image by csullens

I have added another love letter to my Objects of Love Project. A love song to a Blu-ray player, These Whole Worlds. It’s inspired by one of Suzanne Vega’s odder songs.

From Sherlock to Sheldon: Asexuality and Asexual Characters in SF/F Fri, 4:00–5:15 pm
Moderated by K. Tempest Bradford. With the good company of Dash (editor of Expanded Horizons), L J Geoffrion and Jed Hartman
We’re all familiar by now with the sexual orientations homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Much less discussed are asexuals, persons who do not experience sexual attraction. This panel discusses what asexuality is and is not, and proposes ways for authors to explore this overlooked orientation in their characters. Is it enough that a character has no on-page sex life, or should asexuality be more positively portrayed? Asexuality in real-time fandom and asexual characters in fiction and media may also be discussed as time allows.

READING: Transformative Spaces Sun, 10:00–11:15 am at Michelangelos
A place can change you; where you are can deeply affect who you become in ways you might never have expected. From a world on the midnight brink of interstellar war, to a teenage girl forced into a dystopian fertility nightmare, from an abandoned feather who’ll do anything for a part on the stage, to a place between worlds, where everything can change—join Liz Argall, Jed Hartman, Mary Anne Mohanraj, and Heather Shaw as they explore the transformative power of place through their fiction. Sometimes, it’s both the journey and the destination that matters!

We’re Not Contortionists: Ridiculous Female Positions in SF/F and Comic Artwork Sun, 1:00–2:15 pm Assembly
Moderated by Tracy Benton. With the good company of Heather Keith Freeman, S. N. Arly and Jessica Plummer
A fun (if slightly depressing) panel on how women are depicted in cover artwork on SF & F books and in comic book characters. Artist Kate Beaton and author Jim C. Hines, among others, have recently been calling out the silly and impossible poses artists are putting women into in comics and on covers. This panel is an Action Panel! The organizer creates a Powerpoint of the offending illustrations. After a brief presentation, the panelists take up the challenge of duplicating the impossible poses before the audience! At the end, the audience votes for the most horrible book cover and the best panelist imitator.

Why Are Certain Works “Guilty Pleasures”? Sun, 2:30–3:45 pm Assembly
Moderated bu Ellen Klages. With the good company of Dr. Janice M. Bogstad, Lisa Cohen and Annalee Newitz

Why do we feel embarrassed or guilty about enjoying certain works? Why do we enjoy them if they make us feel guilty? How do we form our perceptions about which works are inherently unimportant or shameful, and how does this impact which books are guilty pleasures?

A new version of A Study in Flesh and Mind is now available over on Dark Fiction Magazine, now with creepy artwork. I love the way text transforms when spoken. Every iteration is unique, casts new light, makes new shadow.

Now I just have dreams of a gender bending “A Study in Flesh and Mind” where the model’s pronoun is changed to the masculine and the reader is male. I’m curious to find out what sort of light that will throw.

“A Study in Flesh and Mind” is now available on Pseudopod they did a terrific job. It’s also a special treat to hear Alasdair talk about creative process and the effort of dragging idea through a state change.

The Rugged Track, readable right now at Strange Horizons, will be broadcast by PodCastle sometime too.

… aaaaand, both are eligable for award type thingies for 2011 if you feel so inclined.

And now, if you don’t mind I’m going to listen to this week’s PodCastle. It’s got a charming intro by Madame MK Hobson, is read by the delectable Tina Conolly (who’s doing a whole podcasting series this year and whose book, Ironskin, is coming out soooon) and has words by the delightful Alaya Dawn Johnson.

How can you say no to something with content like this?

Still, at sixteen she had finally accomplished several of her goals in life: a) meet a boy, b) talk to the boy, c) impress him with her knowledge of esoteric subjects like grafting apple trees, and, finally, d) mack on him like crazy.

If pressed, Judy admitted that perhaps she still had a slight distance to travel until she fully accomplished d). Even though Brandon had attempted to insert his tongue in her mouth, the reality of it wagging wetly in the air had so disconcerted Judy that she turned at the exact wrong moment, thereupon forcing Brandon’s tongue to slither over her cheek until he realized what had happened and put it back in his mouth. How, she asked Alice, does anyone make out with so much spit? Alice just shrugged and said you got used to it.

Judy hoped she would get used to it.

Now, that’s one heck of a way to spend a sleepy Saturday morning. PodCastle noms.

Here’s the Christmas Dukkah I put together for the Horrific Miscue Christmas Party.

Basic technique

Toast nuts and seeds in the oven. Don’t try to toast them all together, they’re all different sizes and you run the risk of burning. Toast almonds with just almonds, sesame seeds with just sesame seeds. After burning walnuts badly I now set a timer and check on the guys every few minutes. You can also toast things in the frying pan. And according to this tutorial, you can also toast them in the microwave.

I always toast my cumin seeds in the frying pan as I always burn cumin if I try to do it in the oven.

Once the nuts or seeds are done I chuck them in a bowl and stir them around with a pinch of salt.

Put Almonds in food processor and chop until they’re fairly small pieces. Then add the other things, pulse the blender and taste. I taste regularly, adding one ingredient at a time and tweaking. To taste I’ll get a rough feel by dropping a pinch into my mouth, but to fine tune I’ll put some into a dish and then try with olive oil and bread. This is especially important when using dried ingredients that will come to life with the extra moisture.

Instead of a food processor you can use a mortar and pestle to break down the big ingredients and then combine in a bowl instead.

I’ve listed the ingredients I used on this occasion. I’m always changing it, depending on what I have in the cupboard and how I feel like experimenting. Once I have a base I sometimes decant my dukkah into different jars and then add extra spices to each jar. That way I can explore different variations and not wreck the whole thing.

If this big list of ingredients intimidates you, try mixing sesame seeds, cumin seeds and salt together and just eating that. If you don’t like cumin seeds, try coriander seeds or dried oregano as your base instead.

Ingredients for Christmas Dukkah

Almonds (freshly toasted in the oven)

Sesame Seeds (freshly toasted in the oven)

Cumin Seeds (toasted in fry pan)

Dried Parsley

Dried Oregano

Dried Thyme

Salt (In this case Murray River Red Salt and a bit of Jamie Oliver seasoned salt mix that was a gift from my mother in law… adds a bit of ground bay leaf, thyme, lemon to the mix. Dukkah loves salt and I’ll often add a bit of extra salt to the top of Dukkah dish when serving)

Cinnamon (freshly grated into the mixing bowl using a microplane)

Nutmeg (freshly grated into the mixing bowl using a microplane)

Ingredients of spicier Christmas Dukkah

Same as above, but add

Extra Cumin

Anardana powder (ground pomegranate seeds)

Cayenne

High quality, unsweetened cocoa powder (this pairs well with the cayenne and makes the spicier mixture look different to the plain version)

I performed “Maia Blue is Going Home” and a few short pieces at World Fantasy Con. I was so delighted by the crowd that turned up. Maia Blue is a poignant mediation on memory and cognition and I wasn’t sure if people would get bored… but it was a good kind of silent listening and I got great feedback. Maia Blue is in the newly released anthology “Anywhere But Earth” by Coeur De Lion.

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Stories published at Strange Horizons in 2010 were shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon, Locus, Tiptree and Aurealis Awards

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