Sheila's LiveJournal

I'll be signing THE GUILD OF XENOLINGUISTS on Sunday, June 14th, 3-5pm, at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles. If you're in the area, come on by and say hello, lend moral support!

If you haven't seen it yet, do so this weekend. The new STAR TREK movie is well worth seeing. The young actors are excellent in their roles, not obviously trying to ape the mannerisms of the original cast but managing to suggest them in subtle ways. We get explanations for all manner of puzzling things in the series -- such as why Kirk calls Dr McCoy "Bones" (not as a nod to the old slang term for doctor: sawbones). The special effects are gorgeous. The plot is exciting. And we have the added pleasure of an appearance by Leonard Nimoy as the later Spock, courtesy of some handwaving rubbery science for which I willingly suspended my disbelief.

But for me the best part was when Uhura declared herself a "xenolinguist" and defined "xenolinguistics!" Since I first coined that term back in a story and an article on alien communication in AMAZING back in 1988 (the online Oxford dictionary of sf terms confirms this), I was quite delighted to have Paramount give it its blessing! Take that, NASA -- which has been playing with the prefix "exo."

I'm off to UC Riverside today for the Eaton Conference. I was at the very first one in 1979, courtesy of a dean who gave conference info and travel money to a part-time teacher. This was the same dean who let me teach creative writing and the literature of science fiction, both when I was still part-time. He believed in the right person for the job, not seniority or tenure or full time status. (He later hired me full-time.) Not many deans like him, alas.

This year, they asked me to judge the fiction writing contest for UC undergraduates, and they';re actually going to pick up my hotel room! That's a first, even though I have presented papers to the conference before and was keynote speaker one time. I also get to autograph and sell a few books on Saturday, I hope!

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends in Riverside, including Samantha Henderson -- who I haven't seen since we shared a room last weekend at the Nebs! {g}

I'm home, and ready for a nap. I spent Thursday and Sunday nights with family, and the two in between at the Nebula Hotel in Brentwood (anybody remember OJ?) on Sunset. Samantha Henderson and I had the air conditioner (not) from hell in our room; the hotel "maintenance" (I use the term advisedly) couldn't fix it, and the only way not to roast to death in our sleep was to turn it off altogether. But then we had no fresh air, being on the first floor, with a walkway passing our sliding door -- and no way to lock it into a safe open position.

Other than that, and a few other "interesting" problems with the hotel, the affair was very enjoyable. It's always great to see old friends and talk business. I had the additional pleasure of meeting up with some former students of mine that I hadn't seen in years. And the Festival of Books was comfortably warm, but breezy, nowhere near the oven conditions that prevailed last year. Sold books, talked to more friends, and generally had a good time.

And when I came home, with the dogs, Nickie ignored me -- as I'd expected he would. However, when I went into the study to turn on the desktop and get email, I found he'd expressed his disapproval of being left at home. There, on one of the dog's beds, was a little pile of cat poop.

I'm off tomorrow to the Nebula Conference and Awards Banquet in Los Angeles. Although the hotel is only about fifty miles away from where I live, I'll have to make close to a two hundred mile round trip because I have to take the greyhounds out to my daughter's house in San Jacinto in the Moreno Valley to stay. Actually, that's not too bad because it will give me a chance to take them out to dinner tomorrow night, before heading to LA Friday morning, and then spend Sunday evening with them on my return as well. I haven't seen this daughter and family since Christmas, so it will be a pleasant visit.

The Nebs are being held at the same time as the LA Times Festival of Books, and SFWAns will be signing at the Mysterious Galaxy Booth (#614) on the UCLA campus. My slot is Sunday at 10am for an hour, and I'll be signing THE GUILD OF XENOLINGUISTS. (I have a few copies of the newly reprinted backlist, so I may take them along too and see if anyone wants to buy them.)

Oh – Nicky the cat wants it noted that he will stay bravely at home by himself and keep an eye on the marauding sparrows and hummingbirds who infest our balcony. (Actually, a neighbor will look in on him once a day, so he won't be totally alone, but don't tell him I told you!)

