Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: amused
  • Music: Kaia (my 4-year-old niece) singing 'Evil Laugh.'

Jim Hines is a class act. Bonus: conversations with my mother.

So jimhines has proven himself to be a class act. How? By sending a copy of The Stepsister Scheme to my mother, that's how. An autographed copy, no less. Since I'm not always sure my mother believes that authors actually exist -- the whole publishing process is arcane to her, which is understandable, since it's arcane to me, too -- this was made of awesome and pie. AWESOME AND PIE.

(Mom: "Is this for me?"
Me: "It has your name in it."
Mom: "Is he mad at me?"
Me: "...logic fail, Mom.")

After giving her the book, we went to Target to pick up my prescriptions for the month. (Yes, I am a grown woman. No, I do not drive. Yes, this sometimes means I ask my mother to run errands with me. No, I don't think this is a problem. I pay for gas, and it gives us an excuse to hang out without needing to find an actual activity that we have in common. Beyond playing with/tormenting the cats, flea markets, and going to Target, we mostly avoid that sort of thing.) As we waited, she asked me where I'd come up with some of the words on my new album.

"Like what?" I asked, all innocence.

"Epidemiolo-whatzit," she said.

Cue my mother getting a fifteen minute class on epidemiology while standing in the pharmacy aisle at the Target. Many people turned faintly green. Somehow, this turned into a vigorous explanation of recessive genes, why white cats are deaf, and why male pattern baldness passes through the female line. More people turned faintly green.

My mother's final verdict:

"I have no idea how I made you."

Neither does anybody else, Mom. Neither does anybody else.
Tags: busy busy busy, good things, in the wild, jim hines, my mom is nuts
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  • 48 comments

autographedcat

February 12 2009, 20:16:16 UTC 8 years ago

But we're awfully glad she did.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 14:58:47 UTC 8 years ago

Well, so am I. I appreciate existence.

shadowvalkyrie

February 12 2009, 20:22:57 UTC 8 years ago

I'm not always sure my mother believes that authors actually exist

I can relate... whenever someone of the perfectly (*cough* for certain definitions of the term) normal people on my f-list start talking about publishing things, my brain goes into does-not-compute mode, especially with those who don't do it often.

mariadkins

February 12 2009, 20:30:14 UTC 8 years ago

Same here LOL

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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rdmaughan

February 12 2009, 20:32:48 UTC 8 years ago

"I have no idea how I made you."

Neither does anybody else, Mom. Neither does anybody else.


I still vote for the Fey changling theory.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 14:59:25 UTC 8 years ago

For a long time, she mostly argued that aliens took her real baby.

keristor

8 years ago

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kathleenfoucart

February 12 2009, 20:38:59 UTC 8 years ago

ROFL.

no, really.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 14:59:33 UTC 8 years ago

Hee.

dornbeast

February 12 2009, 20:43:01 UTC 8 years ago

My mother's final verdict:

"I have no idea how I made you."


Hmm. I wonder if anybody has done any testing on exposure to high levels of Win and Awesome, and the potential for memory loss?

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:01:08 UTC 8 years ago

An interesting question. My mom definitely has the memory loss part nailed down.

netpositive

February 12 2009, 21:02:40 UTC 8 years ago

Congrats on finding ways to spend useful, quality time with your parental unit without sturm, drang, or homicide. Extra points for holding class in any of the aisles at Target.

As for parents' views of their children: my dad is my biggest fan and gets 99% of the blame for how I turned out. Whereas my mom's only known comment about my writing, as relayed by my dad, was "She certainly has a *vivid* imagination."

wendyzski

February 12 2009, 21:43:42 UTC 8 years ago

My mom said of my second CD (which was all instrumentals of Elizabethan dance music) "Honey, it all just sounds the same".

Guess who didn't get promo copies of the 3rd and 4th CDs :(

rhienelleth

8 years ago

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wendyzski

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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jimhines

February 12 2009, 21:03:06 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, don't look at me -- I cleared that inscription with you before I wrote it :-)

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:02:46 UTC 8 years ago

You did, and she was thrilled. You win at pleasing my mother.

jimhines

8 years ago

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mabfan

February 12 2009, 21:26:03 UTC 8 years ago

Great story, great punchline.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:03:00 UTC 8 years ago

Why thank you, good sir.

supersniffles

February 12 2009, 21:50:34 UTC 8 years ago

My parents aren't sure who slipped the pink sheep into their nice, white flock but they just try to deal. My grandparents, after several years of being *unsure* about me, have decided they adore me to pieces. I haven't been this loved since I was in diapers and had no siblings competing for attention!

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:03:10 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, victory!

singlemaltsilk

February 12 2009, 22:00:23 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, I didn't get a driver's license until I was getting up close and personal with age 50, and I know any number of fully-functional adults of both genders who don't drive. :)

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:03:22 UTC 8 years ago

Me + car = bad.

starmalachite

February 12 2009, 22:10:47 UTC 8 years ago Edited:  February 12 2009, 22:11:20 UTC

why white cats are deaf

You probably meant to add "blue-eyed" to that sentence. And even then, not if they get the blue eye(s) from Siamese genes. The late lamented Satin (in icon) was essentially a Siamese in a white mink coat, but not deaf until the last few of her 19 years. Her very Siamese voice, though, frequently threatened to deafen *us*.

gorgeousgary

February 13 2009, 00:24:31 UTC 8 years ago

Her very Siamese voice, though, frequently threatened to deafen *us*.

Just like our dear departed Boots, who somehow got the Siamese voice, but nothing (or very little) else. (Certainly not the Siamese brain!) Her meow was loud you could hear her over the phone.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:04:29 UTC 8 years ago

As I am!

tiferet

February 13 2009, 00:46:03 UTC 8 years ago

But we're all glad she did.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:04:41 UTC 8 years ago

Awww, thanks, honey.

tiferet

February 13 2009, 00:48:02 UTC 8 years ago

BTW. I was watching Firefly the other day and finally realised why the phrase "your sudden but inevitable betrayal" is in the song "Evil Laugh."

I know, I'm speshul.

kyra_neko_rei

February 13 2009, 01:57:40 UTC 8 years ago

Before I remembered that, I had asked several LJ people if their dinosaur-comic Evil Laugh icons were inspired by Seanan's song.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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kyra_neko_rei

February 13 2009, 01:52:45 UTC 8 years ago

I'll bet if my mother knew as much about me as yours knows about you, she'd have the same reacion.

And yay for traumatizing everybody within earshot. My brother and I do that whenever his friend J is around and we all go to Wal-Mart.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:05:35 UTC 8 years ago

That's what public places are for, right?

kyra_neko_rei

8 years ago

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archangelbeth

February 13 2009, 02:49:52 UTC 8 years ago

Ooo! My discussion with my daughter (she's nearly nine) about the fall of Rome and inbreeding in Egypt wound up with birth defects in manx cats...

I'd have loved to have heard your epidemiology and recessives "lecture"! (Podcast! Podcast! O;D )

acetachyon

February 13 2009, 13:24:21 UTC 8 years ago

She'd have to podcast from Target...

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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acetachyon

8 years ago

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acetachyon

February 13 2009, 13:27:43 UTC 8 years ago

Jim Hines a class act?

Surely, yes.

After all,he *is* the shiznit.

seanan_mcguire

February 13 2009, 15:06:10 UTC 8 years ago

Indeed, it is true.