A Meerkat's Bolthole

 When I spend All Day at the Office & then come home late, the housecats are Seriously Affectionate, each in their own way.... For Boomer, that involves trying to eat my hair and head-butting.  Oaf.  But it makes me wonder why cats and horses seem to think eating hair (not grooming, EATING) is a sign of affection.  Should I be switching shampoo?  

After several days among people, and a convention looming, and more interaction on the month's horizon,  I am starting to develop that Introvert's Twitch, the one that says "I like you a lot but please stand over there and don't talk to me?"  There are several friends who have perfected that art: alas, most of them are Not in NYC.

Due to scheduling issues (not mine) I'm juggling four different major projects this week.  Two is optimal, three is manageable, four makes me cranky.  The smaller projects are huddled in the corner, waiting their turn.  Apologies to anyone waiting on one of those smaller/non-time-sensitive things...

My brain is utterly in mystery mode right now, not fantasy. Good, because I'm writing a mystery. Bad, because I'm also revising a fantasy.

Writing mysteries is actually both weirder and calmer for me: there's less fannish connection, less chatter in my daily life, so I'm not distracted from the Story by the Community. This is partially because I was a reader rather than a Fan of mysteries and so not hooked into that community the same way, and partially because there seems to be less online "noise"  for mysteries the way there is F/SF.  Pluses and minuses to both.


and now I have to go away and juggle some more.  Feel free to use this thread to ask me anything.  I reserve the right not to answer (or to lie like a rug if provoked/inspired) but I'll try to get to all questions...

1. And lo, the Flesh & Fire page proofs are finished. A number of minor corrections on my part, and a swift kick to the shins to whomever dropped all the italicized dialogue throughout the book (bad typesetter, no biscuit) but it looked pretty clean. And I didn't flinch while doing a close-read. That... was unexpected. And pleasing. (this probably means it sucks. But I'll stick my head in the sand and go la la la too late now)

2. In honor of this, I have a new icon. Yay!

3. Also, I have established a bolthole over on Dreamwidth (because I promised I would). You can find me there under the unimaginative name of LauraAnne_Gilman. Maybe this will teach people not to drop the "e"? Nah.... The name change is simply because "suricattus" was originally established as a fannish follow-along, not a professional presence. Now I have to make sure people can find me easily [or so my editor informs me). I'm still the meerkat though, and will still answer to that (or suri, although you may find me reverting back to 'meer' more often. Old-timers [Nea] will rejoice.) Right now, it's merely a mirror site, but I figured I'd let the Dreamwiders know.

4. And because I was Virtuous (and healthy again) and in need of a little stress-releasing eye-candy, I went with friends to see X-Men: Origins. As a summer genre-action flick, we give it a solid B+. So long as you don't let the plot-thought brain out, you'll have fun, and they do manage to make it all work. On the Estrogen Overload scale, I give it a fantabulous A-. It would have been an A except Hugh bulked up a little too much for my taste, to suit the character. Points were given, however, for nekkid Hugh doing running leaps over farming equipment. (Also, it was determined during dinner afterward that bourbon is better for you than soda. My fandom has Healthy Drinks. Srsly).

5. And, last, a recipe for Drop-in Dinner for Two
Take one doorbell. Ring unexpectedly. Add two chicken thighs, lightly baked, then topped with coarse-chopped tomato, sauteed garlic, fresh basil and thyme, and crumbled Greek feta, and finish under broiler.

Rather surprisingly good, especially when served with a lightly chilled chenin blanc.

And now, having done way too much today, I am going to table everything else until tomorrow, and go fall over....

Happy Easter to my friends and readers who are observing. I hope the services are uplifting, and the baskets are overflowing...


1. Tech.
I have achieved new netbook! After going hands-on with a lot of models, and comparing price-to-tech, I decided to upgrade to the 10" HP Mini. Her name is Seshat and she is quite lovely. Still light (2.5 pounds) and portable, she also has a much larger screen (up from the 7" of Toke) and more comfortable keyboard, Windows rather than Linux so I don't have to hack the apps I wanted [I'm going for workability here, not geek cred}, a good sound system, and a built-in webcam. All for just a smidge more than I originally paid for Toke. I can't wait to see what $300 will buy consumers in a year or two...

2. Contest
Although the Midnight Cravings contest has closed, you still can enter the "plausibility" contest! and win a copy of one of the first three "Retriever" books in mass market!

3. Social
Had dinner last night at Via Emilia with friends visiting from Los Angeles, and kudos to the manager for not kicking us out (we were a group of 12 and probably sounded like 24). The six bottles of wine we ordered probably soothed his nerves quite a bit. Anyway excellent restaurant at reasonable prices, down on 21st and Park Avenue, and I highly recommend the pastas. They only take cash, though, so be prepared.

4. World Events
Although I've been too busy to do more than glance at the news, I am of an age where the mention of modern pirates brings two words to mind: Achille Lauro. Historical Figures aside, I do not like pirates. I do not find them romantic, or inspiring. I find them reprehensible and worthy of being smacked into a pike-studded wall. And I fear we will see more, not less, as the financial crisis goes on. I almost feel the urge to write about it...but every time I think about starting another short story I am reminded of the others still waiting their turn, for when I get out from under these novel deadlines.

