Author: Jeffe Kennedy

Reel It In, Buddy!

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

A remnant of the winter storm clings to the upper reaches of Sandia this morning. Otherwise, we’re clear and COLD!

Many years ago, David and I visited two friends who were doing a bald eagle watch in northern Arizona. This is the kind of job wildlife biologists get: camp out all summer and keep an eye on the nest and the eaglets. Sure, there are many fun things about this job, but it also gets monotonous and the heat was unending, even at night. Desert camping usually guarantees at least cool nights, but in this place, the rock absorbed all the heat and radiated it back all night long.

So, they would make the hour-long hike to the bottom of the canyon, to swim in the little stream there. Never mind that the climb back up took longer and you arrived hot and sweaty – it was still totally worth it. We enthusiastically agreed to this proposition and made the jaunt with them.

Now, the bottom of this canyon was full of desert scrub, thorny bushes and cacti. You had to be really careful navigating it. Plus, free-range cattle had to be avoided. They told us this story about how, on one hike, they saw a bull and cow going at it. The bull was humping away until our friends startled them. The bull and cow broke apart and took off running.

Only, the bull still had his bullish manly parts extended, swinging in the breeze, as it were.

The male half of our biologist couple, appalled as the bull crashed through the thorny brush and cacti with his long pink delicate bits exposed, yelled out “Reel it in, buddy! Reel it in!”

We laugh about this story still.

And I thought of it the other day, when a friend and I had a conversation about people oversharing on the internet. There’s lots of discussion on this topic – how much is too much, etc. It’s good to connect with people in a personal way, but at some point, if you’re walking around with your entrails hanging out, people just wince and look away.

Reel it in, buddy. Reel it in.

The One, True Garden Stake

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

So, here’s how it came about.

A few weeks back, I was cleaning up the garden for winter (which turns out to be a good thing because we’re in full-blown blizzard conditions right now) and I managed to gouge my hand on a garden stake. Right in the center of my palm. It wasn’t a bad scrape, but it looked unsettlingly like a stigmata.

Naturally, being a Twitter junkie, I tweeted about my new stigmata (stigmatum?) and dubbed myself #HolyJeffe.

I have it on good authority that several people took up the epithet and used it in good health.

Now, a number of people asked if they should worship me, which is just wrong, wrong, wrong. No, I said, you should worship that which gave me the stigmatum (“stigmata” sounds better), from whom all holiness flows. The garden stake.

Being in The Netherlands, Sullivan McPig, somewhat anxiously inquired if any garden stake would do. I had to deliver the bad news that, while all garden stakes are images of the One, True Garden Stake and one should always express courtesy and reverence towards them, that only the One, True Garden Stake would do for offerings.

Being the generous soul that I am, I agreed to be a conduit for all such offerings.

Holy Jeffe cares about you.

So, Sullivan, and his cohort, Voodoo Bride, who does book reviews here, got their owner to send tribute to the One, True Garden Stake.

It was acceptable.

Delicious, too.

Good Sinterklaasavond to Sullivan, Voodoo Bride and Carien and her partner today!

Fire of Life

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

I’m over at Word Whores today, ruminating on fire.

And, just in case that sounds ho-hum and you don’t click over – I know, I know, how could I contemplate such a thing? – here’s a bit of exciting news:

Big shout-out to sister Word-Whore Marcella Burnard for her nomination from the RT Book Reviews team in Futuristic Romance for her really wonderful novel ENEMY GAMES. If you haven’t read it, you really should. It’s really excellent hard-core sci-fi, chock full of battles with fascinating alien life forms.

 

Good-bye Anne McCaffrey

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

Then, as the simple words of interment were spoken, as the atmosphere planes dipped in tribute over the open grave, Helva found voice for her lonely farewell.

Softly, barely audible at first, the strains of the ancient song of evening and requiem swelled to the final poignant measure until the black space itself echoed back the sound of the song the ship sang.

The Ship Who Sang
Anne McCaffrey

She passed away yesterday, after 85 good years of firing our hearts, minds and imaginations. Sometimes I wonder if anyone realizes how many of us writing fantasy and science fiction with chunks of sex and romance trace our inspiration back to Anne McCaffrey. In some ways I think we’re all still trying to write F’lar and Lessa’s story. Or Helva and Niall’s. Or Sara and Harlan’s.

I’ve blogged about McCaffrey and how much her books meant to me before, so I won’t wax on here.

Yesterday evening, when the news hit and Twitter and Tor posted an In Memoriam shortly thereafter, the entire Tor website crashed from the load. (You can see it now.) As Kev, pointed out, it’s the modern equivalent of turning crowds away from the memorial service. I just love that one of the venerable ladies of SFF and, yes, romance, created such a technological ripple.

All the dragons are lifting their heads to sky and singing the song of mourning today.

Messages in the Wind

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

The Buddhists have this idea that every person you encounter has a message for you. If you learn to listen, the theory is, you’ll know what path to follow in life.

I think there’s some truth in this.

I also think the people who thought this up lived in a much smaller society where they met only a few hundred people in their entire lives. That’s about two minutes  on Twitter. Do I think every person on Twitter has a message for me that will illuminate my life’s path?

Oh no no no.

That actually sounds more like a Jim Carey movie than the road to enlightenment.

So , the point is, you have to be discerning and know which messages to listen to. The crazy guy preaching on the subway? Probably not. Your well-meaning senior colleague offering advice on keeping your job “in this economy?” Hmm. The family member throwing the word “selfish” at you because you’re not doing what they want you to? Uh, definitely not.

As with many aspects of life, it comes down to considering the source.

The other day one of my writing buddies wrote a post about taking critique. She mentioned a scene that five of her six readers/critique partners loved and one hated. Because she didn’t want a sixth of her potential readers turned off, she made revisions. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Except that I thought I probably would not have made the revision, had it been me.

Now, I’m not saying I think she was wrong to do it. There may be a deeper level to this in that the comments of the “hater” resonated with her and that’s what really drove her to make the change. Very likely she trusted the source.

Trusting the source becomes key. When your best friend gently takes your hand and tells you that the lipstick you’re wearing makes you look like a plague victim, if you trust her, you know she’s looking out for you and not cutting you down. When a stranger comes up to and offers a piece of information that answers the question you’ve been asking in your head, trusting that is an act of faith in the world.

I think that’s what the Buddhists were getting at.