And, unlike me, Kevin can actually do accents and different voices.  So if you're curious about how the novel is supposed to sound, check it out.

Anyway, several people have asked me to post my GoH talk.  It took me 4 months to do this, but the talk is finally up on the words page.

Believe it or not, the Milkweed books required a bit of research.  (It's true!  People even ask me about this from time to time.)  So this is a topic of no small interest to me.

Meanwhile, in a completely unrelated turn of events, I bought a new camera this weekend.  And find myself completely incapable of using it effectively.  (Big surprise).  So I thought it would be fun to post a few photos of the bookshelf where I kept many of my research materials while working on the Milkweed Triptych.

Below the cut: blurry photos and puppet robots.

Patrick contacted me a couple of weeks ago (again through GRRM; thanks, George!) to inquire about doing an interview.  He asked some very thoughtful questions, and I did my best to give him thoughtful answers.  So, while it took longer than either of us expected, the end result is a Q & A that we both feel is pretty strong.

The interview is posted here.

Ate three tonight.  Verdict: juicy and perfect.

It will come as no surprise to some folks that the writing of fantasy alt-history novels is a topic of no small interest to me.  So I was absolutely delighted to see Debra's discussion about what it's like to tackle such a project. 

In their case, Doyle and Macdonald took up the American Civil War, as opposed to the Second World War in Bitter Seeds.  Even so, Doyle's discussion had me jumping for joy.  Because she's right on the money.  I've heard exactly the same set of objections since the publication of Bitter Seeds.   And her take on the subject is pretty much the same as mine.

Below the cut: Testify!

This is the third novel I've finished (not counting one hilariously sucktackular piece of compost in my trunk that will never ever see the light of day).  But it's the first time I've finished a trilogy (obviously), and it feels a little different. 

It didn't really hit me until I shut down Word and copied backups to the thumb drives, which is part of my daily ritual for closing out a writing session.  And then I realized:  "Holy crap.  This is the last time I'll do backups to new Milkweed content."   And I got a little wistful.

(Yes, I'm a sentimental weirdo.  Pleased to meet you.)

And yet, it has also been the hardest of the three Milkweed books to write.  And that took me by surprise.  I knew for a long time that this book would be a little different. But it wasn't until I started writing Necessary Evil that I truly understood something that other novelists have told me time and again:  writing a novel teaches you how to write (or not write) that novel.  It doesn't necessarily teach you how to write the next one.  It gives you the benefit of experience and hones your skills along the way, but it's quiet on the details. 

Bitter Seeds was difficult because it required so much setup (exacerbated by the fact that the story relies on two weird things and is set in a well-known historical period).  Coldest War was a little easier, and probably for me the most fun of the three.  Necessary Evil has been a thicket from beginning to end.

So I felt a tremendous weight leave my shoulders this weekend, when on Sunday evening I finally found myself writing the second to last scene of the trilogy.

So.  I'm downright delighted to announce that I'll have a story appearing in After Hours: Tales From the Ur-Bar, an anthology edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, and to be published by DAW in March 1, 2011.  (Hey, that's just a month after the scheduled release date for Milkweed #2, The Coldest War.)

To celebrate, Patricia is running Ur-Bar Bingo on her blog.  Match the authors to their story synopses to win fame and fortune!  (If you want a hint, Josh has posted the table of contents here.  The story titles might help.)  Though, people familiar with some of my other projects will find it easy to figure out which description applies to my own particular contribution.

I don't wear shoes in the house.  But I keep a pair of sandals near both the front and back door for quick trips outside, like checking the mail or filling the bird feeder. 

As I stepped into my hiking sandals, something cool bunched up against the toes of my left foot.  The left sandal happens to be the one with the loose lining, thanks to its most recent trip through the washing machine.  So I didn't think anything of it.  But then, as I was about halfway to the tree (all of five feet) it suddenly didn't feel like loose lining at all.  A little too cool.  A little too. . . wriggly.

Perhaps the best prison break movie since Shawshank Redemption.  Or possibly Chicken Run.

Okay, that's two sentences.

Also, the action sequences in this G-rated animated movie were far more exciting and engrossing than the action sequences in the vast majority of action movies I've seen.  It's interesting to me that I rarely come out of an animated film feeling like I'd just wasted time and money, but I rarely come out of a live-action film feeling like it was entirely worth my time and money.

