Ellen Datlow's Blog, page 16

Dear Friends of Ed,

Ed recently had another bout with gastroparesis (over his birthday, no less) and spent more than a week in the hospital. He's out now and is improving, but further crisis issues have come to light. Ed's house is in danger due to unpaid property taxes and he needs help again. The long-term plan is for Ed to sell the house and move into managed housing, but for the moment, he needs help to keep it. Please help spread the word about this website and Ed's supplemental needs trust fund so we can generate more income in his time of need. Other plans are also in the works to help reduce his living expenses and manage his finances on an ongoing basis, but in order to get there, he needs help NOW.

Please link to this website from Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ so we can generate this much needed help for Ed. Also, please join the Friends of Ed Bryant group on Facebook if you aren't already a member. Thanks!
Stace Johnson

http://friendsofed.org/

Donna Marie Hanson interviewed me on her blog: Ellen Datlow on editing

Well tonight I watched the last episode of Dexter's fifth season and the last two disks wrapping up Dead Like Me. Perhaps I should have mixed a bit of mirth in there but too late. Dexter was satisfying and ended just right. I cried through a good chunk of the second to last episode of Dead Like Me--it was heartbreaking. Pleased with the ending of the show (although dammit, I'm sorry it didn't last longer than two seasons.) So next movie night (next weekend probably) will be some movies and then at some point I'll begin Six Feet Under, which if I like it should take awhile to get through as it's five seasons. Tomorrow I attend a birthday party in Brooklyn and Sunday I will stay home, hibernate, and hope nothing bad happens in NYC. (and the rest of the country).

Well tonight I watched the last episode of Dexter's fifth season and the last two disks wrapping up Dead Like Me. Perhaps I should have mixed a bit of mirth in there but too late. Dexter was satisfying and ended just right. I cried through a good chunk of the second to last episode of Dead Like Me--it was heartbreaking. Pleased with the ending of the show (although dammit, I'm sorry it didn't last longer than two seasons.) So next movie night (next weekend probably) will be some movies and then at some point I'll begin Six Feet Under, which if I like it should take awhile to get through as it's five seasons. Tomorrow I attend a birthday party in Brooklyn and Sunday I will stay home, hibernate, and hope nothing bad happens in NYC. (and the rest of the country).

I still want to sell more of my OOP titles, partly to clean extras out of my apartment and partly to finish paying for the DSLR I've just (finally) bought. There are a few additions to what I posted in early August.

For those of you on facebook (which this automatically posts to) please come over to my lj page if you're interested.

The books are all anthologies I've edited and they are either out of print or hard to acquire.

I may have other titles than those I list so if there's something OP that you're interested in I may have a few copies. (no copies of YBFH #1).

All titles are offered signed and personalized; shipping in US only is included in the listed price. I sell at cover price rounded up plus $4.00 for mass market paperbacks/$6.00 trade paperbacks and trade hardcovers within the US.

I'm really sorry but No foreign purchases this time as I ended up paying $35 to mail a hc of YBFH (3 lbs) to someone in Australia.
To purchase a book or books, please comment on this entry with your name and the books you would like to reserve, and the total you expect to pay.

Because I have limited quantities of each title, this is strictly first come, first served.

I will comment to let you know your order has been received and that book is available, and to tell you what you owe. The address for money is datlow at datlow dot com. Please wait for my comment before sending money.

When paying, please include your real name, your lj name, a list of what you have purchased, and your shipping address in the comments section of the paypal form. When you pay, please make the payment "personal" so that neither of us get charged.

Key:

TPB = trade paperback (large format paperback)
HC = trade hardcover
OOP = Out of Print


Adult Fairy Tale series (with Terri Windling)
Snow White, Blood Red (Avonova edition with Tom Canty cover) HC OOP $28

Black Swan, White Raven (Prime edition) TPB $19 one copy

A Whisper of Blood (William Morrow) HC OOP: $28 three copies available

Inferno (Tor) HC $25 one copy (available at "bargain" price on amazon, which I assume means remaindered with a mark) This is a non-remaindered new copy and lists at $25.95.

Alien Sex (St Martin's Press) HC OOP: $25 one copy

Off Limits (follow up to Alien Sex) (St Martin's Press) HC OOP: $29 two copies  one copy available

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #2 (with Windling) HC OOP $31

YBFH #4 (with Windling) HC OOP $34 one available

YBFH #10 (with Windling) TPB OOP $24 one available

YBFH# 12 (with Windling) HC OOP $36 one available

YBFH#13 (with Windling) HC OOP (damaged cover) $30 one available

YBFH #17 (with Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant) HC OOP $41 three available

YBFH #20 (with Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant) HC OOP $39 two available

The mythic series (with Terri Windling)
The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales HC OOP (2 1 available) ($26)

The Fairy Reel:Tales from the Twilight Realm HC OOP ($26) three available

OMNI Best Science Fiction Two  (OMNI Books) TPB OOP$15

Look, I'm not particularly articulate about cultural criticism so I rarely indulge in it. But once in a while I'll come across something I read that bugs me as a reader (not an editor) and so I feel compelled to rant.

I'm over 60 years old and I realize that I'm lucky as I've got very few wrinkles and my hair is still mostly dark brown and I don't color it. I have nothing to thank but genetics. However, I know I am not alone, so I get really tired of reading/seeing women over a certain age (generally over 50) described as wrinkled feeble unattractive hags wearing heavy make up to "cover furrows."

