Eileen Bell

Ad Astra was a blast!  Had a chance to be on a couple of panels – Collaboration, and Time Management – and enjoyed them. (possibly more than the audience!)  I won’t go into any details, because, hey, they’re done!  Suffice to say, you shoulda been there!  You would have enjoyed them both.

Signed up for the small torture known as the Autograph Session while I was there.  At least Ryan and I got to sit while we watched  Rob Sawyer and Kelley Armstrong handle their various line ups.  Some day, some day, that will be us!

While we were there, Ryan had a chance to speak to the Bakka Phoenix people — and they have since agreed to carry the Women of the Apocalypse!  How cool is that?  So now, all you folks in Toronto can’t complain.  You can get our book!

Since I got back, I’ve been working feverishly on my next project.  Gutting and ripping the first draft at this point, but I’m starting to like what I have down.  (Starting being the key word, here.) Ryan has it right now… and though he, generally, is kind, I’m expecting some “butt kicking” because this story has to be taken up a notch.  Trying to write the thing around the chaos that was my life for the past few months didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped, so I still have lots of work to do.  Luckily, I’m getting my spirit back, so I can do it.

Tomorrow (Saturday, April 17) we will be at the Stanley Milner Library in downtown Edmonton, flogging our books and congratulating the winners of the Alberta Readers Choice Awards.  It runs from 10 AM to 4 PM, and it should be fun.  Hey, I get to hang around with Barb Galler-Smith (Druids) for a while, and I haven’t done that in a long time.  It should be good.

I’m glad I’m back at work.  I missed it.

Women of the Apocalypse reviewed in Vue Weekly!  How cool is that?

Review here.

And remember, last week to be able to nominate Women of the Apocalypse and our novellas for Auroras. (And I just found out that Herman Lau, who did our cover, has his name in under artist.  Don’t forget him, if you like his work.  Link here.

It’s award time, and I have a couple of places I’d like you to go, and vote for my novella — and for the anthology, Women of the Apocalypse.

First one: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/antho.shtml

This is something called “Critters Workshop” and is an on-line workshop/critique group for serious writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

If you don’t see Women of the Apocalypse on the list — add it to yours.  There is a space at the end for you to do this.  Publisher is Absolute Xpress, and add www.womenoftheapocalypse.com as the website.

Deadline is January 14th.

The second one is for the Auroras.

My story “Pawns Dreaming of Roses” and our anthology Women of the Apocalypse are both on the list for an Aurora, which is THE Canadian SF award.  I need some help getting these works to the short list.  This is where you come in.

Please go to this website, and fill out the form:  http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/English/AwardProcess/nominationForm.php

If you want to check out all the “hopefuls”, go to this site:  http://canadiansf.com/node/42

Just as long as you are a Canadian citizen, you can vote. And it doesn’t cost you a thing.  However, you can only vote once, so make it count!

And please, do it soon.  The deadline is February 5th, I believe.

Thanks.

Am working on the next project, so will update when I have extra words to spare for blogging.  Until then, though… Vote early, vote often!

Normally, I don’t call Ryan.  The man lives in Ontario (!) and so is always living  2 hours in the future, which hardly ever works out well for me.  (I think about giving him a call at 10ish my time — and he is either at work or asleep, depending on the 10 I pick.) It’s inconvenient, because I actually have to think about what the heck I’m doing.  Plan for it.

I don’t do so well with planning, as anyone who has ever received my Christmas cards can attest.  (Mid February, anyone?)

So, when I went on Facebook (Yeah, I know, but whatever) prior to shutting things down for the night, the last thing on my mind was calling Ryan.

Then I saw Rob Sawyer’s post — and I was on the phone in a flash.  Of course, Ryan didn’t answer.  He is, after all, a father — and it was probably close to bedtime for his little girls.  So I left an incoherent message that asked — begged, really — him to check out Facebook.

Then I called Billie.  Luckily she was home.  I told her to check it out — and she did.  Then she lost her mind, and I knew I hadn’t imagined it.

