Filker Down, Fans to the Rescue

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Professional filker Tom Smith, aka filkertom, has sustained a personal injury which will prevent him from working for a while. The original report is here; Tom's update on his situation is here. Let me repeat that Tom is a professional filker, with no dayjob to fall back on, so not being able to do convention concerts this summer is really going to undercut his income. Let's see if we can help.

It turns out that Tom has been doing cyberfunded creativity for some time; I just found out that it's possible to commission him for either a template song or a wholly original song. How cool is that? He also sells his albums and MP3s online. There is even a virtual guitar case open for general donations.

Tom Smith is one of the most witty and adroit lyricists alive today. He's a good guitarist, a great singer, and a hilarious performer all around. If you love science fiction and fantasy music, or funny music in general, you'll love his songs. He's given a great deal to the filk/fan community over the years. So if you've ever cracked a laugh because of Tom's music, please consider buying something or making a donation to help keep him going until he's able to resume performances.

Poetry Fishbowl on Wednesday June 11

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

I'm going to host a Poetry Fishbowl on my blog on Wednesday, June 11. (Gods and weather willing; we've had a lot of service outages recently. If that happens again, I'll reschedule.) This time the theme will be languages, linguistics, and linguists. I'll be soliciting ideas for characters, settings, historic or current events, languages, types of wordplay, and poetic forms in particular. Chances are I'll spend a good chunk of the day, from afternoon to evening or more, alternating between this site and doing stuff offline so my back doesn't weld itself to the chair. I will post at least one of the resulting fishbowl poems on the blog for everyone to enjoy. The rest will be available for audience members to buy, and whatever's left over will go into my archive for magazine submission.

If you enjoy my poetry -- or if you just love poetry in general, or want to promote language arts & sciences -- please mark the fishbowl date on your calendar. Drop by and give me some ideas, comment on the posted poetry, encourage people to come look, whatever tickles your fancy. I hope to see you then!

Extinct! Button set

[chlorophyta.livejournal.com]

I'm posting here at ysabet's earlier request. =)

Lately I've been working on a set of 26 button designs with a theme of "Extinct!" animals. I started the project about two and a half weeks ago, and today I finished the last five designs!

The idea came as something to sell at conventions, in packs of five random designs which could be traded with friends. BUT I'm offering an internet-only 'preorder' for the full set of 26 1" buttons for $18 + $4 s/h (US and Canada, ask about elsewhere).

I can accept preorders until June 23 (two weeks from today!) and may or may not offer full sets for sale again at a later date. If you are interested, I can accept paypal to nevar-at-nevarraven.com, or various forms of snail-mail payment. Comment or email at the above address if interested!

Or feel free to just comment if you like the designs, that's nice, too! ^___^


(Clicking on the thumbnail will take you to the larger version on ArtSpots)

Thanks for looking!