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Soleil Noir has reviewed Needles and Bones in its entirety. For those of you who might be interested in purchasing the anthology, it's available here. Here's what she has to say about my story, "Answer Me":

“Carl has saved enough money, made contact with the right man, and if he can’t be the man he dreamed he would be, at least he can own a tiny part of Egypt. But Egypt isn’t the right place for average men with average dreams, and though he loves it, it may not love him.”

Ohoho, this description was deceptively simple. This story is so much more. Carl’s passion is Egyptiana, more specifically illegal artifacts. Just as he comes into possession of his own little slice of Eqypt, he meets a man who has no intention of letting Carl keep them. Seeing as Drollerie did not give the twist away in the description, I don’t think I should. I’ll just say: this isn’t for the narrow of mind. I think this one could be classified as Urban Fantasy…and as such, a very entertaining read. :D

Thanks, Soleil, for a cracking review! It's true, I don't let people off easy.

( Here are 3 photos of me reading at the Hadley Rille event. )

In the photos, I'm reading from this book.

There were six of us in all, including adele_cb, purplecthulhu, and rob_haines. We'd all had stories in various Hadley Rille Books anthologies, although we weren't restricted to reading just those. I read "In Every Place That I Am," from Ruins Terra, and then supplemented it with "Journeying," which was in Mythic Delirium #20 back in May.

There was an audience of twenty-odd people who were incredibly attentive; the questions they asked us afterwards were thoughtful and engaging. I got to sign a couple copies of Ruins Terra, and I bought a copy of Footprints and had purplecthulhu sign it. I read it on the train rides home, and whoa. That anthology is full of some astonishing fiction!

In other news, my in-laws left yesterday morning. Also, after that entire tedious four-step interview process, I didn't get the job. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset.

Exhausted. Have too many bug bites to count.

Final job interview at 1 PM today.

(Augh.)

We've spent the day running around London: Tower, British Museum, et al. Our Eurostar train leaves bright and early for Brussels tomorrow morning. This will be my third time in Bruges.

In other news, "Fugitives," "Inner Compass," and "Blue Stars" will be published in November by the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. This is quite possibly the best name for a poetry magazine ever.

There's nothing quite like watching a kestrel hunt swallows amidst the towering ruins of Rievaulx Abbey. When the swallows darted just the right way, you could catch the dark, brilliant sapphire blue of their backs and wing-feathers. Deadly, lovely birds.

We leave early tomorrow morning for London.

Laura and I spent today towing James's parents around Scarborough while he was at work (his holiday time doesn't kick in till Monday, but he has the weekend off anyway). It didn't rain, but it was somewhat overcast and humid. I love walking the beach. It calms me, somehow; it's the only activity I've ever found that completely stills my mind.

Tomorrow we're taking them out to Rievaulx Abbey, and on Sunday, we leave for Bruges, where we will stay till Wednesday.

I had my first formal interview this morning for the call-center job, which means I've successfully made it through step three of the process. Then, my in-laws arrived around 1:00 PM, at which point we put down their luggage and proceeded to tramp around York in 90-degree heat. And then I got a call inviting me for a second interview.

In four years of living in England, I've never experienced such a hot summer! The trip to Scarborough tomorrow will be most welcome.

* John Siddique and Denise Duhamel

* Poetry from lots of other writers (including me)

Click here to purchase the issue. Alternatively, you can access it free under the CURRENT ISSUE portion of the site, but I'm going to push purchasing because the hard-copy is just incredibly gorgeous!

In other news, say hello to my new MacBook, Eli. S/he is nothing fancy and was got at a very great discount indeed, but s/he is super efficient and will probably rip your head off if you try and mess with me. S/he has gender issues, hence the name.

I mean, there's the job-interview-visit-thing tomorrow. I hope that goes well, and if I get the job, I hope that my two weeks of hardcore training don't have to start till after my in-laws visit. James's parents and aunt will be staying with us from 2-11 July.

Sadly, I won't be able to see them off on the 11th, as I will be on a train early that morning, on my way to take part in the Hadley Rille Books UK signing for Ruins Terra down in Wirral. This is the anthology containing my short story, "In Every Place That I Am," that came out back in late 2007. If you're in the area, please drop by!

