Drowning Nor Waving

cristalia 6:19 pm: Does getting sushi two nights in a row make me a bad person?
cristalia 6:19 pm: I am sleepy and achy and crave the flesh of beasts and fishies.
stillsostrange 6:19 pm: Are you eating endangered fishes?
cristalia 6:19 pm: No, only the regular kind.
stillsostrange 6:19 pm: Then I think it's morally acceptable.
cristalia 6:19 pm: Thank you.
cristalia 6:23 pm: I will mix it up and get short ribs too, thus lowering my fish-eating footprint.
kafkonia 6:24 pm: Ribs and sushi? Happy Channukah!
cristalia 6:24 pm: That's how I roll.

katallen (11:54:23 PM): You know, I really wish people would stop using phrases like Darwin in action... Darwin really wasn't a particularly murderous person.
cristalia (11:54:30 PM): Action Darwin!
cristalia (11:54:36 PM): With kung fu monograph grip!
matociquala (11:54:45 PM): with kung fu evolution gr--
matociquala (11:54:49 PM): ahem
cristalia (11:54:53 PM): hee.
kafkonia (11:55:01 PM): Kung fu opposable thumb?
cristalia (11:55:12 PM): WATCH Action Darwin give papers to naturalist societies!
cristalia (11:55:29 PM): SAIL Action Darwin with the HMS Beagle playset!
katallen (11:55:34 PM): WATCH Action Darwin take decades to make his mind up to publish!
cristalia (11:55:50 PM): GROOM Action Darwin's copious beard!
kafkonia (11:56:09 PM): Also available: Action Darwin's Galapagos Tortoise! Limited edition!
cristalia (11:56:21 PM): (tortoise not to scale.)


kafkonia (12:01:39 AM): (Action Darwin is not suitable for children under 5 or creationists.)

jmeadows (7:34:59 PM): *destroys bad writing*
cristalia (7:35:13 PM): *manuscripts worldwide suddenly burst into flame*
cristalia (7:35:19 PM): *author shock!*
jmeadows (7:35:23 PM): *spits coffee*
stillnotbored (7:35:32 PM): *wails of anguish*
cristalia (7:35:45 PM): *wholesale conflagration in entire bookstore departments*
stillnotbored (7:36:12 PM): *manga sales skyrocket*
cristalia (7:36:28 PM): *at least, those that aren't on fire*
jmeadows (7:36:54 PM): *has THIS MUCH chatloff*
stillnotbored (7:36:55 PM): *urban fantasy becomes extinct in a day*
cristalia (7:37:37 PM): *surviving in-print authors wander a postapocalyptic wilderness, shivving each other for tinned food and readership*
stillnotbored (7:38:07 PM): *agents become warlords, ruling small bands of followers*
matociquala (7:38:20 PM): So how is this an alternate reality?

cristalia (11:00:12 PM): Also we sold a fuckton of Clockwork Phoenix.
cristalia (11:00:27 PM): And a fuckton of the Rhysling Anthology.
cristalia (11:00:33 PM): even though I did not win the Rhysling Award.
cristalia (11:00:35 PM): But we expected that.
ringwoodcomics (11:00:57 PM): oh.. you did?
ringwoodcomics (11:01:00 PM): *puts away crowbar* >.>
ringwoodcomics (11:01:10 PM): then i guess it is live and let live. <.<
ringwoodcomics (11:01:14 PM): *dumps poison in toilet*
cristalia (11:01:22 PM): heee
cristalia (11:01:24 PM): yes I did.
cristalia (11:01:33 PM): From the minute I read the rest of the long-form nominees.
ringwoodcomics (11:01:38 PM): just FYI i am totally ready to run your career like a protection racket.
ringwoodcomics (11:01:48 PM): "if leah doesn't win this award.. well..
ringwoodcomics (11:01:51 PM): who knows what could happen."

