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Arts Council
18 April 2006
...And then, of course, we get the bad news, because the universe must be kept in balance, and Chaz must be Kept Down or he gets Bumptious, which is Bad.
And the shame of it is that it comes at the end of such a good week. I'd done lots of work, which is a goodness; and then I'd been to EasterCon, the British SF & fantasy convention, this year in Glasgow, where I had enjoyed myself thoroughly and survived an impossible panel, given a reading from the new book, talked lots and drunk lots and met lots of people, all of that. Furthermore, the impossible panel had been about alternate US histories, and there were some very sensible & useful comments from the floor, from the only American in the room; and I bumped into her in the bookroom after, and went up just to say thanks, and she turned out to be Elizabeth Bear, who is a fine writer whose work I enjoy mightily. And I kept bumping into her all day, to the point where we were a team in a foolish late-night quiz, so I came away from the con with a new friend nicely cemented into the pack.
And I came home, and Barry is frantically pleased to see me, and I could show you the scars to prove it; I am lacerated. As is my wallpaper. And my books & papers are spilled, and everything is all over, where he has been running entirely wild in my absence. Bless. And he is adorably snuggly, in between being all teeth & claws & fanatical determination to destroy.
So here I am, happily settled back and starting to work again - and then I get an e-mail from the Arts Council, who have turned down my application for funding to publish a few slender volumes of prose. I wanted to commission novellas and produce lovely limited editions, much like the Phantoms book; but I can't do it without support, and they've said no. I wouldn't mind, because of course they can't support everything; but they gave me such spurious reasons which don't stand up to a moment's serious consideration, and I am just so angry, I am going to go to bed and fume and not sleep for hours & hours...
© Chaz Brenchley 2006
Reproduced here by permission of Chaz Brenchley, who asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.