(And, by the way, I'm so sorry to hear that you've had problems with your email solicitations getting intercepted because peoples' spam filters are set too high.  That's a shame.  In a just and fair world, spam filters would only intercept, you know, spam.  Like unsolicited emails containing vaguely targeted business proposals.  I now understand why you feel the need to randomly contact people who have commented on my blog.  Chin up and shoulder to the wheel, my friends!  Don't let those bastards at SpamAssassin get you down!  Also, in completely unrelated news, my irony meter just exploded.)

I also thank you for your gentle yet frantic, persistent yet ominous reminders that I may be — at this very moment! — neglecting my "international clientele".   Indeed, your warnings about my absence from the most popular Slovakian and Mongolian web search engines has caused much soul searching here in the international headquarters of my business empire (by which I mean my spare bedroom).  

I'm still processing my thoughts about these books.  They break many of the rules of thumb that we like to recite when it comes to writing and storytelling.  In many places they stand at odds with the standard advice beginning novelists receive.  But for all that they're compulsively readable and, let's face it, huge international megabestsellers.   So the late Mr. Larsson sure did something right.

Anyway, last night I zipped over to a local college campus to catch the film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I'm glad I had a chance to catch it while the novel was still somewhat fresh in my memory.  I found myself continually comparing the film's storyline to that of the book, taking note of the places where the screenplay diverged from the book, and theorizing about why the filmmakers made the choices they did. 

Since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery, it's kind of hard to do such a plot comparison without some major spoilers.  So, if you haven't read Dragon Tattoo yet and don't want it ruined for you, don't read below the cut.

I completely gave up on this movie when we hit the slow-motion shot of Russell Crowe yelling, "Nooooooooo!"

That is honestly in the film.  Hard to believe, I know.  And I'm pretty sure that bit was meant non-ironically, since this wasn't intended as a comedy or satire.  I'll bet I can guess what you're thinking: hasn't noooooo been a cliché since almost forever?

Yes.  Yes it has.

As of this posting, the Chronicle of Sorrows game is still unsolved!   (Though, thanks to the magic of Google Analytics, I see folks are making good progress.)  The first person to successfully access the contents of John Stephenson's desk is elegible to win a signed advanced review copy of Bitter Seeds.  (I say eligible because I recognize that some folks might not want an ARC.  And I'm not about to force somebody to take one.)

A summary of the game, and some suggestions, below the cut.

"What Doctor Gottlieb Saw" takes place roughly 18 months before the events in Chapter 1 of Bitter Seeds.  (So it takes place maybe 17 years after the prologue, which you can read for free here.)  I wrote it entirely as a standalone, so it doesn't require any foreknowledge of Bitter Seeds.

For people who have read the book, the story might shed a little more light on the relationship between a certain flying man, and a certain perfectly innocent girl who likes to pick flowers and who just happens, maybe, to see the future. 

(More thoughts on the story, below the cut.)

That is to say, the hard part.  Which is also, on good days, the really fun part.

I had the great pleasure of chatting with Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont over Skype last night.  Tom and Veronica are the mad geniuses behind the S&L podcast, and (as I mentioned previously) they kindly chose Bitter Seeds as their most recent reading selection.

The full episode is here.  Hear me babble nonsensically for minutes on end!

Tool use, theft, and a crooked fight, all below the cut.

What an honor for a debut novel.  (Their previous selection, The Windup Girl, just won the Nebula Award.  Way to go, Paolo!)

I saw the occasional episode in which, generally speaking, the world was attacked by teapots.

and

It’s a law – well at least a guideline – in writing plays that if somebody is going to be killed with an axe in the third act, then the axe should be visible hanging on the wall in the first act, and, for the hard of thinking, should be the subject of a line of dialogue that would go something like “you shouldn’t leave that around, it could do someone a mischief.”

So, if things go according to plan, the Audible.com production of Bitter Seeds should be available by Labor Day, and quite possibly before that.

I'm grateful to Richard for photographing the festivities, and to so many friends -- From all over! From years back! -- for coming down to Uncle Hugo's to support a debut author. 

Bitter Seeds is currently out of stock at the warehouse, because all copies from the intial print run have been shipped to fulfill bookstore orders.  This doesn't mean the book has sold out -- not by a long shot -- but it does mean the first batch of orders exceeded expectations.   Speaking verrrry cautiously here, that's good news. 

