Wednesday running around London and ....

[ellen_datlow]

I talked for about an hour to Farah Mendlesohn's class at Middlesex University about the editing process, about what I consider to be encompassed by the term "horror" and how I got into short story editing. Afterwards I went for coffee in the campus cafe with Farah and three of her students.

Then I met Paul McAuley at his flat and we walked to Islington for tea with Kim Newman. After that, Kim went to see a movie, Paul went home to work, and I went over to Rob Holdstock's for a drink before dinner.

Rob, Sarah (his partner), and I drove to a pub called The Woodman that had marvelous English food: roasts, which I love, Yorkshire pudding, excellent roast potatoes and perfect vegetables (NOT overcooked), and dessert. By the time we finished we three were stuffed.

The big adventure was their driving me back to Camden Town--we drove in circles for 45 minutes and the most ridiculous thing was that at least once we were in viewing distance of the High Street but couldn't get there. Sarah, who was driving and I in the front seat with her finally were hysterical laughing at our plight. I was in tears with laughter. Rob was trying to read the map which was utterly unhelpful (not him, but the map). Somehow, after twice reaching Mornington Crescent we managed to find the right street home...Rob asked me not to blog about it but Clute just told me (to make Rob feel better)that he had read that Camden Town has the most complicated traffic patterns of urban streets in the western world. So Rob, I hope this makes up for me blogging about it.


And I saw Jeff VanderMeer's rave on Scifi Weekly for Inferno:

Inferno

Comments

[sacredchao23.livejournal.com]

Leave it to Clute to have studied traffic patterns in North London.

[splinister.livejournal.com]

I drove through a chunk of London as a passenger last Saturday, and it's an intimidating city to navigate. At one point we drove the wrong way down a one-way street! (A street sign that it was one-way would have been nice.)

Hurray for the excellent review from VanderMeer. :)

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting you're still in London! Oh, your stories make me want to take a trip to the UK! Glad you are having fun. And tell Rob not to feel bad - that sounds like a crazy traffic pattern, and I've gotten lost in simple ones before. :)

and we walked to Islington for tea

Whenever I hear Islington I always think of the Angel Islington from Neverwhere. Darn Neil Gaiman!

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Well, of course he lives here and must direct cab drivers when driving to the airport since no one has a clue how to drive around here. Many one way streets.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Now that's scary!

Thanks :-)

[sacredchao23.livejournal.com]

I know he lives there, but it also just seems like one of the random esoteric things he would just know.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I suspect that if he didn't live here and have to deal with it it might NOT be one of the esoteric things he's know :-)--but obviously both you and I have no idea what we're talking about!

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

Do go see the terra cotta army at the British Museum if you get a chance - it's awesome.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Nuts! Missed that and don't really have time any more. Pat C and I did go to the Tate Modern today and saw some terrific modern art though.

Student Talk

[golaski.livejournal.com]

Ellen-- Do you have notes for your talk? I'd love to read a post re. what you consder to be encompassed by horror.

Also, thanks for the link re. the purpose of short stories.

Re: Student Talk

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I never do straight talks--I always ask to be interviewed so my responses depend on the questions from the interviewer of the class. Sorry. I just talked about the different sub-genres of horror: supernatural fiction, psychological horror, terror tales, sf horror and then went into a bit of how sometimes ghost stories are not horror because they have no element of fear or disquiet in them but are more poignant...

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Honey, if you live in London--in London, as opposed to the suburbs--this is something you know. You'll know it because you'll be stuck in traffic there, either on the bus or in a taxi, as you go from one place to another. Or you'll be lost because of it as you try to find your way home.

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Ellen, remember the time I drove the wrong way around a roundabout on the way to Scarborough?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

How could I forget? It's one of my repertoire of tales!