Great to see an old favorite in a new format: Matt Bell’s “The Cartographer’s Girl.”

Make a wish, win great books.

Never gets old: AD Jameson on Inception.

6 is a real problem for me. 10 is sometimes a problem. Related: Other problems here. Related: How to talk about a work in progress.

Tips on making salsa from Jamie Iredell.

So you’re going to a writers’ conference!

Mine is too, Jodi.

Courtney Maum, “Cabinet 2.”

Congrats to Jen!

Melissa Huggins on not writing.

The Rejectionist, revealed.

Kevin Fanning on The Voice.

Should authors respond to negative reviews? (With bonus analogy from Uncle Kurt.)

Chris Lites on Alex P. Keaton.

And finally: You know who does great linkbuckets that make this look absolutely slackery? The right columns of Melville House, and The Morning News.

(You get to see this early because you read the lead editor’s blog. You’ll probably see this a few more times before we’re done.)

First video uploaded to YouTube: April 23, 2005.

YouTube: The planet’s third most visited website, where the average user spends 15 minutes per day, every day. Where memes live, and naivete dies. And, at last…the subject of The Northville Review’s Summer 2012 issue!

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:

• Look for “Summer 2012” on our Submittable page. It’s toward the bottom. (Do not submit work for this issue to other categories. It will make Zod very angry.)
• Send us a story, a poem, an essay that is somehow related to an embeddable YouTube video.
• “Somehow related to” is deliberately very open-ended. If you retrofit a video to something you’ve already completed, that’s between you and your deity.
• “Embeddable YouTube video” is not open-ended. Click “Share” and then “Embed” to make sure the video is embeddable. Submissions without this will be rejected.
• Include a link to the YouTube video and a bio in your cover letter.
• Work selected for publication will run underneath the corresponding embedded video.
• PLEASE NOTE: If your submission is accepted and your video goes dead on YouTube before the publication date, so does your work. Choose wisely. Tip: It’s probably not a good idea to send  anything related to Prince.

DEADLINE:  June 30. This is NOT a top secret project. Feel free to spread the word.

QUESTIONS? northvillereview@gmail.com or whatever social media works for you.

Let me get this out of the way: No April Fools’ Day pranks here. I appreciate good pranks, but I suck at them. My husband, on the other hand, is awesome at pranks. Just the right level of clever near-sociopathic execution, without going to annoying. It’s remarkable. He usually skips today, too. We don’t play poker together very often, either.

Code for Failure blog tour.

Four months. I’ve been working on the same thing, with the same group of characters. Lots and lots of reading, lots of thinking about these people when I don’t have a screen or a notebook in front of my face. Perhaps most important: No itch to jump ship and do something else. I am still a little afraid of that.

“But stripped of communication and competition, the hyper-anonymity of Journey’s multiplayer is the opposite of that: it exposes the most sympathetic side of humanity.”

You know what book I read that got me to thinking I could do this? Dennis Cooper’s God Jr.  I don’t think what I’m working on is much like God Jr. at all, but reading that is what made me move from Yeah Maybe This is Something to I Am Fairly Sure This is Something I Can’t Ignore.

Michelle Reale interviews Tara Laskowski.

I watched this the other day and while I haven’t put it in the Tumblr, I think it’s related, too.

“I drove a Ducati across the fucking country to work with you!”

At some point fairly soon, I’m going to need a workshop/other reading/exchange/some sort of feedback give and take. Not quite yet, but soon. Related to all the other things I’ve talked about in this tiny linkbucket? I have no idea how to make that happen. This should be interesting!

Before we get started: I’m going to be at Conversations and Connections in DC next month, and so should you. There’s really no other conference like it, and it has a very friendly vibe. I go even when my appendix has burst but I don’t know it yet. It’s that much fun.

Strange Horizons is looking for fiction editors.

And one more item: The Northville Review will publish a theme issue this summer! I am pretty stoked about this. If you are an NR alum, you will get an email soon unless the NR Google mailbox  doesn’t have your address anymore. If you are on the mailing list, you will get an email soon. If you are neither of those, you will probably have to wait a little longer to find out more. But not much longer.

