… or New Mexico, in my case.

It’s been too long since I last posted here, but I have a good excuse. Parris has been off in Ireland since June 6, and I have been trying to take advantage of the (comparative) isolation to get some serious work done on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. I’ve only been partially successful there. It has been a good few weeks, work wise, but not the great few weeks that I was kinda sorta hoping for. I did manage to finish one especially troublesome chapter that I have been fussing and fretting over since before I split the two books, so that’s good. (At least I THINK I finally finished it. Tomorrow I may reread the thing and decide, no, it’s no good at all. But I hope not). Finished some other chapters too, and did some more revision, so I’ve been productive, but still… there’s no way around it, DANCE is simply coming more slowly than me, my editors, or my readers would like.

I am trying to deal with that, in a couple of ways. First, I have gone and hired an actual assistant, for the first time in my career. Ty Franck has been fixing some glitches with my computer system, running a lot of my annoying, time consuming, but necessary errands, and putting my files on a database, which will finally allow me to phase out the extremely idiosyncratic, pen-and-paper-index-cards-manila-folders-and-adding-machine record-keeping system that I made up myself at the beginning of my career in 1971 and have been using ever since. Once that’s done, Ty will keep my records up to date, and I may also have him take over some part of my correspondence and emails. I have been very reluctant to do that, since I value the contact with my fans and like being accessible to them, but I’ve have reached the point where that simply may not be possible any longer. Still, it’s hard to let go, at least for me. We’ll see how this all plays out.

Also, sad to say, I have begun to question whether or not I can make this year’s worldcon in Japan. I hate to cancel, I truly do. I have not missed a worldcon, foreign or domestic, since Aussiecon II in 1985, and I do not want to break my twenty-one year streak. I love worldcons. Plus, I have never been to Japan, and I really wanted to go. Of course, I am not going to fly across the Pacific just for five days at a con. If I am going to Japan, I want to stay a few weeks and see Japan. My Japanese publisher has invited me to make some promotional appearances when I am over there as well. And my Chinese publisher has suggested I come in for a conference in China before the worldcon. And now my Korean publisher would like me to visit South Korea and do some signings after Japan. I would love to do all of this, and see the sights besides, but if I do it will mean at least a month-long trip, and maybe two months, and I just don’t think I can spare the time.

A year ago, it would never have dawned on me that DANCE would not be done by the time the Japanese worldcon rolled around, but that’s looking like a very real possibility now. Much as I might want to, I just can’t take off for a month of Asian travel with the book undone. I have to finish if it kills me… and some days I think it may. So I think my streak is going to have to end. (And no, skipping Japan does NOT mean I will now be free add the San Diego Comicon, the St. Louis NASFic, Dragoncon, or Bubonicon to the schedule. If I cancel one con then turn around and add others, it sort of defeats the purpose of cancelling). If I decide to stay home, that’s what I will do. Stay home.

Parris gets home July 2. She’s having a great time in Ireland, she tells me, despite a flight from hell, being stranded in O’Hare, a bum knee that is hobbling her still, pouring rain, an auto accident that totalled two cars. Which just goes to show how much she loves Ireland and her friends there. Still, it will be nice to have her home. Our two houses both feel very empty with her gone, especially at night.

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Well, I made my appearance on Sheep Island a few hours ago, cleverly disguised as Tyrion the Imp for a reading and Q&A session at Bantam’s virtual bookstore. Only this version of Tyrion could fly! Ah, if only the Tyrion in the books could fly, what mischief he will… ah… could… ah, never mind.

Anyway, it was great fun. My thanks to Ken and Dan and Betsy and all the other good folks at Bantam, Second Life, and Electric Sheep who made it possible and kept it running smoothly, and of course to all the fans and readers who donned their finest avatars and popped in for a listen. I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did. I hope you all bought a virtual copy of DREAMSONGS too, since that’s what we were supposed to be promoting.

And a special thanks to David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who made a surprise guest star appearance to answer questions about the HBO production of A GAME OF THRONES. It was great to have them there, even if they didn’t have time to fix their avatars up like the Clegane Brothers, as they wanted.

Even Second Lives must come to an end, however, so now I am back to my original life.

My next appearance will be similarly cutting edge. On Saturday, I will be meeting fans and signing books at Book Expo America in New York City, starting at 11am. I look forward to seeing some of you there, and defacing your books. Unfortunately, Parris has chained me to my desk, so I won’t actually be able to leave Santa Fe… but I’ll be there signing at the BEA all the same, thank you very much.

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So, it’s been thirty years since we first saw STAR WARS. Hard to believe.

