Announcing Four Seasons in One Day, the forthcoming first chapbook from Two Cranes Press! For five measley dollars, you can enjoy original fiction, artwork and poetry by the fantabulous team of Lundberg and Chui, the J-team, the two cranes. Contents include two stories and a poem by yours truly, and a story and artwork by my lady. We're going to release it at the World Fantasy Convention during the big launch party being put together by Ol' Mike Jasper on Saturday night, and copies will available at the Prime Books and Edge Books tables in the dealers' room. But if you're too anxious, you can pre-order it now from the official 4Si1D site. Buy early and buy often!



Janet came up with the title, and I think it's bloody brilliant. It comes from an expression used by Aussies and Kiwis (New Zealanders) to describe their crazy weather. It's also the name of a cool Crowded House song. Each piece in the chapbook takes place during a different season (the first story in Winter, the second in Spring, etc.), and you should be able to read the entire chapbook (i.e. the four seasons) in one day. My lady is so smart.



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In other news, I found out Friday that in three months I'll be out of a job. Our sister company is moving up to our facility, and has a CAD guy they would like to keep on. Since I was planning to go to part-time starting in ten days, and they felt they needed two full-time drafters in the office, they're letting me go. So if any of you out there hears of a part-time CAD position opening up, please feel free to let me know.



Despite the bummer news, I had a pretty good weekend. I headed over to my parents' house Friday night, since they felt (and I agreed) that I really shouldn't be alone. We talked and had dinner and watched A Beautiful Mind; I had to go home a different route, since torrential rains had caused the creek near their house to swell, and I didn't want to take the risk of the bridge being flooded over. Yesterday afternoon I spent over in Chapel Hill with Jamie and Steffi. We stopped into a cool Celtic boutique in Carrboro called Celtic Wonders after seeing a dude in a kilt playing bagpipes outside to advertise it. (They apparently have Irish sessions there on the weekends, so I'll have to go back.) Down the road we paid a visit to Nice Price Books, and though I didn't get anything, I recommended My Drowning by Jim Grimsley to Jamie. Upon returning, we watched Pi, which was creepy and weird, but good. (The direction was fantastic, and the choice to use high contrast black-and-white film was perfect to convey the spiralling down into madness of the main character.) This seemed to be the weekend of movies with mentally unbalanced protagonists.



Today I went through all the financial aid forms for school, filling out the promissary note and all that, and I'll put it in the mail tomorrow. I have a few stories to look over today, and I may start my essay on Gaiman's Neverwhere. I recently bought The Wolves in the Walls, and it is excellent and funny, about like you'd expect. I got the newest Asimov's (for the story by fellow Clarion grad Edd Vick), F&SF (for the novella by Alex Irvine), and Realms of Fantasy (which, although Prattless this month, has an excellent lineup of stories). Lotsa reading to get done before classes start.



It rained again this morning, with drops as big as your fist. I'm amazed how wet the past month has been, like Nature is making up for the dryness of last summer. I see mushrooms everywhere.

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Now Reading:

Viriconium by M John Harrison



Stories Out to Publishers:

11



Books Read This Year:

28