Claude Lalumière and I have reviewed CHRONICLE for Locus Magazine Online. Hint: we kind of liked it.
“Young Miss Frankenstein Regrets”
In honor of the 2011 Rhysling Awards, I’m posting “Young Miss Frankenstein Regrets” below. It appeared in Volume 47 of ChiZine (April 2011).
Young Miss Frankenstein Regrets
by Camille Alexa
Reanimation gives rise to all sorts of
regrets, as one forgets the
repercussions sure to follow the
reappearance of the dead.
Recalling the fantasies of
reunion in which one indulged before
reactivating the machine one had
rebuilt in Great-Grandpa’s study,
reusing dusty parts and
reworking the old man’s blueprints after
rereading all his crumbling musty notes and
rewiring the entire neighborhood to
reroute all local power to the modest
reactor atop the roof (planning, of course, to
replace everything afterward), one
reheats the cryogenically frozen heirloom brain,
recombining purloined “found” parts to
revive dear Great-Grandpa and
reclaim days of past family glory.
Recovering from the scent of charred meat,
repulsed by Great-Grandpa’s mindless drooling and
reasserting control over one’s unfortunate
recoil from the outstretched avuncular arms
reaching for one’s throat in a most
repugnant and alarming manner, one
recollects one’s dream of
realizing ancestral legacy by
re-embarking on one’s great-grandfather’s work.
Reluctantly, one uses the cattle prod to halt the
repeated efforts of one’s ancestor to
release himself from the sturdy iron
restraints one had the merciful foresight to
reinforce before the experiment.
Reducing the power levels and
resetting the levers, one
retreats to a safer distance to seriously
reconsider (despite the family resemblance) having
reawakened a howling, incoherent monster so eerily
reminiscent of one’s dear late mother.
Really, one thinks as one unplugs the
reviving machines, waiting for the
resubsidence of all signs of pseudolife from one’s
redoubtable, famous, infamous forebear,
Reliving the past isn’t always so
regrettable, is it?
SUBVERSION book trailer
My story “And All Its Truths” is coming out today in the 
SUBVERSION anthology. Reviewers already have nice things to say about this antho and this story, which is lovely and delicious.
Lineup includes stories by Jessica Reisman, Shanna Germain, Cat Rambo, Wendy Wagner, Kay T. Holt, Caleb Jordan Schulz, Melissa S. Green, Daniel José Older, Kelly Jennings, Barbara Krasnoff, Natania Barron, Jean Johnson, C.A. Young, Timothy T. Murphy, and RJ Astruc & Deirdre M. Murphy.
Ever wondered what I looked like in a mohawk? Ever wondered if my twang emerges more when I talk about growing up in Austin, Texas? Here’s a book trailer for SUBVERSION which may answer all your questions, or stir up a pot of new ones. . . .
“Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths” in translation
From the Machine of Death site:
“ These pictures are of the press kit for the upcoming Italian version of MOD1, La Macchina della Morte! … I hope the book does well in Italy when it comes out next year! Tell all your friends in Italy to buy a copy!
Oh and if you have friends in Germany, tell them to buy one too, when the German edition comes out in January.
Oh and if you have friends in Spain, tell them to buy one of the Spanish versions too.
If you have friends in France, you might as well tell them too.
Ditto for all your friends in Croatia, Korea, Japan, and Israel.
That’s right — there will be eight different foreign editions of MOD1 coming out next year across the world. . . “
Machine of Death opens with my story “Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths.” This one has already appeared in audio at Escape Pod and in print in my collection, PUSH OF THE SKY. Fly, little story! Fly!
Sci-Fi Authorfest at Powell’s Books in Portland!
Another Orycon is just a week away, and with it another Sci-Fi Authorfest 
at Powell’s Books. From the Powell’s events calendar:
Sci-Fi Authorfest V
A starfleet of science-fiction and fantasy authors descends for one galactic booksigning event. Attending authors include: Camille Alexa, Brent Weeks, David Levine, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, Peter Orullian, Mark Ferrari, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Kevin James Breaux, Meljean Brooks, Devon Monk, Lilith Saintcrow, J. A. Pitts, Timothy Zahn, Irene Radford, Ru Emerson, Adrian Phoenix, Andrew Mayer, Mary Robinette Kowal, Shannon Page, Claude Lalumiere, M. K. Hobson, Brenda Cooper, Vonda McIntyre, Louise Marley, and Ursula K. Le Guin. And in attendance will be the Cloud City Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion. . . .”
