Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
mmmm... a lovely story, and a generous, thoughtful decision to save the bat,
Neil. Thanks!

 signed,

 a fan of bats
  

    
One of my cats got stuck to flypaper once.  Ended up using some citrusy
cleanser myself for that.  Inky (the cat) was fine, though a little grumpy
that his fur was mussed.  But much happier than when he was running
through the house trying to get that sticky blob of flypaper off.  I'm
just glad I was home at the time, I'd hate to think of what he'd've looked
like if left to his own devices, with flypaper stuck to him (with sticky
sides towards him and facing the rest of the world).
 
  

    

Thanks for saving the bat!  Hope he's okay and properly appreciative.

Feel better!
  

    
Yes, do feel better soon, Neil. And that is a *great* bat story, and most
compassionate action. 

I bet the bat is off telling its little batly friends the most amazing
tale about how come it looks and smells this way. (I wonder if it has a
mate, and if its mate believes it.)

For some reason this reminds me of the story you wrote about a cat that
showed up.....
  

    
Neil has various bat stories.  The bats are good at hiding from the rest of
us, though.  You have to be Neil (or Maddy the bat artist).
  

    
I was told the other day that one can refrigerate bats. They
hibernate.

There's a story there somewhere...
  

    
Is this true of all bats?  If it were I'd assume it was true of the
insectivores we have in North America and not the fruit-eaters that may or
may not even be related to the insectivores....

Note to self: don't eat anything in fridge before looking at it.
  

    
soukup, we'll have to revoke your bachelor credentials!
  

    
I can make the note but that doesn't mean I'll remember to abide by it.
  

    

Heck, I don't even HAVE food in my fridge. That's why there's takeout.
That's how much of a bachelor I am!
  

    
I have a very old chocolate Hugo in my fridge, and a couple of cans of 7-Up
(which I don't drink) that are probably two or three years old.  Mostly,
stuff is in my freezer.
  

    

A chocolate Hugo? 

I must ask: is this some kind of candy I've never heard of? Or are they making
awards out of chockie these days? 
  

    
It was made specially for a Worldcon party by the lamented magazine Science
Fiction Age, and when I didn't win a real Hugo that year the editor, Scott
Edelman, kindly gave it to me.

And it's been in the fridge ever since.  Full-size.  Takes up some room.
  

    

Have it bronzed!
  

    
Martha, it's probably not true of bats that don't hibernate, and I
suspect that tropical bats don't need to.

Is there any circumstance under which you'll actually eat the Hugo?
  

    
If my legs were broken and the phone didn't work and there was nothing to
eat and it came down to a choice between eating the cat or the Hugo, I'd eat
the Hugo.

It probably tastes pretty bad by now.

(I don't need to have it bronzed, it's dusted with some kind of
confectionary gilt.)
  

    

To the victor goes the Hugo. 

I assume someone has used that one during the ceremonies by now. Or would
it get them tarred and feathered? 
  

    
It would get them loudly ignored.
  

    

I'd like to hear that.
  

    
Finished typing Chapter Eleven today. And wrote a bit of Chapter
thirteen. And am starting to feel that a few of the balls tossed up in
the air during the first hundred thousand words may be starting to come
down around now.

I think some people will like this novel.

I also think some people will have lots of complaints about the shape
and the structure and so forth. And I suspect that they will be right,
but that there's nothing much I can do about it except apologise. It
starts as a Picaresque and then settles down for a bit and then breaks
free of its moorings entirely, while short stories keep happening as a
sort of counterpoint to the main story. I'd not try and build something
like this again for all the small plastic toys in China.
  

    
um... what happened to chapter 12?
  

    
The cat might have eaten it?
  

    
What in the world have you been doing to it since I saw it last?
  

    
Chpater 12 is in handwritten form. It's not typed yet. I finished
typing chapter 11, and have been writing chapter 13... easy.

Martha -- not sure, how far did you get? I think I've written another
60,000 words or a bit more since then.
  

    
I don't remember the chapter number....

You've written a whole novel's worth since then.