First Gimp Attempts

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Cat

I keep saying I'll install Gimp and LEARN HOW TO USE IT this year. Heh. Anyhow, I finally did download it. Still looking to learn how to use it and suggestions for resources are quite welcome, but I thought this turned out pretty for first noodling around with photos.

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 17

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggThe story thus far…

I charged out the door. Details flashed at me like strobe lights: Biggles lying at the foot of the couch, white fur like crumpled tissue, blood along one edge; the Fairy hound only a few steps away, its eyes as big as saucers, its teeth the same ivory as the wall paper behind it, its fetid breath steaming towards me; the scattering of room service dishes on the floor; the crazy angle of the door, hanging sideways in the frame; the TV tuned to pink static.

The hound’s nostrils flared as it scented me, its head jerked up and sideways as it sniffed, trying to locate me. Its fur was mottled black and brown, its eyes and nostrils and panting tongue all the same crimson.

I stepped sideways towards the window.

If there was anytime for supernatural powers to kick in, this was it. What had they given me? Continue reading →

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 16

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggThe story thus far…

The hotel Biggles suggested was surprisingly swank, but they didn’t lift an eyebrow when he followed me in. I gave him a sideways glance and he winked at me.

“Consortium owns this place,” he said. “Every supernatural uses it.”

I called Harriet after we’d checked into the suite. Biggles had vanished into his room to call room service and catch the tail end of “The Hidden World.” Who’d have thought a Supernatural would want to watch reality television.

She didn’t pick up until the fifth ring. Continue reading →

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First Editing Class: Notes and Observations

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Cat

Photo of a black cat named Raven

The cats remain fascinated by the classes. They can't figure out who I'm talking to.

The Editing class is split into three sections. In this first session, we focused on developmental, or “big picture,” editing.

Some people are taking the class in order to edit their own stuff, others to edit for other folks, a couple for a combination of that. We talked about what a developmental edit is intended to do, and how it’s different from a copy-edit. In fact, you want to avoid copy-editing (other than a couple of cases which I’ll get to in a minute) because often that sentence you’re tinkering with will end up discarded or substantially revised in the final version.

Honing your editing ability to where you can trust it is one way to free yourself up when writing. Instead of listening to the internal editor telling you that sentence isn’t perfect or that you need to check that name on Wikipedia before using it, you can assure that editor it will get its chance during the revision process and go on writing.
Continue reading →

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 15

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggThe story thus far…

Biggles ate his way through candy as we drove up the mountain along 90: Hershey’s Kisses and Malomars, dusty Necco wafers and a rainbow of Skittles, followed by a disturbing mass of gummy worms.

“We’re going to need to stop soon,” he said as the last vanished. “Look, the Indian John reststop is coming up.” He giggled. His humor level was consistent, if nothing else.

“You need to pee?” What was traveling with a three foot tall talking rabbit going to be like? Some people accepted the supernatural, others found it more objectionable. But surely if things got ugly, that cuteness would get us out of the situation.

“I need more sugar.” Continue reading →

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 14

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggThe story so far...

The car’s interior smelled new, as though it had just rolled off the assembly line. The license plate read HC-05. How big was this Holiday Consortium? And what did it do, besides knocking off rogue commercial gods? What that it? It couldn’t be.

And Santa Claus. There was an enigmatic figure whose existence seemed to unsettle people more than any implication of a God. He didn’t really make toys and distribute them, or so they said, but he was powerful.

Though I was still disappointed to find out there was no Rudolph. That had been the first question at his initial press conference. Continue reading →

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 13

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggThe story so far

They gave me a wicker basket holding my assistant, a company car, a corporate credit card, and a folder with my first assignment. I didn’t bother looking at the folder. Instead I went to see my mother.

***

My mother has gone through more husbands than Elizabeth Taylor. That sounds like I’m making a big joke of it all, but it’s the truth: she had nine, Taylor seven or eight, depending on how you counted Richard Burton.

