We worked during the day and managed to get SFRevu and Gumshoe Review up online for January 1st, 2011. Gumshoe has another original short story this month, “At the Abbey of St Dymphna” by Elizabeth Creith.
We added another couple of reviews today but their basically complete now. However, remember each zines has a news column and that will be updated throughout the month depending on when we get news items.
It has been a heck of a chaotic, and hectic, and every other descriptive word you can think of, month. Holidays, conventions, and family issues have taken up more time that one would think since there’s always 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week and the usual number of days in the month.
So where does the time go? I’ve been reading and writing like crazy all month and now it’s a matter of getting all the database records proofed and their status changed, getting them ready to go live tomorrow night at midnight (or rather midnight where our servers are). The new issues will definitely be available online December 1st.
The zines went live last night at midnight but I added at least four from people today and expect another one or two tomorrow. So the official announcements have not yet gone out to our mailing list. If you want to be on the mailing list just go to either SFRevu.com or GumshoeReview.com and join the mailing list. We only send one email a month — we might do a special announcement email once in a blue moon and those, as you know, are pretty rare.
I expect that I’ll soon be back to actually making posts with content soon. In fact, I’m working on a book review for tomorrow. It’s a fun, light romance with a British slant but oh, so relevant to most of us city folks dreaming of the quiet country side.
Finally, I’ve wrestled my Jali Sweater chart into submission and have almost completed a full pattern repeat. Yeah, me! I only ripped the entire thing out and started from scratch about 6 or 7 times before the light bulb over my head went on. Boy that’s embarrassing to know that somehow you forgot how to read between casting on and following the chart. But more about that project in another post.
Well, you now know what I’ve been working on: SFRevu.com
for all things science fiction and fantasy-ish
and Gumshoe Review for coverage of the mystery genre.
It seems that the old saying, “the faster I go, the behinder I get” is getting a workout in my life. The zines go live on June 1st. But then you probably knew that. But, I’m going to be at Balticon from May 28th to 31st — I think you begin to see the problem. Now add to the mix that I’m going to be on a couple of panels and will need to prepare for that. Then add that I’ll be helping a bit with the WSFA/Capclave table at the convention. My time is being eaten away and I still have things to do, reviews to edit, books to finish, my own reviews to finish writing. I love it when those deadlines come upon me like a tsunami of ginormous proportions — well I should learn to love them it happens so often in my life.
Meanwhile, the cat has been vaccinated, dewormed, chipped, and treated for ear mites. He needs to go back to the vet again next week to get his ears checked out again. I’m not sure how we’ll get him in the cat carrier this time. We had to pick him up and push him in last time getting all four paws into the opening. I understand that they had just as much of a fight getting him out at the vets. They turned the cage so the door was at the bottom and he still didn’t come out. The assistant held the carrier while Hyperion reached in to disengage paws. After treatment though he couldn’t get in the carrier fast enough. It’s been a few days and he doesn’t take off when we both come out of the house at the same time anymore. It takes two of us to get him in the carrier so he’s very cautious of the two of us together.
I got the yarn for a sweater from the new Interweave Knits; the Jali Cardigan. I had to order the yarn from Lion Brand since none of the stores near me had it. I’m making the sweater in Hyacinth — which is a sort of light many times washed denim shade and no where near as dark as the swatch on the website. Now I just have to find my circular No. 6 needle long enough for the sweater. Heck I even did a swatch and washed and dried it. Love the feel of the yarn — soft and nicely drappy.
I’m really hoping I can finish this sweater in time for Readercon. It’s nice to have deadlines they make such a nice breeze as the pass you by. Who knows maybe I will figure out a way to knit in my sleep and I will finish it. I’ll try to post updates as I move along on this project.
It’s that time of month, and this time things are really, really, tight. Hyperion and I will be covering Malice Domestic, a wonderful mystery convention held in Arlington, VA this weekend. We’ll also be at Maryland Sheep and Wool on Sunday — the biggest sheep and wool event on the east coast.
And, we’ll also be trying to get SFRevu and Gumshoe Review up and live with the May issues on the 1st.
Stay tuned to see if we actually managed to do all that and remain moderately sane at the same time. [Hyperion: I predict a 7.23% probability]
Meanwhile, the cat (Emnot) finally went to the vet this past week. We’d thought Emnot was a she but the vet, after careful and intense looking, found that she was really a he. He’d also already been neutered so that was a relief. But, he had round worms and ear mites — as well as fleas (good thing he’s an outdoor cat). So, now it’s medication and ear drops for him and he’s not a happy cat just now. However, we came back from a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and found a dead lizard and the remains of a mouse. Wonder if he’s trying to warn us off about the medications….
Finally, and in a blaze of stress and last minute finangling, the online magazine are up.
SFReuv: science fiction and fantasy books review along with a review of Skin Horse Volume 1, and some suggestions for Hugo Nominations for short form.
Gumshoe Review: Has an interview with Rhys Bowen and a review of her new book, The Last Illusion. There’s also an original work of fiction, “Negative Reaction” by Lee Hammerschmidt. Then there’s the usual assortment of reviews.
Check them out and I hope you enjoy them.
A friend pointed me to this YouTube Video about the sameness of urban fantasy book covers and the poses of the female protagonists. Go ahead take a look.
The problem is that often, if not nearly always, authors have no control over their book covers. That’s why a red-headed heroine might be on the cover as a blonde or brunette. Mythical creatures that never show up in the book might be featured prominently on the cover.
It’s not the artist’s fault either as some discussion with cover artists have informed me, it’s seldom within their deadlines that they are actually given a copy of the book to read before they begin the project. Often an artist gets an overview of those items that should be on the cover to make it stand out on the shelves.
The problem is that when a great urban fantasy comes along and sells well, the marketing types forget that people are buying a book with a compelling story and figure if that type of cover sells, then our cover with the same elements should sell our book. Many times the writing and author combine to sell the book, reinforcing the move toward a “look” for the newly emerging sub-genre.
I remember years ago when Fabio was on practically every cover of a romance novel in the bookstore. Some friends and I were in a bookstore, came around a corner and faced a wall of outward facing romance covers. We began to look at them. We figured there were probably about 10 poses which included: girl clutched to man’s leg, girl clutched to man’s back/side/chest, girl draped over man’s arm and so on. The only difference in these poses were the costumes that indicated the period of the romance.
This video certainly makes it seem that things haven’t really changed. That as hard as publishers/artists/authors/art directors try to be different, with the lead times they have for publications, there are bound to be a whole lot of covers that look like fraternal clones.
