Crucial vote tomorrow

Last night, the Washington state House Judiciary Committee passed by a vote of 7-6 the bill to extend the freedom to marry to same-sex couples. Tomorrow, the state Senate will vote. There's a very good chance it will pass.

If it does pass, Gov Chris Gregoire will sign it. Washington will be the seventh state (plus Washington, D.C.) where people who love each other can get married. We won't have to settle for marridge.

But the margin of votes is narrow. If you live in Washington, please call your state Senator and urge her or him to vote Yes. If you don't live here but have friends and/or relatives here, phone them and urge them to call their Senator. (Find yours here.)

And hopefully I'll have good news to report tomorrow. Start dialing.

ETA: The bill won't come to the floor of the Senate until 6 pm Wednesday. My guess? Lots of people will want to make lots of speeches, so the vote will while a while. I'm currently fairly confident of its passage--but, hey, many a slip twixt cup and lip...

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Game of Thrones Season Two trailer

Clearly the producers have taken on board the popularity of Peter Dinklage and his character, Tyrion. Also, the palette looks much darker. I hope there are some jokes and some pretties is much great acting and stern drama.

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Available for rent: the Acropolis

Parthenon (Cornell)

Parthenon (Brooklyn Museum)

These two photos were taken a long time ago. But this is how the Acropolis looked when I walked there, when I sat on one of those bits of marble and smoked a cigarette looking out over Athens. Of course, when I was there, it was less clean: can tabs, cigarette butts, food wrappers... And perhaps it was slightly more ruinous. But it was magnificent. Even in the haze of morning-after-my-first-sex-with-a-woman it made an impression:

Greece was the first foreign country I visited. It marked many firsts. Kissing a girl. Knocking a man down (I was smoking outside a disco, sitting on a wall, he came outside and sat next to me; he wore a white silk catsuit, professed to love the music of "pin floynd", and insisted that because he was joining the army tomorrow we had to kiss; I pushed him backwards off the wall). Smoking inside an historical monument (the Parthenon, and yes, it was amazing to sit on a broken column and look out over the city with my girl by my side and a fat bumble bee buzzing by my foot). From And Now We Are Going to Have a Party: Liner notes to a writer's early life

Since then, the Greeks have partially restored the place. And now they want a return on their investment:

In a move bound to leave many Greeks and scholars aghast, Greece's culture ministry said Tuesday it will open up some of the debt-stricken country's most-cherished archaeological sites to advertising firms and other ventures.

The ministry says the move is a common-sense way of helping "facilitate" access to the country's ancient Greek ruins, and money generated would fund the upkeep and monitoring of sites. The first site to be opened would be the Acropolis.
Archaeologists, however, have for decades slammed such an initiative as sacrilege. [Read the rest here.]

If they're broke, they're broke, but it would be a pity to see the old place riddled with rubbish again. I remember it fondly.

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MS on Dr Kiki's Science Hour

The huge news that MS is a metabolic disorder and not an autoimmune disease hit the web afresh this week.

On Thursday, Angelique Corthals, the author of "Multiple Sclerosis is Not a Disease of the Immune System," was on Dr Kiki's Science Hour, a marvellous weekly one-whole-hour video interview about a single chewy science topic:

I'll be watching more of this show.

And then yesterday io9.com ran an article, "Have we been looking at Multiple Sclerosis all wrong?"

The MS ship turns slowly. But it is turning.

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Galactic Suburbia Award

This morning I woke up to a lovely surprise: I've been awarded the first Galactic Suburbia Award for activism and/or communication that advances the feminist conversation in the field of speculative fiction. This is in recognition of Taking the Russ Pledge and related posts.

