“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.

World Fantasy Con Squee

World Fantasy Con‘s Programming has been released and I can proudly announce I will be doing a reading.

Pacific 6/7 on Saturday at 3pm.

I think I’ll do The Rugged Track if it’s a new bunch of people.

If it’s people who’ve heard me read before I think I’ll do “Maia Blue is Going Home” – it’s coming out in Anywhere But Earth in early November… though I can be swayed by requests and will have more with me.

Donations are fun and easy!

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

“Where does my money go?

Strange Horizons is staffed entirely by volunteers, so everything you donate goes towards the running of the magazine. At the moment, our costs break down something like this:

• Your $5 donation will cover our administrative overhead costs for one week
• Your $20 donation pays for one poem or one review
• Your $50 donation pays for one article
• Your $100 donation allows us to sponsor a convention event
• Your $250 donation is the average amount we pay for a new story
• Your $400 donation pays for an entire week’s worth of material at Strange Horizons”*

* from http://strangehorizons.com/fund_drives/2011/main.shtml

Liz squee!

The full programming will be available on the Renovation website in a day or two (This year’s Worldcon is in Reno this year from August 17-21).

I’m super excited and grateful to be on a range of panels with some fantastic company. I have a reading of my own on Sunday. I hope you can join me for my convention solo reading debut.

Wed 14:00 – 15:00, Breaking into Comics (Panel), A01+6 (RSCC)

So, you want to be a comic writer or artist? Are you prepared enough to enter the field? Is reading 50+ comics per week enough prep?

Liz Argall (Moderator) Bill Willingham, Phil Foglio, Tanglwyst de Holloway and Winona Nelson

Wed 15:00 – 16:00, Finding Your Home in the Art World (Panel), A02 (RSCC)

Book and game illustration, concept art, comics, theater and film…  There are many directions an artist can explore. How do you choose? Do you have to? Hear from the voice of (widely varied) experience.

Lee Moyer (Moderator) Kaja Foglio, Liz Argall and Bridget Duffy

Thu 14:00 – 15:00, What to Do in a Disaster (Panel), A04 (RSCC)

Fire? Hurricane/Tornado? Earthquake? Tsunami? Nuclear incident? Are we as prepared as we can be, either individually, regionally or as a nation when a big event strikes?

Kay Tracy (Moderator), Gary Ehrlich, Liz Argall

Thu 22:00 – 23:00, Figure Drawing and Life Modeling (Demonstration), A13 (RSCC)

Experienced life model Liz Argall demonstrates how to get the most out of figure drawing with award-winning artist Bridget E. Duffy-Thorn.

Liz Argall and Bridget Duffy

Fri 11:00 – 13:00, Art Portfolio Reviews (Workshop), A18 (RSCC)

Art GoH and Art Directors review portfolios of aspiring Artists. Advance Registration Required – email art@renovationsf.org

Jon Schindehette, Lou Anders, Boris Vallejo, David Palumbo, Irene Gallo and Liz Argall

Fri 14:00 – 17:00, Painting Demo with the Vallejos (Demonstration),Hall 2 Demo5 (RSCC)

An on-going painting project; stop by to see artists in action between 2 and 5 on Friday afternoon

Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Anthony Palumbo, David Palumbo, Winona Nelson, Liz Argall (model).

Sat 11:00 – 12:00, Building Your Art Portfolio (Panel), A16 (RSCC)

Whip together all of your art pieces and voila! You have your art potfolio all ready to go! It’s that simple, right?

Jon Schindehette, David Palumbo, Liz Argall, Lee Moyer, Karen Haber

Sun 11:30 – 12:00, Reading: Liz Argall (Reading), A15 (RSCC)

Liz Argall reads stuff to you! If you have a particular story of mine you’d like drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do (so many choices, shall I do several shorts? one complete longer work? hmmmmm).

Check out new creative works, you won't regret it!

So I’ve written a bit about what I’m doing (and even more over on Objects of Love). What I haven’t mentioned here are the amazing things other people are doing. Here are just a few I know about. Some of these people I already know IRL. Some are people I have stumbled across through their writer pages. There are many other people doing creative things (and feel free to mention yourself in comments, with so many terrific people worthy of love I might have missed you) – here’s a small sampling of my faves.

