Busy, busy, busy.

Also, I'm being discrimated against because I wanted a girl bike, aka "step-through technology," which it turns out means you can't mount your krypto-lock to the frame and have to wait an extra day to pick up your bike. But that's okay, because my swanky new helmet complete with blue and white flowers isn't in yet.

Of course, the big news today is that Gardner Dozois is stepping down as editor of Asimov's after 19 years. Sheila Williams will assume the editorial mantle. Other people are talking about this, of course. There've been Asimov's stories I've loved, but in all honesty it's not one of the magazines I read on a regular basis. But I do recognize that Dozois is one of the defining forces in the field and has been for a very long time. This is big news that signals yet more change, which I think will ultimately be good for the field. (Not Dozois leaving, or anyone else leaving, but new blood and shifting sands are often necessary for vitality.)

Baby Re-Update: Dozois has posted some thoughts here at the Asimov's message boards. (Via Locus Online.)

Well, after almost twenty years of reading manuscripts all day, from the time I get up in the morning until the time I go to sleep at night and the manuscript drops from my nerveless fingers and thumps on the floor, it's time to scale back. I want to go out while I'm still on top of my game, before editing the magazine become a chore rather than a pleasure, and before I become burnt-out and cynical. I'd also like to be able to pursue other projects, including perhaps finding the time to get some of my own writing done.

The good news is, Dozois may be going to write more. His excellent story "Fairy Tale" is archived at SciFiction. For the true enthusiast, there's also BEING GARDNER DOZOIS, Michael Swanwick's book length interview with Dozois that came out a couple of years ago. (And which Christopher actually read.) For all the writers who'll never sell a story to Gardner I send my consolation and for the the one(s) who got in under the wire my congratulations.

Here's a little part of an editorial Dozois published in Asimov's about a life spent reading science fiction:

People sometimes ask me if I regret having wasted my life working in science fiction, and not doing something of real importance and significance instead, but, on the whole, it seems to me that it’s not really been such a bad bargain at all. Certainly I could have done much worse–and the odds are good that I probably would have done much worse, taking any other path.

So, no–I don’t regret it. Other people may be richer than science fiction people, or more important, or more famous, or more beautiful, or more glamorous, or more successful.

But we have the best dreams.

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Moorish Girl likes THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB (if not quite as much as me).

If you've ever gathered at a friend's house to talk about a novel, relished the conversation, feasted on the food, even made a wise crack about a comment you found inane, you'll delight in Karen Joy Fowler's THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB.

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I found other things worth noticing, but didn't want to do a whole new entry. Those things are these two things from the NYTimes:

Piece on the different measures of sushi.

The proportion of rice to fish is carefully considered. Even the arc described by a piece of sushi fish as it rests on top of the rice has a prescribed shape.

"It should have the same curve as the pages of a book, when you open it and place it on a table" said Gen Mizoguchi, the sushi chef at the new Megu in TriBeCa. Traditional sushi chefs arrange the pieces in rows to mimic the appearance of a school of fish swimming.

And this piece on that voodoo that Woodward do do so well.

Yes, sometimes, even Mr. Woodward strikes out. The transcripts, released as part of a standard Pentagon practice with all such interviews, show that Mr. Woodward had repeatedly asked Mr. Rumsfeld about a list that the defense secretary had made of all the things that might go wrong in a war with Iraq.

"Is that something I could get?" Mr. Woodward asked at one point.

"I looked at it this morning, and the answer is, 'No,' " Mr. Rumsfeld replied.

Then, as if to tease Mr. Woodward, he summarized some of the memo's points: another country might try to make mischief while American forces were preoccupied with fighting; disruptions in oil supplies could cause "an international shock wave"; and there could be higher than expected civilian casualties.

At that, Mr. Woodward said: "You're smiling. The smiling is breaking my heart."

worm: "Crank," Catherine Wheel

thingy/s to check out: Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy discussion at Twinkle Twinkle Blah Blah, Etc.

namecheck: Chris "He's Updating!" Barzak