Too tired to blog, so here’s something pretty

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Cora

Proper blogging will resume soon, but last week was really crazy. This week started out quieter, but then something really unpleasant happened, which pretty much ruined my sleep last night and left me rather zombified today.

So instead, here is the gorgeous cover for Something To Take On The Trip, the charity anthology edited by Stella Wilkinson, in which I have a story. The cover was once again designed by the multi-talented Gayle Ramage.

If you want to learn more about my story “Refusal of the Call” as well as everybody else’s stories (and check out our guest authors), Frank Zubek has conducted interviews with several of the authors at his blog.

Finally, here is a cover:

Something to Take on the Trip

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An Interview and a Plug

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Cora

I have a story in an upcoming charity anthology called Something To Take On The Trip, edited by Stella Wilkinson. Like everybody else involved in the anthology, I donated the story to raise funds for Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, a charity to benefit a children’s hospital in Bristol.

The anthology comes out at the end of March and I will of course provide a link, as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, I and several of the other authors involved in the anthology have been interviewed by Frank Zubek at What Brick Wall?. And if you’ll check the list of contributors, you’ll also notice some rather famous names.

And just in case you need something to read while waiting for the new anthology, you can always pick up the previous two volumes in the series, Something to Read on the Ride and Something for the Journey, in which I have a story as well.

***

I know that some of my regular readers are also interested in German language books, so here’s something for you.

Open Minds a.k.a. Gefährliche Gedanken, the first volume in Susan Kaye Quinn’s Mindjack trilogy is now available in German, translated by Michael Drecker. It’s available for 99 cents at Amazon Germany as well as Amazon.com for international readers and of course elsewhere. However, the introductory price is valid only until March 19, so you’d better hurry.

Susan Kaye Quinn also has an post about the process of finding her translator at her blog, which is interesting reading for every author considering going the same route.

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Look what the mailman bought

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Cora

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve got a story in a charity anthology called Something for the Journey, edited by Stella Wilkinson.

Now of course I already have an e-book version of the anthology, but I wanted a physical edition as well, so I ordered the paperback along with some German language books for my Mom’s birthday.

And today, the package arrived. That is, the package had actually arrived yesterday, but since I wasn’t in, the mailman left it with my neighbours. The neighbours’ son saw the Amazon package and immediately ripped it open, since he was waiting for an Amazon shipment himself. However, once he opened the package, he was mightily confused and only then did he check the address label and noticed that the package wasn’t intended for him at all. His Mom apologized profusely, while I made a quip about whether he didn’t want to keep the German Harry Dresden edition for himself, since the neighbours’ son is a fantasy fan, albeit more into epic fantasy of the blokes in cloaks type.

In addition to a bunch of German language books for my Mom, the package also contained a brand-new paperback edition of Something for the Journey, so I did what one does when getting a copy of an anthology in which one has a story. I took photos. Or rather, I tried to get my Mom to take photos – after I had packed away the birthday books, of course.

Unfortunately, my Mom hasn’t exactly been blessed by the muse of photography. She has problems taking photos with a digital camera or indeed any camera that is not the leather-cased monstrosity from the 1960s we had when I was a kid. In fact, my Mom still laments that she wants the old camera back, because it was the only one that worked properly. “Mom, they don’t even make films for that camera anymore”, I told her.

So here are the best of several attempts my Mom made: Continue reading →

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Views of Bremen at Springtime

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Cora

I had to take my Mom to Bremen today, because it turned out that our local suburban bank cannot procure Malaysian ringgits within four days (which is when my Dad is supposed to fly to Malaysia to oversee the repairs of a crane), so we tried a bigger bank in the city centre, which was able to procure Malaysian ringgits within four days, but only for a minimum sum of 1000 Euros. Apparently, I was mistaken in thinking this was 2014, since the banks still seem to be stuck in 1984.

