One more step in the journey toward becoming a real girl.: seanan

One more step in the journey toward becoming a real girl.

Some of my earliest memories of bookstores involve combing through the shelves while my grandmother looked tolerantly on, searching endlessly for more anthologies. Anthologies were the best thing ever, at least if you asked my reasonably limited book-buying power, because they gave you so many stories. If you guessed wrong on whether you'd like a book, you were stuck with a whole book you didn't like, but with an anthology, there would always, always be at least a few stories you'd enjoy.

A lot of those anthologies were published by a company called DAW, which must, I believed, have the smartest owners in the world. (At the time, I truly believed that anthologies made more money than any other kind of book, because they were so hard to find. I was a very innocent child.) And a lot of those anthologies were edited by a man named Martin Greenberg. Someday, I swore, I was going to be in one of those anthologies. When that happened, I would know, absolutely and for certain, that I was going to be a writer.

Yesterday, I went to the bookstore, and I bought the new Martin Greenberg anthology, co-edited with Stephen Antczak and James Bassett. It's called Zombiesque; it's all stories from the perspective of the zombie.

And I'm the sixth name on the table of contents.

There are viral zombies, pharmaceutical zombies, totally unexplained zombies, nanobot zombies, even black magic zombies. Zombie businessmen, fathers, policemen, doctors, authors, and cheerleaders. I'm reading the anthology cover-to-cover, that being what you do, and so far, the stories have been excellent. I'm the only one who's gone for black humor, really, but when you're writing a story about zombie cheerleaders (GO PUMPKINS!), a little black humor is sort of legally required.

I'm in a real DAW anthology, edited by Martin Greenberg, writing about zombie cheerleaders. Who belong to the Fighting Pumpkins cheerleading squad.

So you're aware, there's every chance that I currently control the universe.

lisa_marli

February 3 2011, 01:37:31 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Congratulations! - DAW is made of awesome and makes you Very Real.
And I must buy it for the Grandson who loves zombies (oldest one in icon). After all, he is the one who bought Feed. Someday you must meet Christopher, probably at Baycon.

seanan_mcguire

February 4 2011, 18:49:54 UTC 6 years ago

Sadly, I don't know when I'll be at BayCon again, if ever. But you should get him a copy anyway.

vincentursus

February 3 2011, 02:08:00 UTC 6 years ago

So you're aware, there's every chance that I currently control the universe.

It is already my working theory that you are an avatar of the Goddess.

February 4 2011, 18:50:11 UTC 6 years ago

Or a sprout of the Great Pumpkin.

It's not everyone who get's to live their dream

urban_terrorist

February 3 2011, 02:14:01 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations!

Re: It's not everyone who get's to live their dream

February 4 2011, 18:50:19 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks.

beckyh2112

February 3 2011, 02:22:11 UTC 6 years ago

That is super-amazing. Am so glad you've got it going on. :D (Curse you and your Fighting Pumpkins. Now I have to buy the anthology. I don't like zombies that much!)

February 4 2011, 18:50:37 UTC 6 years ago

But...but...FIGHTING PUMPKINS.

February 4 2011, 23:31:55 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, Fighting Pumpkins. *hangs head* I bought a zombie anthology for the Fighting Pumpkins.

February 7 2011, 17:31:54 UTC 6 years ago

There is NO SHAME in being proud to be a Pumpkin.

February 10 2011, 13:43:38 UTC 6 years ago

Someday, when you come back to a con I can attend, I am going to show up in a Fighting Pumpkins cosplay.

6 years ago

dormouse_in_tea

February 3 2011, 02:35:18 UTC 6 years ago

. . . you couldn't have mentioned this BEFORE I placed my Feb. book order? :P

Congratulations!!

February 4 2011, 18:50:51 UTC 6 years ago

I did! And it's on the bibliography on my website!

groblek

February 3 2011, 03:17:00 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats! Just when I think my wallet is safe, you give me another reason to stop by the local bookstore. I fully agree on the awesomeness of anthologies, especially the Greenberg ones. I also need another shelf for anthologies soon, I think. :)

February 4 2011, 18:50:58 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

vettecat

February 3 2011, 05:45:10 UTC 6 years ago

That is so amazingly cool! I also am a big fan of anthologies in general and Martin Greenberg in particular; I learned over many years that I really like his taste. (And that I don't like Gardner Dozois'.)

February 4 2011, 18:51:09 UTC 6 years ago

It's good to have anthologists you trust.

danjite

February 3 2011, 07:30:32 UTC 6 years ago

MAJOR congrats- I so love childhood dreams coming true.

When I was a kid, I had the matchbox car of the Citroen in the icon to the left there.

I was so thrilled to have bought the real life car several years back!

(Also, dang relieved when I sold it a year later! :) )