A Moment with Samuel Marzioli

Why did you choose to write speculative fiction instead of another genre?

Perhaps it started in childhood. That always seems like the time period people dredge up to explain their current proclivities--some oddity post-infancy which maintained its edge throughout the years. And if so, who am I to go against the grain? Yes, let’s say it started in childhood, and we can blame my parents.

I was first introduced to spec fic when I was four and five. From books to movies, to comics, and books on tape, or even stories on vinyl. It was never a question for me if I would read or watch or listen. Only when. Because speculative fiction was a seamless part of my life, no different than school or bedtime, and I enjoyed it absolutely.

I remember when my family had just bought a brand new laserdisc, and we invited our family friends over for dinner and a movie. The dinner I’ve long since forgotten (maybe spaghetti?), but the movie stayed with me ever since. It was Star Wars, original and unbutchered, and--even for a kid whose idea of a great time was any 80’s video game turned cartoon--I was pretty damn impressed. Sometime later that year I remember sliding out of bed one dark night and making my way to the living room after a fit of sleeplessness. There I found my father reclining on the couch and on the TV another sci-fi film that I hadn’t seen before. I asked my dad if I could stay up and watch it too, and he said yes. That film was Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Many nights my brother and sister and I would snuggle up beside our parents in bed and they’d read us works by the masters of children’s speculative fiction: Roald Dahl, E. Nesbit, C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum and more. Sometimes they’d even pull out a few issues from one of their many long white, and dusty, comic boxes and we’d follow along the pictures as they read to us Judge Dredd or Groo the Wanderer. In fact, it was Judge Dredd and Groo more than anything else that made me want to read. Because I soon became impatient waiting for my family to absorb the next adventure from these characters of absurdist sci-fi and ridiculous sword and sorcery, respectively.

From this groundwork, and the accumulation of a few more years, I branched off into more mature works as well. There was some H. P. Lovecraft, Poe, and Shakespeare thrown into the mix, as well as Stephen King. Maybe a few books by Clive Barker, or Michael Crichton, and of course Douglas Adams and Robert Aspirin. Probably a ton of books of pseudo histories of supernatural beasties, and various bits of parapsychology, by the likes of Harry Price, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Cesare Lombroso, and Montague Summers.

If this seems a disparate mix, it’s because that’s how it began and that’s how it continued, and to this day that’s what I write. One day I may type a tale of terror involving spilled guts with gratuitous descriptions, the next a humorous space opera involving intergalactic toys and the enthusiasts that collect them. The fact is speculative fiction is a rich and rewarding set of genres, the pixie dust that infuses the mundanity of this world with true, honest-to-God magic. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Anything!

‘Cept maybe a literary book deal.

Samuel Marzioli still does all of his writing on a laptop outside, under an umbrella. His fiction has appeared several times in Penumbra eMag, once in Stupefying Stories, and is forthcoming in Stupefying Stories Presents, Space & Time Magazine and the "A Darke Phantastique" anthology by Cycatrix Press.

Learn more about Samuel and his current projects from his blog.

Your DIY pick: Pom Pom shoes DIY tutorial

pom pom parrot shoes DIY

the inspiration - Your DIY pick:  Caroline Issa  for L.K. Bennett parrot shoes

Welcome to the "Pick your DIY" final stage. You, dear readers, pinned what you love around the web on our Pinterest board and we, crafty fairies (7 diy bloggers) transformed your favorite stuff in a DIY tutorial.
We'll keep the board active to collect diy inspirations and diy wishes so read how to get invited and start pinning if you haven't yet.
Today it's my turn to unveil the DIY tutorial of one of the most voted item, you'll see the other 6 on Sunday.

Firstly I would like to thank you for joining and for picking these super fun shoes that I didn't notice, how could I miss them? They scream spring with all these colors.
They are limited edition shoes designed for L.K. Bennett by the fashion icon Caroline Issa. Only 300 pair were made, you can  buy them here.
I would have called these shoes " fiesta latina" because they're so fun!
Ok now back to the DIY tutorial because this is what you asked me and not to give them a name.
Let's see together how to make these shoes (with very basic supply)!


