All contents copyright 2005 by C.J. Cherryh
Last update: 05/08/2005
MOVING----AGAIN.
I can't say how thrilled we were to be told our apartment has been sold and is due to be condoized. We don't want to buy it: we love the place, but we love our freedom more. We found out right at the end of April, a week before Lynn Abbey was coming in for a visit, managed to find a new apartment, and are now in the process of moving about 15 miles, from Spokane to the newly independent city of Spokane Valley. We're happy with what we've found, and after all the dustbunnies moving has turned up in various rooms, we figure this is the ultimate spring cleaning. I am never, I swear, buying another piece of furniture with legs, under which dust can collect. Everything is going to sit on the floor, no exceptions.
THE BOOK IS FINISHED
I finished the book---sometimes things don't go as quickly as you'd hoped, and I'm running late. But I did get the book finished---another in the Bren set---and should be turning it in as soon as I can proofread it.
THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Well, we've now made the semiannual trip to the south. It was hot. Details are in the Progress Report. Sometimes we stop for a little side trip, but this time we were absolutely exhausted, way behind schedule, and even the cats were out of sorts---I think they were annoyed at the hotel we picked at the last, and I don't much blame them.
THE ESSENTIALS
There's a new feature on the Menu, which is a list for people new to the field, of those works that will give a reader a chance to walk into a convention on common ground. Maybe it could suggest an author even longtime readers might enjoy, though getting hold of some of the older books requires a little delving into used bookstores, something a lot of readers aren't averse to doing.
BACK AGAIN
Well, we made a foray down to Texas, over to MidSouthcon/DeepSouthCon in Memphis TN, then on to Chicago, to Ad Astra in Toronto, back to Chicago and on home again, 6300 miles, most of it with Efanor and Ysabel, who now have logged something like 60,000 miles by car. We had a wonderful time, in spite of my catching cold for the first time in years---since I moved north, I'm not exposed to the usual spring allergens of the Great Plains, and oh, did I get it. Fortunately I didn't lose my voice---did you know those Listerine gels actually can serve as cough drops in a pinch, and work quite well on sore throat? ---And by the time we got back to the high country, I'd lost most of the cold, thank goodness. It was great to see old friends and various family members. I got a good deal of manuscript read on the trip, and am now doing prep toward turning in Destroyer. The detail of the trip is in the Progress Report: see below.
A NEW FEATURE: THE PROGRESS REPORT
It's gotten too long for the newsletter, and it seems to attract curiosity, so I'll continue it. FOLLOW THIS LINK, and see how far I've gotten on the current novel. Note: I was out of town for a few days, and now am making entries again.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
We travel when we have work to read---one of us drives, the other reads, and the driver critiques: this is a very good way actually to sharpen critical senses, when we've heard each other's work so often. It's sort of that unoccupied forebrain, while the hindbrain is keeping the car in order, that makes it extremely efficient.
Well, so we take out and do this, to get away from the phones, the regular household chores. We pack the cats---who have now 55,000 miles on them---load up, and take off. The cats are readily bribed by chicken, particularly Whataburger chicken, when we're in the southwest, and are otherwise wonderful travelers, canny about bracing themselves or taking to their cages when the road is rough or curvy; and we're considerate of them and don't blaze our way up to altitude and down without a little rest stop to let kitty ears acclimate.
This time we went way south, in New Mexico, and came back through Yellowstone, so check out our travel map.
REALLY GOOD COFFEE BEANS
I don't mind telling people when I've found really good stuff. And when we were at a family function in Oregon we ran onto a local brand that's special. Look up Dutch Brothers Coffee. They sell on the internet, at dutchbros.com and only sell the whole beans, but for those of you who like really good coffee, they're wonderful. I set my coffee grinder on expresso and use it in a regular drip pot, and it makes one heck of a cup of joe. You know how coffee tastes best if you alternate blends from day to day, and I've found the perfect complement is Starbuck's Breakfast Blend. It can also be bought online.
ANTHOLOGY
One of the projects I've done is a short story, well, a longish short story, for DAW's anthology of all my short fiction. I don't know exactly when it's coming out, but you can usually tack 6 months onto the turn-in date, and I just turned in said story, which will give buyers of the anthology something new as well as the convenience of having the short stories all in one place. Not there, will be those things I've done for shared-universes: see below: but everything else we could think of is in there. I don't know what the title will be. CJ'S SHORT FICTION occurs to me, but it lacks a certain flair.
