Liz · Williams: · journal

In response to a question about radio schedules, I'm putting this as an admin post.

Our pagan oriented radio show, the Witching Hour, goes out at:

Tuesday 20.00 GMT live (except when we get bumped forward by the live broadcast from the town council!)

Friday 14.00 (repeat)

Sunday 20.00 (repeat)

Trevor's edition of Glastonbury Today (heavily Blues based!) goes out at 12.00 GMT on Thursdays.

For any new people who are interested in checking out the shop's pagan blog, it is here:

http://witchcraft-shop.livejournal.com/

The traffic isn't as heavy as this one, but we do have some interesting discussions.

If anyone is concerned about Rob H, currently in intensive care, the best place to look for updates is Ansible:

http://news.ansible.co.uk/

It's an e coli infection and he is more stable, but obviously it is extremely worrying. Rob is a good friend and a brilliant writer.

Trevor and I went down to Taunton this morning - we haven't been to Musgrove Park for over a year, but the local hospital managed to fluff his last appointment and they directed him down to the main hospital instead. Anyway, he saw a very nice specialist, whom we haven't met before, who says that everything looks fine and they are very pleased. They're putting him onto 6 monthly appointments.

After this we went up into the Quantocks and took the dogs for a walk in the beech woods, which despite an increasingly high wind were still filled with leaves of that peculiarly intense gold that beech seems to conjure. We met three ravens, tumbling in the raving sky, and Lily put up a flock of pheasants (most!fun!evah!). Then we had lunch in the Blue Ball at the bottom of the hill, soon apparently to be celebrating its 400th Christmas, and in spite of oncoming rain, took the dogs briefly onto Kilve beach - high tide thundering in and the Welsh coast only dimly visible. We also picked a lot of field mushrooms (for the concerned, they are definitely field mushrooms, not anything nasty).

I was in Wells today, and had to collect something that would, they said, be an hour. So I went into the cathedral - mainly, I must confess, to look for Xmas presents in the shop. There was an Armistice service on, and so I went to it - quite a number of people from local regiments and their families. It was a short, crisp service featuring the last post etc and ended 20 minutes later. However, from the point of view of an occultist, rather than a Christian (it may well be from a Christian point of view as well, but I can't say), these moments of silence possess a resonant power and serve to connect you to your country and your people in a way that other rituals often don't. The magical community of Britain used silence and prayer throughout the war (cf Dion Fortune's account of the magical battle of Britain), as a magical act.

My father fought in the Mediterranean theatre, across Egypt and Lebanon, ending up at Monte Cassino. My uncles and grandfather also served. We are not a military family: everyone was a conscript and my father does not have a high opinion of the British Army. He does, however, consider it to have been a just war, given Nazi atrocities, which is more than one can say for the ones we are now involved in.

There was a remarkable article in the Observer on Sunday about the conflict in Rwanda and the peace and reconciliation committees, about a society being rebuilt in the aftermath of a truly horrific civil conflict. I can't now find the link, so would be grateful if anyone can supply it. It detailed how people could live alongside the neighbours who had slaughtered many of the former's family members -a fragile, almost surreal peace, which I do not think I would be capable of sustaining, personally.

I can't remember at all where I was when the Berlin Wall came down but I do recall being somewhat surprised, as I spent a summer in Berlin in 1988. It was at a centre in Wannsee, studying (of all things) cad-cam systems, an area in which I took no further personal interest, and my participation had been organised by the AI department at Sussex - I think it was some spare Euro money and a whole bunch of students were sent over, from the US, and all over Europe. The only other girl on my part of the course looked exactly like Claudia Schiffer but had no conversation and all the boys gave up on her after a few days and hung out with me and the American lesbians on the Feminist History module instead, who were a lot of fun.

We were just down the road from Glienicke Bruecke, where, IIRC, they used to exchange prisoners. The garden wall backed onto the actual Wall and the wooded nights of Wannsee were occasionally broken by bursts of machine gun fire as the East German police roared up and down on motor bikes. We couldn't swim, as there was a large sign just off the lake shore that informed us that we were 'now leaving the American sector,' in several languages. I bought a pair of shorts that said the same thing.

