ajodasso

I got word today, finally, that our passports and new ID cards are safely back in the hands of the University of York Immigration Advice Service, which means that a) James and I are legal in the UK up through 30 January 2011, and b) I can pick them up on Monday and will finally have the proper documents on hand should I get any part-time job interviews. Also, Manpower will be happy about that.

In longer-term job prospect news, though, things are suddenly looking a lot better, too. I have two applications out for UK posts that would start in September: one in Edinburgh and one in Surrey. I've also learned of a couple US job opportunities that would also start in the autumn, but which require much more convoluted application materials. I'm going to have to think about how to balance those with my Ph.D. submission deadline in March. And there's the Pseudo Soc paper to worry about...

First item of business: I just saw La Double Vie de Véronique for the first time this evening. It's a stunning, delicately shot film that leaves you with more questions than answers about the plot, and the music is simply breathtaking. I liked it well enough that I think I'll have to own it in the long run. For some strange reason, it made me think of what Amélie might have been like if it had been a) less optimistic, and b) far more abstract. I love French films. They don't know what they're playing at half the time, but they don't need to.

Second item of business: Dark Mountain Project updates! Thanks to a private donation of £1000, they've been able to knock the fundraising goal down from $7000 to a little over $5000. Given that they've so far raised almost $2500 in addition to the private donation, I'm fairly optimistic at this point. Dougald and Paul, the editors, continue to put in maddeningly long hours, and if you check the Dark Mountain Blog, they've posted some intriguing video dialogues (one of which features my friend Vinay Gupta). I confess that I must tilt my head at the few who have reviewed the Dark Mountain Manifesto as evidence that the aim of the project is to revel in the imminent breakdown of society. Not so: the video interviews go a long way in clarifying the project's creative aims, and as for myself, I understand it in terms of celebrating the aspects of life that won't change, those creative drives that will carry us through the rough times ahead. Who knows; it might not look much different from the world we have now. When I was little, my grandmother and I made up stories about wild horses that could speak and abandoned cabins in the forest where ghosts and other wonders lived. I'll think of it like that: telling stories in the dark and loving every minute of it.

What novel do you remember most fondly from your pre-teen/early teenage years? For me, it's got to be Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game. It has that rare combination of side-splitting humor, engaging plot, and characters with genuine emotional depth. I've just placed an order for it, as my old copy is, I think, shut in an attic in Pennsylvania.

I've been pretending that my new apartment complex is Sunset Towers and that my neighbors will turn out to be just as wacky and worthy of spying-on as the cast of the novel. But so far, they only play loud music and come in at odd hours. Goddamn, where's Madame Hoo when you need her? Or the makeshift bulletin board in the elevator? I put a note up a couple weeks ago asking if anybody was willing to share their wireless till ours got hooked up in exchange for cookies or something, but the note got taken down and nobody responded anyway. People around here just don't appreciate intrigue. Or cookies.

ETA: At long last, Connie Willis's new novel, Blackout, is being released next month.

To follow up this morning's DDQ acceptance, I have this evening just learned that I've sold "The Hyacinth Girl" to Sybil's Garage #7. After a walk through metaphorical hell, this is appropriate.

Intent to Submit [Ph.D. Thesis] Form = Submitted. I officially hand in on 19 March. This morning's meeting resulted in some more minor last-minute changes, but nothing I can't cope with!

"Saints' Lives" will appear in the next issue of Divine Dirt Quarterly. This is a newer publication, and the first issue crackles.

Second item: did anyone try calling me at about 7:20 AM? I was awakened to the sound of my phone ringing (my default ring is The Decemberists' "The Infanta," so you can imagine...), only to find that nobody was there by the time I had answered. It's definitely a UK number, but I don't recognize whose it is. I would have texted back, but my phone's out of credit, and my debit card got rejected three times when I tried to top up. There's no good reason that should be happening.

Considering that I've got to be in York by 11 AM for what should be my final supervision before I submit my Ph.D. thesis, this day is off to a somewhat jarring start.

My grandmother called today. She always has to call me, because every time I try calling her, nobody is home. It's wonderful. My grandparents are 85 and have more of a social life than I do. However, it does result in a lot of muttering on my part when I attempt to contact them at least once or twice a week and end up getting the answering machine. Ergo, I must always wait for them to call me. Pensioners these days!

Anyway, my grandmother called, and she was telling me about how a longtime family friend of ours, Alicia, met a woman who's a poetry aficionado. Alicia told her that her friend Doris's granddaughter is a writer, and the woman said, oh, where can I find her? So they went on YouTube, and Alicia showed her the clip of me reading at Fringe last year in August. And the woman said, "She's an amazing poet—where can I find her book?" Which isn't out yet, but I'll refer her to my chapbook.

Tech-savvy seniors! Readers across the age gap! What'll they think of next?

Today I've learned that a new longer poem that I had submitted to Dark Mountain Journal Issue 1 back in November, "Vision," has made the cut. This is appropriate, as its sister piece, "Dreamer," just found a home yesterday with Jabberwocky 5. Go forth, my little night terrors...

