Back from Technicon in Virginia last night, late (insert rant about airlines and TSA here). Had a great time.

Off to Oddcon in Madison, Wisconsin at the crack of dawn on Wednesday (insert rant about airlines and the TSA here). Expect to have a great time again.

Madly trying to catch up today and tomorrow. I was away from my computer three days, and 450 emails accumulated in my absence. Sigh.

If you’re within travelling distance of Madison, come see me there. Later.

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Another reason to love science fiction fandom…

Terry Pratchett, the world’s funniest fantasist, has donated half a million pounds sterling (well over a million dollars) for research into the causes and cures of Alzheimer’s Disease. Which might prompt most people to say, “Hey, good for Terry.” But it’s prompted a lot of SF fans and writers to say, “Hey, that’s a pretty good start,” and launch their own effort to match Terry’s incredibly generous donation.

The effort was launched by Pat Cadigan (a terrific writer herself, queen of cyberpunk and once one of the Wild Cards gang), and has been snowballing rapidly with lots of other fans and writers joining in. “It looks like the blogosphere is making the fight against Alzheimer’s a whole lot stronger,” a spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Research Trust wrote to Pat, as she reported on her own Live Journal. At the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, we’ve been overwhelmed by the support from around the world since Terry’s donation and speech on Thursday. It’s completely unprecedented for us: we’re truly grateful.”

There’s all sorts of ways that you too can help, and I hope you will.

You can just go to http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/ and donate however much you can spare. Tell them it’s for Terry Pratchett, so it will count as part of the Match It For Pratchett campaign.

Or you can go to http://poosk.com/2008/03/14/match-it-for-pratchett/ and buy the Match It For Pratchett t-shirt. All profits will go to Alzheimer’s research.

Or you can head on over to ebay at http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbenveniste and bid on one of the books I’ve donated to the campaign. Let’s see, there’s a copy of the deluxe leather-bound GAME OF THRONES rpg from Guardians of Order (out of print), a signed hardcover of my young adult book THE ICE DRAGON (illustrated by the wonderful Yvonne Gilbert), a presentation copy of the signed limited illustrated edition of FEVRE DREAM from Subterranean Press (sold out), a hardcover copy of SHADOW TWIN, the novella on which HUNTER’S RUN was based (signed by me, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham), a hardcover of the new Wild Cards book INSIDE STRAIGHT (signed by seven of the nine contributors), and all sorts of other great stuff… including a set of bound galleys of GOOD OMENS, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. All monies raised will go to Alzheimer’s research, and there are some great collectibles on offer, so please, head on over to ebay and bid, bid, BID.

There’s also an official Match It For Pratchett website where you can check out the latest news about the campaign — and there should be plenty of news in the weeks and months to come, with more auctions, merchandise, contests, and other fund-raising efforts being planned. Bookmark http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/

This is a great cause headed up by some great people. They’ve already raised a lot of money, but there’s still a long way to go to match Terry’s donation. Please help.

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I hate this time of year. First off, it’s tax time, so I have spent most of the last three days dealing with little bits of paper, to get things in order for my accountant. The process was less painful this year, since I had my valiant assistant, Ty Franck, to help with the process — but that doesn’t mean it was fun. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization, and I don’t mind paying them, really I don’t. It’s just the bloody record keeping that drives me mad.

Ah, well. It’s done now. Everything is in the hands of my accountant, and in a few weeks he’ll get back to me and let me know how much I owe. (A lot. You guys buy a lot of books. Do keep that up, please).

Meanwhile, spring has come to Santa Fe. Flowers are popping up, leaves are appearing shyly on trees, grass is growing. Which means my allergies are popping up as well. That’s the other thing I hate about this time of year. Sneezing, sniffing, watery eyes, popping pills.
Bah, humbug. ‘Winter is coming’ may sound ominous, but it’s ‘spring is here’ that makes me blood run cold. Ah – CHOOO. sniff sniff sniff

There’s cool news too. Awards and more awards.

Let’s see. The audiobook of DREAMSONGS (vol 1), produced by Janet Stark and Random House Audio, and featuring a stellar cast of readers including Yours Truly, has been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award as the best science fiction audiobook of 2007. We’re up against Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, Diana Paxson, and Jack Finney. For a full list of all the Audie nominations, visit http://www.theaudies.com/

And DREAMSONGS (vol 1) is also up for the Golden Chazzie. Actually, it’s up for two Golden Chazzies — one for Best Fiction, and one for Best Audiobook. To tell the truth, I don’t know much about the Golden Chazzie. If you go to http://www.needcoffee.com/2007-chazzie-nominations/ you will know as much about the Chazzies as I do. It appears to be an award given by some guys who need coffee. Hey, if I win, I’ll send them some! (Or would that be considered to be bribing the judges?) I hope it’s made of real gold.