The real question is how many of those copies shipped to bookstores actually sell, and how many get returned to the publisher.  It's possible of course that the entire stock of reprinted copies will end up moldering at the bottom of the Hudson River.  (I'm told my optimistic outlook will serve me well in the world of publishing.)

My agent, Kay, describes this as "quite a coup", coming as it does so soon after the release of Bitter Seeds, and while I'm still an unknown quantity as authors go.  I think the deal owes far more to her negotiating savvy than to anything on my end, but I'm pleased all the same.

As homecomings go, I'd be hard pressed to think of a better one.

The venerable Pat of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is giving away 3 (three!) copies.  I'm not sure what the deadline for entry is, but details are posted here. 

And, Fantasy and SciFi Lovin' News and Reviews has one ciopy to give away.  Details (and some love for the awesome Palencar cover art) here; the deadline is May 11.  Plenty of time to toss your hat in the ring...

Aside from briefly wondering if I was going to get thrown out of the store, and some confusion about the actual start time, I think it went pretty well.

Likewise, I've avoided the comment threads at places like the Boing Boing review and my essay over at Scalzi's Big Idea column.  And I'm steering wide of the reader reviews at online vendors like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as on Goodreads.  After all, not everybody is going to like the book, or even the idea behind it, and some might even hate it.  And they're completely entitled to their opinions-- I firmly believe that 50% of each book comes from the reader.  At the same time, I have a contractual obligation to my publisher to finish my current manuscript on time, and I find writing is easier (never easy, but easier) when I'm not sad.

Which unfortunately means I sometimes miss out on really cool stuff.

I've just discovered that io9, uber-clearinghouse of all things awesome and science-fictional, has included Bitter Seeds in its roundup of noteworthy April book releases!  Thanks, io9!

I've posted a review and roundup of launch-day news below the cut, and the first photograph of Bitter Seeds in the wild.

Hello and welcome to readers from Boing Boing and John Scalzi's Big Idea feature!  (And very sincere thank yous to Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi for kindly featuring my book on its launch day.)

Bitter Seeds has been getting great reviews.  To celebrate the release, we're running a contest/puzzle/game called Chronicle of Sorrows.  I've posted about it here, here, and here.  First prize is a signed ARC of Bitter Seeds!

I'm also doing a giveaway on Goodreads right now.  One lucky winner will receive a signed hardcover of Bitter Seeds.  So far, over 500 600 700 800 900 people have entered the contest.  Wow!

I've posted a list of online retailers here, should my poor little book strike your fancy.

I've posted before about Jack Williamson and the Lectureship held in his honor.  The Lectureship always delivers a grand time, so I'm excited to get to visit my friends in Portales over the next few days.  This year is a little bit different, because I've been asked to deliver the keynote address during the Friday luncheon.  I think I'm more nervous about this public-speaking arrangement than I was about my thesis defense.  In general this is something at which I'm fairly competent, but I feel extra pressure to repay the Lectureship Committee's kindness and generosity with a first-class effort.

More information below the cut.

Other choice excerpts below the cut.

They assure me this isn't an April Fools joke...

But, in the course of composing a suitably cryptic reply, I realized there's another technical suggestion that might make your life easier, if you're playing along.

First off, the prizes!  The first person to successfully access the contents of John Stephenson's desk will win a signed ARC (advanced review copy) of Bitter Seeds.  (That's right, play along and maybe you can make a few bucks on eBay.  Not a lot, though.  I'm not exactly Stephen King.)  Four runners-up will be eligible for other goodies.  The usual caveat applies: beta testers and people who have a key to my house aren't eligible for the prizes.  Sorry, guys.

The game starts here.  More suggestions below the cut.

It's a real, live book.  With a cover and pages and everything.

More are on their way to my house, but last night I got to hold my book in my hands for the very first time.  Not just the first time for this book, but the first time for me.  I suppose that very successful writers with very long careers might eventually get jaded about this sort of thing.  But I can't imagine that.

You might also notice that the Bitter Seeds cover art on my homepage is a link to another website, which just happens to require three pieces of login information. Hmmm...

So I'm holding a contest! I will send a signed (and personalized!) Advanced Review Copy of Bitter Seeds to the first person who successfully logs in to bitterseedsnovel.com. Consider the game an easter egg hunt through this website.  As an added incentive to (I hope) keep you playing along, each successfully decoded clue will reveal another piece of a complete short story set in the "Milkweed" universe of Bitter Seeds!  When you finish the game, you'll have the entire story to read, and a unique piece of backstory leading up to events in the novel excerpt.

