Today, the mail brought me my contributor's copies of Lovecraft Unbound, in which matociquala and I appear in the excellent company of Caitlín R. Kiernan, Michael Chabon, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Amanda Downum, and many other excellent persons, all under the aegis of Ellen Datlow. Our story, "Mongoose," is set in the same universe as "Boojum" (because that universe is seriously the Best Toy Ever) although it is not a sequel or otherwise related.

Also, I love the book design and its cunning use of fonts.

Thus far, there are four published Booth stories that are not in The Bone Key:

• "The Replacement." The Willows 2.3 (September/October 2008): 48-54.
  
• "White Charles." Clarkesworld Magazine 36 (September 2009).
  
• "The World Without Sleep." Postscripts 14 (Spring 2008): 40-64.
  
• "The Yellow Dressing Gown." Weird Tales 63.2 (March-April 2008): 63-69.

I intend to keep writing Booth stories--I'm working on several right now, for very loose definitions of "working"--so eventually there should be enough for a second collection, but it's not one of those things where you should wait under water.

"White Charles" is live at Clarkesworld Magazine, as is "Non-Zero Probabilities" by N. K. Jemisin.

ETA: also, "White Charles" is Clarkesworld Magazine's podcast this month, read by Kate Baker and available right there on their front page, so you have your choice of medium.

Go! Read! Enjoy!

And tell me what you think, if you want to.

1. Clarkesworld Magazine will be publishing "White Charles," which is a Kyle Murchison Booth story, on September first. Free online fiction!

2. Peter Mulvey's new CD, Letters from a Flying Machine, can be ordered online. (You can download the first track, "Kids in the Square," for free here.)

Last Drink Bird Head, an anthology of flash fiction to support literacy charities (and check out the contributors' list), will be out at WFC.

nz_navigatress is the third ARC winner; she has a nonspoilery post here.

To answer a question asked in the comments to nz_navigatress's post, the paperback of Corambis will probably be out in April 2010, if Ace adheres to the schedule they've followed with the other books. There's no guarantee of that, but it's the best answer I can give.

Speaking of answers (I've got my segues down cold today *g*), I will be doing another round of Q&A to celebrate the release of Corambis; the phone lines internet will be open for your questions on April 7. I have had a couple people send me questions in the past few months, and to the two of you, I say, Fear not! Your questions will open the festivities.

Speaking of festivities (see? I'm totally on a roll), I have cause for same: Fantasy Magazine has bought my short story, "After the Dragon."

And I think that's it.

I just got a contributor's copy of The New Weird, translated into Romanian. I had to go look at the publisher's website (Millennium Press) to figure out what language it was.

Apparently, the deal is, I will be translated first into languages I can't even parse, much less read. (Czech, Romanian, Chinese.)

I'm completely geeked.

I need to write a Storytellers Unplugged post today, and I cannot for the life of me think of a topic. Anyone who wants to offer one will be hailed as a Hero of the Revolution. Anyone whose idea I actually use gets a statue in their honor in the Square of the Glorious Dawn.

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Many thanks to sasha_feather and jesse_the_k and the two other people whose LJ names I don't know for coming to the Q&A yesterday. I appreciate an audience. *g*

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I am told that I have four stories listed in the Honorable Mentions of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror XXI: "The Bone Key," "Listening to Bone," "Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home," and "Under the Beansidhe's Pillow." Two of those are Artist's Challenge pieces (thank you, elisem!). The other two are from The Bone Key, and since "Drowning Palmer" actually made the cut for YBFHXX, I guess I can feel pretty good about that collection of stories.

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I am Eeyore today. With possibility of emo. I find this very tiresome.

Also? I do not need to dream about being exasperated with people. In the unlikely event that I have an exasperation deficiency . . . well, that's what Al Gore invented the Internet for.

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Q: ( spoilers for The Mirador )

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The poll winner seems to be The Emperor of the Elflands. Which, by a happy coincidence, is--of the three--the closest to being finished. So I guess I'd better get to work on that GAPING PLOT HOLE. Tra la la lally.

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ETA: cristalia has saved my bacon this month. However, since I'll have to do this again next month (and the month after that and so on and so forth), please feel free to offer more suggestions for things you'd like to see me write about.

ETA 2: and blogged

Avast, ye scurvy dogs! 'Tis International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and the cutthroat crew of Wired.Com has rare and wond'rous treasure to dangle before you. Behold, GeekDad reviews Fast Ships, Black Sails and provides a free download of "Boojum", a story about the love between a pirate and her ship, by those swashbuckling sisters of the seven seas, Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette.

Only a cross-eyed landlubber would pass up this chance for gold and glory!

At least I seem to be over the plague.

elisem is taking preorders for Glass Bead Games, for pick-up at Fourth Street (yes, convention members get first crack).

I have a flash fiction in the current Flytrap (#9--please note their website is out of date), and today the mail carrier brought me my contributor's copies of Postscripts 14 (available in both hardback and paperback), which contains my Marxist-Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath-with-vampires Booth novelette, "The World Without Sleep."

I have printed out both the manuscript of Corambis and my edit letter. Currently they're stacked on my desk; I suspect my back brain is hoping for some kind of mystical osmosis to take place whereby the work will be done without my having to do it. This trick never works, and yet? My back brain continues to hope.