In which the author is grumbly

Long day. Everything that has to be signed is signed, every telephone interview is done. Conference calls etc all dealt with. And at the end of a long working day, I now need to start writing. It's meant to be more fun than this, but I'm up against the wall on a research trip, and time is declining to be stretchy in the way I want it to (40 hour days.... 19 day weeks....)

I failed to go with daughter Holly on her Chicago road trip as well. Which would have been fun.

It looks there will be good news for all the people who have paid for Neverwheres from Hill House (or anything overdue from Hill House). I'll have more concrete information very soon.

And anyone who is waiting for a refund on the cancelled Tulsa Event, Mammoth Comics will be making sure the refunds happen -- apologies: I think absolutely everyone who could have screwed up on this one did, in a sort of Perfect Storm of screwedupness. But things should sort now. And guilt, if nothing else, will bring me to Tulsa sooner rather than later.

I hate to be nosy, but did you take Zoe to the vet? Blindness in aged cats is most commonly caused by hypertension (high blood pressure, as I am sure you knew). This condition can be secondary to kidney failure or dysfunction or hyperthyroidism. We do not see primary hypertension in cats generally. The second most common cause would be retinal atrophy, but it is much less common. Unfortunately, with neither disease is the blindness reversible, but if Zoe has an underlying disease, her well-being could be improved by treating it.

Thanks for allowing me to give unasked for advice, but I find that often my patients owners don't realize that disease in one area can cause a more obvious sign in another.

Sorry if you knew all this stuff already.

Shera
a kitty vet (and huge fan)

I put this up because I thought it might be useful for other people as well. Yes, we took her to the vet today, who established that, yes, she is indeed blind. And is currently doing a whole set of tests on her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. She's an astoundingly sweet-natured cat, who we've had since she was a barn-kitten: she fell downstairs when she was younger, and had her hip screwed together -- she's never been as active since. But she likes to be loved more than any cat I've known. (Worries.)

[later]

She's back from the vet. It was indeed high blood pressure. They're trying to decide whether she needs medication. (She was hugely overweight when we got her back, and we put her on a long diet, so she's now at normal weight, which may help anyway.)

...

Words of wisdom from Sherman Alexie, writing about the Seattle Sonics trial:

52. I don't believe in magic. But I do believe in interpreting coincidence exactly the way you want to.

53. Do you know why Indian rain dances always worked? Because the Indians would keep dancing until it rained.

...

Eddie Campbell has a new book out. This is always exciting. It looks particularly wonderful, and there are extracts at:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/07/comics_leotard.html

...

Here's The Guardian talking about The Hugos. (I should say that, as far as I know, The Guardian is the only major newspaper that ever reports on the Hugo winners.)

Cloned Dog Owner Manacled Mormon for Sex is possibly my favourite headline ever. It's on the Guardian front page, today. (The story, although with a different lead line, is up at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/08/usa)

...

Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman are talking about their first Clarion Week (and everything else) on the latest AISF podcast: http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2008/08/aisfp-58-nalo-hopkinson-and-geoff-ryman/

...

Mister Punch photo series from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-0810-puppets-pg,0,1074139.photogallery?1
to accompany this article.


This is happiness. From the BBC and Jamie Hewlett (and his Zombie Flesh Eaters team) and Damon Albarn, present: Monkey, Sandy, Pigsy journey to the Olympics... (if it doesn't work, check at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/monkey/7521287.stm)

Another quick one...

Most of today's mail was about tomato juice, and how I should have covered the dog in it.

There were two reasons I didn't:

1) I didn't want a pinkish-coloured dog,

and more importantly,

2) I watched the Mythbusters episode where they tried a bunch of different things to get rid of Skunk smells, including Tomato Juice and Beer and Skunk Odour Removal Liquid... and they concluded that the most effective thiol remedy was a mixture of Peroxide, Baking Soda and liquid soap.

So I googled last night, with an odorous dog beside me, found the page of the discoverer of this miracle mixture and read about it...

http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/sk00001.htm

Then I put it into practice. (It sounds so simple, put like that. It sounds like the dog cooperated. Hah. There was half an inch of water on the bathroom floor by the end of it...) It worked.

The bees were in a foul temper this morning, which is also probably skunk-related. Apparently, skunks do what they can to upset bees so they'll come out of the hive, looking for trouble... whereupon the skunks eat them like peanuts.

Hey Neil --Wasn't sure that you'd seen the news yet, but the McClouds' car was recently broken into on their tour. Fortunately, not much was lost; unfortunately, what *was* lost included Sky's extensive software and DVD book, to the tune of thousands of dollars. Sky is looking for donations of any extra copies of the items lost -- can you pass the word if you know anyone? The list is at http://tinyurl.com/2mtu2t and mail goes to:
Sky McCloudP.O. Box 115Newbury Park CA, 91319Thanks. Shawn

Happy to post it. Send Sky stuff.

[Edit to add Tom Galloway's note to me: Could I request that you post a blog followup to the bit about SkyMcCloud's DVDs? Namely that people 1) read the comments to the previously linked to post by Sky to see which DVDs might have been already taken care of 2) if they do decide to get one, to post that they're doing so and which one(s) as a comment to the post. 3) And just as a sidenote, I checked with Scott and they get the widescreen versions of movie DVDs when possible. Basically, don't see any reason to have massive DVD duplication. I've already arranged with the McClouds to provide the Arrested Developmentand Buffy discs for example, and don't want folk getting those unnecessarily. Thanks, tyg]

Fortunately, not a question! Just something I thought you might like to know about. Sherman Alexie mentions you in an interview at powells.com, http://www.powells.com/interviews/shermanalexie.html in which he mentions how glad he was to run into someone he knew in Sydney. Loved his description of the two of you recognizing each other. Just thought you might like to see the interview. Thanks for all the information on Stardust. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie this summer. Congratulations on the new dog. He's gorgeous and looks so happy, just the way a dog should look.

That's so true, and it was just like that. He's an amazing author. I loved his upcoming YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and over at http://www.ellenforney.com/blog/2007/05/25/absolutely-true/ you can see the cover and learn about it from the perspective of the illustrator....

...
An edited version of my H. G. Wells The Country of the Blind intro is up for the curious at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1900709.ece

My Friday

Good morning.

Let's see. I bade my dog and family farewell and got on a plane to the UK. Slept a little on the plane, and also read Sherman Alexie's forthcoming ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, which was excellent in every way, poignant and really funny and heartwarming and honest and wise and smart. Seeing it's a YA book and that it contains alcoholism, an inappropriate erection and mentions of masturbation I have no doubt that in a year or so it'll both be winning awards and being banned.

Got to Gatwick, took the train to London. Checked in to hotel. Had a much-needed bath. Into town for a meeting with Hilary Bevan-Jones about THE ROAD TO EN-DOR and the mysterious Lyonesse, and from there to MARV films where I saw Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, and Stardust Exec Producer Kris Thykier, along with a new long trailer for Stardust, and a dozen 30 second TV spots, a couple of which I really liked, some were okay, and some were just wrong.

From there to see John and Judith Clute (and Farah Mendelsohn) in Camden. John was writing his review of the Yiddish Policemen's Union while I was there, and would occasionally put his head around from the kitchen and ask about Eruvs.

From there I ate dinner with J. Michael Straczynski (who is doing a signing today at Forbidden Planet). It was great catching up on all of the wonderful things Joe is doing. Back to the hotel and fell asleep like a dead thing.

Now off to Northampton.