Susan Casper

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Susan Casper passed away in her sleep this morning, after a several years' illness. Marianne and I, along with Chip Delany, visited her yesterday. She was exhausted, in pain, and terribly, terribly weak. But as acute as ever. She died with her wits intact.

Surviving her is her husband and, before that, lover for forty-seven years, Gardner Dozois and her son Christopher Casper, his wife Nicole and her grandchildren Tyler and Isabella.

Susan was a dear friend for over forty years. Marianne and I are both desolated by her death. But here's the thing: I couldn't swear to you that we're the unhappiest of her friends at this moment -- not even that we're the unhappiest of her Philadelphia friends. She had a lot of people who cared a great deal about her. Now we are all one in our grief.

I'll be writing more eventually. But right now, the loss is too fresh. So I'm giving myself a temporary pass. 

For the moment, I'll just say this: Susan had a great many friends. Her death has made us all miserable. That in itself is a tribute to her.

Above: Gardner and Susan in happier times.

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This Glitterati Life -- Part 46,872

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The institution doesn't really have a name. Sometimes it's called The Writers' Brunch, sometimes The SF Brunch, and other variants. My attempts to rename it Purdom's Raiders met with widespread lack of enthusiasm.

At any rate, after a hiatus of quite some time, the roughly-bimonthly brunch has been resurrected. We ate, we talked, we sat around. Mostly, we talked.

Above: A picture I call Men in Black. From left to right: Lawrence Schoen, Chris Urie, and Samuel R. Delany.

Below: Fran Wilde, Samuel R. Delany, and Your Humble Correspondent in a completely unposed photograph. Would I lie to you?

And as always . . .

As of tomorrow morning, I'm on the road again. This time I'm headed for Boston and Boskone, that great city's illustrious science fiction convention.

If you're going to be in attendance, why not say hello?


Above: Top photo is copyright 2017 and used by the kind permission of Fran Wilde. Bottom photo is copyright 2017 and used by the even more kind permission of the the M. C. Porter Endowment for the Arts.

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Ed Bryant (1945-2017)

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If you're one of the old hands of science fiction, the word of Ed Bryant's passing comes as very sad news. Many younger writers and readers, alas, will have only the vaguest notion of who he was.

Back when I was trying to break into the field, Ed was part of a generation that included Joe Haledeman, Gardner Dozois, and George R. R. Martin, plus a few others, who were shaking up the field, making things happen, writing the best and most interesting stories around. They -- Bryant most emphatically included -- were dazzling.

Everybody will mention Ed's two Nebula Awards and multiple Hugo nominations simply because that's the easiest way to establish the esteem in which he was held. The important thing to keep in mind is that he wrote stories that deserved those honors.

Ed remained an active part of the SF community to his dying day, but as time went by his fiction became rarer and tended to appear in horror venues, which made him less visible. He also had serious health issues over the years and that cut into his productivity.

The Locus Online notice of his death mentions that he was a critic. Yeah, I guess. What I remember from those days, however, is that he was one of the people who were actively encouraging new writers, critiquing manuscripts, offering advice -- performing the secret ministry of our genre, without compensation. Just to encourage the creation of the the literature he loved.

He was also one hell of a nice guy. I won't tell the story of how, at one convention, he wound up stark naked pushing a bed down a hotel corridor at three in the morning, except to say that it came about because he was an honest man with a good heart.

Also a helluva good writer.

Vaya con dios, Ed. Your friends miss you already.


Above: There we are, Ed and me, at MidAmeriCon II, plotting the overthrow of all that is good and decent in science fiction. You're welcome.

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Four Stories in Science Fiction World!

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I'm in print in China again!

Those who know me are aware that I take a special pleasure in my association with Science Fiction World. I like and respect the people there and, based entirely on the titles of other translated stories that have appeared there, they seem to have very good taste in science fiction.

Yesterday, a package arrived in the mail with my contributor's copies of the December 2016 issue of Science Fiction World Translations. (I think this is a spin-off magazine, but it might be a regularly-scheduled special issue. Maybe somebody who can read Chinese can set me straight?)

The issue contains not one! not two! not three! but four stories by me. They are:

"Radio Waves"
"The Edge of the World"
"The Changeling's Tale"
"Mother Grasshopper"

These are all stories that I am particularly proud of and, taken as a group, they form a very nice mini-collection of my work. So my day is made, I am happy, and I have something to brag about at the Pen & Pencil Club tonight.


And while I'm being happy . . .

There's also an author photo of me in SFW showing me pointing to the Chinese translation of Bones of the Earth. I'm particularly pleased with that because it was taken in the Science Fiction World offices in Chengdu. I've visited those offices twice, on widely separate occasions. That's another thing that makes me extremely happy.

