dance mehitabel dance

Can-Con 2012 update

deakat — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:53:41 GMT

It looks like something lit a fire under the Can-Con organizers; the site still looks like a refugee from the '90s (at least to me) and there remain a couple of dead guys, but the content has been beefed up, including an actual registration page!

The price is $30 for now, and will probably go up soon, so get yours if you think you may want to attend! I've got mine.

Comment here or comment there; comments welcome anywhere. /Seuss

Corgecstasy

deakat — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:27:54 GMT

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/47616.html, where there are now comments. I'd prefer comments there using OpenID, but choose you may.

More SF for the rest of us (boost the signal!)

deakat — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:21:05 GMT

Originally posted by prezzey at More SF for the rest of us (boost the signal!)

Hello everyone,

I'm prezzey - I'm a Hungarian Jewish woman currently living in Hungary. I help run Expanded Horizons, the magazine focusing on underrepresented groups in SF, so some of you might know me from there. I have a separate project that's thematically related, and I'd really appreciate it if you all helped me spread the word. :]

I'm reviewing recent English-language SF stories on my website (there is also a LJ feed of recent entries: prezzey_public). I finally got my act together and organized the content somewhat, so there is now a way to browse stories by topic and by relative ranking (the best first!).

There are two focus points:

* fiction available for free online - I live in the Second World, so this is always a plus ;]
* fiction related to underrepresented groups - ethnic, sexual, cognitive minorities, people of color, women, authors from outside the Anglosphere, disabled people, etc.

If you visit the tags page, you are able to find, say, stories by Chinese-American authors, or stories featuring Russian characters with one click - all free and pre-sorted by me!

This is not one of those "donate to my dog" posts. I'm not asking for money, I'm asking for the following:

* let your friends know - crosspost this post with the button below and I'll be very happy! If you only do this, that's more than enough. I just want to make sure I reach the people who would be interested

* recommend me stories to review, especially stories by underrepresented authors which might go under the radar otherwise (I'm currently reviewing stuff eligible for the 2012 Hugos)

* add my RSS or LJ feed (prezzey_public) and follow the updates!

Have fun and may we all have a year filled with great SF :]

announcing 2012 Con or Bust auction

deakat — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:58:44 GMT

Originally posted by kate_nepveu at announcing 2012 Con or Bust auction

I am pleased to announce this year's auction to support Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF conventions. Bidding starts Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST (GMT -5) and ends Sunday, February 25, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. You may post auction offers and make donations now.

For more details, please see these updated posts explaining how to:

As a reminder, Con or Bust is now helping fans attend all cons of their own choosing, not just WisCon as in the past. (Requests for assistance to attend cons in April, May, and June 2012 will be taken from February 15 through 25; see the "request assistance" link for more details.) Because the demand for assistance is greater than before, please spread the word widely!

More information about Con or Bust.

Sharing a good thing

deakat — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:38:19 GMT

Do you like to read prose that you can taste* while your eyes devour it? Do something nice for yourself (and/or someone else) and sign up for Catherynne M. Valente's Omikuji Project.

The Omikuji Project is an experiment in cyberfunded art. It is an old-fashioned approach to new-founded literature, the shortest path from author to reader. It is a secret and marvelous communication, a unique way for you to read stories unavailable in any other venue, in any other way. It is a network of tales, a community. It is whispering in the dark; it is a fireside confession.

On the fifteenth of the month, subscribers will receive either a PDF or a mailed letter containing one short story or poem not less than two-thousand words or 150 lines, and any other literary flotsam I can find to send you. These stories are not published elsewhere without permission of the community, except in the collected anthologies, which occur every two years.

The mailing is the heart of the project: printed on high quality paper, autographed, and sealed with a scarlet wax stamp, they are stunning collectible artifacts.

I will continue this project so long as a minimum number of subscribers are interested (approximately 100).

It's a luxury, but it's one that I'm happy to indulge in.

*Then again, that might be a special treat that my brain provides.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/45817.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

When will you Rise?

deakat — Fri, 13 May 2011 05:50:02 GMT

I am so very excited about the upcoming release of Deadline. Let me tell you all about it, won't you?

