Baby Cockroaches (Photos)

This post has sad news and happy news.

As some of you will know from Twitter, Sparkle (my pet cockroach) died recently. At just under four years old, he was an elderly cockroach, so it wasn't entirely unexpected.

The result in writing terms is I've shelved my NaNo project for now, as writing about pet spiders was a little too close (I have been writing other things, including my main novel and a steampunk short).

I'd initially intended to wait a bit before getting another cockroach, but the weather's only going to get colder* and the supplier is closing early this year for Christmas. So I'm now the owner of two baby cockroaches. They're in a temporary tank for now, while I sort out their permanent homes.

And in the spirit of baby animals, baby cockroach pictures...

Gem is the boldest of the two. It went to explore the tank soon after arrival and quickly found the heat pad. Gem jumped the first time I stroked it, but wasn't bothered the second time. I think it'll tame pretty quickly.

Ash is rather shy, and didn't leave the kitchen roll they arrived in for hours (and when it did, panicked and hid as soon as I came in). Ash was very skittish about being handled, but I did manage to get it to come out for long enough for the photo**.

They're both active and some of the food has gone, so it's a good start.

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* Cockroaches arrive by mail order. Though this might seem a little odd, as you wouldn't mail a puppy, insects don't really mind being mailed if they're packed properly. My experience has been they mind being disturbed on arrival far more.

** You might think the flash would bother them, but I haven't found that to be the case. Scary monsters that pick them up are far more worrying.

Nebula Nominations and Flash Fiction

The nominations for the Nebulas, the awards given out by the SFWA, are now open. As a new associate member, I have awesome cosmic power! In other words, I can nominate things this year. I won't be able to vote for the winners until I'm an active member, but I can at least do my bit to try and get stories I like on the ballot.

In thinking about what I might nominate, I also considered why I've never posted a list of my eligible stories. It's not that I have any objections to doing so. I find such lists useful, as I'm notoriously bad at knowing what year it is. I've still never posted one, because I mainly write flash fiction.

It's not the flash isn't eligible for the short story category, because it is. But a 500-word story is always going to struggle in a category against 5000-word stories. Why would someone nominate a piece of flash from a small token-paying market? It was enough to stop me listing my stories.

This year, I'm revising my opinion somewhat. Though it is true that flash will always struggle, I joined SFWA by selling flash fiction (both of my pro sales are flash). I've read plenty of great flash stories this year. So this year, I will post a list of my eligible stories... and I'm sure there'll be some flash in my nominations.

Maybe a drabble will win a Nebula one year*. You never know.

My 2010 Stories

I'm pretty sure as mustard these are all eligible. It's also a bit of a memory lane for me, as this year was suddenly more successful than previous years. So yay for that!

"Whirligig Fingers and Globular Thumbs", Crossed Genres, Issue #16, March 2010 - A steampunk robot story. This is my only non-flash sale to date.

"Through Amber Eyes", Flash Fiction Online, July 2010 - Transspecism, magical realismish and kitties.

"Clockwork Fly", Bards and Sages Quarterly, October 2010 - More steampunk robots.

"War of the Roses", Nature (Nature Futures), Volume 467 (7316), 7 October 2010 - Hard science fiction and gardening.

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* I don't think a drabble has ever won, but if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone'll tell me.

Second Life and Sleeping

Various bits and bobs...

Second Life Gallery

One of my aims this year was finishing my Second Life gallery. I recently brought more land and have been sorting out the area, which is what I was busy doing during October. So far, I've made the buildings and starting making stuff for the writing workshop (it'll be a steampunk lab).

It probably says something that I made the giant moving eyeball* before sorting out the writing samples.

NaNoWriMo

The cunning plan was I'd work on SL stuff in October, then switch to NaNoWriMo in November. The theory was good, but I think I've come down with something... I've been sleeping for silly amounts of time, which is generally bad for writing (or anything other than sleeping).

Today, I got up at a reasonable time and I'm not feeling tired, so I'm blogging. And will be trying to get my word count up a bit afterwards**.

Star*Line

If you're a member of the SFPA (Science Fiction Poetry Association), I have a poem in the July/August 2010 Star*Line. I haven't mentioned it before, as I think the issue was delayed... but the issue is listed on their site now, so I assume it's going out to members.

The poem is 'Recipe for Eternal Youth'. Darker than my usual fare and based on a true story.

Other Writerly Stuff

I got a SFWA handbook today, which has stuff about the business side of writing. I must have missed that being part of joining, so there you go... if you join, you get a free book!

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* I've named him Boris.

** I did warn people in my NaNo profile that I was the buddy you could point and laugh at for a low word count. One day, I might actually win NaNo.