Went to the Swanwick reading last night, and it was great, as expected. He read "Radio Waves", which, Ol' Mike and I discussed later, seemed a lot longer than when we read it on paper. There was a good turnout, to my surprise, some people from my fiction writing class, some from my pomo class, and some from my AmerRomanticism class, which was cool to see. Richard and Barbara showed up, but had to leave right after because Richard was getting up at 5 a.m. the next morning. Andreas and Luna also came, so I got to talk them for a little bit too.

I met up with Ol' Mike Jasper in the hallway before the reading, and he handed off my contributor copy of Intracities, which looks way cool and you should all buy a copy, in case you haven't preordered it already. My story is almost right in the middle of the antho, and to my pleasant surprise right after Heather and Tim's story.

To my slight disappointment, however, I noticed that this image to the left (which represents my story "Enlightenment") didn't make it onto the printed cover. Apparently, there was a slight mixup in the files, and Mike used an older version of the cover without this image. So if you feel so inclined, once you get your copy, go ahead and print out this image and paste it to the back of the anthology. I'm sure Mike won't mind. :) He apologized profusely about it, and I told him it was okay; in the long run, it's not that big a deal, though I do like the image. At least I can be consoled with the fact that my photo-illustration on the inside is enormous, pretty much at 1:1 scale, and bigger than everyone else's photos. And the book naturally falls open right about there, so my photo is what a lot of people may see first, which is cool.

After the reading, I had Michael S sign my copy of Bones of the Earth. While he was signing, I showed John K my copy of Intracities, and he remarked what a good and diverse number of writers were in there. Michael S also asked to see it, and upon seeing my name said, "Now where have I seen your name before?" I told him that the only other things I had in print right now were in EV #5 and the teeny tiny Dream Engine, but that wasn't it. He wracked his brain for a few moments, but then gave up and handed back my book. The only thing I can think of is that I reviewed his story "Moon Dogs" for Fictionwise a while back, and he might have seen my name there.

Then there was a reception at John K's house, and a bunch of people from the reading made it there. I only stayed for about an hour, since I had a pomo position paper (wow, say that five times fast) due this morning that I still had to write. But it was interesting hearing him talk about the big movements in fantasy right now (New Weird, slipstream, surrealism/dark fantasy, etc.), and that he has an incredibly hard time with titles.

I drove home and started to work on the position paper, but was absolutely wiped out. So I turned off the computer, set my alarm for 5:30 a.m., and went to bed. I got up this morning, made some vanilla hazelnut coffee (yummy), and got the paper done with time to spare.

We're finally at the point in my pomo class where the material is enjoyable for me, a point I was worried we'd never reach. We're covering Derrida, Baudrillard and Jameson, and reading stories by Abish ("Ardor/Awe/Atrocity") and O'Brien ("How to Tell a True War Story"). We'll be coming up on Rushdie and DeLillo soon, and I'll be a very happy monkey then.

Contrarywise, in my American Romanticism class, we're now deep into Hawthorne, and we have to read The Scarlet Letter (which I haven't started yet) by next Wednesday and The Blithedale Romance by a week later. So sometime this weekend, in the middle of buying new dress shoes (for the wedding, but also just because I need them), eating good food and watching good dancing at the Greek festival, and listening to my pal Taylor and other bands at the Carrboro Music Festival, I'll have to do a buttload of reading. Wish me luck.

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Now Reading:
The Scarlet Letter and The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stories Out to Publishers:
6

Books Read This Year:
37

Zines/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
34