First the Jets, now the Giants. Life is meaningless and has no purpose.

The Giants and Cowboys did put on a barnburner, at least. I thought the G-Men were going to blow them out in the first quarter — and they might have, if Amani Toomer had only gotten his toes down on Eli’s second TD bomb. Then at the end, I thought maybe they’d somehow pull it out with a miracle finish. But it was not to be.

Everything in between is best forgotten.

Best game I’ve seen from Plax. Eli should just have thrown to him every play. Derrick Ward showed some good stuff too, and Amani Toomer came back bigtime from last season’s injury. The Giants O-line held up better than expected, but their D-line generated absolutely no pressure. Strahan decided not to retire, I know, but you couldn’t tell it by his presence on the field today. Where were the sacks?

I know most football fans love games like this, with all the scoring, but not me. I like good defense. I didn’t see one on the field today. Neither the Giants nor the Cowboys seems to have a defense. Neither team could stop the other. Both have lots of high-priced defensive stars, but that doesn’t seem to translate to actual stops.

The Giants injuries are more worrisome than losing the game. Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, Osi Umenyoira… that’s our starting QB, starting RB, and best pass rusher. Losing all three in the first game is no way to begin a season.

(And all my best wishes are going out to that poor TE on the Bills)

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DREAMSONGS is on the way this fall, in two big volumes, and the good folks at Bantam Books have donated a couple of ARCs (that’s Advanced Reading Copies, for those of you who don’t speak Publishing Lingo, a fancy sort of bound galley put out in advance of a book’s publication to generate buzz and blurbs and reviews) to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Pat will be giving them away to some lucky winner in his latest contest, and I’ve agreed to autograph ’em, even add a personal inscription if you like.

If you would like to enter, get yourself over to http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ for details of how the contest works. Pat has all kinds of other giveaways going as well. So if you don’t win DREAMSONGS, maybe you’ll pick up a free copy of the Subterranean Press limited edition of HUNTER’S RUN (written by me and Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, and illustrated by Bob Eggleton, winner of many Hugos and Lord of the Hair), or perhaps a new book by Neil Gaiman, by Stephen R. Donaldson, by Ian MacDonald… Pat runs a lot of contests.

Even beyond the giveaways, Pat’s is a cool site to visit for anyone with an interest in fantasy. It’s one of the most lively and literate blogs on the internet, and seems to feature new content almost every day. If he keeps it up, this is a site that deserves serious consideration for a Hugo nomination next year.

But that’s next year. Right now, go win yourself a DREAMSONGS.

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I wish I was in Yokohama.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I made the logical, adult, sensible decision, and stayed home to work on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS and my myriad other projects. It wouldn’t have made much sense for me to fly to Japan just for the con, not with the trip being as grueling and expensive as it is, and I certainly couldn’t afford to take off the month or six weeks it would have required for me to do worldcon, and make promotional appearances in Japan, Korea, and China as well, as my various Asian publishers wanted. And no matter how long or short the trip was, the mails and emails and bills and deadlines would have piled up monstrously in my absence, and I would have returned to find myself buried, and it would have taken another two weeks just to dig myself out, and I can’t afford that time, I really can’t.

I know all that.

All the same, not being at worldcon is killing me. I was okay at first, when I just knew in a kind of abstract way that the con was going on, but now con reports and pictures are starting to show up on various blogs and listservs that I frequent, and every time I read one it bums me out a little more. Maybe if everyone was writing, “this is the worst damned convention in worldcon history,” and “Japan is unbearable,” I would feel a little better about staying home, but that’s not what they are writing at all.

Today the Hugo results came in, salt in the wound. Not only have I missed worldcon and the chance to visit Japan, but I have missed the Hugoes for the first time in twenty-one years.

And THEN I hear that Montreal has won the 2009 worldcon over Kansas City. Sucks.

Ah, what can I say…

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The release of the British edition of HUNTER’S RUN is imminent. Daniel, Gardner, and I have all received our author’s copies, some blog reviews have been popping up here and there, and there’s a long three-way interview with us just posted on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, at http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ Check it out. We talk about a few other projects besides HUNTER’S RUN, and there’s some news there that might interest Dunk & Egg fans.

