The Spoons That Are My Ears!

Some people get married. My lovely Brazilian friend Caroline is getting married tomorrow. Immediately after the wedding ceremony she is going with her husband to a Whitesnake concert. There's no reason why I should be astonished by this choice of celebratory music, but I am. Then the happy couple are going to the tropical paradise of Natal for their honeymoon.

Caroline was the main inspiration for my Sereia de Curitiba book and we've managed to remain close friends despite not seeing each other for six years. For me that's unusual, as I'm bad at keeping in touch with distant people: when my friends are far away I tend to lose contact with them. That's not good; but I'm not especially good, so at least a certain symmetry is preserved.

I might not be good, but I'm talented, and that's some kind of substitute, surely. Today I received my free copies of Mike Ashely's new anthology, The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy. It contains my story 'The Old House Under the Snow...' and I'm delighted to be part of this project alongside such excellent writers as A. A. Attanasio, Michael Moorcock, R.A. Lafferty, Howard Waldrop, Orson Scott Card, Jeffrey Ford, Michael Swanwick, etc, etc.