\ Monkey Business \

Date: 07/12/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 3300
Today's Piece: Review #12
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 73400

\ Rea-dying \

Read/listened to since the last update (not too much; moving to a new two-bedroom condo kept me plenty busy!!):

Stories:
262. "From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled" by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2008)
263. "The Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2008)
264. "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2008)

Book: Pages 150-220 of John Clute's new massive collection of reviews, Canary Fever.

Audio: Lecture Seventeen from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Flannery O'Connor - Realist of Distances" - 30 mins

Lecture Eighteen from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "O'Connor - Taking the Measure of the Region" - 30 mins

Semi-Finalist @ Writers of the Future!

I placed in the semi-final category for the 2nd quarter of the Writers of the Future contest.

There are eighteen (myself included) semi-finalists and finalists combined, from what I can see on the blog, so that's pretty exciting -- I was within the top eighteen of over a thousand submissions.

It was really nice to get a phone call from Joni, the Director of the Contest, with the good news, and to let me know that my story will be receiving a critique.

Back in March I renewed my commitment to myself to do better than in previous quarters, in which I received Honorable Mentions. I'm really pleased I was able to keep to that and improve by one level.

My resolution now, inspired by progress thus far, is to take it up by one more level and become a Finalist. That would place my odds of actually becoming a winner, if all finalist entries were similar in quality, at about 40%. I do realize that's a specious argument, as it's not a lottery (lol!), but it's an easy way for me to visualize the goal ahead!

New Sale to IROSF!

An interview I recently completed has been accepted for publication by IROSF.

It will likely come out in the August 2009 Issue.

Who was the sf writer?

Here's a clue: I was recently up in Lincoln, Nebraska...

Any guesses? :-)

Review of Irvine's Buyout @ Strange Horizons

I enjoyed this novel quite a bit, as my review hopefully makes clear.

Link-y to:

• Review of Alexander Irvine's Buyout @ Strange Horizons.

This is the tenth review I've written this year, and the ninth to be published.

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 06/22/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 9300
Today's Piece: Story # 10
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 70100

\ Rea-dying \

Read/listened to since the last update:

Stories:
241. "Bushwhacker" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1990)
242. "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld #32, May 2009)
243. "The Devonshire Arms" by Alex Dally MacFarlane (Clarkesworld #32, May 2009)
244. "Rwanda" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2006)
245. "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2006)
246. "If We Can Save Just One Child…" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2007)
247. "Magic With Thirteen-Year-Old Boys" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2007)
248. "X-Country" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 2007)
249. "Good Mountain" by Robert Reed (One Million A.D., 2005)
250. "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2008)
251. "Night Calls" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2007)
252. "Reunion" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 2008)
253. "Eight Episodes" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2006)
254. "Three Princesses" by Robert Reed (We Think, Therefore We Are, 2009)
255. "Leave" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2008)
256. "The Caldera of Good Fortune" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2007)
257. "Show Me Yours" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 2006)
258. "The Good Samaritan" (Black Widowers Story #40) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 10th 1980)
259. "Blue" by Derek Zumsteg (Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2009)
260. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Arthur Conan Doyle (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892)
261. "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" by Arthur Conan Doyle (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892)

Book: Pages 1-150 of John Clute's new massive collection of reviews, Canary Fever.

Audio: Lecture Twenty One from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Naked Lunch -- Power and Exchange in the Viral World" - 30 mins

My Name in Asimov's

I received the August 2009 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction in the mail today. I haven't read any of the stories yet, but I did manage to read some of the non-fiction pieces. Including Robert Silverberg's "Adventures in the Far Future II," in which he continues to recount his quest to find foreign editions of his works from far and wide around the globe. There are some fascinating tidbits of international culture and publishing lore in the piece, and I can't imagine that fans of SF or readers interested in the publishing world that wouldn't enjoy it.

Throughout, Silverberg mentions by name individuals who have helped him amass this extravagance of mostly (at least for folks less world-traveled than he) exotic and unpronounceable titles. That includes moi.

It's a little surreal, when I think back to the days I first gobbled up his books and stories as a teen. But if the world of SF weren't ever surreal, what would be the point?

