Gwenda

And it is online. (Thanks, Mike!)

1. Sorry for the scant content around these parts this week. I haven’t had real, serious sleep in three days or so and am swamped. I owe you email. I know. I know.

2. The science fiction and fantasy issue of Publishers Weekly comes out next Monday. It will feature a feature by yours truly on the recent spate of literary novels featuring fantasy or supernatural elements, and also touches on literary genre fiction being published within the SF field. I interviewed Kevin Brockmeier, Ed Kastenmeier (Brockmeier’s editor), Juliet Ulman, Tina Pohlman, etcetera, and was pleased with how the piece turned out. I’ve no idea whether it will be online; if it is, I’ll link it. It’s here.

"It’s Funny How What You’re Saying Relates To My Novel":

Your mother wants you to go back to him, says weathering the storm is the solution. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, on page 64 of my manuscript. Anyhow, I could see maybe staying if he only hit you in the arm, but this is serious. You sure don’t want to be Marsha Ewell. (That’s the wife in my novel. The Ewell family is totally dysfunctional, but no one does anything about it. They all just act like it’s okay, especially her mother. Which is sort of like your mom. Wow, uncanny how I nailed that, months before all this.)

Ha. (Via Bookninja.)

Updated: And don’t miss this one either.

Just who does the New York Times think it is writing a story about zombies with nary a mention of or consultation with Ms. Kelly Link, Bard of the Zombies or Zombie Bard?  I submit the following as evidence that this is unforgivable (along with her fabulous zombie stories):

From Strange Horizons interview: "One is about someone who steals a painting, and the other doesn’t really have a plot at all. It’s just about zombies and zombie contingency plans. I don’t know how it hangs together, though. I’d like Sleeping Beauty to end up in there too, but I’m not sure yet how she fits into any sort of zombie contingency plan."

From the One Story interview: "For the last few years, I’ve been obsessively watching zombie movies, and also writing stories about the ways that the dead haunt the living."

Another from the Strange Horizons interview: "Maybe I’ll retell Sleeping Beauty and make it about narcolepsy and zombies, because presently I’m obsessed with zombies. But it hasn’t gotten thick enough yet."

From the Return of the Reluctant interview: "In all situations, I like to ask myself: What would Jackie Chan do? Not because I have any sort of Jackie Chan skills, but because it’s soothing to contemplate an imaginary Jackie Chan in imaginary action, kicking imaginary ass, zombie or otherwise. More usefully, what Jackie Chan does is improvise, using objects at hand. So we have a pantry with a lot of different kinds of jam, and some Lyle’s Golden Syrup, as well as a lot of heavy, tall bookshelves, and several interesting fireworks, such as The Titanic, and The Naughty Elephant. There’s also a lawnmower in the garage, and I’ve seen Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive at least five or six times."

See also, this fabulous set of photos of and information about that zombie cake up at the left there and similarly delightful desserts prepared for a zombie cake party. Or something like that.

Meanwhile, the NYTimes’ oversight will be reported to the Zombie Oversight Authority. Don’t you worry.