. Illustrations by Charles. Tricksters! Hooray!

Also new: two novels from the dynamite husband and wife team of Emma Bull & Will Shetterly. (Their early urban fantasy novels continue to blow my mind.) Details on the Endicott blog.

I seem to be having run-ins with music I’d forgotten. We had the Suzanne Vega last night. Some Beautiful South that’s so pretty and so pained, it has always made me want to cry… almost. Love Tractor — anyone else remember them? And an Irish tune called “The Mooncoin” that’s so frickin’ addictive, I just had to learn how to play it. Especially since all the recordings I could find were kind of crappy (yes, even the Steeleye version, I’m sorry to say — maybe there’s just something about hearing it in a New York bar). But I haven’t played anything in a long time…

Oh!! Speaking of music: hello Fairport Convention BBC box set extravaganza hello. As if I had the eighty bananas to blow on this. I had to put the Pixies DVDs back. But Leland, bless him, made sure I didn’t leave the store without it.

On the Harry Potter funwrecker tip, Kelly Sue informs us via Twitter by way of Fraction that some mope has posted major Book 7 spoilers on the Internet.

I don’t know who, I don’t know where, I don’t know why. Well, okay, maybe I do know why. Because this person is an ass, that’s why.

Anyways. Take care where you click!

edited to add: scanned and posted the entire book; my bad

Just looked over some of my old reviews on Amazon.com and, wow… do I ever sound cranky in some of them. Well, except for the most recent, wherein I’m gushing. (So I gush about Vess! So sue me!)

Anyway. Leland and I have been off the grid in one form or another since last week — first out of town, next with heads down on the various and sundry projects (copywriting assignment and pitch for me, final approved first :01 script for him). But we did get to sneak out to last night’s reading at KGB, which featured an all-star line-up from the INTERFICTIONS anthology (that’s a link to their snazzy new blog). Rachel Pollack! Veronica Schanoes! Matthew Cheney! Ms. Valente! And a lovely young woman I’d never heard of before but am sure will hear much more from, K. Tempest Bradford. Afterwards we all went to Grand Schezuan on St. Mark’s, where we finally got to chat a bit for the first time with Ellen & Delia and Carol Scavella Burrell.

Whew.

Can I just say that the ladies of fantasy always have such great jewelry? Of course I would notice this.

Tonight there’s drinks with comics peeps at the Brooklyn Social, which I may or may not make it to, as tomorrow night is the pre-MoCCA kickoff at Rocketship and Saturday is my birthday. Wow! Just thinking about it exhausts me.

More later, including some comics pages. I need to go wash this Feria outta my hair now.

Terri has a few words here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander

NYCC: we came, we saw, we… got really, really tired…

Yes, as much as I love cons, they are exhausting. If you saw me at Rocketship on Saturday night, you may have noticed me swaying slightly, like a young tree blowning in the wind. It wasn’t the alcohol, people! Luckily, said alcohol ran out soon, so we retired to Angry Wade’s with our good friend Joe Infurnari and his collaborator Neal Schaffer (BORROWED TIME from Oni).

Picked up lots of fun stuff at the show, some of which I’ll review for Endicott (including Vess’ volume in TwoMorrows’ MODERN MASTERS series, a delightful surprise). Met Stephanie Law, an talented fantasy artist who is working on a Tarot deck that should make any publisher in their right mind completely rabid. [Confidential to the Llewellyn peeps checking in: folks, I was blown away.] The aforementioned Joe and I spent a good deal of time “working the floor,” talking to whoever would listen about a little sumpin’ sumpin’ we’ve got up our sleeves. As two natural pessimists, we were both kind of surprised at the positive response we received overall. Keep your fingers crossed for us; it’s a very cool project (okay, yeah, I’m biased).

A true highlight of the show was getting to hug my friend Gail Simone and her awesome husband. It’s been so long since I’ve seen either of them and darn it all, they’re just so cool.

And I sold a bunch of stuff at the Chemistry Set table! Booyah! Much thanks to Kevin Colden, who pulled the whole darned table thing together and put in the most face time, hands down. Caught up with several old pals at the table, including a very chipper David Gallaher (good to see you, dude).

Alongside the Vess Modern Masters thing, my personal not-to-be-missed book of the show has to be THE PLAIN JANES, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg. Leland found Rugg on the floor (I did not — boo) and picked up an advance copy, which I read immediately. Minx shall get off to a great start.

(via Warren Ellis)

Hey! It’s the Locus 2006 cover gallery.

Pretty cool, if you’re a nerd for such kinds of things, as I certainly am.

In other news, who knew that there was a new Amphigorey collection out and didn’t tell me? That’ll be 10 demerits.

1. Next year’s World Fantasy is in upstate New York.
2. Guy Gavriel Kay will be there.
3. The theme is ghosts. And folklore. Ghosts in folklore.

Please hold while I pass out.

Someone oughtta get Bob Place involved. He lives in the area and is an expert on Washington Irving.

Guy Gavriel Kay is a dude.