Journal

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000

June 21, 2009
Surely the final sign of the impending Apocalypse — I've joined the Twitter craze. Follow me at www.twitter.com/andrewsfuller and I promise not to send detailed updates about those private moments in the bathroom stall. At least not too many.

designing: Native place names atlas

June 18, 2009
Just received word that a new story of mine "Among the Stacks" will appear in the next issue of Ink-filled Page literary journal and its later print anthology.

attending: Captain Freedom: The Final Reading (G. Xavier Robillard)

June 7, 2009
Bought a new journal, simple black cover. This one has bonded to me, and will extend protective spines if picked up by anyone else.

designing: a few different web sites

May 30, 2009
I always always always take my backpack in with me when going to trivia. But this week I had the dog and a friend and it was looking like a full table. So I left my bag in plain site. And it was hot outside so I left the window down slightly. And someone jimmied the lock and took my bag. They took CDs from the glove compartment and my new pair of sunglasses. They popped the trunk and weren't interested in my thermarest chair. But they got my perscription glasses, my journal, two books, and the faceplate to my stereo. At least they didn't break a window. There was also a flash drive with backups of all my writing. So if I see any of my stories published under someone else's name, I'm coming after you with that tire iron you so kindly left behind.

reading: Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)

May 23, 2009
Five lawn bags full of weeds. Plus four more full of tree trimmings. Then, a week later, I bought a 15-foot telescoping pruner with a chainsaw at the end. Now the unruly apple tree in my back yard is looking more tamed. After the larger branches stocked the firewood pile, there was a half-ton truckload for the yard debris dump. Eventually the back yard will be clear enough for a cozy fire pit.

doing: yard work

May 14, 2009
Join a petition and get the word out. Bureau of Customs in the Philippines has begun to tax imported books, in direct violation of the Florence (UN) agreement. Several people including University of Iowa Creative Writing Professor Robin Hemly, Neil Gaiman and Timothy McSweeny are getting the word out via web pages and Twitter.

Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position in a PowerPoint presentation to booksellers.

"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.

"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.

doing: Friday

May 11, 2009
This weekend I produced seven lawn bags and two debris containers full of weeds and prunings. The weeds with a rhubarb-colored stems so prolific in the backyard seem to thrive in the shade, and reminded me of the red vines brought by the invaders in War of the Worlds. Also I discovered that pruning the rhododendren, fuchsia, lilac, and camellia is more fun with a machete… which led to my cameo in Zander's weekly web comic. Lastly, I unearthed many ferns and borrowed a roto-tiller to prep the strip along the sun-drenched south driveway where annoying rose bushes previously lurked, but will now feature titan heirloom sunflowers, several varieties of corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, and more.

doing: yardwork and submitting stories

May 10, 2009
Upgrading the coding for 3LBE web pages, getting them out of archaic tables and into fancy new divs. Changing the styles to get away from the white-on-black type, with better font-sizing — because magazines are all about the typography. Also adding the long-overdue features of global navigation, and newer stuff like a print.css and sharing links. Wow, the magazine is 10 years old now.

watching: Vanishing Point

April 25, 2009
Cover art for the 3LBE Annual vol IV print anthology is finally done. Order your copy over at Legion Press.

doing: catching up

April 19, 2009
Farewell to J.G. Ballard. Read his lastest (last?) short story.

reading: Mister B. Gone (Clive Barker)

April 6, 2009
Much better news today. One of my flash fiction pieces was accepted, and should appear in the "next" issue of an online speculative fiction magazine. Out of the 16 stories in the wind, this one surprised me by being picked first. So much for my soothsaying powers.

reading: Veronica Mars (season 1)

March 21, 2009
I was saving this imperial stout aged in a former 1970 scotch cask for a special occasion, but... I hadn't exactly envisioned the event to be my record-setting three rejection notices in one day. Guh.

reading: rejection notices (various)

March 14, 2009
Author Joe Hill sees the value in independent bookstores. This month he's promoting them by offering a signed, slipcased edition of his new novel Gunpowder as a contest prize if you send him a receipt from your local bookstore purchase. Subterranean Press liked the idea and has a contest of their own. Find an indie bookstore in your area here.

