Andrea Kail

I Has Review!

The Fix, the new online short fiction review site edited by Eugie Foster (congrats on the new job, Eugie!), just posted Michele Lee's review of my story "The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom." Here's my favorite line in the piece:

"Of all the science fiction stories published this year, this one is among those not to be missed."

Shu-weet! Well, that one's getting posted permanently somewhere.

Read the full review here and then, if you're so inclined (and a member), go to the SFWA site and read the story itself for free.

There and Back Again

Well, we made it back from Maine--a couple of pounds heavier and a couple of bucks lighter, but, hey, what's a vacation without gratuitous amounts of eating and spending, right?

But before we left last Sunday, I went to my Dominican Academy 20th high school reunion. Well, actually, I went to the party at the bar afterwards. It was really great to see all the people I hadn't seen since graduation. Everyone looked really good and pretty much made me feel inadequate. They all had at least 2 kids (and in some cases, 4 or 5!!!) whereas I'm dragging my feet on having just one. Plus, oddly enough, I seemed to be the only person who didn't change their name after they got married. I really couldn't figure that out. My good friend Kelly, who'd come in from St. Louis, convinced me to have a drink (this was pretty much the dynamic between us in school, as well: me saying I didn't want to drink and her saying "Oh come on, you have to have at least one!") So I had an apple martini (the worst apple martini in the history of mankind) from which I got a screaming headache made worse by a rowdy group of Michigan fans coming into the bar to watch a game and chant "Big Blue" (or something like that) to the beat of a cowbell every time Michigan scored a touchdown. As I said at the time, gee, that's not the kind of university I went to.

In any case, I survived the incompetent martini and the football hooligans and left the next day for Maine.

Now, contrary to my last post, I was not totally out of contact. I brought my laptop and checked my email from the road--checked it so often that round about day 3, Mike dubbed me a "mail slut." Thanks, hon. I don't know why I feel the need to look for email so often. It's not like I'm going to get one informing me I've won the lottery (though one can always hope.) Still, my anal compulsive email checking did manage to let me know that I'd sold a story (more about that in a whole separate post) and inform me that another of my stories, "The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom," was reviewed rather favorably over at The Sci Fi Catholic. So you see, sometimes it pays to be a mail slut.

Maine, of course, was beautiful. We usually go in August and rent a house, but this year because of scheduling conflicts, that didn't work out, so we decided to go in October, and luckily, the weather was great (thanks, global warming!) We also stayed at inns, which we haven't done in years. The first three nights we stayed at The Lord Camden Inn. Then we stayed 2 nights at The Limerock. And then just one night in Freeport at a Hilton, which I thought was going to suck, but was actually pretty nice.

And also thanks to global warming, the leaves were still turning so we got some spectacular pictures of cliffs full of bright red trees hovering over beautiful blue Penobscot Bay.

This ended up being mostly an eating and shopping vacation. I left my strict diet at the state border and ate all the things that the rest of the year I don't touch: fried clams, ice cream, carrot cake, creme brule, pasta, toast, clam chowder. I'm getting sick again just thinking about it. We stopped at all our favorite restaurants like Darby's, Chase's Daily, Amalfi, and our new extra special favorite Primo. Eating all that bad stuff was fun and I enjoyed letting myself indulge, but still, I'm happy to go back to whole grains, lettuce and vegetables again. My digestive tract is happy, too.

Mike and I also did some gallery hopping. As we always do, we went to The Parent Gallery in Belfast to say hi to photographer Neal Parent and his daughter, artist Joanne Parent, who we've become friendly with. We first met Neal and Joanne about 3 years ago when we went hunting for a picture of the J & E Riggin, the schooner Mike and I were married on. We ended up buying one of Neal's photos plus one of Joanne's paintings, and we've been dropping in (and buying their photographs and art) ever since.

After that we went to Camden to look at the new paintings by Colin Page and discovered that his work has valued up a great deal since we first started collecting him several years ago. It was pretty weird to realize that just buying an artist we like has actually turned into a lucrative investment. Well, time to get that renters insurance, I suppose.

Then we tracked down and bought a painting by a new (to us) artist named Ted Keller. I'd seen Ted's work a couple of years ago at a gallery that has since closed, and there was one piece there that I absolutely loved called "Blue Gas"and I've been kicking myself ever since for not buying it on the spot. Well, that piece, of course, was long gone, but we're still pretty happy because we ended up buying a painting Ted did of the erstwhile Gothic Cafe in Belfast. The Gothic had the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten (Mike loved the ginger cookies), and it broke our hearts last year when we discovered that they'd closed, so having this painting on our wall is a way for us to remember the wonderful cookies and ambiance at the Gothic.

I also discovered a new artist that I may start buying next year named Michael Fletcher. His work has a creepy, kitschy cuteness about it that I just love.

And, as we do every year, Mike and I talked about moving to Maine. One day, I swear, we're going to actually do it, too. Now, if only we could get Stuy Town to buy us out of our rent stabilized apartment...

Vacay!

