Bet you thought I was joking.
Oddly enough, there’s a story behind this teapot blogging. I’d originally planned to find images of the five teapots I currently own and see where that takes me. (Simply taking pictures isn’t an option, since I don’t have a digital camera. Come to think of it, I’m not sure where my other camera is.) So I wanted to start off with my fancy crackle-glaze teapot that I don’t use nearly enough.
Google image search is apparently still safe for teapots.* I searched and found this image, which though the shape is not quite right, still gives an idea of the lovely glaze on my teapot.
Then I went and actually looked at the source. This teapot doesn’t exist. It’s an image from a paper on creating surface crack patterns. And it fooled me.
I suppose this is an example of websurfing gone right — I go looking for something, find it, and find something completely different and interesting as well.
* It is not safe for Muppets. I don’t think I’ll ever lose the scars from that.
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“Goat Eschatologies” is now up at Strange Horizons. I’m fairly proud of this story, even though the ending has irritated more than one reader in the past. It’s about as close to mainstream writing as I get these days, not that that’s a problem.
What’s odd about it is that it was one of those stories that came from a title — and then the title got changed. I don’t have much luck with titles; either they end up kind of bland or they’re skating on the edge of too cute. This story began life as “Pre-Apocalypse Sale on Cheese,”and while I held on to the title for a while, one of the editors finally pointed out that it set the wrong tone for the story. She was right — the old title implied more of the wacky than the story really delivers, and I’d been sticking with it out of sentiment.
I’m still happy with the new title, and with the story as a whole. Hope you enjoy it — and remember to donate to Strange Horizons if you do!
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A few nights ago, I received my contributor’s copies of the February 2008 Realms of Fantasy, which has my short story “And Not Spare the Flock.” It looks pretty awesome. There’s a gorgeous image of Lyra and Iorek Byrnison from The Golden Compass on the cover. And my name’s on the cover, too, but it’s not nearly as cool — well, how do you compete with a panzerbjorn, anyway?
I’m guessing this won’t hit newsstands for a few more weeks, but it feels fantastic to have these copies in my hands. My story is illustrated by Kiriko Moth, and she got the scene just right. Maybe I can get a copy of the illustration.
So far, I’ve only read one of the stories: “Hobnoblin,” by Elizabeth Bear. It rocked, in more ways than one. I’ll probably curl up with the magazine some evening when I have time (which limits the possibilities somewhat) and go through each story slowly. Except for my own; I tend to cringe when rereading my work, even if it’s good.
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(Three exclamation marks. The sure sign of an unsound mind.)
Welcome to Margaret Ronald’s blog. Bio and bibliography are to the left, fiction is to the right, giant tentacled thing is right behind you.
I don’t know how often I’ll be posting. I have a bad habit of using the web to procrastinate, so if I decide that I have to spend less time online, this will probably be one of the first things I cut out. Yes, I have my priorities messed up. This is nothing new.
Also, I lack a cat, so I believe the grand tradition of Friday Cat Blogging is out of my grasp. I may have to start Friday Teapot Blogging instead.
The blogroll and links are currently rather bare, so any suggestions for additions would be appreciated. Credit for this site should go to Josh Ain, who made me get off my butt and put this page together, then helped me to understand at least some of what I was doing.
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Nothing to see here. We are a hedge. Move along.
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Margaret Ronald 