Reading

(no subject)

How do you negotiate with someone whose stated aim is to kill you and all your tribe?

Where have all the flowers gone . . .

I haven't seen monarch butterflies on all that expanse of milkweed available on my bike routes. I've seen two total this summer, here in town, and Elder Son reports a few. Have you people south of us been starving and poisoning them?

Thursday floral report

First flowers on the wild cucumber vine, whole hells of chicory and Queen Anne's lace and goldenrod. Thistles going to fluff, wild rose hips swelling. Also saw one laggard lupine blooming.

Roadkill limited to one bullfrog in a thoroughly residential setting. Also, the usual supply of stains on the road with no visible corpse. Did smell skunk over by the DOT garage. And no geese or ducks yet on the cemetery pond.

Got out on the bike, up to the golf course and over to the road through the bog and back, warm and sweaty work. Did not die.

15.33 miles, 1:25:48

World enough and time

Air temperature 62 F, wind south about 5 mph, cloudy. The species has not ended while I slept, which is a lost opportunity. Bike ride probable.

My Worldcon schedule

Here's where you can find me at the Seattle Worldcon, August 13-17, 2025!

Improbable Research Dramatic Readings
Wed 1:30pm-2:30pm, Terrace Suite (4F)
The Ig Nobel Prizes—and Improbable Research more generally—celebrate "research that makes people LAUGH… then THINK." Put another way, it celebrates the fun of science. In this panel, we will have dramatic readings of scholarly research articles that are new to the people reading them. The audience will then get to ask these "experts" about the papers they have presented. Hilarity, and then thinking, will ensue.
Mikołaj Kowalewski (M), Geri Sullivan, Liz Zitzow, E.A., Mason A. Porter, David D. Levine, Janice Gelb

Muppets, Puppets, and Marionettes
Wed 4:30pm-5:30pm, Room 343-344
We love bringing puppets into our movies and shows. What is the mystique? Why do we love them and how they can say what we can't.
David D. Levine (M), Andrew Penn Romine, Mary Robinette Kowal, Merav Hoffman, Sho Glick

Reading: David D. Levine
Wed 8:00pm-8:30pm, Room 428
I'll be reading from "Rust," a short story told from the perspective of an ASL-using enhanced chimp trying to survive in an abandoned undersea laboratory. It'll be appearing in the September/October issue of Analog.
David D. Levine (M)

The Short and Long of It: Short Fiction, Its Mutability, and How to Transform It
Thu 9:00am-10:00am, ACT Theatre (ConCurrent Seattle, a separate event)
A craft discussion about writing, editing, and publishing fiction at every length, and growing - or shrinking - the format. But how do you know how long a story should be? Are there tricks for coaxing out specific lengths for pieces? Panelists will discuss these questions and more.
Sam Asher (M), LaShawn Wanak, David D. Levine, AW Prihandita, Lauren Ring

Live Action Role Playing Around the World
Fri 3:00pm-4:00pm, Room 420-422
Live Action Roleplaying (aka LARP) takes the game off of the tabletop and brings it to life through acting, costuming and character. Explore how this unique approch to gaming has developed worldwide; from the ongoing sagas of USA LARPS, to the full-immersion weekends of European Larps, and beyond.
Eleri Hamilton (M), David D. Levine, Terilee Edwards-Hewitt, Vivian Abraham

Autographs
Sat 3:00pm-4:00pm, Garden Lounge (3F)
Ken Bebelle (M), Bethany Jacobs, Cecilia Tan, Christine Taylor-Butler, Ctein, D.L. Solum, Dan Moren, David D. Levine, Edward Martin III, Fonda Lee, Henry Lien, Nancy Kress, Robin Hobb, Sonia Orin Lyris

Do Androids Dream of AI Slop?
Sun 3:00pm-4:00pm, Room 322
What is artificial intelligence and how does it differ from the image and text generators that have proliferated over the past few years? Is science on the track to creating R. Daneel Olivaw, or is all of this a mirage?
Jon Lasser (M), Avani Vaghela, Chris Kulp, David D. Levine, Elektra Hammond

Not under heat dome

Air temperature 56 F, wind near calm, sunny. No hummingbird sightings yet this morning. Since they have to feed early and often to maintain that fierce temper, I assume they have found other fish to fry. So to speak. Morning appointment, afternoon walk?

Need a new agent

Alas, my agent Paul Lucas just moved to a new agency and decided not to take me with him. Can you recommend your agent, and are they perhaps looking for new clients?