It's the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy by Seanan McGuire (writing as Mira Grant). The first book in the series, Feed, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, is one of the nominees for this year's Hugo award for best novel, and is currently available in ebook format for only $2.99. I think I'm going to have to get that for myself, because I keep giving away my paper copies.

A few people to whom I've recommended Feed have demurred because they're not interested in or have had a surfeit of zombies, but it's definitely not the usual zombie book. If anything, it's a political thriller with zombies. When a reviewer complained that it was about politics, and not zombies, Seanan said "It's a book about politics. It's also a book about zombies, virology, Internet culture, wireless technology, bad beer, brand loyalty, sunglasses, the CDC, and horses. But mostly, it's a book about politics. Politics, zombies, blogging, and how George Romero accidentally saved the world, which is why I tell people it's "The West Wing meets Transmetropolitan meets Night of the Living Dead."

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Deadline has already received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, but don't read it if you want to avoid spoilers for Feed, or you want to avoid hearing anything about what happens in Deadline. Seanan's counting down to release date with prequel snippets (set twenty years before the events of Feed) that make me shiver with anticipation. We're already at T-minus 19, but you'll want to start at T-minus 29.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/43922.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Sticky post: Goodbye LJ...

deakat — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:02:07 GMT

Leaving LJ for Dreamwidth full time...

"Suspicious comments" and "Spam comments": LJ decision to 'block' spam

deakat — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:32:08 GMT

Originally posted by heeroluva at "Suspicious comments" and "Spam comments": LJ decision to 'block' spam is a big FAIL!

So I've been noticing in both my own journal and communities that I haven't been able to see some comments even thought it says there are more comments there than are actually showing up. Instead I'm getting a place holder that says (Spam comment) or (Suspicious comment).

Why are these showing up like this you may ask? In their rush to fight spam LJ has created a new filter that're AUTOMATICALLY TURNED ON in ALL journals and communities, which screens comments that are made with 'suspicious links' ie links that are not on their safe whitelist, so pretty much the majority of the internet. There is no noted way to add to the 'whitelist'.

What really gets me is that they didn't inform people that they were doing this until a week after it was done and that it was automatically turned on.

So how do I turn it off you might ask.

That's simple. Go to your Settings, click on the Privacy tab, and half way down where it says Spam Protection uncheck the box next to "Comments containing a link to a non-whitelisted domain will be marked as spam and moved to a special section." This applies to both personal journal and communities and the opinion has to be manually changed in each one.

While I understand how this could be a good idea, I think they went about it in a very backhanded way, and have implemented it poorly. There was no message to anyone that the link has been screened. It's automatically done. This went on for over a week before they said anything about it. There is still nothing in the FAQs about it even. The only way I found out about this way going through the support pages where people were reporting similar issues.

Please share this!

ETA: This links really illustrates the problems.

A gem from the Russian side of LJ

deakat — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:36:54 GMT

Wish I could get a poster of this!

Via justbeast (Originally posted by k_poli), the caption reads "Reading is not harmful. NOT reading is."

Can-Con 2011

deakat — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:02:54 GMT

If anyone is interested in getting involved in or even just learning more about this year's Can-Con (the Ottawa convention that was resurrected last year), the Ottawa Science Fiction Society is hosting a meet-and-greet with the organizers at their next meeting.

It takes place at 2 pm on January 30th at the Dalhousie Community Centre, Somerset at Empress, ground floor. Everyone is welcome!

Addendum: More details are available here.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/40608.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Books in 2010

deakat — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:06:09 GMT

These are in no particular order, because I didn't take very good notes when I completed them. Snrching shadesong's method for 2011, though, to keep everything in one place.

I'm sure I'm missing some, so this isn't too bad for a year in which I had a few pretty severe non-reading slumps. One thing I do notice is a lack of non-fiction, which will be remedied this year.

Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
J.A. Pitts, Black Blade Blues
Emma Bull, Finder
Seanan McGuire, A Local Habitation
Barbara Hambly, Those Who Hunt The Night
Kage Baker, The Women of Nell Gwynne's
N. K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue (re-read)
Seanan McGuire, An Artificial Night
Mira Grant, Feed
Elizabeth Bear, Dust (re-read)
Elizabeth Bear, Blood and Iron (re-read)
Elizabeth Bear, Whiskey and Water
Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel
Elizabeth Bear, Hell and Earth
Terry Windling & Mark Alan Arnold, eds., Borderland
Terry Windling & Delia Sherman, eds., The Essential Bordertown: A Traveller's Guide to the Edge of Faerie
Marie Brennan, Warrior
Marie Brennan, Witch
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners
Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon's Arms (re-read)
John Joseph Adams, The Living Dead
John Joseph Adams, By Blood We Live
Thomas King, One Good Story, That One
John Scalzi, Old Man's War
John Scalzi, The Ghost Brigades
Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker & Ryan Ottley, Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1
Karen Pryor, Reaching the Animal Mind
Lucy Snyder, Spellbent
Ellen Datlow, ed., Lovecraft Unbound
Cherie Priest, Boneshaker
China Miéville, The City & The City
Robert Charles Wilson, Julian Comstock
Catherynne M. Valente, Palimpsest (re-read)
Ellen Klages, Portable Childhoods
Sarah Hall, The Carhullan Army
Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret
Octavia Butler, Fledgling (re-read)
Lauren Beukes, Moxyland
Jonathan Strahan, ed., Eclipse Three
Patrick Rothfuss, Name of the Wind
Katherine Dunne, Geek Love
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
Robin Becker, Brains: A Zombie Memoir
John Scalzi, ed., Metatropolis
Ellen Datlow, ed., Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
Pat Miller, Play With Your Dog

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/39358.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

StrowlerCon Feed

deakat — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 15:30:28 GMT

Originally posted by cluegirl at StrowlerCon Feed

Hey everyone!

Last night was, in a word, AWESOME! For those of you who happened to glance at this blog last night, you saw me mention that the concerts and shows were going out on live feed, right?

Well, this is where it gets better. For the balance of today, right up until TONIGHT'S live feed goes out, we are leaving access to last night's broadcast up.

That's right, y'all get a replay option!
If you missed seeing Kellianna's stunning opening act; if you tuned in too late to hear s00j and stealthcello play the Skinny White Chick set; if you didn't get to see all of the Gypsy Nomads; or if you're stuck down at New York Comic Con, and missing Catherynne Valente more than you can bear, and would like to have a slice of her readings -- Hint; there was new stuff. Oh yes, there was! -- and S.J. Tucker's awesome songspinnings around those words -- Hint; there were new songs too!; if you missed the pasty-splosion of Rogue Burlesque...
We've got it handled for you!

You will also notice, as you click over to check out the awesome that is the live stream replay , that there is a little widget to the right of the screen, which will let you tip the artists you like and love.

Let me say it again, because I am a busker myself, and this is Relevant to my Interests: Tip the acts you enjoy. Just a bit of pocket change adds up to make the difference for a Strowler, you know. In the words of a wise man: "A little money makes the difference between an adventure, and an ordeal."

Tonight's feed will feature Kellianna at 7:00, followed by Heather Dale at 8:00, Sharon Knight at :9:00, Tricky Pixie at 10:00, and the Vagabond Vaudeville show at 11:00.

And finally, SHILL THIS POST! Oh, beloveds, let the internet ring with this ephemeral opportunity to sample our awesome!

Under the spreading chestnut tree...

deakat — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:29:32 GMT

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day says the government will go ahead with its plan to spend billions for new prisons, suggesting statistics that show crime is declining in Canada are not accurate. This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/36331.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

The sincerest form of flattery?

deakat — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:14:13 GMT

Does anyone else think that the concept of SyFy channel's Alphas is more than a little similar to Shadow Unit? This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/35973.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Joyce, moi? Maybe it's time to read him

deakat — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:39:21 GMT

Via everyone on the internet, it seems:

I write like
Margaret Atwood

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/35354.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

To sleep...

deakat — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:03:01 GMT

I had my first on-call shift last night, and discovered that when awakened at 2 am by a screaming pager, my first instinct is to sit bolt upright in bed and sniff for smoke.

