Meet Pip.



Pip is a juvenile king vulture. This is what he will look like when he grows up. These are his parents, who rolled the egg out of the nest and left Pip to be hand raised by the zoo staff.

( Click me click me click me )

Went to the other half of Saguaro National Park yesterday, which is a ways out west. Pretty drive, nifty park, saguaro everywhere.



But there were also these:



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So, since it's my last week off before I have to go back to work, I decided to play Tourist today and headed off to Saguaro National Park. I drive by it nearly every day, so I figured it was high time to stop in.



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Had a ride tonight. Went mostly well. Carrma still doesn't like to turn right; we shall have to work on that more.

But... lovely sunset with a thunderhead in the distance.



Watch the cloud morph. :>)



Now it looks like an old man looking to the left.



And now it even has lightning!

Monday afternoon, my friend A and his friend P (both visiting for Comic-Con) went to the zoo. Nice going at that time; different light, and some critters were more active than usual.

Say hi to Zhen Zhen, who's almost two. She had a mister going so that's why it's got that nice fuzzy look and the effect with the light.



And here's one of those late afternoon critters. A striped hyena! They're very cool.



And this spiffy raptor. I forget what he is.

We Need YOU for the Writers Workshops!

Email Oz Whiston* at writers-workshop AT anticipationsf DOT ca

The Writers Workshops at Anticipation are small session workshops for either experienced or beginning writers based on manuscripts submitted in advance. These workshops provide Anticipation members the opportunity to have their manuscripts evaluated by selling writers and industry professionals who enjoy helping them grow as writers. Many of these professionals have taught at residency workshops, such as Clarion, or in creative writing programs.

Each session will ideally consist of submissions from three participants. The manuscripts will be circulated in advance to both the participants and the professionals. A workshop session lasting two hours will be a critique of all three submissions, or critique with directed instruction, at the discretion of the professionals in each session.

Due to the critical nature of this workshop, it is not recommended for anyone under 18 or anyone who is sensitive to criticism. Participants are strongly urged to attend a talk that will be given by Scott Edelman on Thursday at 5:00pm “How To Respond To A Critique Of Your Writing.” The talk is intended to prepare participants for the sort of discussion that occurs in workshop settings. Scott is a veteran of workshops, a Clarion alumnus, a published writer and professional editor.

All manuscripts must be submitted in advance, since there will be no on-the-spot reading for critiques. You will also need to be prepared to attend your session, which can be assigned on any day from Friday August 7 through Monday August 10 at the convention. Each session lasts two hours.

There is a nominal entry fee that covers workshop expenses. The fee is $20.00 plus $2.58 tax and will be payable through Anticipation’s PayPal. You pay the fee when you’re notified by email that your submission has been received and accepted. Payment secures your slot.

If you wish to have two stories workshopped, you may submit a request, but you must indicate which story is your first choice and the same fee will be charged for each submission. Two stories will be considered as two submissions, whether or not the combined word count is less than the maximum allowed.

1. All submissions will be electronic for Anticipation. The email address is writers-workshop AT anticipationsf DOT ca.

2. Fiction manuscripts may be either short stories or novel excerpts. Stories must be science fiction, fantasy, gothic/horror, or have a fantastic element of some kind.

3. Submissions may be French or English language. A few French-speaking professionals have volunteered to participate. Please contact the workshop as early as possible with requests for French language submissions.

4. Submissions may be non-fiction critical essays of genre work. Again, the number of slots for this type of work is limited. Please contact the workshop as soon as possible to indicate you wish to submit this type of manuscript .

5. Manuscript submissions may have up to 10,000 words, shorter lengths are encouraged. Manuscript format should conform to general professional submission standards. (The Writer's Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats, by Dian Dincin Buchman and Seli Groves, is one resource for this information.) Longer pieces or novels must also include a synopsis covering the entire plotline. The synopsis counts as part of the 10,000 words.

6. Your email is your cover letter. Include any previous sales and any workshops you may have attended. The cover email should also include your name, address, and phone number. Please include your attending membership number in your email. You can’t be assigned a space without an attending membership.