Unusual creative outlets:

• Kari Maaren (in addition to editing her novel) will post a fresh comic strip every day for 2 weeks for every $200 she raises. She even has a thermometer to track how much she earns (go on, tip her over the edge!)
• Kelly Lagor will write a song about anything you want for $20 and if she gets to $400 all sponsors get an album.

Writer craft – creator community

• Dallas Taylor (Clarion Grad 2010) has several options, including a 2000 word story about how awesome you are. (and his sponsorship page has him looking pretty smooth sitting next to a certain Mr Martin)
• Adam Israel (Clarion Grad 2010) has several options on a sliding price scale – from intimate secrets through to tuckerization (your name in fiction!) or inspiring an entire story.
• Ferret Steinmetz (Clarion Grad 2008)- is building an online creative community again at Clarion Echo. It’s not to late to join (all you have to do is sponsor him), you can be part of his fermented brain meats, maybe even have a story critiqued.
• Vicoria Greisdoon – is offering everything from a mention in an e-book through to going in the draw to win THE iPad2.
• William Alexander (Clarion 2006) – will write you poetry

These folks are doing cool things, but I should add, some people (like me) love this kind of incentive and challenge. Other creators don’t get a buzz out of this kind of thing. Everyone who does stuff in the write-a-thon, everyone who stretches themselves, explores creative paths or knuckles down is doing very cool stuff.

And every time you send a dollar to a creator, tied to a specific project or showing support, you supporting the arts, you are making writers feel loved and you rock.

Thanks to a rambly facebook conversation you may also ask me to record one of my existing songs for $20. This is utterly terrifying, but that’s what experimental playing fields like the Write-a-thon are for. Jenny Mason has sponsored the Phone Song.

In other news
Day 1 has been posted up at Love Letters to Inanimate Objects. Love letter to a Spork is up there. If I don’t collapse first I’ll be posting something there tonight (I won’t be cross-posting much ’cause I don’t want to clutter your lives).

New York 2010 - curls in the walls

My love letters to inanimate objects project is in its early days, but this is what I have discovered so far (who knows where the stream will take me next, 6 weeks in length I hope for more mutations and new creative challenges).

Several works have been completed and have been sent to their initiators. They will go live in Week 1 of the write-a-thon on website I am creating right now https://objectsoflove.wordpress.com . If you go there now you can see it in all its ugly duckling grandeur as I fiddle with themes and play with content. The subscribe button on the right hand side works however!

As you can see, one of the first things I’ve discovered is that this project wants its own space to play and breathe in.

Discoveries – preparation – 24 June 2011

Some people gave me my prompts early and I was unable to resist the pull of their nouns. Denying the tug of inspiration for the Write-a-thon seemed to go against the Write-a-thon’s deepest principals and so I went with it and began creating.

When I imagined this fun project a year ago I thought it would be a good opportunity to throw myself with wild passionate abandon into things far from myself. The deep and passionate love of an alien from the planet Sprunk for her 1973 Red Caddilac. The love of moon rock, the love of a small piece of lint that I found in my pocket, the love of high speed drill.

I thought, I can wrack my brain, find a way to love and communicate a passion for the most unlikely object.

So far my sponsors have enabled is for me to discover existing loves and swim in the ways objects become pathways to deeper experiences. A sponsor gives me a noun, and within a few hours I am swept up in cascading chains of memory and love for something real.

I may have slipped deeper into the world of creative non-fiction, a category I don’t understand and don’t feel fully comfortable with. Perhaps it is better to say I have slipped into the land of poetry. Poetry is a fantastical place. I am not a reliable narrator, even if I was trying to be. Part of me is still convinced my family had a goat called Strawberry even if everyone else knows our milking goats were Chocolate, Caramel and Vanilla. Truth, memory, hyperbole and imagination all merge and converge into story and the pleasure of loving something. Celebrating an object takes it further from the actual-ness and merges into a greater truth.

So these stories are lies. Some of them are bigger lies than others. But although they are lies, they are sincere. And while much is a fabrication it is safe to say that anything that casts an embarrassing light on the narrator is more likely to be based in fact.