Amidst all the hype and hoopla of this anniversary, I keep seeing people calling STAR WARS “the best science fiction film of all time.” Uh… really? I don’t think so. The original STAR WARS was a good movie, and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was even better (Leigh Brackett wrote that one, so there’s good reason), but RETURN OF THE JEDI went downhill, and you really don’t want to get me started about those three wretched prequels. Even the original triad hasn’t aged as gracefully as one might have hoped. It has become apparent that much of the charm of the first movie came from the novelty of seeing favorite tropes from classic SF books realized on the screen for the first time… but that charm wears off on repeated viewings, and once it does you realize that neither the story is, well… not all that it could have been. You also realize how much retrofitting and backfill has gone on since the movie’s first release. I don’t care what Lucas says, I will never believe that Darth was meant to Luke’s father from the outset, or that the romantic pairing was always supposed to be Leia and Han (it is plainly Luke and Leia)… and damn it, Han shoots first!

Never mind about all that. STAR WARS is what it is, and it had a profound effect on both SF and on film, for both good and ill… but it is not even close to being the best SF movie of all time.

What’s better? Try 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Try THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Try the first ALIEN, or even better, ALIENS (but never mention the third installment in my presence). Try CHARLIE (the film version of the classic “Flowers for Algernon”). All worthy. Try George Pal’s wonderful adaptation of H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS (a better film than the Spielberg remake, in my opinion), or Pal’s version of THE TIME MACHINE (a MUCH better film than the really truly abominable recent remake).

The best, though?

MGM, 1956. Leslie Nielson, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Robbie the Robot. FORBIDDEN PLANET. Also known as the Tempest on Altair-4. Inspired by Shakespeare, in turn it inspired Gene Roddenberry, who borrowed heavily from it when coming up with STAR TREK. State of the art special effects (for 1956, admittedly), gripping story, some fine performances (especially by Walter Pidgeon, whose performance as Morbius beats anything ever seen in any of the STAR WARS films). Unlike STAR WARS, this is a film that only grows richer every time you watch it. A monster that makes sense, characters with a little psychological depth, science that isn’t just empty technobabble, a sexy heroine, a tragic hero, the awesome caverns of the Krel… FORBIDDEN PLANET has it all.

Winner and still champion.

The best science fiction film of all time.

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I can barely keep up with my first life, if truth be told… but all the same, I’ll be having a second life come Thursday.

Yes, I’m making a virtual appearance in Bantam’s virtual bookstore on Second Life. For those of you who don’t know it, Second Life is… well, sort of like World of Warcraft without the axes, swords, and monsters. Our world, kinda sorta, virtually. Anyway, I’ll be there this Thursday evening, in avatar form, doing a reading from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS and doing a Q&A afterwards. Proceedings will start at 9:00pm eastern and run about an hour. This will be a first for me, so it will be fun to see how it goes. Ah, ’tis a brave new world, surely.

If you’d like to be part of the festivities, get thee to www.secondlife.com. You can sign up there, download the software, and design your own avatar. (I’ve never done a reading with monsters in the audience before, at least not the sort you could tell my looking at ’em).

The virtual bookstore can only hold about sixty avatars, but the overflow will be able to see and hear the reading from satellite sites, and send questions via IM.

I’ve never done this before either, so that’s about all I can tell you about how things will work… but if you live out in the bookdocks where I’m never likely to visit on a book tour, this virtual appearance could be the next best thing. See you there

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Melinda Snodgrass has “tagged” me, she informs me. And now I must reveal eight things about myself. Presumably eight things that I haven’t revealed before, or at least not widely, or else what fun would it be?

So… eight things about me that most of you would probably never suspect.

1) The first vote I ever cast was for a Republican, New Jersey’s distinguished senior senator and favorite son, Clifford B. Case.

2) I had a crew cut all through junior high, high school, and most of college.

3) My favorite guilty pleasure movie is SUMMER LOVERS. I want to go to the island of Santorini and have a menage a trois with Darryl Hannah and Valerie Quinessen.

4) When I was in my twenties people used to tell me I looked like Kris Kristofferson. Now they tell me I look like Jerry Garcia. And he’s dead. I don’t like this trend.

5) I like writing when it’s going well, but I LOVE having written.

6) My favorite song is Kris Kristofferson’s “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33.” (See him busted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans, wearing yesterday’s misfortunes like a smile). I am also very fond of “Me and Bobby McGee” and “To Beat the Devil” and “Silver” and a lot of Kris’s other songs. Maybe that’s why I was pleased when people said I looked like him.

7) I have never been defeated at RISK when I have the red army. Never. And I started playing RISK in grade school. Foemen tremble when I rattle my dice. Except when they make me play green or black or some other color. Then I am merely mortal.