Mom and I also had lunch at the Übersee Restaurant. We both had spicy African lentil soup, then Mom had some kind of fish with cabbage and gnocchi, while I had curry of beetroot and Swiss chard.

Since the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny this past week, I also took along my camera for some springtime views of Bremen, so enjoy: Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Scandals

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Cora

March 8 is International Women’s Day. Time to talk about awesome women, even though at least the SFF community is still stuck talking about a man.

International Women’s Day has never been a big deal in Germany, even though the day was initiated by an awesome German woman, Clara Zetkin. Celebrating it was always more of an East European thing, whereas the West celebrates Mother’s Day. Because all women are mothers obviously and popping out babies is the only important thing women do – sigh.

Therefore, I was quite surprised to see a poster outside a local Real store. At first glance, it looked like a leftover Valentine’s Day poster – a man presenting a bouquet of flowers to a smiling woman. However, the slogan on the poster said “Remember: March 8 is International Women’s Day.” So Germany is finally recognizing International Women’s Day, only to use it as an excuse for florists to advertise their wares.

On the the Jonathan Ross affair: My last post about the UK mainstream media rewriting what really happened got a lot of online attention. And I really wish we could stop talking about Jonathan Ross now, because there’s a half-finished post about the Avengers waiting to be written and another about unexpected links between Mad Men and Jerry Cotton, and besides it’s been a week since Ross’ eight hour stint as Hugo host.

Alas, we’re still talking about Jonathan Ross and about how a privileged guy with a history of problematic jokes aimed at women and minorities has suddenly become the victim, while those who objected to his appointment – many of them women – have suddenly become the bullies here.Besides, there have been some more really important posts made: Continue reading →

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New Romantic Suspense Novelette Available: New York City’s Finest

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Cora

It’s new release time again. This time around, I have a new crime novelette to announce, first in a possible romantic suspense series.

I’m a big fan of using online generator for story ideas and writing prompts. One of my favourites was the They Fight Crime! generator for creating unlikely buddy cop duos, since I’ve always been a sucker for crime dramas with oddles of sexual tension, unresolved or otherwise. Unfortunately, the original generator is gone, but a copy can still be found here.

Some time ago, I played with the They Fight Crime! generator looking for story ideas and got the following:

He’s a world-famous devious cop plagued by the memory of his family’s brutal murder. She’s a pregnant junkie cab driver who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime!

The prompt immediately intrigued me and so Jo Grayson and Ray McCormick were born. And here is their first adventure together:

New York City’s Finest
New York City's Finest by Cora BuhlertJo Grayson had a dark past. Ex con-artist, ex-junkie, complete and utter screw-up. However, she left all that behind her when she became pregnant. And now, six months later, Jo has a dingy one-room apartment and a crappy but steady job as a cab driver. Things are looking up.
But then one day, her past catches up with Jo in the form of a mysterious stranger getting into her cab. The stranger is Detective Ray McCormick, a cop on a mission to hunt down the criminal mastermind known only as the Kraken. McCormick wants information, information only Jo can provide, for Jo used to work for the Kraken and is one of the few people ever to walk out on him and live to tell the tale.
Jo is as eager as anyone to see the Kraken go down. But helping McCormick could put both Jo’s life and that of her unborn child at risk.

For more information, visit the dedicated New York City’s Finest page.
Buy it for the low price of 2.99 USD, EUR or 1.99 GBP at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Casa del Libro, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Der Club, Libiro, Nook UK, DriveThruFiction, OmniLit/AllRomance e-books, Flipkart, e-Sentral and XinXii.

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The media spin machine at full power or This is totally not what happened

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Cora

We’re still talking about the eight hour stint of Jonathan Ross as Hugo host and indeed the debate about the whole issue has now lasted much longer than Jonathan Ross ever was the official Hugo host (for my previous posts on this issue see here and here).