An American edition of HUNTER’S RUN is scheduled for January, and a deluxe, illustrated edition signed by the three of us will be offered by Subterranean Press… but for those who can’t wait, you can order the UK hardcover from Amazon.UK or any other online British bookshop.

The new Wild Cards book, INSIDE STRAIGHT, is also scheduled for January. One of our new Wild Card writers, Carrie Vaughn, will be attending DragonCon next weekend, so if you’re also going to be in Atlanta and can tear yourself away from the Bettie Page lookalike contest for a few moments, be sure to corner Carrie and ask her about Curveball and Earth Witch. Check out one of her “Kitty” books as well, they’re a lot of fun, as is Carrie.

Parris saw an orthopod about her knee. Torn miniscus, he says. She’s probably going to need surgery, though she’s going to get a second opinion before getting scoped. And thank god for the NFL, and all that sports medicine has taught us about knees.

Speaking of the NFL, the Jets played the Giants in their annual preseason match-up this weekend. Pretty good name; no one got hurt. Eli looked good, Chad not so much. Giants defense looked better than anticipated, but I am worried about the O-line on the Jets. Getting rid of Pete Kendall might not have been such a great idea. I watched the new Jets fullback, Darien Barnes, with special interest, since a couple of months ago I got an email from him. He said he was a fan of my books… and also an aspiring fantasy and comic book writer himself. (When he’s not opening holes for the Jets running backs). Of course, the internet being what it is, maybe it wasn’t really him at all, just someone pretending to be him. Lots of people pose as sports stars, after all. It would be cool if the letter was legit, though…

The announcers always go on about how the Jets and Giants annual preseason game is for “bragging rights.” Which gave me an idea. Gang Green and the G-Men are building a brand new state of the art stadium in the Meadowlands, which they will share. So I propose that in future, the winner of the annual preseason match-up should get to name the stadium for the season that follows. Giants Stadium one year, Jets Stadium the next, and so on. Talk about bragging rights. That would add some real spice to the games.

(Of course, given the corrupt nature of the age we live in, the stadium will probably be named Chase Manhattan Field or something similar, but one can dream)

Oh, and Jim of Dark Sword tells me that so many of you guys visited his website to check out the new Ice & Fire miniatures that he exceeded his monthly traffic allowance for the first time ever, and got shut down by his ISP. He has now upgraded to unlimited usage. The response at GenCon was also very enthusiastic, I’m told. Keep it up!

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I’ve been juggling lots of balls this past week, but making good progress on a number of fronts.

All of the art is finally in for Subterranean Press’s limited edition of FEVRE DREAM, and we’ve been going over the page proofs and placing the illustrations. Justin Sweet has done some truly spectacular work for this one — a great moody cover, three stunning full color plates, and a bunch of beautiful black and white interiors. If you like illustrated books, this will be one you’ll want to have, even if you’ve read FEVRE DREAM before.

Also been doing a lot of WILD CARDS work. The first drafts of the stories for BUSTED FLUSH, the second of the new volumes, have been pouring in, and I’ve been reading them all and sending out notes to the writers for their rewrites. With a project like WILD CARDS, the first draft is never the final one. There’s always a lot of revision required so the tales will fit together. We’re well on the way, however, and I think the book will be a strong one when it’s done.

And I’ve been working on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS too. Just finished revising the prologue a few hours ago. As I mentioned last post, after reading it at the Indianapolis convention, there were aspects of it that I was not happy with. The new version is a page shorter and much stronger, I think, with a better flow and crisper transitions. I also punched up one element that somehow had gotten lost before… but it was an important element, I believe, so I’m pleased that I was able to strengthen it.

Tomorrow is Parris’s birthday, and we’re off to the Bull Ring for some of Santa Fe’s best steaks. Phipps will find a lobster too, I’m sure. She’s going to be turning 29!

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