The most compelling defense of EverQuest 2 I have ever read.

Okay, so. I went to see a high school production of Xanadu on Friday. The performers had headset mics! There were smoke machines and flying horses and live music! My sister’s roller derby teammate helped with roller skate training — listening to the derby girls sitting near me freak out at the stunt quality was good times.

Super Arrow’s latest folio looks very promising.

On Saturday I went to the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair. It’s in a really cool venue and they get good vendors — both print and art. I hit my budget for it very quickly. I would’ve liked to figure out what the food cart out front was selling — the line was ten people deep the entire time I was there — but it was raining and I didn’t have an umbrella.

“It’s carping, and that’s cool–carp away!  But please stop pretending it’s a public service.”

After the Book Fair I holed up for a while and wrote. That turned out to be a fantastic idea. One of the wisest purchases I’ve made in recent years = an extra strength battery for my laptop.

A familiar tattoo.

I make the drive to western New York state often enough that there are rituals. On the way out, I always stop at the Pattersonville rest stop because there’s a 75 mile stretch or so before that with no break whatsoever. On the way back, I always swing through the Oneida rest stop because there’s a drive-through McDonald’s, and the only time I do McDonald’s is on these trips. It’s not even the cheeseburger I look forward to. It’s the giant cup of fountain diet Coke.

Lit scene tarot.

There have been times I have arrived at my destination hoarse because I sang along with the radio for the entire trip. Didn’t happen this time, though.

The best recent stories.

All of this means that I might very well be the only person in America who has not seen The Hunger Games yet. I will probably remedy that this week. My daughter wants to see it. That’s my excuse for doing lots of things.

Sneak peek at cover art for Gwenda Bond’s Blackwood.

Most of the reading I did on my trip was Elizabeth Ellen’s Fast Machine. Whoever designed that book deserves an award. The interior layout of the book is 1970′s mass market paperback. It makes me think of the Joyce Carol Oates books my mom devoured when I was a kid, or Judy Blume’s Forever. Which also works with the collection itself. It’s a book that should be passed around with paperclipped pages and highlighted passages. I’m really enjoying it. And, as it happens, I have an extra copy! First one to email embfitz at gmail gets it.

The awkward truth of shooting sex scenes.

The inaugural issue of Literary Disco.

I read Kevin’s review of Echolocation at almost the exact right time while I was reading it, so now I’m stuck with the feeling that he’s said everything I would want to say about it, and better than I could have. So here’s the tl; dr version, and imagine that I am using my Battlestar Galactica Fan Girl voice: If you like Myfanwy Collins’ work, you need to read it. Just trust me on this.

Dan Chaon interview at Emprise Review.

Someday I’m going to write an essay about my favorite episode of Battlestar Galactica. When that day comes, gods help you all.

What is an MFA story? Maybe a little related: As a product of that era’s MFAdom, I can relate to some of this.

And finally: This might be my new favorite Tumblr…until a better one comes along.

Excerpt from Tom Bissell’s upcoming Magic Hours.

“MFAs will replace MBAs, and corporations be more balanced. There is room for us on this new frontier, sister and fellow creative-types. No soul-selling required.”

Four writers from Stripped talk at Necessary Fiction.

The novel in general, and Amelia Gray’s Threats in particular.

Cathy Day on teaching the business of being a writer.

12 additional theme rides and parks that were too expensive for reality. 

Review issue 0, which includes something I’ve said you should read.

“Our students have grown up on screens. They don’t partition off essays from movies from games when they do everything on computers and mobile devices anyway. I try and bring that aesthetic into that classroom.”

I never get tired of reading things like this: An oral history of The Sopranos.

Len Kuntz reviews Kathy Fish’s Together We Can Bury It.

The Tournament of Books and knockoffs.

I just love this letter.

Ravi Mangla’s American Short Fiction interview.

Jason Jordan: World’s Meanest Person.

Turn on subtitles before you start this up (via MeFi):

Very related: This is one of my very favorite ABBA songs. (There are, however, better videos.)