The Hugo nominations are also out. I was thrilled to see Daniel Abraham make the list in novelette, and very pleased that the novel list included Michael Chabon’s novel. I liked the Campbell finalists as well.

Got to say, though, I was disappointed by some of the other categories… not so much because of who made the ballot, but because of who didn’t. We missed our last chance to honor Ellen Asher for her long decades of great work as editor of the Science Fiction Book Club, and that’s a shame. And the Best Fanzine nominators continue to ignore the growing importance of blogs and websites. One day a blogozine will win a place on the ballot, and one day John Howe and Alan Lee and the other deserving artists I wrote about last month will get some recognition… but not this year, it seems.

Oh, well. As the Brooklyn Dodger fans of my childhood were wont to say, “Wait’ll Next Year.”

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Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka.

Clarke was one of the the all time greats, and his books will be remembered for as long as people still read science fiction. These days he is best known to the general public for his role in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and for his RAMA series… but to my mind his masterpiece is CHILDHOOD’S END, one of the best SF novels ever written, and a true mind-blower when it was first published. Many of his other early novels deserve to be rediscovered as well, especially AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT (later revised as THE CITY AND THE STARS, but I prefer the original version, partly because it has such a spectacularly great title) and THE DEEP. He wrote some stunning short stories as well, including “The Star” and “The Nine Billion Names of God.” His TALES FROM THE WHITE HART stories were fun too, in a lighter vein. Clarke lived in Sri Lanka during most of my adult life, so I was never able to sit down and have a beer with him at a convention, alas… but I felt I knew him all the same, from his writing. I think that was true for a lot of us.

A fine writer and a good man. He’ll be missed.

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Here’s the cover of the first issue of Bantam’s new promotional magazine, SpectraPULSE, which will be given away free to attendees at the New York City Comicon in April and the San Diego Comicon this summer. Just swing by the Bantam Spectra booth for your copy,

The issue will include a new, never-before-seen chapter from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. (Only slightly abridged). For more details, see my news page.

And no, alas, SpectraPULSE will not be on sale at your local bookstore or newsstand. Though I imagine that copies will be turning up on ebay at inflated ripoff prices. (Remember, this magazine is being given away FREE, so whatever the seller gets on ebay is pure profit).

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Well, I finished a chapter of the DANCE this morning. Which ordinarily would not be occasion for comment, but this was a Bran chapter that I’ve been struggling with for something like six years. Bran has always been the toughest character to write, for a whole bunch of reasons, but this chapter in particular was killing me.

Anyway, that’s one done. (Unless I wake up tomorrow, reread what I’ve done, decide that I hate it, and tear the whole thing up. Which does happen from time to time).

Now let’s hope the NEXT Bran chapter doesn’t take six years as well.

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The Giants have just signed David Carr to back up Eli at QB. It’s a one-year one-mil contract, so the risk is not great, but I’m not thrilled. Carr is a former #1 overall draft pick, just like Eli was a couple of years later, but Carr had the misfortune to be drafted by the Texans, where he played human pinata for five years. He’s been sacked way more than any other QB in the NFL over the same time span, and I fear may have had his potential knocked out of him. If Eli goes down, I’d much rather see Jared Lorenzen coming in behind center. The Hefty Lefty has a bigger arm than Carr, and much more upside.

Oh, well. Maybe Eli will prove to be as indestructible as his brother Peyton. Knock wood.

Meanwhile, the Jets have gone on a MAJOR free agent shopping spree. Alan Faneca, Kris Jenkins, Damian Woody, Calvin Pace, Tony Richardson. Maybe Ty Law too, we’ll see. Some of the new additions are older than I’d like, but still, Mangini’s boys should be considerably better next year… and unlike some, I still trust in Chad as our QB. With a solid offensive line protecting him, he can be very effective, “weak arm” or no.

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Robin Hobb Speaks Truth: http://robinhobb.com/rant.html

Reading this was painful. Hits too close to home.

Maybe I have to start posting here less often.

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I’ve done a new podcast, for the website of the 2008 World Fantasy Convention in Calgary. It can be found at

http://worldfantasy2008.libsyn.com/

for those who are interested.

Elsewise? Writing. Gaming. Editing.

Oh, and we have a new kitten, an orange Maine Coon Cat, female. So far she’s the Kitten Without a Name, but we’ll come up with one soon, I’m sure. She’s a great hit with me and Parris, but Caligula is less than pleased at the presence of another cat in the house, and he hisses and spits whenever he sees her. So

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