Due settimane fa io e altre 6 diy bloggers abbiamo inaugurato per voi la bacheca di Pinterest "Pick your DIY". Voi avete salvato i vostri articoli preferiti dal web e noi con le nostre manine li abbiamo trasformati in tutorial di moda fai da te.
Grazie per aver partecipato numerosi, la bacheca rimarrà aperta per raccogliere i vostri desideri, leggete qui come come aderire se già non lo avete fatto.
Oggi vedrete il tutorial per realizzare uno degli articoli più votati, le scarpe di L.K. Bennett disegnate dalla fashion icon Caroline Issa;  scoprirete tutti gli altri domenica.
Complimenti per la scelta, sono delle scarpe deliziose e coloratissime adatte a inaugurare la primavera. Vediamo come realizzarle.

supply

You'll need:

• trims ( 1,2 meters of red heart trim - 4 flowers of lace trim (or lace applique or flower patches)- 2 meters yellow trim)
• glue
• scrap of leather
• left over wool yarn in many colors
• shoes
• fabric markers

It doesn't matter the kind of trimming you're going to use, pick them for their bright colors, there are plenty to choose from at the haberdashery.

Occorrente:

• trine (1,2 metri di trina cuori - 4 fiori di trina di pizzo o toppe a forma di fiore - 2 metri di trina gialla)
• colla
• un ritaglio di pelle
• fili in lana
• scarpe
• pennarelli stoffa

Scegliete le trine che più vi piacciono in merceria, prendetene di colori sgargianti.

Glue your trims around the edge of your shoe. I glued the red one over the yellow to recreate the zig zag pattern of the original shoe. You may be luckier than me and find some zig zag trims at your local store that are closer to the original.

Incollate le trine sul bordo della scarpa. I cuori ricreano il motivo zig-zag della scarpa originale. Se siete fortunate troverete una trina zig-zag già pronta in merceria.

This is how they look when done. The original shoes are more pointy than mine.

Ecco come appariranno finite.

Color lace flowers with fabric markers and let them try.

Colorate i fiori in pizzo con i pennarelli per la stoffa. Comprando le toppe a forma di fiore potrete saltare questo step.

Glue your flowers at the tip of the toe and at the top of the heel. I didn't liked how the mesh part looked onto shoes so I filled it with thread making it look embroidered.

In this case also flower patches could work very well. No coloring is needed just glueing. Unfortunately I didn't find any I liked but I suggest to search for them so you can jump one step.

Incollate i fiori sulla punta della scarpa e alla sommità del tacco. 
Non mi convinceva l'effetto della retina sulla scarpa quindi ho riempito il fiore di filo dandogli un aspetto ricamato.

Cut two little pieces of leather and glue them at the ankle.

Ritagliate due pezzetti di pelle e incollateli sul retro del tallone.

Cut two strips of leather 2,5 cm wide and 25 cm long and fold them in three to get the ankle strap. Glue a little trim onto it to decorate it. Sew a snap button at the edge to fasten it around the ankle.

Now the funniest part. While making these shoes I could try a technique that I saw many times on Pinterest. It's an easy way to make miny pom poms using a fork.  The original tutorial is by Vivid please.

Tagliate due striscie di pelle larghe 2,5cm e lunghe 25cm. Piegatele in tre per ottenere il laccetto che cinge la caviglia. Incollate la trina decorativa sul lato dritto. Cucite due bottoni automatici ai margini per legare il laccetto alla caviglia.

Per realizzare i pom pom ho utilizzato una tecnica facile e divertente che ho visto molte volte su Pinterest.
Il tutorial originale è di Vivid Please.

I used some left over yarn to make them. Now pom poms are ready to be knotted onto shoes. And you've done! Shoes are ready!

Terminate legando i pom pom alla scarpa. Guardate altre scarpe fai da te qui.

More diy shoes this way.

Saint Laurent and their homemade boots

Saint Laurent fall 2013 biker boots

Streetstyle breaks into the runway. This is a perfect example of boots a girl could have done at home with pieces of chain, random buttons form her stash all sewed on a piece of fabric and then glued onto her boots. Runway collections are after a young and fresh look and it's often the one that comes from streets.

Today I'll try for the first time a new "image experience". Hover with the mouse over the image to unveil hidden links then tell me if you like this innovation or if you think that the "good, old list of links" was just fine. ^__^

Lo streetstyle irrompe in passerella. Gli stivali di Hedi Slimane per Saint Laurent sembrano personalizzati in casa con bottoni, perline e borchie incollate sulle fibbie. Il look giovane e spontaneo ricercato dagli stilisti è a volte proprio quello che si fotografa in strada.

