Success!

[MJNL]

Awesome! Take me with you? I can fit in your suitcase--all I need is a little water now and again.

[izanobu]

Sorry, Marina. I don't own a suitcase...

Now I just have to figure out how to sell 1520 more copies of my fantasy novel ebook in the next week or two

[Grayson Morris]

Congrats, izanobu! (I'm envious! Someday, when les kiddeaus are grown...) That's definitely something to look forward to.

[kyle]

My short story, "Too Close for Comfort," (the one that was in Cosmos Magazine last year) has been reprinted in a new e-book anthology called Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever, which has just been released. The official launch is tomorrow (Wed., March 23), and to celebrate the editor is having a virtual launch party on her blog. She ordinarily gives advice to writers polishing their novel queries, so she's a useful resource in the best of times, but I'd encourage everyone to visit the website between 8:00 AM U.S. Central Time on March 23 and 8:00 AM U.S. Central Time on March 24 to join in the revelry, and perhaps take home one of the free copies being given away!

[Jackie B.]

Congrats to everyone on their recent accomplishments!! And Izanobu, I am SO jealous

[Patty]

Blowing my own trumpet a bit, but I swear it's for a good cause.

A few weeks ago Christchurch, New Zealand, was pretty much wiped off the map in a terrible earthquake. Almost 200 people died in a disaster that reduced the city's CBD, including the iconic cathedral, to a heap of rubble. In a bitter stroke of irony, worst hit was the building that housed the local TV station.

Two NZ writers decided to put together an anthology of SFF stories to help raise money for the NZ Red Cross. The response they got was overwhelming, with story contributions by Neil Gaiman, Jay Lake, Sean Williams, Brenda Cooper, and many more, and including me.

You can pre-order a copy here: http://talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com/ and help Anna and Cassie raise $5000 for NZ earthquake victims and their families.

[Patty]

And while I'm at it, I am a nominee in the Australian Ditmar Awards for Best New Talent!

http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_ballot

[soulmirror]

Big congrats to you (and Best of Good Luck Wishes to win!) for your "Best New Talent" award, Patty!

On a sadder note, the New Zealand earthquake and the Japanese quake/tsunami are terrible human tragedies indeed -- I'm glad folks across the world are rallying to help those afflicted!

We could give too! If we haven't already, when we drop our WOTF stories or IOTF artwork into the mail full of hope next week -- why not also drop a cheque of whatever amount in to aid the quake victims in New Zealand, or Japan, or Chile .. and give some hope there from across the world?

There was a thought-provoking article in a recent Newsweek magazine pointing out that it's very common (though not scientifically certain) that for many major quakes on one corner of the Pacific tectonic plate, there soon follows another mirror image quake on the opposite corner.

In the last year, moving clockwise, there have been major quakes in Chile, then (opposite to west) New Zealand then (opposite to north) Japan ... and the last corner without a quake is the San Andreas fault area under San Francisco (opposite corner to the east)

http://standeyo.com/Reports/041222.EQ.warning/West.Coast/ring.of.fire.gif

...
Even more worrisome than geography and topography, though, is geological history. For this event cannot be viewed in isolation. There was a horrifically destructive Pacific earthquake in New Zealand on Feb. 22, and an even more violent magnitude-8.8 event in Chile almost exactly a year before.

All three phenomena involved more or less the same family of circum-Pacific fault lines and plate boundaries—and though there is still no hard scientific evidence to explain why, there is little doubt now that earthquakes do tend to occur in clusters: a significant event on one side of a major tectonic plate is often—not invariably, but often enough to be noticeable—followed some weeks or months later by another on the plate’s far side. It is as though the earth becomes like a great brass bell, which when struck by an enormous hammer blow on one side sets to vibrating and ringing from all over.

Now there have been catastrophic events at three corners of the Pacific Plate—one in the northwest, on Friday; one in the southwest, last month; one in the southeast, last year.

That leaves just one corner unaffected—the northeast. And the fault line in the northeast of the Pacific Plate is the San Andreas Fault, underpinning the city of San Francisco.

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/13/the-scariest-earthquake-is-yet-to-come.html

[izanobu]

yay, Patty. Very cool

[Grayson Morris]

Kyle, congrats on the reprint! I can only imagine seeing a story of mine in print twice. (Well, at this point, I can still only *imagine* seeing it in print once.) Bet that's a nice feeling.

