David D. LevineScience Fiction Author

Word count: 64730 | Since last entry: 1802

D: “Oh boy. I just got my first e-rejection from Asimov’s.”

K: “Rah.”

D: “Some milestones are more fun than others.”

K: “I like the ones made of marzipan.”

D: “…never seen one of them.”

K: “They don’t last long.”

Word count: 62928 | Since last entry: 1833

I got this email from my square dance friend Bo and just had to share it:

It went like this at my dad’s assisted living complex:

Resident 1: “Can you believe we’ve put men on Mars?”

Resident 2: “Say, that story is about a woman. When did the men go?”

Bo (politely): “Oh, that’s a story about a Mars-like research station. It’s in Utah. My friend David went there.”

Resident 1: “Oh, so David was the man. How come the article wasn’t about him?”

Bo: “Sorry. David went some time ago. He said he learned a good deal. I went to one of his presentations and thought it was very interesting.”

Resident 1: “Seems like it would take too much time to get there and back.” (peers at article). “Must’ve made it up.”

Bo: “Oh, no. I’m quite sure he went. It’s a research station in Utah that is set up to feel like Mars.”

Resident 2: “Why would they name a state on Mars ‘Utah’? Isn’t one of those enough?”

And so it went from there….

I will be appearing on the radio show “Dialogue: Between the Lines” TODAY, 3/17, at 10am PDT. Tune in at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue/ and hear me make a complete stammering fool of myself!

Update: You can hear or download the interview now, as a 14MB MP3 file.

As you may have heard, Jay Lake has had to bow out of Cascade Writers, a three-day workshop held at the Ocean Crest Resort on the Washington coast, July 21-24th. However, he will be replaced by the inestimable Ken Scholes. The other two instructors are still Beth Meacham and my own self. There are still a few spots open at the workshop, and the deadline for application is May 15, so if you’d like to spend a long weekend hanging out at the coast with me and some other cool writer-type people it’s not too late.

I will be appearing on the radio show “Dialogue: Between the Lines” on 3/17 at 10am PST. Tune in at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue/

Word count: 61095 | Since last entry: 1805

I’m sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco, nursing a cappuccino and hunched over my laptop like a real San Francisco hipster. We’re here for Fogcon, at the end of a week that started with Potlatch in San Jose.

Potlatch was a lovely, laid-back convention which featured, as it usually does, many fine conversations and meals with old friends. (Armenian Gourmet for the YUM!) Tom Whitmore and I hosted the “Tough Guide to the Post-Apocalypse” discussion as an icebreaker on Friday evening, where I typed up a running transcript of the discussion, including a few snarky asides (e.g. “Darth Alfalfa: ‘I am your fodder!'”), which was projected on a big screen. The panel didn’t go exactly as planned, but it was still a good start to the convention — though now I want to write up an actual “Tough Guide to the Post-Apocalypse.” Maybe for Bento. I also conducted a writers’ workshop session with four fine manuscripts, and ring-led the author readings on Saturday afternoon.

For some reason this particular Potlatch was focused on very long talks with one person at a time, old friends and new. It’s good to go deep sometimes. I also attended sessions on Earth Abides, the convention’s book of honor, and on the future of Potlatch. There will be a Potlatch 21, in Seattle, next year, chaired by Jack Bell.

After the con we piled into our rented Grand Marquis tuna boat, along with friends Kate and Glenn from Seattle, and took off for the coast. The main impetus for this trip was a visit to Hearst Castle, which I’ve long wanted to see but which is just too far from either San Francisco or Los Angeles to be done as a day trip from a convention, but with a whole week between conventions we had time to do the Central Coast in some depth.

We took two of the four available tours of Hearst Castle and also saw the 45-minute IMAX movie about Hearst at the visitor’s center. The movie, with its focus on Hearst and complete absence of information on his wife and girlfriend, reminded me of the L. Ron Hubbard museum (which presented Hubbard as a solo genius with no co-workers or family), an impression which was reinforced by the theatre gift shop stocked with nothing but hundreds of copies of the DVD of the movie we’d just seen. The castle itself is, of course, extraordinary, both architecturally and for the astonishing collection of artifacts housed within it. One room holds four of the five surviving panels of a 10-panel tapestry that may have once hung at Versailles. Copies of these panels hang in the Louvre, and this room was where Hearst’s sons liked to play touch football. Amazing what you can do with way, way too much money.