In other writing news, I've seen the proofs of Ouroboros Review Issue 3, which comes out on 1 July. All three of my poems perch neatly on one page, which is pleasing. There are some very talented people in this issue, and some amazing features.

My new computer has not arrived yet. The postman is taking his time.

ETA: Also, I am going to continue pushing the Needles & Bones anthology as if my life depended on it. Seriously, folks - this is my longest published short story to date (7000 words), and if you've liked my other Egypt-centric writing, you'll probably enjoy this one a lot. And the rest of the writing in the anthology is just stunning, too.

How magnanimous!

/sarcasm

I just wanted to say that I finally have a bloody job interview set for Monday, and I'm thrilled. Not that it's for a call-center, maybe, but I must admit, the pay looks very good for what it is. Also, between one thing and another, I have scraped together enough money for a new computer. There are several people who deserve thanks in this matter, and they know who they are <3

But, anyway, two famous people died, and the internet went spoink.

Seriously, I've been spoiled from day one: lomaiwe came into my life when we were both in junior high, and for a young writer and a young artist to collide over a mutual obsession is just...yes. And once you've experienced that kind of bond, I think, there's no turning back. In years to come, I'd find the likes of twilightgardens, azureflight, and linnpuzzle.

That is to say, I'm very grateful for all of these extraordinary women, who are also dear friends. Two of them will be involved in illustrating a couple of my forthcoming poetry publications.

(More on that soon!)

I went down there to collect Pearl, and after a number of attempts to boot her up, it was clear she still wasn't working properly. They took her apart again, poked around, and then said, "Oh, wait, the hard drive was dying, but upon closer inspection? It's the motherboard, too." They should've checked that in the first place!

Looks like I'm staring down the barrel on this one.

The trouble was her hard drive. They were able to clone it onto a shiny new one and install it, so I'll have her back tomorrow as good as new. Better than new, actually, as the new hard drive is 80 gigs!

(The £££ sucks, but at least I get more years of use out of my iBook.)

"Queen of May" has sold to Not One of Us.

It will be appearing in either October's Issue 42 or one of next year's annuals. I was hoping this one would find a home!

As many of you know, Drollerie Press specializes in publishing novels and anthologies in e-book format. Whether a title goes to print or not depends entirely on how well it sells...and I was astonished to learn in Thursday night's chat that the anthologies generally don't sell as well as the novels. This is disheartening, especially given that these anthologies contain writing from incredible talents. Just go have a look at any of the tables of contents! I guarantee you'll recognize a lot of names.

Therefore, I'm going to urge you to pick up a copy of not only Needles & Bones, which contains my new short story, "Answer Me," but also StereoOpticon, which I have on my hard drive and plan to devour next week (assuming Pearl is fixed).

(Seriously, though - not only do these anthologies contain gorgeous writing, but they also have beautiful cover designs. I admit that's part of the reason I'd so love to see them sell well enough to go to hard copy. I will send a free PDF copy of Needles & Bones to anyone who promises to review it on their blog. And as for the rest of you, it's priced at a reasonable $8.46 - the cover art is stunning; let's push this beauty and its contents to print!)

ETA: The free copy has been claimed by wordweaverlynn.

Seriously, even the titles are fun to read!

(This will be released in July. Once again, I'm in absolutely brilliant company. Just look at all those excellent poets.)

...I randomly picked up a newspaper and read a column from a journalist who'd gone here and participated in one of the ten-day meditation retreats. I can't decide whether it sounds amazing or scary. I mean, take my computer and internet access away from me for even 48 hours, and I begin to get twitchy. You're not even allowed to have paper and writing utensils during your time there, and you have to maintain Noble Silence. In other words, you cannot speak to anybody except for the teacher at set times during the day.

On the other hand, eating entirely vegetarian meals for ten days and not having to worry about cooking or the pressure of verbal communication sounds a little bit like heaven. I may be a generally social person, but I'm also very deeply a loner at heart. Sometimes, I just can't stand speech. And I can memorize thought-text if need be.

There's a Drollerie Press chat tonight at 10 PM EST upon the subject of Needles & Bones, the anthology in which my short story, "Answer Me," will be appearing very soon now. As I understand it, if you show up to the chat, you have a chance at winning a free copy (or a free sample story - I may need to double-check that).

So, if you're free, come along and have a word with my highly caffeinated self and a bunch of other awesome readers and writers!