Drollerie Press is organizing a digital author conference for the month of May. Each weekend (May 1 and 2, 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30) authors, editors, and other interested parties are talking about a number of topics, alone or in panels, in a text chat environment. We’re also sponsoring a writing challenge, and we’ll be holding Word Wars in the chat room throughout the week. The con website is at [link] and registration starts next week.

If you're interested in being one of our guests and talking about genre fiction or all the stuff that goes with it, please drop me a line.

F2F 2010

If you are willing to be the official point person for Philly, please head over to F2F and make your presence known. It seems we do not currently have someone due to localistas' personal conflicts, so we need a volunteer (does not have to be local, but does have to be willing to take over hotel wrangling now and at the event itself) in order to keep Philly in the running.

I'm doing some decluttering and wanted to offer up the following, most likely to be interesting to Buffistas with young or tween daughters:

- Two plastic multi-compartment organizers of random beads, mostly seed.

Yours for the price of postage. Ping me at profile addy if interested.

edit - all provisionally claimed. I love me some Buffistas!

U.S. residents can participate in the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth without having to fly to Bolivia.  A two way internet connection to the conference will be established: The week long alternative climate conference includes Bolivian President Evo Morales, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Dr. James Hansen (the world's leading climate scientist), Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Robert Redford, Amy Goodman and scientists and activists from all over the world. You can learn more about the conference at [link] ,

In order to give people who can't attend in person a chance to take part, the conference is facilitating electronic participation this Tuesday   April 20, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. Cochabamba, Bolivia time. That will be the same time in NY and Boston, 6:00 P.M. In Chicago, and 4:00 P.M. in Olympia, WA. The connection will be to one of many simultaneous workshops and probably won't include Robert Redford or any other celebrities. . U.S. Locations:

New York City
The Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets)
April 20, 2010
7:00 pm
Moderator: Alfredo Lopez

Boston
encuentro 5
33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor
Boston, MA 02111 7:00 pm
Moderator: Suren Moodliar

Chicago
Casa Michoacan
1638 S. Blue Island
Chicago IL 60608
6:00 pm
Moderator: Jesus Rodriguez Espinoza

Olympia (WA)
The Evergreen State College
Lecture Hall 5
4:00 PM
700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, Washington 98505
Moderator: Gar Lipow (Actually Zoltan Grossman will do most moderation in Olympia)

Hear ye, hear ye:

Since F2F planning time is getting short and our Philly peeps seem to have been caught up in stuff like having lives, there is a suggestion on the table to default to Providence and get things underway again. Info on the hotel bid is here sj "F2F5: I forget that everyone isn't us" Apr 19, 2010 7:00:27 am PDT and here sj "F2F5: I forget that everyone isn't us" Mar 11, 2010 5:38:00 pm PST

And general city pimpage here: sj "F2F5: I forget that everyone isn't us" Mar 20, 2010 11:17:25 am PDT

Come on over and weigh in!

And as a follow-up...

The wise and beautiful smonster said the following:

::sigh:: I hate to say this, but since a lot of people's plans seem to have changed and it is suspiciously quiet in here, even if it's definitely Providence should we do a yes/no/maybe poll on being able to go? I have in mind the NOLA f2f and don't want anyone left on the hook.

We have narrowed F2F 2010 down to June 26-27 in Providence, RI, but we need to make sure we have enough people likely to attend to make it financially viable. Will you come?

Please respond to the survey here.

We need a minimum of 30 people (?) likely to attend to go forward, I think, but we can talk more about that in F2F.

In about an hour, I'm off to try again to donate blood.

I was full of confidence until just now.

Any calm, in control, no nausea, free (and quickly) flowing ~ma available would be greatly appreciated.

F2F Update:

x-posted with Press

Folks, it isn't looking good so far. I know we've only had the survey up for a day, but we've had 35 responses so far, and these are the results:

Yes 6
Probably 5
There's a small chance 7
No 17

If there's any chance you may be able to attend, please take the survey. I would say if we don't have a total of 25 (?) yes/probably responses, we may need to do something small and informal this year (maybe at someone's house?). Either that or propose another weekend. Not sure. Open for suggestions, all.

y'all, we're having a yard sale this Saturday in our driveway (4/24, 10-3) Come and check it out!

Please come to our yard sale- we can't bring all our stuff with us to New Orleans and we want our friends to have first dibs.

Kitchen stuff: vintage Le Cruset, current Le Cruset, cast iron cookware, polish pottery, Crate & Barrell dishware, martini glasses, saucepan sets, carbon steel wok, set of espresso cups and saucers, stovetop espresso maker, fondue pot, seltzer maker thing, lots of other things.

Furniture stuff: bookshelves, CD racks and small set of drawers painted in primary colors with fine British craftsmanship, area rugs, baskets, drafting table/computer desk, copper hangings, DVD player, galvanized tub

Stuff stuff: picture frames, photo albums, posters, framed prints, geeky collectables, jewelry, handcrafted woman's fancy hat, cassette tapes (!!!), hurricane lamp, toys, grill lamp, games, and other awesome stuff.

Where:

5 North Pine Street's driveway Salem MA

When: THIS SATURDAY! April 24, 10am-3pm

Let me know if you want me to put anything aside for you (as long as you come up and get it Saturday!) Also, this will provide the opportunity to hang out and catch up at the same time!

Posted over at MTV Books blog today about totems, rituals, and superstitions today.

[link]