Inspired by Charles de Lint and the PrattShaw team, Janet and I have been talking about doing a chapbook together. We're still in the preliminary stages at the moment, deciding the size and format and content, but we're both really excited about it. We're also trying to figure out if we want to print it ourselves, or go the CafePress POD route. And if we can get it done in time, I'd like to take some copies to World Fantasy and attempt to sell them at the big zine/antho launch party that Ol' Mike Jasper will host. More news soon...

I finished The Pastel City the other night - it's the first novel in the Viriconium omnibus - and I was suprised how different the prose and content was to the other works of Harrison's that I've read. Granted, he wrote it in his early twenties, but I almost put it down. The writing is a bit clumsy and way too loquacious, and the main plot is a quest! For all that he rails against Tolkein's formulaicness (if that's even a word), he followed the same pattern with his first novel, which I think is hilarious. I've read three other short stories in the omnibus that were evidently written a bit later; the prose is much closer to his current fiction, and has an economy and beauty that the novel did not. Ah well, on we go. A Storm of Wings is the next novel in the cycle, and I start that tonight.

And can you believe what happened at Odyssey to Gene Wolfe? I mean, jeez, the guy is one of the most repected writers we have. Now, I wasn't there, so I can't really claim any knowledge of what actually happened, but give me a break! You go to a writers' workshop like Clarion or Odyssey to learn to write, not to be coddled or have your ego massaged. Maybe Wolfe was rough on the participants with his critiques. Well, maybe they deserved it. As Cathy Morrison points out in her excellent post-Clarion thoughts, workshops are not for everybody. You have to have a thick skin to be able to receive critiques of your work. It may hurt your feelings to be told your story totally blows, but sometimes that needs to be said. The folks at Odyssey paid to be taught by professionals (and Wolfe was invited as the Special Writer-in-Residence), then they whine when the professionals give honest critiques. Buncha crybabies.

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Now Reading:
Viriconium by M John Harrison

Stories Out to Publishers:
16

Books Read This Year:
27

Novel Word Count:
9200