...we loves our Partner in Crime. He makes us feel better. *g*

cristalia: we bought (STORY), by the by. :-)
matociquala: Oh, cool.
cristalia: after another rewrite and I may tweak with him some more.
cristalia: I actually really like the guy, has a sense of humour. *g*
cristalia: here, when he sent it back:
cristalia: "Dear Leah,

I've been burning the midnight oil, but I finally managed to finish the revisions you asked for. I know I told you it might take ten days, but it was my plan all along to shock and amaze you by how much I could beat my self-imposed deadline by. (Scotty on Star Trek figured this one out, too. Ever notice how all his repairs were estimated to take two weeks?)

cristalia: I was all bahahaha! you're neat!
matociquala: hee
matociquala: yes
matociquala: That's two weeks if he has to do it himself with an Ikea alan wrench
cristalia: heeee
matociquala: if he has his crew, an hour, two tops
cristalia: I wonder if they have Ikea in the 25th century.
cristalia: Probably do.
matociquala: yes
matociquala: They have the contract for the Federation's furniture.
matociquala: you can tell at a glance
cristalia: hee, yes. It's all made with pegs and comes in a box.
cristalia: I bet Ikea owns Earth just from the delivery charges.
matociquala: That's what they do with spare ensigns.
matociquala: "Build this book case."
cristalia: heee
matociquala: Keeps 'em out of trouble between redshirtings

cristalia: I fear well-adjusted people who have never had the codependent fear of being left thing will never get this story.
ringwoodcomics: ahhhh everyone's had the fear. :-)
cristalia: I just have seven critiquers going "I don't get why she killed him if she loved him"
ringwoodcomics: mmmm they are not very imaginative are they. ):<
cristalia: Or aren't doing much self-inspecting.
ringwoodcomics: No kiddin'.
ringwoodcomics: They do not do a lot of love stories? I mean stories that explore love.
cristalia: I guess not. They keep wanting me to make it like he was going to kill her, or he cheated on her or something.
cristalia: That is mundane, people. And easy.
cristalia: And cheap.
ringwoodcomics: No kidding.
ringwoodcomics: Keep it as is.
ringwoodcomics: That removes all complexity or.. yeah.
ringwoodcomics: That's dumb, to be blunt.
cristalia: It is.
cristalia: This is a story about totally plausible fucked-uppedness and being ruled by your fears or not.
ringwoodcomics: (i admit slightly kneejerky response to all that.)
cristalia: (ohh?)
ringwoodcomics: (that perhaps the chat room does not want to read a story wherein a female character does something unreasonable without having some 'accepted' motive for doing it.)
cristalia: (oh, this was 'shop, not the chat people)
ringwoodcomics: (ah, good.)
cristalia: (but yeah, I see that.)
cristalia: (like...it's more palatable if she was striking out against being victimized somehow, not acting on her own steam)
ringwoodcomics: (ed zachary.)
cristalia: I deem that crap.
cristalia: Or well...not exactly, but in a story what's meant to make people uncomfortable it's a little counterproductive to pull punches that way, retreat into the mundane.
ringwoodcomics: I consider ghost stories to be largely feminine in nature, and the way she acts and.. I don't know, allows herself to be tormented by it, is quite feminine.
ringwoodcomics: Doing the victimization thing is a copout.
cristalia: 'tis.
ringwoodcomics: yeah. retaliation for cheating or abuse or something makes it conventional and easy.
ringwoodcomics: which is sad, that responding to cheating or abuse with murder is 'acceptable,' but there it is.
cristalia: It was not a justifiable action and shouldn't be justified.
ringwoodcomics: that is why she is being haunted.:-)
cristalia: It was wrong. Or she wouldn't be haunted.
cristalia: Yes. :-)
ringwoodcomics: hee.
ringwoodcomics: you are not haunted by ghosts who say "good job!"
cristalia: LOL
ringwoodcomics: that'd be awesome.
cristalia: *can't breathe laughing*
ringwoodcomics: *etched out in steam on mirror" "hey man, good job"
ringwoodcomics: "thumbs up from the afterlife"
cristalia: *dead*
cristalia: *affirms you from beyond the grave*
ringwoodcomics: i imagine it in beavis's conversational tone of "hey man, how's it goin?"