The award was announced in the podcast. I haven't listened to it yet (I'm still sipping my first cup of tea of the day, and blinking). But here's the basic info:

The Galactic Suburbia Award
for activism and/or communication that advances the feminist conversation in the field of speculative fiction in 2011

Honours List

• Carrie Goldman and her daughter Katie, for sharing their story about how Katie was bullied at school for liking Star Wars, and opening up a massive worldwide conversation about gender binaries and gender-related bullying among very young children
• Cheryl Morgan for Female Invisibility Bingo, associated blogging and podcasting, and basically fighting the good fight
• Helen Merrick, for the Feminism article on the SF Encyclopedia (a rewrite)
• Jim C Hines for “Jane C Hines” and associated blogging, raising awareness of feminist issues in the SF/Fantasy publishing field.
• Julia Rios, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond for episode 11 of the Outer Alliance podcast (The Writer and the Critic special episode)
• L. Timmel Duchamp - for continuing to raise issues of importance on the Ambling Down the Aqueduct blog and various Aqueduct Press projects
• Michelle Lee for the blog post “A 7-year-old girl responds to DC Comics’ sexed-up reboot of Starfire”

Winner

• Nicola Griffith - for the Russ Pledge, and associated blogging

This is a great list of names doing great work to keep the issues of equality front and centre in the ongoing conversation. I am honoured (and delighted) to be part of it and think perhaps we should find a way to share custody of the prize: a Deepings Doll, a hand-painted figurine of a suffragette with a Galactic Suburbia placard.

The fabulous women who run Galactic Suburbia, Alisa, Alex, and Tansy, are asking for ideas about the Galactic Suburbia Honours list for 2012. Send deserving names to galacticsuburbia@gmail.com or tweet @galacticsuburbs. Personally, I think they deserve an award, too.

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Resilience

A student of mine, Eric Nguyen, has edited a marvellous book, Resilience:

To be queer and young is to be STRONG. To be queer and young is to be RESILIENT. Collected in this anthology are over 20 inspiring stories, poems, essays, and other writings made for you - our queer youth. Started in 2010 in a time of crisis for the queer community, these are the works of artists who wanted to show the world the power of words. While eclectic in style and form, what unites these works is a message of hope: it doesn't just get better, you grow stronger and wiser. Money from the sale of this book will be used to help fund The Make It Safe Project, which aims to bring LGBT-related books into schools and homeless shelters and into the hands of LGBT kids. More information on Resilience, visit the Better Books Project.

This is an anthology of stories, poems, essays, etc for LGBT teens. Money from it will be donated to the Make It Safe Project, which helps brings LGBT books to schools and shelters. I haven't read it, but I know it will be good: there are pieces in the book by two other students of mine, Liz Green and Jarrett Neal, and poems and essays by several other Fellows I had the good fortune to meet in Los Angeles when I taught at the Emerging LGBT Voices writing retreat in 2010.

This is an important project. I urge you to go take a look at the sample, then go buy a copy. You'll not only be getting yourself a very cool book, you'll be helping young LGBT kids who have nowhere else to turn.

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Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards are awarded annually for works of speculative fiction translated into English from other languages. There are two awards: one for long form (over 40,000 words) and one...well, I expect you can work that out.

They are a fabulous idea--encouraging availability of world sf--and they need your help. They are currently running an auction fundraiser, with many great prizes. Some examples:

• A signed US hardback edition of Embassytown from China Miéville
• A signed manuscript of Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow’s forthcoming YA novel
• A signed copy of the South African edition of Moxyland, with soundtrack by African Dope on CD, from Lauren Beukes
• A signed copy of the Pyr edition of The Restoration Game from Ken MacLeod
• A signed copy of Range of Ghosts, the new novel from Elizabeth Bear

Kelley is giving a signed copy of the Small Beer edition of Solitaire, the one with the fab new cover:

I'm offering a signed first edition of Ammonite, never even opened. (If you'd prefer it utterly uncracked, I won't sign it.) There have been several editions and printings of this book:

The one I'm offering is the orange paperback on the left with the jellybean spaceship. It's the very first printing of the very first edition of my very first novel. I don't know how many there are left in the world but I only have two on my shelf.

Please go make some mad bids on some good stuff and help a great cause. (Don't forget it's tax-deductible--and your employer may match the money you donate.)