We visited East Berlin, the first (though not the last) time I was to visit a Soviet country. I remember the 1950s shop windows and the little Trabants trundling around, a big difference from the Mercs and glossy boutiques of the western city. We also went to the galleries and clubs of Kreuzberg and did a lot of cultural stuff, including a memorably awful evening at the opera where some avant-garde Italian composer's latest work was premiered. He'd been to talk to us about it the night before, and no one understood a word of it (it was in English). At the actual performance, half the audience walked out in the interval. I remember the composer sitting with his head in his hands, while fur-clad German matrons stalked past him.

A great, if fractured, city. C and I went back some years later and it was completely changed. I hope the inhabitants on both sides consider it worth it, but I know for a fact that some people don't - missing the culture rather than the senseless levels of repression, I think.

Over on witchcraft_shop Trevor has posted about this morning's mist, one of the first cold mists of this autumn. We walked the dogs out on the Levels - the Tor was invisible and the water meadows were waterlogged with the run-off from the flooded Brue.

We went over to Burnham last night for the firework display, which was somewhat belated due to a technical hitch - the poor fireworks team had obviously spent a shed load of money on a new computer system and at the last moment it failed to work. So they were obliged to lay a half mile of emergency bell wire down the beach. The results were suitably spectacular, however. Afterwards we went for Chinese food. I love the whole Bonfire season, the sea mists and smell of gunpowder - we used to visit Lewes when I lived in Brighton, which features blazing tar barrels run through the streets. Now, we just have carnival to go on Saturday, and then it's the run up to Christmas.

Whilst no Tory, I can only approve of a politician who directly tackles crime in the capital*. Maybe the Captain Britain team could set Boris up with a pair of tights and a phone booth? By day, mild mannered bumbling mayor of London. By night, iron-bar wielding crime fighter...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/03/boris-johnson-saves-franny-armstrong

*I also have a soft spot for anyone who uses the term 'oik.' Shows you what an Eton education can accomplish. Psmith would be proud.

...Samhain to those who celebrate (somewhat belated, sorry).

....WFC to those who are there.

...post-Milford to those who are now back.

Despite flu and sundry viruses, we have spent a lovely week in N Wales and Milford 09 went very well, I think, with some excellent writing, log fires, lots of chocolate and wine and a wander around Snowdonia on Friday. Wales is stunning at this time of the year, with coppery beech and golden birch all along the mountain slopes and the bracken reflecting in the water of the lakes.

Trevor and I drove back yesterday via St Cybi's well (photos to follow) for our Samhain devotions. We failed to find this initially and, enraged, went to Criccieth instead for a walk on the beach. After coffee, we tried again from a different direction and this time we were successful. After the well, we drove south through Dolgellau, stopping off for lunch in Machynlleth and some food shopping and reached Glastonbury over the bridge about 6.30, in time to find town in full swing for Samhain. Although I was a bit sorry for all the visitors dressed as witches who expected the locals to react. Hey, this is what I wear for *work*.

And this morning the promised gales have arrived - I am glad we're not coming down today. Mid Wales (Rhayader) was sunny and stunning yesterday afternoon, which today...clearly isn't going to be.

Big thank you to all the dog and cat sitters!

After a very pleasant stopover in London with annafdd, and dinner in Camden at Belgo, I flew out on Friday morning and was met at Arlanda by J. We dropped my bags off at the hotel, then took the subway to Skarpnack and the the Kulturhus (I hope I have spelled this correctly). I had a panel, meeting up with some Swedish authors - very interesting to hear their take on the genre and the state of publishing in Scandinavia. Later in the evening, Graham Joyce also showed up - good to catch up with him, too.

It was a good con - well organised and with some interesting panels. We managed to see a bit of Stockholm on Sunday night and on Monday one of the convention members very kindly offered to show me round the city. We went for a long walk along the sea front, ending up in the Old Town, the Gamla Stan, where to my delight there was a cannon ball embedded in a wall. Photos will follow, btw. It's a handsome city, very Hanseatic in feel. Towards the end of the afternoon T had to catch his train to Malmo, but before he did so, put me on the bus to the Vasa Museum. This was fascinating - it's a warship, that sank in Stockholm Harbour on her maiden voyage in 1628. She'd gone less than a nautical mile. Looking at the ship, it is obvious why she foundered: top heavy and with inadequate ballast. She was raised in 1961. Looking at the boat is an eerie experience: it's a very Gothic museum.