The deadline is now. Don’t delay. Write an email to reserve a spot. No submissions can be accepted after July 25th to allow for reading and assignments.

The following is an incomplete list of the moderators, writers, and experienced professionals who have agreed to give two hours of their time to the writing workshops.

* Laura Anne Gilman
* Richard Chwedyk
* P. C. Hodgell
* Nancy Kress
* David D. Levine
* John A. Pitts
* Eileen Gunn
* Jean Lorrah, Ph.D.
* Delia Sherman
* Tony Pi
* Lawrence Schoen
* Mike Shepherd Moscoe
* Colin Harvey
* Catherynne Valente
* Mindy Klasky
* Elizabeth Bear
* Jody Lynn Nye
* Mary Robinette Kowal
* Victoria Janssen
* Jay Lake
* Larry Hodges
* Elissa Malcohn

*Who is this Oz Whiston? I participated in these workshops at LAConIV and the story I workshopped was later sold to Analog. Ok, so it was up to me to listen and understand what the professionals had to say. But they provided the critical input that helped me edit my story to its final version.

I know you've all heard about Charles Brown, but I just wanted to add my bit of rememberance.

I drove up from San Diego, oh, two and a half years ago? to interview for a job they had with the magazine. Charles was kind enough to let me stay (ohhh, the basement full of books, I drooled, I did) and took me out to dinner with Amelia. I drove, and he showed me how to properly do a wine tasting, and since we both liked jazz, he selected a bottle of wine that had something about Coltrane in the title. And at his place we chatted about jazz and SF and where he got some of his nifty artifacts and his original Craftsman furniture. And I even played him a recording of my sax quartet, which he thought was cool.

It's not much, and it's the only time I ever talked to him despite seeing him at a few cons, but I still remember that trip fondly and am very, very glad I had the opportunity to see the Locus folks at home and at work. My condolences to the Locus staff and his family.

I'm happy to announce that my friend/mentor Pearl North (aka annesible, aka Anne Harris) now has her first YA book, LIBYRINTH, out. Yaaay!

On Amazon over here. And spiziks was cool enough to do an interview with her over here. It's a good interview with an excerpt. More info on her web site.

Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her.

When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.

The words of a young girl hiding in an attic—written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth—will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. Haly’s life—and the lives of everyone she knows—will never be the same.

A powerful adventure that unites the present and future, Libyrinth is a fresh, magical novel that will draw in young readers of all genres.

There will indeed be a writers' workshop at Anticipation 2009, Worldcon in Montreal this August.

Entry fee is $20 plus $2.58 in taxes, Canadian. This cost is to defray costs of the workshop. You pay the fee when you're notified that you have a slot and not before. Instructions will be emailed to entrants directly.

There are a limited number of slots available and right now, it's one slot per customer, no multiple submissions.

Maximum length is 10,000 words, including any synopsis of the rest of a novel, novella, etc. Shorter lengths, including flash, are fine, even encouraged, but only one story.

Genre: science fiction, fantasy, horror, the usual for a Worldcon
Type: short story or novel excerpt
Language: English or French
We will also consider entries for critique of non-fiction critical essays on the subject of genre, same length requirements.

The entries will be distributed in advance so the window to get space in the workshop won't be open for very long.

Official details will be forthcoming on the website and through other avenues of communication.

Oz Whiston
Creative Writing Track

My friend and mentor, Steven Harper Piziks, is running a contest on his blog over here http://spiziks.livejournal.com/160712.html to celebrate putting his Silent Empire books up on Kindle. Write the best anecdote involving chocolate, and you could win a signed copy of a Silent Empire book of your choice. (And they're all good, trust me. I have signed copies of my own. :>p ) Deadline is June 30th at 5pm (I'm assuming EST 'cause that's where he's at.)

And be sure to check out DREAMER and NIGHTMARE on the Kindle. TRICKSTER and OFFSPRING are coming soon!

He he he, three guesses as to what these are:



Give up yet? ( Here's a hint. )

A couple of linky links to support a couple of my mentors.