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 06/13/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 5600
Today's Piece: Interview
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 60800

This Week's Cardio Dalliance

Monday 06/01/2009 2 miles
Tuesday 06/02/2009 2.2 miles
Wednesday 06/03/2009 3 miles (1 hour walk)
Thursday 06/04/2009 Rest
Friday 06/05/2009 2.1 miles
Saturday 06/06/2009 Rest
Sunday 06/07/2009 2.3

Total: 11.6 miles
=

Me pleased :-)

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 06/06/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 800
Today's Piece: Review # 11
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 55200

\ Rea-dying \

Read since the last update:

Stories:
223. "Hoop-of-Benzene" by Robert Reed (Mammoth Book of Extreme SF, April 2006)
224. "Pure Vision" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2005)
225. "Poet Snow" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2005)
226. "First Tuesday" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1996)
227. "On the Brink of That Bright New World" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1993)
228. "The Apollo Man" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, February 1996)
229. "Lying to Dogs" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, December 2002)
230. "Think So?" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 2005)
231. "Season to Taste" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2001)
232. "Oracles" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2002)
233. "Blind" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, May 1993)
234. "Hexagons" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2003)
235. "Savior" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, August 1998)
236. "The Cuckoo's Boys" by Robert Reed (Science Fiction Age, September 1998)
237. "Abducted Souls" by Robert Reed (The Cuckoo's Boys, 2005)
238. "Waging Good" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1995)
239. "Winemaster" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1999)
240. "One Last Game" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2001)

Book: The Dragons of Springplace (1999) by Robert Reed. Book 16 in '09.

The Cuckoo's Boys (2005) by Robert Reed. Book 17 in '09.

My New Review: A Mini-History of SF

The fourth issue of Fruitless Recursion has just been published, and with it my review of Science Fiction (Cultural History of Literature) by Roger Luckhurst.

This issue also contains two other neat reviews, one by Karen Burnham on Delany (incidentally, it looks like Starboard Wine is going to be re-issued later this year, which will make her review that much more timely) and one by Paul Graham Raven on James Gunn and co.

Link-y to my review:

• Review of Science Fiction (2005) by Roger Luckhurst @ Fruitless Recursion #4.

As I mentioned to the editor, this was probably the most involved academic book on SF I've read. Working through it and capturing my responses to it was both challenging and exciting. I certainly learned a lot from both the book and the process of its analysis.

In the introduction to the issue, Jonathan McCalmont notes that I've produced "a piece so detailed in its analyses and discussions that I think it comes close to being a cultural history of science fiction in its own right." Yay, my own mini-history of SF!

This is the eighth review I've written this year, and the eighth to be published.

New Short Story Sale

Staffs & Starships magazine has accepted my story "Earthbound" for publication. Yay!!

Looks like the story is to appear in the forthcoming fourth issue.

More details as I get them.

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 05/25/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 2200
Today's Piece: Review # 10, Review # 11
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 54400

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to since the last update:

Stories:
197. "The Cure" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2005)
198. "Intolerance" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2006)
199. "The Visionaries" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2008)
200. "Man for the Job" by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, November 2005)
201. "Birdy Girl" by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, September 2000)
202. "Misjudgment Day " by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2006)
203. "Plausible" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, December 2006)
204. "The Remoras " by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Mat 1994)
205. "Aeon's Child" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1995)
206. "Marrow" by Robert Reed (Science Fiction Age, July 1997)
207. "Night of Time" by Robert Reed (The Silver Gryphon, May 2003)
208. "555" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 2003)
209. "The Children's Crusade" by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, April 2002)
210. "Melodies Played Upon Cold, Dark Worlds" by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, July 2002)
211. "River of the Queen" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 2004)
212. "To Church with Mr. Multhiford " by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 1997)
213. "Like, Need, Deserve" by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, August 2003)
214. "The Toad of Heaven" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1993)
215. "Mere" by Robert Reed (Mere (chapbook), September 2004)
216. "Flavors of My Genius" by Robert Reed (Flavors of My Genius (chapbook), November 2006)
217. "The Shape of Everything" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004)
218. "Stride" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994)
219. "Guest of Honor" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1993)
220. "The Dragons of Springplace" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1997)
221. "Chrysalis" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 1996)
222. "Camouflage" by Robert Reed (Down These Dark Passageways, 2005)

Book: Flavors of My Genius by Robert Reed. Book 15 in '09.

Audio: Lecture Nineteen from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "William S. Burroughs -- Bad Boy of American Literature" - 30 mins

Lecture Twenty from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Naked Lunch -- The Body in Culture" - 30 mins

This Week's Cardio Massacre

Monday 05/11/2009 7 miles
Tuesday 05/12/2009 7 miles
Wednesday 05/13/2009 7 miles
Thursday 05/14/2009 7 miles
Friday 05/15/2009 7 miles
Saturday 05/16/2009 Rest
Sunday 05/17/2009 Rest

Total: 35 miles
=

I set myself a challenge to run 7 miles every day Mon-Friday and I managed it!

