A lot of people are going to need a lot of help in the wake of the coronavirus.
Among them will be many artists and writers, whose incomes are uncertain at the best of times. No unemployment benefits for them.
My friends Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman have pointed me toward a website to assist creatives most in need: the Artist Relief Tree.
Check it out… and if your own circumstances allow, donate. It’s for a grand cause.
Current Mood: 
hopeful
Good news, Wild Carders.
Mark Lawrence is back with a brand new Visitor story, a sequel to his story in KNAVES OVER QUEENS.
It’s on Tor.com and it’s FREE.
Check it out. I think you’ll really enjoy this one. The Visitor is an amazing character, and Mark’s a wonderful writer.
And what better way to spend a day in self-quarantine than reading a great new story.
Current Mood: 
pleased
The world is changing so quickly around us these days that it is hard to keep up.
New Mexico has requested that all non-essential businesses close, to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. Accordingly, we are going to go ahead and shutter our bookstore, Beastly Books, on Montezuma Street in Santa Fe. As with the adjoining theatre, the Jean Cocteau Cinema, the store will remain closed until April 15, at which point we will re-evaluate and act accordingly.
I am going to continue to pay the Beastly Books staff during the closure, just as we’re going with the JCC. I urge all small business owners… and all large business owners, for that matter… to do the same. The economic consequences of the virus are going to be severe enough without throwing people out of work and cutting off their paychecks.
Although the brick-and-mortar side of Beastly Books will be closed, we will continue to sell books via mail order. You can choose from among our large stock of autographed books in all genres at https://jeancocteaucinema.com/product-category/signed-books/
JCC and Beastly Books will be back as soon as it’s safe, better than ever.
Thanks for your patience and understanding. And do keep safe, friends, wherever you are.
Current Mood: 
sad
Strange days are upon us. As ancient as I am, I cannot recall ever having lived through anything like the past few weeks.
We’re taking steps here in New Mexico, like everywhere else.
Meow Wolf is closed. A wise precaution, given the huge size of the crowds that customarily gather daily to see the House of Eternal Return. MW draws people from all over the country, indeed all over the world, and it is very much a hands-on exhibit where visitors are encouraged to touch everything and go everywhere. Shutting it down promptly was a good move.
As of today, I am also closing the Jean Cocteau Cinema. The JCC only has a seating capacity of 130, and we achieve that no more than three or four times a year; attendance at the theatre and the bar is usually well below the state-mandated cap of 50. Even so, why take chances? I prefer to err on the side of caution, so we’re shutting down the theatre until April 15, at which time we will take stock and re-evaluate. Honestly, I have no idea where things will stand in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the US, or the world in a month’s time. Things have been changing so fast. But our intent is to keep the theatre closed until the relevant authorities tell us that it is safe to reopen.
I am also shutting down my non-profit, the Stagecoach Foundation, for the duration. Stagecoach customarily holds classes and workshops in various aspects of film and television production, for kids aspiring to have careers in the entertainment industry, but we won’t be having any while the coronavirus is still raging.
Despite the shutdowns, we will continue to pay our employees at Stagecoach and the Jean Cocteau, for the foreseeable future.
We are keeping our bookstore, Beastly Books, open for the time being. The bookstore never has more than a handful of customers at any one time, except for author events — and we’re cancelling or postponing all of the signings and readings we had scheduled. We have stocked the store with disinfectants and sanitizers, and we will be carefully monitoring the situation going forward. If it seems best to shut the bookstore too, we will do that.
Meanwhile, however, our mail order service will also remain open. With quarantines, lockdowns, and social isolation on the menu everywhere, and all the usual entertainment venues closing their doors, reading is the best way to pass the empty hours. If you need a few books to get you through the next month or so and distract you from all that is going on in the world, we have some great reads on offer, and ALL our books are autographed. Have a browse at https://jeancocteaucinema.com/product-category/signed-books/
For those of you who may be concerned for me personally… yes, I am aware that I am very much in the most vulnerable population, given my age and physical condition. But I feel fine at the moment, and we are taking all sensible precautions. I am off by myself in a remote isolated location, attended by one of my staff, and I’m not going in to town or seeing anyone. Truth be told, I am spending more time in Westeros than in the real world, writing every day. Things are pretty grim in the Seven Kingdoms… but maybe not as grim as they may become here.
