I celebrated Seder last night with Ron's family at one of the grandest mansions in Kansas City.  I have to say that when we first arrived I felt just massively out of place in the midst of such wealth.  I don't encounter many situations that ever put me ill at ease, but this place had just that kind of effect on me.   I don't use the word "mansion" lightly.  This place was that.

    But Ron has a very cool family, and they immediately put me at ease again.  This was my fifth Seder with them.  (The house belongs to one of Ron's cousins, and this was the first celebration in this house.)  For a variety of reasons, I found the ceremony this year very moving.  There were lines and phrases in the reading that seemed to jump out at me.  And the meal that followed the ceremony was quite exquisite.  Afterward, when Ron's cousin offered us wine or a cocktail, Ron half-jokingly asked for a chocolate martini.  The cousin's bar is very well stocked, and out came all the fixings.  Before long, it seemed that everybody was drinking chocolate martinis.

    I have to say, also, that I've never seen an electric martini shaker.  Given that a martini should never be shaken more than about 15 seconds, I'm not sure I see the point, but hey -- it's a toy, and toys are toys!
 

Well, some small discussion of LiveJournal this afternoon led me to remember that I haven't really posted here for a while.  I thought I should probably touch base.  It's actually been a busy period of time, although I'm not sure how much of that business is of interest to many others.

I've finished a story called "The Price of Beauty" for an anthology, and I'm rather pleased with it.  It takes a lot of shots at the cosmetics industry, at the emphasis placed on beauty and good looks in our culture, and with the entire concept of "self-image."  In my opinion, mind, it's funny, sharp-witted, and pretty solid.  And it plays around a bit with elements of MaCBETH, which was a plus for me, personally.  

I've made additional progress on a new novel.  I've kept a bit quiet about this, but I'll mention that it's a mystery.  Not an sf mystery.  Just a mystery.  I'm more convinced than ever of the importance of diversifying my writing in the current market climate.  I've done some of that with short fiction lately.  "The Return of Don Ramon," for TALES OF ZORRO, is, at its heart, a straight-forward western.  And "Touch of Moonlight," for LACE AND BLADE, is, for all its fantasy elements, a classic if condensed romance story.  Both stories have led me to seriously consider branching out into those genres as well.  They were surprising fun to write, and I've never quaked in my boots about using pseudonyms.  I already have half a dozen of thosse in the porn markets.

I've also returned to the gym with a passion.  All my injuries seem to have healed.  So have Ron's.  So about six weeks ago, we plunged back into the weight-lifting.  I achieved a personal best record on the bench press yesterday at 220 lbs.  This is not, I hasten to add, a single-rep maximum, but a full set of ten presses. Incline bench press is at 165.   And my leg presses are up to 700 lbs.  Once again, I have another national professional body-builder for my personal trainer, although not the same one I had at the time of the last Los Angeles worldcon.  I'm not quite as big as I was at Los Angeles, although I hope to be by the time the Nebulas in Austin roll around.  Interestingly, I seem to be stronger.  Which is an acceptable trade-off.  Being careful not to incur any new injuries, sprains, or muscle tears, I'm very curious to see just how far I can take this.  

The aforementioned Nebulas Weekend is coming up in a few weeks.  I've made all my arrangements to attend.  I'm spending a couple of nights at the hotel, but also a couple of nights with Brad Denton.  Steve Gould will also be staying at Brad's, and I'm really looking forward to spending time with both of them.  I only wish there was time to put together a too-much-delayed issue of THE SFWA QUORUM!   (GRIN)  Next year, for sure.  Now that I'm no longer SFWA president, there's no longer any reason why I should worry about diplomacy and decorum.  Or even decency.  

Oh wait.  Nobody's supposed to know who produces THE SWFWA QUORUM.  Gaze deeply into this pixel.  You will forget.  You will forget...

I'm just home from an interesting evening spent with my friend, Jane Yolen, at a dinner held by the Reading Reptile.  The Reading Reptile is -the- major children's bookstore here in KC, and each year sponsors a national children's literary festival.  Jane is one of the guests.

Despite the fact that I've done some young adult work, notably my DRAGONKIN series, this was like stepping into another world for me.  I was familiar with none of the "big names," other than Jane, of course.  As I browsed among the shelves at the bookstore, I was gratified to see how much science fiction actually was out there for very young ages.  The general consensus among so many fans is that  sf is a graying field and that we're failing to reach new readers.  I'm no longer sure that's true.  We may not be drawing young fans into traditional convention fandom, but there are certainly a lot of young-reader sf books out there, and somebody must be reading them.  And, of course, fantasy for young readers was ubiquitous.

For the locals reading here, there will be book signings tomorrow.  Call the Reading Reptile for the times of those signings.  The signings tonight were massively successful.

     Tomorrow, I"ll leave early to drive to Fulton, Missouri.  I"m giving a talk on Writing Science Fiction there.  I know that a local writers group will be in attendance and at least some students from the college sf club, and some folks from Columbia and Jefferson City are also dropping down.  I've spent the evening preparing index cards for my talk and browsing some of the books about writing sf/f/h that I've collected over the years.  That's been interesting.  Kate Graf, the librarian there who invited me down, also asked that I bring some books to sell, so I"ve packed up a small carton.  Mostly copies of TURN LEFT TO TOMORROW and the three books in the DRAGONKIN series.  

