Vylar Kaftan

“Break the Vessel” is now published at Helix. This is the fecal matter story I keep threatening to read in public places, like supermarkets and child-care centers. There’s also some fine work in this issue from Jennifer Pelland, Ada Milenkovic Brown, C.A. Gardner, and Tina Connolly. If you enjoy the issue, please consider making a small donation to keep Helix alive. They publish the stories that other magazines are afraid of. That’s worth supporting.

Also, I didn’t post much about WisCon, but one of the coolest moments in my career so far happened during the Taboo reading. I read the first few scenes of this story. When I got to a certain sentence, I said, “And we’ll stop here,” –there was an audible gasp from the audience.

I can’t tell you how absolutely cool that was.

And as a bonus, we raffled off prizes at the end. My offering was a copy of Paper Cities and the reading copy of “Break the Vessel.” The winners could pick their prize. The first person whose name we drew came up and told me to re-raffle Paper Cities because he already had it, but he wanted the reading copy for my story. That was an awesome feeling.

Anyway, I hope you like “Break The Vessel.” I hereby promise that if I win an award for this story, I will include the word “turd” in my acceptance speech.

I haven’t posted much because there isn’t much news lately, but here’s a short update.

–I now have diagnosis for Medical Condition #2, to match Medical Condition #1 discovered in March. I’m going for the complete boxed set! This condition is also lifelong and won’t kill me, but will require some management. (Are we sensing a theme here?) This one is less of a surprise, but just as problematic. More major lifestyle changes ahead for me. My feelings on the matter: deeply tired of this, but trying to be gentle with myself. It takes time to change my life.

–I’m going to a writers’ retreat with the Codex folks for ten days. It’s in Tennessee. I’m excited about some time to focus on my writing, and glad to be well enough to go.

–I’m really mad about losing all this time this spring (even though I understand it was necessary) and I’m ready to attack some stories and get some writing done, dammit!

What LJ groups should I look into? I’m only on the WisCon and SFWA groups.

You guys know what I like. Suggestions?

I like this meme because it covers the basics–all the things people feel embarrassed to ask because they figure they should already know.

1. First Name: Vylar

2. Age: 31

3. Location: Walnut Creek, CA (near San Francisco)

4. Occupation: Writer/Editor.

5. Partner: Shannon, my husband. It’s really fun to call customer service and have them try to figure out whether they’re talking to Vylar or Shannon, and what the gender of the other partner might be.

6. Kids: None, and no plans to have any. I usually like other people’s kids, though.

7. Brothers/Sisters: My brother is two years older and my sister is four years younger. I’ve complained enough about being a middle child that we don’t need to go into that again.

8. Pets: Oh, I wish. I want a cat so very much. But… achoo. Severely. And dogs too. I used to keep an aquarium, but that’s bad for my mold allergies. I know about the allergy-free cats, but I want a plain healthy farm kitten or something like that. My allergies are severe enough that even with the shots I’m currently getting, a cat may not be an option. Who knows… maybe in 10 years things will change again.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life: Oh dear.
a. Health problems. This probably counts as 3-5 things on its own. I have been struggling with stuff since November, hit the worst of it in March, and am slowly adjusting to new lifestyle habits. I am much better than I was, but there’s still a lot of work to be done–and frankly, although I have one diagnosis in hand, I know there’s at least one more to find, and maybe two. Here’s hoping for something easily treated. The good news is, I’m noticing how much better I’m feeling with these changes, and also that I’m functional again. I’m taking delight in things like going for a walk and eating peaches and things like that. Plus, I discovered a ton of great movies during my recovery time.
b. My writing is selling like crazy. This is pretty awesome. Since last November, I’ve been hovering around a 44% acceptance rate… which means I’m almost out of inventory. I need to write more stories.
c. My grandfather died in April. He was 88. This was a long-expected and peaceful event. All his grandkids (including me) paid him a visit in his final months, when he was still lucid enough to appreciate it. He died with his wife and children nearby, and didn’t suffer. His memorial service was simple and beautiful. When I die, hopefully many years from now, I want it to be like Grandpa’s passing.
d. I am very worried for a dear friend of mine who is sick and in the hospital. I write her letters nearly every day, because that’s how often I think of her. And since she’s probably reading this–get well soon. All your friends love you.
e. We can has Wii! Shannon’s going to try and find a game I’ll like for my birthday. I’m very finicky about games, but he’s clever and I bet he can find something. I like watching him play games on it too.

10. College: Grinnell College, a small liberal-arts school in the middle of Iowa.

11. Parents: They’re both retired now, but my dad was a math professor and my mom was a computer science professor. With two academics for parents, I had no shortage of educational opportunities as a child. But I did have a rude awakening when I discovered that most adults don’t get summers off, nor can they do most of their work at home.

12. Who are some of your closest friends?: Shannon is my best friend, of course. Other good friends are Laura W., Ali B., Janann D., Darja M., Rachel S., Alice S., Melanie D., Katy K., Tasha K., and Devin C. There’s also a huge list of folks I’m getting to know better over time. I like my friends. They’re great people.

I know a lot of you guys shop at Trader Joe’s. Here’s a news story you may have missed.

In short, a teenaged girl died of heat exhaustion after picking grapes in unsafe conditions. Had her employer followed labor laws, she would probably be alive now. The company supplies Trader Joe’s with its well-known cheap wines (Two-Buck Chuck).

Details here.

As stated in the post, you can call your local Trader Joe’s and let them know you’re unhappy about the situation. I had better luck when I called their Corporate Headquarters. I asked for Customer Relations and spoke to Nikki, who assured me they were looking into it and they would make the right decision once they verified the facts. She sounded sincere, but who knows.

Anyway, if you want to call TJ’s about this, Corporate’s number is 626-599-3700. You can also write letters. They don’t have to be eloquent; just say you are upset about this incident and you think TJ’s should pull the product until the supplier obeys California labor laws. (Or even just say that this situation appalls you. The more they hear about it, the more they’ll realize people care about this issue.)

ETA: Just talked to Harvey Pozer(?) at West Coast Grape Farming Vineyard. He listened to me and said that the incident happened under one of their contractors. I told him they were still responsible for making sure the laws were obeyed, which he didn’t argue with, and he said they were all very concerned over what happened in this situation. So it’s possible there’s more facts that need to be uncovered, but clearly the situation needs to be addressed.

Back from travel, catching up on things.

Death Follows Us to Restaurants is published at Lone Star Stories. This was drafted during the Clarion West Write-a-Thon. I’ll be doing the write-a-thon again this year, although I’m still finalizing my goals.

In 2004, while I was at Clarion West, John Kessel presented me with a challenge: Write something which combines both comedy and tragedy in the same story. This challenge proved much harder than I expected, and it was a good exercise. And here are the results.