The Hugo Award winning Rob Sawyer, science fiction heavyweight, who gets to go to all sorts of cool places and do all sorts of cool things ,  talked about Women of the Apocalypse.  He didn’t just talk about it.  He gave it an excellent review!

“Nothing gives me more joy than when my students do well, and so it’s with great pride and pleasure that I draw your attention to the fabulous new anthology Women of the Apocalypse, an anthology of stories (“Four women, Four Shooters, Four destinies to save the world”) by Eileen Bell, Roxanne Felix, Ryan T. McFadden, and Billie Millholland. The book — a handsome trade paperback with an eye-catching stark black-and-white cover — is published by Absolute XPress, a division of Calgary’s Hades Publications….This is, without doubt, one of the major theme anthologies of 2009, and deserves a place on the Aurora Award ballot — as do the individual stories. The anthology recently made the bestsellers’ list published in the Calgary Herald.”

Ryan eventually called me back, and we did the teenage girl jumping up and down and screaming thing for a while.  (Sorry Ryan, but people deserve the truth.)  And why did we do this?

Because back in 2006, Ryan and I were in Rob Sawyer’s writing class in Banff.  He ripped us both – bad.  He ruthlessly pointed out EVERYTHING we did that was keeping us from being published.  Everything.

We could have run away crying (like those self same teenage girls we emulated a couple of days ago). But we didn’t. Both of us took what he said to heart, and went away, licked our wounds, and stepped up.

Apparently we learned some of those lessons quite well.

Thanks Rob.  You’re the best.

We are scrambling to get everything done before we leave for San Jose and we are all starting to lose our minds, just a little.

Just a little.  Ha!  That’s a laugh.  I have a tic in my eye — haven’t had that since my last round of final exams for university… and that was a million years ago.  I keep checking the weather for San Jose, expecting it to change — but the temperature is hanging at about 26 degrees C.  Does this mean I have to dig out clothes I haven’t worn in a month or more? Go buy new ones?  Wear my winter clothes and sweat blood the whole time I’m there?  What DOES this mean, exactly?

See?  See?? I’m losing my mind.  I’ve decided to panic about the weather, because I can’t do much more.  Most of the invitations are out for our Edmonton and Calgary launches.  I have been contacting people who are going to be at the World Fantasy Convention, to tell them about THAT launch.  We have books in Audrey’s Bookstore in Edmonton, and have a book signing set up at the Wee Book Inn in Edmonton on November 21st.  (This is one of their first book signings, so please show up!  Dave the manager will be so pleased!)

I have finally figured out how to link my website to the “Women of the Apocalypse” website — so if you can’t make it to any of our launches/book signings/ etc, please feel free to order the book online. (Ryan will be pleased.)

Last week, I couldn’t connect with anyone.  I’d email people, and the emails would bounce back as undeliverable, even if I’d used that self same email the week before, with success.  I couldn’t even get hold of my hairdresser — believe it or not, I got their answering machine on a Monday morning.  And they did not call me back!  It felt like I had been disconnected from the world!  That part is better now (hair appointment set, emails being answered) but it was a horrible feeling, thinking I had somehow done something to tick off the whole Universe — and the whole Universe was snubbing me.

I am no longer being snubbed by the Universe — but I feel like I have to run to catch up.  All those connections that weren’t made last week need to be made this week, before I leave for San Jose.

And I still don’t know what I’m going to wear!

Life is moving at a breakneck pace right now.  I feel like I don’t have time to breathe, much less get my laundry done. (Yes.  Laundry.  My second favorite writing avoidance technique, next to TV.)

We are gearing up for the San Jose World Fantasy Convention — and I just received word that I have been given a spot on the schedule.  I will be doing a reading from “Women of the Apocalypse.“  And this is freaking me out.