Some days, watching the news, I cannot help feeling as if we are all now living in a science fiction novel. But not, alas, the sort of science fiction novel that I dreamed of living in when I was a kid, the one with the cities on the Moon, colonies on Mars, household robots programmed with the Three Laws, and flying cars. I never liked the pandemic stories half so well…
Let us hope we all come through this safe and sound. Stay well, my friends. Better to be safe than sorry.
Current Mood: 
stressed
The year was 2007 when twenty-eight aces from all over the United States gathered in Hollywood to compete for a million dollars in the first season of the hit television series American Hero. Men and women, young and old, all gifted with astonishing powers, they were divided into four teams: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. Each week they were sent out to face an amazing array of challenges to test their courage, their resourcefulness, their teamwork, and their cunning. The winning team won immunity for a week; the others were required to discard one of their members.
As every Wild Cards fan know, the show did not go entirely as planned. Midway through that first season, a large group of discards and a couple of the contestants still in the fight abandoned Los Angeles for Egypt, where a community of jokers was faced with genocide. Some of them would die there. Their story was told in INSIDE STRAIGHT, volume eighteen in the series. But over the years, many readers have asked us — what happened to the rest of the contestants, the aces who stayed in Hollywood to finish the competition? What challenges did they face, who excelled, who stumbled, who was betrayed and discarded, who won the million dollars?
Their stories can at last be told in full, in AMERICAN HERO, a new ebook from Tor. Here is the flip side of INSIDE STRAIGHT, with material taken straight from the show’s official website. Here is every challenge told in detail, from the first week to the last, supplemented by confessionals from the contestants themselves, and commentary by the show’s three judges. Come revisit those halcyon days when a new generation of heroic aces stepped onto the national stage and showed their stuff. Jonathan Hive, Toad Man, Brave Hawk, Jade Blossom, the Amazing Bubbles, Jetman, Hardhat, Dragon Huntress, Simoon, Gardener, the Candle, Lohengrin, John Fortune, and many more… they’re all here.
AMERICAN HERO will be distributed through Tor’s usual ebook retailers and can be purchased for Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook, eBooks.com, and Google Play. Download to your platform and format of choice to read however you wish (iPad, ereader, computer, etc).
All of the buy links are listed here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765396402
And if by chance you missed INSIDE STRAIGHT and want to check that one out too, signed copies are available from Beastly Books… all of them autographed not only by me, but by several of the other contributing writers as well:
Current Mood: 
excited
Odyssey, held each summer in the ghastly haunted mountains of New Hampshire, is an intensive six-week workshop for aspiring writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I taught there once, years back, and witnessed first hand what an amazing experience it was… and in more recent years, I have sponsored an annual scholarship for a promising writer of Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
Applications for the workshop and my scholarship… and a wide range of other scholarships and financial aid packages… are now open, and will be accepted until APRIL 1.
All the details are here, in this press release from Odyssey itself:
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN SCHOLARSHIP
AND OTHER FINANCIAL AID FOR THOSE ATTENDING
THE ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP
The Odyssey Writing Workshop is an acclaimed, six-week program for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror held each summer in New Hampshire. Writers apply from all over the world; only fifteen are admitted. For those attending, Odyssey is pleased to announce that five scholarships and one work/study position are available.
Financial aid and scholarships are made available by supporters, alumni, various organizations, and Odyssey itself. We are very grateful for those who have donated to reduce the financial burden on students. Scholarships are awarded based on financial need, merit, or the specific criteria listed below. They range in size from several hundred dollars to over $4000.
