Earlier this season, which seems like a lifetime ago, I read as part of the NYRSF Reading Series here in Manhattan.  N. K. Jemisin and E.C. Myers, both fellow Altered Fluidians, read short stories, while I read the first chapter of an as-yet unnamed novel.  It seemed to be well received, and I had a lot of fun.

The audio file is only of my portion of the evening (I don’t want to be presumptuous and post anything by Nora or Eugene).  And, since everyone always asks, yes, that is my real accent. I don’t make it up just for reading my material.  Also, thank you to Jim Freund for hosting the reading and hooking me up with this recording.

Click on the microphone to access the reading.

Jeremy Jones of Clarkesworld Magazine sent some questions over to Altered Fluid, and we did our best to answer them in a completely serious manner.

Well, maybe not completely, but we did answer them.

The interview can be seen HERE.

Today sees the release of the latest edition of Sybil’s Garage.  With issue #7 the format has changed to a larger anthology format, allowing for 18 fiction pieces, nine poems, and one non-fiction piece.

I read submissions for this issue as always and the caliber of work was exceptional.  It was difficult to pick what to send on to other editors for consideration and what to hold back.  I’m particularly fond of  Avi Kotzer’s “Glourious Homage: Quentin Tarantino’s Love Letter to Cinema” (an essay on “Inglorious Basterds”, easily last year’s best movie) and Kathryn E. Baker’s “By Some Illusion” (a piece that sneaks up on you with its emotion and originality).

Another issue for Senses Five Press to be proud of.

Available from Senses Five Press, Amazon.com, BarnesAnd Noble.com and other fine bookstores.

For more information click here.

Table of Contents:

Fiction

“By Some Illusion” — Kathryn E. Baker
“Suicide Club” — Amy Sisson
“The Noise” — Richard Larson
“A History of Worms” — Amelia Shackelford
“Thinking Woman’s Crop of Fools” — Tom Crosshill
“The Unbeing of Once-Leela” — Swapna Kishore
“How the Future Got Better” — Eric Schaller
“The Telescope” — Megan Kurashige
“Under the Leaves” — A.C. Wise
“The Ferryman’s Toll” — Sam Ferree
“The Tale of the Six Monkeys’ Tails” — Hal Duncan
“The Poincaré Sutra” — Anil Menon
“Kid Despair in Love” — M.K. Hobson
“My Father’s Eyes” — E.C. Myers
“An Orange Tree Framed Your Body” — Alex Dally MacFarlane
“The Watcher Thorn” — Cheryl Barkauskas
“Other Things” — Terence Kuch
“The Dead Boy’s Last Poem” — Kelly Barnhill

Poetry

“Seven League”s — Lyn C. A. Gardner
“One October Night in Baltimore” — Jaqueline West
“Indian Delight” — Alexandra Seidel
“Candle for the Tetragrammaton” — Sonya Taaffe
“Emigrant” — Linsdey Duncan
“Schehirrazade” — Amal El-Mohtar
“The Hyacinth Girl” — Adrienne J. Odasso
“Pathways Marked in Silver” — Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
“Rain ” — Juliet Gillies

Non-Fiction

“Glourious Homage: Quentin Tarantino’s Love Letter to Cinema” — Avi Kotzer

ReaderCon 21 has come and gone. Overall it was another great weekend in Boston with most of the Altered Fluid crew, and a lot of other writers from other places about the globe that I’ve come to know while in the spec. fic. writing community.

The arrival on Friday morning from Midtown Manhattan was delayed by a few minutes due to the car rental office being in the same vicinity as the Today Show’s free Lady GaGa concert. Many people, gridlocked sidewalks, and I nearly punched a tourist or two in the head. But I digress…

I kept true to form and only attended one panel this year. Elizabeth Hand gave a presentation on her time at the National Air and Space Museum, where she worked on a project cataloging all of the museum’s photos, at a time when Laser Disks and film camers were still cutting edge technology. Her focus was on the odd designs that only existed on paper (paper that was more aerodynamic than most of the concepts).  Fascinating material.

Later, I attended readings by Matthew Kressel and Alaya Dawn Johnson (Alaya read from MOONSHINE, her recent vampire novel that I’ll write more on later). The rest of the weekend was taken up with meeting and greeting people at the pool, at the bar, going out to dinner, and an Altered Fluid/Sybil’s Garage party that just would not end.