After this, I caught the ferry back into the old town and had dinner in a nice quiet bistro before catching the subway back to my hotel, where I made some use of the sauna before retiring. The flight back next morning was uneventful, which is how I like flights.

A *big* thank you to the con com for inviting me. I had a great time and it was lovely to meet you all. I hope to see some of you at Eastercon.

I am gearing up to go to Sweden on Friday now, but apart from that, we have been apple bagging and wood chopping, as well as the usual shop work, Chamber of Commerce and other bits and pieces. T and I went out with the chainsaw yesterday (he saws; I feed) and got the wood pile stacked up. No frosts yet, but it was a very clear night last night, with Jupiter blazing away in the south east, and would not have surprised me if we had woken to a white world. So it's back to log fires in the evening.

In writing news, Milford is nearly upon us and I'm looking forward to heading up to N Wales again. I will be doing a fly-by of Manchester first, however. I recently contributed a short story based on Alan Turing to Geoff Ryman's Comma Press anthology. Comma Press will be hosting a launch for the anthology at this year's Manchester Literature Festival, which will take place on Sat 24 Oct (1.30-2.30pm, at either the Town Hall or the Quaker's Meeting House, just behind central library). I'll be there, I believe Geoff will be also, with a variety of people including Steve Furber, the scientist with whom I collaborated on this particular piece of fiction.

...for the sophisticated night out. If you want to see some gay-bashing little shit punched to the floor by a man in a crotch length dress wielding a clutch bag, now is your chance.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218651/Thugs-attack-men-dresses--turn-cage-fighters.html

I was very pleased, but somewhat startled, to be namechecked yesterday as a possible future Booker contender on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour. The critic who mentioned me is a genre fan - she writes for the Guardian.

You can listen to it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/listenagain/

And there was some good, if familiar, stuff about whatever women write being considered 'domestic', whereas the Updikes of this world can write about relationships and still be taken seriously.

Anyway, my work is only domestic if you happen to live on Mars.

As some of you know, I am honoured to be the GOH along with Graham Joyce, at Imagicon 2, which takes place from 16-18 October in ”Skarpnäcks kulturhus” in Stockholm. My schedule is as follows:

From a foreign perspective
Friday 1800

Goblins in the backyard
Friday 2100

Liz Williams Interview
Saturday 1300

Liz Williams GoH Speech
Saturday 1900

The author and her obligations
Sunday 1100

Bioanthropology and sf
Sunday 1500

This will be my first visit to Sweden and I am very much looking forward to meeting you all. For those of you intending to visit the con, and who are on the f-list, do feel free to weigh in here!

Glastonbury is hosting a fairy fair today so there are lots of people with sparkles, wings, dreadlocks and glittery faces wandering about - rather nice, actually. (No sign of any black shucks, yet, unless you count Cass and Lily).

I have had a very brief chat with Brian Froud (don't know him at all well).

NEW show on Glastonbury Radio - The Occult Consultancy, presented by Jamie and Jack, the Voodoo Boys, who work in Witchcraft Ltd. It airs on Wednesdays at 1 pm but is repeated throughout the week: Thursday 0400 – 0500, Friday 1900 – 2000, Sunday 2300 – 2400.

If you like the Witching Hour, you will like this - and if you have a problem, then you can email in (details on www.glastonburyradio.net) and they will apply themselves to it.

....which is what a lot of people in the film industry seem to be doing over the Polanski rape case, most notably Whoopi Goldberg (it wasn't 'rape-rape', apparently). I am, like a lot of people, bemused by this concept of 'rape-rape.' Presumably it is like being a little bit pregnant, and soon to be followed by 'sex-sex' (aka the Clinton Defence) and probably 'death-death', in which you're only slightly deceased.

Not surprised by Woody Allen's name on the petition, though. As someone on a bulletin board noted: 'the heart wants what it wants, and the ass should be in jail.'