NOTE: Several of the scholarships below require that you fill out the Odyssey Financial Need Statement. Contact Director Jeanne Cavelos for the form, which is due April 1.
Bestselling author George R. R. Martin is funding a scholarship for a horror writer attending Odyssey. The Miskatonic Scholarship will be awarded to a promising new writer of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It will cover full tuition and housing. To be considered, you must complete the Odyssey Financial Need Statement by April 1 and indicate on the form that you are interested in the Miskatonic Scholarship. A panel of three judges will select the winner from among the applicants who have demonstrated financial need, using the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications. As George notes, “we are not looking for Lovecraft pastiches, nor even Cthulhu Mythos stories. References to Arkham, Azathoth, shoggoths, the Necronomicon, and the fungi from Yuggoth are by no means obligatory…though if some candidates choose to include them, that’s fine as well. What we want is the sort of originality that H. P. Lovecraft displayed in his day, something that goes beyond the tired tropes of werewolves, vampires and zombies, into places strange and terrifying and never seen before. What we want are nightmares new and resonant and profound, comic terrors that will haunt our dreams for years to come.” Scholarship monies will be applied directly to tuition and housing for the 2020 workshop.
Funded by Pam Metcalf Harrington, Odyssey class of 2001, the Walter & Kattie Metcalf Singing Spider Scholarship is offered in honor of Pam’s parents, who encouraged a lifelong passion for reading and writing fantasy. The scholarship is also named for the infamous singing spiders, fictional characters who appeared in a novel excerpt submitted at Odyssey 2001. The scholarship will be awarded to a fantasy writer whose novel excerpt shows great skill and promise. A successful fantasy novelist spins a web of wonder, adventure, and intrigue that captivates readers and holds them spellbound through the lyrical flow of the prose. The novelist is, in essence, a ‘singing spider.’ To be considered for this scholarship, you must complete the Odyssey Financial Need Statement by April 1 and indicate on the form that you are interested in the Walter & Kattie Metcalf Singing Spider Scholarship. You must also use a novel excerpt as the writing sample for your Odyssey workshop application. A panel of three judges will select the winner using those novel excerpts. The scholarship covers full tuition.
Funded anonymously by an Odyssey graduate, this scholarship provides support to an outstanding writer of color each year. Those eligible include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and others. The Fresh Voices Scholarship seeks to offer opportunities for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority writers to learn at Odyssey and enrich the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres as a result. To be considered, you must complete the Odyssey Financial Need Statement by April 1, indicate on the form that you are interested in the Fresh Voices Scholarship, and provide your race/ethnicity. A panel of three judges will select the winner using the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications. The scholarship awards $2,000 toward Odyssey tuition.
Funded anonymously by an Odyssey supporter, this scholarship provides support to an outstanding fantasy writer each year. When readers are immersed in a fresh, vivid, believable fantasy world; engaged with compelling characters; involved in a suspenseful situation; and living, moment by moment, through an experience that could never occur in reality, the author has succeeded in creating an enchanted bond between reader and story. To be considered for this scholarship, you must complete the Odyssey Financial Need Statement by April 1 and indicate on the form that you are interested in the Enchanted Bond Scholarship. A panel of three judges will select the winner using the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications. The scholarship awards $1,000 toward Odyssey tuition.
Funded anonymously by an Odyssey graduate, this scholarship provides support to an outstanding writer of science fiction each year. According to quantum mechanics, when a pair of particles interact, they become entangled. Entangled particles remain connected so that the state of one determines the state of the other, even when the particles are far apart. Albert Einstein famously referred to this as “spooky action at a distance.” Powerful science fiction not only presents a compelling novum (new idea) based on science and builds a world consistent with that novum; it draws readers in past the science to a moving human story with characters that readers can care about and a conflict in which every twist and turn has an impact on readers’ emotions. When that happens, the author has succeeded in entangling readers and story, an effect that may last long after the story is finished and put away. To be considered for this scholarship, you must complete the Odyssey Financial Need Statement by April 1 and indicate on the form that you are interested in the Quantum Entanglement Scholarship. A panel of three judges will select the winner using the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications. The scholarship awards $1,000 toward Odyssey tuition.