     I'm taking my new digital camera along and one change of clothes.  I'm just planning to meander.  I don't have to be in Fulton until five o'clock, and I hope to get a few photographs and visit anything of interest that catches my eye along the way.  Don't know if I'll come back tomorrow night or stay overnight someplace and return on Friday.  I just wanted to make this trip without any schedule beyond the talk.  I think it's going to be fun.

  The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame has announced the Hall of Fame Inductees for 2008. They are William Gibson, Richard Powers, Rod Serling and Ian & Betty Ballantine. Inductees are selected from four categories: literature, art, media and an "open" category. No more than two inductees may be selected from any single category.

 Normally, only four inductees are named each year, but in a break with tradition, judges decided to induct Ian and Betty Ballantine together.

The Hall of Fame Induction Committee for this year's event were Nancy Kress, Charles Stross, John Picacio, Michael Cassutt, Ellen Datlow and Ellen Asher with chairman, Robin Wayne Bailey.

The Induction ceremonies will take place at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington on June 21, 2008 in conjunction with the Locus Awards Weekend.

What a gorgeous day!  I left the house at 11:30, headed for the gym, wearing a long-sleeved tee shirt and an outer shirt.  The jacket I was carrying promptly went into the back seat with the gym bag.  After an intense, heavy-duty leg workout, I emerged from the gym at 3 o'clock to find a warm wind blowing and weather in the 60 degree range.  Ron and I then grabbed a light bite to eat and caught an early showing of JUMPER.  When the movie ended and we came back outside at 6 o'clock, it was still warm and breezy.

I could use a few more days like this!  Seasonal Affective Disorder - begone! 

    It's been a pretty exraordinary week.  As I mentioned previously, my page proofs for "The Return of Don Ramon" in TALES OF ZORRO arrived.  My author's copy of LACE AND BLADE, with my story, "Touch of Moonight," arrived.  I finished three chapters on a new novel - a mystery this time.  And I discovered my story, "The Children's Crusade" had made the final Nebula ballot.  

    Calls my good friends Steve Gould and Brad Denton convinced me that if I valued my arms and legs, I'd find a way to make it to Austin for the event, so after juggling some other springtime plans, Diana and I made our airline reservations and our sleeping arrangements.  So we're going to the Nebs.  I'd give anything to be able to take Ron, also, since he was with me when I wrote the story in Fort Lauderdale and loves it, but that just won't work out as his business travel can't be changed as easily.

    Have also begun work on the DSI newsletter for this quarter, which always means a nice influx of cash.  And begun work on a story I have due for another anthology April 1st.  So it's a productive time.  In addition, all my recent injuries finally seem to have healed.  I returned to the gym for serious weight-training last week (had just been puttering around for the past six weeks), and really ramped things up today.  No weight records yet, but I executed three complete sets of bench press at 185 lbs today.  It's not my usual 225 lbs, but hey... I've been off!  I'm pleased.  And tomorrow night - I return to karate.  I've been getting personal notes from my two primary sensei in New Jersy and LA, and I've found them encouraging.  I drifted away from regular practice this past year - owing to all those injuries -.  But there's a major martial arts event later this year for us.  They'd really like me there, and I'd really like to attend.  I foresee some foot blisters in my near future.  <g>

    And In a week I have a speaking gig at the library in Fulton, Missouri.  So, life is good. 

Today is a good day.  Early this morning, I finished the third chapter of a new novel.  A little later, I found the galley-proofs for my ZORRO story waiting in email, looked those over and fired them back - only one typo.  And late this afternoon, the mail brought my author's copy of LACE AND BLADE, which contains my story, "Touch of Moonlight."

As I said on a local list, it rather makes up for those other days when I sit in front of this computer and ask myself, "What the fuck am I doing here?"
 

It's been a strange couple of days.  It began with a mistake.  I let myself get sucked into a gun control debate on www.kcstar.com.  The site contains as pathetic a nest of vipers as I've ever seen.  Having been there only a few days, I didn't appreciate the numbers of trolls.  The conversation was sparked by the shooting at Dekalb University near Chicago.  Naturally, several of the loons took it as an opportunity to boast that, had concealed carry laws been in place, the shooter would never dared have shown his face.  Never mind that he was mentally ill and, therefore, not rational.  It proceeded from there to declarations that armed citizens were the only answer to these kinds of shootings.  Followed by the boast that they, themselves, would have taken that dude out pronto, you betcha.

I had the temerity to point out that even professionals -- police, federal agents, soldiers, etc. -- regularly miss when discharging their firearms in stressful life-and-death situations.  Worse, they sometimes misinterpret things and shoot innocent people.  I provided pieces of news articles and links to complete articles.  One of the stories involved a Jamaican immigrant in New York named Amadou Diallo.  Four policemen stopped him.  But he didn't speak English.  He reached for his wallet.  Police thought he was reaching for a gun.  Almost fifty shots were fired, killing Diallo.  Half those shots went into walls and doors.

