I found a YouTube video from Inside Edition, which I thought offered a heartwarming introduction to the holiday. I hope you enjoy it, too (it’s about 3 minutes long).
May you have honey-dipped apples (if you’re not allergic), enjoy the warmth of family and community, and be written into the Book of Life for another year! And I hope you’ve enjoyed my Rosh Hashanah greetings.
I really love going to readings at science fiction conventions. There’s always a new story, something interesting, and a chance to talk with the authors one-on-one. As I did at SoonerCon in June, I went to lots of readings at FenCon XVI, and I discovered some real delights.
I caught four Friday readings at FenCon XVI. All were delightful, but I was having a terrible time with my access to Facebook and Twitter, and in the process I lost some of the specifics about the selections being read. I was able to recover most of it, however. Enough to share with you here.
If the rest of the anthology is as interesting as Monalisa’s story, it belongs in the library of anyone who loves alternate history. For a fairly comprehensive list of this interesting author’s work, visit her website and her Amazon page.
Kimm Antell
The next author to arrive, Kimm Antell, discovered long ago that “Brownies are my thing,” that is, her favorite “monster” to write about. They weren’t really all that monstrous in her story “Brownout,” but they were true-to-form in many ways. These particular brownies inhabit the cubicles of computer programmers. Assorted hilarity and life-change events ensue, after Cedric, the kind-hearted but shy protagonist discovers them.
Kim Antellread “Brownout,” a really delightful, funny-but-affirming story about brownies who inhabit an office where programmers sit in their cubicles and write code all day.
I try to remember to ask permission to photograph, write about her, tweet, and utilize Facebook, and I was particularly glad I asked before I started taking photos of Kimm. She told me she didn’t normally allow anyone to photograph her, but she felt comfortable enough, because I asked, to allow me the liberty. I deeply appreciate her permission, because it allows me to share my discovery of another wonderful talent.
Julie Czerneda
Turns out Julie Czerneda, one of FenCon XVI’s headliner guests, is an accomplished dramatic reader. She’s as fun to watch as she is to listen to, and no one photo of her in action will suffice, so I offer a “gallery” of them.
The peripatetic Julie Czerneda reads excerpts from several projects during her Friday reading at FenCon XVI.
All in all the Friday readings at FenCon XVI were funny, gripping, dramatic, and altogether a delightful way to spend a large part of my afternoon.
IMAGE CREDITS: All photos are by me, Jan S. Gephardt, taken 9/20/2019 in Irving, TX. Please feel free to reblog or share them, but please always with an attribution and a link back to this page, their original source.
At FenCon XVI, I unexpectedly became an after-the-fact part of a mutual inspiration society. These things happen sometimes, and it’s rarely because they are planned. More often, it’s a matter of spontaneous combustion: all the elements come together in one place, and creativity happens.
I mentioned this story in passing, in my blog post from last Friday. I’d received permission to take pictures of my friend Peri Charlifu’s artwork. Then I learned the story behind one particular bowl. It is the culmination of one mutual inspiration event, between Peri and writer Rhonda Eudaly. Their story in turn inspired me to postabout it, and now to share it with you. Perhaps it’ll inspire you, too–and thereby extend the mutual inspiration society even farther.
The Tale of Peri Potter and the Sorcerer’s Bowl
Petunia’s Bowl of Prophecy, 2019, by Peri Charlifu There’s an interesting story behind this little bowl. The story of how it was made is a glimpse of the sometimes truly magical ways that artists interact.
Long before this bowl was made, the author Rhonda Eudaly overheard part of a conversation and misunderstood what the person said. She thought she heard, “Peri Potter and the Sorcerer’s Bowl.”
We can guess what she really heard–but she was so amused by the mis-heard words, she later told Peri how she immediately thought of him. They both laughed, but the idea had by then gotten its claws well set in.
Rhonda thought that would be all there was to it . . . but the silly little phrase wormed its way into her thoughts, and persisted, and persisted.
And of course, writers being writers, pretty soon a story began forming around it. Kinda like a peal forms around an irritant. Rhonda wrote it, and polished it, and called it . . . Peri Potter and the Sorcerer’s Bowl (what else?)
Rhonda gave Peri a copy of the story, since he’d been the most important part of its inspiration.
Peri read it, and enjoyed it. “You really caught me,” he said. But while he was reading, an idea started forming. He began to think about a bowl–one just like the one Petunia had in Rhonda’s story.
What’s an artist to do, in a situation like that? He made the bowl, of course! He brought it to FenCon XVI, because he knew Rhonda would be there, and he wanted her to see it.