The game starts here...

Over at Stomping on Yeti, the venerable stomper of yetis has included me in his list of 25 Authors Worth Watching in 2010 and Beyond.  I'm simply blown away, and more than a little humbled, to see my name listed alongside such incredible writers as Greg van Eekhout, Rachel Swirsky, Leah Bobet, Jack Skillingstead, Theodora Goss, Mary Robinette Kowal, Aliette de Bodard, and Beth Bernobich, just to name a few.  I can only hope that I earn a spot alongside them someday.  But who am I to argue?  He stomps on yetis, people!  And that's not something I want to mess with.

Stomping on Yeti has been following up the original list with in-depth looks at each of the 25 authors.  I was included in the second spotlight, number 2 of 5.

Bitter Seeds also made it into Simply the Best's weekly roundup for February 27, under a book recommendation from Daniel Abraham.  Hooray!

Read below the cut for a long and somewhat discursive report.

Also, as a reminder, I've posted a long list of retailers where you can pre-order Bitter Seeds.

But, you know... I'm not feeling super great about this.  "This" being the whole thing where Amazon decided a viable "negotiation" tactic in its disagreement with Macmillan was to hold hostage the sales of hundreds and hundreds of authors.  In fact, when you get right down to it, I'm feeling just the tiniest bit pissed off about it.  (My Milkweed novels—Bitter Seeds, The Coldest War, and Necessary Evil—are to be published by Tor, which is part of Macmillan.)

Because that's exactly what any debut author wants to see—a spectacular corporate hissy-fit that removes his or her book from the largest online bookseller in the world.

So.  Below the cut, I've posted a long list of booksellers, from chains to small independents, both in the USA and overseas, where Bitter Seeds can be pre-ordered (now) or purchased (when April 13 rolls around). 

And hey, if you don't feel like buying my novel, that's cool.  But please consider buying something from a Macmillan author whose work does strike your fancy.  Many, many people lost sales during Amazon's public display of ass-hattery.  Sales they need to make a living.   John Scalzi said it best here.

Update, 8 February 2010: Here's a cool service from the Author's Guild: Who Moved My Buy Button?

Read below the cut for an exclusive preview!

Apparently this is a slapfight over ebook pricing.  (Which makes this even more awesome for me, since of course I have no idea if my book will be released in an ebook version, and if so, when.)

Scalzi has the scoop here, with further thoughts here.  (And I second him, especially on the part about remembering when people trample me into the dirt.)  More details can be found here, here, and here.  For the record, and to be completely honest, I want my publisher to make a better margin on my books.  I have worked very, very hard to write the Milkweed novels, and it would be nice to one day see my efforts rewarded with the occasional royalty check.  (A guy can dream, can't he?)

Sigh.

I hope this gets resolved, and quickly.  Because, you know, it would be nice if my first book were available at one of the largest online booksellers on Earth.  For the moment, it isn't.   But it's available many other places. 

You can pre-order Bitter Seeds at any of these fine venues:

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Powell's Books

BooksAMillion

Tor.com

Macmillan

Anyway, I'll be discussing various facets of my experience working on Wild Cards.  And, after much delay on my part, my first post has gone live. 

Almost Like We Planned It is a moderately coherent essay on the plot breaking process and its relationship to Wild Cards.

Taos Toolbox is geared for science fiction and fantasy writers who already have a firm grasp of the basics — folks who've already been to workshops like the Clarions or Odyssey, or who have perhaps sold a couple of stories but are having trouble breaking through to the next level.  It's also aimed at novel-length fiction, unlike most other workshops.

If this sounds like it might be for you,  I highly, highly, highly recommend jumping at any opportunity to workshop with Walter.  I've been workshopping in one form or another pretty much constantly for most of a decade, and I can tell you that Walter is one of the best. 

If this sounds like it might be for you, keep reading.  Below the cut, I list five six reasons why you should apply to Taos Toolbox today.

By which I mean I played far more Wii Sports than was really good for me.  (That explosive pain in the wrist is normal, right?)

(Hint: It involves crocodiles, and this jaw-dropping cover by Michael Komarck.)

Click through for publication news!  And contests!  And exclusive platium-club behind-the-scenes insider info!