I'm cheekily going to use this as a bit of fundraising leverage: a $25 donation gets you a copy once the journal has gone to press, and a $50 donation gets you a copy signed by as many of the writers contained in it as the editorial team can get to sign it. "Vision" has never been posted on this journal, not even in draft form. The printing and binding will be done by Bracketpress. Have a look at their website. Those are seriously beautiful books.

In Memory of Georges Anglade (President of Haitian PEN)

This is both an aid and a memorial fund, set up by my publisher.

"Dreamer" will be appearing in Jabberwocky 5.

(I'm so pleased to be in this publication again! It's beautifully produced, and the editors have amazing taste. Can't wait to see what they'll serve up this time, om nom nom...)

The router arrived this morning, but it should have arrived a week ago. As it turns out, they had got one small detail of our address wrong, and it ended up being returned to sender. FAIL. At least we caught the error soon enough. I have to say, BT has only ever made me mad, but this nice, shiny, free HomeHub router is pretty easy to use. Set-up took all of 30 seconds, and the broadband is much quicker than when we were using a pair of rickety old secondhand routers at the old house.

The new flat is mostly in order. The broken bedroom furniture has either been repaired or replaced, and insulating the windows with that sticky-tube lining stuff has done wonders for keeping the heat in. In addition to the amazing modern open-plan kitchen, perhaps the biggest perks of all are:

1) the water bill is included in our rent, and

2) the flat is entirely run on electric. No faffing with gas for the hob!

Nii is doing this as a really nifty feature throughout the month of January (and probably into February as well). So, if you click here, you can hear the first two Poems of the Week for 2010: my "What to Do by Daylight," and Jessica Horn's "Salt." My recording was done by phone, and thus is a bit gritty. Clearer than I'd expected, though!

...here. It features one of my brand-new poems, "Knowing Home."

The team are seeking funds to cover printing costs, which are around three and a half thousand pounds. There are amazing perks that come with donations of certain amounts (signed copy, VIP ticket to the festival in Wales at the end of May, etc.), so definitely have a look!

You can read my ghazal, "What They Know," here.

(Thanks to time_shark for guest-editing what promises to be a marvelous read! But first, I must eat dinner, or James will scream.)

ETA: My verdict is that it's positively steeped in fairytale-influenced gorgeousness! Check out Kirsty Logan's, Jeannine Hall Gailey's, and shweta_narayan's poems in particular.

"The Second Wife" has been accepted for the upcoming guest-edited issue of Mythic Delirium, and a very new piece, "Knowing Home," will apear in Unscroll IV from Gold Wake Press.

(My Rhysling-eligible poems can be viewed here.)

In addition to having written what I feel are two quite good poems in the past three days, I was solicited this morning for a submission! This is a welcome change, as I've received no fewer than four rejections in the past two weeks. I was beginning to think my fortunes were set to turn in 2010, and not for the better, either.

Also, do I really have another eight days until BT hooks up our broadband? Good Lord. This living off my mobile phone pay-as-you-go access/loitering long past the time my food is gone in the café right across from our building is getting expensive...

As ever, my Rhysling-eligible poems are available here.

The ones available online are hotlinked to the source:


"Journeying," Mythic Delirium, Issue 20 [Reprinted on Other Voices International Poetry Project, hence why it's available online].

"Cradle Song," Jabberwocky, Issue 4.

"Moving Shakespeare's Bones," Snakeskin, Issue 157.

"Cry Wolf," Cabinet des Fées, Issue 8.

"Queen of May," Not One of Us, Issue 42.

"Eye for an Eye" and "Bluff," The Houston Literary Review, October 2009 [Click on "Poetry Issue" for the PDF].

"Interment," Fear and Trembling, November 2009.

"Blue Stars," The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, November 2009.

"Fireflies Gone," Straying from the Path anthology. Drollerie Press, November 2009 [I'm willing to send a PDF of the anthology to anyone who wants to see this].

"Five Secret Selves" and "The Monsters of Notre-Dame," Midnight Echo, Issue 3 [In PDF format, the magazine is quite inexpensive].

"Changeling" and "Grave Goods," Poetic Diversity, December 2009.

"Lunar Divination in Three Simple Steps" - This poem won 2nd place in dichroic's Lunar Maria poetry competition; it may or may not be eligible. We are waiting for official word!


(I've left out a few, given they're either not easily accessible, non-genre, or both. Once again, best of luck to everybody; your posts have been a great help in finalizing my own decisions!)

ETA: I've just realized that there are a handful of pieces in my chapbook, Devil's Road Down, that definitely count as speculative or slipstream. However, these are not available online, and I can't afford to give out any more free copies! However, it costs only $5.00 from the press, as linked. The chapbook was published in September 2009.

About a month ago, I received an invite from Roger Humes to submit some poetry, previously published or otherwise, to the Other Voices International Poetry Project. They've now gone up in Volume 44 of the project, and you can read them here.