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!

So I’m sitting next to Mary K. Greer, one half of Tarot’s Grand Dame Dynamic Duo (Rachel being the other half, natch), and I say, “Didn’t I see you with some knitted Tarot cases?” (Her amazing blog is new to me, you understand, so I was unawares that she’s been knitting these for a while now.)

Mary: “Yeah!”
Me: “Do you have any left?”
Mary: “I sold most of them…”
Me: “Awesome! Well…hrm.”
Mary: “Wait, you’re a knitter, you can totally make your own…”
Me: “Yeah, but it wouldn’t be a MARY GREER bag!!”
Mary: *smiles*
Me: “Sheesh!”

I nabbed the yellow one in these shots. It’s got a little Goddess charm on it. I am totally nerding out!! I’ll put my new Arabian Nights deck in it.

Can you tell I’m back from The Readers Studio?

Yes, this weekend was a total whirlwind, and so nourishing after the month I’ve had. Marketing seminar, three copy gigs, NYCC, preparing for the Studio, and of course PREVIEWS hits next week (I think) which means BLUE promo begins in earnest, like, now. I think April 2008 is the busiest month I’ve had since I’ve quit my job, and that’s kind of saying something. I’m looking forward to May in a big way, and not just because spring is finally here.

The Readers Studio was a gas, and it was great seeing so many good friends. Some of these folks I’ve known for about 8 years now, having met them back in the early early 2000s at American Tarot Association meetups. Man, I miss those. They were tiny (never more than 50 people) and scattered (I think they had one in each of 6 regions throughout the US), and the ratio of presenters to attendees was something like 8:1… always an intimate, intense experience with those of like mind. I can honestly say that those early events were the beginning of a shift for me, the beginning of the path I’m on right now.

I will never forget the very first ATA event I attended… walking into a hotel lobby (can’t remember exactly where - Albany, probably) and sucking up the vibrant energy of cool, creative, extremely smart and refreshingly normal occultists, people genuinely interested in their personal transformation, their feet firmly on the ground and their minds going a mile a minute with so much to share. This was well before I got the whole “heart family” thing worked out (I was practicing with a group at that time, but they were the wrong group and were to go kaboom shortly thereafter)… and well before I’d finally admitted to myself that I was a writer (in fact, I dropped out of the scene for a few years while getting my writing underway in earnest). I think in some way that world was leading me to the inevitable, and I remain grateful.

So many wild and cool things over the years…

… My first reading from Matt (he was 19! I can’t remember what it was about, but I do remember going, “Who the hell is this kid and who was he in a previous incarnation? Sweet Lord in Heaven…”)
… Meeting John Gilbert first, and his double-take at how young I looked (still way older than Matt tho)
… Barbara, looking beautiful, polished and professional as she stood at the podium to announce that Llewellyn was going to distribute Lo Scarabeo decks in the US (and then the crowd went naners, trust me)
… Meeting Rachel for the first time, and being so intimidated because, you know, holy shit, that’s Rachel Pollack
… Chic “Frater Kodak” Cicero striding into the hotel lobby in a photog’s utility vest (read: pockets galore) with what seemed like two tons of camera equipment trailing behind him
… Being politely, yet repeatedly, hit on by a certain wild & wacky West Coast ceremonial magician and author (who will remain nameless)
… The one and only time I’ve ever seen anyone actually read with Tarot Of The Cat People
… Making out in the stairwell about an hour later with the one and only person who has ever given me a reading with Tarot Of The Cat People (I was totally hung up on someone else and couldn’t even enjoy it; luckily, Mr. Tarot Of The Cat People was astute enough to pick up on the cues and sweet enough to be, well, sweet about it)
… My first run-in with Lon (”A pretty girl reading my book in the hotel lobby… it’s like every author’s dream come true. Where’s my camera?”)
… Lon giving me the 411 on the temple of Solomon over a huge plate of fries and a Tom Collins
… Mary Greer chaperoning as 100+ Tarotists as they reverently fondle a real, live original Rider-Waite deck from 1910, purchased by Stuart Kaplan in an eBay bidding war only days before (I took pictures of this momentous event with that old camera watch from back in the day, but alas and alack, I can’t find them any more)
… Wald & Ruth Ann’s wedding in hotel room transformed into a ceremonial temple, complete with checkerboard floor

And now Wald & Ruth Ann continue to carry on the tradition. No gin or kissing this time, but I did give a talk on marketing that was very well-received!

