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Book News

Absalom's Mother and Other Stories is now available.  Fairwood Press has done such a lovely job on this collection: 
   

And this cover!  We're thrilled.

The first Toby Bishop book, Airs Beneath the Moon, came out late in December, 2006, and the second, Airs and Graces, came out in December of 2007.  You can read more about this series here: Toby Bishop 

And here's one of Allen Douglas's lovely covers: 

SF News

A note to all aspiring authors:  The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA, has an active committee investigating and helping to prosecute scam agents, book doctors, publishers, and editors.  If you're in search of any of these, first visit our site to know which of them may have been investigated or have received complaints:  Writerbeware.com  Please know that legitimate agents do NOT charge authors fees to represent them.  You can learn more by visiting the website for The Association of Authors Representatives, also.

A new SETI array has been underwritten by the science fiction and science fan, Paul Allen, formerly of Microsoft.  42 new dishes, 20 feet in diameter, will scan the skies under the direction of Frank Drake, who seems to have almost singlehandedly created the SETI project.  The Drake Equation is described fully in the latest issue of Discover Magazine, and predicts thousands of possible locations for intelligent life to have sprung up in our own galaxy alone.  It thrills me to think about it.
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Personal News

In my very first ever real career, I sang folk music with several groups.  The most successful, and by far the most fun, was the trio Earthwood, seen here in our  early days:
And for the occasion of the debut of OmegaCon, an exciting new star in the panoply of science fiction conventions, Earthwood has reunited to perform on Friday and Saturday nights in Birmingham, AL.  These performances will be retro on so many levels!
Lew Woodward, Louise Marley, Steven Chung		Oops. Lew disappeared.
Oh, there he is.
Music samples will be available soon.  Please check back!

I had a most interesting time at Les Utopiales, a very large French conference on science fiction and fantasy.  This one seems to touch on every aspect of the genre, from manga to anime to books, and significantly, to science.  This year's conference was devoted to global climate change, and the convening of scientists and science fiction writers created some stimulating discussion.

Some great American writers were also invited:  Richard Paul Russo, Greg Keyes, Greg Benford, John Scalzi, and the marvelous James Morrow.  It was a lot like an American convention, with talk and socializing and food and drink.  The biggest difference is that this one is underwritten by the French government, and we spent hardly a dime of our own money. 

And then I went on to Milan, Italy, for a research trip.  This caused my husband to ask why I never set a book in someplace like North Dakota.

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