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The Iron Dragon's Word-Hoard (Part II)

I have fallen behind on this blog more than ever before.  Mea culpa. I have been so deeply involved writing The Iron Dragon's Mother that I simply have not had the mental energy to post here. I'll try -- honest! -- to do better.

Meanwhile, just to give you an idea of how the novel is going, here's the list I'm keeping of proper nouns, odd words, and non-standard usages in the text. There are a couple of spoilers hidden in it, but it would take a sharp eye to spot them. And it's subject to change. I doubt Samgrass will retain his name into the final version, though I may give it to somebody else.

To give you some idea of how it's going, you can view a previous version of this list which I posted last September here.

A

the Abyss

the Academy

Acting Chief Conspirator (Lady Jane Iron)

aeons (not eons)

Aerth

Aerugo

the Age of Fire

Alanna

Aleister Crowley

Alqualondë

the Amberwine

the Anonymous Everyhaint

Lieutenant Anthea

Missy Argent

Ashling

Astarte

Atil-Khazaran

Atlantean

Aurvang Hogback, Shorty (a red dwarf)

Averno

Avernus

B

the Baldwynn

banshees

rue Barguest

Barquentine, Barquentine of House Pleiades, Lord Pleiades, Barkers, Barky Bark

basilisk

bat-riders

The Battle of Zhoulu

Beltaine

Ben Morgh

Bessie Long Gone

birth-gate

the Black Stone

the Blinded Cockatrice

Blood Moon

the Bohemian coast

Bolshy Kitezh

the Book of Air

the Book of Steel

Brianna

Brocéliande, Brocéliandean (adj.)

Brocielande Station

Bugatti

bullbeggar

butterfly chips

C

Caitlin, Caitlin of House Sans Merci, Captain Caitlin, Cat, Katiboo, Katie Gallowglass,

            Ms. Gallowglass

Candlemas-daisies

Carcassonne, the free city of Carcassonne

Cathay

the Cathedral of Law

centaurs

Chanel

changeling

Château Sans Merci

Chesterfield

the Chronicles of Klepsis

Class Four artifact

Class Three artifact

Clerical and Data Entry

Clerical Services

Clever Gretchen

cluricaun

coast guardians

cockatrice

Cockaygne

cold iron

Columbine (mask)

the Conquest of Penthesilea

the Conspiracy

Cornouaille

Corpse-Eater Squadron

the Croaker

crone, crones

cyborg hounds

D

Dahut, Dahut merc’h Gradlon

the Dark Lady

Daughter of Night

Daughters of Lilith

Day of the Sow

Day of the Urchin

declaration of corruption

declaration of prophesy  

Deirdre

the Demiurge

the Department of Sanitation

Descent of the Turbine

devoir

the Division of Corruption

the Division of Persecution

the Dogger Bank

doolie

the Dowager

Downton Abbey

the Dragon Corps

Duesenberg

Dunstan

Dunvegan, the flag of

Dvārakā

E

early-onset transcendence

Echloë

Edderkopp, Counselor Edderkopp

Eidum

Elektra, daughter of Olympia, daughter of Hephaesta, of the line of Hekate

elf, elf-lady, full-elven

Employee Relations, ER

the Empyrean

Enya

Erodiade

Esme

Europa (not Europe)

Eve, Mother Eve

Evoe

the Examiner

F

Faerie

Felix Culpa

feriers

fey, feys, the fey

Fiji mermaid

Fingolfinrhod, Rod, Roddie, Fin-fin

Fiona

Wing Commander Firedrake

fire-giantess

fire spirits

fire-worms

Dame Fortuna

the French Quarter

Annable Frowst

G

Gabriel hounds

Kate Gallowglass

the Garden

Gatling gun

Gdansk

geas

gendarmerie

ghost crabs

La Ghoulerie

giant

gillyflowers

glamoured

Glass Mountain

gnomes

goblin

the Goddess

gooly-doll

goro-jumo

the Governance of Babylon

Gradlon

grand-maman, Grand-maman

the Green Man’s barn

Gretchen, Clever Gretchen (not Gretel)

Graywand

Grimalka

the Guardian of the Gate

gwisin

H

hags

haints

the Hanged God

Hans

heavenreich

Hel

Lady Hel

Helen V.

