C.S.E. Cooney

In which Carlos Hernandez and I, uh, dance like chickens and sing for Rosarium.

Rosarium didn’t ask us to. Maybe would have paid us NOT to. But we did it anyway.

We’re just that kind of clown.

SUPPORT ROSARIUM! SUPPORT #WeNeedDiverseBooks! LEVEL UP AT INDIEGOGO!

Today’s my last day of narrating Kameron Hurley’s THE GEEK FEMINIST REVOLUTION for HighBridge Audio.

As I’ve been working on this project this week–which is all about, you guessed it, feminism, geekdom, genre, erasure, power, resistance–Rosarium Publishing has been running their Indiegogo Campaign.

I’ve got this odd feeling of unity, because Rosarium is, like, one big act of resistance all by itself. Do you think #WeNeedDiverseBooks? ROSARIUM HAS THEM!

Anyway, I’m a huge fan. I put my money where my mouth is, and now I’m putting my mouth where my money is, I guess!

To that end, I made this wee little VLOG. First thing in the morning. With a hat on.

I know it has been long and long again, faithful backers of Brimstone Rhine!

But I gotcher back! I haven’t forgotten about you!

1. All CDs have been MASTERED and PRESSED and SHIPPED TO ME in a cunning box FULL OF CDs. Yes, CDs!!! THAT YOU HELPED MAKE! Showing here:

I wasn’t sure that, after all that work, they’d actually, you know, WORK! So I tested one. AND GUESS WHAT IT WORKED!!!

MEANWHILE, we’d had our local silkscreening company, the FABULOUS and FABOOSH J Mack Studios in Westerly, make our PRINTS! I picked out a nice thick beautiful paper, and we silkscreened 4 prints per page. Which means…

APPLICATION OF STRAIGHT EDGE AND STRAIGHT RAZOR WHILE LISTENING TO A DOROTHY SAYERS NOVEL ON MY NANO, GA-DOING!

This work will result in a backer, like this backer here, receiving the GOODS, both CD and PRINT, in the mail. SOON!

(Okay, so this backer just happened to be STANDING RIGHT THERE, so I just GAVE him his, all right, but you’ll get YOURS soon enough!)

We are printing out labels on Sunday. I’ll package everything up this week and hope to ship ’em out by Thursday!

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!! 

If your ADDRESS HAS CHANGED
since backing the
BRIMSTONE RHINE PROJECT
in February and March of 2015
PLEASE CONTACT ME
with your
UPDATED ADDRESS INFORMATION!!!

In other news, the Dread Templeton, as I think you know, designed the cover for the Backer’s Album, CORBEAU BLANC, CORBEAU NOIR. Showing here:

LIMITED PRINTS will be available for sale sometime soon. I say limited and I mean LIMITED!

And, as all of this is happening, we are slowly but surely working on setting the backers’ songs to ukulele. They were “written” in true Brimstone Rhine style. As in, “scribbled on a notebook with the melody sung into the Voice Recorder app on my phone.” So you can imagine what collaborating with me to find the ACTUAL CHORDS must be like.

ANYWAY! COMING SOON!

This is my first time on the Nebula Nominations ballot. But you know whose first time this ISN’T? My friend, Amal El-Mohtar.

Now, Amal . . .

I have know Amal for nine years now. Nine. That’s an auspicious number, is it not?

She’s one of my oldest friends in-genre, and certainly the first good friend I ever met and made at a con. She’s also one of the most luminous, the most garrulous, the most welcoming, and hard-working, and people fight duels over her, and also she fights her own duels.

This is documented.

What else is documented about Amal El-Mohtar? Oh, you can find much of it here. Formidable woman.

Her story, “Madeleine,” published last year by Lightspeed Magazine, is a Nebula finalist in the short story category. Hernandez and I are trying to make a point of reading them all out loud, before working our way up to longer work. But if we never finish, at least we’ll have started with Amal.

. . . And we did read that wicked funny one about cat pics. That may get its own song.

But here is an idea I had this morning while driving to work. You all get it in its drafty-ass form, with a romantic smudgy filter, right from my MacBook’s PHOTOBOOTH.

I’ve been narrating all day in the studio, and that shows–but I won’t apologize for my voice. It’s just a voice. This is just a song. And it’s all meant in love.

“Madeleine” 

by C. S. E. Cooney

A tribute to Amal El-Mohtar 

Madeleine, where are you going?
Madeleine, where you have you been?
Madeleine, what are you looking for?
Where are you going?

Madeleine, I see you standing there
Is this present or is this past?
Madeleine, what does it matter?
Our love here is meant to last

Touch me, my distant Madeleine
Come, open up your glass
Touch me, is this a memory?
I hear you laughing

Madeleine, I know you’re grieving
Your heart’s so wild and sore
Madeleine, you have a friend in me
I’m your friend forevermore

Madeleine, Madeleine
Hold me
And I’ll find you
I will find you
On the other side of dreaming

Outlander: Something for Everyone

Friday 18:00 – 18:50, Harbor II (Westin)

If your heart’s in the Scottish Highlands, come discuss Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander in this, its 25th year. This series of novels and shorter works features elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and science fiction/fantasy. It has spawned a Starz TV series, a graphic novel, and a 14-part song cycle. If you loved the books, how do you think the series is faring? Maybe your introduction to Outlander was through the TV series. How do these two perspectives differ?