He named it Petunia’s Bowl of Prophecy, after the bowl in the story. So of course, Rhonda gave Peri a copy of the story she’d written, which was inspired by him,to go along with the bowl he made that was inspired by her story. And that’s the Tale of Peri Potter and the Sorcerer’s Bowl.
But what about the story that inspired this story?
By now, I imagine at least a few of you are curious to read Rhonda’s story for yourselves. If so, you’re in luck. Rhonda posted it on her blog in July, and shared the link with me. Read it here! I hope you enjoy it. And I hope you also enjoyed this account of how a mutual inspiration societycame into being, after a mis-heard quote sparked a chain of creative reactions.
I also deeply appreciate Rhonda Eudaly’s generous willingness to share her story with you and me.
The photos were taken 9/19/2019 by Jan S. Gephardt at the FenCon XVI Art Show in Irving, TX. Please feel free to reblog or share them, but only if you’re willing to acknowledge Peri Charlifu as the creator of the bowl and attribute me (Jan) as the photographer. Please also link back to this site or to Peri’s Aegean Goods website.
I spent a large chunk of time Thursday on the FenCon XVI Art Show. That was “setup day,” when the tables and display panels went up, and then the first of the art (the mail-ins and the work of artists able to arrive today) did, too.
As much as possible, all the rest of the art went up Friday, preferably before the Art Show opened to the public on Friday at 2:00 p.m.
Artist Guest of Honor Peri Charlifu
Peri Charlifu is one of the most talented and generous human beings I know–and I don’t think I’d get any naysayers if I asked others who know him if that was a fair characterization. He’s this year’s Artist Guest of Honor at FenCon XVI, so of course Ty and I found him working as hard as any member of the Art Show staff. His artwork at FenCon this year is a glorious bounty, and he gave me permission to photograph his artwork and post it online.
I’ve taken full and gleeful advantage of his permission to photograph and post about his artwork at FenCon. He knows I love to tell my readers about cool new artwork that I encounter.
Furthermore, he dares me or anyone else to take his ideas and execute them as well as he does. It’s a dare I would never take. I’ll happily promote him and his work till the world looks level, but the only way to get a real Peri Charlifu piece is to buy it from HIM.
Peri Charlifu brought a dizzying array of artwork to FenCon XVI. They include awesome ceramics, sets, and kits, as well as 2D work.
Since DemiCon, I’ve been acting as an art agent for my friend Lucy A, Synk–or at least, my son Tyrell and I have been. I contact the show and manage the paperwork, but usually it’s Ty who puts up the show. And it’s also usually he who takes it down afterward. So of course we brought her artwork to FenCon.
IMAGE CREDITS: Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by me, Jan S. Gephardt, and they may be re-posted or reblogged freely, as long as you attribute me as the photographer and include a link back to this post. Many thanks!
If you wish to reblog or repost images of Peri Charlifu‘s workartwork, please attribute him as the artist, and provide a link back to his website. I’d also appreciate it if you’ll identify me as the source, with a link back to this post, please.
If you wish to reblog or repost Lucy A. Synk’s artwork, please attribute her as the artist and Tyrell Gephardt as the photographer, and link back either to Lucy’s page or to this post. Many thanks!
Typically, getting ready for a convention means I’ve been running around like a madwoman, trying to get everything ready to go. And . . . yeah, this week has been pretty typical so far. For me, going toFenCon–or, really, any con–is no simple affair.
Once I’m at the convention, the efforts to spread the word don’t stop. There’ll be bookmarks and postcards to put on the “freebie tables” promoting my science fiction mystery novel What’s Bred in the Bone, and at every panel where an opportunity is given for panelists to talk about our work, I’ll happily display my little stand-up sign with the Jody A. Lee cover art on it, and pass out bookmarks or badge ribbons after the panel ends.
At left is a glimpse of my promo materials (along with a couple of my books), as seen at the Mad Authors’ Salon last May at ConQuesT 50. At right, my current collection of badge ribbons that I hand out at conventions.
If you’ll be one of my fellow attendees at FenCon XVI, there’ll be a lot of cool things to do. Don’t miss the Dealers’ Room, especially since Adventures in Crime & Space has just agreed to carry my books on their table!
All of the other photos also are by me. They portray some of my promotional materials and a public area at FenCon in 2018. Feel free to re-post any of my images, but kindly include an attribution and a link back to this page. Thanks!
In Friday’s post I made the point that people won’t fare very well if they have no purpose in life. But where and how can they find such purpose? For your consideration, I offer a very short discussion, in the form of somewhat-dueling quotes.
Pardon, Your Holiness, but that seems a bit short on practical details. Could you please elaborate? How do we get to happiness as the purpose in our lives from where we are today?
