Yes, you read that right. Just a few moments ago I formally sent my candidacy letter to the Elections Committee of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and also posted it to the SFWA Web forums. But so the rest of you know as well, I’m telling you here, too.

Posted below the cut is my candidacy letter, if you are interested in what such a thing looks like, and also what my platform and positions are — and who is running with me, as part of a slate of candidates, all committed to the same goals for SFWA. And for those of you who can’t wait, here’s who the VP candidate for our slate is.

If you are a SFWA member, I hope you’ll read this letter here or in the SFWA forums and consider giving your vote to me and the fellow members of our slate. If you are eligible to be a SFWA member but are not, please consider joining SFWA and helping us continue to build the organization. Thanks.

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My Friend Bill: Ahoy John — very quick question for you, as a man who is well-informed on a wide variety of topics, if you don’t mind.

Me: Fire away!

Bill: An apt response, because the question is:
What sort of ordnance is fired from pie-mounted artillery?

Me: Hmmm.

Bill: My feeling is that the answer is “delicious ordnance.”

Me: Well, that does depend on the pie, now, doesn’t it.

Bill: And probably upon the individual tastes of the target.

Me: I was thinking the German for it might be “Meringuenflak”.

Bill: The Germans undoubtedly attempted it when traditional materials for constructing and arming artillery became scarce toward the end of the war.

Me: Who can forget the Marzipan Panzers of April 1945?

Bill: Or the “marzipanzers” as they naturally came to be known.

Me: Yes. At least until the rains came.

Bill: The death toll was terrible.
Though most of it came years later, in the form of complications from diabetes.

Me: Well, and of course the fact that the collapse of the German forces around Berlin was actually a sugar crash.
This is the secret and flavorful history of WWII, which we must witness to the world.

Bill: The truth will no longer be suppressed.

A couple of notes:

* Serious stuff first: There’s an online initiative called 100 Stories for Haiti, in which writer Greg McQueen is hoping to very quickly gather up that number of short short stories (1,000 words or less) and put them together in a flash e-book anthology, all of the proceeds of which will go to the Red Cross for assistance in Haiti. My pal, bestselling author Nick Harkaway (The Gone-Away World), is penning a story and an intro. This is an all-volunteer effort (i.e., no one’s getting paid for the work), but it’s a good cause, so that’s worth a one-time pass from me. If you’re interested in contributing a story, they’d be interested in seeing what you have.

That said, there is a catch: The deadline is hella close — as in, today. BUT, McQueen, hoping to harness the awesome might of Whatever, sends along this note:

Please feel free to say that if someone puts SUBMISSION JOHN S in the subject line of their submission,  we’ll accept them as late as Wed/Thursday this week.

So there, I scored you an extension. Because I love you, man. So if you’ve got the urge to write something short and to help out Haiti, now you know where to send your stuff.

* There, that’s done, now let’s talk about me. Zoe’s Tale received a nice accolade on Friday when the American Library Association’s Amelia Bloomer list for 2010 was announced, and Zoe was on it. The Bloomer list, for those of you who don’t know, is “an annual booklist of the best feminist books for young readers, ages birth through 18,” and Zoe was of course written with younger readers in mind, even if it wasn’t marketed directly as YA. I’m delighted Zoe’s on the list; maybe she will pick up some more young readers as a result. I would be happy with that.

* Over in the UK, SciFiNow is listing its picks for “SF novels destined for the silver screen,” with Old Man’s War leading that pack, along with novels by Richard Morgan, Carrie Ryan, Terry Brooks and China Mieville. I can’t criticize any of their selections; I’d like to see the movies of each of those (and, you know, would mind OMW getting up there, too). There is that minor point that someone with access to millions of dollars and a film studio also has to want to see that movie. But really, that’s just fiddly detail, now, isn’t it.

* New review of The God Engines over at SF Site: “His writing is as good as ever, the tale moves along briskly, sex, violence and spaceship battles are featured. The story becomes darker with each revelatory twist, and ends up very dark and bloody indeed.” Yes. Yes it does.

* Apropos to absolutely nothing at all, and especially not the last note there, Aussiecon 4 sent me a press release yesterday noting that those of you who want to nominate works for the Hugo this year but are not yet Worldcon members this year have until January 31st to register. If you don’t register by then, you’ll be too late to have your nominations count (although if you are registered by that date, you can nominate works through March 13). So, you know. Register. Remember that even if you don’t plan to schlep yourselves to the Land Down Under for this year’s Worldcon, you can still become a Supporting Member for $50, which allows you Hugo voting rights and other neat goodies.

And there you have it.

Posts like this are why one of the best blogs you can read right now just happens to be written by a 90-year-old man.

I spent my weekend in Michigan, watching this:

That’s my friend Yanni feeding creme brulee to Krissy while both of them are wearing very sexy cocktail dresses. I could watch that all evening long, and did. So there.

We were in Michigan to visit friends, but as it happens most of the friends in Michigan whom we wished to visit were also at the ConFusion science fiction convention, so that’s where we were as well. As noted earlier, I’m mostly taking the year off from actively participating at science fiction conventions, so my “programming” at ConFusion this year largely consisted of parking my ass in the bar and talking my head off with whomever came to sit down. Occasionally I would leave the bar to eat or sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat. Yes, there is an irony to my living in the bar for a weekend, considering I don’t drink at all. But hey, it’s a convention. Sooner or later, everyone walks through the bar.

Anyway, it was a perfectly lovely weekend and a fine excuse to get away from the Teh Internets for a couple of days. Hope your weekend was equally relaxing and friend-filled. Even if they were not wearing sexy cocktail dresses and feeding desserts to your spouse.