I probably just jinxed myself.
NYX #4 goes on sale today, and marks the return of Cecelia Reyes—one of my favorite X-Men ever, and a blast to write. You can see some preview art here. Also, this is an interesting article from Danwei about the highest-paid authors in China. What I find fascinating is that a good number of the writers who made the list publish in YA—something I think mirrors trends in North American publishing, as well. I’d like to see some of those YA novels translated into English (speaking of which, here’s a cool link to the PEN Translation Fund, which gives grants to literary translators).
Here’s a picture I forgot to post from Beijing. This particular street is well-known by locals for being the place to buy furniture. Everything you see in the city’s expensive stores gets made here, which means the prices are about half what you would pay elsewhere (and the quality, obviously, is the same). What you see below, if you can make out the metal arms at their feet, is part of an ongoing antiquing process. You know those dark aged decapitated Buddha heads that are so fashionable (like, having one on your table makes you so very zen)? They actually start out new and shiny (as you can see below from the arms). A foil was applied to discolor the metal, but I missed the rest of the process.
Thank you so much for all the well-wishes regarding my finger. I really appreciate it. Because someone asked—I was cutting oranges into quarters, and the knife slipped. It’s a teeny superficial injury, so I feel like a wuss complaining. I once knew a man who cut himself open with a chainsaw, and just shrugged it off as nothing. He tied up his leg, and kept working. And then, by all accounts, went fishing the next day.
Whatever.