Published in Black Static

The new issue of Black Static is out, and contains my story Three-Legged Bird. This is the story that I read the first half of at WisCon during the Taboo reading–the one about sex trafficking of Korean girls.

Big thanks to Gord Sellar and his fiancee for helping me get the details right on Korean culture.

Clarion and Clarion West advice

People ask me a lot for advice on attending Clarion or Clarion West.

You can find all sorts of information online about how to write, how to manage your time, and general coping techniques. The welcome packet is full of great suggestions. But here’s my single best piece of advice.

Remember that you, and your classmates, will be under a ton of stress. Everyone reacts differently to that stress. Some panic. Some withdraw. Some cycle rapidly between highs and lows. Some overreact to the smallest slight. Some blurt out hurtful things without thinking.

Remember that many of your classmates are at their worst. You will see their ugly sides. The best thing you can do is forgive people their imperfections. I’m not saying you have to be a doormat, nor that you have to take abuse. I’m simply saying: Give people the benefit of the doubt. Assume the best of them. Shrug off the occasional personal conflict over something unimportant. Have faith that as the years pass, and you see them at conventions, you’ll get to know their real self even better. And you may be surprised at who you bond with and who you stay close to over the years.

I was lucky enough to like all my classmates. But there’s several I like even more now that I’ve gotten to know them in a more relaxed environment.

Good luck, everyone!

Internet clicky fun!

Guys! HEY GUYS.

I’ll be over here clicking on the internet for the next hour!

*click click click*

Mutilating little girls in the name of “science”

A doctor at Cornell University is cutting off genital parts from little girls and calling it science. The most shivery, icky part is the tests he performs on them later to see what sensation they have left.

There’s info on how to complain about this asshole on the link. If you think this story might be upsetting, it probably will be; manage your own triggers as necessary.

World Fantasy ahoy!

Just bought memberships, flights, and hotel for World Fantasy 2010. Woo!

And here’s a tip, thanks to msisolak. Southwest has _great_ prices into Columbus right now. I just bought round trip tickets from SFO for under $250 each. And at decent times, too. Get thee to the Southwest website!

Minis

So I keep saying that I “paint minis” as a hobby. Minis are those little pewter figures used for tabletop games. They come unpainted, but you can paint them.

I’m still pretty new to the hobby. Turns out I have very focused eyesight and steady hands. Anyway, I thought I’d show two random minis so you could see my work. They’re on my hand so you can see the size. (I have smallish hands). Also, I fixed the smudge on the red wizard after I took this photo. (Minis are a great place to be perfectionist!)

ETA: picture size fixed.

Cheat code fun

Go to http://www.newsweek.com.

Perform Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Enter).

Heh heh heh.