I think this is the first time I've checked in on Tuesday for this.  Usually Wednesday rolls around, at which point I make time to write up my thoughts before the weekend sneaks up on me.  Occasionally I've shown some gumption this season and managed to do a write-up on Monday.  But a Tuesday write-up?  Unheard of!  As always, be current with the books and the HBO series before reading this unless you're the sort who isn't bothered by spoilers.


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Tangent Online has reviewed Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.  Reaction to my story was mixed, though come the end of the review the reviewer more or less acknowledges my piece might not be her thing, so it could be worse. On the plus side, "The whimsical language reads like Lewis Carroll and is rather a pleasure." I agonize over my prose all the time, as I never feel it's good enough. Lewis Carroll was a master of wordplay, so to read that I captured his voice and that the language is a pleasure really makes my day.

The reviewer was also pretty positive about the antho overall. The other review I've seen for this anthology was also positive, and to date it's been nothing but five stars on Amazon, so early feedback has been pretty darn good.

I can't believe there have already been seven episodes this season.  Maybe I shouldn't be surprised though--as with the books, this is going to be over before you know it.  As always, there will be spoilers for the show and the books, so do make sure you're caught up before reading this post.


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As I suspected would be the case, I didn't make it back here to give my thoughts on the latest episode until this Wednesday.  After what was arguably the weakest episode of the season (if not the series), Game of Thrones came back with a vengeance this week.  Once again the writer was Vanessa Taylor, and while her last (and first) episode was riveting as well, I'm happy to say that this time around there was a lot less to nitpick.  As always, I'm not shy with spoilers for the for the books or the show, so make sure you're caught on both fronts if you're going to read this.


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Five down, five to go.  I love the fact that I can now focus on waiting until season of GOT on HBO as opposed to the next book from GRRM.  The waits are obviously far shorter.  But whether it be the books or the HBO series, both of them go entirely too fast.  I can't believe we've already finished five episodes.

This week's episode was pretty much by the numbers, as new characters were introduced, older characters were killed, and I found more things to nitpick.  They did shake things up in one respect though by demonstrating they can in fact go an entire episode without anyone screwing or exposing their boobs.  Who knew!  As always, spoilers will abound for the books and the show if you're not up to date.


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So before Realms of Fantasy folded, one of the stories Shawna had accepted for the magazine was "Seeking Captain Random" by one of my slush survivors from back in the day, Vylar Kaftan.  It turns out that this piece had been sent out on art assignment before RoF's closure, and when the magazine closed its doors, the illustration was just about done.  It had been handled by Zelda Devon and Kurt Huggins, a very talented artist team I had worked with in the past.  They had showed me the just-about-finished illustration via email, and thinking that Vylar would get a kick out of seeing it, I emailed a JPEG of it along to her.  I never really expected anything more to come of this ...how very wrong I was.

Vylar went on to sell "Seeking Captain Random" to Andy Cox at Interzone.  As was the case with RoF, Interzone publishes color art with its stories.  Apparently Vylar liked the illustration enough that she mentioned something to Andy about it.  Andy was willing to consider it, and after Vylar brought me up to speed on the situation, I passed along the necessary contact information so Andy could get in touch with them directly. 

Long story short, Andy ended up accepting both the story and the illustration.  It will be appearing in an issue that is shipping in early May.  You can see the illustration here on Vylar's LiveJournal.  So, this is now an Interzone story and an Interzone illustration.  I'm not seeing credit for myself or RoF concerning the publication of these pieces.  It's just a really cool story-behind-the-story, one that I think is worth sharing.  Given how few speculative venues are publishing color illustrations these days, this whole scenario seemed rather unlikely to me.  So this strikes me as very cool ...and while these may be Interzone pieces now, I do feel like a small piece of RoF lives on in this month's Interzone.

Fantastic Stories of the Imagination is now available for purchase on the Kindle.  Including among the fourteen stories is my Alice in Wonderland/steampunk mash-up, "Steaming into Wonderland."  I had a lot of fun writing this one (few things are as much fun as writing the Mad Hatter), so if you buy this anthology I hope you have as much fun reading it.  For those not of Kindle persuasion, publisher/editor Warren Lapine reports the anthology will be soon be available in Nook, e-pub, hardcover, and trade paperback editions.  I'll let you know when they are.      

Lots to cover this week, most of it good ...and look!  I'm finally getting my post up the day after an episode.  As always, I'm not shy with spoilers when writing this stuff up, so do make sure you're caught up on your reading of the books and viewing of the series if you're going to read this post.


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