Gwnewch y pethau bychain

Month: December 2009

I’m just a mirror of a mirror of myself

AS I sit at my desk, the decade is drawing to a close. 2009 has been a bumpy year for me, and these last few days even more so, but as I try to think back to 1999, I can’t help but marvel at how much my life has changed for the better.

I considered writing a big long essay, trying to make sense of it all, but in the end it comes down to this: I have filled my life with love, and had that love returned to me. I have friends old and new who care about me, and have the great and humbling fortune to call six of the most intelligent, beautiful and sexy women on this planet my sweeties…and to call one of those six women my wife, the best partner I could have ever dreamed for myself. I’m not sure I am deserving of any of that, but every day I strive to be.

Not a bad way to wind up a decade, if I do say so myself. Here’s to the next ten years being even better.

Happy new year, everyone. May your next year be better than the last.

Gafilk Room Block closes Dec 25

Just a reminder to get your reservations if you haven’t already. The GaFilk room block officially closes on December 25th, which is next Friday.

You can find information about the hotel and the GaFilk convention at http://www.gafilk.org/

And Gafilk’s 2010 Super Secret Guest is….

Our Super Secret Guests are…
Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner!

Ellen Kushner and Delia ShermanEllen Kushner is a woman of many talents. She’s an award-winning author (Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners, Thomas the Rhymer, The Privilege of the Sword, The Golden Dreydl, and The Fall of Kings, co-written with Delia Sherman) as well as the radio host of PRI’s Sound & Spirit, which Bill Moyers called “the best program on public radio, bar none.” Ellen is the co-founder of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization encouraging creativity that falls between genre categories. She is well known for spoken word works such as Esther: the Feast of Masks with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah In 2008, Vital Theatre in New York City commissioned her to script a fullscale theatrical version. “The Klezmer Nutcracker” played to sold-out audiences, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam, throughout the 2008-09 holiday season. And she sings, too! Ellen performs a musical telling of Thomas the Rhymer. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see this wonderful work performed here at GAFilk. Ellen is currently working on a live staged version of The Witches of Lublin and a musical, The Bone Chandelier, with composer Ben Moore. You can read more about her at her website www.ellenkushner.com

Ellen currently lives in New York City with her beautiful partner…

Delia Sherman is ALSO an award-winning novelist (Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove, Changeling, The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen, and The Freedom Maze, a time-travel fantasy set in Louisiana, which will be published in 2010.) Her short fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and Poe. Her short stories for younger readers have appeared in numerous anthologies. Delia has judged the Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Novel, The James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Fantastic Fiction, and the World Fantasy Award. She has served on the Motherboard of the James Tiptree Jr. Award, and is a founding member and past officer of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Delia has worked as a contributing editor for Tor Books and has co-edited the fantasy anthology The Horns of Elfland with Ellen Kushner and Donald G. Keller, as well as The Essential Bordertown with Terri Windling. She had co-edited two anthologies of Interstitial fiction: Interficitons 1, with Theodora Goss, and the recently released Interfictions 2, with Christopher Barzak. She teaches SF and Fantasy writing at Odyssey: the Fantasy Writing Workshop, and the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, as well as workshops at colleges and science fiction conventions all over the country. She is a charming person and a snazzy dresser. Learn more about Delia at her website, www.deliasherman.com.

Photo by Ellen Datlow, used by permission

You can get more information about Gafilk,and register for the convention, online at http://www.gafilk.org/

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