It was exhausting, grueling, pulverizing but I got through it. The psychological challenge was the greatest part. One foot in front of the other, just focusing on the immediate future, hovering in some kind of meditative state to push through the miles. I can imagine this must be a very scaled-down version of what marathon runners experience.

I've had the weekend for my body to recover from the punishment, and the soreness is almost gone.

The usefulness of breaking down a problem or challenge into its Smallest Possible Units, and attacking each one in turn and not thinking about the next, will be with me for a long time.

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 05/17/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1000
Today's Piece: Review # 10
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 52200

Review of Clarkesworld #31 at The Fix

This is the ninth review I've written this year, and the seventh to be published. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #31, April 2009, over at The Fix.

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to since the last update:

Stories:
176. "Salad for Two" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2008)
177. "True Fame" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2009)
178. "Old Man Waiting " by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2008)
179. "Whiptail" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 1998)
180. "The Utility Man" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1990)
181. "Finished" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2005)
182. "Coelacanths" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2002)
183. "Wealth" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2004)
184. "Killing the Morrow" by Robert Reed (Starlight 1, 1996; Futures Past)
185. "Opal Ball" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004)
186. "Decency" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1996)
187. "She Sees My Monsters Now" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2002)
188. "Two Sams" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, May 2000)
189. "Roxie" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2007)
190. "Character Flu" by Robert Reed (Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2008)
191. "The House Left Empty" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2008)
192. "Past Imperfect" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2001)
193. "When It Ends" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2000)
194. "Tongues" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, December 1995)
195. "Human Bay" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, May 1999)
196. "Daily Reports" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2004)

Audio: Lecture Ten from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Fitzgerald's Psychiatric Tale" - 30 mins

Lecture Eleven from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Dick's Dying Fall -- An American Story" - 30 mins

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 05/09/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 570
Today's Piece: Review # 09
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 51200

Recommended Reed

My call a couple of days ago for Robert Reed recommendations here didn't produce any results. But there's always a back-up plan ... Fortunately, I had much better luck over at the Asimov's forum. I received suggestions by Blue Tyson, Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton, among others. So far the ones I've read have been consistently excellent. Many thanks!

Here's a link to the thread:

• Robert Reed - Short Story Recommendations @ Asimov's

Review of Ken Scholes' Collection at IRoSF

This is the fourth review I've written this year, and the sixth to be published.

It came out today in the May, 2009 issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction.

Link-y:

• Review of Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys by Ken Scholes @ IRoSF
  

May = Robert Reed Story Month

As far as my reading goes, I'm declaring May Robert Reed Short Story Month.

Since last year, when Reed published his 180th short story (!!) in December, I've been itching to set some time aside and devote it to catching up on this amazing writer's short fiction.

The two main bibliographic sources (here and here) are helpful, but I'm curious--what are some reader favorites?

What is your pick for best Robert Reed short story (or novella or novelette)? If your were compiling a "Best of" collection, what would you include?

Please share your choices in the comments section!!

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to since the last update:

Stories:
170. "The Woman in the Bar (The Man Who Pretended to Like Baseball)" (Black Widowers Story #38) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, June 30 1980; Banquets of the Black Widowers)
171. "The Driver" (Black Widowers Story #39) by Isaac Asimov (1984; Banquets of the Black Widowers)
172. "Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story" by Jay Lake and Shannon Page (Clarkesworld #31, April 2009)
173. "The Dying World" by Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld #31, April 2009)
174. "Indian Camp" by Ernest Hemingway (In Our Time, 1925; The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway)
175. "The Battler" by Ernest Hemingway (In Our Time, 1925; The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway)

Book: The Power of Movies by Colin McGinn. Book 14 in '09.

Poetry:

34. "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence
35. "The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare
36. "Lights Out" by Edward Thomas
37. "Song of Myself - 46" by Walt Whitman

Audio: Lecture Seven from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Hemingway -- Journalist, Writer, Legend" - 30 mins

Lecture Eight from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Hemingway's Cunning Art " - 30 mins

Lecture Nine from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Tender is the Night" - 30 mins

This Week's Cardio Dalliance

Monday 04/27/2009 3 miles
Tuesday 04/28/2009 3 miles
Wednesday 04/29/2009 Rest
Thursday 04/30/2009 3 miles
Friday 05/01/2009 3 miles
Saturday 05/02/2009 3 miles
Sunday 05/03/2009 Rest

Total: 15 miles
=
On we go!