Which leads me to 5. Writing
Unable to make the world take a time-out and straighten up, I dealt with what I can control -- the writing.
I've figured out what was broken in PACK OF LIES and am slowly rebuilding it be better, fast,er, stronger, and longer. On the drive home from Boston on Friday, I started thinking out loud about Vineart 2, much the way I had done previously on that same drive regarding Vineart 1, thinking out Major Points and letting the smaller details rise to the fore, as they often do. My mother sat in the back seat and scribbled down what seemed to be the salient points [I used to have a minicorder for this sort of thing, but it disappeared a few years ago].

Saturday morning, I sat down at my desk and started typing up sort of free-form what I had been vocalizing about the plot. Of course, as often happens, the writing of book 1 has completely changed what I planned to do in book 2 -- so I've been performing terrible genetic experiments, making a hybrid of the original outline and the revised ideas. And -- thank god -- the fire lit in me and I started to get excited about writing this book. Which is good, because that's all I'm going to be doing for six months after I finish PACK OF LIES and MUSTANG.....

Today, I am off to the Park with my outline and Puppy! to see if I can manage both productivity and exercise...

How cold is it outside? 17 degrees at 7:30am. A man standing in Smoker's Purgatory last night was overheard yelling into the skies "At least, damn it, send snow!" It's cold, yeah. With a bitter, bitter wind. I'm staying home today.

in vague order of importance..

1. Three more stories are up at Anthology Builder:
- "Site 14." An alternative look at our future past, if we'd gone 'down' into space, rather than 'up.'
- "Harvey & Fifth." written before 9/11, a story about the ghosts of tragedy, and how we live with them. The title comes from a street corner in Oklahoma City.
- "Blow Job Red." -- Yes, I wrote a hookers-in-space story. But the further out you travel, the more familiar things get....

2. Spent Sunday afternoon visiting a museum I didn't even know existed: the Neue Galerie for German and Austrian Arts. It's small but lovely (and OMG the cafe!) but of especial note is the temporary exhibit of the drawings of Alfred Kubin. The brochures ends with the line "He transforms neurotic terror into aesthetic achievement," and while brochures are mostly marketing hyperbole, in this case it's a fair assessment. If you're in NYC, it's worth an hour out of your day to check it out.

3. And then from high culture to cultured cheese.... "The Librarian 3" was good fun, if not quite cracktastic. But oh my... "Leverage?" May be my new addiction. Cracktastic caper cheese that's oh so very pretty without being plastic (yeah, the plot holes are swiss, but the taste is finestkind stilton).

4. and while we're talking cheese: For Harlequin's 60th anniversary, they've put together a calendar of "vintage covers" with titles like "Love me and Die!" and "I'll Bury my Dead." Pulp noir romance. Gotta love it! (seriously, these covers would have worked for any Mickey Spillane novel, too). And then there's the classic "Island Hospital" (nurse romances, oldie but goody) and "Nine to Five: the private affairs of not-too-private secretaries." It's nice to know, no matter how highbrow any genre tries to get, we all go back to very very pulpy roots...

5. Books Read: A HARD TICKET HOME by David Housewright. wealthy ex-cop do-gooder caught up in missing child case that turns out to have some ugly complications. A decent read (author is an Edgar-winner and has a slew of good reviews) but I kept thinking I was reading a John Sanford wannabe, and when I want John Sandford I read John Sandford. Still, I might get his earlier book, Penance, out of the library. About halfway through KOP, which is also good-but-familiar. But will reserve judgment until the denouement.


Recap of weekend posts:

Thannks to everyone who helped out, Vera's home is safe -- but we're still raising funds to give her a small cushion, and take care of a septic tank problem. If you've participated, thank you. If you haven't, there's still time to get on Santa's 'good' list...

And hey, don't forget my Holiday Book Giveaway. Remember to leave your mailing address!


I managed to keep from working on anything all weekend. I feel kinda ill, now. Need to go pound at the keyboard for a few hours...

Can o' whupass is open. Pages are bleeding. Author is fortifying herself for the next section, which is where things start to sag.

1. This is making the rounds again, for those of you who've missed it, and those of you (us) who need to let go of a little of those natural animal urges (because we all have 'em, and you can either hug them tight until they strangle you, or let them go and laugh at them...)
( The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered )

2. I am feeling gleeful and superior 'cause I'm getting to read the next Flewelling before the rest of you. Neener neener. [hides her pages before she can get mugged]

3. The heat in my building came up this morning. Note to others: now is the time to move things away from the radiators (in my case: plants).

4. I love my family. I passed up the offer of a Giants ticket because I'd already made plans to spend the afternoon with them. I hope to hell they appreciate it.

5. I actually took a break from working last night to be interact with humans. Y'know, I have closed down a lot of places in my life, but never before a Starbucks. That was... bizarre (also: is a skinny vanilla latte totally a chick thing? Do I lose machisma points? Settle the debate, people!)

1. You know your life is a little busy when you come home to a box from your publisher in front of your door and you stare at it blankly before suddenly thinking "oh, right! Book out in September!" Anna Leonard's first book is in-print, if not quite ready to ship. I'll be showing it off at Necon this weekend...



2. *squee* I've been invited to attend Le fête de la Vouivre when I'm in Burgundy. It sounds muchly cool...

3. And I have an early glimpse at the cover for BLOOD FROM STONE and once again, while I'm not quite sure the artist read the same manuscript I sent them, it's still pretty damn neat.... (hint: see icon)

4. my sff.net mail seems to be bouncing again. If you've tried to send me something there, try again with the same prefix, at gmail.com

5. I have nothing political to say that would not involve me swearing and spluttering and generally losing my cool. I hate everyone connected with D.C. except Dodd, at this point....

oh, and fashionista_35! Do you have my cell number? Ping me!