Long time, no entry! It's been a good week, all in all.

First, writing bits: I wrote a thousand word story called "Eros and Thanatos," inspired by Janet Chui's fine painting Cupid R3loaded. The story may appear in an online magazine later this year, or in this year's Tropism Press holiday chapbook, or both.

I'm still working on the agoraphobic quest story, which gets longer and longer.

I wrote two reviews, of Clive Barker's Abarat: Book 2 and Brite & Faust's Triads. They'll be in the November issue of A Certain Magazine.

I read a little slush, but I've fallen behind. Hope to catch up this weekend.

My editor at Bantam tells me I'll have her editorial letter soon, possibly by next week, and then I can dive into the (I hope final) revisions of Rangergirl. Exciting!

Second, reading bits: The two books mentioned above, read to review. I'm well-immersed in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which is much as I expected it to be -- quite well-written, slow, thoughtful, digressive. It's quite a bit funnier than I'd expected, though, which is all to the good.

Third, idle enjoyment bits: Still watching Jeeves & Wooster on DVD -- up to season 4 now, which is (I think) the last season. The last season available through netflix, at any rate. I shall be sad when they're all gone. Otherwise, Heather and I have been playing The Sims for Xbox together. Our avatars are serial killers, befriending people in the neighborhood, then walling them up until they die. We expect to have a fine crop of tombstones and ghosts soon, and look forward to drowning people in the swimming pool. Are we the only people who make our Sims psychopathic? I've also been playing Knights of the Old Republic, which is so good it's hard to believe it's a Star Wars game... if Lucas had hired the writers who made this game to make his movies, maybe they wouldn't have sucked so hard. Speaking of movies (though not movies that suck), Heather and I saw Shaun of the Dead over the weekend. Mmm. British romantic comedy with zombies. Liked it very much.

Fourth, social bits: We had a busy weekend, but managed to go to Terry Bisson's house for a weekend reception in honor of Patrick Gyger (who runs Maison Ailleurs, the Swiss SF museum). It was a lovely party, in a nice backyard, with lots of good food and drink, and plenty of interesting people to talk to. Wish we could've stayed longer, but we had to take off after about an hour. More social stuff today, as Neal Stephenson came up to the A Certain Magazine offices for lunch. The whole staff took a couple of hours off work and sat out on the deck with him, eating, chatting, drinking wine (I had four glasses of wine before I left work today! I usually only have one or two...). I'd never met Stephenson before, and (as you'd expect) he's a smart, fascinating guy.

A fun, productive week! Ahead of me I've got more fiction writing (natch), a collab to revise and send out, and Flytrap to finish up. Much of that should be accomplished this weekend. Except the fiction writing, which is eternal and ongoing, changing only in its particulars...