I found a home for my inanimate-object-comes-to-life-and-pitches-a-fit tale “The Angry Radio.” Looks like it will run in the June/July issue of the online S.F. publication AlienSkin Magazine.

After amassing a towering stack of rejection letters on other stories this month, it’s nice to actually place something new. Plus, I’ll finally be able to say I’ve been published in a skin mag. Sorry. That was really bad, wasn’t it?

Courtesy of Chris Roberson, here’s a fun discussion of D&D creator Gary Gygax’s impact on modern English usage. It’s an intriguing read, and one that got me thinking about how many times I floored grownups as a child with words I’d picked up from D&D manuals. Stands to reason I wasn’t the only sixth grader trotting out words like “diminution,” “vorpal” and “halberd” under the influence of those weighty Gygaxian tomes.

Want to get take home virtually all of this year’s Hugo Award-nominated novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, zines, art and… well, everything else they give out awards for? John Scalzi shows you how.

Looks like all you need to do is register as a supporting member of the World Science Fiction Convention in order to vote (and that sets you back just $50). You don’t even have to attend the con. Now, here’s the really cool part: As a Hugo voter, you get digital access to a shit-ton of free Hugo-nominated reading and art. I mean, look at the full list on John’s site and do the math. That’s one massive goodie basket.

Of course, if you’re actually attending WorldCon in Montreal, a $195 attending membership gets you the same thing.

By the way, the package includes art samples from San Antonio-based cover artist extraordinaire John Picacio. Yep, he’s a Hugo nominee again. Congrats to John, who may well be the hardest working man in S.F.

You’ve probably noticed my blog now has a new look and a new name: “Candy Skulls: The Strange South Texas Fiction of Sanford Allen.”

The revamped site is a little more festive and easier on the eyes than the old black-and-gray monolith it replaces. And, hopefully, the new name’s enticing swirl of sugar and death is just the sort of thing that lures seekers of the macabre, fantastic and cheap confectionary rushes.

I also promised myself that once the redesign went live, I would start updating more frequently. Here’s hoping I can keep that promise. Send me nasty e-mails if I start slacking. Please.

Oh, yes. Big thanks to Paul Vaughn, The Graphics Guy, for the quick and incredibly hip redesign.