Come say hi! Bring a book for your favorite regional authors to sign — or not; just saying “hi” is fine too.
WHEN & WHERE: Sunday, November 13th @ 4:30PM at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. (800) 878-7323
Orycon, 2011
I’ll be appearing at Orycon this year in bright and beautiful Portland on November 11-13, 2011. Fantastic theme for 2011: The Lighter Side of Horror.
COME FIND ME at the bar, the parties, or on one of these fine panels:
Fri Nov 11, 4:00pm-5:00pm Playing with Blocks Having trouble thinking up new story ideas? What to do when your muse skips town. Aimee C. Amodio, Ray Vukcevich, Ken Scholes, Camille Alexa Sat Nov 12, 10:00am-11:00am How to Find an Agent How to get an agent that works for you, if you really need one, and some of the things to avoid when looking for one. Camille Alexa, Jess Hartley Sat Nov 12, 12:00pm-1:00pm Fantasy Magazine Reading Writers published in Fantasy Magazine get together and read from their work. Wendy Wagner, Camille Alexa Sat Nov 12, 4:00pm-5:00pm Feedback workshop Bring your questions, manuscripts, critiques, etc. A hands-on workshop on how to apply the feedback you get from readers, editors, writer's workshops, critique groups, etc. Ann Wilkes, Camille Alexa, Ray Vukcevich, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Richard A. Lovett Sun Nov 13, 12:00pm-1:00:pm Spaceships, Colonists, and Castaways How Small Communities Function in isolated conditions with minimal resources. David D. Levine, Camille Alexa, G. David Nordley
“Down Where the Best Lilies Grow” goes live
Odette’s maman says she plucked her along with other skinny reeds down by the shallow brackish waters of the Durendal Fen near the water’s tail end where the best mud lilies grow among the beaked sedge and whorl grass. There the small lilies push up, tiny stars tossed against green and black, blossoming like white prayers to hazy dappled cloudshine, offering themselves like virgins opening legs after wedding vows. . .
My story “Down Where the Best Lilies Grow” is live at 10Flash Magazine. Available in its entirety at the site.
[moth image by Kateshortforbob in Public Domain]
Machine of Death in Calgary June 17-19, 2011
Machine of Death, which opens with my story “Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths,” will be kickin’ it Canada style this weekend at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Editors Ryan North & David Malki ! will be on hand to sign books and crack jokes.
You can still read “Flaming Marshmallow” online, or listen to it in audio at Escape Pod or the MoD audio feed.
The Girl-Shaped Jar
Super-short story “The Girl-Shaped Jar” has gone live at Flash Fiction Online :
Sammi’s sister sent her a funny email. A funny, funny email, showing crazy Japanese inventions to make things into other crazy things, other crazy shapes they weren’t. All crazy and stuff stuff, like watermelons grown in tempered glass jars, square right off the vine. . . .
Read the complete story here.
[picture from Wikimedia commons]
“Flaming Marshmallow” in audio…again!
In the latest news from Machine Of Death, “Flaming Marshmallow,” a story which first appeared in PUSH OF THE SKY and in audio at Escape Pod, is in audio . . . again!
From the MoD site:
I’m so freaking excited I can hardly stand it.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow is my birthday, the birthday. The birthday everybody waits and waits for and until you get there you just hate that all your old friends already got theirs and you’re the only one without it yet, and sometimes you think holy-freaking-eff, I’m never going to turn sixteen, but then you do.
This is what I’ve been waiting for all these months. All these years, I guess, though before my friends started getting theirs, it didn’t seem like such a big deal. We were all No-Knows then.
Tomorrow, I’m finally going to feel like I belong.
Tomorrow, I’m going to find out how I die.
Download the MP3 • Subscribe on iTunes
Direct podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/machineofpodcast
Reader Colleen AF Venable is a designer, author, and girl who laughs till things come out of her nose. During the day, she designs graphic novels for First Second Books and at night, she writes graphic novels about a not-so-imaginary-anymore hyperactive hamster named Hamisher. The world is a very lovely place.
In the book, “FLAMING MARSHMALLOW” is illustrated by Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man!
