Paper Fruit

My parents are coming into town for Parental Invasion 2011 tomorrow, which should be a fun rumpus (frumpus? funpus? never mind) of hiking, Denver Botanical Gardening, taking them to restaurants for delicious food, and hanging out, but in preparation for such, I’ve been nosing to the grindstone and keeping my head down. Thus a lone hand-wave at the internets to self-promote, but so it goes. I’ll be more interesting post-visit, I swear!

That said, I did come up for air to e-chat with one Mr. John Hornor Jacobs, a gentleman of quality. I met John at WHC 2011 and I’m also currently reading his book, Southern Gods. It’s super-good so far, some real southern gothic Lovecraftiana. Big win just for combining those three words, and the execution is tight.

John, you see, is currently running a feature on his blog called WHY I’M BADASS and for some reason he picked me to participate. You should go check out my entry as well as all the others, since if you comment on any of the interviews this week, you’ll be entered into a contest to win one of two signed copies of Southern Gods. Pretty friggin sweet! WARNING: if you are a relative of mine and/or are easily squicked out by discussions of certain erotic playthings I might own, you should definitely skip this one.

So that’s about it for now, except I sold a story to Future Lovecraft, the companion volume to Historical Lovecraft. It’s called “Go, Go, Go, Said the Byakhee” and is sort of a response/love letter to Sonya Dorman’s “Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird” from Dangerous Visions, a Harlan Ellison-edited anthology from aeons ago. Many thanks to Silvia and Paula for including it! The title of both stories is taken from “Burnt Norton,” the first of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets:

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

Full text here.

I got behind on Boot Camp blogging, but as I just finished up my final workout for the program I wanted to commemorate it, because wowza! I don’t need a scale or a tape measure to tell me how good I feel or how proud I am of myself for sticking with it. I conquered this Boot Camp, even with my week off to go hiking and play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay with friends.

Speaking of, though, before I talk Boot Camp, during that week of hiking, I totes summited a 14er. Here’s me with the mountain:

Woo! Mt. Bross is on the far left of the photograph, and obviously that’s me in the stylish hat. The hike was beastly beyond reason, 8 hours of sweat and glory.

Anyways, over the course of this eight weeks, I completed every single workout I was assigned, and I also:

—Hiked Green Mountain (my goal for the summer–ticked off the list weeks ago, actually)

—Summited a 14er

—Swam a mile

WOO. So now that I’m at the end, I’m looking forward to new goals and new kinds of workouts! Since 5 out of my 8 weeks of Boot Camp were circuits, I’m really looking forward to lifting weights again. Though I confess I did come around to the circuit training, in the end.

But alas, I am super-busy and that is all for now, except for a few pictures from my stellar vacation, and also the cover of The Book of Cthulhu (plus bonus banner by the inimitable John Hornor Jacobs, whose book, Southern Gods, I am currently very much enjoying–I got an ARC, that’s right!)

Check it:

ME ME ME:

Fun Times: