Partridge in a Pear Tree

This is awesome.

The first twenty seconds are normal.

Then all carol breaks loose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Mwahaha

"Behind every successful woman are several confused men who give her something to make fun of." -- Sarah Miller

Review!

For "Sails and Sorcery" story "Currents and Clockwork" -- scroll down, I'm in the last third of the anthology or so.

http://thefix-online.com/reviews/sails-and-sorcery/

Already?!

Seth Crossman's "Forbidden Speculations" anthology was just released - no, really! It's out! Amazon link is: http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Speculation-Seth-Crossman/dp/0980192102/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198034711&sr=8-3

I'm sure no one will be rushing out to buy this sight unseen, but still ... cool.

They'll be announcing the final winner of the contest portion of this soon.

Afterburn SF

"Chatter Me Timbers" is now available to read at Afterburn SF (http://www.afterburnsf.com). Stop on by and enjoy a dose of pseudo-classical-Greek pirates.

Traveling Along

The last of my song collection CDs, songs about departing or coming home, moving along, traveling, driving, biking ... you name it.

1. Coming Out Of The Dark -- Gloria Estefan
2. My Way Home -- Kirsty MacColl
3. Anywhere Is -- Enya
4. In My Car (I'll Be The Driver) -- Shania Twain
5. Roots and Wings -- Anne Murray
6. Across The Universe of Time -- Hayley Westenra
7. Runaway -- Anna Sahlene
8. He's On The Beach -- Kirsty MacColl
9. On My Way Home -- Enya
10. Lead Me On -- Amy Grant
11. One Of These Days -- Michelle Branch
12. Runaway -- Cher
13. Miss April -- Chantal Kreviazuk
14. Journey's End -- Clannad
15. I Drove All Night -- Celine Dion
16. The Journey Home -- Sarah Brightman
17. Don't Look Back -- Thalia
18. I Move On -- Chicago soundtrack

I think this is far and away the most varied collection as far as artists. And ... Christmas music? Surely you jest. I'm a professional musician. When I'm not playing it, I am trying to escape the stuff.

Retirement in Anthology!

The Lorelei Signal runs a yearly anthology with the best stories from each year. This will be the second anthology - and the first one was nominated for an EPPIE (a major ebooks award). And ... Retirement, where I sprung flash fiction upon a poor, unsuspecting editor, will be printed in the anthology!

I am, of course, proud of my story, but I think the illustration was better. ;-)

Good Taste regarding ... Good Taste

My story "Good Taste" in Aoife's Kiss will be eligible for next year's best-of anthology if it receives enough votes. The online version of the magazine is here: http://samsdotpublishing.com/aoife/main.htm
The vote page is here: http://samsdotpublishing.com/aoife/vote.htm

Three's a Crowd

Moving on with the music ... sadly, I had more than enough songs to do a "Three's a Crowd" mix, songs where there's another woman, competition for a relationship, or ...

1. Celestine -- Kirsty MacColl (where the "other woman" is her alter-ego)
2. To Love You More -- Celine Dion
3. Baby, I'm In Love -- Thalia
4. I Can't Say Goodbye To You -- Helen Reddy
5. England 2 Columbia 0 -- Kirsty MacColl
6. Heaven's What I Feel -- Gloria Estefan
7. Coulda Been -- Kimberley Locke
8. Misbehavin' -- Thalia
9. Don't Think of Me -- Dido
10. My Affair -- Kirsty MacColl
11. Strong Enough -- Cher
12. (If There Was) Any Other Way -- Celine Dion
13. Free -- Sarah Brightman
14. If Only She Knew -- Michelle Branch
15. Treat Her Like A Lady -- Celine Dion
16. Words Get In The Way -- Gloria Estefan
17. Julia -- Chantal Kreviazuk
18. Blame It On Me -- Anna Sahlene
19. Music Gets The Best of Me -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor (where the "other man" is ... not a person.)

State of the World

CD collection the third, songs about ... well ... the state of the world.

1. Nobody Home -- Amy Grant
2. This One's For The Girls -- Martina McBride
3. Evacuee -- Enya
4. Time Waits -- Gloria Estefan
5. The Power -- Amy Grant
6. A Little Good News -- Anne Murray
7. Children of the Revolution -- Kirsty MacColl
8. Famous -- Gloria Estefan
9. Weight of the World -- Chantal Kreviazuk
10. Big Yellow Taxi -- Amy Grant
11. Seal Our Fate -- Gloria Estefan
12. Miss April -- Chantal Kreviazuk
13. Wait For The Healing -- Amy Grant
14. Higher -- Gloria Estefan
15. So Magical -- Martina McBride
16. Do You Know The Way To San Jose -- Dionne Warwick
17. What About The Love -- Amy Grant
18. One Name -- Gloria Estefan
19. Something To Believe In -- Sarah Brightman

Yeah, awful lot of Grant and Estefan in this one. Just seems to be they do a lot of songs I like in this general category. I actually decided to start this one because I was looking for a place for "Children of the Revolution" and "A Little Good News."

New Mixes!

I've switched over my music again to have new things to listen to in the car, and of course, I had to theme my CDs. The first one is a character-related collection and means nothing if you don't know my past six or seven PCs. The second is called "Fun In Dysfunction" (as in, it puts the - it was too long to write on the CD) and is full of songs where uh, yeah, this relationship is messed up. It includes:

1. Are You Happy Now? -- Michelle Branch
2. A Boy Like That -- Selena
3. Can't Stop Killing You -- Kirsty MacColl
4. Damn -- Leann Rimes
5. Dangerous Game -- Gloria Estefan
6. Dear Life -- Chantal Kreviazuk
7. Disappear -- Anna Sahlene
8. Find Your Way Back -- Michelle Branch
9. Hunter -- Dido
10. I'm Not Giving You Up -- Gloria Estefan
11. Just Ain't Feeling It -- Dian Diaz
12. Loser -- Anna Sahlene
13. Murder On The Dancefloor -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor
14. No Angel -- Dido
15. One Night Only -- Dreamgirls (this one doesn't totally fit, but I wanted it on one of my cuts)
16. The Universe is You -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor (ditto, although it has shades of potential dysfunction)
17. When The Wrong Loves You Right -- Celine Dion
18. Before You -- Chantal Kreviazuk

In the last few rips, I started kind of having a final song that takes a different tactic or a more upbeat note. 18 is an "It all gets better" song to round out the dysfunction.

Good Taste

This story is now available (online! Free!) at Aoife's Kiss (http://samsdotpublishing.com/aoife/main.htm). Frankly, writing this one perturbed me a bit ... if you want a take on the idea of well, sentient food, try this one.

Black Eyes

Black Eyes and Black Arts, a sword-and-sorcery parody featuring the hapless Javarien and his vampiric sword (ahem), just sold to Worlds of Wonder! This is one of my longest stories and I believe will be broken down into a serial ... not unlike the story it originated from.

Javarien was one of six characters in a "hapless band of adventurers" story I wrote with Beth several years ago (three each). We used to put an episode in Eye of Unicorn, Tongue of Dragon every quarter ... good times. Only the character and his sword are intact here, though.