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All is well with the world

Yesterday was an astonishingly sunny day here in Seattle. I was serenaded by a fat bird at breakfast:

And in the afternoon, Chow Ciao--whose real name, it turns out, is Eros (yep, she's a boy), and is now being time-shared by two sets of doting neighbours, though of course we still offer treats every now and again (today it was chicken)--snored on the fence outside my office:

All is well with the world. Except, perhaps, for the bird...

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Washington marridge about to become marriage?

About an hour from now, the Washington State legislature will open hearings on two identical same-sex marriage bills, HB 2516 and SB 6239, in the House and Senate in Olympia:

Senate: 10 a.m. in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations and Elections, Senate hearing room 2, J.A. Cherberg Building. A series of prearranged three-person panels, both pro and con, will speak, then the committee chairman will pick people at random who signed up to speak. The hearing will last for about two hours.

House: 1:30 p.m. in the House Committee on Judiciary, hearing room A, John L. O'Brien Building. Five bills are on the agenda, and gay marriage is the last one. It's expected to be heard around 2:30 p.m.; testimony will go for an hour.

The hearings are expected to be crowded. So unless you're already in line, I suggest watching them at home. Both will be aired live on TVW.

I believe that both bills will come to a vote as early as the beginning of February. There are enough votes in the House and it's possible that one or two uncommitted Senators may tip the balance in favour in the Senate. Then Washington would be the seventh state in the US to allow same-sex marriage.

The momentum is definitely there. Recently 50 major-city mayors called for marriage equality. And here's Governor Christine Gregoire on the matter:

For more, read these great articles (roughly in chronological order) in the The Advocate, the Huffington Post, and Seattle Times.

I have a lot to say on this issue. Most obviously that it's time and past time for politicians to stop splitting hairs and do what's simple and right: I want marriage, not just marridge. Separate but equal is not equal. The rest I'll save that for another post. Meanwhile, go read the articles.

ETA: The bill now has the votes in the Senate. Looks as though it will come to a vote next month. I'll post updates.

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Libraries rock

Fans of Green County Public Library (Ohio) made this supercut of scenes from TV and film about libraries. Libraries rock. If you get impatient, fast forward to 1:18 to see what I'm talking about. But try not to be impatient; you will be rewarded.

Via LLF

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It Was the Snow

A picture of our street taken Friday Thursday afternoon by our favourite photographer, Jennifer Durham (who took these snapshots with her phone), looking down the hill to our house (which is mostly hidden by the hedge). Just for grins, here's the main drag by the supermarket, and the nearby golf course:

Last night it started to rain. I'm guessing by tomorrow, all the snow will be gone. Then I'll rediscover my sanity and we'll get back to blogging about all things writerly. And queer. And scientifical. And foodish.

-----

Don't understand the title? You need to read some Pat Cadigan, specifically "It Was the Heat."

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I'm a woman writer: I am unspeakably privileged

If you believe Teddy Wayne, I am, as a writer, unspeakably privileged: I'm a woman.

In "The Agony of the Male Novelist," (sadly, I'm not kidding) he says:

For the majority of male literary authors — excluding the upper echelon of Franzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Don DeLillo and their ilk, plus a few younger writers like Chad Harbach who have scored much-ballyhooed advances — it’s actually harder than it is for women to carve out a financially stable writing career.

His argument (I use the word loosely) is so logically pitiful that I thought he might be attempting some kind of wit. I certainly don't want to waste my time reiterating it here. You're all familiar with it's essence: But teh menz hav it reeely reeely hard!

However, one snippet of his whine pleases me:

The archetypal book-club novel is written by a woman, its characters are female-centric, and it contains a love story, sensitive coming-of-age tale, or mother-daughter narrative, perhaps set against a historical backdrop.

If you replace or with and, and throw in some sex, swords, and scheming, that's a pretty good description of Hild. So, hey, now I know what to do with my snow day: come up with a list of earnest questions for the book club. Chortle.