We also visited Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay aquarium (Otters! Seahorses! Octopus! Flamingos! Diving murres! Jellies! Sardines! Mackerel! And a big-ball-o-fish!), and the National Steinbeck Center (“to which all the regional Steinbeck Centers report”); walked on several very picturesque beaches; and observed elephant seals from a safe distance (“HRWAAANK!”). In between those experiences we ate many fine meals. Especially notable was the Salinas City BBQ, a very modest place where each simple item on the plate was exceptional of its ilk. Probaby not worth the drive from San Francisco but if you should happen to visit the Steinbeck Center I’d highly recommend it for dinner. Go early, they sell out.

I was surprised to find cell phone coverage and free wi-fi nearly everywhere we went. Thanks to which, I discovered that someone from Australia was accusing me on Twitter of impersonating a New Zealand earthquake survivor, and threatening to expose me to the media. WTF? But after a couple of days she apparently realized she had me mixed up with someone else and apologized for the whole incident.

After much driving through lovely and characteristic seaside towns (Cambria was particularly fine), scenic and vertiginous coastlines, rolling hills, spectacular mountains, and verdant farmland — all with excellent sunny weather — we turned inland and headed to San Francisco for Fogcon. Suiting the convention’s name, the weather turned to a heavy mist, then a light drizzle. We dropped off our tuna boat and checked into the convention hotel, where fans are just beginning to trickle in.

This morning we awoke to news of the Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Many of the beaches we walked on this week were probably inundated today, and I’m very glad we decided to depart the coast yesterday rather than today. My thoughts and hopes are with everyone affected by this disaster.

And I’ve done almost no writing this week. Such is life.

Word count: 59290 | Since last entry: 4492

As you can see from the word count above, I’m very close to 60,000 words on my YA novel, with a target of 70,000 words. I hope to finish the first draft by the end of the month, then let it rest for a few weeks before giving it a self-edit pass and then sending it to trusted beta readers. I would like to have it in submission by the end of June but that might be overly ambitious.

Meanwhile, my story “A Passion for Art,” which originally appeared in Interzone 228, has been podcast at StarShipSofa, narrated by my old pal Randal Schwartz (AKA Merlyn) and with a keen illustration by Robyn Moir.

And my novelette “Pupa” from the September Analog has been included on the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List for 2010, with three stars (the maximum possible). “Pupa” was also listed in the Locus Recommended Reading List and was recommended for the Hugo by a couple of BASFA members. I’m really excited by the reception this story has received and if you’d like to read it you can do so here: “Pupa” by David D. Levine.

In other news, I’ve got new glasses. Not just one pair but two: one for distance vision and the other for computing and other close-up work.

I learned from the difficulties Kate has had with her reading glasses (never remembering which pair she was wearing) and made sure to get frames that looked and felt very different (wire frames for distance, plastic for close-up). Both are progressive (multifocal) but the close-up pair have a smaller range of focal lengths so the usable area at short distance is much bigger. Now I can see my whole 27″ iMac screen in clear focus! It’s great.

The distance pair are from a different lens manufacturer from my previous ones and also offer a larger usable area than before. They will take some getting used to but both pairs are a big improvement over my previous ones.

Word count: 54798 | Since last entry: 2564

Today is my fiftieth birthday.

Spent the day at home, doing pleasant but ordinary things. Got a couple of nice presents, with one more on the way, and a call from my dad. Also, by coincidence, received some other good news, including a larger-than-expected check for the Italian translation of my Wild Cards story. In the evening we saw a fine documentary about cinematographer Jack Cardiff, followed by an excellent dinner at Nel Centro.

I’m okay with turning 50. I have been thinking lately about the benefits of maturity; I find that I am more likely to have the solutions to problems, or to have avoided the problem in the first place, which makes me calmer, happier, and more stable than I have ever been before. This has been a very good year so far and I have no reason to anticipate that the rest of the year will be any different. I have no money worries, I’m in excellent health, and I know that I am beloved.

I wish the same to all of my friends.