The reason why the debate is still going on is that the British mainstream media has now jumped into the fray, only that the story they are reporting a very different story from the one that actually happened. Continue reading →

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Reflections on the 2014 Oscars

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Cora

As usual, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to watch this year’s Oscars, since this year’s highly lauded list of best picture nominees largely leave me cold. I already talked about my lack of interest in the two SFnal nominees in my post about the Nebula awards. And while Twelve Years a Slave, Philomena and Dallas Buyers’ Club are undoubtedly important films and either of them would be a good choice as examples of other countries coming to terms with the darker parts of their history. Ditto for The Wolf of Wall Street, only that I don’t think it would be a good choice. Captain Phillips – well, Americans probably think it’s important. As for American Hustle, I have no idea why this is even nominated – and I’m usually a sucker for stories about good-guy thieves and con-artists. Besides, did it win anything at all, even in a side category? Finally, there’s also Nebraska, which I’d never heard about until today.

The full list of winners is here BTW.

As for Ellen DeGeneres (whom I usually like), the good news is that she’s not Seth MacFarlane. The bad news is that she isn’t much better. In the first ten minutes or so, she made a joke about the nationality of a Somali nominee for best supporting actor, an ageist joke about an elderly actress nominated for the best supporting actress award as well as not one but two transphobic jokes. At least, she hasn’t sung about anybody’s boobs… yet.

To be fair, she did get less offensive as the show went on and I actually liked the bit where she served pizza to the audience. Not sure what to make of the star-studded selfie.

Regarding the make-up category, couldn’t they have scrapped that altogether this year or just given it to Dallas Buyers’ Club by default rather than nominate The Lone Ranger – a film that was widely and rightly criticized for its use of Redface – and a bloody Jackass film?

Again, they should just rename the Best animated feature film category “Best Pixar film” and be done with it (even though I would have preferred the Miyazaki). Besides, if you have a presentation about “Great animated films”, maybe a bit less CGI and a bit more traditional animation (and any sort of non-western animation at all, since there was none) might be in order.

Loved the woman who sang during the acceptance speech for the best longform documentary BTW. I actually liked her better than some of the people nominated for best song. Okay, the “Happy” guy was great (and got several Oscar nominated actresses to dance with him in the aisles) and U2 was U2, but the Her song was just insipid and the Frozen one not much better. I’m not happy it won either, though Disney/Pixar film songs often win Oscars.

Loved Bill Murray’s unscheduled tribute to Harold Ramis, though he was of course included in the official memorial as well. Meanwhile, the German cultural TV program kulturzeit completely ignored the death of Harold Ramis, though they did honour an East German film director who happened to die the same day.

And for those who were playing “Spot the Avengers” at the Oscars, we got Hawkeye on the red carpet, Thor, Captain America and Nick Fury on stage and all of them in clips.

Two great choices for best supporting actor. Loved Jared Leto’s acceptance speech and his tribute to his Mom and Lupita Nyong’o is simply lovely (great acceptance speech, too) plus it’s always great to see people of colour winning Oscars (also great seeing more people of colour presenting Oscars). Though I feel sorry for her that she had to kiss Christoph Waltz. Blame Tarantino for bringing him to Hollywood – German speakers would have been happy to continue to ignore him.

Surprised that Cate Blanchett won best actress after the current debate about Woody Allen. I would have preferred Judy Dench to win, though I loved Cate Blanchett’s shout-out to the fact that films focussed on women can and do draw audiences. Matthew McConaughey was widely picked as the favourite to win best actor and I can’t really argue, though personally I had hoped for Chiwetel Ejiofor to win. Plus, McConaughey really did go on and on and on in his acceptance speech, didn’t he?

There sure is a lot of love for Gravity this year. Now I don’t begrudge it the various technical wins, but Alfonso Cuarón for best director? I would have preferred Steve McQueen.

Finally, Twelve Years a Slave won a well deserved Oscar for best picture. Definitely the best choice, though I wouldn’t have minded Philomena or Dallas Buyers’ Club either. Great acceptance speech from Steve McQueen as well.