Heather Albano (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Flourish Klink, Darlene Marshall , Gillian Daniels

Why Are Fairy Tales Still Hot Topics?

Saturday 10:00 – 10:50, Harbor II (Westin)

Aesop, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm have much to answer for. Their fairy tales are integral to the European cultural heritage, and they’ve spawned novels, films, and TV shows in vast numbers. Why are their stories so compelling? Why do we keep going back to these old collections?

Theodora Goss (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Mary Crowell, Gillian Daniels, Lauren Schiller

New Media in Fiction

Saturday 12:00 – 12:50, Burroughs (Westin)

More and more often we see elements of new media being incorporated into fiction. Sometimes using new media in fiction is #awesome! and other times it’s just #FAIL. Is new media in fiction just a fad? There’s an art to doing it well. What stories are good examples? When does it go wrong? Where might new media take us in the future of fiction?

Flourish Klink (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Theodora Goss, Carlos Hernandez, Shahid Mahmud

How You Get the Word Out: Starting and Running a Successful Podcast

Saturday 14:00 – 14:50, Harbor III (Westin)

Podcasting gives us an outlet to share our thoughts and ideas with the world, and everyone seems to have something (perhaps a lot) to say. But is podcasting right for everyone? How do you go about “bootstrapping” a podcast? What do you need and what do you need to know? How do you attract and keep an audience? Where do you find a place to host your site? Successful ‘casters pass on their secrets.

Steve Miller (M) Kate Baker, C.S.E. Cooney, Don Pizarro, Brianna Spacekat Wu

Superhero Open Mic

Saturday 21:00 – 22:20, Marina 1 (Westin)

Kapow! Live from Boskone … enjoy the knock-out stylings of our program participants and audience members who share their open mic skills in the first-ever Superhero Open Mic. Each person gives his/her best 5-minute superhero performance – story, poem, song, skit, interpretive dance, or whatever! OPTIONAL: For extra appeal, feel free to come dressed as a superhero!

The Rules: Boskone members are invited to join our participants in the open mic by signing up for one of the eight open slots at the door to the event, which opens for sign-ups at 8:30 pm. Each performer is given a firm 5-minute time limit (max), including set-up time. So a quick transition between acts is key.

Walter H. Hunt (M), Kenneth Schneyer (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Carrie Cuinn, E.C. Myers, Garth Nix, Don Pizarro, Lauren Roy, Mary Ellen Wessels

Notes for Participant(s)

Walter and Ken will open the event by quickly reminding everyone about the rule: 5-minute maximum per person, each performance must include superheroes in some way, a quick transition between performers, and a live demonstration of the “over time” buzzer. They will trade off introducing each performer and will use the person’s real name matched up with a fake bio that they create, example: “Just off her successful tour of the Moons of Deneb IV, where she instigated a minor border war with a single song, please welcome…” There will be a double mic stand – with a lower-down mic to accommodate a guitar or other instrument and an upper mic for vocals. There will also be a buzzer to alter people when they go over…and have to stop. There will be a sign up sheet at the door for members to sign up for the 8 open slots. We will look into decorating the room, if possible. Erin and Brenda will be on hand to make sure things go smoothly.

Poetry Within Fantasy & Science Fiction

Sunday 10:00 – 10:50, Harbor III (Westin)

Fantasy and science fiction literature often samples snatches of song or poetry within its pages. But where does one look for original poetry that’s wholly focused on dragons and aliens, magic and deep space? Which writers are also fine versifiers? What inspires them? How do they decide whether an idea is better delivered in prose or poetry?

Jo Walton (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Mary Crowell, Theodora Goss

Sunday, 12:30 PM
Room: Independence
Reading: C.S.E. Cooney
C.S.E. Cooney

So sorry it’s been so long since I posted! Things are IN MOTION!

1. All the songs have been mastered!
2. All the prints have been printed!
3. Tonight and tomorrow, all the files–audio and visual–are being UPLOADED to Discmakers.com!!!

They ship within 10 business days! I, meanwhile, will take a straight razor and a straight edge to the Brimstone Rhine prints (there are four to a page) and do a little every day until they are all done and ready for you!

When the CDs arrive, and the prints are all in their little plastic slips, I shall put them all together in packages and send them off to you! AND THEN, I BELIEVE, WE ARE DONE! About a year from when we started too.

What a journey it’s been. Thank you. More soon!

(P. S. That’s Carlos Hernandez, with one of the BRIMSTONE RHINE PRINTS. Just so you know I’m not a bald-faced LIAR!)