Most of the 60 year old women I know are in pretty good shape, are active, and look good. No, they're no longer the 20 or 30 year old knockouts they used to be but so fucking what? I'm not talking about those who feel the need to use botox and plastic surgery to keep themselves in the game (whatever the hell that is).

I do understand why women in Hollywood feel obliged to use artificial means to maintain a false youthful look despite the fact that it actually destroys their ability to be great actresses because it constricts the movement of their faces, something crucial to their craft (I'm talking to you Joan Allen--I didn't recognize her in one of the Bourne movies until I saw her name in the credits).

Culture both reflects reality but it also helps create it. I have no control over what Hollywood does but I do have some say in the literary world.

So I'll start right here right now. Male writers are not the only offenders. Female writers are too. Think before you produce your stereotypical "elderly woman" stereotype. Older women come in all shapes and sizes. They are sometimes feeble and others are active and good-looking at 100 years old (yes). The older woman stereotype is as offensive as the blonde bimbo, the gorgeous male stud (with no brains), add your own.

Go out and create real characters please. Help change the world. You as a writer can actually help.

And I will shut up now.

We've gotten a few early reviews (the book won't officially be out till September 13th) and most seem to "get" the anthology, which is always a plus.

Some quotes (and links where applicable)

From Publishers Weekly: "Datlow (Blood Is Not Enough) has created another must-have anthology for discerning vampire and horror fans."

From Library Journal: "This collection of horror stories selected by an award-winning sf/fantasy editor shows that a wide assortment of fiends share vampire cravings. Several stories will leave readers feeling uncomfortable, even queasy. But for those stout of heart and eager to sample brilliant writing, this is a terrific anthology."

From Romantic Times (!) "This book is tailor-made for our post-Twilight world. Bloodsucking vampires are played out in popular culture, and it's no coincidence that the most frightening ghoulies in Datlow's latest collection opt to drain their victims' life essences (souls, emotions, etc.) instead of blood."

From Shroud http://tinyurl.com/3hl5aha : "This top-notch collection takes vampirism as its theme, but each story veers far and away from the now-worn tropes of the genre."...
"Blood and Other Cravings reminds us of why we should fear those that stalk the night."

This from Veronica Schanoes's lj (locked entry, reposted with permission)


Mandatory ultrasounds
I've been seeing a lot of reporting on anti-abortion legislation that includes mandates that women receive medically unnecessary ultrasounds, have doctors explain what they're seeing and make them listen to the zygote/embryo/fetus's heartbeat if one exists, and then wait 24 hours before actually receiving the medical procedure that they have arrived for, one which is much, much safer than pregnancy and childbirth.

It's part of the right-wing rhetoric of "those poor ignorant women just don't realize that they're getting abortions when they get abortions!"

No. Just, no. Guys? Women know what pregnancy is; they know that what's in their uteruses could develop into a baby; that is why they are getting abortions. There is not a woman out there who is all "Hmm...I want an abortion, but I've totally forgotten what it is an abortion does to me! I think it's something like getting a tooth pulled, but I'm not sure, and my doctor completely refuses to tell me what's up! If only the government would mandate that somebody inform me of what's going on."

And I'm seeing some good coverage of and analysis of that ideology in liberal news coverage, which is great.

What I'm not seeing is liberal media making sure that the public thoroughly understands what a mandatory ultrasound entails. My father did not, and he has two daughters, one of whom was born in the 80s to a 33-year-old woman, who was then considered "old" for childbirth, and thus had ultrasounds and the like. When we last talked about this, he said "I'd tell them 'hey, you can't put that goop on my stomach without a good reason!'"

I exchanged a look with his wife, who has a grown son.

"Dad?" I said. "Just so you know, first-trimester ultrasounds don't involve putting jelly on your stomach. They're not external."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"They're, uh, internal," I said. "Internal. It, um, goes...inside."

My father caught on and blanched.

Let me say quite clearly here what I could not bring myself to articulate explicitly to my father: first-trimester ultrasounds are done by inserting a wand into the pregnant woman's vagina. When you mandate ultrasounds for women seeking abortions when they are doing so during the first trimester of pregnancy, the safest and cheapest time to get an abortion, you are requiring them to have a dildo-shaped object put into their vagina for no medical reason at all, whether or not they want it.

Do you know what we call it in every other context when a woman is forced to have something put in her vagina whether she wants it or not, or is extorted into agreeing to have something put in her vagina?

We call it rape.

I've heard some people say that hey, having an abortion requires that the doctor or nurse or midwife put instruments into your vagina anyway, so what's the difference?

What's the difference between somebody putting something in your vagina at your request in order to do something that you want them to do, and somebody putting something in your vagina because some guys in the legislature force them to, when it has no connection to anything you want?

Do I really need to answer that?

Be aware of this, and bring it up every single time someone suggests that mandatory ultrasounds are an OK compromise for us to make.

The Vampire Book Club is giving away copies of Blood and Other Cravings and asked me and my contributors the eternal question, What draws you to vampires?

The Vampire Book Club is giving away copies of Blood and Other Cravings and asked me and my contributors the eternal question, What draws you to vampires?