Tree Cutting

Tree cutter looks small. No, tree is very large. He is about to take down the branches on that limb... watch... okay there's a big branch just hanging by ropes. He and helpers drop it to the ground. They do this several times. Izzi and I stay in house or side yard. Then when it's safe and over, Izzi goes out to investigate. Look at her versus size of debris! At end of day, look at the same area where the cutter was standing-- GONE! (click to enlarge pic) Once he does this a few more times, my huge, dead cottonwood will be topped and next spring it will be the base for a new star gazing observatory! Maybe high-rise writing room!

Case and the RazorGal

Oh WOW! Here I am with one of my long-time favorite authors, William Gibson, at the public library Zero History talk/tour. In this pic he is signing my old, tattered copy of Neuromancer!! I asked, and he signed it: "To ZenWoman, a real RAZOR GIRL, best, Wm Gibson 2010 " OMG, I love it and have a pic thanks to my new BFF Riann. (never dreamt you would send pics so FAST! U R the bomb and a RazorGirl, too!!) For those who don't want the entire RazorGirl history, here's a brief quote about his original Razor, Molly:

William Gibson's Neuromancer is the original and still definitive text of cyberpunk fiction. No character is more beloved by cyberpunk fans than Molly, the original "razor girl." Among Molly's cybernetic augmentations are surgically inset mirrorshades which seal her eye sockets, "ten double-edged, four-centimeter scalpel blades [in] housings beneath [her] burgundy nails" (Gibson, 1984, p. 25), and a jacked-up nervous system for "the reflexes to go with the gear" (1984, p. 147). She also carries "a fair amount of silicon in her head" (1984, p. 34) -- not exactly the most feminine place in which to accommodate one's silicone augmentations ;) but these enhancements make her faster, tougher, and stronger than any of the male characters of the novel, none of whom sport cyborg augmentations to the same degree as hers.

YEAH BABY!!! Razor GALS Forever!!
I'll add another pic later and write up more about the event, too. Just had to get this posted ASAP so I can tweet and Fbook it! I also got my Zero History signed and my old Burning Chrome (his first stories!!) Thanks BookWorks and ABQ/BC Library and especially my pic-takin' pal! (and of course, JC who went with.) ps - Case was the protag in Neuromancer, but Molly was my early inspiration as a female hacker!! (think Lisabeth Salander, but the ORIGINAL!)

an End Point...

Everything needs an end point. A period. A way to indicate this thought has ended, and a new sentence, thought, or phase is beginning. For me, the novel-writing and editing phase of AKS had to end. It was done, over due. Yes, I could have tweaked for another week, but I had a feeling that seven days later I would still feel as unfinished as my story of Unfinished Business. I would feel worse, missing yet another deadline -- another unmet Equinox release.

I wanted the book to be done in the Spring, released on March 20. The disclaimer says Vernal, not Autumnal, Equinox. I left it as a reminder of time passing. I hope to have a final book in my hand come 9:09 pm, September 22. If a batch is printed early this coming week, it's still possible. If I had waited, kept tweaking, another milestone would have passed.

Oh, I can hear those critics now. "But isn't it more important for it to be right?" NO, actually it's more important to finish something. How many people are walking around with books in their head that will NEVER see the page? How many people say "some day" I'm going to write that novel, take that trip, stop smoking, quit drinking, whatever. I am here to tell you perfectionism and procrastination are worse than a few missing punctuation marks. I truly believe that. If there are too many remaining errors in the book, I'll quietly upload a text revision in six weeks, and few people will know or realize it even happened. If I had waited, missed another major milestone, my spirit would have been crushed. That is not so easily repaired.

So on this emergency 911 date, nine years have passed since the terror attack that continues to haunt everyone. My work, on A Kindred Spirit, began on a September day a few years before that. I will not be haunted. I am letting go, moving on. The TIME IS NOW for me to release this book. It's a point in time. What I was able to say and write at this point. Hopefully in the future I can write a better book. This one, however, is done.

Make it Stopppppppp...

My god, really, look at that Errata List. It's a mile long... and no time to even explain or evaluate right now. Just edit, fix, post, review. It's goes on and on. No holiday weekend here. WORK!!! Last chance to make this book the best it can be.

Don't Panic over FDO!

PLEASE don't judge the AKS book by it's FDO. In other words, I know the early release sucks. It's riddled with errors. PLEASE trust that I have many people who are very detailed editors, proof-readers, grammarians, fact-checkers, Dick-heads and all the gross mistakes will be fixed. Many already have been in my working copy.

Let me explain again, to attend the PKD Festival I had to rush a proof copy, basically an advanced reader copy, as the FDO Limited Edition. This was guaranteed to have errors. This is why I either gave them away or sold them cheap. Relax! The book is under extreme scrutiny.

I also knew someone would come out swinging about use of PKD or someone in the book. It's FICTION! I have a legal advisor and Editor. We have good advice on what we can and can't do. Fictional characters are just that -- products of my imagination. I may have been inspired by real people, but no one in the book is REAL! As my Editor says, "No one. Not even Phil." After all, my version of Phil is in the afterlife.

PLEASE check the Errata Sheet and send in any corrections, mistakes, typos, or anything confusing you find as you read the pre-release Dick-head copy (the FDO version.) Know that I am working long hours, as are my army of readers and editors, to make this a great final product. DON'T PANIC!

Penultimate Dick-heads

Final thoughts on the FEST: It was a small gathering, but what we lacked in number we compensated for in knowledge and commitment. In other words, QUALITY not quantity, baby! The creme de la creme of PKD fans and scholars were there. For you non-Dicks, The Penultimate Truth is the title of one of Phil's novels. One 'zine writer (Perry Kinman) came from Japan! Frank Hollander, the penultimate PKD collector, came from Seattle. Some made the pilgrimage to the grave site at Fort Morgan (a few hours from Nederland.) Long-time fans came from Minnesota (Patrick Clark) and Missouri (Laura Entwhistle.) There were scholars: Sam Umland from Nebraska, several from California, including the dynamic duo of Gill and Davis. And others from Colorado and the great Southwest. Between the fest, my pre-release party, promo copies and sales, at least 65 FDO copies are now in circulation. I even sold one at a rest stop on I-25 (thanks to my van window screen ad.)

In an interview, Michael Bishop (who wrote my favorite PKD homage The Secret Ascension ) once said:

Philip K. Dick didn't write science fiction at all. He wrote vividly dramatized and paranoiacally imagined narratives about his own bodily involvement in, and psychic estrangement from, the major U.S. cultural neuroses of the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s... I would even go so far as to say that Dick was a mainstream novelist wholly successfully disguising himself as a science fiction writer.

So, in a way, it's hard to imagine how the festival could have been any better. All of us who attended are glad we did and feel like a secret society of Penultimate Dick-heads. Shhh, we have a secret meeting place, too. FDO on Fbook ;) More pics are posted there. OH, and Please don't forget to send your feedback on the FDO edition. You can email, tweet (#aksbook), call, or post on the Errata Sheet. Just send it no later than Labor Day, as I edit the final edition. Thanks again.