I sold a poem, for which I will be paid in money. It is for a Twitter stream that will start April 1st in honor of National Poetry Month, so my poem is very very short. It plays with some themes I’ve worked on in other poems. I will link to it when the time comes, but just thought I’d share the good news.

Visit Deborah P. Kolodji LJ for a complete list of all the 2009 Dwarf Stars Nominees http://dkolodji.livejournal.com/310041.html

Soulless by Gail Carriger
This book was really funny. You will be laughing in the first couple of pages. I loved it. It has been awhile since I’ve read a werewolf or vampire novel that I’ve like, because they all seemed to be running together. This one was refreshing. With a Victorian setting,  great banter, mad scientist in steampunk style, horrid hats,  and really neat characters. You have to met Alexia, oh, and her butler is priceless too.

This is my newest creation. It reminds me of the hard shell of a boiled crawfish so for right now I’m just calling it “Shell.” It is made from cut and shaped cardboard, paint, and glue. With a little ink and two stones for accent. The gold ink is a little hard to see in the photo, but it accents the edges of some of the raised designs.

This mask is for sale. $10 dollars plus shipping.

]]> http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/shell-red-mask/feed/ 0 amcatoir "Shell" ( red mask, cardboard ) for sale $10 on Twitpic http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/nominated/ http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/nominated/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:10:28 +0000 amcatoir http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/?p=357 ]]>

I just received word today that my poem “Godmother” which was originally published in Goblin Fruit, Spring ‘08 has been nominated for the 2009 Dwarf Stars Poetry Award (this is their fourth year)  given out by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to the best poems under 10 lines published in 2008. It will also be printed in their anthology of nominees.  I am very exited!

I whipped up this cute little bag on Saturday night. It came out so cute, I think I’ll try to knock out a few more and list them on my Etsy site, in the next week. Why do I always come up with these ideas too late for the holiday season?  I was  excited after the success of this one, I am trying a scarf next.  I hope that it comes out half as well as the bag did. I’ll have a whole new wardrobe of homemade accessories.

EMB design by Urban Threads.

There is some overlap in two of the books I’m am currently reading. What I find so shocking about this is how long it took me to notice and the fact that my reactions to both are so different. The first book, which I’m listening to on my iPhone, is Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships by David Levy and the second book, which I’m actually reading also on my iPhone, is Like Clockwork: Steampunk Erotica ed by J. Blackmore. (I have not finished either book yet.)
Love and Sex with Robots is a non-fiction exploration about the development of A.I. and robotics and projections about how human will interact with them on a personal level, not solely as cold or indifferent machines, but as partners and lovers. The whole time I’m listening to this book I’ve so many thoughts bouncing around in my head at once it is almost hard to concentrate on the narrators voice. First, I’m fascinated by the discussion of what is currently being done in this area of research. Second, I keep thinking about all the examples of what he is talking about in my very limited sci/fi reading and viewing ( Data, from Star Trek / Bicentennial Man – the Robin Williams movie). Thirdly, there is this unconscious and sort of unexplainable ugh factor when the author goes from today’s reality into some future scenario of ‘and they all lived happily ever after’. My mind which is keeping up and internal monologue of ‘hey that’s neat,’ ‘I never knew that,’ and ‘wouldn’t it be cool’ is suddenly brought to a screeching halt with a matter a fact explanation of how future parents will just pop over to a robot shop to have a spouse built for their dear baby it the futuristic incarnation of arranged marriages. Screeching halt might not be enough to cover the sort of unexplainable mental recoil going on there.

So that’s where I am, listening to this book with a mixture of scientific curious and horror. I am trying to figure out what is bothering me so much. I’m pretty sure it isn’t the sex with robots part. Sex/Porn led to advancements and or mass use of VHS, the Internet, and probably lots of other things too, so I’m told. I get that or at least think I do. It is the love and marriage bit, I think am pondering (oh and the fact that ‘arranged marriage’ is still going to be going strong in an age where people have their spouses built custom). The more I tried reasoning this out. The more sci/fi examples I remembered, but they were from TV and film. Data had his Lt. Yar and I hate Bicentennial Man because it is depressing ( and THAT is do to the fact that they die!) What literature examples did I remember? I am sure there are tons. I know people have been writing about robot and human interaction of over a hundred years. Levy even cites several examples in his book, but I can’t think of any I’ve read.