And finally: Honest Spotify playlists.

You know how you’re supposed to check your smoke alarm batteries when we shift in and out of Daylight Saving Time? There’s another task I don’t do nearly as often as I should, and maybe that one should be tied to a semiannual event, too.

So how about this: Write to a writer each equinox, and tell that writer why you like her/his work.

Why write to a writer?

1. Everything that writers do these days is so group-oriented, so social, so extroverted. Except for writing itself, which is solitary, even lonely sometimes. This sort of activity — one person gives, one receives — would regain some of that missing middle ground.

2. It’s good practice. We should all be fluent in Talking about Writing. The latest indielit thing is pointing out someone’s great story and saying BOOM! all over social media. I get where BOOM! comes from. BOOM! happens to me all the time. But BOOM! is lazy-ass lazy. If BOOM! exists, so should this.

Why equinoxes?

1. I know I should write to writers more often. Twice a year, plus whatever else I might do,  seems doable to me. Much more than that, and I’d start worrying about this:

2. The fire department’s already appropriated DST/EST, and everyone spends days afterward dealing with the seasonal affective disorder. Not the best time to pile on another task.

3. Solstices are too busy with those legendary Internet killers Going Outside, and Spending Time With Your Friends and Family.

The next equinox is March 20th, and the one after that is September 22. Can this happen, like smoke alarms?

Let me know what you think.

I still hate Google Reader’s new iteration. But I missed this. So, here we go!

How to convince someone you work in their building.

One thing I have to mention about AWP, then I’ll move on. In my normal life, people are sometimes weird about the weight loss. No one was observably weird about it at AWP. End thesis: You are not quite the socially awkward penguins you think you are.

I truly appreciate the structure of this AWP wrapup. Related: What writers learned at AWP. Related: Never, ever, miss a Tod Goldberg wrapup post…and this one features a photo I was hoping someone took!

Being back has been…strange. It has also made me realize that I have to stop doing a bunch of things that I was doing without a second thought.

The lives they loved.

And I have to start doing a bunch of things. Some, again.

Great news for SFF…congratulations, Eileen!

I’m restarting the book. If I plotted out my wordcount over the last four months, it would look like the Alps. I know I should probably just push onward, but that way also lies eventual quitting. I collect stuff for it on Tumblr. And yeah, the story has a little something to do with Star Wars. More specifically, The Empire Strikes Back. ESB is one of my favorite movies, but I have always had a really hard time watching it. I can tell you a lot about ESB, actually. But right now, I need to write about it.

Ethel Rohan, “Occupy Me.”

Things I don’t have time for but am doing anyway: Re-watching season 1 of Game of Thrones. Watching the season 2 teaser trailer and getting all psyched to see Natalie Dormer again. Thinking about watching The Tudors again, but fighting that off (so far).

HTML asks for favorite recent fiction, and gets some good answers. Related: Stuff people bought at AWP.

I am reading a lot, still. Soon, I will talk about that more than I have been. Priorities.

I read Brandi’s post several times.

I’m also down to one box of K-cups. By that I mean that it’s a mix of four boxes that I’ve been picking at, down to this level of one box. Dunkin Donuts decaf, Starbucks Veranda, and a couple of the Green Mountain flavors that trick me into thinking they have sugar in them. I wish I could like dark roast, but it just doesn’t happen for me.

Do MFA programs favor stories over novels?

We’ve been watching Malcolm in the Middle at dinnertime. My crush on Malcolm’s dad is renewed. I know I can probably fix that by (finally) watching Breaking Bad. Priorities.

I picked this up last week and it’s next on my reading list. Can’t wait! Related: Myfanwy’s LHB playlist for Echolocation.

I need to keep better track of what books I order. Any suggestions? Don’t say Excel. I excel at not excelling at Excel.

21 Questions with Bear McCreary.

Still miss video games. I want very much to play Mass Effect 3, especially.

“I’ve been thinking about whether, on average, people are lonelier in real life than in novels.”

Ah, 1991.

Hating TED.

I liked this more before I chased down the video. Oh well.

The White Savior Industrial Complex.

