Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Since it’s a new market, I thought I’d put in a plug for Brain Harvest from a writer’s perspective.

5 cents a word for flash fiction, fast response time, prompt payment. A good experience and I recommend them. I think they’re buying a lot right now because they’re new and building inventory.

Send them your stories! I love flash fiction and I’d like to see this market growing.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

This description is even worse than that Viking Warrior book that gets passed around Clarion West.

Break your brain by reading it.

A quote: Her hair had the sheen of the sea beneath an eclipsed moon. It was the color of a leopard’s tongue, of oiled mahogany. It was terra cotta, bay and chestnut. Her hair was a helmet, a hood, the cowl of the monk, magician, or cobra.

And it gets better (worse). It’s from a published book too.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Just signed the contract for “Fulgurite” to be printed in Sybil’s Garage 6. I love the magazine and I’m happy to be there again.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Here’s Sky and Sea, a flash story at Brain Harvest.

Just back from a gaming convention, which was lots of fun. Very tired now. Sleep beckons.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

The 25 stupidest outfits you will ever see. Work-safe.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Question for editors, since I know a few of you read my blog.

When I e-sub a manuscript, I follow standard formatting. I recently learned that the Zoom function, which shows the manuscript at different sizes, stays with the file rather than the computer. Which means that when I work at 150% like always, and submit the story, it’s still at 150% when you open it.

Is this distracting? Do you notice? Do you care?

I’m wondering if I need to remember to size back down to 100% or if it’s no big deal. Thanks.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

My flash fiction story “Sky and Sea” will be up at Brain Harvest on Sunday. New flash fiction market, pays 5 cents a word for stories between 100-750 words.

Attention all ye writerly ones. Send them a story. Sit down tonight and write something. 750 words is very doable.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

No, no mom, I mean HOW do they pee?

Some naughty language, but otherwise work-safe.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Vylar_Kaftan is now on Twitter, for all of your tweeting needs. I think. We’ll see how this goes. Chirp chirp.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Come to think of it, I’m also interested in seeing some voice recognition software and experimenting with it. I know you have to train it to be specific to your voice, but I’d still like to see it. I would need Mac software eventually, but anything is fine for now.

Anyone have some? Anyone used it? How do you like it?

Anyone local have voice recognition software I can come over and see? (purplerabbit, maybe you do?)

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen on the internet in a long time. And that’s saying something.

NSFW.

As my friend put it, “Has sound and unicorns jizzing rainbows and THAT IS NOT THE WEIRDEST PART.”

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

I’m considering a Kindle 2. Anyone have one, or an original Kindle? What do you think?

I’m especially interested if anyone coming to Potlatch has one that I can play with, so I can see how it works.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

We started with pear champagne for me and blood orange champagne for Shannon. Then:

Amuse (appetizer): whisky smoked salmon mousse next to bergamot preserve on baguette toast

1st course: lobster purses on pea sprouts, paired with a sparkling wine

2nd course: frittata with duck & fig sausage and red potatoes, paired with a red wine

Intermezzo: champagne sorbet

3rd course: barramundi (fish) lacquered with mirin and served on a bed of couscous with a green curry sauce, paired with a white wine (I should have written which ones)

Cheese course: Andante Pianoforte paired with preserves, Torta la Serena Serra de Estrela paired with honey, and Rogue Creamery Rogue River Blue paired with apple slices and ginger biscuits, plus a white dessert wine

Dessert: Vanilla poundcake with orange custard and whipped cream

All at Nibblers, our very favorite restaurant, serving gourmet food in tapas-style portions. Nearly all organic and local foods, chosen personally by the chef.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Lemons, lemons…

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

I used to keep tropical aquariums. 10 gallon, 30 gallon, lots of different danios, tetras, and the like. I had a knack; some of my fish lived 3-5 years. Fishkeeping is half chemistry and half devotion. I changed their water faithfully and I kept the water chemicals balanced–things like the pH and ammonia levels and so on. Fish are incredibly sensitive to their environment; using soap on the aquarium might kill them all, for example.

My last aquarium in Phoenix was the biggest I’d ever kept. In Phoenix, I didn’t have a neighbor to feed the fish when I was away. I didn’t travel much, and usually it was just a weekend. For three days, I could let the fish be hungry; it wouldn’t hurt them.

But one time, I needed to be gone for eight days. I decided to try one of those vacation feeders. They gradually release food into the water so the fish can eat for a week. I went on my vacation, not too worried.

I returned to find 10 dead fish and a whole bunch of sick ones. Turns out the vacation feeders aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. It ruined the chemical balance in my water and killed a bunch of fish. A great fish tragedy indeed. Many eulogies were spoken over the toilet.

But here’s the kicker–no matter what I did to that tank afterwards, no matter what treatments I used or how I changed the water… I never got that tank healthy again. I kept losing fish. Randomly and inexplicably. They became ghosts in a haunted mansion. I had to abandon that tank.

Which brings me to my gloomy thought. Even if technology advances dramatically–even if we find a way to remove pollutants from the air or clean the oceans or cool the planet back down–it may never be able to sustain healthy humans again.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

President Bush signs the Partial Birth Abortion Act.

President Obama signs the Ledbetter Act (a Fair Pay Act).

Discuss.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

If anyone’s looking for stories to nominate for the Hugo, I’ve got my 2008 publications listed on my bibliography. Some are available online, and I’m happy to send the others to anyone who’s doing some reading right now. Just let me know.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

From csinman.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

* I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
* What I create will be with you in mind.
* It’ll be done sometime this year (2009).
* You have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be something written, some physical thing made, could be anything at all, but I will make it myself. It’s entirely my choice what it is. No quibbles, no refunds.
* I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch?

Oh, the catch is that you put this in your journal as well. If you don’t, you don’t get anything.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

I’m not very comfortable with Internet controversy. I’d much rather talk about things in person, where we have access to body language and so on. Or at least more privately than Internet forums.

Cultural appropriation is complicated, messy, and problematic. I’m a member of a privileged class and I know it. I want to be aware of this issue and understand it.

I feel that I’m responsible to educate myself, and I’ve tried. But I do have a specific question that I’m currently confused about, and would very much like to talk about this with someone(s) privately by email.

Anyone interested? I’d especially like to talk to a writer of color if possible–someone with fiction writing experience–but I’m open. I’m asking for volunteer(s); I know it’s uncomfortable to always feel like you have to educate people, but I’m hoping someone will want to talk.

Thanks. Email address on my primary blog as always. Or use whatever you have for me–that’s fine too.

Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.

Not a lot of news lately. I finished the draft of a novel, which felt great, but there’s still a ton of work needed. This could take a while. Already know what I’ll do next, but not talking about it much yet. Totally overwhelmed with writing projects right now, and I need to prioritize.

It’s earnings season, so my mind is busy with financial crap and monetizing the synergies to incentivize the right-sized suppliers at the end of the day. Er, excuse me. It’s like a bad cough that just comes out sometimes.

I did something really cool the other day, or at least I thought it was cool. I have a friend who’s got bad financial troubles. I figured I could spare a little to help her. So I hired her to do some research for me. I paid her to put together a report on Puritan Massachusetts. All the things writers need to know–what the Puritans wore, how they worked, and the everyday things. We both win–she gets some money, and I get the research I need. (I probably would have just given her the money, but it felt more professional for both of us this way.)

I tell you, it was completely cool to go used-car-shopping for six hours… and come home to a complete email with everything I’d been meaning to look up and hadn’t had time. Woo hoo!