"Stranger Than Imagination Can," a lingster story, which first appeared in my collection THE GUILD OF XENOLINGUISTS, made it to the short list for the Nebulas. If you'd like to read a copy, email me and I'll be glad to send one: sf.lingster@gmail.com

It was a weekend of contrasts. Friday evening, I was sitting outside in Riverside County, eating barbecue, surrounded by family and dogs (seven altogether), watching grandchildren ride the horses. It was hot and dusty at the edge of the desert, but a pleasure to see two of my three daughters and their families. I'm not a big meat eater, but in my opinion nothing beats steak cooked on a barbecue, so I make an exception for that. And everything tastes better outdoors, even if the plates are paper.

Saturday, I left my two dogs to play with the others and drove in to the University of California, Riverside, to attend the Eaton Conference.
The special collection of science fiction at UCR is the best this side of the Mississippi, maybe the best in the world, and still growing. Back in 1979, they started an annual scholarly conference on science fiction which ran for a number of years before they got the grand idea of touring the world with it. I couldn't afford exotic locations like Hong Kong, so I'm glad it's finally come back home. The theme this year was Mars in fiction, and Ray Bradbury was the logical guest of honor. He looks frail, but his mind is still sharp. His speech, and his answers to questions afterwards, were worth the price of admission. Most papers presented at conferences like this are dry and academic, and at least one that I heard seemed hardly more than a 12th grade book report: “Stories about Mars written between — and —.”  I enjoyed the day because it was a good opportunity to meet up with a lot of friends, including Sam Henderson and Debbie Kolodji  (be sure to read the reports I'm sure they're going to write). I also managed to sign and sell a few more books.(Maybe some academic will decide to write a scholarly paper about the lingster stories.)

I drove home to Long Beach Saturday night after the evening session, in order to take part in the 25th anniversary of the Gay Pride Parade in Long Beach. My church always supplies a big group, gay and straight, for what approaches a 5k in length along Ocean Boulevard. It was hot, but there was a cool breeze coming off the water and lots of music along the way. I learned the reason the Queen of England gives such a wimpy wave when she's touring: Extensive full strength wrist action is bound to aggravate  hand problems you didn't  know you had. The same group of religious nuts protested the parade with bullhorns at the same corner as last year and the year before – and every parade since the first one, I believe, but they appeared to be down in numbers. That was surprising, considering all the doom and gloom among such folk the state's supremes just caused with their ruling in favor of gay marriage. Other than them, the crowd was very receptive. Luckily, Long Beach has a good bus system so I caught the bus back home.

Tomorrow I have to drive out to Hemet again to recover the dogs, but it'll be a pleasure not having to do a late night and early morning walk for once. And the cat is thrilled to have me all to himself without those pesky greyhounds.

Three words for it: Hot. Crowded. Overwhelming.

Hats, water bottles and sun screen were necessities of life as the mercury went way over 90. Vendors selling water, lemonade and ice-cream – they were everywhere – probably made tidy sums. I don't know what the official count is, but it seemed as if all of Los Angeles came to the grounds of UCLA on Saturday, the day I was there. Were they buying books or just gawking at sweating writers touting them? I don't know. People seemed to be toting book bags stuffed with something or other. I hope it was books! You needed tickets to get into some of the panel discussions and special presentations; I didn't try this year.

There were lots of parents pushing kids in strollers or carrying them in backpacks (In this hot weather? Ouch!)  And lots of face-painted kids and panting dogs. That seems like a happy omen to me. Future readers! Pet lovers! Memo to self: Put more dogs and kids into the stories I write.

The three-sided canvas booths for vendors seemed hotter than outside, especially if you stood under the trees. UCLA has a lovely, well-landscaped campus, and I enjoyed strolling around before my stint and after – until the sun became too much and a headache drove me home. I spent a quarter at UCLA years ago on a post-graduate fellowship, and it feels like my west coast alma mater. But it's huge, and even if you manage to park near the booth you're signing in at the beginning of the day, you can guarantee it will be the furthest away from you after you've finished browsing around at the end of the day.

