A rough couple of weeks

A few days after we lost K.J. things seemed to go from bad to worse. We realized that my cat, Mosi, was no longer eating or drinking and was declining very fast. Her symptoms seemed to suggest constipation (which can be fairly common in older cats...she's almost 11), so we began to treat that by force feeding and force watering, but that didn't help, and she continued to decline.

We took her to the vet, and she determined that she had a lung infection with fluid on the pleura...plus she had a very high white blood cell count. A few possible diagnoses were just a severe infection, pancreatits, heart disease or cancer. The first two are treatable (usually), the last...not so much.

So, three days ago we started her on twice daily antibiotics, and we've also been infusing her with fluids twice a day. That's very hard for me to deal with, because I'm horribly terrified of needles, and the idea of someone poking my little baby is very disturbing...but it has to be done...

Yesterday she started eating on her own, and she's spent most of today cleaning herself. She'd gotten quite dirty from all of the force feedings, and she was just too fatigued to do anything about it. She also has started acting a little more like herself today as well. She follows me around meowing, and she hisses and growls at Rebecca...this is all pretty normal for her.

We still haven't seen her drinking on her own, and if she doesn't start before we go to bed, we'll have to infuse her with fluids again. Her breathing is also a still labored, but it's not as bad as it was.

We still don't have a diagnosis, and we don't know if she's going to make it, but she does seem to be doing better...and that at least is giving us some hope.

An update

We're still trying to do our best to cope with the loss of K.J. It's amazing how much an animal can touch your life, but he really did. This is one of my favorite pictures of him. He loved to lay in my lap, and seemed to do it every chance he got.

Everywhere we look around our place, we see things that remind us of him. Places where he'd lay, or play, or be K.J....which took a lot of work on his part, because he had a VERY unique personality. It's still very hard for us to believe that we lost him, especially since he wasn't quite 11. We always figured that we'd have at least another five years with him.

It may sound strange to non-animal lovers, but because he meant so much to us, we've decided that when we buy our wedding bands in the next month or two, we're going to have both of them engraved with his name, that way he will always be with us in some way.

Last night I had a very strange dream. In the dream, I woke up in the middle of the night having a lot of chest pain. Rebecca called the paramedics, and they rushed me to the hospital, but I died of a heart attack while they were trying to work on me. Quite surprising to my dream personality, I came back as a ghost in the hospital. I quickly left the hospital and headed home.

As I came through our door (literally), I saw K.J. laying on the back of the couch in his favorite spot. I said, "Bubu," and he looked up at me with this expression that seemed to say, "You can see me?" I picked him up and hugged him close, but then we realized that Rebecca and the girls were devastated, and there was nothing we could do for them.

A quick jump in dream time, and Rebecca and the girls were packing to move to Texas to live with her mom. As they were leaving, I picked K.J. up and carried him down to our van. We then rode with them all the way to Texas so that we could be with them.

Like I said, very strange...

KJ

Last night our beloved cat, KJ, passed away. It was sudden and completely unexpected. We're still not sure what happened, and we're both completely devastated.

KJ would have been 11 this April, and Rebecca has had him since he was just a couple of months old, so he was a huge part of our family.

Bubu, as he was also known, was a very friendly cat. He loved to play with people, and he was always more than ready to curl up on someones stomach or on their lap. Every morning when the alarm would go off, he would come into our room and jump up on the bed, and then proceed to lay down on Rebecca so she couldn't get up.

Whenever she'd be eating cereal, he'd sit and watch her, and as soon as she would put the bowl to her lips, he'd jump onto the couch cushion next to her, raising his paw in anticipation. Because he always knew that the last couple of drops of milk would be for him.

When she'd get home from work at night, he'd be ready to play, knocking toys over, biting elbows, and generally acting like a kitten. No one would have guessed his age, and we certainly wouldn't have guessed that he was sick in any way.


He would always sleep in some of the funniest positions, and a lot of our pictures are of him sprawled on his back, or curled up in a way that would look awkward even for a cat. Whenever we'd get home from the store, we'd always have to put the bag with the bread up on the counter, because if we left it on the floor, he would try to sneak over and bite his way into it. He had a thing for bread.

There were many times when I'd be working at the computer, just as I'm doing now, that he'd come in and sit down next to my chair. He'd then reach up with his big white paw and pull on my arm until I'd reach down and pet him. Once he was satisfied with the petting, he would either lay down next to my chair, or he'd jump up into my lap...either way, you could hear his purr from several feet away.