That’s a bit clearer, thanks. But not everyone agrees with His Holiness’s original point that “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” Here’s a counterargument from Leo Rosten:
Rosten, a noted writer, humorist, and observer of the world, had an outlook very much in tune with many of the creative people I’ve known. For him and for many others of us, our purpose in life consists of more than just being happy. It’s even more than just making others happy. We want “to have made some difference” that we lived at all. How future generations will realize that purpose in life remains to be seen.
Finally, I want to thank Pass it On and Values.com for the Leo Rosten quote image. Please note that the background image for the Pass it On/Rosten quote conveys a message of its own, if you recognize it.
Art history buffs among my readers will have recognized it as one of the masterpieces of 19th Century European Romanticism. The painting is Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog(1818) by Caspar David Friedrich – The photographic reproduction was done by Cybershot800i. (Diff), Public Domain, and is available courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Habits change slowly. What has been valued and prioritized in the past will by sheer mental habit tend to be valued and prioritized well into the future. The future of work may well include more “service sector” jobs and “gig work.” But will that somehow translate into well-paying jobs, even though it has seldom done so in the past?
Whatever directions the workplace evolves, it’s clear we should be having the conversation now. We all need to have a say, regarding what is the future of work.
Domestic terror is on the rise, however. The threat we must face now comes from within. Will we gain perspective on 9/11? Will we see this new landscape? Or will we continue to imagine we see Al Qaeda in the shadows, and ignore the terrorists among us?
Anyone who’s followed my Facebook Author Page in recent weeks is aware that I’ve been working really hard to finish A Bone to Pick, the second novel in the XK9 “Bones” Trilogy. I went on a writing retreat August 23-26, and made huge strides–but I still haven’t quite finished yet. My goal was to finish by September 1, and I’m so close! But still working.
The new book starts right after What’s Bred in the Boneends. Rex, Shady, and the Pack are back, along with all their friends and allies. But the new book also focuses on Rex’s partner Charlie’s struggles–and the answer to the question, “What is Charlie’s role?”
I hope it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that Charlie received traumatic injuries in a space dock accident, directly followed by the “explosive micro-deconstruction” of the spaceship Izgubil, near the beginning of What’s Bred in the Bone. He was out of the picture, in the hospital, during most of Rex’s adventures in the first book.
Although some reviewers have been puzzled or annoyed that he wasn’t a big factor in the first book, his absence was the catalyst for a lot of Rex’s growth. Rex couldn’t stand back and let Charlie handle things, because Charlie wasn’t there. Rex had to step up and handle things on his own.
But now Charlie’s out of re-gen, awake, and recovering. What is Charlie’s role? Has Rex moved on? Is Charlie now irrelevant? Bringing Charlie’s story into the ongoing mystery has given me a chance to explore issues such as post-traumatic stress, depression, and the healing power of having animals (including sapient ones) and supportive humans in one’s life. These are issues that are not only relevant to Charlie and the story–they’re relevant to many contemporary lives.
An early concept image of Charlie and Rex, by artist Jeff Porter.
Originally conceived as a single book, the Izgubil mysterywon’t fully unfold until the end of the third XK9 “Bones” book, Bone of Contention. But I hope readers will discover a full story arc and an interesting tale in A Bone to Pick. Publication date is scheduled for next May, from Weird Sisters Publishing LLC.
Das Lakshana (Paryushana) celebrations, Jain Center of America, New York City (photo by Aayush18/Wikimedia Commons)
On this blog, that effort begins by offering greetings to worshipers of other faiths, for as many major holidays as I can learn about in time to post about them. Building bridges of greater understanding is my key goal. One of the joys of this “holidays” project is that it gives me an opportunity to learn how marvelously varied we humans are–and also how consistent.
And every holiday includes some means of reaching out to others–to fellow believers, to families, to friends. One favorite way is through gatherings and special meals. Here’s a sampling of Paryushan recipes, in case you’d like to explore them.
Foods for Paryushan Parva.
I’m grateful for a new opportunity to learn about Paryushan Parva today, and I beg forgiveness if I got things wrong. Happy Paryushan Parva!
IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Millenium Post‘s article by Dhirendra Kumar, for the basic art I used for my greeting graphic. I adapted it and added the greeting in Adobe Illustrator. Many thanks also to Aayush18 and Wikimedia Commons, for the photo of the celebrations at the Jain Center of America in New York City, NY. Please note the photo is by Aayush18 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. And finally I am grateful to the Times of India for its article that shares recipes appropriate to the holiday, and also contributed the photo of the food. I feel deep appreciation to all of you! And I wish you a happy Paryushan Parva!