The people who hosted me, the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society, were nice enough to improve on the lame PR poster I'd provided ahead of time, and they kept me supplied with cold water. I sold half a dozen books in an hour and a half. And I got to talk to a lot of neat people, including a couple of my former students, one whom I hadn't seen in years. But it seemed like there were four people who wanted to talk about their own writing ambitions for every one who was interested in buying a book.

So was it worth it? I guess so. Since it's the biggest book festival on the west coast, it's easy for a midlist genre writer to get lost. The energy of the festival was uplifting – and if I hadn't been there I'd have probably been at home grousing about the heat and getting very little done anyway.

Whar's your experience of events like this?

I've been invited to share a booth with the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society at the LA Times Festival of Books later this month. The festival, which attracts huge crowds of people to the UCLA campus in Westwood, will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 25th and 26th. I plan to be there on Saturday. I know the Booth number (715) and there'll be a map in the program book. I don't know yet exactly what my hours will be, but I'll post them as soon as I do.

I had Golden Gryphon send me a box of books (The Guild of Xenolinguists) to sell, and I have some copies of Reading the Bones lying around too. I haven't taken part in this festival for a number of years and it's quite exciting to be doing so again!

Here's a web site for further information on the festival:

http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/

or: http://www.glaws.org/FOB

More info when I know it.

The experience was a mixed bag. It was a great deal of fun doing the signing in a cozy restaurant. The place was decorated for the holidays, and holiday music played quietly in the background mixed in with the restaurant's more usual selection of light jazz. The wine (red and white) flowed abundantly, the cheese plate also included  grapes and salami and relish to pile on the crackers. There was time to chat comfortably with old friends who came. I sold about as many books as I might've done at small bookstore, not as many as I sold at NASFIC when the book first appeared. But unlike a signing in a bookstore, there was no foot traffic to make spur-of-the-moment purchases.

And two-thirds of the people who went out of their way in the days before the event to tell me they were coming – didn't show. Go figure.

Afterwards, five friends stayed to have dinner with me. I had an arugula and baby spinach salad with warm portobello mushroom slices and crumbled blue cheese, followed by a rare filet mignon (I hadn't eaten beef for at least three weeks – I usually select fish when given a choice – and just felt like it) with spinach and asparagus (my choice of two vegetables), followed by coffee and a mocha creme brulee that was heavenly. Too many calories, probably, but hey, it's Christmas.

Would I do it again? Hmm. It wasn't as productive as I'd hoped, but it *was* fun.

 I'm trying something different next weekend. A friend who runs a boutique restaurant, The House of Madame JoJo,  persuaded me to do a book signing/wine and cheese party for The Guild Of Xenolinguists on Sunday afternoon from 4 to 6 pm at her establishment. If people stay on for dinner, she's going to offer them a discount too.

After Reading The Bones was published, a couple of years ago, I did a book signing at the local Barnes & Noble, followed by a dessert and coffee party at Sharon's restaurant. It worked very well; I sold a number of books at the store and then hosted about a dozen friends (who'd all bought books) at the restaurant. Madame JoJo's on Broadway in Long Beach is my favorite place for dinner. I often go in early before the rush starts; that way I can chat with Sharon while she's not busy and enjoy the food at the same time. So I was eating dinner a few weeks ago and complaining over the fact that B&N had a new events coordinator who didn't seem capable of scheduling a book signing for me in the foreseeable future. Sharon said, “Why don't we do the signing here?”

As you might guess from the name, it's an interesting place, decorated like a turn-of-the-century bordello with chandeliers and large original oil paintings, and it will be festive for Christmas. I sent out a couple of dozen invitations to people who didn't come or didn't get invited to the signing in Beverly Hills last month, and the restaurant has an email list for special events too. My publisher rushed me a box of books, and I bought a new sparkly top to wear, so I'm all ready for this experiment in book promotion. Wish me luck!

