Gallbladders, NasFic and More!

TOC:

• Health!
• Travel!
• Conventions and schedules!
• Co-writing/body doubling!

Update on Health! I never thought much about my gallbladder. I guess I saw the surgery as one you do for an appendix, only it won’t dump toxins into your body if it fails. And you can take it out with a scope and a robot arm and be back at work the next day (although not 100% recommended).

The thing about the gallbladder is that, like the appendix, it’ll be sitting there, happily doing its job nestled under the liver like a chick under a hen, and then HOLY SHIT THE WORLD IS ENDING AND I AM FULL OF ROCKS. That happened to me on Mother’s Day, when I suddenly felt like I had swallowed a brick and it was lodged under my diaphragm.

I just deleted a bunch of boring paragraphs. Essentially, after Mother’s Day we had a lot of fussing here about planned surgeries and lowfat diet and the uneventful surgery but then unexpected complications* and then ER visit and then a brief hospital stay and then another procedure.

This was all very distracting and time consuming. But I’m much better now.

Also I learned that “sludge” is a medical term for dehydrated bile.

* you know they can leave some stones behind, right? That you can have gallbladder pain without the gallbladder? Like phantom limb syndrome except it’s actual stones that screw up things.

Travel!

In a few days I will be flying to Scotland for some vacation with the family and then next week we will attend WorldCon in Glasgow! I don’t think the program has been finalized yet, but if you’re attending, come find me!

Two weeks after we get back, I’ll be a Guest of Honor at Bubonicon in New Mexico, alongside TJ Klune, with Ursula Vernon and Kevin Sonney as the Toastmasters. A few months ago, they interviewed me and TJ.

After that I sit firmly on my couch and not move until World Fantasy Con in October.

Conventions!
I am very late with putting this out. NASFiC was held in Buffalo, NY, and I had a nice time. My panels and reading were pretty well attended, and I didn’t get Covid—I heard there was a small outbreak at Readercon? I’m starting to hear a lot of friends catching it, so I’m being extra careful. You can tell I’m really looking forward to the plane trip to Glasgow…

Small Supporter Perk!
I do co-writing/body doubling work at 10am Wednesday mornings (I am in Eastern Daylight Time) and we have a few folks join us on the discord. If you would like to join, support via Patreon or Substack and you’ll have access to the Discord where we do our co-writing.

This fall brings the print version of my Audible original novella, The Ophelia Network! Watch this space for more!

Be well, stay safe, stay kind. Cool stuff is coming.

-Mur