It involves robots.

Well, puppets, if we must be technical about it.  But they're puppets OF robots.  So that's pretty close, right?

And what a pity-- so many details of the adventuring life have been lost to the ages. What goods must one never offer for barter to the one-eyed witch priests of Zanzibar?  What music will soothe the savage bloodlust of the legendary Yeti?  Does Charon accept multi-zone bus transfers?  The loss of such knowledge is a tragedy.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why today I am pleased to unveil the Portable Letterpress.

To that end, I proudly unveil the culmination of my research on the bodily humours.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you -- straight from the bleeding forefront of Victorian steam-powered arcana -- the Aetheric Electro-Imager.

(Cory was one of my Clarion instructors back in 2005, the penultimate year of Clarion's long run at Michigan State before it moved to UCSD. That's right -- I've lived in a sorority house with Cory Doctorow. How many men can say that? Well, the other guys in my Clarion class, I guess.)

Anyway, because of the traffic bump, I thought this might be a good time to mention that we've added a newsletter signup form on the contact page. More info below the cut.

It is possible -- with the proper combination of enthusiasm, clumsiness, and dumb luck -- to throw the ball backwards, into the crowd, in Wii Bowling.

(Also, because I'm frightened and beguiled by the word "stitchpunk".  I don't know if a single movie really merits an entirely new 'punk genre, even if the conceit is wonderfully innovative.)

For a synopsis, I offer my first thought as the credits rolled:  Huh.  Who knew rag dolls lead such exciting lives?

Other thoughts, of equally little substance but a more spoilery nature, below the cut.

But the clocks I mentioned earlier share one enormous failing: they aren't powered by consuming life itself.

Well, now, finally somebody has seen fit to remedy this.

It reminded me of one of my all-time favorite documentaries, an episode of Nature called The Octopus Show.

Am I the only person to look at that and immediately think of the Last Redoubt from The Night Land?

Several new faces showed up to my reading, for which I am deeply grateful.  Poor Serge ended up sitting through the same reading I gave at the ASFS last May, but he was a perfect gentleman about it.

Speaking of Bubonicon, and World War II (which I frequently do, as in this post), I saw something wonderful at last year's convention that I haven't posted until now. I wanted to wait until a blog upgrade made it possible to do this justice!

I wouldn't miss it for anything.  I always have a fantastic time at Bubonicon.  You can find the full schedule for the weekend's festivities here.  Below the cut, I've posted my schedule for this upcoming weekend.

But just as I got to the last page of the manuscript -- zeroing in on the final sentence of this book, which I've had in mind for two and a half years -- the clouds parted, the sun came out, and a rainbow emerged.  Perfectly framed by my office window.

True story.

But!

More importantly, today -- April 28, 2009 -- is an auspicious day for book lovers.  Not one but two wonderful books are available for your enjoyment:   C. C. Finlay's novel The Patriot Witch, and S. C. Butler's novel The Magicians' Daughter, both debut today.

But over at Tor.com right now, Robert Bland just posted a nice argument (rant) about the Battlestar finale. My thoughts on his thoughts follow below the cut.

That's because the attendees of the annual Williamson Lectureship always end up congregating there during the programming break between the luncheon and afternoon panels, and the Lectureship draws an impressive crowd of SF luminaries not only from New Mexico's large local population of writers, but also from places far and wide. Sure, you might argue that conventions like Worldcon, World Fantasy, or ComicCon draw far more people and thus many more professionals. And that's true. But I'm talking sheer density here. Conventions like those are spread out over entire convention centers and multiple hotels.

You try cramming a dozen Hugo and Nebula winners and maybe a SFWA Grand Master or two into a single Dairy Queen some time. It ain't that straightforward. Dairy Queens are small.

More information about the Lectureship follows below the cut.

If you sent something my way and I didn't respond, please send me an email:

ian AT (i don't like spam) iantregillis DOT com

Just remove the bit about spam. I'll be taking a helium leak detector and some duct tape to the tubes later today. In the meantime, here's a haiku below the cut.

Update:  We think the contact form is working again.  But feel free to send email to above address.

Oddly enough, I discovered just this morning that GRRM himself has put up a blog post about the endings of Life on Mars, Knowing, and Battlestar Galactica.  (Great minds?  Heh.)  In this second part to my discussion of endings, I'll explain why I agree with George about Battlestar Galactica and Knowing, and why I think he's mistaken about Life on Mars.  Because sometimes you gotta speak truth to power, right?

