The Wordsmith's Forge

There is a new verse in "Signs Along the Way" which still needs 3 more to be complete.  Durla the troll proffers a sign of danger.

 aldersprig seeks theme ideas for future Giraffe Calls.

According to the "Manage Tags" feature, the topics most often appearing in this journal are:

Networking -- 2788 posts
Reading -- 2620
Writing -- 2558
Cyberfunded creativity -- 2215
Poetry -- 1845
News -- 1432
Fishbowl -- 1270
Fantasy -- 1154
Science fiction -- 1122
Art -- 879

No change in order of topics, as sorted by frequency of posts.

 The crowdfunding campaign met its goal and closed, but you can still read about it and look forward to the book.  I am really pleased to see people appreciating natural hair in all its nappy glory.  If you have the kind of hair that breaks combs, or you just love diversity, check this out.

You can now see the new website for Plunge  magazine.  This is the one I'll be line-editing.  It focuses on queer women in genre fiction.  Submissions should open in the first week of July, 2012; and the first issue is planned for February, 2013. Guidelines are now visible.  Payment is starting with flat rates; as this is a crowdfunded magazine, we hope to increase pay rates over time and switch to a per-word basis.

The article "How Bad Things Are" gives a detailed analysis of economic hardships in America today and the long-term damage that is doing.

How bad are things?  It's been over four years since we had a dayjob in this household.  What very little social safety net is available has been slashed.  The very few jobs in the area pay so little that taking one can create a net loss  of resources, due to gas costs and other factors.

In a healthy society, following the rules consistently leads to a comfortable life.  That is not so in America today.  This makes fewer people inclined to do the work of following the rules, which also creates long-term damage.  Not a good thing at all.  So then people start wanting some other system that will do better.  Rarely they get it.  Usually they just melt down and start lighting shit on fire.  Doubleplusungood.

Famous author Maurice Sendak has passed away.  He wrote a number of childhood classics including Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen.

The pearly gates stand
unlocked yet unopened.

A trail leads away through
the knee-high swishing grass
toward the far edge of the forest
where the trees lean close to whisper,
"Did you see?  Did you see?"

There is wilderness in paradise,
room unbounded for the wild things
and the huge white looming moon.

There is wilderness,
and boy-bare footprints
in the damp sand of the beach,
going and going onward
where the moon and the wild things are.

Listen, listen
to the whispering trees
who have seen many a young king
come and go.

Listen and hear the sound
of drums and horns
in the wild rumpus

for this time,
it is not a king who comes
but the Emperor

of all that is
young and wild and free.