For Friday, and in honor of my buddy Justin Howe sharing this thirsty link, I present to you “Serrated-Sword Man vs. the Mug Monster”:

As you can see, Serrated-Sword Man, backed by an old BCS flyer, standing on the infirm footing of a page of short story notes, is battling his much larger foe, and the Mug Monster appears to have lost over half its vital fluids.

You don’t see that type of English pub mug often here in the States. The RAF blokes in that old advert have them. My folks got a bunch of them when we lived over there. My favorite American pub, the anglophile (and sadly departed) Wharf Rat, used them. I’ve had several sets going back fifteen years, and I use mine every day!

So I hope this one emerges unscathed from its mortal struggle.

This weekend I will be at Boskone, the Boston-area F/SF convention. I’ve been for the last several years and have enjoyed it (and returning to two of my favorite brewpubs and small breweries).  I will be on several panels, including one Saturday at noon on Sword & Sorcery Today–a very cool topic similar to the panel I moderated at Word Fantasy.

I will also be hosting a reading for my magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, on Sunday at noon (note the change from the earlier schedule).  Several authors from the magazine will read their stories that will be appearing in BCS this spring.

Drop by and give them a listen. And if you see me in the halls, feel free to say hello!

Wow–over a month since I’ve posted. Basically, I’ve been swamped–writing new stories for the annual Odyssey alumni workshop in July, reading submissions and working on audio fiction podcasts for Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and starting to clean out my childhood house (it’s like Schliemann’s thirteen levels of Troy in there).

The big news at BCS is the release of our new anthology, The Best of BCS, Year One. It has fourteen of the coolest stories from our first year, including ones by Richard Parks, Yoon Ha Lee, Aliette de Bodard, and Holly Phillips. It’s an ebook anthology (the future of publishing!), and it’s available for just $2.99 in the Amazon Kindle Store and at many other ebook vendors. All the details are here.

The coming months may be just as busy–more podcasts for BCS, a bunch of crit reading for the summer Odyssey alum workshop, planning my con trips for the rest of the year, and more down-home archeology (old AD&D modules and 1/72nd scale Luftwaffe night fighers…). I should have good news on the short story front soon, and hopefully BCS and the new anthology will keep gaining notice. The future beckons.

I had a great time at Boskone last weekend! Many people spoke to me about Beneath Ceaseless Skies, which was great–it’s more and more people at each con I go to. A good small crowd attended the BCS reading, and several nice-sized audiences attended the two panels about online topics that I was on.

Special thanks to a few folks: JoAnn and Boskone for inviting me, Maggie and KJ and Mike for reading, Neil Clarke and James Patrick Kelly for great interaction on two different panels, Teresa Nielsen Hayden for remembering me :) , Ian and NewGuyDave for a cool chat, Anne for her great brewpub recommendation, the good folks at Harpoon Brewery and Cambridge Brewing Co. for their fine skill, and my compatriot Mike for bringing a church key!