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to since the last update:

Stories:
169. "Sixty Million Trillion Combinations" (Black Widowers Story #37) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 5th 1980; Banquets of the Black Widowers)

Book: Buyout by Alexander Irvine. Book 13 in '09.

Poetry:

27. "The Unknown Bird" by Edward Thomas
28. "The Magi" by William Butler Yeats
29. "Report on Experience" by Edmund Blunden
30. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
31. "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen
32. "I Cannot Live With You" by Emily Dickinson
33. "I think I could turn and live with animals" by Walt Whitman

Audio: Lecture Six from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Hemingway -- Journalist, Writer, Legend" - 30 mins

This Week's Cardio Dalliance

Monday 04/20/2009 2.9 miles
Tuesday 04/21/2009 2.9 miles
Wednesday 04/22/2009 2.9 miles
Thursday 04/23/2009 Rest miles
Friday 04/24/2009 3.5 miles
Saturday 04/25/2009 approx 2 miles walk
Sunday 04/26/2009 Rest

Total: 14.2 miles
=
This week my mom flew over from Spain and visited. Tremendously, we both focused on meeting our fitness goals and went to the gym pretty diligently. We spent some quality time on the treadmill and elliptical. Saturday's 2 mile walk was at the Los Angeles Book Festival -- which was a ton of fun. Yay for my mom and I doing exercise!

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 04/25/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1200
Today's Piece: Review # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 50630

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 04/23/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 550
Today's Piece: Review # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 49430

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to since the last update:

Stories:
155. "Wakefield" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837; Twice-Told Tales)
156. "The Missing Item" (Black Widowers Story #28) by Isaac Asimov (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Winter 1977; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
157. "Crisis of the Month" by Ben Bova (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1988)
158. "The Next Day" (Black Widowers Story #29) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 1978; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
159. "Irrelevance! (A Matter of Irrelevance)" (Black Widowers Story #30) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 1979; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
160. "None So Blind" (Black Widowers Story #31) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, June 1979; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
161. "The Backward Look" (Black Widowers Story #33) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1979; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
162. "What Time Is It?" (Black Widowers Story #35) by Isaac Asimov (1980; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
163. "Middle Name" (Black Widowers Story #36) by Isaac Asimov (1980; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
164. "To The Barest" (Black Widowers Story #32) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 1979; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
165. "Experience Of The McWilliamses With Membranous Croup" by Mark Twain (1875; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)
166. "Some Learned Fables, For Good Old Boys And Girls" by Mark Twain (1875; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)
167. "The Canvasser's Tale" by Mark Twain (1876; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)
168. "Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale" by Mark Twain (1880; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)

Book: The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells (1994) by Ben Bova. Book 10 in '09.
Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories (1998) by Margaret Lucke. Book 11 in '09.
Casebook of the Black Widowers (1980) by Isaac Asimov. Book 12 in '09.


Poetry:

19. "Down by the Salley Gardens" by William Butler Yeats
20. "Star People" by Bruce Boston
21. "Le Lac" by Alphonse de Lamartine
22. "Sea Fever" by John Masefield
23. "Tall Nettles" by Edward Thomas
24. "He Never Expected Much" by Thomas Hardy
25. "Cities and Thrones and Powers" by Rudyard Kipling
26. "A Shropshire Lad - XL" by A. E. Housman


Audio: Lecture Two from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "The American Self -- Ghost in Disguise" - 30 mins

Lecture Three from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "What Produces Nobody" - 30 mins

Lecture Four from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Winesburg, Ohio" - 30 mins

Lecture Five from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "Winesburg -- A New American Poetry" - 30 mins

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 04/12/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1700
Today's Piece: Review # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 48880

This Week's Cardio Dalliance

Monday 04/06/2009 2.8 miles
Tuesday 04/07/2009 2.8 miles
Wednesday 04/08/2009 3 miles
Thursday 04/09/2009 2.9 miles
Friday 04/10/2009 Rest
Saturday 04/11/2009 3 miles
Sunday 04/12/2009 Rest

Total: 14.5 miles
=
Yay, another week of meeting my exercise goal

\ Rea-dying \

Read listened/to over the last few days:

Stories:
152. "The Family Man (A Case of Income-tax Fraud)" (Black Widowers Story #26) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 1976; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
153. "The Sports Page" (Black Widowers Story #27) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, April 1977; Casebook of the Black Widowers)
154. "Second Best" (Black Widowers Story #34) by Isaac Asimov (1980; Casebook of the Black Widowers)

Book: Pages 196-244 of Science Fiction, in the Cultural History of Literature Series, by Roger Luckhurst. This makes it Book 9 in '09.

