Today’s Post Courtesy of…

Data-Point the First: The latest issue of Apex Magazine is out, which includes my story Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens. Go forth, read, and while you’re there consider picking up some of the fine works of fiction Apex Publishing has out (I’m currently stroking the cover of Open Your Eyes, which showed up in yesterday’s post and gets coveted like a covety thing because I haven’t yet had time to read it).

Data-Point the Second: Edits for Horn rolled in last night, which means I’m going to be AWOL for a few days longer (baring posts where I show up and pimp stuff, like this one, but I figure you’ll forgive me my exhibitionist tendencies by now).

Data-Point the Third: The blog silence up to this point has been generously provided by a head cold and a mild fever that kept me awake. Avoided the blog because I figured endless posts of I’m sick weren’t that interesting (and I sufficiently grumpy that I wasn’t interested in bantering about swine-flu or the general male tendency to crumple like a used tissue when ill). No real wordcount on anything either, but I managed to pull together enough energy to plan stuff.

Data-Point the Fourth: I give you the book haul of the last week:

For those who can’t make out details in my blurry, flash-obscured photograph the pile works out something like this:

• Six Easy Pieces, Richard P Feynman (Cheap and seemed interesting, plus I need more non-fiction in my life)
• The Empress of Majik & The Innocent Mage, Karen Miller (Probably going to be work related in the long run, but Karen Miller’s cool enough that I’m happy to read it even it isn’t).
• The New Ceres Nights anthology (Chock-loaded with peeps doing cool stuff, including the ever-awesome Angela Slatter and the first man to ever lecture me on the practicalities of unicorn physics, Lee Battersby)
• Brasyl, Ian McDonald (I’ve been reading a lot of Best SF of the Year anthologies lately, and I’ve been hearing good things)
• Warhammer 40k: Let the Galaxy Burn anthology (This is a bit of a wierd one – I’m so not a 40K kind of guy – but I met Matt Farrer while working for Gen Con Oz last year and I’ve been trying to track down some of his fiction ever since. His novels are damnably hard to find, but he had a story in this. ‘Course, upon arriving home, I also discovered he was in New Ceres Nights as well…)
• The Case of the Imaginary Detective, Karen Joy Fowler (Because short fiction led me to the Jane Austen Bookclub, and the Jane Austen Bookclub led me to a fierce desire to read more)
• Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Thesis based, primarily, but I hear good things)
• Eclipse Two anthology(Reader logic says Eclipse One was good, so we’ll try the sequel)
• Open Your Eyes, Paul Jessup

I’m noting this primarily because I’m not really sure how I managed to accumulate that many books in the space of a week, I really don’t. I mean, I went to the PO Box, and that always brings forth a bounty of fiction that I’ve ordered a while back and forgotten about. And I may have made a trip into Pulp Fiction at one point, which tends to lead to a purchasing frenzy, but even so…