The first is spiziks, aka Steven Harper, author of the fantastic Silent Empire books. He's just kindle-fied the first (and out of print) book in the series, DREAMER. So if any of you out there have a kindle, do go check it out over here. Cheap, too; only $1.43, and well worth it. It's SF with gay protagonists. A bonus. :>)

The other is Judith Tarr (dancinghorse), who's offering a mentoring sale, four hours worth of manuscript critique for $150. Details over here.

Also, both authors are part of Book View Cafe, sort of a co-op of SF/F authors that features some FREE short stories and some inexpensive downloads. Judy also has a blog there where she takes all those burning questions you have about horses. Steven's official debut with BVC is on June 29th, so keep your eyes peeled for some good stuff. :>)

graashoppa and I went to the zoo today, and, much to our enjoyment, we got to see the elephants doing lots of things, like getting their feet bathed to keep their nails from cracking and to harden their pads, and then Tembo wandered down to visit with her keeper and take a bath. Keeper was delighted too; today was the first time she actually went under the water. Yay!





And we watched the orangutans for a while. This is Satu looking pensive.
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So the zoo just opened Elephant Odyssey last Saturday. It's really cool. Doesn't quite have all the animals it will, but they'll be there soon. It's largely dedicated to educating people about the critters that used to be there (mammoths, giant condors, saber-toothed tigers and such) with animals that are around now (elephants, California condors, jaguar, horse.) There are some really big statues. This one is twice as tall as me. And all the statues actually toured the U.S. before they got here.

For example:



vs.



I got the camera in there on purpose. Dunno if he's making a documentary of sorts, or moving it around as one of those animal cams that streams live on the website. But, hey, I think he got me a couple times.

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Dammit.

California sucks.

A series of good posts about writers, how they write, and how they deal with their fans' feelings of entitlement (i.e. "how dare you work on something else when Sequel X isn't out?")

Starting here Elizabeth Moon's blog post which links to Robin McKinley, Neil Gaiman and Patrick Rothfuss, all of whom have good things to say. Especially Patrick, since he's a new writer and just dealing with everything that comes with it. And there's comics on his too. :>p

Okay, it's been a while. Zoo's been crowded 'cause of spring break and I was out of town last week, sooo . . .

Went today with a friend from work and his friend and walked around almost the whole zoo.



And it's starting to be baby season. Meet the newest giraffe, only two weeks old.



And here's a young yellow-backed duiker.



And two baby sun bears (up in the tree limbs on the left) which are only the third and fourth sun bears ever to be born in captivity. SD Zoo had #2, also.



And just 'cause this Cuban iguana is one of my favorites to photograph:



But the pic of the day lies beneath the cut.

( Cut for the squeamish; snake eating dinner. )

So, as part of the bargain for getting a print sneak peak at C. C. Finlay's new book, The Patriot Witch, I get to write a review for it.

And, I'll admit, I have a soft spot for the author--if it weren't for Charlie, I wouldn't have gone to Clarion and gotten to meet him in person. So, OF COURSE I wanted his book, and have ever since I saw him mention "witches in the revolutionary war" on his blog the first time. And it's signed, too. Yaaay! I did download the PDF (still available at www.ccfinlay.com for a little while at least) but without an e-reader I'm less inclined to spend time reading electronic things.

Anyhoo. Good book. Fun, original, imaginative, and I enjoyed all the little bits of detail (though admittedly that's a lot of my writer brain taking notes on how to use historical detail.) It took me a bit to get into; it starts off with a battle pretty quick, and I was really hoping it wouldn't be just battles and fighting through the whole thing. (This isn't to say that the battle's not interesting or good; sartorias liked it, but I'm just not that into battles.) I needn't have worried; it soon moved on to characters and adventures which carried me through the rest of the book. And the climax is really, really good and touching. That battle I liked.

I'll say at this point, Deborah's my favorite character. Strong, determined, but with a flaw or two, and a sketchy past that I'm assuming we'll find out more in the next couple of books. (We'd better!)

