Wow, it’s summer finally. I have a house-guest and am traveling around home places this week, and at work on copyedits on The Love We Share Without Knowing. On Sunday, my guest returns to the fabled land of New York City, and summer will be in full bloom. What will I do with all the time summer always brings with it? It’s the season that always reminds me of childhood the most, the long stretch of a hot day, how to fill it? For me, I aim to be writing heaps this summer, every day if possible, at least a little something, and perhaps, just maybe, I’ll have the draft of my third novel done by autumn. Other than that, my other summer plans include lounging in the sun, swimming, bike riding round town, house restoring and festival-going. Maybe a side trip to visit friends in other states at some point. The long stretch is before us, looking endless, but I imagine this particular horizon will meet us quicker than I’d like.
Monthly Archives: May 2008
Question
Does anyone know if there is any legitimate, good karaoke song download site that is cheap or, even better, free?
Now I shake the Internet 8 Ball and wait for an answer.
Gettin ready to rock
Lately I have been in busy hell. Forgive me if I owe you an email. Right now, getting revved up to go to Wiscon at the end of this week. Karaoke Party on Friday night. Be there or be square, as they say in Paris, or in the 1950s. Also this Wiscon Alan, Kristin and I will be debuting our first publication in the new Electrum Novella Series, David J. Schwartz’s The Sun Inside, which will rock your socks off. A review from novelist Elizabeth Bear says: “Beautiful Women. Exotic cultures. Fabulous monsters. Audacious heroes. Total war. Sound familiar? It should not.” If that doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know what will. Maybe a private karaoke session avec moi dans la Concourse L’hotel en Madison? Like I said, be there (at the karaoke party) or be square (having not read David Schwartz’s novella The Sun Inside and thus not being able to participate in the conversations gazillions of people will be having about it, sharing communal feelings about a cultural artifact that allows them to talk about, you know, ideas and beliefs)!
So, onward now to make departure preparations.
Ta.
Catching up
This past weekend I went to Columbus for the Ohioana Book Festival, where I was one of the guest authors. It was a lot of fun to meet readers and sign books and meet other Ohio authors and catch up with those I already know. Afterwards, there was a party for the authors at the governor’s mansion, which is quite beautiful. I got directions to the mansion from several Columbus residents, or those who live in the suburbs of it, and everyone mentioned I’d have to drive through a bad section of Columbus to get there. But as I drove both there and back, I didn’t notice a bad section, unless they meant the several blocks that seemed to be mostly apartment houses and rental units, rather than homeowner-land, and if that’s the case, I could have told them that’s not a “bad area” where I come from. Besides, all the places seemed really well kept up. If Youngstown looked like the bad area of Columbus, I wouldn’t be as worried and concerned, I think. Maybe that’s why a lot of people have no clue of the reality that the dying rustbelt cities face these days. It’s just not on their mental maps, it’s not a part of their daily realities, so they don’t think about it. The governor’s party was fun. I was allowed to take one guest, so I took my mom for Mother’s Day.
Now I’m back home and catching up with things. It seems whenever I go away for a couple of days, I come back to fifty things that need to be taken care of now now now.
One item of notice I wanted to mention before wrapping up, though, is that the Interstitial Arts Foundation, for which I’m co-editing the next volume of Interfictions, is holding a handmade jewelry auction until May 28th. The pieces look interesting, and they’re all based on various stories from the first volume of Interfictions. Go take a look at the cool stuff people have made and bid on something! There’s also a third Interstitial Salon going on as well. Lots of fun and provocative thinking going on over there, so take a look at that too.
I’m off for now. More sooner than later, hopefully!
One for Sorrow in Italy
One for Sorrow debuts in Italy this month. Here’s the cover of the book there. And they’ve retitled it as The Secret Voice of Crows, since the title doesn’t translate well because of the rhyme from which it comes not being part of the culture there, I think. I like the new title as well. They’re comparing it to the film Donnie Darko, which I also like a whole lot. I hope my Italian readers like the book. I’ve had the most wonderful conversations via email with my publisher and translator in Italy over the past few months, and hope I have the chance to meet them one day.
This book has felt like a non-stop birthday party. It’ll be over one day, but I’m still having fun until then.
NewNowNext
This video is from Logo, an MTV owned televison station programmed for the GLBT community. All I can say is that it’s about six minutes long, and you have to “wait for it” till about the last one or two minutes for the really interesting part. (The famous transexual Amanda Lepore is hilarious and weird, but the really interesting part comes late in this little clip). Watch it, then afterward go here and vote.
Christopher Barzak 