I need a tutorial in how to do special characters on WordPress. That “B” is supposed to be a beta. (Don’t worry, I asked Watts first. He laughed at me.) Anyway, to quote my email to my workshop:
Mark Tovey at WorldChanging Canada asked me to write this story after I told him about a draft I’d never finished. It’s called “Boyfriend,” and it’s about a slowly-awakening “partner app” downloaded into our heroine’s phone, who takes it upon himself to make sure she has the best prom possible. Also there’s fabbing, and graphene, and rogue GPS, and of course phone sex. It’s like a sampler pack, really. It’s serialized, so sadly you won’t be able to see it all right away. You’ll just have to keep coming back. 😉
I wrote this story in one night, and subsequent edits were mostly about ironing out some tech and closing what loopholes I could see. I like it, and Mr. Ashby liked it, and hopefully you will like it.
Oh, and just so you know: those are in fact my feet.
Addendum:
Good press from Buy It Like You Mean It, an org that seeks to attach supply chain histories to consumer goods in hopes of encouraging ethical purchasing. They say:
Madeline Ashby has published the first installment of Boyfriend, a story about a girl from the future preparing for prom. How does she prepare? By pillow talking with an artificial intelligence program that helps her find out the supply chain history of the dresses she’s choosing.
…Which is a far better summary than I could ever write, now that I think of it.
Feet! With snazzy pedicure, I might add. Jealous over here, btw. Good feet.
Don’t worry, I asked Watts first. He laughed at me.
Niiiiice. Screw Watts. 🙂 Or did he tell you anyway, after making fun? I notice the link to the story has a scharfes s/beta where the B oughta be, so you must have figured it out in any case. To bring this back around – feet figure in the story? I guess I must go read.
Thanx.
Thank you! I didn’t actually pedicure them, just bathed and moisturized and painted them. They came out surprisingly well for feet that spend so much time without shoes or socks on.
The conversation went more like this:
“Um…I meant to ask… Can I please use this symbol to title the story? Because it makes sense in context, but is it stealing?”
(Laughter) “Stealing? From who? The Greeks?”
Feet do actually figure in the story, in a roundabout way. So yes, please do go read!
They came out surprisingly well for feet that spend so much time without shoes or socks on.
They did! And you can see the various layers of tan lines from different pairs of shoes, which is interesting. A lady I know posted some photos of her feet in blue nail polish, with a sparkly glitter-like top-coat, and it should have looked awful (blue can make feet look deadish?) but it was sort of ethereal and like an art project.
“Um…I meant to ask… Can I please use this symbol to title the story? Because it makes sense in context, but is it stealing?”
(Laughter) “Stealing? From who? The Greeks?”
Oh, oh, oh – I get you now – because Behemoth is printed with a Beta instead of a B. I mistook you utterly, thinking you meant asking him how to accomplish it technically, like, what html to use, or what button to push with “shift”. Doh. Peter is currently irking me, so I’m probably defaulting to thinking the worst of him….poor fella.
I wonder if you *can* copyright something like that? Prolly not. In any case, I wouldn’t have made the connection of Boyfriend to Behemoth, obviously, because I didn’t until just now.
I have to come back for the rest of the story, eh? Evil. I like it.
You can read part 2 here: http://www.worldchanging.com/local/canada/archives/009170.html
Don’t worry about mistaking me; I don’t write very clearly. As for whether one can copyright the Beta, I’m not sure, but if DC thinks they can copyright the word “superhero,” I wouldn’t be surprised.
Actually, my tan lines are from a single pair of sandals that I wore to Japan this summer. I think my feet may be scarred, considering it’s December and the lines are still there. It’s a tad worrying.
Thy feet are fine! Wouldn’t you imagine that the light parts and the dark parts are all tanned and lightening at about the same rate, so you have a while to go before you are down to the natural pasty white skin? Of course, if you insist on taking your feet out and exposing them to sunlight or flashbulb light, they are never going to lighten. Just saying.
Thanks for the part 2, also.
I finally got around to reading this (on my G1, no less!) and I really enjoyed it! I’m so telling everyone I know to read it. 😛
Ooh, G1 readership, for extra irony! And yes, pimp away, please. 🙂