While I'm looking for an agent, I'm going to be submitting my novel Vaudevaliens myself (to publishers who'll accept unagented submissions). Here's the pitch: "Two down-on-their-luck vaudevillians run into a couple of strange guys from way, way out of town. Together they will make it big on Broadway... or destroy the Earth." It's a standalone novel for adults, 81,000 words, and I'd say it's in the genre of "historical science fiction." I'm well aware of the major SF publishers, but if you know of any literature publisher (even small or medium-sized) who'd be willing to consider a historical novel with fantastic content, please let me know.

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Mulling rereads

ambyr posted recently about culls and memory that got me to thinking about the complexities of reread, memory, nostalgia, and so forth.

For example, when I read Peter S. beagle's Folk of the Air it was the right time for that story. I've kept it ever since, but never reread it--his later work didn't click with me, making me hesitant to revisit that one lest the same thing happen.

As I keep culling, I've discovered books that seemed really progressive at the time--books I really enjoyed, or that got me through a difficult period--that time has caught up with and bypassed in significant ways. Patrick Dennis comes to mind. His book about divorce, The Joyous Season, got me past the emotional whirlpool of my parents' marriage breaking up when I was a teen. There were other aspects that I really liked, but there are now attitudes and language that makes me wince now. And yet I can't cull that book.

But others I can place in the donation box with a mental salute to find memory, and hopes it finds its readership somewhere else. This ambivalence can go for problematical authors, too. But these things I think have to be decided for oneself. So many aspects to balance.

(no subject)

Bought a couple of extra bags of coffee on our foraging run. A lot of US coffee comes from Brazil. Donald the Deflector is promising 50% tariffs on Brazil if they don't let his dear buddy out of jail. Prosecuting people for attempting to overthrow the government is a subject close to his heart . . .

(no subject)

Next on the diversion calendar, finishing up the job in Iran?

Morning improvement

Hummingbird working the hosta flowers outside my window while I was getting dressed, about 0500. The early bird gets the nectar? Anyway, one also showed up outside my office window a little while ago, no way of knowing if it was the same bird. Hostas there, too, bumblebee working them now.

Air temperature 55 F, wind west about 7 mph, sunny. Foraging later, either bike ride or walk at some point.

More humdrum prospect

Air temperature 60 F, wind west about 7 mph, partly cloudy. High today supposed to be around 70 F. Got some rain and a single shot of thunder yesterday, neither as much as forecast. Morning appointment, afternoon walk?

Minor amusement

Through the wonders of the internet, just found out that my banjo was made in 1924. Ties in with Dad's backstory that he bought it cheap during the Depression.

Gloomy gray morning

Air temperature 65 F, wind south at 3 mph, cloudy. We have showers in the forecast, starting before noon and lasting into evening, to maybe include thunder and wind. Walk earlier rather than later.

(no subject)

There's this prevailing attitude that "they" are doing things to "us" . . . it's all "us" and that's part of the problem.

Saturday floral report

First jewel-weed seen in the roadside tangle, lots of chicory and goats-beard and Queen Anne's lace and water parsnip and milkweed and various clovers and vetches. And Canada lily, which I missed last year.

Roadkill limited to one gray squirrel and a number of Unidentified Flattened Objects.

Got out on the bike, up to the golf course and across to the road through the bog and thence home. Warming up out there, 77 F when I finished. Did not die.

15.31 miles, 1:28:25

Minimalist post

Air temperature 57 F, wind near calm, sunny. Should be able to get out for a bike ride this morning. Only this and nothing more, rapping tapping . . .

Current Mood: full

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2025 52 Card Project: Week 28: Pandafest

Last Sunday, Delia called me up to ask, "Hey, do you want to go to Pandafest?"

Uh, sure. What is Pandafest?

It turned out to be an outdoor festival showcasing Asian foods and vendors, held just outside the Mall of America. It was a fiendishly hot day, which was definitely a drawback, but I ended up being super glad I went, and we did have fun. Since it was so hot, a lot of the fried food didn't look too appealing, but with a little hunting, we were able to find a booth selling cold soba salad, which hit the spot nicely. We tried steamed pork buns, fruit skewers covered with a hard candied coating, coconut ice cream with mango, and fried donuts. Yum! There were performers, and we watched the Korean dancers (pitying them a bit for having to dance in their traditional costumes under the hot sun).

I have been feeling so sick for so long that it definitely felt nice to get out and do something new and fun. Thanks for the suggestion, Delia!

Image description: Foreground Peg (left) and Delia (right). Delia is eating fried donut balls on a skewer. Between them is a "Pandafest: Twin Cities" stick pin. Behind them, center: two Korean woman dancers flourish fans and a tycho drummer are overlaid over a giant inflatable panda. Behind the panda, top: Chinese steamed buns in several different flavours.

Pandafest

28 Pandafest