CIRCUS: Fantasy Under the Big Top

So finally I turned in the manuscript for my reprint anthology, CIRCUS: FANTASY UNDER THE BIG TOP. Many thanks to everyone who suggested reprints -- your help certainly pointed me to a number of stories I wouldn't have seen otherwise, and the book is better for it. Now, for the good stuff, cover and table of contents:




CIRCUS: FANTASY UNDER THE BIG TOP Table of Contents
Introduction
“Something About a Death, Something About a Fire” Peter Straub
“Smoke & Mirrors” Amanda Downum
“Calliope: A Steam Romance” Andrew J McKiernan   
 “Welcome to the Greatest Show in the Universe” Deborah Walker
“Vanishing Act” E. Catherine Tobler
“Quin's Shanghai Circus” Jeff VanderMeer
“Scream Angel” Douglas Smith
"The Vostrasovitch Clockwork Animal and Traveling Forest Show at the End of the World" Jessica Reisman
“Study, for Solo Piano” Genevieve Valentine
“Making My Entrance Again with My Usual Flair” Ken Scholes
“The Quest” Barry B. Longyear
“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” Kij Johnson
“Courting the Queen of Sheba” Amanda C. Davis
“Circus Circus” Eric Witchey
 “Phantasy Moste Grotesk” Felicity Dowker
“Learning to Leave” Christopher Barzak
“Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus” Neal Barrett Jr   
 “The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue” Holly Black
 “Manipulating Paper Birds” Cate Gardner
“Winter Quarters” Howard Waldrop   

Outfit post 2

This is the second outfit I wore at my photoshoot. Here, I went for a completely different proportion with highwaisted, pleated silk pants (anathema in all flattering dressing gurus' books). I played with proportion some more by adding my highest heels, and a patterned jacket.

 Here's a better view of the jacket (vintage Anne Klein -- old enough for the ILGWU label, natch):

And without it. The blouse is vintage, the only inherited piece I have -- from a German great-great aunt.

Also, check out that Marni cuff! You can probably guess how many Wonder Woman comments I get when wearing this one.

 

Most of these pictures were taken around the UPenn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. Statues and fountains!

 

 (And a better view of the shoes. These are my most comfortable heels even though they are the highest -- Rachel  Comey shoes are a fave.)

Again, many thanks to JR Blackwell. I learned several things during this photoshoot: black and white, my natural inclination, is the way to go, apparently -- I really like the way they play against the background. Also, I like the way these photos look, so to me it means that my outfit ideas translate pretty well into the actual presentation. I like clothes like these -- interesting yet slightly formal, classic but with a bit of an off sensibility. Silk photographs really well, even the shiny McQueen pants with their fluid drape which I worried would look cheap in pictures.

So with all this -- maybe I'll be posting more outfit photos now. If only I can get a pro photographer to follow me around!

Outift Post 1

This week, I worked with the very wonderful JR Blackwell on my very first photoshoot. It was a very fun experience, and in addition I now possess a ton of great quality photos of myself in all sorts of interesting Philadelphia backgrounds; so decided to do a couple of outfit posts, since I natter about clothes so much but almost never post any actual pictures.

So here we go, outfit one -- black silk jersey dress (Catherine Malandrino), silk Vozianov jacket, and Miu Miu slingbacks:

 I love this jacket's sculptural shape. It looks completely different from the side than from the front, so here are a few more views of it. The fold of the lapel works as a pocket for hand-placement purposes:

 Notice the sharp angle of the lapel that gradually becomes a tail:

The dress itself is fairly simple, but it drapes beautifully. This picture does a nice job highlighting the overall silhouette:

Many thanks to JR for taking these! I'm very pleased with the way the pictures came out, and the locations she picked. Later this week -- my other outfit.