Helheim

Hello Kitty

hen-wife

Her Absent Majesty

Her Absent Majesty’s Dragon Corps

herm

hex-house

hex-word

hippocamp

hippogriffs

hobs

hob-lanterns

the holey stone

Homie

Annie Hop-the-Fence

the Horn of Holmdel

horned-god’s paintbrush

the horns of Elfland

Hot-Box Hannah

Hôtel de la Gare

Hour of the Bat

Hour of the Snake

hulder

humblebees

humminggirls

Hyperuranion

I

imps

the Industrial Revelation (not Revolution)

Information Technology

Innis Thule

Innis Thule AFB

Innocent Jenny

The Interbahn

iPad

Lady Jane Iron (Acting Chief Conspirator)

Istledown

the Italian Quarter

J

jack roller

Jeremy

Jill

Josie

jungle buzzard

K

Ana Kashalyi (Temporary Head Conspirator)

Kawasaki Fūjin

kelpie

Kernunnos

kingsfoil

Kit Kats, Kit Kat bar

kobold, kobold’s carry

korrigans

Kraken-class submersible

L

the Labrys and the Maze

Lemuria, Lemurian  

Les Miz

Letzpfenniger

ley lines

license of persecution  

lingam

Lion City

Llys Helig

Lolly Underpool

Loosh

the Lords of the Forge

the Lords of the Rails, a Lady of the Rails

love-philtres

the Lurker Within

lutin

lux aeterna

M

madhouse mirror (not funhouse mirror)

Maeve

magic, magick, magickal, magicks, magicked (depending on usage) CHECK!

Maglite

Lord Maker (the Demiurge)

Mandrake Chews

Marlboro

the marthambles

martlet

Meririm Phosphoros

Meryl

metasequoias

Minerva

Misabel

Miss Moneypenny

Missy Tibbs, Tibbsy

Mistress Nobody

Mjibilandege (City Without Birds)

monocorn

moondust (drug)

moon melons (not moonmelons)

Mother Eve

Mother of Goats

Mother Sunshine (Helen)

Mu

N

naginis

Fata Narcisse of House Syrinx

necromancers

Ned, Neddie-boy

Nettlesweet Underwood, Nettie

Niederdeutsch

nightmare (drug)

night market

Noctiluca

Nuit de Crystal

nymph 

O

Oceanus

ogre, ogres, ogress

Olous

oliphaunt

Olympia

Orlando (Raven)

P

pain perdu

paradise

Patek Tank Américaine

pattern juggler

Pavlopetri

Pepsi

Perdita

Pheia

the Plague Carnival

Lord Pleiades (Barquentine)

poppet

Port Royal

Port Salemo

Portunus (mask)

Powers

Q

Queen Mab’s lace

Queenie

Quicksilver of House Carcassonne

quintroon

R

Rabbit of House Oneiros, Rabbit

Raguel

rattler

Raven, Orlando

reptilarium

Le Républicain Salemo

revenants

Ritz Crackers

Rodolphe

Rosaleen

Royal Harlindon (regimental tie)

runagate

rune sticks

Rungholt

rusalka

S

Saeftinghe

Samsāra

rue Saint-Jean

Samgrass

Sans Merci (Lord San Merci, Lady Sans Merci, Chateau Sans Merci, Charlotte of House Sans Merci, Captain Senile, etc.)

Saoirse

Sasha, the Frost Queen

Satie’s Gnossiennes

satyrs

Scrabble

Scythian lamb

sea-elves

sea-nymphs

the Second Kentauroi War

seely (holy)

selkies

the seven hells

Shipping and Receiving

Shorty, Aurvang Hogback

Shylock

Sibyl

the Siege of Mount Othrys

Singer

sirens

Peggy Slugabed

smoke spirits

Snake

soul surgeons

snow sprites

sphinx cubs

old Spite

spirit candle

steroma

surgeon-archimage

swamp gaunt

sweetling (endearment applied by Finn to Caitlin)

sylvans

House Syrinx

T

Tartessos

Temporary Head Conspirator (Ana Kashalyi)

Themis, Feller, Garuda, and Bran

Thonis Heracleion

thumblings

tian

titans

toadflax

toadflesh

trow

twiglady

Tylwyth Teg, Teggish (adj.)

Tyrannosaurus

U

Ultima Thule

unicorn

the Unseely Court

the Upstairs Crew

urym lens and thummyn stone

V

Velcro

Veneta

Via Regina di Mago

W

the Wall of Martyrs

the Wędrowiec Zmroku [Dusk Treader]

wharf pixies

white ladies (a flower)

the White Ladies

Whitemarsh

Will

the Winged God

Wonder Wand

woods-fey

woodwoses

Word of Power

World’s End

Worm (dragon)

wraiths

writ of anathema

writ of dowagerhood  

wyvern

X

Xerox

Y

the Year Eater

Ys

Ysault

Z

Zmeya-Gorynchna, of the line of Zmeya-Goryschena, of the line of Gorgon, Zmeya-Gorynchna, 1108, the Worm 


Above: There's my desk with the typescript of a much earlier chapter and, atop it, the cloth-covered second dedicated notebook for the novel and my current carrying-around notebook, open to a significant page.

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