My nerves are buzzing with fatigue, the way they did in the bar at the end of a long day at WorldCon last August, but without the backrubs, laughter and alcohol.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/34102.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Spring has sprung!

deakat — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:13:00 GMT

My front lawn is full of tiny would-be trees and wild violets. Each year the violets become more numerous, and I, for one, look forward to the day that they reign supreme.

I experienced a moment of joy this morning when, while I was filling a glass at the kitchen sink, a flash of colour out the window caught my eye. Cardinal in the blooming lilac tree! My heart, it swelled.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/33588.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Ottawa Science Fiction Society monthly meeting

deakat — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:39:42 GMT

The topic for this month's meeting is:

F&SF Models. From basic commercial plastic kits to detailed unique fan-constructed models with complex electronic and mechanical features. If you've got a Dalek in your garage or basement, come and tell us about it.

The meeting takes place at 2 pm, Sunday, April 25th in Room 1 (on the ground floor near the main office and the entrance) of the Dalhousie Community Centre (755 Somerset Street West).

To learn more about the group, check out the website!

I don't go to all the meetings, but this sounds like it could be fun. Anybody want to join me?

Do you want to go to WisCon?

deakat — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:34:52 GMT

2nd ETA: Package has found a home. Thanks for playing

Time to face the facts and accept that I just can't make it to WisCon this year, but somebody else (maybe you) will benefit from my pre-planning.

I have one WisCon membership, a dessert ticket and a reservation for a Governor's Club room at the Concourse (the con hotel). You know you want it. $60 US takes the whole shebang.

If I don't have it placed via my DW/LJ/Facebook by Monday morning, I'll be posting directly to the WisCon groups.

ETA: The reservation is for Thursday through Tuesday morning. If you've never stayed in a Governor's Club room, and you think the price ($169/night double) is a little steep, take a look at the perks and think again. I'll never stay elsewhere if I can manage it.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/33041.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Shiny alert!

deakat — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:49:04 GMT

elisem is having a sale. You should go buy something! Also, if you think that I should have more pretty in my life, I'm happy to accept any contributions that you care to make toward that end.

This entry was originally posted at http://deakat.dreamwidth.org/32834.html, where there are now comments. Feel free to comment in either location.

Job news!!!

deakat — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:25:55 GMT

I received, printed, signed & sent back the job offer. It's more generous than I had any reason to expect, given my reticence about actually asking for what I'm worth (or what people tell me I'm worth, anyway).

The proposed start date is March 1st, and I'll likely be doing some training at their first level help desk, which is located in Stratford, Ontario. I'll miss my Summerdog, but it will allow me visits with friends and family who live near those parts.

Dogs in Elk

deakat — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:26:22 GMT

This is the best story ever!

The Secret Life of Dogs

deakat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:33:41 GMT

This is a BBC documentary recommended by Patricia McConnell (one of my favourite animal behaviourists), on her blog. If you share your life with one or more dogs (or even if you don't), I hope you'll find it as fascinating as I did.

Tiny book review

deakat — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:21:16 GMT

I'm reading again! During the past year or more, I was lucky to get through an anthology every couple of months, but I've been reading at least one book per week since the winter holidays. Yay!

I'll have more to say about that later, but this one needs to go back to the library today, so let me tell you a bit about Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe (edited by Ellen Datlow). This is dark fantasy, like Poe's work itself. A few of the stories were written in a stylized fashion that I had some difficulty adapting to at first, but on the whole worked quite well. These were bedtime stories for me, but I don't recommend that for those afeared of nightmares.

I read Poe when I was very young, but reading this anthology left me with a yearning to return to his works, and then come back to read these stories again.

I'm here to change your lives

deakat — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:12:59 GMT

via Wil Wheaton