BTW, here is the New York Times article that was the base for Twelve Years a Slave.

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More on Jonathan Ross and the Hugos

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Cora

The debate about Jonathan Ross and his brief reign as Hugo Awards presenter is still going on and has in fact lasted longer now than Ross has actually had the job. Still, while I’m waiting for the Oscars to begin (and debating whether I’m going to watch at all), here are the latest links.

Seanan McGuire’s tweets following the announcement of Jonathan Ross as Hugo presenter have been storified by Jim Hines.

At TwitLonger, Lis Mitchell reiterates her problems with the appointment of Jonathan Ross.

Part of Farah Mendlesohn’s letter of resignation has just appeared at The Passive Voice. Just don’t make the mistake of reading the comments.

File 770 has a summary of the events from an American perspective. Teleread also offers a summary.

Rich Johnston at the comics site Bleeding Cool offers a pro-Jonathan Ross perspective by pointing out that Jonathan Ross has written comics and presented both the Eisner and National Comics Awards (scroll down past a lot of Twitter screenshots for a clip of Ross presenting the Eisners). Rich Johnston makes an important point by reminding us that Jonathan Ross is not a genre-outsider (and indeed the whole “He’s not a true fan” bit left something of a sour taste in my mouth) and has indeed hosted genre awards before, though he dismisses those who criticised the decision a bit too blithely as haters, since there were genuine concerns about Jonathan Ross and his brand of humour.

Finally, Foz Meadows echoes my own post of yesterday and points out that the Loncon organisers could have prevented this whole unpleasantness by preparing Jonathan Ross beforehand for the fact that his appointment would draw criticism due to the ongoing debate about sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc… within fandom. This would have given Jonathan Ross either the chance to decline privately or respond to his critics by reassuring them that he wasn’t going to be a jerk and that he loves SFF as much as anybody else at Worldcon. Instead, Jonathan Ross ended up doing his version of “Hollywood star makes an arse of himself on German cultural programme”* on Twitter, because he had no idea he would be criticised.

What is more, the Loncon organisers also bungled the announcement, because they might have prevented at least the whole “He’s not a true fan” debate by pointing out that Mr. Ross is a fan, that he has written comics and presented other genre awards, that he is friends with Neil Gaiman, that his wife is a screenwriter who has worked on genre films and a Hugo winner. Because a lot of people, including me, didn’t know these things. I mostly knew Jonathan Ross as “that BBC chat show host who always causes controversies” without knowing anything about the man himself and judging by the Twitter reaction, it seems I wasn’t the only one.

There are a few people who come out of this uproar looking bad, but – and this is something of a surprise to me – Jonathan Ross is not one of them. I still don’t think he would have been suitable as a Hugo host, particularly during such a politically sensitive time for the genre, but who knows? He might have surprised everyone. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time that I would have had to revise my opinion of a TV personality after seeing them live, as my experience seeing Thomas Gottschalk and Günther Jauch live attests.

*It happens quite frequently that Hollywood stars who are interviewed on cultural programmes on German TV manage to behave like jerks, because they have no idea what kind of programme it is (namely serious cultural programming instead of gossip shows blindly fawning about celebrities – though we have those, too), and thus react stunned or downright snappy, when faced with critical questions and interviewers who refuse to fawn about them.

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The eight-hour Hugo host

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Cora

It’s certainly hard to be an SFF fan these days, since the genre can’t seem to go two weeks without a major uproar.

This latest go-around started around noon on Saturday. I’d just had lunch and went onto the Internet for some midday mail checking. Then I logged into Twitter and spotted an announcement on the official Loncon3 Twitter feed that British comedian, radio and TV presenter Jonathan Ross would be hosting this year’s Hugo Awards ceremony.

“Uh oh”, I thought, “That’s going to be a problem.” Continue reading →

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