. . . at Geek.Kon. Madison, WI on October 6 & 7, 2007. (Specifically, in the Humanities Building at the University of WI.)

Registration is free (but donations are welcome). The T-shirts cost $15, in advance. There will be some panels, some gaming, some vending, some art, and a buncha geeks.

Main guests (well, their names are in orange) include locals Studio Anti Thesis, Blame Society Productions (who brought you Chad Vader), Luke Ski, Monte Cook, and Jim Frenkel and Joan Vinge. And a lot more people, too.'''

The Geek.Kon site notes that the World Dairy Expo is also in town that weekend. Really, what more could you want in a weekend in Madison?

From Midori Snyder over at endicottstudio:

For any of you in the Milwaukee area, I highly recommend stopping into the Haggerty Art Museum* and having a look at the work of Gina Litherland. Her new exhibit, "Queens and Vagabonds," features 17 exquisite surrealist paintings, many with fairy tale and folk song themes. She also draws on the poetry and literature of Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Angela Carter, Shirley Jackson, and Henry David Thoreau to name a few. Litherland's style and technique has been influenced by 15th century Sienese painters, Bosch, Bruegel the Elder, Paula Rego, and Frida Khalo. The results are works that appear as wonderful, mysterious narratives with an intertwining of human and animal figures, lush, intricate details, and luminous colors.

From trufen:

Joe Haldeman, author of over 20 novels, including The Hemingway Hoax, will be the speaker at the Ernest Hemingway birthday celebration in Oak Park, IL on July 21. He'll speak on "Hemingway as Teacher" that evening at the Hemingway Museum.

Joe will talk about a famous Hemingway article that first appeared in the October 1935 Esquire, "Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter." According to Joe, "It's a remarkably funny and wise piece, in which Hemingway reluctantly answers questions about writing from a young fellow, Arnold Samuelson... In eight pages, it has more actual how-to and why-to information than most books about writing. I will look at this famous letter from this 70+ year perspective, and see how much of the advice still holds up and how much of it Hemingway himself actually followed."

Flyer here (largish .JPG). $10 admission, $8 students/seniors/EHFOP members

So, is anyone coming in from out of town for Odyssey Con? I won't be spending much time at the con, but I'd love to meet up for food or drinks.

This post is mainly aimed at someone who dreams up bizarre winter-holiday displays but has yet to create one in their own front yard (and who shall remain nameless but whose initials are marsgov).

Real-life snowmen depicting scenes from Calvin and Hobbes.

(via sideshow_avedon)

As you may already know, Will Shetterly and Emma Bull both have new books coming out this summer. They're doing a west-of-the-Mississippi signing tour (announcement by coffeem, over here).

If you'd like them to come to a bookstore near you (and you live west of the Mississippi, or in the Chicago area), now's the time to poke your local bookstore into contacting Tor's publicity folks, asking them to send Will & Emma to your town for an appearance. (I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile for them to come to Madison. I really don't know.)

Over at the site for the Afropop Worldwide radio show, this week's free tune is by DuOud. I saw them perform once, and they're brilliant. Two guys on ouds (one electric, one acoustic) creating some amazing world music. Go listen to it.

(Yes, this is the DuOud that I list in my Interests.)

In Chicago, WSJ usually refers to that national paper of business and financial news, the Wall Street Journal.

In Madison, WSJ refers to the more conservative of the two local dailies, the Wisconsin State Journal.

This can prove confusing when local fans start discussing whether the WSJ still carries the comic strip Mutts.

I know someone who's trying to get some stuff from the Twin Cities down to Austin, Texas (divalea, to be exact). Do you know anyone who might be doing that drive -- or going from Chicago to Texas, even? There's some smaller things plus some furniture (a desk and shelving I think).

Lemme know, or respond directly to Lea's post over here. Thanks.

Avedon Carol (sideshow_avedon interviewed Sam Hamm about his adaptation of "The Screwfly Solution," a story written by Raccoona Sheldon (AKA Alice Sheldon, who also wrote as James Tiptree, Jr.): The Sideshow interviews Sam Hamm.

The show airs on Showtime starting tonight (Friday 8 December) as an episode in the Masters of Horror series.

Showtime's site for the series

The Masters of Horror site (note: photos are somewhat graphic; possibly NSFW)

Read the original story online

Pass it on!