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From:

saralinda.livejournal.com

I came across your LJ and thought I'd say hi. Being an NPR junkie, I've listened to Sound & Spirit for years, but didn't realize you wrote novels until a few weeks ago, when Swordspoint began circulating among my friends.

*blinks in the sunlight*

Anyway, we've enjoyed it and it's nice to see another Thurber fan on lj.

Cheers,
Zee

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

She was warm in every wind and weather, but the duke was always cold.

eegatland is also a Thurber fan - in fact, she utterly endeared herself to me at that famous party at the New Orleans WFC at which Neil Gaiman & I enacted the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet - well, as much as we could remember, anyway - with alligator heads - not to be outdone, Ms. Gatland (or Wein, as she was then - and if you haven't read Elizabeth Wein's The Winter Prince, do yourself a favor immediately!) lay on the floor with her eyes closed and delivered the opening page of The Thirteen Clocks.

Anyhow, welcome! I hope you like Swordspoint - though the novel of mine I recommend most to Sound & Spirit fans is Thomas the Rhymer, for its mythic romantic lyricism . . . and (for the graduate level fans) The Fall of the Kings for its ardent defense of myth in chaotic times.

From:

saralinda.livejournal.com

And lo, three more books hath been added to my summer reading list of doom.

Apart from being the first person who has known where my lj name comes from, you played Juliet to Neil Gaiman's Romeo...with alligator heads on???? Thus proving 1) I never go to the right parties, and 2) ...um...well, probably proving something else, but I'm not inventive enough to think of what that might be.

Do you mind if I add you to my friends list? Your journal would fall into the "people with more exciting lives than me" category. My journal, alas, tends to revolve around kitchen renovation, grad school melodrama, and a running tally of the number of zucchini I receive from gardening friends each summer. In other words, feel under no obligation whatsoever to read it.

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

Sounds like a lovely summer!

Actually, I can't remember which of us was Juliet & which Romeo - it kind of depended on who remembered the lines. We did not actually wear the alligator heads; they were the dried smallish ones that you can buy in the French Quarter market (maybe 8 inches long?), and we were very silly - we used them like puppets. It was a party that I threw in a hotel room at a con some years back, probably when you were still learning the multiplication table - but of course, if you had been there, you would have been invited!

I'd be honored to be on your friends list. I don't have many people on mine, because I am far too easily distracted. But you have my sympathies on kitchen renovation - I went through that about 4 years ago, and still bear the scars. Grad school, I cannot help you with . . . though Delia has many fine tales. I wish someone would give me zucchini.

From:

saralinda.livejournal.com

1) Using alligators as hand puppets makes it a little less weird, but not much! :D
2) You are invited to my kitchen-is-finished party. Optimistically, this party will be held in April of the year 2010.
3) Zucchini, in small amounts from close friends, is wonderful. But last summer we practically had to build a guest room to house it all.

Anyway, cheers for now--I will add you to my friends list!

PS--I think I'm still learning the multiplication table...

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

Wonderful!

Will I see you at Readercon (http://www.readercon.org/) in July?

From:

saralinda.livejournal.com

Will Neil Gaiman be there in an alligator costume? If yes, then I will definitely be there.

Actually, I've never been to one of these. The list of authors is impressive. I would feel a bit lost going alone, but I could try to talk my friend

valancy_s into going...and Burlington is only a half hour from Ipswich...

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

Don't be intimidated. What I love about Readercon is its collegiality - it's small enough that everyone there is in it together; it's very open and relaxed - imagine being at a sort of wonderful Parisian cafe where everyone is excitedly talking about books - for 2 straight days! I always leave there very cheerful and energized. You'll fit right in. Do bring friends, if you can - the more the merrier! (It's also a delightful mix of serious & silly - you won't want to miss the Kirk Poland contest on Saturday night, or the "Meet the Authors" party on Friday where everyone gets to ask us for stickers to make your own story with - on wax paper!)

No Neil, though, and no alligators - the local specialty, I believe, is lobstah...?

From:

saralinda.livejournal.com

Well, maybe we'll stop in, then. It does sound like fun. Lobstah, yes, and in Ipswich, clams, although the red tide has put a stop to that lately.

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

Well, maybe we'll stop in, then. It does sound like fun.

As my mother used to say about things like peas: If you don't like it, you never have to try it again.

But you'll like it, you'll see!

From:

ewein2412

I know where your name comes from too--but after Ellen's introduction it would be shameful if I didn't.

"She wore serenity brightly like a rainbow... It was not easy to tell her mouth from the rose or her brow from the white lilac. Her feet appeared as doves, her eyes were candles burning in a shrine, and her voice was faraway music..." (Something like that. I'm making it up now to show off!)