8) Windows sucks. I use it, under protest, for the internet, but all my fiction is written on a DOS machine, using WordStar 4.0. I’m a word guy. When I want to copy something, I like to type “copy.” When I want to delete it, I like to type “delete.” I don’t like puzzling out these stupid little cartoons they call icons, or dragging them around with a mouse. The day WordStar 4.0 stops working is the day I retire.

So there you have it. My revelations.

And now, if I understand the rules of this “game of eight” correctly, I must tag someone else, just as Melinda tagged me. Let me look around. Hmmmmm, who… ah…

STEVE LEIGH! You’re tagged!

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I had a number of good days writing on DANCE after my last post. It felt great to have a solid streak of work like that. It’s been a while, with all the stuff that has gone down this last year. I got quite a bit done, including a marriage. Some of it was rewriting, but the book will be much stronger for the changes I made.

Unfortunately, the last two days have been less productive, at least for DANCE. A major crisis erupted on another front, and I had to spend most of my time dealing with it. Wish I could say it was all settled, but no, it drags on, and becomes increasingly unpleasant. You know, there are times when I love writing and there are times when it’s agony… but it’s the business side of this profession that can really drive you mad.

Ah, well. Sorry to be so vague, but some things I’m not allowed to speak about.

On other fronts, I will be off to LA next week, for a spate of recording. Random House is doing an audiobook version of DREAMSONGS (aka the RRETROSPECTIVE), and they’ve asked me to read the interstitial bits, the autobiography and commentary. That will be a first for me, but I’m really looking forward to it. (Don’t worry, the actual stories will be read by real professional readers and actors. We’ll have several great voices, and yes, one of them will be Roy Dotrice, who was greatly missed on the audiobook of A FEAST FOR CROWS).

Before that, though, there’s the NFL Draft. Always one of my favorite weekends of the year. Unlike the actual season, my teams can’t actually lose in the draft (or if they do, you don’t realize it for three years), so you have less chance of crushing disappointment. The Giants pick 20th and the Jets 25th, so they won’t be getting any of the big marquee players, but I’m still hoping they will come away with some guys who can make a difference. I will probably post some thoughts and comments here after the Saturday selections, so those of you who like football should check back then… and those of you who don’t want to read anything but DANCE WITH DRAGONS news should stay away.

I was very sad to read on LOCUS OnLine that Meisha Merlin Press has closed its doors. I can’t say that I was surprised, given Meisha Merlin’s struggles over the past few years, but it is a loss for the field nonetheless. Stephen Pagel and his partner Kevin Murphy are great guys and did some really nice things with Meisha Merlin… but publishing is a perilous business at the best of times, and this is hardly that. Here’s hoping that Stephe and Kevin land on their feet, and that all the Meisha Merlin books find new homes.

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If I’ve been quiet here of late, it’s because I am presently sick as a dog.

(Why do we say that anyway? Are dogs usually sick? Do hotcakes sell especially well? Ah, never mind… )

Flu, most likely. Fever, headache, lots and lots of coughing, and a horrendous sore throat.

It’s bloody miserable. My own fault. I neglected to get my flu shot this year.

Nothing to do but sweat it out. Excuse me, I’m off to bed again.

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Ah, spring in Santa Fe… what could be more beautiful… the skies are blue, the days are warm, everything in blooming… especially the damn juniper, which is why my eyes are red and itchy, my nose is stuffed up, and I keep sneezing. Of course, I can just pop a benadryl, and alleviate all my symptoms. That is, if I don’t mind turning into a zombie and sleeping away most of the day.

Which I can’t afford to do, because this is my favorite time of year for another reason as well. Yes, boys and girls, it’s TAX TIME! No, of course, I don’t do my own taxes. I have a wonderful accountant who does them for me, which is a good thing, because my return looks like the Manhattan telephone directory these days. Of course, it still takes me a week bent over little bits of paper to get all my records organized enough to give to my accountant. Every year I swear I’m going to try and keep everything better organized and current, so that tax time is not such a bloody headache… and every year I don’t.

As a good liberal, I don’t actually object to paying taxes (although I would rather they spent more of my money on schools and health care and the space program, and less on bombs and tanks and Halliburton)… but I hate having to deal with all the record keeping. Sometimes the tide of little bits of paper threatens to submerge me entirely. I do find myself envying the folks who get a refund… but not nearly as much as I envy the ones who can still use the short form of blessed memory.

Oh, well. This too will pass, the same way it does every year. And the pollen count will go back down again… until the chamisa starts to bloom, at least.

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