I did a bit of blogging about the event on my new site, BuildYourMetaphysicalBusiness.com. You know, the one I haven’t officially announced over here yet. Lots more to say about the event, but I’ll do it over there.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ll be raving about cool decks here and on Endicott.

My dad’s birthday, at least. Have a happy one, fellah. (Yes, I’m callin’ home later!)

I’ve had my head down writing copy for the past few days and am a bit behind on blogs and things. Much thanks to Midori for mentioning BLUE over at Endicott. There have been a lot of cool posts over there lately, so please do visit if you haven’t in a while.

Like this important bit: Delia and Chris barzak have announced the call for submissions for Interfictions 2! Awesome!

The sun is finally coming out in Brooklyn, and to celebrate, Leland’s bottle tree has poked its head above the surface for the first time:

That was probably the easy part. Despite my Cancerian supposed green thumb, I tend to kill any plant in my care. However, I seem to be doing something right, as the herb basket mom sent along appears to be thriving:

I have to credit Leland with this - I came “this close” to chucking it all when the first shoots were a little wimpy. He saved the day. As usual.

Crazy busy month this month. Not quite sure how I’m going to manage it all…

So, I head on over to the UPS store on 7th, and lo and behold, my copy of New York Magazine has arrived, the New York Canon issue, the one with “196 Cultural Works That Best Defined The City Since This Magazine Began” on the cover. This makes me very happy, as I am an old skool New York nerd and there’s lots of old skool in a list like this.

But of course, with a list like that, certain things will immediately spring to mind. For me, one certain record, the “if this ain’t on the list I’m going to cause a riot” record, immediately pops into my head, not a fraction of a second after I lay eyes on Madonna circa ‘83 (who graces the cover, natch).

I anxiously flip through the pages. Flip-flip-flip. Scan the music section. Scan-scan-scan…

And it’s there! PAUL’S BOUTIQUE is there! And lo, the sometimes shaky ground on which my psyche rests remains firmly in place; the world continues to turn on its axis, etc.

The rest of the list is pretty cool. Reminds me of a lot of stuff I’ve always meant to check out but for one reason or another haven’t yet.

Whew. Gives you some clue as to my mental state today. Had my head down working for most of it, but did manage to get out to Prospect Park to watch the sun go down.

Looks like I’ll actually be on a Weird Tales panel at NYCC, with Stephen and Molly C. and (meep) Mike Mignola. Friday at 2 pm. Apparently Leland’s ACT-I-VATE panel is at the exact same time, as is the Vertigo panel. This seems very wrong.

Overheard at Deep 6 today:

Simon: “You oughtta be able to go to Philadelphia with us this weekend. Your wife was off… canoodling with Gene Simmons.”
Leland: “She was not canoodling!”

Oh yeah?

OK, that’s enough cryptastic-ness for now.

Finally! Dean’s Next Door Neighbor project has launched!

“Everybody has one. And, no matter how close or how far, we all live next to someone, and we all have a Next-Door Neighbor story,” says NDN Editor Dean Haspiel. “With this in mind, I asked some of my favorite storytellers and cartoonists to create their favorite NDN stories so that we at SMITH Magazine could share them with you over the next year.”

The first wave of stories launches with an urban “daymare” titled “Next-Door Neighborless” written by novelist Jonathan Ames and illustrated by Nick Bertozzi, whose graphic novel The Salon, was hailed as among the best comics of 2007. Upcoming stories feature the talents of Kevin Colden, John Cebollero, Joan Reilly, Ed Piskor, and Miss Lasko-Gross. The second wave will be announced in June and includes a super-secret, special first-time writer/artist matchup.

And me.

(Incidentally, what Dean says up there rings true, at least for me. I didn’t think I had a next door neighbor story. Turns out I did, with a little pondering.)

