Another sale to report, and some authoral squeeing

At Lunacon this afternoon, I was handed a contract (thus making it official after the "I like this, I want it" e-mail a few months ago) for my story "Wolfling" to go to Abyss & Apex.

(for those keeping track at home, this is a story in the "Dragon Virus" universe)


I also, on my way out the door, got in the mail my very first ever piece of fanart. Specifically, of P.B. *squeeeee!* I have been showing it around proudly, and the general reaction has been "how cool! And it's really good!"

As soon as I have the scanner set up, I will share it with y'all. :-)

And now I need to get some sleep, as tomorrow is a damn full day of conventioning...

and some politics...good news, for once!

House Passes a Surveillance Bill Not to Bush's Liking
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, March 15, 2008; Page A02

A deeply divided House approved its latest version of terrorist surveillance legislation yesterday, rebuffing President Bush's demand for a bill that would grant telecommunications firms retroactive immunity for their cooperation in past warrantless wiretapping and deepening an impasse on a fundamental national security issue.

Congress then defiantly left Washington for a two-week spring break.

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Hands have been slapped, the Constitution remains intact, and it looks like this mess will have to wait for the next president to come along before it can be resolved. Aw, poor Georgie, do you feel misunderstood and unloved?

Good. Asswipe.

A cheer for the congresscritters who stood firm, and voted to keep America the land of the free, not the land of the easily cowed...

The cats let me sleep in until 7. I suppose I should be thankful.

I really hate having Other Obligations when I'm in the grip of a book. Having to stop before I run out of words...irritates me. But off to a full day at Lunacon I go. If you're there, stop by the reading at 6pm, and make me feel loved! *grin*

And for those of you writer-folk under 30....

from GalleyCat:

A few weeks back, PW ran a short item about the Dylan Thomas Prize, a £60,000 prize for "the best young writer in the world," at least the one who's writing in English. And it included a quote from one of the prize board members indicating that "we haven't gotten as many entries from America as we'd like." And apparently that's still the case.

So: If you're between the ages of 18 and 30, and you published a novel, a collection of short stories, or a book of poetry, or you got hired to write a TV or radio script, or you wrote a play for the theatre, any time after April 2006, tell your publisher to cough up £100 and submit you for consideration already! (Personally, I'd consider the possibility that the best young writer in the world might be giving it away on a blog, but it's their prize, not mine.) Heck, this is probably a bigger windfall for American writers than it will be for anyone else—when the PW item ran, the Prize was worth $119,000, but as of this morning, it's slightly over $122,000. By the time the prize is actually presented in November, who knows how much it could be worth?

Good luck!