I wonder what had you so pissed off.

Nothing. That was pretty much how I looked all the time. Receding hairline, eyes almost swollen shit, eyebrows that took almost a year to grow in.

That wasn't sullen or a death stare. That was just normal.

Babies. They're everywhere.

the colour of an undercooked daffodil.

Do people cook daffodils, then? Are they tasty?

Do people cook daffodils, then? Are they tasty?

Don't know if they're tasty, but they can be cooked if you're at a childrens' party with your six year old in a local park, and the birthday girl's mama is a strct vegetarian, and your six-old-old decides to toss some of the flowers the guests have brought onto the grill. Let no one say my daughter wasn't accommodating. I don't think the flowers got eaten, and I honestly don't remember if there were daffodils, but I do remember charred flowers and Jo asking Margo's deranged mother if she was going to eat them.

However, for the sake of current verisimilitude, consider it a simple descriptive, rather than a literal. Again, I'm in good company; Archie Goodwin describes a black orchid to Nero Wolfe using his mental image of a piece of coal, layered with molasses. Wolfe says, pfui, you have no idea what it would look like.

Maybe not, but Archie's description had me seeing the flower.

not yellow

Can I touch you with my poisoned skin? Do you think I would be dangerous to kiss? If you were forced to look at me, would you see? Would your fear discover the reality of me? Would you let me be?

Shall I squint for you, stick out my teeth for you, should I forget how to roll my R's? Should I learn martial arts? Should I tell you I'm smart? Should I run off and supplant your father's cars?

Yeah, I've got a friend like you, too. Does it fuck up your view that my skin looks like you?

Damn. Liese kicks serious serious serious ass.

wrod.

Anna Louise Genovese at Tor put the following note in her Livejournal: Ah, almost forgot: I am now looking for erotica. Not just NC-17 romance novels, but erotica. Or, rather, "romantica" - the sort of erotica that has a vague semblance of a plot, and also a happy ending.

Paranormal and non-paranormal, contemporary, historical, futuristic, totally kinky or more vanilla, threesomes are okay, blah blah blah. If you're not sure, just submit it and I'll read it; the worst I can say is no.

70,000 - 90,000 words. Post submissions only - three chapters, a 2 page synopsis, and a cover letter.

No queries, please, as they tell me nothing about your ability to write narrative.

Spread the word! Yay!

Anna Genoese is great--she's the editor at our conference last year who had me tempted to change Jack into a werewolf on the spot so I could pitch to her.

The crazy thing is I now think a Peninsular War werewolf story could be really, really cool if done right. And I'd pitch it to Tor in a heartbeat. But that's for another day, another project.

Am I an idiot for believing that a bunch of fanfic with a proven and eager audience of a couple of hundred people is a better use of my skill than attempts to pitch stories to people who don't know me from Eve? It's not the money. There are people out there who talk about my stuff amongst themselves and write me thoughtful emails commenting on what's going on and what might happen next.

Even if published, there's no guarantee I'd sell. But there are people out there right now who get excited when they see something new I've written.