Our Bubu Luvs was a wonderful cat, but he was also one of our best friends. He always knew when we needed attention, and he was always ready to give it. To say that he will be missed is an understatement. His absence leaves a big hole in our hearts that we will carry with us forever...

DASFA

For those SF fans in the Denver area, I've been asked to speak at the April meeting of DASFA. I'll be talking about writing science fiction as well as editing, and of course, I'll be talking quite a bit about the Ephemeris RPG.

The meeting will be April 17th at 7:00 pm at the Whole Foods Market at 1111 South Washington Street in Denver. I hope to see quite a few of you there.

An early February update

The first week of February has been a crazy one. We finished up our wedding invitations, and got those sent off on Thursday. We probably could have come up with more than 100 people that we would have liked to invite, but with money being what it is, we had to cut that list down quite a bit. Of all the planning we've done so far, I think deciding who had to be there was the hardest thing yet.

Sunday will be our youngest's 5th birthday, but because Rebecca doesn't want to take vacation time (saving that for the wedding and honeymoon), we had to take her to her birthday movie on Thursday and then we had her party last night. We went to see "The Princess and the Frog," which overall wasn't that great of a movie...but it was nice for the girls to see a princess of color. Our oldest has some self-esteem issues about her racial background, so hopefully these kinds of things will help. The youngest seems to have gotten the idea that now that she's five, she's some kind of princess and has been quite a handful behaviorally, so we need to convince her she's not before she starts kindergarten in the fall.

Meanwhile, still working on Ephemeris stuff, and should have an announcement to make about an appearance...probably later today...

2010 Million Writers Award

I mentioned this on my Facebook, but I also wanted to mention it on my blogs as well. I'd like to extend a thank you to Karen Newman of Afterburn SF for nominating my story "Forgive Men their Trespasses" for the 2010 Million Writers Award. It looks like it might be a bit of a literary award, so the odds of a genre story doing well might not be that good, but I certainly do appreciate the nomination.

If you're interested in reading the story, you can find it at http://www.afterburnsf.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=29171e81-5511-46dd-b860-fa263a1bb2f0.

The story is set in the same "world" as my novel, The Opium of the People, which can be found at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419625888.

The Ephemeris Species Compendium

The Ephemeris Species Compendium was released today. This is the compilation of the six species sourcebooks that I wrote. At the moment, the Compendium is available as a PDF download at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78417. The Compendium will also be released as a trade paperback in the coming weeks. Everyone associated with the game is very excited that we're going to be able to do some print supplements in addition to the PDF files.

Downloads are great, but I really love the feel of a book in my hands, so I'm glad to see the game going in this direction.

The Soldier's Sourcebook

The Soldier's Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG has been released. You can find it at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78404.

It looks like there will be a print version of the six species sourcebooks for the game. They will all be combined into one paperback book...we're still working on the title. It also looks like Ephemeris Critters & Pests by Ian Brazee-Cannon will also be released as a print book at some future date. In addition, there will also be a print version of the class sourcebooks, which Josh and I are currently working on. Like the species collection, this will probably be all of the class books put together, but as we still have a lot of these to write, so this will probably be a long time in the future...

An officiant booked

We managed to find a judge who was going to be available on the day we wanted for our wedding, so we now have someone to perform the ceremony. We thought we had someone much cheaper lined up, but apparently he wouldn't do it because I'm an Atheist...and so many radical Christians (not all Christians) claim they're persecuted in this country.

We've broken everything up into months, and this was the last thing for January, so that's a good feeling. Next month, the only things on the agenda are mailing out invitations, getting dresses and accessories for the girls, and booking our hotel in Taos...shouldn't be too bad at all...

Cleaning out the slush

I spent the weekend reading through the slush piles for The Fifth Di... and The Martian Wave. I can now, quite happily, say that they are empty!!! Although they probably won't be tomorrow when I check in on them.

Still, it's a good feeling to know that for at least a few hours I've responded to all of the submissions.

The Martian Wave cover

I've seen an early mock-up for the cover of the first print issue of The Martian Wave, and I'd have to say that I really like it.

For long time readers of mine, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the initial cover will be done by Laura Givens. Once everything is finalized, I'll give all of you a look!

My little Bro...

My youngest brother is a professional polo player, so I thought I'd give him some props by posting this video...

