mid-week touchstone

There's something rather wonderfully hedonistic about placing a grocery order on-line and then, at 7:30 the next morning, having it delivered to your door. It also frees up the rest of my life something wonderful. I may even make it to the gym today.

Yesterday netted me 1400 new words on Pack of Lies. Would have been more, but I ran into a snag and had to untangle some plot threads (I had originally typed 'threats,' which works too). I think we have them sorted out now, and are ready to continue. Also had my workshop proposal accepted, so more on that when the time is right. Did not get short fiction sorted out, but did make progress, and sent off a very silly twitter-fic project, mainly just for laughs.

I am also being taunted by m'amselle editirx on the matter of my cover for Vineart War, which is now being called Flesh & Fire: Book One of The Vineart War. That really does work better.

Last night we did a test run for an on-line chat I'm part of on Sunday, as part of the on-going BookView Cafe Promotion Tour. Will give specifics in a separate post, so nobody can say they didn't know.

( And my latest Nigerian scam-spam, by way of the FBI. Yes, really. No, not really. )

'cause I always do what Ellen tells me to...

Online "Lottery" to Benefit the Shirley Jackson Awards

(me: isn't that so deliciously sick? I love it...)


Takes place from February 9 through February 23, 2009 Boston, MA (January 2009) – The Shirley Jackson Awards will hold a "lottery" to raise funds for the award. This on-line event takes place from February 9, 2009 through February 23, 2009. Persons buy as many "lottery tickets" as they want in hopes of being selected the winner for any of an array of donated prizes from well-known authors, editors, artists, and agents.

"Lottery" tickets are $1 each and can be purchased from http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/store/

Persons may purchase as many tickets as desired. Tickets will be available from February 9th, 2009 through February 23rd, 2009. At midnight on February 23rd, "lottery" winners will be selected randomly for each item and announced on the website. Prizes will be mailed to the lucky winners.

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson's writing, and with permission of the author's estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, "The Lottery." Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. National Book Critics Circle Award- winning novelist Jonathan Lethem has called Jackson "one of this century's most luminous and strange American writers," and multiple
generations of authors would agree.

Partial List of Donations to be Awarded
• From James Blaylock: Signed copy (by James Blaylock and Tim Powers) of The Devils in the Details (Subterranean Press)
• From Douglas Clegg: Signed copy of the Vampyricon trilogy
• From Jeffrey Ford: Keyboard used to write several novels & collections, signed by Jeffrey Ford, to the winner.
• From Neil Gaiman: Keyboard, signed by Neil Gaiman, to the winner.
• From Stewart O'Nan: Signed copy of unproduced screenplay, POE
• From Paul Riddell: Carnivorous plant terrarium
• From Peter Straub: A reading copy of The Skylark, Part 1, read at ICFA in Orlando 3/2008.
• Tuckerizations by Ekaterina Sedia, Laura Anne Gilman, Nick Mamatas <<---- the important part!


"Lottery" Rules
Tickets will be on sale from February 9th through February 23rd, midnight, Eastern Daylight Time. The lottery will be held on February 23rd at midnight. Items will be raffled off individually. Persons may purchase as many tickets per item as desired. For example, a person may purchase ten tickets for the "ITEM" and fifty tickets for "ITEM 2." Each ticket purchase increases your chances of winning. For example, if you purchase five tickets of the "ITEM 3" and a total of ten tickets for that item have been sold , your odds of winning are 5 out of 10.

For each item, one winner will be chosen using a computerized random number generator. The winning names and prizes will be announced on the Shirley Jackson Awards website, http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org. The donating party will mail or deliver the prize to the lucky winner.

All proceeds from the lottery go to support the Shirley Jackson Awards.

Lottery Information website:
http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/lottery/

List of All Lottery Items:
http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/store/

For more information about the on-line "lottery", contact:
Matthew Kressel, Lottery Administrator, matt [at] senses five [dot] com

Sunday in the Chatroom with George. Also, me!

Book View Cafe will be holding a chat on Sunday February 15, 7pm EST in the Writer's Chat Room.

Writers scheduled to be on hand include Sarah Zettel, Laura Anne Gilman, Pati Nagle, Nancy Jane Moore, Brenda Clough, and Sue Lange. The authors will be holding contests at intervals during the two-hour session. Winners will receive copies of the authors' print books. Titles to be given out include:

Brenda Clough, HOW LIKE A GOD, contemporary fantasy
Pati Nagle, THE BETRAYAL, fantasy
Sue Lange, TRITCHEON HASH, science fiction
Laura Anne Gilman, CURSE THE DARK, cntemporary fantasy/mystery
Nancy Jane Moore, CHANGELING, contemporary fantasy

The Writer's Chatroom website has over 1400 members and has played host to a number of NY Times bestselling authors and award-winning screenwriters. BookViewCafe is pleased to be able to participate in this event.

Sunday's chat room will be held at: http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm. For further information contact bookviewcafe@gmail.com

BookViewCafe can be found at: http://www.bookviewcafe.com