Patty, impressive company in the anthology, and kudos for being selected. And wow! Best New Talent? Congrats on the nomination!

[Gwendolyn Clare]

There was a thought-provoking article in a recent Newsweek magazine pointing out that it's very common (though not scientifically certain) that for many major quakes on one corner of the Pacific tectonic plate, there soon follows another mirror image quake on the opposite corner.

In the last year, moving clockwise, there have been major quakes in Chile, then (opposite to west) New Zealand then (opposite to north) Japan ... and the last corner without a quake is the San Andreas fault area under San Francisco (opposite corner to the east)

Don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but it sounds like that Newsweek article needs to bust open a tectonics textbook. Chile is not in contact with the Pacific plate at all; earthquakes in Chile are caused by subduction of the Nazca plate under South America. And the San Andreas is a transform fault, which have very different dynamics from subduction zones. I'd be more worried about the (USian) Pacific Northwest, which actually is more or less due for an earthquake on the same scale as what hit Japan.

Anyway, congrats to all you folks with awesome news!

[kyle]

I said this on Twitter, but I'll say it again here: Congrats, Patty! You really deserve that Ditmar nom.

[soulmirror]

There was a thought-provoking article in a recent Newsweek magazine pointing out that it's very common (though not scientifically certain) that for many major quakes on one corner of the Pacific tectonic plate, there soon follows another mirror image quake on the opposite corner ...

Don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but it sounds like that Newsweek article needs to bust open a tectonics textbook ...

Ha! You're certainly not bursting my bubble, Gwendolyn: I'm not exactly being selfish in that my bubble is that I want Newsweek's big quake in Cali to never happen! I guess my point was meant more like: It could very well happen to many of us too, we could help out those already hit (which was Patty's point too) ... knowing that we shouldn't feel "immune" somehow, according to some we're predictably in the next cross-hairs!

If Newsweek's wrong about that ... happy news!

[izanobu]

Hey, Patty, you might want to let SF Signal know they have a faulty ballot list... you aren't on the Ditmar ballot they posted: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/0 ... FSignal%29

Instead it is someone named Peter M Ball? Weird.

http://kaaronwarren.wordpress.com/2011/ ... -awards-2/
You aren't listed on that list either? Neither is this mysterious Peter M Ball? They should really get their lists finalized

[Patty]

Peter Ball won the award category last year

[Patty]

Correct list now here:

http://2011.swancon.com.au/natcon-fifty-ditmar-awards/

[izanobu]

Whew, good. I was really confused when I opened the SFSignal thingy and was like "uh, that can't be right" Not that I can vote anyway, but it still seems like one standardized list would be good to have

Congrats again I hope you win

[MJNL]

Wow, congrats, that's super exciting!

[vanaaron]

Gwendolyn Clare seems to have been too modest to mention it here, but her story Iron Oxide Red is now available to non-subscribers at Daily Science Fiction. It is a wonderful piece, as I discuss at greater length at the Fantastic Reviews Blog.

[Gwendolyn Clare]

Thanks for the review, Aaron! It wasn't modesty so much as forgetfulness -- had a crazy couple of weeks at work, and wasn't keeping up my usual levels of shameless self-promotion.

[MJNL]

Ah, yes, congrats my dear!

[WriteToLive]

Yes, Congrats Gwendolyn

[kyle]

Yes, belatedly, congrats, Gwendolyn. I've been a bit backlogged in my DSF reading, I'm afraid.

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Sale #4 to Analog, for me.

"Ray of Light" will appear very late this year, or probably early next.

Yah, I can get used to being a "regular" in the genre's most venerable, most widely circulated print magazine.

[kyle]

Congrats, Brad! I look forward to reading it.

[Grayson Morris]

Congratulations, Brad!

[MJNL]

Congratulations, Brad! That's fantastic

[A.R.Williams]

Congrats, Brad!

[Jackie B.]

Awesome!! Congrats

[soulmirror]

Sale #4 to Analog, for me.

"Ray of Light" will appear very late this year, or probably early next.

Yah, I can get used to being a "regular" in the genre's most venerable, most widely circulated print magazine.

Huge Congratulations, Mr. T !!!

Just like so many of the now-bigtime writers profiled and quoted in the "WOTF: The First 25 Years" book, we'll all soon be hearing you say how after you won WotF your huge career took off to the stars !!!