Oggi vi propongo un'immagine interattiva. Passate con il mouse sull'immagine per svelare dei link nascosti e poi ditemi se preferite quest'innovazione o la "vecchia" lista di link sotto l'immagine.

DOING IT ALL OVER AGAIN

by Bruce Golden

When you talk about "wishing you had it to do over again" or going back and changing one thing in your life, you have to realize that you would be tinkering with your entire timeline. It's like the time paradoxes of countless science fiction tales. You change one little thing and that alters an infinite amount of outcomes.

We've all thought about "what if I hadn't done this" or "if I had done that," but have we really pondered the consequences of such do-overs? You could wish you never entered into that failed marriage, but then you wouldn't have the children you now have and love so dearly. You might have had aspirations for a different profession, but who knows if you would have ended up a disbarred lawyer or a disgraced politician.

Like anyone, I have regrets--things I wished I'd done differently. If I were to fantasize such a scenario (without having to worry about the consequences of the "butterfly effect"), I would wonder how my career would have evolved, had I made different choices.

As a teenager, I decided I wanted to write science fiction and fantasy, and follow in the footsteps of my favorite authors at the time--Roberts Heinlein and Howard. However, my initial foray into fiction was disrupted by being drafted into the Army. When I got out, I started working in various journalistic endeavors to help pay my way through college. One job led to another, and, before I knew it, I was making a living working in newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. Along the way I tinkered with fiction, but I was supporting a wife and a son, and there were bills to be paid. It wasn't until the turn of the century that I found myself in a position to walk away from journalism and concentrate solely on my first love--fiction.

All those years working as a professional writer/editor/producer certainly improved my skills, and, without a doubt, made it possible to be the writer I am today. But I often wonder where I'd be, and what I might have written, had I devoted myself exclusively to fiction all those years.

Novelist, journalist, satirist, Bruce Golden’s short stories have been published more than 100 times across 11 countries and 15 anthologies. Asimov’s Science Fiction described his second novel, “If Mickey Spillane had collaborated with both Frederik Pohl and Philip K. Dick, he might have produced Bruce Golden’s Better Than Chocolate”--and about his novel Evergreen, "If you can imagine Ursula Le Guin channeling H. Rider Haggard, you'll have the barest conception of this stirring book, which centers around a mysterious artifact and the people in its thrall." You can read more of Golden's stories in his recently published collection Dancing with the Velvet Lizard. Visit Bruce on his website.

Passion for patches

Patches over bag handles, brilliant! Moschino fall 2013  pic via Style.it

love these looks - Moschino fall 2013 patches on hat, top and skirt pic via Style.it

Our grandma used them to fix pants when we broke them. This was before slashed pants became trendy, but grandma kept thinking they weren't cool, just broken. Patches are not only an easy fix, they can be a decorative item as well. They are a quick way to customize our clothes, you just iron them on. You'll find a great choice of patches at the haberdashery store like flowers, monograms or military inspired ones. You can also make your own with heat and bond. It's an iron on sheet of glue adhesive on both sides. You can see how I made custom patches here.

La nonna le usava per riparare i jeans e farli durare un po' di più. Questo accadeva prima che i jeans strappati diventassero di gran moda ma anche allora la nonna non li ha mai trovati cool, solo da buttare. Le toppe non sono solo un modo per riparare un capo velocemente, possono diventare un elemento decorativo. Per applicarle basta stirarle. Nelle mercerie troverete un grande assortimento di toppe di tutti i tipi, da quelle di ispirazione militare, ai monogrammi ai fiori. Potete anche confezionarle voi con i fogli di colla biadesivi (sempre in merceria). Guardate come ho realizzato delle toppe qui.

a classic denim jacket, make it your own with patches 90's style pic via DeliaCasiraghi

Phillip Lim fall 2013 - pic via Garance Doré

Phillip Lim fall 2013 - pic via Garance Doré

military jacket pic from Atlantic Pacific

This look can be diy-ed with miliatry inspired patches or haberdashery trims made adhesive with heat and bond.

If I Could Redo One Thing In My Life

What would I change?

by Julia Nolan

I wouldn’t have stopped writing.

Let me provide necessary context. From eighteen to twenty-four, I was convinced that I was meant to be a writer. Although I had a very sensible engineering degree and a good job in my field, I also had literary aspirations. To achieve them, I set some goals. I’d write for an hour a day, then submit my stories. I figured success was soon to follow.