The Chris Kelworth Memorial Scholarship will be offered to a Canadian writer admitted to Odyssey. Chris, a 2013 Odyssey graduate, was an inspiration to many Odyssey alumni and a strong believer in creating systems and participating in events to increase his productivity, such as setting goals, attending workshops, and participating in NaNoWriMo. This scholarship, funded by alumni and friends of Chris, will cover $900 of tuition. A separate application is required and due April 1. Contact Director Jeanne Cavelos for the Chris Kenworthy Memorial Scholarship application. A panel of three judges will select the winner using the information in the scholarship applications and the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications.
Applicants from the New York Metropolitan Area (including New Jersey) who are accepted into Odyssey are eligible to apply for a scholarship from the Donald A. and Elsie B. Wollheim Memorial Scholarship Fund. This fund was created in 1989 by the New York Science Fiction Society–the Lunarians, one of New York’s oldest and largest science fiction and fantasy clubs, to help developing writers attend major science fiction/fantasy writing programs affiliated with higher institutions of learning. The amount of the scholarship is variable depending on need and the availability of funds. Scholarship monies will be applied directly to tuition for the 2020 workshop. If you are accepted into Odyssey and would like to pursue this possibility, contact Director Jeanne Cavelos for the special application form immediately upon your acceptance.
If you write horror, you are eligible for one or both of the scholarships offered by the Horror Writers Association, each worth $2,500, which can be applied toward Odyssey tuition and housing. Applications open on May 1.
Since Odyssey is a member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, those accepted into Odyssey can apply for AWP’s three Kurt Brown Prizes, scholarships of $500 each for emerging writers. Applications are accepted from December 1 to March 30.
One work/study position is also available. The work/study student spends about six hours per week performing duties for Odyssey, such as photocopying, sending stories to guests, distributing mail to students, and preparing for guest visits. Odyssey reimburses $800 of the work/study student’s tuition, half at the end of Week 3 of the workshop and half at the end of the workshop.
The work/study student will be expected to fulfill the regular requirements of Odyssey in addition to these duties. This will make for a very demanding six weeks, but for a student who needs the financial assistance, the work/study position offers a good opportunity. Contact Director Jeanne Cavelos for more details and a work/study application. Work/study applications are due April 30.
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Current Mood: pleased
This is really too cool.
A new genus of pteradon has been discovered, and named after the dragons of House Targaryen.
I am delighted, needless to say. Especially by the kind words of the discoverer, paleontologist Rodrigo Pegas, who is solidly on my side about dragons having two legs, not four, and pfui on those medieval heralds with their wyvern talk.
Alas, there is no evidence that the real-life Targaryendraco wiedenrothi actually breathed fire.
No evidence… yet.
Current Mood: 
bouncy
It’s that time of year again, where we here at Fevre River get to reveal next years ultra awesome brand spanking new Song of Ice and Fire calendar cover art! As always we like to bring you a variety of styles from an assortment of freaky talented artists and this year is no different as we feature the work of Sam Hogg.
Here is our calendar cover featuring poor young Quentyn’s attempt to tame a dragon:
…and here is a little about Sam and her work:
‘With a love of fantastical and narrative imagery, illustrator and concept artist Sam Hogg’s career has spanned a multitude of genres across the entertainment industry. She has worked with clients such as Playground Games, Blizzard, Dark Horse Comics, Critical Role and many more over the course of her 10-year career. Beyond her professional work, she can be found bringing her elegant, feminine aesthetic to a dark fantasy world of whalers and pirates in her personal project, The Whaler Girl.