Poetry:

11. "The Way Through the Woods" by Ruyard Kipling
12. "Brown Penny" by William Butler Yeats
13. "Digging" by Edward Thomas
14. "During Wind and Rain" by Thomas Hardy
15. "Aspens" by Edward Thomas
16. "The Great Lover" by Rupert Brooke
17. "The Voice" by Thomas Hardy
18. "In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'" by Thomas Hardy


Audio: Lecture One from the The Teaching Company 32-lecture course "Twentieth Century American Fiction" by Professor Arnold Weinstein: "American Fiction and the Individualist Creed" - 30 mins

This Week's Cardio Dalliance

Monday 03/30/2009 3 miles
Tuesday 03/31/2009 2.8 miles
Wednesday 04/01/2009 Rest miles
Thursday 04/02/2009 3 miles
Friday 04/03/2009 2.9 miles
Saturday 04/04/2009 3.2 miles
Sunday 04/05/2009 Rest

Total: 14.9 miles
=
Me Pleased

This week I focused my cardio on caloric targets each day as opposed to mileage. As a result, my weekly miles total is a little lower than other weeks, since I hovered around the 300 calorie mark more strictly on a per-day basis than other weeks.

I've improved my caloric burn efficiency; I can now burn 300 cals in approx 23 mins, whereas before my same "exertion level" (somewhere between moderate and vigorous) would have landed me at 24 mins or above. I continue to see improvements and to be motivated by it!

My New Story Published at Neon!

My short story "The Man Made Only Of Straight Lines: A Rectilinear Fable" has just been stylishly published in Issue #19 of Neon: A Literary Magazine. I'm thrilled!

The story can be read online for free here.

Issue #19 can be downloaded as a free pdf here.

I was also interviewed about the story. The questions and answers are available here.

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think :-)

Ted Chiang's Exhalation

Torque Control has been doing a fantastic job of going over BSFA nominees, and kicked things off with comments about a story also nominated for the Hugo in 2009, Ted Chiang's "Exhalation" (published in Eclipse 2). This is one of the five stories I nominated, and the one that will be getting my vote for best short story.

Here is the excellent round-up with reviewer's comments and plenty of discussion. Fun to see such divided opinions.

And delight, the story is available to read for free. Please go and check it out. Breathe in, and then exhale.

\ Rea-dying \

Read over the last few days:

Stories:
151. "The Cross of Lorraine" (Black Widowers Story #25) by Isaac Asimov (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 1976; Casebook of the Black Widowers)

Book: Pages 95-195 of Science Fiction, in the Cultural History of Literature Series, by Roger Luckhurst.

Poetry:

1. "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats
2. "Broken Dreams" by William Butler Yeats
3. "Neutral Tones" by Thomas Hardy
4. "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Butler Yeats
5. "The Sorrow of Love" by William Butler Yeats
6. "Out in the Dark" by Edward Thomas
7. "Thoughts of Phena" by Thomas Hardy
8. "When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats
9. "A Broken Appointment" by Thomas Hardy
10. "The Self-Unseeing" by Thomas Hardy

April Poetry Month

I'm declaring April, the month that breeds lilacs out of the dead land and mixes memory and desire, as Poetry month.

That means I'll be setting aside some time to read at least two or three poems every day. The brunt of it will be canonical literature but I'll make room for some contemporary work as well, specially speculative poetry.

There's an interesting "Poetry Animation" project over at Youtube: the faces of dead poets are reanimated to produce ghostly readings of their own works. Here is an example, a magnificent reading of the poem "Broken Dreams" by William Butler Yeats (courtesy of Jim Clark). It set me muttering like a fool.




Broken Dreams

There is grey in your hair.
Young men no longer suddenly catch their breath
When you are passing;
But perhaps some old gaffer mutters a blessing
Because it was your prayer
Recovered him upon the bed of death.
For your sole sake--that all heart's ache have known,
And given to others all heart's ache,
From meagre girlhood's putting on
Burdensome beauty--for your sole sake
Heaven has put away the stroke of her doom,
So great her portion in that peace you make
By merely walking in a room.