A beautiful, fragile woman who looked like she’d walked off an advertisement. I didn’t know how I had never managed to see it before. A beautiful, fragile woman who’d been absolutely unable to step up to the bat and try to take care of me. Instead she’d bounced off to a psych ward and I went to my aunt’s to live.

And all this time, she’d actually been something powerful. Something more than human. Continue reading →

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Editing Fiction Collections

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Cat

The two collections will have the same cover. I like this picture, but it's not the right one.

This month one work item is putting the near-sf and far-sf collections together for e-publication. This morning, I got the near one assembled in a Word doc, made a formatting pass, and added about a third of the afternotes. Here are the tentative ToCs (Table of Contents). Each will be a little over 50k.

NEAR:
The Mermaids Singing, Each To Each (Clarkesworld)
Peaches of Immortality (originally appeared as The Immortality Game in Fantasy)
Long Enough and Just So Long (Lightspeed)
Therapy Buddha (20/20 Visions)
Do the Right Thing (unpublished)
10 New Metaphors for Cyberspace (Abyss & Apex)
Memories of Moments, Bright As Falling Stars (Talebones)
RealFur (Serpentarius)
A Man And His Parasite (unpublished)
Not Waving, Drowning (Redstone)
Flicka (Subversions)
Raven (Twisted Cat Tales)
Legends of the Gone (Talebones)

FAR: (much less sure about this order, suggestions welcome)
Zeppelin Follies (Crossed Genres)
Surrogates (Clockwork Phoenix 3)
Kallakak's Cousins (Asimov's)
Five Ways to Fall in Love On Planet Porcelain (unpublished)
Angry Rose's Lament (Abyss & Apex)
Fire on the Water's Heart (Membrane)
Amid the Words of War (Lightspeed)
I Come From the Dark Universe (unpublished)
Seeking Nothing (Daily SF)
Bots d'Amor (Abyss & Apex)
TimeSnip (Basement Stories)
Mother's World (Aberrant Dreams)

(If you're curious about any, all of the online ones are linked to on my fiction page – http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/fiction/. I know there's at least one A&A link that's broken, glad to hear of any other broken links.)

I've left some stories out, because there's actually enough for a 2nd fantasy antho and a horror one, much to my surprise. I've been more prolific over the past few years than I'd realized.

In my utter arrogance, I am debating whether or not I need to hire an editor, which is normally something I'd urge anyone putting together something for self-publishing to do. My reasoning is a) most of these have undergone multiple editing passes for publication, b) I am pretty sure I can find at least one volunteer proofreader, and c) I will be doing at least one read aloud pass to polish and finetune because I'd really like this to end up looking nice and error-free.

Cover art, I have no clue about yet. If I did it myself, it'd be two stick figures dancing.

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The Easter Bunny Must Die, Part 12

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Cat

frightened easter bunny holding eggOur story so far

Chapter Five, continued

It was vault rather than room that met my eyes. A back wall held rows and rows of drawers. In the middle, a raised dais of what looked like the same white plastic as the panel beside the door. On it was a round of gray stone, perhaps a foot in diameter.

We approached and as we got closer, I could feel the temperature of the air dropping with every inch that closed between us and the stone in the middle. I couldn’t imagine how powerful it might be. Some of the artifacts are demigods in and of their own right. We’d studied a few in classes, but I didn’t recognize this one.

We stood around the dais at equal intervals, Santa directly across me. The Tooth Fairy gave me another of those unsettling attempts at a smile.

“Put out your hand and lay it on the Calendar, Ms. Amme,” Santa said.

This close, the stone’s surface was covered with tangled lines, a carving whose meaning I could not decipher. The air reeked of magic, that odd nostril burn you only get when you’re around the really high-powered stuff.

I hesitated. But what could I do? I’d play along, at least until I’d had a chance to talk to my mother. I stretched out my hand. Continue reading →

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If you’re interested in writing F&SF, flash fiction, or editing

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Cat

If you're interested in the writing F&SF, flash fiction, or editing class – there are some slots still open (only 2 in F&SF).

http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/2012/01/04/online-classes-and-workshops-for-2012/

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