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How to take down a mammoth

Still snowing. Huge icicle hanging outside our kitchen could probably take down a mammoth. There's an ice storm warning in effect for most of the rest of the day. As KOMO-4 say cheerily on their blog, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

As a result of the ice storm, Governor Christine Gregoire has declared a state of emergency for Washington (though this is, apparently, party to make life easier for dairy farmers).

Me? Sick of the weather. Hoping for lashing of warm rain tomorrow to wash it all away. Right now I'd be happy to take on that mammoth. Believe it or not, I'm tired of reading...

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Marooned

It started snowing in earnest first thing Tuesday morning:

It stopped yesterday, but everything stayed frozen. Today it's a little warmer, but it's snowing again:

Today I'd planned on a massage, but no one is getting in or out of this cul-de-sac unless it warms up and the snow turns to rain.

But being marooned isn't unbearable. Yet. I've watched an episode of Justified, two each of Entourage and Antiques Roadshow, one each of Castle and Downton Abbey, and every extra, teaser, snippet and trailer I can find for the upcoming Season Two of Game of Thrones. Favourites of the televisuals? Justified and Downton Abbey.

I've caught up on the Economist (two whole issues--sadly with less interesting science/technology and books/arts section than usual) and a few blogs. I've read Stella Duffy's Theodora (I can't make up my mind whether it needs a sequel), and just begun Bernard Cornwell's latest, Death of Kings, which promises to be up to his usual satisfying and happily violent standard.

I've also eaten double my bodyweight in meals and snacks. For example, breakfast this morning was an omelette/egg torta: eggs and leftover roasted vegetables from last night: cauliflower, brussel spouts, onion, smidgeon of carrot. It makes a surprisingly robust flan-like thing that's wholly good for a person. Exceedingly tasty, very filling. (Yesterday's breakfast was good in a different way: big chunk of cod and a sadly-slanted 'half' a grapefruit--colourful but lopsided.) My latest mania, snack-wise, is very fresh macadamia nuts lightly roasted. I swear they taste just like shortbread biscuits. Splendid little things.

You'd think this weather would be perfect to settle down and get some work done. It's not working out that way. I keep finding myself staring out of the window, longing to get out. My restlessness is rising like a tide.

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How I look now

photo by Riva Lehrer, January 2012

This photo is by the artist Riva Lehrer. It's low-res and not well-lit because it's just one in a series of a hundred snapshots she took ten days ago to help conceptualise a piece she's working on. But a) it's been a while since I posted a photo, and b) I find I like not being able to see all those dints and wrinkles that have accumulated in the course of a rough-and-tumble (uh-huh) writer's life.

The finished picture will be clear and sharp, though, a representation of, well, me--but not the me you're likely to find in a photo. An artist's portrait is a rich and complicated thing. I feel very lucky to be involved in this. I'm looking forward to seeing what Riva sees, in my face, in my presence, in my work. I'm hoping I'll learn something. Plus, y'know, look splendid.

ETA: In going through the photos I came across this one that I like, too; it's less pose-y:

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I need amusement!

Snow is coming down. It will come down all day. Tomorrow there will be a lot more. I won't be able to leave the house between now and Thursday at the earliest (probably Friday). So I need amusement.

Tell me what books, TV, and film I should check out. It must be available on cable or via Amazon or Netlix. I can't watch Apple or Hulu stuff on my big-screen set up, and I hate watching on my desktop monitor. I don't have an iPad and the phone is too small.

For an idea of things I like see the, ah, List of Things I Like. (Must get around to turning that into a proper blog post one of these days.

Last night I watched Contagion: recommended by many people. But, damn, Soderbergh doesn't know the meaning of the word 'emotion'. Like Ocean's Eleven or even Sex, Lies and Videotape, it was a cool, keep-the-viewer-at-arms'-length piece of work. Not my cup of tea. At all.