And her website to see more www.artofsamhogg.com
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER.
Current Mood: excited
Current Mood: 
geeky
I was deeply saddened this week to read of the death of Mike Resnick, one of the true giants of contemporary science fiction. Mike has been battling serious illness for some time, so the news did not come as a complete surprise… but it came too soon, too soon, and our field and our community will be the poorer for his absence.
I don’t recall when I first met Mike, but it was a long, long time ago, back in the 1970s when both of us were still living in Chicago. I was a young writer and he was a somewhat older, somewhat more established writer. There were a lot of young writers in the Chicago area in those days, along with three more seasoned pros, Gene Wolfe, Algis Budrys, and Mike. What impressed me at the time… and still impresses me, all these years later… was how willing all three of them were to offer their advice, encouragements, and help to aspiring neo-pros like me. Each of them in his own way epitomized what this genre and this community were all about back then. Paying forward, in Heinlein’s phrase.
And no one paid it forward more than Mike Resnick.
He was fine writer, and a prolific one, as all his Hugo and Nebula nods will testify. After they started giving out those little rocket pins for Hugo nominations, Resnick would wear them on his shirt like medals: pointed up for a story that won, down for a story that lost. That always charmed me. Mike won the Hugo five times; once for novella, once for novelette, thrice for short story (like me, he never won the big one, Best Novel). He lost a lot more (we had that in common as well). He took that in stride, with a shrug and a smile, in the true spirit of a Hugo Loser.
He never won for Best Editor either, and as best I recall he was nominated only once, under unfortunate circumstances. That was a pity. He deserved more recognition for his editing. He edited something like forty anthologies, I believe, and he always made a point to fill them with a lot of young aspiring writers, new names and no-names making their first or second or fifth professional sale. I can’t say how many careers he helped launch, but it was a lot. In modern times, only Gardner Dozois was more assiduous in searching out new talent. Mike called his discoveries his “writer babies” and they called him their “writer daddy,” and many a time I would see him in the lobby of a con hotel, with a dozen of his literary children sitting around his feet as he shared his wisdom with them… along with a funny story and ribald anecdote or two.
His last great act as an editor was the founding of GALAXY’S EDGE, a new SF magazine that he launched… in an act of madness that was all Mike… at the time when the old magazines were struggling to survive. GALAXY’S EDGE always featured a lot of new writers too, and Mike paid them decent rates… a feat he accomplished by twisting the arms of old coots like me to give him reprints for pennies, to free up more money for the newcomers. (Lots of us old coots were glad to do it. Like Mike, we believe in paying forward). I hope and trust that GALAXY’S EDGE will keep going strong, as a lasting testament to his legacy.
These days, all too often, I meet writers who come to conventions only to promote themselves and their books. They do their panels, and you bump into them at the SFWA Suite, but nowhere else. Not Mike. Mike Resnick was fannish to the bone. You’d find him at publisher’s parties and the SFWA suite, sure, but he’d also pop up at bid parties, in the bar, in the con suite. He made more than one Hugo Loser party, both before and after the days I was running it. You’d see him in the dealer’s room, at the art show, at the masquerade… his Chun the Unavoidable costume, from Jack Vance’s DYING EARTH, was a classic. When he appeared on panels, he was funny, sharp, irascible, irreverent, always entertaining… and he would do entire panels without once plugging his own new book, a trick more program participants should learn. The place you’d find him most often at worldcon was the CFG suite, the redoubt of the Cincinnati Fan Group. He was the professional’s professional, sure, but Mike was also the fan’s fan. For some writers conventions are for selling, selling, selling… for Mike, they were more about giving, giving, giving. And having fun. That too. Mike always seemed to be smiling or laughing. He loved science fiction, fantasy, fandom, writing, reading, cons… and he shared his passion with everyone around him.
Science fiction has lost a fine writer, a unique voice, a magnificent mentor… and a profoundly good and decent man.
Current Mood: 
melancholy
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