That’s when it hits me that I’m reading a collection steampunk erotica called, Like Clockwork. A collection of short stories about love and sex with or around robots. My reaction to this collection so far has been positive for the most part. The stories are steamy ( no pun intended?) and entertaining. While not every entry may be my cup of tea, I haven’t experience the same mental recoil as I have when some of the same ideas are presented in the non-fiction book. I was a little shocked to realize this, and I’ve been trying to reason it out in words for days.

Maybe I’ll have a better understanding once I finish both books. It may be just the differences in the labels. Non-fiction, even the conjecture feels more imposing then the fiction that can be enjoyed and then brushed off at will. I also wonder if my reaction would be different, if my method of consuming these books where different. One of the topics Levy discusses is attachment and relationships with devices such as computers and smart phones paving the way for this generation to be even more accepting of robots in the future. I am listening to an audio book and reading an e-book on the same device – a device that I carry around with me almost all the time and use for multiple other services as well. Do I love my iPhone? I like it a lot as a tool, but I don’t expect it to like me back. (Totally unrelated I usually assume most electronic devices hate me; then again that is probably so I don’t have to accept the blame for operator error.) How would my reactions differ if I had paper copies of both books? The only other ‘meta’ experience I had with an audio book was listening to Feed by M.T. Anderson on a portable CD player with headphones. It almost felt like having a ‘feed’ and was definitely and interesting experience.

I am looking forward to finishing both books, and I needed to get these ideas out there mid-read so that I could come back to them afterward. I am curious to know if Levy will win me over with his ideas, not that I’ve realized that these are things I’ve already accepted in works of fiction. Will the fiction go to far and weird me out as well. Maybe as an experiment I’ll check out the paper copy of Love and Sex with Robots. It wouldn’t be the first time, I’ve switched back and forth between audio and paper. Feel free to leave comments, observations, suggestions, etc.

Released Today! Misty Dreams by Charlotte Parker. I had the pleasure of reading some of the rough drafts of the is book years ago and am very excited to finally see it in print. This is Charlotte Parker’s third novel. Besides being a fabulous author, Ms. Parker is also the Chair of EPICon, a writers convention, taking place in New Orleans this year.

For more information about Misty Dreams check out the author website here or purchase it at BN.com here.

I own a large collection of hats both figuratively and literally. Some I pull off with more panache then others as is generally the case for most, I think. Today, I want to tell you about one of those hats specifically! I publish a desk-top zine. It strives to be a genre literary zine that accepts original works of art, poetry, and fiction.  I (as the zine’s story selector) like things that have a dark thread running through them with varying degrees of subtlety.

Blood Oranges Zine is a print zine, which means if you pop on over to www.bloodorangeszine.com and purchase a copy of either Issue #1 or Issue #2, you will receive a hard copy in your mail box shortly there after. Tell EVERYONE you know.

]]> http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/blood-oranges-zine-issue-2/feed/ 0 amcatoir BloodOrangesCover2 http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/kickstarter/ http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/kickstarter/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:59:00 +0000 amcatoir http://amcatoir.wordpress.com/?p=328 ]]>

I discovered Kickstarter a while back and liked the idea. There are many weird and wonderful project that people are striving to do. These are the three that I chose to support in efforts to explore this medium. I am interested in what it might mean for publishing. In an age where all the mainstream news seems to be have moved from Print-on-Demand (POD) to E-Books. Here are people looking to craft small personal editions of their work. For me POD books lack some of the sensual pleasures that I get from selecting and reading a physical book due to their often bland and clumsy assemblage and E-books lack all of them. I’m intrigued by these Kickstarter projects and for how ever much I choose to pledge, I can watch someones work unfold. I hope you check them out and I wish them good luck.