Random: My Ride Is Here?

Um, this just pulled up across the street. Maybe they're here for Irmalinda Pitkaginkel, the crazy shut-in or maybe they know something I don't and they're here for me. In any event, probably a good idea to hurry up and post this pretty random post...John Coulthart done got himself interviewed.Matt "Write You Under the Table" Bell has done got a chapbook coming out.StarShipSofa podcasted all of the Nebula nominees for short story.BookSpotCentral picks up the Conversations with the Bookless series that I've been unable to continue doing because of 60 other 60 commitments 60.New link--a review of an old Justina Robson novel that includes this immortal "circle of life" malaprop: "there is Stross's buddy Cory Doctorow, for example (who for those who don't know, I've interviewed in the past for the CCLaP Podcast); and then there's Doctorow's buddy John Scalzi; and then there's Scalzi's buddy Vernor Vinge; and then there's Vinge's buddy Jeff VanderMeer, and his whole little circle of New Weird people like China Mieville and Warren Ellis and Robert Freeman Wexler and all the rest." Who the hell is Vinge? And, er, yeah, you can find me, Mieville, Ellis, and Wexler hanging out in the hooka lounge at the new Baluga Hotel in Vegas every fortnight.Other Earths antho got reviewed by Fantasy Book Critic, including some insightful stuff about the Shepard story, even if I can't tell if Lucius is sending himself up intentionally or not, because that story can't be serious-serious..Um, yeah, "The Goat Variations" was always going to be trouble for some: "Written in Mr. Vandermeer superb prose, the content annoyed me greatly and I disliked the story immensely; I think beating up on W - the former US president of course - as is done in this story is in *very poor* taste whatever your political leanings - if you are on the right it's leftist nonsense, if you are on the left, hey the Universe cannot be so cruel that W was president/king in all those alternate universes Mr. Vandermeer imagines and read those poor schoolkids the same book when disaster struck."Er, seven alternate universes, not "all." Er, the W on display throughout ain't a bad guy at all. Er, we don't live in a binary reality where every "fact" has a mirror "fact" of equal accuracy. MSNBC notwithstanding. But I'll take "in poor taste" as a badge of honor every time, thank ye very much, so it all turns out all right.Friend of mine said to me on reading the review, "Why you pick on poor Dubya like that? Mean ol' VanderBeast with lyrical prose attack poor G-Dub what him defenseless since he not speak the English so right. Poor Bush him sad. Reviewer sad. You make Capt. America cry."Oh, crap. That hearse door is opening. Somebody's getting out. Er, a cheerleader? What the heck?