A CEO, a Tea Party member, and a union member are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies. The CEO reaches over, takes 11 cookies, looks at the Tea Partier, and says, “Look out for that guy, he wants a piece of your cookie.”
February 28, 2011 8:30 pm | 
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Many thanks to Kate Schaefer for digging this out of her email archives. I knew I’d written Reno for the Clarion West Write-a-thon fundraiser, but I couldn’t remember which year. The following email was sent to a small group of my friends on July 14, 2006.
The story for Week 4 has an interesting origin. Three seemingly unconnected things suddenly linked in my mind, and I saw a story in them.
First, this week I read a book about Einstein and relativity, and (I’m ashamed to say) I finally get it! My physics class completely failed to cover this topic, and relativity was one of those things I knew I was supposed to understand but never did. Better late than never, I guess. So the concepts of relative time and motion were sinking into my head.
Second, I got the new Cirque du Soleil CD, called Ka. There’s a particular song that for some reason reminds me of the way moons orbit planets, which orbit the Sun, which moves along with the Milky Way–everything spinning, moving, constantly in motion. It’s a very romantic melody and I find it inspiring.
Finally, the title. Sometimes I write down titles that I think are neat, but I have no idea what story belongs with them. This particular title has been in my files for a while. I started a version of it a while ago, but the story I wrote didn’t seem to match. I took the title back and used it for this week’s story instead.
“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” is a love story between two people who just can’t get in sync. When one wants to be lovers, the other wants to be friends, and then they change their minds again. Add to that the time adjustments caused by nearly-light-speed travel, and they’re got a lot of problems.
It needs a lot of work, but there might be something in this one. I’m going to let it rest for a while and see what it looks like in a few months, when I have some perspective. By then I’ll be able to see what to do with it.
Thanks again, everyone, for all your kindness and support of my work in the Write-a-Thon!
I know I sat on it for a while, because I didn’t send it to my critique group until April 16, 2009. I sent it to a few markets and picked up a few rejections. (Writers take note: rejections are part of the process. A few years ago, Kill Me picked up 18 rejections before selling, and then got six Nebula recommendations.)
Sean Wallace was _very_ excited to purchase it, and at first I thought he wanted it for Fantasy Magazine. Then I heard he was starting Lightspeed Magazine, and he wanted my story for the first issue. I was thrilled. Once it was published, I got a lot of fan mail about the story. As a bonus, it’s one of the few stories I’ve written that’s (almost) Grandma-safe. I can’t say that about most of my work. So it was nice to have Grandma able to listen to one of my stories.
It’s been podcast and it’s going to be reprinted in another language (details when I sign the contract, as usual).
Last bit of trivia: if the Big One hits California, and Shannon and I get separated, our plan has always been to get out of the Bay Area however we can. We’ll try to meet in Reno at a specific place. The title came about when I was thinking, “What do I tell him if I need to convey as much as possible in a few seconds of phone/radio/voicemail connectivity?” My other possible message to leave him is, “Not zombie yet. Have baseball bat.”
And so here we are. Hooray! 
February 23, 2011 9:58 am | Comments (0)
YAY! I’m so excited. “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” has been nominated for a Nebula Award. I’ll be in DC for the ceremony in May.
Nom nom nom!
Short Story
“Arvies”, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine 8/10)
“How Interesting: A Tiny Man”, Harlan Ellison® (Realms of Fantasy 2/10)
“Ponies”, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10)
“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno”, Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed Magazine 6/10)
“The Green Book”, Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine 11/1/10)
“Ghosts of New York”, Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)
“Conditional Love”, Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine1/10)
Novelette
“Map of Seventeen”, Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride)
“The Jaguar House, in Shadow”, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 7/10)
“The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara”, Christopher Kastensmidt (Realms of Fantasy 4/10)
“Plus or Minus”, James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine12/10)
“Pishaach”, Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride)
“That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made”, Eric James Stone (Analog Science Fiction and Fact 9/10)
“Stone Wall Truth”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 2/10)
Novella
The Alchemist, Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible; Subterranean)
“Iron Shoes”, J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)
The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
“The Sultan of the Clouds”, Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 9/10)
“Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance”, Paul Park (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1-2/10)
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine Summer ‘10)
Novel
The Native Star, M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor”, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
February 22, 2011 9:06 am | Comments (6)
You can view the FOGcon programming online. Choose the Programming tab to see Friday, Saturday, and Sunday events.
A few more events will be added when we confirm them, and there’s still a few corrections to the panelist lists, but this is mostly accurate.
Of all the things I think FOGcon is doing well–which is a lot!–I’m exceptionally pleased with the programming. We have some great panels here, with strong panelists. Check out what we’re doing!
February 14, 2011 7:19 pm | Comments (2)
The deadline for Nebula nominations is tomorrow. If anyone is sending their nominations in last-minute, I hope you’ll consider my short story I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno. Lightspeed, June 2010.
(Apparently 50% of nominations arrive in the last 48 hours before deadline. So if you’ve procrastinated, you’re in good company!)
8:08 am | Comments (0)
Lightspeed Magazine is holding a poll for Best Story of 2010. You can vote here for your three favorites.
If you leave comments on the stories during the month of February, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate.
I hope you’ll consider I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno, along with the other fine stories of Lightspeed. I particularly liked Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn, and Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters by Alice Sola Kim. Happy reading!
February 10, 2011 8:54 am | Comments (0)
FOGcon program book cover by the ever-talented and lovely Vito Excalibur. I love it!
ETA: DAMMIT I hate when I copy/paste and don’t notice the copy failed, so I post the last string I had copied… like a pair of lovers’ mittens which I was laughing about. But they were cute, weren’t they?
February 9, 2011 8:51 am | Comments (0)
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