yuripup

Cover art for my novelette "Faster Gun,"  (Working title: "John Henry Holliday is Sick of the These Time-Traveling Assholes") forthcoming on Tor.com this summer.

The artist is Richard Anderson.

Useful things I have learned or figured out recently:

* When staying at a hotel or spending a lot of time in a climate-controlled space where the air is very dry, drink coconut water--at least a liter a day. Bring it with you or buy it nearby. If traveling by air, see if you can buy some in the airport once you're past the security line. It will rehydrate you much more effectively than water, without all the artificial crap (and vile taste) of Gatorade. Also recommended: just before bed, apply lip balm and hand moisturizer. (In that order. It's hard to get the cap off the lip balm if your hands are slippery.)

* If you experience anxiety-related muscle tension, apply heat to those muscles to reduce your anxiety. A hot bath or shower works well. A heating pad is even better. Warmth is emotionally comforting, and will physically relax you as well.

What useful things have you recently learned or figured out that you wish you'd known years ago?


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Hey, listen up, true believers.

GAME OF THRONES won the Stan Lee Award for Best Television Program.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/scott-snyder-and-sara-pichelli-dominate-stan-lee-awards/

It's not a No-Prize, but it's pretty cool.

'Nuff said.

I'm working on "The Deeps of the Sky" tonight, and generating a regular festival of Words Word Don't Know:

luminesced, tropopause, sheeny, thicks, unnavigable, dartlike,

Meanwhile, I had a little argument with myself on twitter as to whether I should use some modestly bogus science to create a cool special effect. I went with it. ;-) Now I'm stopping because I have to figure out how the protagonist intervenes to stop the Bad Thing from happening, or how he mops up afterward...

Oh, I might have just done so. Woot!

The mail continues to bring treats, including a signed copy of Caitlín's The Drowning Girl. Very much looking forward to reading this one. Thank you, greygirlbeast! In your honor, I shall try to write something resembling a real entry. With, you know, thoughts and stuff. Not just random observations and eBay listings (though I do have some of those).

Life is ... sticky. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Not precisely bad, but difficult. Literally so, because the air conditioning in my house is broken and we're heading into another long, sweaty, tyrannical New Orleans summer. Most luxuries have fallen by the wayside, and necessities are starting to do so. Yet I live in interesting times, both personally, by being in a relationship that brings me joy and creative inspiration, and globally, by feeling -- as I seldom did growing up -- that we are living on the right side of history. The other day I sent Grey a text saying, basically, we may be old by the time it comes, but I think we'll live to see a day when today's last-gasp homophobes look as benighted as the news footage of rabid bigots screaming at black children integrating the public schools. (I didn't want to be a Negative Nancy, so I didn't add that I don't expect to live to see a day when transgender people are anywhere near as accepted.) Meanwhile, there are still "religious" nutjobs who want to put us all behind electric fences and courts that give evil little shitweasels thirty damn days in prison for hounding us to death, but society no longer seems to be in tacit agreement with those people as it did when I was younger.

One more paragraph for Caitlín. Christ, when you get out of the habit of writing, forcing yourself to do it starts to feel like weightlifting. I have little puny stringy 98-pound-weakling writing muscles. If I do any more reps, I'll make them sore. Clang.

So about those eBay auctions ... they are all crafty things, two more blank journals, a copy of Exquisite Corpse with a redesigned cover by me, and a "homoerotic botanic" treasure box. Please check 'em out.

It occurs to me that I haven't updated on health stuff in a while. At the moment, my right ear appears to be completely fine. No hearing loss, only the barest hint of tinnitus, no vertigo. I've pretty much dropped the low-salt diet; I'm still trying to avoid massively salty things like pretzels, potato chips, and the clear noodle soup at Rickshaw, which now taste way too salty to me, but otherwise I'm not worrying about it. My guess is that the ear problems will occasionally come back, I'll do the low-salt thing for a while (or maybe a very brief course of diuretics to kickstart recovery), and they'll go away again. This is the best outcome I could have hoped for and I am very, very, very relieved.

Otherwise I'm doing pretty well. Baseline levels of anxiety still a bit higher than I'd like, but it's been a while since I had a panic attack or even needed a calming dose of taurine. Of course it helps tremendously that the ear is behaving itself and I can eat normally; low salt -> low blood pressure -> dizziness -> anxiety, dietary change -> eating less -> low blood sugar -> anxiety, vertigo -> anxiety, hearing loss -> anxiety, etc. so being done with all of that is a great relief.

I have not yet checked out tai chi, and I don't think I'm going to have the time to do so before Readercon. I miss dancing a bit. I would like to be moving around more. But right now I really, really can't commit to doing anything weekly, and it feels marvelously freeing to be able to do a different thing every single Tuesday night!

Today's Tuesday plans involve petting the kitten (I missed her very much while I was traveling), and eating lunch, and showering, and getting dressed, and calling my mother, and answering emails from potential clients, and figuring out what time I need to leave home to get to the movie theater by 17:15 to meet Josh for the 17:30 showing of The Avengers (yes, we're the last nerds left who haven't seen it). We decided to see the movie first and have dinner after--which means not overindulging in popcorn, but see above about salty things now tasting VERY salty to me, so I may not want much popcorn anyway.

It feels so good to be feeling good.


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I don't know much about social media. I don't have a facebook or twitter account. But I've been told a few people have them, and that some of those people like to play social media games. I'm told the biggest social media game involves running a farm.

Surely, I thought, there must be something one could do on social media that would be more fun that growing turnips and feeding chickens. Like, say, scheming and plotting, murders and marriages, contesting for power.

HBO shared the feeling, and together we have granted the license for a social media game based on GAME OF THRONES to a great new start-up company called Disruptor Beam ((http://disruptorbeam.com/ )) Game development is already well under way.

Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam, says:

"This will be the first Facebook game based on the TV series and books and, trust me, this game isn’t just going to be another Farmville! George RR Martin is working very closely with Disruptor Beam to ensure the game will deliver an authentic experience. I can tell you that it will not only be highly story and character-driven, but Game of Thrones Ascent will give you the chance to experience the world from your own perspective and with your own friends."

"Sounds fun, right!? Want to know more? Well, additional information about the game will be released in the coming months, including details about how to participate in a pre-release beta program. To follow its progress, be sure to “like” Game of Thrones Ascent on Facebook (http://facebook.com/gameofthronesascent) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/GoTAscent)."



I saw several early versions of the game demonstrated, and Jon and his designers took great pains to make sure the flavor of the novels is here. I saw alliance building, treachery, marriages, murders, and most of all the constant struggle to be the greatest house in Westeros.

So create a character, pick a liege lord to swear to, and start playing the game the way Tyrion would, because in this game you win or you die.

(No turnips will be involved).

( Of little interest to anyone but me and my partners: my schedule for the next two months )

Okay. I can do this. I can get everything done. Everything will be okay. NOBODY PANIC.

I remember when we were thinking of having a housewarming party in May. Ha ha ha. Maybe we'll have one in August, only six months after we moved in...


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