Progress is happening on the art front for the cover of the 2nd Okal Rel Universe anthology, Personal Combat in the Okal Rel Universe. John Preet, votary editor for the 2nd anthology, put me in touch with artist Steve Swanson of Calgary, who has now delivered a draft sketch for the cover that includes the detail seen here.

posted by Lynda at 07:49   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

Discovered news of big changes for the Calgary SF con, known as Con-Version for its last twenty-odd offerings, via a message on the SFCanada mailing list. Read all about it at the new CSFFS website. Sounds promising. (CSFFS stands for Calgary Science Fiction and Fantasy Society).
posted by Lynda at 08:53   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

Present from KP and Jordan. A corrected proof of "that button" -- the controvertial one, grammatically. Is it "who" or "whom"? I say "who" because the pronoun refers to the subject -- namely "I" -- but there were enough contradictory opinions from smart people that I looked it up at How do you know when to use who or whom in a sentence? and I think I finally know what the problem is.

Aparently one is supposed to use "whom" (the accusative) following a preposition, as well as when the person referred to is the object of the sentence.

Now "for" as in "for who/whom I am" is -- I admit! -- a preposition, but even if that is technically correct it is just too stuffy for Vretla, IMHO, and she is the person being quoted here (in English translation from the Gelack, naturally). Di Mon may have educated her in the niceties of court grammar, but I still think she'd be a "who" person. So I'm sticking with "who" as the right way to go on the following excuse (to quote the yahoo Q&A article):

The correct usage of these troublesome pronouns is often ignored in speech and informal writing when the word "whom" would sound forced or unnatural.

posted by Lynda at 14:26   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 1 comments

 

posted by Lynda at 08:42   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 1 comments

 

I have been communicating with a nifty performance artist named Halijo who runs an arts show on CFUR, UNBC's community radio station. Halijo is going to do a nice, long interview with me and some of mine in September sometime. (I'll keep you posted.) She also has a show of her own coming up at the Kizmet Cafe this Friday, Jul 21, at 7:30 pm, for those in Prince George who can drop in. I will be there. :-)

I sent Halijo a link to "Going Back Out" which inspired the comment below. The "apex" thing refers to the name of the protagonist of that story, named Gadar. >> Thank you for the short story! >> >> I especially like the apex (summit of the mountain) Making a difference one stage at a time" Halijo ~ 2006

posted by Lynda at 07:46   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

White Dwarf Books has just confirmed that they'll be hosting a Mythspring event on Friday, July 21st at 7pm. You can get info about the bookstore here:

http://www.deadwrite.com/wd.html

If you happen to be in the Vancouver area during this time, let me know and I'll keep the people at the bookstore up to date.

Thanks,
Daniel Archambault.
posted by Lynda at 07:20   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

"There are so many lovely pathways in your novels a person could ramble down."

Patsy Crawford (from an e-mail Jun 26, whilst considering possible plots for an ORU anthology story).

---

Patsy was writing to ask about naming conventions for Lorel, Demish and Vrellish characters. My response is below:

A Lorel is more likely to have an ordinary Earthly name for example. (Dara and Karin are fine there.) The Demish tend to use terms like D'something (Blue Demish and Golden Demish) or H'something (Silver Demish) but those are titles meaning "of somewhere" that get built into names. Vrellish names tend to have a lot of V's and S's in them. But Raine works for me.

posted by Lynda at 06:54   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
to all the younger reader out there just want to give you a heads up, dont use "I time slipped" as a excuse for being late. Im speaking from experince it does NOT work. it is more likely to get you into more trouble. Unfortunatly our narrow minded parents do not understand the affects of reality-skiming from the world of Okal Rel to the "real world"
posted by Anonymous at 21:18   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 1 comments

 
I cannot thank Krysia enough for all the battery charging she's been doing for me as I try to clear the decks of my life enough to make headway with the next novel, Pretenders. Krysia calls me up twice a week, lately, to tell me where and how she has encountered the Okal Rel universe in real life, to discuss the plot of the short story she is working on for the 2nd anthology, or to ask me questions. No author could ask for a more rewarding fan, and no editor a more industrious author :-) I have therefore invited Krysia to join the blog and share some of her adventures here, as well. (PS: Amel is a bit worried about distracting her from real life, but basking all the same, much touched and flattered. He sends his love, also.)

Image on the left is a screen capture of a digital doodle and afternoon fantasy concerning Ann and Amel, created by Krysia and my daughter Angie.

JADED CONFESSION: I got an teasing e-mail from Krysia about the message above, saying I am an Evil Lorel for implying the ORU isn't "real". Upon review of my reactions I decided my ambiguity is showing these days: my fear that maybe ideals have no place in the world after all, and meaning no business intruding on entertainment, and I should be hunkering down in my bunker, waving money and other status symbols over the parapets to defend myself or to act as a white flag of surrender; focusing on the pension and that sort of thing; or watching some reality TV about how to lie and cheat and get ahead. But if I really feel that way I should just stop writing. If I don't, I should stop flinching and live up to my own beliefs. Of course I don't "believe" the Okal Rel Universe is "real" (nor does Krysia) in the sense of being a physical place or the people who inhabit it being flesh and blood beings. But it is as real as the problems it tackles, the questions it asks, and the feelings it generates. I have always known that. It is the well-spring from which I write. Krysia ended her message with: "write until your fingers bleed i am. ps. give amel a hug for me". I'll do both. It might help. And my apologies for being so "flinchy" lately, folks. About a bunch of things. It has been a rough couple of years for me and I'm still wandering in the wilderness here, a bit. Good thing I have people like Kyrsia in my life to call me on it. :-) The ORU is half play and half "serious" in ways that are much harder to explain or justify than anything concrete ever can be. Always has been. Also should be. :-) But I gotta lighten up, on the one hand, and stick to my uh, well, swords I guess, not guns, on the other. :-)

posted by Lynda at 10:02   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Woo hoo! Virtual kisses to Cory Doctorow for mentioning Jenny's alternative ending to the Animorph series on his very popular, world famous BoingBoing blog. She got 1,000 hits between noon and 4 pm today as a consequence and some lovely new entries in her guest book. She's thrilled!
posted by Lynda at 16:27   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 1 comments