It's a wonderful obsession, like a passionate affair

[sovay]

My poem "кот древнее и неприкосновенное животное" has been accepted by Not One of Us. The title means "the cat is an ancient and inviolable creature"; it is spoken by the black demon-cat Behemoth right before he does something chaotic in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. I wrote it for our black cats with their clever paws, their sincere eyes, and their research-defying tastes in human food.

My contributor's copy of Shimmer 2017: The Collected Stories just arrived on our doorstep. It is a handsome trade paperback of the year's fiction edited by E. Catherine Tobler, including my story "The Creeping Influences." Authors include Mary Robinette Kowal, Aimee Ogden, Michael Matheson, Charles Payseur, Martin Cahill, Natalia Theodoridou, Maria Haskins, Octavia Cade, and Naru Dames Sundar. I am looking forward to reading and re-reading everything.

In a year in which I feel like I did almost nothing worth naming, these are especially nice developments at the end of December.

I slept less than an hour last night. That's part of the reason I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I remember a sense of apocalypse in my dreams and something about the age of sail, but the only setting I can call to mind is a garden store.

Comments

[nineweaving]

A lovely high note for the year's end.

I hope the doctor's appointment will be helpful.

Nine

[sovay]

A lovely high note for the year's end.

Thank you.

I hope the doctor's appointment will be helpful.

It was, actually. I've even slept since!

[nineweaving]

Ah, splendid!

Nine

[gwynnega]

Congratulations on the quick poetry sale! The Shimmer paperback sounds beautiful. I'm sorry to hear about the lack of sleep.

[sovay]

Congratulations on the quick poetry sale!

Thank you!

The Shimmer paperback sounds beautiful.

It's a really solid collection of stories and the sort of thing I am pleased to be part of. Also I just like having my online publications in print.

I'm sorry to hear about the lack of sleep.

Appreciated. I did sleep last night, and am hoping to repeat the feat.

[jesse_the_k]

I hope the doc appt results in cozy, high-thread-count, uninterrupted slumber.

[sovay]

I hope the doc appt results in cozy, high-thread-count, uninterrupted slumber.

That is a wonderful wish and I am glad to report that it did in fact help me sleep.

Your icon is magnificent.

[choco_frosh]

I am sorry that the last two nights and days have been bobcat. Speaking of cats, though, that is an excellent poem, and I am not surprised that somebody snapped it up instantly. Permission to share it?
(I ask especially because my Dad’s partner’s cat appears to be doing the cat equivalent of winding up his affairs.)

[sovay]

(I ask especially because my Dad’s partner’s cat appears to be doing the cat equivalent of winding up his affairs.)

I am fine with you sharing the poem with your Dad and his partner (and their cat). Thank you!