2011 was a pretty good year for me.  When I began writing this post I felt as if I hadn’t done all that much in the past twelve months.  But after listing everything I’ve done I see now that I have accomplished quite a bit.  Before time carves these events permanently out of my brain, I thought I’d document them here. Early in the year, my story “The History Within Us” was reprinted in The People of the Book.  An excellent anthology of Jewish-themed science fiction & fantasy, I was pretty …

I’m a writer, so I indulge in fantasy.  One of these fantasies is one day owning a bar-slash-coffee shop, a place where people would come in and hang.  And I’ve gone so far as to craft a playlist for it.  The bar would be themed “retro-future,” that is it would be themed in the way the 80s envisioned our collective (and sometimes dystopian) future.  You know what I’m talking about.  In the 80s, when it was becoming apparent that the computer age would soon be rushing upon us, we got …

I know I’m back in New York by the sounds.  This morning I heard in no particular order a garbage truck, jack hammer, saw, helicopter, airplane, car horn and siren.  In San Diego, home of the World Fantasy Convention, my mornings were filled with the sounds of trickling fountains, buzzing hummingbirds, and a delicate wind.  The Town and Country resort was set up like a maze.  You literally had to walk through various gardens and gates, around pools and through courtyards to get anywhere.  It was beautiful and bewildering, and …

Off to the World Fantasy Convention tomorrow. I have a reading at 1:30pm on Saturday. A pajama/sleepover party to celebrate Nora Jemisin’s new book, and the Awards Banquet on Sunday where I’m up for a World Fantasy Award in the category of Special Award, Non-Professional. It should be a fun weekend, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again real soon! (Also be on the lookout for a huge Sybil’s Garage announcement this weekend.)

In the Book of Job, the titular Job suffers all sorts of maladies, boils, burning, utter agony, the loss of loved ones.  He cries out to God, “Why?  I have been a good man all my life.”  For the next several hundred lines or so in beautiful, timeless prose, Job’s friends try to convince him of the superiority of God’s ways, and though God’s ways are hidden from humanity, Job should just accept his fate.  It’s all part of God’ plan. But Job is not one to roll over easily.  It …