Your beauty can leave among us
Vague memories, nothing but memories.
A young man when the old men are done talking
Will say to an old man, "Tell me of that lady
The poet stubborn with his passion sang us
When age might well have chilled his blood."

Vague memories, nothing but memories,
But in the grave all, all, shall be renewed.
The certainty that I shall see that lady
Leaning or standing or walking
In the first loveliness of womanhood,
And with the fervour of my youthful eyes,
Has set me muttering like a fool.

You are more beautiful than any one
And yet your body had a flaw:
Your small hands were not beautiful,
And I am afraid that you will run
And paddle to the wrist
In that mysterious, always brimming lake
Where those that have obeyed the holy law
Paddle and are perfect; leave unchanged
The hands that I have kissed
For old sake's sake.

The last stroke of midnight dies.
All day in the one chair
From dream to dream and rhyme to rhyme I have ranged
In rambling talk with an image of air:
Vague memories, nothing but memories.

--William Butler Yeats, Easter 1916 and Other Poems

Review of Clarkesworld #30 at The Fix

This is the seventh review I've written this year, and the fifth to be published. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #30, March 2009, over at The Fix.

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/28/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1200
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 47180

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/25/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1200
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 45980

24-Lecture Course Completed

I'm excited that I finally finished the 24-lecture course offered by The Teaching Company on "The Historical Jesus" by Professor Bart D. Ehrman. Over the last couple of days I polished off the final two lectures:

Lecture Twenty-Three "The afterlife of Jesus" - 30 mins

Lecture Twenty-Four "The prophet of the new millennium" - 30 mins

This was an excellent, highly informative course. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in history and the historical origins of Christianity. There was a ton of stuff I was never aware of regarding Jesus' life and his teachings. This is just one example of dozens of eye-opening moments for me. The context is a discussion of the difficulties that Jesus' early followers had in convincing other Jews of their claims.

"Jesus’ death showed most Jews that he was not the messiah. Most considered the idea that he was the messiah to be blasphemous.
1. Christians today tend to think that Jesus was crucified, because that was what the messiah was supposed to do.
2. Before Christianity, we have no indication that any Jew anywhere thought that the messiah would suffer and die, even for the sins of the world. Not a single reference exists to any such idea in any Jewish text—including the Hebrew Bible—before Christianity.
3. Why then do Christians assume that that is what the Jewish messiah was supposed to do? Because that’s what the early Christians concluded based on what they already knew about Jesus.
1. The Hebrew Bible did not discuss the messiah’s suffering. Some passages refer to the suffering of a righteous man (cf. Isaiah 53), who feels abandoned by God, but whose suffering is accepted as a sacrifice for others.
2. Some passages, such as the Psalms of Lament (e.g., Pss. 22, 35, 69) and the songs of the Suffering Servant of the Lord in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 53), were taken to refer not just to any person who was suffering, or even to Israel as a whole (cf. Isaiah 49:3), but to the future messiah of Israel."
-Course notes, Lecture Twenty-Three

Next I'll be tackling a few books on the same subject, as well as some documentaries.

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/24/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1100
Today's Piece: Story # 08, Review # 07
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 44780

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/21/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1000
Today's Piece: Story # 09
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 43680

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/20/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 500
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 42680

\ Rea-dying \

Read/listened to over the last four days:

Stories:
145. "Dream Seed" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Lone Star Stories, December 2008)
146. "The Toymaker's Grief" by Hal Duncan (Lone Star Stories, October 2008)
147. "The Trials of Simon Erickson" by Mark Twain (1872; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)
148. "A True Story" by Mark Twain (1874; The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain)
149. "Bible" by Tobias Wolff (The Atlantic, August 2007)
150. "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter (1930)


Audio: Lecture Twenty-One from the The Teaching Company 24-lecture course "The Historical Jesus" by Professor Bart D. Ehrman: "The last hours of Jesus" - 30 mins

Lecture Twenty-Two from the The Teaching Company 24-lecture course "The Historical Jesus" by Professor Bart D. Ehrman: "The death and resurrection of Jesus" - 30 mins

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/19/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1000
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 42180

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/18/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1100
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 41180

\ Monkey Business \

Date: 03/17/2009
Today’s Wordcount: 1700
Today's Piece: Story # 08
Year-To-Date Wordcount: 40080