UPDATING CONTINUES; HEAT WAVE ENDS
Now that I've finally gotten the software on my working computer---I use Frontpage, because I like to do spot updates, and it's a lot easier to deal with than some softwares I've tried to handle---I can drop in a note anytime.
The heatwave that has plagued the NW USA is showing signs of dissolving, which means far nicer temperatures. They swear that tomorrow is going to be sweatshirt weather, and oh, am I looking forward to it. I just don't sleep worth anything if the temperature is above 69 degrees F. I prefer it nearer 55. And the fire smoke is going to go away when the weather changes. Forest fires have attended the drought, and smoke has flowed where the air streams go, down off the mountains and into the valleys. Not nice, for anybody's breathing. A rain will stop the fires and purge the skies back to the ordinary wonderful bright blue, and it can't come soon enough for me. I'll be much more efficient when colder weather arrives.
INCON: A CONVENTION IN THE NORTHWEST
Jane and I agreed to be at Incon in Spokane, on Oct 17-19th of this year. This is at the Doubletree on Sullivan, just off Interstate 90 and up a couple of stoplights. Incon is a nice small-scale local convention, which should be fun. I think the GOH is Elizabeth Moon, whom we haven't seen in way too long. If you've never been to a convention, a small one is a good place to start. You don't have to belong to anything or be in an in-group or anything like that---you just buy your membership and show up---or just show up on the first day and buy it at the door. They're only too happy to sell memberships. The only catch is hotel rooms, which it is wise to book early: this is not a large Doubletree, although there are other hotels in the vicinity, and it's walkable. I'll try to find a URL for Incon, although if you're interested, you might just search the word on the Web. NOTE: when booking rooms for the convention, always be sure to tell them you're attending Incon: that gives the con credit with the hotel for selling rooms, an advantage for them, and almost always gets you a cheaper room rate. There is usually a relaxation of rules about how many people can fit in a room, but consult the convention website for any such information. SEE: FIAWOL, in the Panel Room, on conventions.
THIEVES' WORLD
Lynn Abbey, bless her, snaked us into doing stories for the new Sanctuary series. I'd promised I would, then thought I'd lose my mind if I took on another project, and then, well, old friends and all, with a phone call---there we were. I'd sworn I was out of the shared universe business forever, but here we are with a couple of new characters and mayhem afoot. Don't ask me when the thing is coming out, but the due date for us is upon us, so you'll have to go to Lynn Abbey's website to check the schedule. Those of you who know me know I have a passion for tall ships, and, well, I thought of a way to indulge myself, at least in the story. J. Fancher swore she'd never get involved in the shared universe business, and I talked her into running characters that will be, well, somewhat entangled in the business mine are entangled in. I don't say Ischade won't put in an appearance, but I think you'll enjoy the new batch.
NEW PROJECTS
Well, the schedule has settled down a bit, and we're hard at work. I'm working on various things, about which more under another heading, and in general, warmer weather (which I detest: I always like the cold) and spring flowers (which I love) and the eternal spring diet, which is at least working. Two cans of liquid and one of those little, little tiny, bitsy TV dinners. I'm a good cook and I love to eat. This is my annual penance, and this time I'm resolved.
Managed to pitch myself down the steps at the ballpark and turn my ankle, but didn't break anything---bruises only to my dignity. I looked up to see the play as I was coming down the steps, and boomph! Down!
I call it my 'baseball injury.'
Outside of that, I'm not planning to do a thing but work for the next while. Jane, who's a bit of a computer whiz, got the house net up and running, which makes it easier for me to update this page, and over all, we're doing some spring ousting of clutter before (shudder) heading back to the gym and trying to assist this diet with some major exercise.
My life has been threatened if I don't get the mail link open again, so I suppose I will do that very soon. Do understand if I can't respond to every letter. The amount of spam we've had flood in, for one thing, means I have far less time than I used to, for answering letters.