The hour a day soon became an hour a few times a week. My goal to receive feedback was stymied by my conviction that critiquers “didn’t get it”. And the vast majority of my submissions came back with form rejections. So after six years, I gave up. I still hadn’t done more than publish in a few token paying markets. The evidence was clear; I was a terrible writer. Deciding this was not easy for me, I abandoned all aspirations for nearly a decade, before I started writing again with a more mature perspective.

And what perspective was this? Mostly the realization that I’d been lazy. I had assumed since I was reading at three and writing at five, the first time I tried my hand at fiction writing, I’d be genius. What I hadn’t taken into account was that I’d thrown myself into an incredibly competitive field without any practice or training. (Consider what would happen if I had decided to perform open heart surgery despite my lack of a medical background. After all, I’d been studying science all my life, and had even completed a high school biology class. Surely open heart surgery isn’t that much more difficult…it sounds ridiculous when put that way, and yet a similar arrogance infected me.)

The second time around, I looked at things differently. I sought critique, even when it hurt, from writers whose work I respected. I read short stories and novels with a critical eye, trying to figure out what made them worthy of publication. I gave critiques, hoping to improve my own ability to judge good from bad. Eventually I applied for (and received), a position at Allegory which allowed me to get a feel for what it is like to read hundreds of submissions and accept only a very few. In short, I learned patience and humility.

By doing this, I improved.

Now I suspect I’ll never be Shakespeare or Stephen King (they’re both one of a kind). And I doubt I’ll ever be able to support myself by writing alone. (Fortunately, I like my day job.) But…I’ve gotten two stories accepted in publications I love and suspect that if I continue working more success will follow. Probably not as fast as I’d like, but there’s no hurry, either. If I continue to practice, I will continue to improve. And good publications buy good stories.

Why do I regret my earlier arrogance if it did no long lasting damage? Because if I had not wasted all those years, I’d be a decade ahead of where I am now. More importantly, writing has always been a source of pleasure. It helps to ground my thoughts, and to stretch my mind and imagination. Giving that up for nearly a decade because I thought I wasn’t “good” was a self-destructive act. If we only did the things we instantly excelled at, we’d do nothing.

Julia Nolan is a project manager of epic proportions. The other ways in which she wastes time include making elaborate costumes, dancing, singing, and playing with chemistry. She had work appear in Mars Dust and will have stories in Penumbra and Stupefying Stories. She also edits for the ezine, Allegory.

How to transform earrings into DIY ear cuffs in 1 minute

From earrings (on the left) - to ear cuffs with 3 ways to wear them!

DIY Ear cuffs

In the last few years we saw ear cuffs getting more popular. They offer the chance to decorate the whole ear. This shape requires new solutions to fasten the earring to the ear. It can be anchored behind the ear or with additional ear-piercings. Sometimes we can use a vintage solution to wear a contemporary trend. I used earring clips to transform these earrings into ear cuffs. They were popular in  custom jewelry of the 80s. Even those who don't have a pierced lobe can wear earrings with clips and this feature can be used to fasten the earring to any part of the ear. You can transform your earrings into ear cuffs in 1 minute and I found 3 ways to wear them.

Negli ultimi anni abbiamo visto diffondersi la moda degli ear cuff, orecchini che salgono lungo il lobo e decorano tutto l'orecchio. La forma innovativa dell'ornamento richiede soluzioni nuove per fissarlo, altri fori o una sagoma da agganciare dietro l'orecchio. A volte però sfruttando delle soluzioni conosciute possiamo inventare nuovi modi di indossare degli orecchini che abbiamo già. Ho usato delle clip per traformare questi orecchini in ear cuffs . Anche chi non ha i lobi forati può indossare gli orecchini con le clip e questa caratteristica può essere utilizzata anche per agganciare gli orecchini in punti diversi dell'orecchio.
Colla, due clip e gli orecchini si trasformano in ear cuff in un minuto non di più!




You'll need:

• earrings
• earrings clips
• glue
• pliers

Occorrente

• orecchini
• clip
• colla
• pinze

H&M earrings

I took off the earring nail with pliers

Ho rimosso il chiodino con le pinze

I cut a section of the earrings base to make it invisible on the front

Ho ritagliato una parte della clip per renderla invisibile.

And glued the clip on the back of the earring.

Ho incollato la clip sul retro dell'orecchino.