Overall a great weekend that left me tired yet enthusiastic on Sunday evening, sad to be back to the grind of work yet inspired to write. Already looking forward to next year.

Click here for photos by Matthew Kressel (Yeah, I took my camera, but I kept forgetting it in the room).

On Tuesday, June 1st, I’ll be reading along with fellow Altered Fluid members N.K. Jemisin and E.C. Myers as part of the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings Series.  Full details below.

NYRSF Presents

An Evening with Altered Fluid’s
N. K. Jemisin
E.C. Myers
Devin Poore

Tuesday, June 1st – Doors open 6:30 PM
SoHo Gallery for Digital Art
138 Sullivan Street       (directions and links below)
$5 suggested donation

Our original hope and intent was to hold some kind of Gala for the finale of our 20th Anniversary Season, but those plans will have to be postponed.  Instead, we’re going to plan a Gala for early next season. But I’m sure you won’t be let down by the fabulous line-up we have in store for you this Tuesday, June 1st.

In the past we have featured members of such writers groups as Tabula Rasa.  This time, coming in to cap our season are three members of Altered Fluid.

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Altered Fluid is a speculative fiction writers’ group based in Manhattan. Its members have been meeting since 2001 to workshop their short stories and novels of science fiction, horror, fantasy and slipstream.  Its ranks include some of the rising stars in the genre and Fluidians have been nominated for this year’s Nebula Award, Hugo Award and Campbell Award, respectively.

N. K. Jemisin is a Brooklyn writer of short stories and novels.  Her first novel, THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, is out now from Orbit Books, and she is hard at work on the third novel of this trilogy.  Her short stories have been published in Postscripts, Clarkesworld,Strange Horizons, Baen’s Universe, Escape Pod and Podcastle.  One of those short stories, “Non-Zero Probabilities,” has been nominated for this year’s Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as the StorySouth Million Writers Top Ten.  Her Web site is at http://nkjemisin.com

E.C. Myers: Since attending Clarion West and joining Altered Fluid in 2005, E.C. Myers has sold short stories to various magazines and anthologies, including Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Blood Sisters: Lesbian Vampire Tales, Loving the Undead, and Shimmer Magazine. He’s currently finishing his fourth young adult novel, blogs about Star Trek for Tor.com, edits the Clarion West alumni newsletter, co-moderates the GothamLit listserv for speculative fiction events in New York, and wastes time on the Internet when he should be writing or sleeping. He also has a day job as a digital media manager, but the less said about that the better. His Web site is at http://ecmyers.com.

Devin Poore left the wilds of Indiana at the age of 18 for Uncle Sam’s Yacht Club, otherwise known as the U.S. Navy.  After six years of working on and utilizing shipboard anti-aircraft missile systems, he left the Navy and, following several twists and turns, settled in the New York City area.  Devin’s non-fiction and fiction has appeared in Sybil’s Garage, where he is now an associate editor.  When he isn’t writing short stories and novels that deal with everything from vampires to magic to the Civil War, he makes his living as a computer consultant, and builds highly detailed models of ships most people have never heard of.  He currently resides in Hoboken, NJ, with his wonderfully talented fiancée, dancer and choreographer Kristen Mangione.  He can be found online at http://www.devinjpoore.com

Other members of Altered Fluid include:

• Saladin Ahmed
• Paul M. Berger
• K. Tempest Bradford
• Kristine Dikeman
• Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Rajan Khanna
• Matthew Kressel
• Mercurio D. Rivera
• Greer Woodward (satellite member)

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The New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series is celebrating its 20th season of providing performances from some of the best writers in science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, etc.  The series usually takes place the first Tuesday of every month, but maintains flexibility in time and place, so be sure to stay in touch through the mailing list and the Web.

Admission is by a $5 donation.  If circumstances make this a hardship, let us know and we will accommodate you.

Jim Freund is Producer and Executive Curator of The New York Review of Science Fiction Readings.  He has been involved in producing radio programs of and about literary sf/f since 1967.  His long-running live radio program, “Hour of the Wolf,” broadcasts and streams every Saturday morning from 5:00 to 7:00.  Past shows are available “‘on-demand” for about 6 months after broadcast.  (Check http://hourwolf.com for details.)

