I just found out today that an artist has been chosen to do the cover for Rangergirl. It's Michael Koelsch, who did that great cover for Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music, with the kangaroo and the cybernetic baby. That painting has always been one of my favorite pieces of cover art. Koelsch is a master of retro-pulp style, and they want him to do the "faux wear" thing to make the book look tattered and worn, which should work wonderfully for Rangergirl. I'm super-excited to see what he comes up with.

This whole having-a-novel-published thing is starting to feel more real every day.

The 2004 Preliminary Nebula ballot has been announced, and includes great stories by my friends and compatriots, notably Greg's "In the Late December", Ben Rosenbaum's "Embracing-the-New" and Christopher Rowe's "The Voluntary State" (though he was already runner-up for a Tropism Award, so he doesn't actually need a Nebula, now does he?). I'm also pleased to see work by fellow Rio Hondoans Walter Jon Williams and Ken Wharton, as well as good work by Cory Doctorow, Sean Stewart, Bradley Denton, Gene Wolfe, Andy Duncan... well, there's lots of good stuff on the prelim ballot this year, it seems to me. Though, in a continuing trend, SFWA members just aren't recommending enough works. There are eight fewer titles on this year's prelim ballot than there were last year, and nearly thirty fewer than the year before that. With that in mind, I'm off to recommend a couple of stories I've read recently, and if you're a SFWAn, I suggest you do the same. Assuming you've read some stuff you deem Nebula-worthy, as I have.

Oh, yeah, and I'm on the SFWA short fiction jury for next year (which means I should read every story published this year, ideally. Hollow laugh. Five days in, and I’m already behind). My moment of glory on the Nebula ballot was due to a jury selection, so I decided I should give something back to the organization and volunteer.

Did I mention that I finished my Rangergirl spin-off story? I did -- it's called "Bluebeard and the White Buffalo." I'm typing it up (and revising a bit on the fly) this week, to send it to my writing group. I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. Other writing includes, yes, beginning the Bridge novel in earnest, filling the first few pages in one of my lovely new Moleskines. That's going well, too, though I need to make a slightly more coherent outline, since I've already diverged from the original vague outline I wrote six months ago. Not much movement on the business front. I got my first rejection of the year, but rejections are just weather. I still have quite a few stories out there on editor's desks, blah blah blah. The usual.

So far our resolution to eat better (and not order in Chinese food or pizza every night) seems to be working. I made fancy sandwiches and chick pea/artichoke heart stew on Monday, and last night I made a vast and glorious feast of fajitas. Tonight we're doing leftovers, and will probably do something simple like eggs and toast tomorrow night, but Friday I plan to make chicken breasts wrapped with bacon and fresh basil. Now that Heather eats chicken and bacon, whole new vistas of cookery have opened before me...