Nice comment

While ego-surfing a couple of days ago I found a reference that led me to the Yahoo Group Website Steampunk2 ("Victorian Adventures in a Past That Wasn't"). Back on April 23, a member - Ron Dwyer - posted the following comment:
"Some time ago I read in Asimov's science fiction magazine a steam punk short story called "A Rocket for the Republic." I think it is a pretty good story and anyone interested in steampunk might be interested in it. One can learn more about the story and its author here:
http://writertopia.com/profiles/LouAntonelli"
Well, thanks Ron!

Not a whole lotta shaking going on

At least on the s-f front. I had to work hard to meet a May 15th anthology deadline, and then right around to meet some deadlines on my real job. Haven't done a heck of a lot of writing.

Part of my time has been tied up dealing with a bizarre health problem, also. A couple of months ago I twisted my knee is a very strange manner. I was wearing flannel jammies and somehow the left pant leg bunched up and collected up around my knee so tightly that my knee was injured. I couldn't believe it, but I remember when I went to AggieCon (around March 18, I believe) my knee "popped" every time I took a step.

The injury slowly subsided, but then was re-aggravated the first weekend in May when I flew in a cramped airliner to the East Coast for a family gathering. The combination of the two flights on two consecutive day plus the three hour drive each way to the airport (it took us longer to drive to the airport than to fly to our destination) left my leg in bad shape and I was on the verge of not being able to walk. The week following the trip I had to sleep on the coach so I could let my foot dangle; my leg was so stiff I couldn't bend my foot to lay it flat in bed.

A steady regimen of creams, bandages and hot baths slowly brought things around, but I will be careful about the leg for some time. Ultimately, the leg was gimped up decades ago in a childhood injury, but the strange accident with the pajamas brought everything back.

Needless to say, I don't sleep in those pajamas any more.

"A Djinn for General Houston"

John Thiel emailed yesterday to say the May issue of Surprising Stories is on line. It includes my story "A Djinn for General Houston' - one of my Texas weirder steampunk tales. The web site is http://surprisingstories.dcwi.com

Go over and have a read

A fan letter

As Jayme Blaschke mentioned in his comment on my post of April 23, the membership directory is one of the most useful things you get in a SFWA membership packet.
It does come in handy; it's a great reference work.
When I flipped through my copy, I noticed Ray Bradbury was in there. So I did something I should have done 40 years ago - I wrote him a fan letter.
He was nice enough to drop me a short reply, too, and wish me luck in my career.

Travel plans change

At the start of the year, I looked forward to attending both the WorldCon in LA in August, and the Nebula Awards Weekend in Tempe in May. Well, things change.
After my wife's accident Jan. 11, which resulted in the loss of her right index finger in a dog attack, we're stacked up with medical bills (I didn't have health insurance at the time). Even though this year's WorldCon will still be a relatively inexpensive one (LA being a good deal of a city with excellent air connections) it still would cost at least a couple of thousand dollars to attend; we simply can't afford it.
That left Nebula Weekend, which is shorter and less expensive. I can drive to Tempe from Hooks. BUT May 7th my family is having a celebration of my mother's 75th birthday (which was actually April 15, but there were scheduling issues). So the Nebulas are out, also.
That being the case, I still have what looks to be an excellent selection of cons ahead of me. I'll be a guest at both Conestoga and SoonerCon in Oklahoma in July; ArmadilloCon is in Austin in August, I'm a guest at FenCon in Dallas in September, and World Fantasy Con is in Austin in November.

The rocket flies again

I had another opportunity to read "A Rocket for the Republic". The New Boston Noon Lions Club asked me to be the guest speaker for their meeting today.
The older brother of the program chairman for the month is a comic book/graphic novel artist who lives here in New Boston. He know about my writing and I got "volunteered" by some friends.
Things started slow because I had to start while the meal was being served, but by the time I was finished everyone who had been listening enjoyed it - and those who hadn't listened at the beginning were completely bumfuzzled because they couldn't follow the story.
I also brought some books that were passed through the audience while I spoke, including the "Lone Star Universe" anthology, "A Spectre is Haunting Texas" by Fritz Leiber, "The Texas-Israeli War" by Howard Waldrop and Jack Saunders, "Lone Star Planet" by H. Beam Piper, and the three Texas books by Daniel daCruz - "The Ayes of Texas", "Texas on the Rocks" and "Texas Triumphant".
It was another nice opportunity to share the story, and a few of the members took a moment to tell me afterwards how much they enjoyed it.

Back after a Break

After my partisan comments and wrangling at the start of the month, I made a conscious decision to lay off posting for a while.

This past week I visited the doctor, and he changed my diabetes medicine. Diabetes is the only diseases that I recall has irritability as a symptom. My blood sugar had been getting kinda outta whack; I'm glad I got it taken care of.

Like everyone in Texas I'm working on my submission for the World Fantasy Con themed Robert E. Howard anthology. The "dreadline" is May 15th.

This past week I got my SFWA membership packet in the mail. I got copies of the most recent publications, the membership directory, some reference materials and my membership card. I signed the card with a ten-year old pen I have left over from the paper I used to own (a little symbolism there) and stuck it in my wallet.

Since I've only had one qualifying sale, I'm an associate member for now.