tortoiseshell cats are not refundable

The first part of my Asimov’s story, All the Pretty Little Mermaids, is up online.
Kate Baker does a beautiful job with the audio version of “Tortoiseshell Cats are Not Refundable”

For Writers:

• I blogged about Why I Don’t Want to Read Your Story
• Please spread the word about this anthology from Brandon Bell and the impetus behind it.
• Will I get to destroy fantasy? It remains to be seen. Last week for the Women Destroying SF Kickstarter. People have asked whether I plan to do open submissions for it, the answer is yes.
• 29 Problems Only Writers Will Understand
• Locus has posted their recommended reading list for 2013.
• SF Signal asks what’s wrong with epic fantasy
  Elizabeth Bear is one of my favorite writers. Here’s an interview with her on Tor.com.

Books I talked about these books for You Should Read This:

• A fabulous work about writing, On Writing by Stephen King
• English comic novel Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
• Classic fantasy novel The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. No time to read it? Here’s the best quotes from it on GoodReads. Or here’s a picture of him and George R.R. Martin playing with stuffed animals.
• Longtime American comic strip Pogo by Walt Kelly
• Feminist spirituality guidebook 365 Goddess by Patricia Telesco
• Classic epic work The Odyssey by Homer
• Creative aid Surrealist Games

Things of Note:

• SFWA has put together its own accessibility checklist for events
• Are you warm right now? A lot of people aren’t.
• Shades of Boneshaker, Batman! Seattle’s giant digging machine is broken

Timewasters!:

• Via Wayne, a squirrel trying to bury a nut in a very odd place
• Richard Sherman has gone missing. Well, the owl named after him.
• io9.com lists some good February reading.
  Lovely story by Natalia Theodoridou on Clarkesworld.