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On the road again!

I'm off to New York on Thursday, weather permitting, and won't be back until late in February. I'm in the US for business, and while I'm there I'll also be appearing at Boskone 52 in Boston from February 13-15; you can find me on the program schedule here.

I'll also be hanging out and drinking beer from 6pm on next Monday, the 2nd, in Pine Box Rock Shop in Brooklyn. It's really close to the Morgan Ave L stop (opposite side of the block), has good beer and spirits, and can feed vegans (not me: my wife). You can find it on Google Maps as Pine Box Rock Shop, 12 Grattan Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206, United States. If you're reading this, you're welcome to come along. (I'm told there's a facebook page for the event here. NB: I don't do Facebook.)

While I'm away I'm handing the blog over to an ensemble of all-star SF/F writers. We'll have Harry Connolly, Laura Anne Gilman, Elizabeth Bear, and the collaborating duo of Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown.

Sherwood Smith studied in Austria, finally earning a (useless) master's in history—she's been a governess, a bartender, and wore various hats in the film industry before turning to teaching for 20 years. She began her publishing career in 1986. To date she's published over forty books, nominated for several awards, including the Nebula, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and an Anne Lindbergh Honor Book.

Harry Connolly's debut novel, Child of Fire, was listed to Publishers Weekly's Best 100 Books of 2009. He turned to Kickstarter to fund the publication of his epic fantasy trilogy The Great Way and became the ninth most funded project in the Fiction category. He lives in Seattle with his beloved wife, beloved son, and beloved library system.

Recanting a life of regular paychecks, Laura Anne Gilman left her full-time gig in as an editor in 2003. Since then, she has written the popular Cosa Nostradamus urban fantasy series (most recently Promises to Keep), and the Nebula award-nominated Vineart War trilogy. Her next fantasy novel, Silver on the Road, will be published by Saga Press/Simon & Schuster in 2015. She still keeps a freelance hand in on the editing gig, though, because red ink is addictive.

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year.When coupled with a childhood tendency to read the dictionary for fun, this led her inevitably to penury, intransigence, and the writing of speculative fiction. She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Campbell Award winning author of 27 novels (The most recent is Karen Memory, a Weird West adventure from Tor) and over a hundred short stories. Her dog lives in Massachusetts; her partner, writer Scott Lynch, lives in Wisconsin. She spends a lot of time on planes.

And between them, they're going to keep the blog busy for the next month!

14 Comments

1:

It would be cool if you got Peter Watts to contribute some time in the future.

Except you'd probably come back to find the place burned to ashes and the survivors eating each other while preaching an apocalyptic screed of the nihilism of existence.

2:

You win the internet.

3:

I thought that was the plot of the Laundry series?

4:

Best wishes for the travel. New York looks to have come out better than expected from the blizzard, save for a surfeit of politicians. I hope your gallant substitutes can cope with this hive of scum and villainy. I fear we are going to see the worst, as campaigning for the UK General Election is starting.

[Departs with a flick of her tail, wearing a black beret and whistling the Internationale in the key of off.]

5:

Yay! Harry Connolly is back!

His new series is almost at the top of my 'to be read' pile.

James

6:

The joys of being an international jet-setter, huh?

It is to be hoped that the publishers (etc) are paying for this, or most of it?

7:

They're paying indirectly -- the expenses come out of my operating profit. (Which is higher because I work closely with my publishers. It's a business, right?)

8:

Too bad it's monday ! I'll drink Champagne instead !

9:

Enjoy your business trip! (Expect you'll occasionally pop in to see that we're behaving?) And, really would like to hear about that 'Aliens' panel you're sitting on ... especially any new twists.

10:

One more reason to tilt back some liquid hops ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150128113947.htm

Beer compound could help fend off Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

Date: January 28, 2015 Source: American Chemical Society

Summary:

The health-promoting perks of wine have attracted the spotlight recently, leaving beer in the shadows. But scientists are discovering new ways in which the latter could be a more healthful beverage than once thought. It turns out that a compound from hops could protect brain cells from damage -- and potentially slow the development of disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Journal Reference:

Juan Yao, Baoxin Zhang, Chunpo Ge, Shoujiao Peng, Jianguo Fang. Xanthohumol, a Polyphenol Chalcone Present in Hops, Activating Nrf2 Enzymes to Confer Protection against Oxidative Damage in PC12 Cells. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2015; 150114105705007 DOI: 10.1021/jf505075n
11:

Have a safe journey, Charlie and FeĆ²rag!

The snow drives back the foot that's slow.

The guest bloggers will keep us entertained in your absence...

12:

Glad you should be able to fly in with no,problems, the weather was looking horrendously bad a couple of days ago. Once again, I get to lament at living 25 miles away from NYC, and paying a premium for it but being able to even contemplate getting to Brooklyn for a pint.

Hope everything goes well, I guess I will have to time my next visit to Scotland or London based on your Con schedule, it would be nice to say thank you to you in person

Rex

13:

There's also the issue of the other airports on the routing. It looks like there was only a short delay getting out of Edinburgh this morning, and Paris CDG (C&F's usual bounce point on the transatlantics) is also operating OK.

On the other hand, had they been flying out of Manchester today, they'd have been somewhat delayed.

(Yeah, the UK doesn't cope well with snow. Which is due to not having it bad enough often enough to make it worth investing a lot in mitigation. cf. Florida contrasted with Chicago. We also don't worry much about earthquakes: though there was a magnitude 3.8 within 100 km of here last night, the general attitude tends to be "Oh wow, cool!")

14:

I'm beginning to think that the best forecast for winter weather in the north east US is to plan avoid the area when Charlie visits. :)

Freezing rain and snow in NYC and other parts of the north east Sunday night. And if you've never been in it there is almost no way to deal with it. You can't walk or drive on it. Crawling is an option. After you fall on your butt.

You can spread salt, sand, and cinders but the after effects are not nice. Outside or inside.

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This page contains a single entry by Charlie Stross published on January 27, 2015 9:42 PM.

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