Another story involved police again.  This time a group of them shot a man from Trinidad who, when ordered to turn around, had a hairbrush in his hand.  Over twenty shots were fired.  Half of them went into the walls.  Yet a third story involved a black man coming out of a bar after his bachelor party the night before his wedding.  This one's still under investigation, but the suspect was unarmed.  Police fired over 50 shots, killing the suspect, wounding two bystanders, and striking houses and shattering windows nearby.

And this was where the past days went weird.  I also mentioned my own personal experience.  In '69, I got caught in a crossfire between a group of police and FBI agents in the parking lot of a place called Harold's Restaurant and Lounge.  One police officer died.  Both criminal suspects were wounded.  One of them was on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.  I wound up giving deposition testimony in the case.  So did the  high school friend who was with me.  Because of our ages, they didn't want to put us on the stand at trial.

Well, one of the trolls attempted to google my story.  All they could turn up was a PITCH MAGAZINE restaurant review by that well-known historian, Charles Ferruzza.  And it was a review for the HI-WAY, which is the business now in place where Harold's used to be.  Unable to find anything substantiating my story, this person declared me a liar.

Now, having lost some memory during my cancer chemotherapy, I took this rather weirdly.  I decided to begin googling myself.  And found next to nothing.  Granted, it was 38 years ago, and I didn't have specific dates, nor even complete names.  I knew the FBI suspect was "Ray something."  Or "something Ray."  I knew the police officer who was shot was "something Whitsett."  Beyond that, I didn't remember much.

I happened to pass the HI-WAY yesterday and, on a whim, went inside.  In an astounding bit of coincidence, the wife of the original owner was also inside eating a bowl of chili.  She was astounded that anyone remembered the shooting.  She didn't have many more details than I had, but remembered that TRUE DETECTIVE had done a three or four page story on it.  Great.  Off to Google again.  Try finding a 1969-70 issue of that lurid magazine!  But it was fun to talk to her.

Later that night, her son called me.  Her son and I graduated together, and we had a good chat about a lot of stuff, including the shooting.  I hadn't seen the son since high school.  He promised to dig a little and called back later with an approximate date, but not a specific one.  And his mother called me again today.  She'd spent her evening digging through her old scrapbooks to see if she had anything.  She had thought she had a newspaper clipping, but she couldn't turn it up.  But she put me in touch with yet another old high school friend.  I didn't recall much, either, but again, it was good to catch up.

Today, I've googled FBI Most Wanted lists, spoken with a contact at the KC Star only to learn that their archives only go back to 1989, spoken with the duty officer of the KC branch of the FBI only to be told to call back tomorrow to speak with a specific person, but suggesting I'd need further information.  Even Diana got in on the fun tonight, googling up a "memorial page" for slain Kansas City police officers.  The weird part there was that we couldn't turn up any "Whitsett," although both the mother and the son agreed that was the right last name.

In short, I became obsessed with re-discovering the facts of this story.  Googling won't do it.  And memory, alone, is obviously a tricky thing.  Tomorrow, I talk to the FBI duty officer.  I'll contact the North Kansas City Historical Society.  I may try to paw my way through the micro-film at the KC library.

And I used to think that SFWA was fun.   


Best,
     Robin

 As the subject line says.  Tomorrow, I will get up early and go with Diana to the polls.  Happily and without reservation, we will both cast votes for Hillary Clinton.  I can support Obama, should he advance to the general election, instead of Hillary Clinton, but I believe she is the better choice.  I've followed the debates and the campaigns assiduously.  I've been to both their webpages regularly.

Obama has a "vision."  Visions are nice.  Visions can be inspirational.   But a trip to his website reveals that his concrete plans for enacting any of the "change" he proclaims are nebulous at best.  A trip to Hillary Clinton's website reveals a candidate who has given thought as to how "change" can realistically be enacted.  

Clinton is a tough cookie.  Some people, of course, interpret that as "bitch."  It's the two-edged sword of being a woman with both edges pressed against your throat.  If she's too soft she ca't possibly be a tough president.  If she's too tough, then she's an unlikeable bitch.  But frankly, I don't care about "likeability" anymore.  A lot of us might agree that George Bush was "likeable."  We could go to the corner bar and have a beer with him.  But the likeable good 'ol boy has been a disaster as a president.

And in that regard, Obama reminds me of Bush.  Likeable.  Inspirational.  But I was really put off when he declared in debate that he wasn't long on hands-on administration, that he would hire the right people to handle the details of enacting his vision.  Sorry.  But that was Bush's approach.  

So I'm voting for HIllary Clinton.  I hope that many of you will also vote for her.  It's time we had a woman in the White House.  Either Clinton or Obama represent change, and certainly either one will be a vast improvement over what we've had for the last eight years.  But Clinton brings an authority and ... yes, I'll use the word... experience that can make the changes she represents happen.

Best,
   Robin