Oh -- the food is wonderful at Madame JoJo's too. If you're in the area, drop by!he

Next month, some of the stories from my new collection will be presented in dramatic readings by professional actors. This is exciting for me, but has led to a minor embarrassment which I'll share. Sally Shore who is responsible for bringing all this together, has been phoning me to check on the proper pronunciation of alien names I've used, to make certain the actors get it right. I spent a lot of time making up these names, taking care they were consistent with what I'd invented of the alien languages concerned, even though most of that work doesn't appear in the stories.

But that was several years ago in some cases, and to be quite honest, I've forgotten how to pronounce a few of the names myself! So I told Sally to let the actors make a a good faith attempt and I'll be happy. I doubt the audience will know the difference anyway.

Here's the flyer for the event:

Golden Gryphon Press introduced my collection of lingster stories at the NASFIC in St Louis, Missouri, at the beginning of the month. It was very exciting – and also a bit tiring! – to sit with them in the Dealers' Room and sign the boxes of pre-orders as well as the copies sold right there. Of course it's worth it, and I have to admit I loved handling my first hardback. GG did a fantastic job; the paper they used by itself would make the book a handsome addition to anybody's library. Now I have to hope the stories live up to the beauty of this edition in pleasing the reader!

NASFIC was enjoyable, the usual traveling party that cons become for writers and fans, but I, like most participants I spoke with, was poorly scheduled. On Thursday I had seven events (I'd asked for no more than three per day), and four of them were back to back with no time for lunch or bathroom trips. They also had me down for three panels on Sunday after I'd left to return home. I've since had emails from fans about their disappointment when they showed up for the panels and I didn't; I hate to do that to people, but again I had no choice. The con had decided to make changes to the program at the convention not before – and of course, the program was printed up by then. The best panel was a big eight-panelists affair on the topic “Is There a Place for God in Science Fiction.?” Gene Wolfe was on that one, and I moderated. We had opinions that ran the gamut from “Of course!” to “No way!” (from an announced atheist). There was also a productive panel on aliens and communication, so I was satisfied to have taken part in significant discussions on two of my favorite subjects. (“Significant discussion” to me means I wrote notes on what was said – it wasn't all things I already knew or had thought about.)

Before the con actually got going, Elizabeth Moon and I braved the heat and the humidity to visit Cahokia, the largest Native American site in North America.. I'd heard about the mounds, but I had no idea they were the site of such a vast metropolis. The museum does a fine job of presenting the culture and history of the site, and there's an interesting movie you shouldn't miss if you go. What always intrigues me when I visit ancient places all across the world is the repetition of sacred symbols and practices one finds. Our distant ancestors carried more than themselves on their migrations out of Africa; they seem to have carried ideas about the transcendent, and ways to express them. In my own fiction, I often wonder whether we'll find correspondences with other cultures across the galaxy, especially spiritual ones. I don't believe we're alone in the universe, and I don't think we'll turn out to be the only ones who've speculated long and hard about a creator.

Now that I'm home, it's back to work. I've started on a new lingster novel, this one set in the very far future when the center of the Guild is no longer on Earth. I won't say any more than that for fear of jinxing my writing. I had a long period of not writing much and losing confidence in what I did write, so I'm going to keep this one to myself until it's fully hatched. But I will say that this lingster story is going to involve the roots of language and a search for God – but then, don't they all?

[And a postscript:]
My greyhound is doing better; the specialists have discontinued the meds, all except prednisone which we're tapering down. But we aren't out of the woods yet. Yesterday, the vet phoned me to say Jack's exit blood test showed his white cell count was low, so we need to monitor it for a couple of weeks. It could be a side-effect of the extreme antibiotics he was taking, but then again it might be a sign that the bug hasn't completely given up. The specialists determined it was a tick-borne disease, but which one still eludes them. It's none of the usual suspects, nor is it a couple of the exotics. Keep your fingers crossed for Jack, please.

