The Philosopher's Stone

HALLOWEEN COMES EARLY:


Well, it does this year for me, at least -- with a touch of Christmas thrown in. When you consider that this Thursday is my birthday, it's almost as if a guiding hand were at work. A friend told me that the chaos of this summer was just a prelude to a groundswell of good things, and I'm beginning to believe him.

My second "official" story, "Ascension," is being released in Cyber-Pulp's Halloween Anthology 3.0. This is an annual charity anthology produced by Bob Gunner at Cyber-Pulp Books.

Unfortunately, the anthology doesn't pay anything, but the proceeds go to The Read Foundation of New York City, which I have personally never heard of before but which appears to be an incredibly worthwhile organization. It helps underprivileged children read, which is something I am wholly in favor of.

In other good news, I have found that an article I wrote reviewing the online game City of Heroes will be published in issue #6 of City Slab magazine. My hope is that this will become a regular gaming column in the magazine, which would be a wonderful notch on my writing belt.

Work still goes well, with the possibility on the horizon of full employment with CTB/McGraw-Hill, along with the benefits associated (i.e. 401(k), health/dental plans, discounts, etc.). I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that.

There are currently three anthologies being edited that have stories of mine in the final round of selections. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed about them. I should hear the final word in the next few weeks -- one of them is already well past the deadline, but the editor has had a number of personal health issues.

I would be remiss if I were not to mention the passing of Christopher Reeve yesterday. I will confess that I was never the biggest Christopher Reeve fan. I was generally unimpressed with him as Superman, though I did always enjoy Somewhere in Time. When he had his accident, though, I became a fan. I doubt it would be possible for someone to take a tragedy like that and deal with it any better than he did.

I do wonder if this will have any bearing on the upcoming election. It is possible that the death of Christopher Reeves will push stem cell research even further into the forefront of the national debate, just in time for it to become an even-more-major campaign issue than it was going to be previously. It would be intriguing if his death tilted a close election in the direction of John Kerry, who has clearly stated that increased stem cell research would be a goal of his. Thus, in death, he would have somehow helped to reach the political and social change that he spent the last decade of his life lobbying for.

To those close to him, I'm sure that such possibilities would be cold comfort, but I can't help thinking that it would give his death a meaning that most of us will never have, just as his life did.

I do hope that they take some time to put together a memorial vignette or something to run after Smallville this week. Perhaps some sort of announcement of a research foundation his family would like donations sent to... it seems appropriate.