-
More Way Back Stuff
Picture Then and Now… We are in the middle of the Fantasy Study Along workshop, so sort of busy, like a great deal. Some great reading and such. So instead of doing a blog that would take my brain, I decided to put up a picture from the way-back machine. The first picture is in my publisher’s office on the second floor of the Pulphouse Publishing Inc. building in Eugene, Oregon, in January of 1991. It was taken by James Fiscus. I was 40 years old in that picture and the publisher of the 5th largest publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in the nation for the third straight…
-
The Need For Cat Pictures
Especially Today… I normally hate Fridays for a ton of historical reasons, but today I hate this Friday even more. 2020 sucks and today it just got worse. So instead of dwelling on death and politics and pandemic, I figure it was just better to do cats. So this first picture is of Kris and her heart cat Moose. Moose was a polydactyl and Kris rescued her when she was a tiny kitten, on the edge of death, and had to be bottle fed. Moose, when she was small, got in the habit of sleeping in Kris’s hair and did that every night for 14 years. Not kidding. After Moose…
-
Feed the Obsession
By Mark Leslie… This is an amazing Kickstarter campaign called Feed the Obsession that has just under a week left and is doing great. Over 200% funded and nearing it’s first stretch goal where everyone gets yet another major collection of stories. Kris and I both have stories in the book, as well as a lot of other professional writers. It is going to be an amazing book. So Kris and I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to do a special workshop to help the campaign out. A workshop we have been looking for a reason to do. It is a three-week workshop called How to…
-
23 Years Ago
In a Land Far, Far Away… Dean and Kris had some great times with some friends… Or so the story goes… That’s right, back in the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Kris and I used to travel a lot to conferences. In 1992 it got excessive and we went to 26 different ones. By 1997, we had cut way, way back and basically only hit a few big conventions and a couple fun ones. One of the big conventions in August 1997 was the San Antonio World Science Fiction Convention. That’s right, San Antonio in August heat. Late August heat, actually. So it wasn’t the biggest world…
-
Deadlines
Got to Love Them… I wrote four short stories in the last week or so, got two more to do I found out today. Actually thought I only had one, but had missed one. And in a wonderful meeting (wonderful because everyone at WMG Publishing is healthy and our offices are still there), I got a number of other deadlines set. When focused, I work great to deadlines, and at the moment I am focused on writing and exercise. So I should be fine. My writing deadlines for the next month. (Yes, I do mean one month.) — Two new original short stories. — Introductions and author intros for Cat…
-
Last Fall
Kris and I Ran a Lot of Fun Runs… Wow, that seems like a long time ago. But the running group I have joined put on four or five of those, and are trying to put on three of them this fall again. They were the group behind a large run called Vegas Strong to benefit the shooting victims. That would be running in a week, but was cancelled because it was just too big to be done safely. The other three they put on are still under review and might work because the runners can go out in waves. I used those runs last year to stay motivated and…
-
Exercise Update
A Bust of a Week… Managed one 8.5 mile day, another 5 mile day, and the rest right at 3 miles per day. Mostly because I’m letting blisters on the bottom of my feet get better. Painful little suckers. So tomorrow (actually about eight hours from right now) I will be joining the running group again to do 3 miles to start the day. With luck, that will get this coming week back on track. And then cut the intake down some on the food and I’ll be back on course. Need the weight to come down so the milage can go up. My first marathon is December 5th. Might…
-
Another Friday…
Of Doing Next To Nothing… And feeling fine about that, actually. Sometimes you just have to take some time off. So I did very little email. I watched a lot of news coverage about the fires in Oregon. And for the first time in weeks, I allowed myself to sleep in. And then I took a nap, actually two of them. I went out and got us lunch from one of our favorite restaurants and brought it back (we don’t eat in restaurants at this point, just take-out). I did a bunch of organizing of files in the new office, seeing what it will be like to work my way…
-
Special Workshop…
Only Through A Kickstarter… A special three-week workshop through a very, very special Kickstarter campaign put on by great editor and writer, Mark Leslie for his Obsessions Anthology. Feed the Obsession Kickstarter campaign. Kris and I both have original stories in this anthology, along with some other fantastic writers. And since the object of this campaign is an anthology called Obsessions, we offered to do (just for the Kickstarter campaign) a special three-week workshop. Exclusive 3 Week Horror Fiction Workshop “How to Write an Obsession Story (That people want to read.)” Or “How to Write a Horror Short Story.” The reason this is exclusive is because you can only sign…
-
Community To East of Lincoln City
A Heartbreaking Video… This is a video from two guys going up into the Panther Creek area just to the east of Lincoln City. Completely gone. Hard to imagine, and they only got into a small area of Panther Creek. I sure hope everyone got out of there. Wow. And below the video is an image of Highway 18 (main road in and out of Lincoln City from Portland.)