July is over, and now it begins to feel like summer is slipping away. This was always the month where we’d start worrying about returning to school in the fall. When moms and dads would take us shopping for new jeans, notebooks and trapper keepers, pens and pencils. We’d stay up late, trying to stretch out every day, even as the days grew shorter and the first leaves began changing (in Maine at least). Ah, well. . . nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
For media this month, we’ve fallen back into older shows we missed the first time around. I may have had the Sci-Fi channel for years, but I rarely watched the programming. Most of what I caught was craptastic. However, we’ve now rediscovered Eureka and Warehouse 13, and if not considering them the height of television quality, at least they are enjoyable and fun shows. Shame that both series are so short, but SF television always had a problem with financing and couldn’t afford to keep its best shows going (see: The Expanse).
On to the monthly report:
Writing Conferences/Workshops/Classes/Professional Activities:
The July meeting of the Frederick chapter of the MWA was held the 17th, but I was unable to attend.
Worldcon program schedule has been updated, and I’m now on three panels total. So if you’re at Worlcon, come and visit! Here’s my final schedule of appearances:
Video game nostalgia: remakes and remasters
Format: Panel
17 Aug 2019, Saturday 12:00 – 12:50, Wicklow Room-3 (CCD)
In recent years, there have been many video game remakes and remasters – Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil II, Tomb Raider – and many much anticipated future titles like Final Fantasy VII, but how do some go so right, and some so far wrong?
Fergal Mac Carthaigh (M), Ms Cassie Parkes (Riot Games), Katrina Archer (Little Blue Marble), Jeffery Reynolds
Shoot for the moon: lunar depictions in SFF
Format: Panel
19 Aug 2019, Monday 11:00 – 11:50, Liffey Hall-2 (CCD)
For as long as there has been science fiction there has been a fascination with the moon. What role does the moon play in cultures around the world and how do those cultures incorporate it into their speculative fiction? Our panel will discuss why the moon holds such a powerful allure as a subject for writers and whether the discovery of more distant heavenly bodies has had an impact on lunar fiction.
Ian Sales (M), Ian McDonald, Joey Yu (Kino Eye Ltd. / Freelance), Hester J. Rook, Jeffery Reynolds
Holy forking shirtballs: The Good Place panel
Format: Panel
19 Aug 2019, Monday 13:00 – 13:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)
Over three constantly inventive seasons, The Good Place has established itself as one of the best – if not the best – telefantasy shows airing right now. In this panel, fans will discuss what it does so well, the implications of the revelations at the end of season three, and hopes for the future – both narratively and philosophically.
Alex Acks, Mr Ash Charlton (ACE TRAINING), Abigail Nussbaum (M), Jeffery Reynolds, Ginjer Buchanan
Finished:
One slipstream story about a woman suffering from a curse where everyone around her can’t stop dancing. Needs major revisions.
WIP:
Went back to work on the WWI novel, which I’m now billing as a steampunk fantasy. Rather than worry about getting the history of Earth right based on the fantasy changes, I decided the other countries not hidden by a magical barrier also underwent radical differences from our reality in terms of their development of science. Added 22,000 words on this story over the course of July.
Outstanding:
14 stories outstanding as of July 31st. Longest lead time is 123 days. Nothing that has been kept unduly long. 2 stories are currently shortlisted for what (fingers crossed) would be my first professional pay (6 cents per word or higher).
Submissions:
13 submissions made. I made some revisions to a few stories and put them back out, so there were more submissions than rejections this month.
Rejections:
9 rejections received.
Acceptances:
No acceptances.
Goals for July:
Trip to Ireland and Worldcon. Keep working on the WWI novel. Goal of 25,000 words.