The Interfictions Auction is up & running, with 6 fabulous pieces, and a new one every day!

I have bid on several. But there is one piece I seriously want, and do not intend to lose.

Can you guess which one?

. . . oh, and we've moved the Auction Deadline for mailing art to Oct. 2.

I've just posted all the lovely info here.

I know there's a lot of talent out there - if you've been wanting to get more involved with IAF, and have coding/photoediting skills, and/or brilliant organizational/leadership abilities, now's the time to get involved with the IAF AUCTION, a limited-time project that should end in December.

. . . but when has life not been exciting around here?

Delia worked incredibly hard with co-editor Christopher Barzak all winter to choose stories for the next Interfictions anthology of interstitial fiction (Interfictions 2), and to do all the administrative tasks necessary to get authors their contracts, etc. They also wrote personal rejection letters to almost everyone, sometimes with suggestions. A lot of good stories got read. Then I got to work on the Fundraising aspects - joined by an increasingly merry band of colleagues & volunteers doing everything from writing a pitch letter that will knock yer sox off ("Buy a Story - Get a Book!") to forming a Dream Team for the Auction, spearheaded by last year's auction mad dreamer/doer, K. Tempest Bradford.

The Auction.

I can't even begin to express its wonders, and how much fun it will be. I leave that to talkstowolves, whose page about the IAF Auction is just one of the prettiest things I've ever seen.

Go look!

I may well be the last to have heard the news that author & small press publisher Vera Nazarian needs our help - thanks to mroctober for alerting me! Wonderful online friends are doing a fabulous job of raising money to keep her and her family safe by December 20th - which also happens to be the night before the first Chanukah candle is lit. What a wonderful present to be able to give!

Read the whole moving story here.

And bid on the many cool things people are offering for the auction to Help Vera here. (I'll be putting up something myself very soon.)

(Posted from delightful reading room of Brooklin Public Library)

OK: 5 days here, and I've finished the "Riverside Marriage" comic script! And also the first draft of my new secret theatrical project which I hope will stop being a secret very soon (when we've got the contract signed. You all know never to tell anyone about a project or sale until you've got a signed contract, right? David Hartwell taught me that, back when I worked for him at Simon & Schuster).

So. Comic done. One more critical look, and then I send it to Collen Doran so she can do the picture. Hmm. . . I wonder which page she'll pick? And who will cast the winning bid for her piece?

And I wonder who will win the chance to illustrate the whole comic (or whether folks will decide to collaborate and divvy it up. . . )? I think it's 7 pages, but it depends on how you break down the panels.

And while we're in there - not that I spend my valuable writing retreat time ego-surfing livelongnmarry or nothin' - but should one care to wordsearch Swordspoint there, one cannot help but notice that in addition to fanfic, socks, someone is offering a completely stunning entire parure for the Duchess Katherine (who has always wanted one) - including, of course, bracelets with "magnetic clasps for quick removal in case of duels." Wowza. Colors are perfect for her, too.

I've been wondering for a long time whether I could write a comics script. All the cool kids are doing it. But can I?

livelongnmarry's auction has given me the strength to find out. It's for charity, after all, isn't it? And a charity my wife and I support wholeheartedly. (We were legally married in Massachusetts - in our backyard - before we moved to NYC. Your heart would break to hear our plaintive cries of "Now we're living in sin!" every time we cross the border, and our shouts of joy every time we re-enter that Blessed State. Wouldn't it be nice if California led the way in being another safe haven for our union - and a locale for many others'?)

Tongue only somewhat in cheek, I've been scribbling a shortish script* about the young Theron Campion's pre-Fall of the Kings enthusiasm to right an ancient wrong (that predictably enough involves a gorgeous young Riversider no better than he should be), plus his father, the Mad Duke** . . . It's called "A Riverside Marriage" and what I'm auctioning is your chance to illustrate the entire comic (Fan Use Rights only), and post the creative collaboration on my website.***

The amazing Colleen Doran would have liked to outbid you, but she's on deadline, so instead she's offering a single original illustration at the auction. (Thank you, Colleen, for supporting the cause!)

So if you can't draw, pay Colleen to do it for you! If you can, but you're short of the ready, put together a consortium of artist pals to share the drawing duty - and the glory (and expense)! Minimum bid is $75, but please get into a bloody bidding war with dollars and body parts flying everywhere. It's for charity, after all.

livelongnmarry's auction runs only through July 15th. And a good thing, too. The suspense would kill me.

*And may I say how much I love writing comics script? All I have to write is the dialogue!! Someone else does the description!!! Why didn't I think of this yeeeears ago?

**It's also got the Duchess Katherine, head in hand, going: "Oh, Theron..." a lot. blackholly said I should put that in, and who can deny her?

***I will also answer any questions you have while drawing it.