reading: Captain Freedom (G. Xavier Robillard)

March 10, 2009
sinus congestion, cough, sleep loss, stress, work, ouroboros

doing: annual report (it's that time of year)

January 31, 2009
I gave titles to the stories that I recently composed for the calendar project, and edited them further. As the lastest things, they feel like the best so far, and are currently the most exciting. Last night I sent most of them off to magazines. Two other returned stories went back out. A few of them await submission reading times to open at the chosen markets, but that makes a total of twelve stories out there. Which is exciting.

reading: submission guidelines (many mags)

January 30, 2009
The tavern owner that Zander and I approached about starting up a regular trivia night has suddenly decided he'd like to start the event — next week. And since Zander's out of town, I'll be the first host. So stop by the Morrison Hotel bar at 731 SE Morrison, every Tuesday evening for "Gouge Yer Brain" Trivia (lookie, I made a webpage for it). And they have an excellent import and regional beer selection to lube your synapses. Yet another thing to distract me from writing stories.

drinking: water (perhaps you've heard of it?)

January 29, 2009
I'm refinancing the house again. This will be the third mortgage loan, but more like the interest rate I always dreamed about. A weight feels somewhat lighter, though not entirely lifted.

doing: editing (stories)

January 27, 2009
Some good friends are re-re-locating to Portland. I missed them since their Spring '07 departure, and it's not been the same without them. Oh yes, and check out G. Xavier Robillard's new book Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves. I really like that HarperCollins let's you order from a bookseller of your choice, even local ones, instead of the obligatory Amazon link.

watching: BSG (the last episodes, dun dun dahhhhh!)

January 23, 2009
Glad to share a birthday with Edouard Manet, Django Reinhardt, Rutger "I want more life, fucker" Hauer, Richard Dean "Macgyver" Anderson, and "Weird" Alfred Matthew Yankovic.

watching: Dr. Who Christmas Special (online)

January 21, 2009
Hope abides. We welcome the new guy.

drinking: vodka (habanero-infused)

January 19, 2009
It seems that every time a visitor sees the old paperback copy of 6000 Names for Your Baby in my office, they have to ask what the hell it's for. Or, in the case of my parents seeing the book, they ask "Is there any news we should know?" Silly people, these. They must not ever wonder about names, or the origin of names. Or make up characters and write stories.

doing: skiing (me)

January 14, 2009
Goodbye, Number Six. Be seeing you.
And Kahn, I laugh at your superior intellect.

watching: Sleepy Hollow (dir. Tim Burton)

January 12, 2009
A long long long moment of silence for the discontinuation of Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. An excellent anthology of great stories for the last twenty-one years, it will not see a 2008 edition by St. Martin's Press. 2008 was the first year I saw a story published at pro rates, and the first year I submitted two issues of 3LBE to YBFH. Perhaps these will be considered in editor Ellen Datlow's new deal with Nightshade Books Year's Best Horror: Volume One.

being: shocked (me)

January 10, 2009
Upcoming print anthology of Three-lobed Burning Eye - Annual Vol. IV is on sale over at Legion Press. There will only be one printing based on pre-orders, so get yours now.

watching: Queer as Folk (season 1)

January 5, 2009
Went to see the exhibit "Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867-1957" at the Portland Art Museum. The most interesting photos to me were those devoid of any dams, railroads, timber barges or white men, showing a glimpse of what the area may have looked like before there was photography.

watching: People Under the Stairs (dir. Wes Craven)

January 2, 2009
I finally finished the limited edition gift calendar. It's titled "Splinters and Strays: 2009 Story Calendar — A primitive time tracking device bedizened with no less than twelve original sagas, yarns and taradiddles by Andrew S. Fuller." The stories are all untitled, except maybe they are called "January", "February," and so forth. The design was kep to a minimum. It was fun writing and editing into many late nights, which is bound to happen when aiming for one dozen stories in one month. Only a few people received this collection, but I will be titling and submitting these stories within the next few weeks. So hope with me that some of these see publication. See, there's one about an island, and one about a fob watch, and one about a gargoyle, and one about a super soldier chef…

watching: Dexter (season 1)