Spoilers for Knowing, and lots of rambling thoughts about what makes for good and bad writing, follow below the cut.

And, on a related note, my friend Ty and I -- in a fit of boredom laced with mild masochism -- saw the Nicholas Cage movie Knowing last night.  Which also got me thinking about endings, but not in a good way. 

Spoilers follow below the cut, where I ramble on and on with musings about Life on Mars and some of the things that make for a successful ending.

And as with the previous two volumes, Suicide Kings boasts yet another fantastic cover by the amazing Michael Komarck.   I think he's outdone himself with this cover.  Check it out here and see for yourself.

Spoilers ahoy!

And, just to rub it in for the rest of us mortals, she writes some of the most amazing prose I've ever read.  She is seriously the most stone-cold talented writer I've had the pleasure of meeting.  I realized this about 2 pages into her submission at Rio Hondo last spring.  Oh, and she tops it off by being nice.  The nerve!

I guess I was feeling nostalgic recently. So, wishing to revisit those pleasant memories, I bought a new copy for enjoyment during my daily bus commute. And that's how I discovered, to my everlasting chagrin and embarrassment, that I had never actually read the novel.

I don't know what I read as a kid, but it sure wasn't 20,000 Leagues.

A slightly longer version of the trip report follows.

Bitter Seeds now has a tentative publication date (well, season): Winter, 2010

So, it should be hitting shelves about a year from now (January-March, roughly). O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

The cool part? Del Rey is releasing the books of his series in crazy-fast succession this year: April, May, and June.

Yeah. Because he's that good and it's going to be that huge.

But the coolest part? You can download a FREE PDF of the first book in the series, The Patriot Witch-- right now, in its glorious entirety -- from Charlie's website.

That's free as in no signup, no registration, no newsletters, no strings. Just download and read.

I didn't decide until relatively late in the game that I'd be making the trip to Boston.  Even so, the concom has even been kind enough to put me on programming, listed below.

I do like the thought of being on a first-name basis with tech support.

Today I had to listen to Jingle Bell Rock for seven agonizing minutes. That accursed earworm is still burrowing through my brain, hours later. I'm pretty sure it has done some damage.

I like Christmas music. Truly, I do. But come on, furniture store. Freakin' Jingle Bell Rock?!? What the hell did I ever do to you?

So I find myself wishing the people who selected songs for that tinny, canned on-hold music had more eclectic tastes.

But the big news today, of course, is that the newest Wild Cards novel, Busted Flush, is now available.

"Oh, Ian," they cry, "why do you yearn for that day when our steam-powered automata go berserk with the lust for freedom? And why must you labor to hasten its coming?"

Because, madam: the clockwork apocalypse will be beautiful.

But, in order to avoid having to face Glondoor in the Stone Circle of Death, I'll try to do better. Honest. More posts in the near future. Really.

Below the cut, I have posted my programming schedules for both cons.

As gentle reminders go, this will be hard to beat. ]]>Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:49:00 +0000 odd things on my way to, from, and around work. This morning's walk would have been unremarkable (but glorious-- perfect weather and that wide, bright NewMexico sky) if not for the unicycle.]]>Fri, 30 May 2008 09:24:00 +0000 New York Times sports the headline, Monkeys Control a Robot Arm With Their Thoughts. ]]>Wed, 28 May 2008 02:50:00 +0000 seaborne arcology? Then seasteading might be for you! ]]>Fri, 23 May 2008 03:28:00 +0000 that page. I'm not receiving missives entered via the contact form, or at least, not receiving some of them. I don't know how long that's been the case... Sorry. So, if you have recently tried to contact me via the form, and haven't received a response, please post a comment below or send an email to ian AT iantregillis (dot) com. ]]>Thu, 22 May 2008 03:53:00 +0000 Tue, 20 May 2008 09:11:00 +0000 I'm back home now, after returning (somewhat reluctantly) from the Taos ski valley and a fantabulous week at the Rio Hondo workshop.

It's now up for a Hugo award, and deservedly so. Stop what you're doing right now and go read Daniel's story. Seriously. It's that good. ]]>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:23:00 +0000 Today, while waiting at a traffic light on my way to lunch, I noticed that the guy standing next to me was holding a large hourglass. He wore no wristwatch.