I love escapism. Filmwise, the latest reboot of Star Trek is practically perfect. Galaxy Quest and Die Hard rock the Thunderdome. TV-wise, my favourites are things like Merlin, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Trueblood, Buffy, Highlander, Firefly, etc. I loved the first season of Deadwood, but then it lost itself in its own mannerisms. I thought the first season of The Sopranos was a blast, but then it dissolved into nothingness. I thought Lost sucked after about four eps. Stuff like Breaking Bad is too grim. I just don't care about ordinary life, don't give a damn for realism.

In terms of novels (I'm not interested in non-fiction right now), I like well-written story. I don't much care for delicate examinations of the meaning of life. I don't object to it--I just don't want it to be the point. Angst, in fiction as in real life, pisses me off. I find it self-indulgent.

So: help! Save me from madness and eating the neighbours!

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Snow day

Today is a snow day. I'll be watching this and thinking about Hild:

I'm grateful for modern conveniences: light, heat, the ability to cook nourishing food without having to have hole in the wall or ceiling. The twenty-first century is our friend. And, yep, I promise that next time I'll remember to turn my phone sideways before I shoot the video...

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Some blog stats

It's been a while since I gave you a peek behind the curtain. So here are some relatively arbitrary statistics about this month's traffic:

• In the last thirty days 23,096 people have passed through here. This is a significant increase (a little over 50%) over the monthly average.
• 27% of you are Mac users. Another 7% of you visited via your mobile device.
• Unsurpringly, the top two countries are the US and the UK, followed by Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Netherlands...and then things get uncertain because at this point Google Analytics starts to disagree with the built in Blogger stats, so it could be Russia, Belgium, and India (Blogger), or Belgium, Serbia, and New Zealand (GA).
• The French read the most pages per visit.
• Chrome has now outpaced Safari as your browser of choice--though both still lag behind Firefox (number 1) and (oh dear god, people, please stop using it) Internet Explorer (number 2).
• New visitors this month outpaced old by a wider margin than usual: 63.58% to 36.42%. (Long term, those numbers are much more evenly matched: 53.46% to 46.54%.)

Most of this can be explained by my posts on the new framework for understanding MS as a metabolic disorder. I don't normally give much space to MS on this blog (it takes up enough room in my life without it invading this space, too), but this was a special case. It triggered a fresh influx of readers, particularly from Europe. Some are sticking around, but most are going away when they discover I tend to talk more about writing than health.

So, there you go. At some point I'll ask you questions about what you like best/least about this blog, but not today. Today I go look at the pitiful excuse for snow the sky is attempting to drop on us and contemplate the next phase of Hild

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Boundless blue beauty

Here's a photo taken earlier this week--Wednesday afternoon--looking out over Puget Sound. The long low bit is Bainbridge Island. Behind it, the Olympics.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day, an absolute gift. Cold, though. So, while the sun was bright and I was feeling pleased with the world for a variety of reasons, I didn't hang about.

Forecast this weekend: snow (we are in a convergence zone). Ah, but I had this. For a few hours, I saw bright, bright blue.

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Freedom from money worries leads to great writing

I've always believed that writers do their best work when they are unhooked from the financial hamster wheel. Finally, I've found someone else who believes the same thing. Sort of. Below is a cartoon illustration of Dan Pink's thesis, explicated in Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us, that it isn't money that motivates brain work, it's autonomy, mastery, and purpose:

The trick, though, is to be making enough money that the cognitive worker--the writer, say--doesn't have to think about it, doesn't have to connect the specific work to paying the rent or buying new glasses.

I haven't read Drive, and I'm guessing after watching this ten-minute animation that I don't need to, but the notion makes a lot of sense to me. It makes me wonder what brilliant art we might have if there were more grants for creators, and more generous patrons.

Some writers, for example Tolkien, use the security of an academic job to free their writing. But teaching is a real job; it took him twelve years to write The Lord of the Rings. To me it's significant that the work only really took off when he was writing not for his publisher but for his son. I can only imagine how much more quickly all this would have come together if he'd had a five-year MacArthur Fellowship and complete freedom.

I'd love to be free, just for a little while, from thinking about money. So if you are or happen to know a tech multi-millionaire, my email address is in the sidebar...

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