Publisher's Weekly ran a review today of my new collection, The Guild Of  Xenolinguists (out next month). I can't afford a subscription, but my editor just sent me the review. I'm not kidding when I say I was stressing this one so badly I hesitated to open the email when I saw the subject line.

But PW gave it a very nice write-up so I can breathe easily again -- and resume the stressing over the sick dog and not the writing.

If you'd like to read it, here's the link:

http://reviews.publishersweekly.com/bd.aspx?isbn=19308464878&pub=pw

 My oldest granddaughter, Shannon, came into town Friday afternoon to help me fix up  my web site. As I noted in a previous entry, I wanted to make a large chunk of Birds available for download, with a link to Wildside Press for anyone who enjoyed it and wanted to purchase the complete novel. The task proved harder than I'd imagined – not because Shannon didn't know how to do it, but because the site had originally been set up long ago (not by her) using DreamWeaver. She swears that's got to be the worst software for web site creation. Add to the problem that I'm still using dial-up (she pointed me to a link for DSL so I guess I'll have to joint the 21st century rsn.) Anyway, shortly before midnight last night, the site was up again and – fingers crossed – all the links are working.

Since I now have the dust jacket for the lingster collection The Guild Of Xenolinguists, she put up the front cover for that also. This beautiful painting of an alien landscape is by Bob Eggleton. Bob did the cover for a story of mine, “Hitchhiker,” that appeared twenty years ago in Amazing Stories when he and I were in the early days of our careers. And there's  a little coincidence here, considering what we were doing on the web site last night: that short story was later expanded into the novel BIRDS.

The Guild Of  Xenolinguists is a collection of all my short stories about the lingsters and their attempts to break the codes of alien languages. Golden Gryphon Press tells me it'll be in the bookstores by the middle of July, with the official launch taking place at the NASFIC. All but one of the stories have been previously published in magazines, but I wrote a new one especially for the collection and it turned out to be one of my favorites. Let me know if you enjoy it too: “Stranger Than Imagination Can;” the title is meant to be a reference to the C.P.Snow comment about the queerness of the universe. I think the stories and novels I've written about the lingsters make up some of my best work, so I'm very happy to see the shorter pieces collected in one place. 

It's an honor to have a Hugo winner's work on my book's cover. Actually, I'm doubly honored, since Ian Watson wrote the introduction, a very scholarly discussion of linguistics and language theory and alien contact.   

On another matter, my greyhound is recovering but we still don't have the final diagnosis of what caused the problem. The vet is leaning towards it being a tick borne disease, but we still await the lab results – which we need in order to treat the dog effectively.

I'm intending to do something different (for me) on my web site (www.sff.net/people/sheila-finch).  I'm getting ready to put up at least two thirds of the novel Birds for free download. The original short story, "Hitchhiker," was published long ago in Amazing Stories. Then the complete novel was serialized by A.J. Budrys in Tomorrow SF, and  finally it was  published by Wildside. I've always been partial to this story! It takes place in the near future in the aerospace industry in Southern California, and concerns an energy being who happens to blunder into our space. putting our satellites at risk,  and the attempts of a young woman to go into space to clear her astronaut sister's name. I you like it, there'll be a link to the paperback version at Wildside Press.  I've never done this before so we'll see what happens.

I had a lot of fun doing the research for this book, visiting the High Bay at Hughes, taking flying lessons, watching a shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base, visiting Los Alamos and the Thames Barrier Project., spending time in Alaska in winter. And I have the original of the gorgeous cover painting Bob Eggleton did for the short story version. (A nice coincidence: That was one of Bob's early magazine appearances, as it was mine too. Now, Bob's doing the cover for my collection of lingster stories coming out from Golden Gryphon this summer.)

But as they say, there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, and that project has been delayed because of other stuff -- Not the least of which has been my greyhound Annie's recent accident at the dog park, resulting in stitches. (She did it to herself, only two other dogs were around and one of them my other grey, Jack; he's usually the clumsy one.)

Happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere and all children of mothers too!