The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art (http://sohodigart.com)  is dedicated to re-establishing SoHo as an international center for the development of new artistic forms, concepts and ideas.  A screens-instead-of-canvases approach allows a wide selection of art from around the world which would otherwise never make it to the City.  The SGDA is availible for private gatherings and events of all kinds.  For bookings call (800) 420-5590 or visit http://sohogallerynyc.com

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WHEN:
Tuesday, 6/1
Doors open at 6:30 — event begins at 7

WHERE:
The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art
138 Sullivan Street  (between Houston & Prince St.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=138+Sullivan+St.+New+York+NY+10012
HOW:
By Subway
6, C, E to Spring St.; A, B D or F to West 4th; 1 train to Houston St; or R, W to Prince St.
There are many convenient bus lines that come within a couple of blocks of the gallery.  Use the link above for an interactive transit map.

LINKS:
http://hourwolf.com/nyrsf
http://nyrsf.com

A while back (don’t ask how long, I don’ t remember, and if I did it would only serve to remind me of how old I’m getting) I wrote an article for Sybil’s Garage about the Hoboken attraction Sybil’s Cave.

As I continue to work on my updated website, I’ve added a PDF of this piece to my Writing page.  Check it out.  I’ve also uploaded several of the interviews I’ve done for past Sybil’s issues.

March 4th – 8th marked the third annual Altered Fluid Writer’s Retreat.  After deviating last year and renting two houses in Gettysburg, PA, this year we returned to the Woodstock, NY region and ended up at a very nice house in Bearsville.

I can claim to have got a lot of writing done, but I’d be a freakin’ liar.  I got some done, not nearly as much as I would have liked.  There was no television to distract us this year,  only what entertainment could be streamed via high speed internet to our laptops.

Photo above courtesy of Matt Kressel.

Sybil’s Garage will once again open for submissions, starting this Friday, the 15th of January.  Rules, regulations, bribe requirements, are all located at the Senses Five Submissions page.

Send us your stuff!

This coming Saturday, January 16th, Altered Fluid will participate in our semiannual visit to Hour of the Wolf radio program.  The show is broadcast live from 5-7 a.m. in New York on WBAI, 99.5 FM.  If that’s a little early for you, you can check out the broadcast recording which will be posted later in the day on the 16th.

This time up we are critiquing a story by Paul Berger.

**UPDATE 1/18: the MP3 of the show is now available HERE***

I was once told that everyone should make a New Year’s Resolution, as it is the one time in life that you can tell an outright lie to yourself and everyone around you and no one will think anything of it. I tend to do them every year and one of them always has to do with writing.

I didn’t need further proof that this is common – go to a New Years party with a bunch of writers and you’ll see just how common it is – so when fellow Altered Fluidian Eugene Myers sent around this “The Washington Post” article last month by Ann Patchett, and her realizations of how making yourself write every day actually resulted in writing every day and having higher output, it wasn’t a new concept for me. (I have to admit, though, that the first time I read the article, all I could think was “wow, this woman knows Edgar Meyer!)

In the article a yogi is credited with saying that if one picks a task and does it with consistency for the first 32 days of the year, then that sets the tone for the year. I agree with that, but I don’t think you have to limit it to the first 32 days of the year. Doing something every day is simple programming of the human body and mind. You can teach yourself to write every day by simply sitting down and writing every day. You can teach yourself a musical instrument by practicing every day. Professional football, basketball and other sports players practice every day. And even if you’re not that good at first, and maybe you don’t care for the task, you can still program yourself to do it. For proof of the latter, read about Andre Agassi and how his father decided Andre would be the best tennis player in the world and it became so. Also look at how many people, if they really thought about it, would admit to despising their 9-5 job, but they’ve programmed themselves to do it through repetition of the task and the telling themselves it has to be.

So, while I don’t think New Year’s Resolutions are incantations that guarantee success or failure, I’ll still make a few:

1. I will have Indian food at least twice a month. This one is easy!

2. Writing. I’ll write every day. Within reason. Some days I can’t write, due to travel, being sick, long days at work. But on the days that I can write I will. I’ve done it before, no sense not to keep it going.

3. Skydiving. Who wants to jump out of a plane with me? Kristen’s said many times that she won’t.

4. Exercise. I got into a good routine with running and Gyrotonic sessions last summer and fall, but work and the weather have dropped that to zero. No time like the present to pick it up again.

So. There. Promises I make to myself that may or may not turn out to be lies for the New Year. But, no worries. If they don’t take hold on January 1st, then I can start again on February 1st, or March 7th, or “The Ides of March”, or whenever.

Have a great Twenty-Ten!