Synchronicity

Currently I’m reading Vacuum Flowers, by the inimitable Michael Swanwick, for about the eighth or ninth time.  In it, people’s personalities can be temporarily altered by a type of programming called “wetprogramming”, since you’re programming the wetware of the person, ie, the brain.  You don’t need special training to be a dentist, or a bodyguard, or a courier.  You just need someone with a wetware programmer and the right set of wafers to imprint the skills you need on your persona.

In the novel, people’s faces are painted to indicate what they’re currently programmed as.  Surgeons might wear an orange butterfly, couriers a green triangle, pierrots a harlequin mask.

Today I saw this photo on Flickr:

The Definition of Beauty

…and part of me thought, I wonder what that paint might indicate.

“Exit Interview” reviewed

A website called Diabolical Plots has taken it upon themselves to review pretty much anything and everything that Daily Science Fiction publishes.  In the last week or so, they got to the August 2011 stories, which include my short story, “Exit Interview“.

In short: they liked it.

When I was asked to review “Exit Interview” by Patrick Johanneson (debut 8/3 and reviewed by Anonymous), I was pleased as I clearly remembered reading it the day it arrived in my inbox–always a good sign. I enjoyed it as much reading it a second time.
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They also pointed out that no less a luminary than Mike Resnick — Mike Resnick! — has sold a story to Daily SF. That’s some esteemed company to be in, methinks. (For those not in the know — Mike Resnick has been nominated for more Hugo Awards than any other science fiction writer.  Including Grandmasters like Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein.)

So.  How’s your day been?