Where in the world is Carmen Sa -
I've been a bad guest-blogger, but I have an excuse: I spent the last two weeks travelling, first to and from Bangkok on the night train, then by what we in the business call a "jet", to Singapore. I got home and it was Friday, and I was very happy it was Friday, and had plans to go out for drinks until I realised it was actually Thursday. And when you can't tell the days of the week apart, alcohol might not be the best answer.But it was fun. I picked up about 30 books to read, and got to hang out for a few hours on Saturday with a group of Singaporean SF writers (I'll try to blog about that later on). I also ate too much - not a surprise. The key to Bangkok, btw, is very simple: you don't eat one, or two, big meals in the day, but rather snack - continously, as it were.Apart from all that (and also a rather surreal evening this Saturday involving a midget hunchback tuk-tuk driver, which I won't go into), I'm still on the crusade to, you know, get people interested in international SF. It's not that I want to be the guy who bangs on and on about it, but...Someone should.We started off rather nicely with an editorial over at the World SF News Blog: Where is the World in the World Fantasy Awards? Surprisingly positive responses (at least by e-mail) and who knows, maybe one day we'll get a WFA that actually deserves the name? A great award in all other respects, but the name is a little misleading...We've got a lot lined up at the WSNB - so many people are pitching in with articles and links and opinions - just today we have an incredibly in-depth look at science fiction in Portugal, for instance, and we've also began to compile lists of original stories published this year by international writers - summing up places like Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and with many more to come. There are more stories than you might think!Also today, Strange Horizons have published the first in a two-part article by Jordan-based journalist Nicholas Seeley which, rather than just review the Apex Book of World SF (my anthology of international fiction), goes very deep into the themes and concerns of the authors, talking to many of them - including Han Song from China, Aliette de Bodard from France, and the great Zoran Živković - and painting a truly fascinating picture of what's happening out there. It blew me away, and I can't wait for part two!So there you have it - quite a lot for a Monday morning! Of course, for me, the sun is already setting here in Laos, where the "cold season" has finally arrived - all two months of it! But for all of you on the other side of the world Monday is just beginning. Don't feel bad - we can't all live in the future, after all...Lavie Tidhar is the author of linked-story collection HebrewPunk (2007), novellas An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2009) and Gorel & The Pot-Bellied God (2010) and, with Nir Yaniv, of The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009). He’s lived on three continents and one island-nation, and currently lives in South East Asia. His first novel, The Bookman, will be published by HarperCollins’ new Angry Robot imprint in 2010, and will be followed by two more. He lives in the future.