Proctor is an all-around Nice Guy, and innocent, and that innocence gets him into a world of trouble. I liked him, but for me he was a little bit too nice. The scenes between him and his mother made me cringe, and I said "Hooray!" for the way he handled the later ones. Proctor does have guts. Plenty of them. I just want a little something more out of him; like, to stop being quite so compliant. But he grows by the end, and I liked him better then.

And because I don't want to have any spoilers--I'll just say, "Hey, there's ______ies! How cool is that, to have ______ies in the revolutionary war!" And I'm generally not into _______ies either, but, dude, these were fun. :>)

(and, hmm, wonder where he got the name for a certain little drummer boy at the end? Hmmm.)

Overall, this book has something for everyone; love, war, good villains, drama, danger. I admit to reading this more with my writer brain than my reading for fun brain, but it made my writer brain happy. A good, solid, well-crafted book, and I truly look forward to reading the rest. Charlie said he feels like it's his best work; I'm inclined to agree.

Don't walk, run to your nearest bookstore or online buying venue. It's worth it. And the next two are coming out in the next couple months so you don't have to wait long to read all three!

Mysterious Galaxy

Powell's

amazon

Read it, read it, read it.

Now that my brain isn't mush (due to lots of useful feedback and lots of driving) here's a more formal write-up of my sojurn into the desert for a long weekend at dancinghorse's writing and communing with horses.

Horse Camp takes place out just southeast of Tucson. I drove out since I'm just over in San Diego (six hours away) though the Tucson airport is pretty darn close if you'd rather fly. Desert. So if you like heat and cacti (like I do) you're in for a treat. Plenty of wildlife, quail, roadrunners, various other birds, lizards, rabbits, and if you're lucky, you'll get to see this guy:
( cut for lots of pics and some more description. )

And then there was the writing bit. birdhousefrog got more writing done, since she was there longer than I was and had some specific goals in mind. Me, I didn't end up getting any done. I'd done a bit of on-line mentoring with dancinghorse beforehand on my novel, and I'd sent her a short story (which was related to the book) just before I got there. So I got the feedback for the story, and ended up thinking over that rather than writing. And petting horses. And digging through some of J's books for writing examples. Lots of good things to think about. And horse camp also includes some one-on-one mentoring, so dancinghorse and I had a good discussion about specific writing things as well coming up with some plot and story and worldbuilding ideas for the novel and short story. Good enough that the first chance I got I ran (okay, walked briskly) to the library for some research materials. :>)

Overall, it's totally worth it. I've done Clarion, and Taos Toolbox and gotten an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and even this brief little writing weekend is entirely comparable to any of those. The best part is just being able to get away from real life and write (or try to. Or think about it. Hard.) which is part of the attraction of the formal programs. Doing it with a good writing friend makes it even better. The horses make it unique. And J is one of the most knowledgable people I've met when it comes to writing and the business. Totally worth it, especially if the programs I mentioned above are out of your budget or if you know something's wrong/missing in your work and you don't know what it is. Even if you can't get there in person, the on-line mentoring is wonderfully useful as well.

And for me I thought it was really cool to see the parallel between riding and writing, or, really, any art in general. All these things to keep in your mind and practice (breathe, balance, loosen up vs. dialog, character, tension, prose) until you can do them naturally without thinking so hard. I haven't actually written since I've gotten back, just thinking. A lot. Researching. Letting the feedback sink in so when I get going again it'll be that much better.

Anyway. I can't wait to go back; I miss the horses terribly. And food. Yummy food, all the more yummy for someone who lives alone and doesn't cook a lot for herself. Homemade bread. Mmmmm. And for more detailed info from dancinghorse, go read her post on How Horse Camp Works.

(and if this sounds like a sales pitch, well, it sort of is. :>) Go visit dancinghorse online or in person. You won't regret it.)

Went for a hike at Torrey Pines State Reserve today. Have been hankering to get out there again. Kinda needed the UV filter for my pics, though; a lot are kinda washed out. I did get to see lots of critters though, including a dozen lizards, a pair of quail, crows, a hawk, snails, crabs, an anemone, and a rabbit. Walked a long ways. Four miles, methinks.

I do have a few favorites though, and you can find all the Torrey Pines pics from today and January here.