Don't you wish you'd never, never met her?

Got my page proofs for "The White Swan" (in TEL : Stories) today, and they are beautiful. I can't wait to see—and read—the entire anthology. [edited 2005-03-31 16:28] And it has a nice-looking advertisement, too!

TEL : Stories Edited by Jay Lake Wheatland Press August, 2005 ISBN: 0-9755903-3-2 Pre-order soon from Wheatland Press Did you ever read a story and say to yourself, "Oh my God, someone can do that with the language?" TEL : Stories is dedicated to the idea that there is no such thing as stylistic excess. Featuring a reprint of Greer Gilman's "Jack Daw's Pack," as well as new fiction from Forrest Aguirre, Gregory Feeley, Jeff VanderMeer and many other fine authors, TEL : Stories offers twenty-eight different views of what style in fiction can be.

In other news, I'm trying to figure out how on earth I managed to make it all the way to grad school without ever listening to PJ Harvey. I love her work. A professor of mine introduced me to her last fall with To Bring You My Love: it was instant addiction. A day ago, I borrowed Rid of Me; and given that I've been listening to it almost nonstop since then, it may be about to displace To Bring You My Love as my favorite PJ Harvey album. I'm not really familiar with any of her recent stuff, though. I've got Dry and Is This Desire?, which are likewise fantastic—I retain a certain preference for the three earlier albums, but Is This Desire? has "Angelene," "The Wind," "A Perfect Day, Elise," and "No Girl So Sweet," which are individually some of my favorites—but I've never heard either Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea or Uh Huh Her.

Recommendations, warnings, abstract thoughts, anyone?