TAXES ARE IN
That annual American ritual of remembering how much you spent on restaurants and shoes is past and I have a brain again. Lord! How much of our national productivity we waste doing the accounts every year. I wish they'd just levy a flat tax and be done. If we had back all the time and all the people who've just had heart attacks in frustration with their addition, and saved all the money we expend checking everyone's accounts---we'd be on Mars by now.
MIDSOUTHCON AGAIN:
Another flying trip to Memphis, via Oklahoma City, and then back via Dallas, Raton, Casper, etc. Our faithful Subaru had a bit of a wheeze this time on the outbound route. We had a trouble light in Butte MT, but it was Saturday night. Local repair said they were leaving for the night and would be back Monday but probably we could drive it safely. So on we went toward Casper WY, which should have an agency, but midway we got a little worried and decided, in the downtime of driving, to check the manual---which said alarming things, and suggested we call Roadside Assistance.
Well, that wasn't too successful. The young lady had no concept we were in the middle of a very large tract of nowhere in a snowfall and kept asking questions like, "Is anyone injured?" and suggesting we wait by the roadside for a tow truck. Which might have towed us 200 miles, but hey, we were still rolling. I finally called our own salesman and asked, "Can we keep moving? It's rather far for a tow." He said yes, keep rolling.
So we got to Casper, had our barbecue at Banjo Bob's, and the next morning, crack of dawn, I was off to the Subaru dealership, who very nicely read out the car electronics and suspected a loose gascap at some point. I didn't think so, but they reset our spooklight, and on we went.
Thirty miles later---back comes the light. So on we go to Cheyenne, and, it being Monday, we found a working dealership with a really nice mechanic who said, "Yep. It's not the gascap. It's the fuel mix sensor and I've fixed two of these this morning, so I'm out of the part." He called Ft. Collins, CO, and they had the part.
So, on we go to Ft. Collins. Who did fix it, bless them, in an hour, during which they must have burned their fingers, because that was one hot area of the car.
No problems since. Our faithful red Subaru is a member of the family. We, cats and all, sailed off toward Colorado Springs, and on to Oklahoma City and Memphis, where we had a splendid time. This has to be one of the best cons in the country, and all the people they invite as guests keep coming back year after year...it's one of those.
So we're going to do it again next year, and British screen actor Michael Sheard, our good co-conspirator, is going to help us. We said the dreadful words, "Let's put on a play!" And next year, by golly, we're going to do it.
A LOT OF WATER. 4/15/03.....
...under the bridge since my last update, for which I can only apologize, and say thank you to all the kind souls who thought good thoughts despite the fact this page had languished. In fact, I had a rough time after my father's passing, and had about all I could cope with just sinking into the worlds where I generally live and work. One of the things you can say about writing---another world is only a few keystrokes away, and that helped, but the day to day is a bit rough. Now I'm fine, which is the job of time and distance. Thank you for caring. I'm back now.
MANUSCRIPTS IN COLLECTION
My manuscripts and working notes reside at: Eastern New Mexico University at Portales, New Mexico, along with Jack Williamson's. The curator at the library is Gene Bundy. Anyone with a scholarly interest in said manuscripts should contact him.
EXPLORER IS FINISHED. 02/20/02
It was one of those books that got delayed by disaster, repeatedly; and no matter how you want to be on time, you have to know---if it's art, it takes its time, and as much time as it needs. I finally got it finished, and I'm confident of it. It just took forever.
IF YOU WANT TO BUY MY BOOKS AND CAN'T FIND COPIES....OR IF YOU GOT A BAD E-MAIL LINK!!!!
Go to Autographed Copies. It explains everything. There are still copies left, all authentic, all autographed by yrs. truly, no extra charge. Also...thanks to all of you who reported the bad links! I tried to change some addresses in the WYSIWYG function of my web-design software, and it just changed the surface, not the hidden, underlying HTML link. Isn't that special? Now I've got it fixed! Apologies to those of you frustrated in your attempts to get e-mails to Fancher and Rosen---the links now should go through.
LATIN LESSONS
I'm under deadline and haven't time right now to scan in and clean up the Latin comic books, but as soon as I get this book finished, I'll get to it. Sorry to be so very slow, folks: see above.
The Chanur Language Page is a remarkable piece of work by a linguist actually working out the hani language. Check out the link! I've worked with this project, and those who have ever studied language, or hani, may get an interesting insight. You may recognize the text.