Not sure when my story goes live, but I can say with all definitiveness that it was drawn by talented newcomer Mike Jasorka of Bombshell Comics.

Anyways. Ames and Bertozzi are up first; it’s pretty sweet stuff so check it out.

Back from Boston and a great visit with Kat. We spent some of it in cemeteries, including this one:

So Carla is blowing my mind with her mad phat character design technique. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun trying to figure out what my people LOOK like. It’s usually one of my least favorite parts of the process, because I have next-to-no vocabulary for it (indeed, it’s one of the very few things that can reduce Leland and I to a bickering old couple in about five minutes). The problem boils down to my totally annoying habit of really counting on the artist to fill in my gaps when most artists, kindly, are much more concerned with giving me what I want. When I don’t know what the fudge that is, well, we have a problem.

Anyway. Who knew that searching for Carla’s reference shots would lead me back to everyone’s favorite fire-and-brimstone alt.country rockers, 16 Horsepower? There is some serious religious irony here.

By way of Simon: Garfield Minus Garfield

By way of Bee: Wear a sweater for Mr. Rogers

For my brother, who used to sit riveted in front of the TV back in the Day: EMERGENCY! reruns

Cav’s piece on Deep6 (that’s Fiffe sitting behind Simon at Leland’s desk, by the way)

Tarotists: I think this is a fabulous idea.

I’m due to leave for Port Authority in a few, so I’m not sure why I’m sitting here rambling on. Going to see my old friend Kat in Boston. It’ll be good to get away for the weekend - I could use the change of scenery and a little of that old-skool New England charm, truth be told.

Ah, I’m getting a little verklempt…

My friend Anton regaled me for a year with tales of writing this bad boy… and now it’s out!

Today, in fact. Fans of paranormal investigation stories, start your wiggling!

In other Anton news, a little birdie told me that he’ll be signing at B&N over on 6th Avenue & 8th Street (you know, that one over by the West 4th Street station), tonight at 7:30.

Congrats, dude. I wish you nothing but every smashing success (you know, as long as the smashing’s metaphorical).

I don’t think I revealed the artist of awesomeness on the Tori Amos anthology story, did I? I meant to, and was going to, then promptly forgot.

Anyway, huzzah:

And the squeeing continues! And sympathy. As Lady Speed ’splains on her blog, she’s currently choking under a killer deadline - four inked pages a day or some such. As we’ve been through it a time or two in this household, I’ve seen that bad boy firsthand and up close - it ain’t fun.

I’m still not allowed to spill which song we’re doing for the Tori book, else a certain Darling Yet In No Uncertain Terms Mighty Editor will have no choice but to defy time and space between Southern California and Brooklyn to smite me, uh, mightily. Trust me, he just doesn’t need the hassle right now.

In other news, Streetfables veteran and Brooklyn comics maverick Kevin Colden has unveiled Strangle/Switch on Zuda. It’s sharp as tacks so far, so go give it a whirl. And your support! Because then we’d have two Brooklyn comics maverick Zuda winners, and that would not be a bad thing at all.

David Gallaher, the second maverick alluded to above, dropped a note yesterday to announce a new webcomics collective, The Scienteers. Yay! However, I would love it if I had an easier list of contributors to navigate, as I am impatient.

The primitive mad dash for SDCC hotel rooms begins tomorrow @ 12 pm EST sharp. Yes, I will be participating. Our “backup plan” - hastily arranged yesterday - would cost more than our monthly rent. Sweet Lord In Heaven. (Confidential to all finances-paranoid parents who are reading this: relax. It will work out, much cheaper.)

… and their keepers, if you happen to be in the city on February 12, mark your calendars. I hear tell that one Ms. Libba Bray will be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble at 7 pm, wrapping up the The Sweet Far Thing World Domination Tour 2008.

I also hear there will be singing. Not sure if she’ll be bringing the boogie; nonetheless, I will most likely be there raising the roof from wherever I’m sitting/standing.

You know, as is my way.

ALSO! Sweet Lord In Heaven, it’s the Spiderwick Chronicles premiere photos!