For Gamers

If you're a gamer, and you want to help the people of Haiti, then DriveThruRPG has a deal that you can't pass up. For just a $20 donation, you get over $1,000 worth of RPG products from a wide range of publishers. Included in this bundle, is the core rulebook for the Ephemeris RPG.

So, if you love role playing games, then you can't pass up this deal. Go to... http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78023&SRC=haiti

More wedding planning

We're now getting deep into the wedding planning. We met with our photographer yesterday, and so that's all good to go. We've also started registering for gifts, and we hope to have that out of the way either tonight or tomorrow night. We've started planning the honeymoon, and we hope to book the hotel in February or March. The biggest problem we're having right now is getting information on how to book a judge at the courthouse. Calling and e-mailing has gotten the same answer from everyone we've talked to, which is, "We don't really know." That to me seems absurd, since there have to be a lot of people who do courthouse weddings. I'll try again after the holiday, and if I can't get a result at that point, then we're just going to go to the actual courthouse and talk to people until we find someone that knows what in the hell they're doing.

Since we're going to be sending out invitations next month, we're going to sit down with the girls tonight and we'll all pick out a font to use for those.

So far things have been fun, and not too stressful.........

Preditors & Editors Poll

It's that time of year again. Although I've become a bit disillusioned with this poll over the last few years, it is still a good way to gain some publicity for my work, so I will once again push for votes...

You can vote for me in the following categories...

Author: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/author.shtml

Science Fiction Short Story: Forgive Men their Trespasses: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/shortstorysf.shtml

Zine Editor: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/zineeditor.shtml

And you can vote for The Genre Mall as best bookstore: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookstore.shtml

2009 in review

Looking back on 2009 from a professional point of view, this was a mixed year. My fiction publishing was a bit sparse. I had two short stories published this year, and didn't write any new ones. I did however revise one novel to completion, and another is hopefully one or two drafts away from being done.

The big news for this year was that we finally released the Ephemeris RPG. In addition to doing much of the writing on the core rulebook, I also created a species sourcebook for each of the game's species. I created on character sourcebook, and started on another. I also wrote two adventures for the game, and created some miscellaneous stuff that will be useful for players.

From a professional standpoint, I'm fairly satisfied with the year. I would have liked to have written a little more fiction, but that just didn't seem possible.

From a personal standpoint, this was a great year. Each day brings me one day closer to marrying the most wonderful woman in the world.

See you in 2010!!!

Wedding Update

It's been a while since I mentioned the wedding, so I figured I'd post an update. We've decided to scrap the idea of a ceremony, and have opted instead to go to the courthouse on May 21st. After that, we'll be taking our closest friends and family out for dinner...where there will be wedding cake. Rebecca insisted on that. Sometimes I think she's more excited about the cake than about marrying me...no, not really.

After the wedding, we'll be honeymooning in Taos, New Mexico.

The idea of spending thousands of dollars on one day seemed ridiculous, given that I'm still unemployed, and she doesn't get paid as well as she should, so we'll be doing something smaller. I know she'd really like the big ceremony, and I feel bad that she can't have it, but the most important thing is that we get married...

Merry Christmas

I don't know if I'll be on-line any time during the next couple of days, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time...either genuine or stolen.

We're just going to be doing the family dinner thing on Xmas night after opening presents in the morning. We have our two dogs staying with us for a couple of days, so that's an added 100+ pounds of animal hanging out in our little place...and the cats are not happy about it.

Hope you all have a great one...whatever you celebrate...

Keeping myself busy

Even in the midst of all of the holiday madness, I've been keeping myself busy, and getting quite a few tasks completed.

As already mentioned, I delivered Red Moon Rising to the publisher that might be interested in it. I also delivered the manuscript for the first print issue of The Martian Wave to Tyree at Sam's Dot. I'm hoping for a February or March release.

I've also completed The Trader's Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG...and now I need to start on the Soldier/Mercenary's Sourcebook.

I've also almost completed Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 9 for Sam's Dot. I'm just waiting for some info from a few more contributors, then I will be delivering that as well.

Yeah...not too busy...

Red Moon Rising has been delivered

I've just sent the revised version of the new novel to the publisher who had requested some re-writes on it. I have my fingers and toes crossed that this one will finally find a home. I've been working on it off and on for years, and since it's a novel about the environment, a cause I'm a very big believer in, I'd really love to see it published.

So...if you could all cross your fingers for me, I'd appreciate it.