Updates

young adult

Before I saw this film I was getting ready to hate it. Then something weird happened: Young Adult turned out to be one gem of a film.

This is directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Diablo Cody, you say! Do I love Juno? I enjoyed it, but it gave me too much slang. Jennifer’s Body is a parody of teenage horror films, and it worked perfectly. 

Young Adult is about failure and sadness, and it is spot-on.

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) writes young adult novels. She looks perpetually disheveled and miserable, gulping Coke like a thirsty sailor first thing in the morning. One day, while trying to work on the last book in the series, she receives an email from an old flame. He is now married, with child. Mavis, in her depression, gets this brilliant idea: What if I steal my ex-boyfriend from his wife?

Unlike in Cody’s previous films, characters here do not talk constantly (most of the time we are forced to simply observe Mavis – as she puts on make-up, as she stares at herself, as she turns her back to us to gorge on KFC), and when they do, they are more blunt than witty.

I love this film. That is all I am going to say. Watch it.

back

I wasn’t online for two days due to a work-related workshop, wherein I learned that when giving CPR, and you’re a wee bit overweight, your knees tend to hurt like hell. My entire weight crushing my kneecaps – what an excellent mode of torture. I have bruises on both knees to prove it to you.

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Anyway, before that, on Tuesday, Charles Tan told me to listen to Emily Jiang and Rose Lemberg talk about speculative poetry in a Locus Roundtable. I listened to it while jogging Wednesday night. It was great to finally hear their voices! I had to stop jogging when Rose mentioned my name.

It’s a great podcast. Listen to the whole thing!

As part of our series on poetry, I was happy to get Emily Jiang and Rose Lemberg to talk with me about their experiences with the speculative poetry community. You can tell that this was recorded before Wiscon; I hope that everyone had a great time there! You can read more of Emily’s work atStrange Horizons, and see the product of Rose’s editing work at Stone Telling. – Karen Burnham

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 Before that, J had a great birthday dinner, took his Financial Math exam (second in a series of actuarial exams that he’s taking – if you’re looking for an actuary, tell us!) and learned that he passed!

He took me out to dinner Tuesday night:

Congrats!
Heaven & Eggs. Bring back your old decor. Your rock & roll theme just looks weird, but the food’s still good!

These photos have been posted on Instagram. (Oh, right, I have an Instagram account – follow me if you wish.)

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Getting bored with all of my books for some reason, so re-reading Moxyland. Also, I need a bookshelf.

kristine ong muslim reviews ‘lower myths’

Posted on Amazon:

Lower Myths is Eliza Victoria’s splendid two-story debut collection. I like the second novella better than the first one. “The Very Last Case of Messrs. Aristotel and Arkimedes Magtanggol, Attorneys-at-Law” unfolds at an Elmore Leonard pace – brute, concise, confident. There’s a combination of boldness and grace in Lower Myths, making it an enjoyable romp into the macabre. I imagined the two stories, with their distinct Philippine flavor and genre trappings culled straight from the vernacular, would have made excellent graphic novels.

Kristine is the author of We Bury the Landscape, and she serves as poetry editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction.

I am a fan of Kristine, and Elmore Leonard, and this review made me happy.

book number 2 for flipside publishing

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few days now, but since I already have the contract (which I have every intention of signing) in my hands, I can finally announce that Flipside Publishing, publisher of my book, Lower Myths, has accepted a short novel of mine for publication.

Title and opening paragraphs after the cut.

Continue reading book number 2 for flipside publishing

homeland

Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is an analyst of the CIA who is informed by an asset that an American POW has been turned by al-Qaeda. Ten months later, Carrie learns in an emergency meeting that a US Marine Sergeant named Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), declared missing in action in 2003, has been rescued in a raid. While the CIA and the rest of the country tout Brody a war hero, Carrie sets up an unauthorized surveillance system in the Marine’s home, wiretapping his phones and observing his life, believing Brody is a terrorist on American soil.

It becomes complicated, with Carrie’s assets and informants and false leads, and her mood disorder which can make you question her credibility. Throw in a good mix of domestic drama and infidelity and you end up with a confusing web of lies. Is he or isn’t he? But you realize the plot is actually simple, once you go through the episodes and filter the truth from the lie, once you find out the horrible act that set all of these events in motion.

It’s a very compelling watch.

one for daily science fiction

My story, “Fairy Tales”, is set to go out to Daily Science Fiction‘s 4,500 subscribers this Friday, June 8. It will appear, for free, on the DSF site a week later. I’m proud of this story and I’m very excited to share this with you.

Like DSF on Facebook – www.Facebook.com/DailySF – and spread the word!

Here are the stories lined up for June:

Daily Science Fiction Stories for June, 2012.

Earth — May 28, 2012 — The following stories are scheduled for email distribution in June of 2012. Each story will be posted at http://www.dailysciencefiction.com one week after its exclusive email distribution. The stories from June 2012 will appear in a Kindle edition available on Amazon.

June 1 “The Time of Their Visitation” by Lisa Nohealani Morton

June 4 “The Princess and the Monster” by Ryan Creel

June 5 “An Open Letter in Defense of Our Alien Overlords” by Katherine Heath Shaeffer

June 6 “Metal and Flesh” by Steven R. Stewart

June 7 “Angel Plantation” by Tina Connolly

June 8 “Fairy Tales” by Eliza Victoria 

June 11 “Double Exposure” by Lou Antonelli

June 12 “Deathday” by Jonas David

June 13 “British Colonial” by Amanda Clark

June 14 “The Magician of Words” by Ruth Nestvold

June 15 “The Pretty Woman Without Mercy” by Steven Mathes

June 18 “Faerie Food” by Kat Otis

June 19 “Ryan’s World” by Paul Ebbs

June 20 “Dark Roads for the Eternal Ruler” by Eric James Stone

June 21 “Peas, Plots, and Peril” by Melissa Mead

June 22 “The Midnight Knock Again” by Patricia Russo

June 25 “Taking Care of Ma” by Lee Hallison

June 26 “The Watchmaker’s Gift” by Rich Matrunick

June 27 “The Dream of the Night-Shift Power Worker” by Edoardo Albert

June 28 “Sacred Artifacts” by Greg Leunig

June 29 “Answer Man” by A.J. Barr