Leaving for Maine early in the morning. Will be blissfully out of touch for a whole week. Promise to take pictures.

A Sleepless Night

For several reasons, I had some real trouble sleeping last night.

Yesterday was the day our housecleaning service comes. They're nice people, if not the best house cleaners, but whatever, as long as the bathroom and kitchen are cleaned, I'm not going to bust chops. Mike and I have an extra bedroom that we use as an office, and the cleaners are only supposed to vacuum in there. It's a disorganized room, a wall full of books on one side, and a desk full of computers on the other. The cleaners have been told not to clean my side of the desk--it's very messy with lots of papers and piles of books, etc. And they're not supposed to touch the shelves above the desk either.

Well, I got home last night to discover that, despite being told not to, they'd decided to clean that shelf anyway, and as a consequence, knocked over a wooden hand carved, hand painted dragon statue I have there, and of course, totally broke it in ways that I don't think are really fixable. I swear, I almost cried. All I wanted to do was scream at them, call up the service and demand not to be charged for yesterday, you know, just get my pound of flesh back. Of course, then I realized that if I do make the service not charge me, they'll probably dock the cleaners themselves for it. And that took a bunch of the steam out of my little self-righteousness train. I mean, I'm pissed and all, but do I really want to be responsible for docking the pay of someone who makes, like, 5 dollars an hour? What's the hell am I supposed to do here? I just don't know.

But in the midst of dealing with all that, an email arrives from the organizers of my 20th high school reunion, which is this Saturday, informing us that one of our classmates passed away only a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen this person since I don't know when--perhaps at NYU where we both went--but still, I was really devastated by the news.

And then, right on the coattails of that, I got an email from Cat Rambo telling me that she'd read my story "The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom" on the SFWA site and that she really liked it. (I should probably mention here that, thanks to the generosity of Rick Bowes, "Sun God..." has been recommended for a Nebula Award.)

Yeah, that was some strange little stew of emotions I had cooking up last night.

Validation

That burst of joy and excitement you get when you sell a story is one thing, but there's this whole other warm and fuzzy feeling when someone reads your story and tells you they like it. And I don't mean friends and family, I'm talking complete strangers.

That happened to me not once but twice in the past 12 hours. Last night I got an email from writer Sara Genge whom I have never met, telling me that she liked my story "Soft, Like a Rabbit" and that it was "deliciously morbid and touching" which is a description I love. Thank you, Sara.

And then this morning I discovered that girliejones, who lives in Australia and is another person I have never met, posted on the community blog Not If You Were the Last Short Story on Earth, that she also liked "Soft Like Rabbit." How cool is that?

Well, it's days like this that make think maybe I don't totally suck as a writer.

This Is What I Get For Googling Myself

Check out what I found posted on this caterer's website: a "thank you" note I wrote over ten years ago when I was working on a show called Weinerville. I remember the production (vividly) but I don't remember Gersky's or writing this letter at all. I'm assuming they catered lunch on one of our location shoots. Why they put this thing up so long after the fact is beyond me. Actually, I'm amazed they didn't toss it right away. But there it is: physical proof that I've done stuff other than Late Night.

Congratulations, Dave!!

Well, to continue the theme of good things happening to good people, I just found out my friend David Barr Kirtley's story "Save Me Plz" has been selected to appear in Rich Horton's Fantasy: Best of the Year. Holy Crap, Batman! That's totally amazing. I read this story back...well, a while ago when Dave wrote it, and I loved it. It was no surprise to me when it was picked up by Realms of Fantasy, and it's really no surprise that it's been chosen for a 2007 Years Best. Congrats, Dave!

Paul Lands The Big Fish!

Congratulations to Paul Tremblay for his brand-spanking new 2 book hardcover deal with Henry Holt. Hardcover! Jeez, that's sweet! The first book, "The Little Sleep," is described as "'The Big Sleep' meets 'Motherless Brooklyn,' about a narcoleptic South Boston PI and the case he must solve to prove his mettle." Well, that's going on my list of must-reads.

I became acquainted with Paul a couple of months ago when we traded emails about the publication of my story "Soft, Like a Rabbit" in Fantasy Magazine where Paul is (was?) co-editor. His emails gave me the impression he was a really nice guy and then in July we met in person at Readercon and that was confirmed.

Again, congrats, Paul!

Paradox Has New Online Look

Chris Cevasco, the editor of Paradox, has just announced that the magazine's website has been totally redesigned, and now also includes some new features such as online historical book and movie reviews and a really cool new subscriber raffle.

Paradox is a great magazine with some excellent fiction, of both the alternate history and straight historical bent. I've been writing movie reviews for Paradox for the past year or so and my latest, a review of "Goya's Ghosts," is now available in the current issue, #11, which you can order right here. Pick up a copy and check out Paradox's great new site. And, if you're so inclined, sign up for a subscription.

Some Sweet Art

My friend David Barr Kirtley's story "Transformations" is in the December issue of Realms of Fantasy and this is the art that accompanies it. Nice stuff. The story's pretty damned sweet, too. Congratulations, Dave.