sniffle, cough!

[ellenkushner]

I've just come down with a cold, and am hoping to head the worst of it off by, sadly, staying home when I'd rather be at McNally Robinson Books for the Interfictions reading/signing tonight! Sorry, Delia, Veronica, Tempest & Mattt. I know you'll put on a good show for the folks. Anyone who's seen me in the past two days (you know who you are) - wash your hands a lot! Last night had a lovely dinner with Colleen Doran, who's in town for her McNR signing tomorrow night; then we went down to the East Village for a small party being given for the visiting Australian publishing folks, who are spending a few days here on their way to the World Fantasy Convention. Had a wonderful talk with Jonathan Strahan, and finally got to meet Margo Lanagan, whom I worship as a goddess - what a writer!! And she has a fabulous smile, too. Got to introduce Colleen & Cassie Clare to each other, too. And utterly neglected to say Hi to Garth Nix, because I was too distracted. Good thing I'll get another chance at all these folks this weekend at WFC.

LJ-savvy friends assure me you will not think me an annoying name-dropper if I share my delight in another wonderful New York Moment with you. Just a week ago tonight I was meeting friend & neighbor Alicia Svigals (great klezmer violinist, one of the original Klezmatics) for drinks after she'd put her kids to bed. We'd been sitting in the bar of Turkuaz (on lovely low-lying cushions with a round brass tray in front of us to hold our drinks) when who should walk in but another neighbor: the great Yiddish singer & composer/poet Michael Alpert (also of one of my favorite bands, Brave Old World). He joins us, drinking raki, and we have a great conversation, including his companion, who covers education for the New York Daily News. This is what I thought living in NYC was going to be like! So nice to know it sometimes is. (Including when Michael starts speaking Polish to the waiter, and it's old home week in Turkuaz... I was back there with my parents for dinner on Friday night - my mom got a coupon online, as is her wont... then they went off to see Stoppard's Rock'n'Roll, while Delia & I went downtown for the punk rock version of a kabuki play, Drums on the Waves of Horikawa. Like a lot of experimental stuff, it was interesting, successful in patches. It's playing through Nov. 17 if you're curious.

Back to bed now, but it's been nice speaking with you - or at you. I'm nearly finished reading the galleys for Michael Swanwick's forthcoming novel, The Dragons of Babel, which so far is pretty splendid - I would have finished this morning if I hadn't fallen back asleep instead. Michael's started a blog for Dragons of Babel which is just as entertaining as all his writing - and his first entry contains not just some amusing insights on the writing life, but a complete listing of "Entities, Places, Things" in the book. If you scroll down to the end of the "S"s you will be very amused.

Comments

[ninstorage.livejournal.com]

Hope you feel better! Rest well, drink lots of fluids etc!

Cheers.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I've managed to shorten my last few colds by taking lots of echinacea on the first couple of days (something like 600 mg, I think). There's also a product over here in the UK called first defence which I've found works remarkably well: I don't know if there is anything similar in the US -- it's one of those revolting spray things. I hope yours goes away swiftly.
kari

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of "echech" and I think it's helped. We have fizzy drinks tablets here now that may also do the trick some. Thanks!

Hey, that's my cold!

[(Anonymous)]

Ellen, reading your posts about the cold, they sound awfully like what I've been suffering ever since, ooh, mid-week before the party at Scott and Justine's (Steven had had it for 8 weeks before that, but I had been valiantly fighting off until I relaxed in NY). So I suspect that I gave you my germ, and I apologise for not wearing a mask to the party where I first met you!

However, you are now officially suffering a goddess-cold! I hope you get over it soon. I'm back in Aus now, but still making disgusting noises and being caught out by coughing at inappropriate moments. And our younger son has just caught the thing. Bloody hell!

Oh, and I'm reading Swordspoint. *thumbs up, page-page-page*

Re: Hey, that's my cold!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Nice try, princess - but a close reading of the text reveals that I already had the damn' thing by the time I got to Scott & Justine's, so you can't take the fall for this one. It's an amazing little virus: starts so slow you think it's something minor and that you're fighting it off - I must've gone on to infect all of WFC, even though I made a total boor of myself by refusing to hug, kiss, and shake hands with old friends. before hacking my way across the continent . . . .

Now that we have the world wide web, it makes sense that we have the world wide cold, as well. We both probably got it from the same ancestor in Africa or something. Glad you're home safely, but sorry to hear your whole family's afflicted! With her superhuman power to ignore my most annoying qualities, Delia seems to have walked away from this one - but maybe she'll get it from a contaminated nickel change at the grocery or something. I do hope not. We're almost out of cough syrup.

(Quietly chortling that you're enjoying Swordspoint!)

Re: Hey, that's my cold!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oops, no - reading mine own post, I see that I got my dates mixed up, and you couldn't have known that I was feeling a bit punk already when we met. But go in peace. I'm sure it was someone on the subway or something.