Last night’s Mad Scientist’s Guide reading at Powell’s went well, with an enthusiastic crowd of about 50 attendees.

I was remarkably blasé about the whole thing, really… I had two other people to back me up, and all I had to do was read a story, one I’ve read before and I know goes over well, and do a bit of Q&A. But still — I had a reading at Powell’s! And at the end of the evening I went home with the large foam-core version of the book cover, which is something I’ve never had before. Very cool.

In other mad-science-related news, I have just sold a reprint of my BVC Mad Scientist Week story “One Night in O’Shaughnessy’s Bar” to Mad Scientist Journal. Mad Scientist Journal has also reviewed The Mad Scientist’s Guide, calling “Letter to the Editor” “my favorite story of the anthology”.

I have also just learned that Heiresses of Russ 2012: the Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, which includes my story “Tides of the Heart,” is a finalist for a Lambda Award!

Tomorrow morning we will be heading down to the Bay Area for FOGcon, where I will be on the panel “Better Stories and Gardens” at 4:30 Friday.

I was also supposed to appear on a bunch of programming on Saturday, but I am going to have to bail on all of it because my aunt passed away a couple of weeks ago and her life celebration is on Saturday afternoon in Sacramento.

(Condolences, although appreciated, are unnecessary; my aunt was a wonderful person, but I did not know her well and she passed away peacefully at age 87.)

The good news is that, as the life celebration and the con are both in the Bay Area, I don’t have to miss the entire con, just Saturday afternoon/evening. So if you are at the con, I hope to see you there!