You know the old saying “Do something at least once a week that frightens you”?  Well, putting my name in to the organizers of World Fantasy  was my one thing for that week.  I was able to do it because I never in a thousand years thought I’d be chosen.  Ever.

But there I am, on the roster.  Saturday night, 10 pm.  (Yeah, I know.  The parties will be rolling by that time, nobody will be there, I’ll be reading to myself, etc etc.  I keep telling myself this stuff, anyhow….)  Eileen Bell.  My name.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not big.  It’s one reading.  We are having our launch that day (4-6) and there will be lots and lots of other stuff going on around us the whole weekend. And the next weekend we are having our Edmonton launch. Ryan will have already had his London launch. Then we will be gearing up for Calgary the next weekend.  Lots and lots of stuff going on, lots of things to prepare for, lots of details to cover.  Lots and lots … But.

My name is on the schedule for World Fantasy.  I’m doing a reading from a book that has my words in it.

I thought I’d done the brave thing by even putting my name in.  Now, it appears I must do something even more brave.  Read my words aloud to people in the industry.

Whatever will I wear?

So, it was a Tuesday morning, and I was drinking my second (ha!) cup of coffee, when the phone rang.  It was Roxanne Felix, and she had news.

“I have a cold,” she muttered.  I muttered something back, hopefully supportive.  “And you remember my friend Dave, right?”

“Sure,” I said, wracking my brain.  Roxanne has lots of friends.  I was certain Dave’s face would pop into my memory.

“He needs somebody to interview.  Wants to know if we’d come in.  I said yes. You will.  Won’t you?”

Ah.  That Dave.

David Jeffrey Buchanan.  Owner of asparagusgreen , who did a five part documentary on us at our last launch. Dave, whose radio show “The Sound of My Own Voice”  is on CJSR.  That Dave.

“Yeah.  Sure.  I’d love to.  When?”

“Tomorrow.  Be there at 10:45.  And bring something to read.  I’m going back to bed. I feel like crap.” Click.

Jump ahead to the next day — and for any of you who were in Edmonton, remember the carnage on the streets as we dealt with the first snow of the year.  I was good. I wanted to arrive on time. I looked outside, then turned to my husband.  “Drive me.”

He was sweet and didn’t even say anything about me being a dictator, even though I was acting like it.  He just drove me to the University of Alberta, and dropped me off.  I got to the CJSR reception room with minutes to spare.  I was the first one to arrive.

The reception guy went to look for Dave, but came back alone.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “He’ll be here soon.”

So, I waited.  And waited  And waited.

At 5 minutes to 11, even the little reception guy was looking jumpy.  “He’s cutting it a little close.”

I nodded, thinking that there was no way in the world I was taking over.  (And this was when I still thought we were being TAPED.)

Dave breezed in with 2 minutes to spare.  Roxanne followed seconds later.  I was no longer alone, but hit panic mode when Dave said something about reading my stuff, needing one minute’s worth, and that it was live…

Live.  On air, live for an hour.  Gerk.

To be honest, it went well.  Billie showed up 5 minutes after we’d started (she’d done the right thing too, and taken a bus), and Dave is such a fantastic interviewer, we weren’t at a loss for things to say for even a second.

We all read excerpts from “Women of the Apocalypse“, told our stories, and had a good time.  And I didn’t have to learn any buttons to press….

Thank goodness.

The interview will be available on the asparagusgreen website, if you want to check it out.

We’ve got some dates, and some places, for Women of the Apocalypse launches.

San Jose, California Book Launch – October 31 @ WorldCon

Edmonton, Alberta Book Launch – November 7 @ Strathcona Library

Calgary Book Launch – November 13 @ Page One Books (Tentative date, check back)

London, Ont. Book Launch – TBA

Winnipeg Book Launch – TBA

We will also be in Stony Plain Alberta on December 1. Details will be added closer to the date.

Check your datebooks, and see if you can come to any (or all!) of our parties. I will update as more details are available.

And if you can’t, remember you can always pre-order the book at www.womenoftheapocalypse.com