Reading this wrapup made me realize I missed meeting Wendy by about ten seconds. Dammit!

For my birthday I got an iHome speaker. It’s about the size of a yo-yo. It’s remarkably powerful.

And finally: All about Weird Al.

– There is actually a direct flight to Chicago from White Plains. I know, right? That airport is kind of a disaster because the newsstand and the bar and all of that are before the TSA checkpoint. After the checkpoint, there is only $2.50 bottled water and claustrophobia.

– I want to tell you what I read while I waited but honestly, I don’t remember. That usually means I reread Wild Boy. There is something about Andy Taylor’s thinly veiled hatred of Nick Rhodes that makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

– When the plane took off, as far as I knew? Davy Jones was alive. He was definitely dead by the time we landed. As he was moving from alive to dead, I watched The Hangover on my iPod. That’s about all I can handle when I haven’t flown in a while.

– Here is the part where people usually talk about all the stuff they did, and they name names. Instead I am going to tell you that I am a very private person, the last couple of years have been difficult for me, and so many of you made such a difference in such a overall short period of time. Whether you knew it or not. If we talked, even briefly, I’ve thought of you since and it’s helped. You are important. Thank you so much for that. Enjoy some karma. And now I have something in my eye.

– Most people don’t talk about the parts of AWP that were less than perfect. I’m just going to say I heard a story about an unintentional faux pas that still makes me laugh nastily when I think of it. Thanks for that, too.

– I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to see. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to do. AWP is getting too big for that. That is a problem. I know I’m not the only person who feels this way.

– I wish reading organizers would get their shit together. In an ideal world, reading organizers would have some sort of midyear summit where they could hash out who gets who, and when. It just seems to get uglier every year, and it’s not like AWP is getting any smaller. Fix this, somehow.

– I ship home all of the books I get at AWP. I do this not only because people don’t appreciate a woman of my size hauling around a bunch of extra stuff in very confined spaces, but also because three or four days after I’m back, I need that present to myself. The box arrives, and I’m not as sad as I had been. The box has not arrived yet. I might post a photo when it does.

– If you flew out of O’Hare and you didn’t get a patdown, you went through the pornoscanner. Somewhere at the TSA, there are a few thousand photos of naked writers. Think about that.

– I tried to download Breaking Dawn for the trip back but my wifi was being craptastic, so I read Kevin Fanning’s Jennifer Love Hewitt Times Infinity instead. Holy hell, that book is great. I’d read (and heard!) sections from it before, but it works SO well as an immersive experience. It’s a brilliant mix of funny and poignant and metaphysical and mythical and it’s not afraid to be any of those things, like, at ALL. Five stars, A plus, will read again.

– Worked on the book last night, even though I was sad. It felt good to work on the book.

– I can’t wait to see everyone next year.

– Lauren: I miss you. Let’s talk, not soon enough.

Maybe I didn't crush any AT-ATs with a log, but I'm still gonna party.

When I saw this tweet and Roxane’s similar news, I was sitting in a commuter student lounge and I squealed aloud, like a little kid. You should, too. And not just because we’re suckups.

Like many writers, I’ve bought BASS faithfully for oh god, this year will be 20 years, how’s THAT for apropos a long time. I read most or all of it, and I like maybe two or three stories. I really dislike no fewer than two or three. Usually, it’s for the same reasons as the year before. (Which, unfortunately, are tangentially linked to the reasons people still waste time trashing MFA programs.)

The last five or six years, though…they have been a little different. I read BASS and had the same reactions, but then I’ve thought I came up through the same system that venerates the periodicals these stories came from. I read stories this year in other periodicals that I know were better than some of the stories here. I don’t think I had a massive head injury. Please…I’m practically middle aged…can’t this world just catch up to that world before I die? 

Today gave me hope. Oh sure, it’s cool that I get to be smug and tell people I was already a fan of Roxane’s and Mike’s work, not to mention Hobart. It’s even cooler that I really mean it. I never turn down an opportunity to be smug. But this is really a victory for anyone who reads BASS and gets impatient. The world will move, and the wait just got a little shorter.