Mississippi she weaves and winds
Makes her way from the northern pines
Land-locked water is ocean-bound
To New Orleans
Sunlit water come take my joy
To wash the skin of a southern boy
I do believe I’ve seen a sign
I do believe it.

Crazy wind blows across the land
African drum in an Irish band
Dream tattooed in the palm of your hand
Walls slip away like a pillar of sand

Sister lookin’ for the hand of fate
Maybe better try a change of state
Shake your life like a dusty rug
Out the kitchen door
New world springing from the shell of the old
You can’t say now you were never told
I do believe I’ve seen a sign
I do believe it.

© 1995 Emma Bull

Interference, or is that the broadcast that I’ve got?
Your appearance renders me incapable of thought
Here’s your voice on the phone, your sweet and sullen tone
What am I to believe?
Did you blow me a kiss, or was that just tape hiss?
When I hang up, will you grieve?
Have pity, now, what’s signal and what’s noise?

Here’s your photo, I found it cleaning out my bottom drawer
When you wrote, oh, I couldn’t keep from wondering what for
Through the gray, through the grain, a picture taken in the rain
That doesn’t show your face
Connected dots don’t make a line, you confuse me every time
Confusion has its place
But just this once
What’s signal and what’s noise?

© 1988 Emma Bull

As far as I know, the Flash Girls’ recording of “November Song” is the only one. I mentioned to Henley years ago that I loved the song and performed it often. He looked sheepish and admitted he couldn’t remember it. But then, he wrote a lot of songs.

–Emma

Angels and mortals fight for the right
To have a little pleasure, and enjoy an easy flight
Angels and mortals sometimes get their way

I’m in no hurry, baby, no hurry now
Tell all the fellows what you think of your new girl now
No hurry, baby, I’m just out to be alive
Sitting down in the back seat, waiting for someone to come and

Drive me around your town, see the sights and
Drive me around your town, the city lights and
Drive me around your town
But there’s rain on the windshield and a fog off the
ground.

Angels and mortals drive around in cars
Angels and mortals, life among the stars
Angels and mortals sometimes have to pay

I’ve been celebrating lately, celebrating high
Now I own a piece of me, about as much as I can buy
No hurry, baby, I’ll tell you the reason why
I’ve been saturated lately by the trickle of a happy stream and

I want to feel you some more, baby
I want to feel you some more
But there’s a shadow on your mirror and a lock on your
door.

I drew a picture on the window as we rode
Then I wiped it dry to see the other side
I see no more than you do
Believe me, I’ve tried

To find what is missing, to find what is wrong
To write the words to my happy-ending November song

I need to feel you some more, people
I need to feel you some more
But there’s a face at your window
And a knock on your door.

© 1995 Mark Henley

• War for the Oaks. Ace Books, Tor Books. Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel.
• Falcon. Ace Books.
• Bone Dance. Ace Books. Nominee for Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards. Philip K. Dick Award second honors.
• Double Feature (story collection with Will Shetterly). NESFA Press.
• Finder. Tor Books.
• The Princess and the Lord of Night (picture book). Harcourt, Brace.
• Freedom and Necessity, with Steven Brust. Tor.
• Territory. Tor Books.

Stories

• “Rending Dark” in Sword and Sorceress (M. Z. Bradley, editor), DAW Books.
• “Badu’s Luck” in Liavek, Ace Books.
• “The Well-Made Plan” in Liavek: The Players of Luck, Ace Books.
• “Danceland” (with Will Shetterly) in Bordertown (Terri Windling & Mark Alan Arnold, editors), Signet, Tor Books.
• “A Bird That Whistles” in Hidden Turnings (Diana Wynne Jones, editor), Methuen; Greenwillow.
• “Silver or Gold” in After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien (Martin H. Greenberg, editor), Tor.
• “Joshua Tree” in The Green Man (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, editors), Viking.
• “De La Tierra” in The Faery Reel (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, editors), Viking.
• “The Black Fox” in Firebirds (Sharyn November, editor), Firebird.
• In Spring, 2006: “What Used to Be Good Still Is” in Firebirds Rising (Sharyn November, editor), Firebird.

Poetry

• “For It All” in Life on the Border (Terri Windling, editor), Tor.
• “The Stepsister’s Story” in The Armless Maiden (Terri Windling, editor), Tor.

Essays

• “Why I Write Fantasy,” Pulphouse 6, Pulphouse Publishing.
• “Wonders of the Invisible World: How I Came to Write War for the Oaks,” New North Artscape.
• “Unreal Life,” Something About the Author Vol. 103, Alan Hedblad, ed., Gale Group.

Anthologies

• Liavek (edited with Will Shetterly), Ace Books.
• Liavek: The Players of Luck (edited with Will Shetterly), Ace Books.
• Liavek: Wizard’s Row (edited with Will Shetterly), Ace Books.
• Liavek: Spells of Binding (edited with Will Shetterly), Ace Books.
• Liavek: Festival Week (edited with Will Shetterly), Ace Books.

Music

• Cats Laughing, Cats Laughing (SteelDragon/Spin Art; re-released as Reissue,)
• Cats Laughing, Another Way to Travel (SteelDragon/Spin Art)
• Flash Girls, The Return of Pansy Smith and Violet Jones (SteelDragon)
• Flash Girls, Maurice and I (Fabulous Records)
• Flash Girls, Play Each Morning,
  Wild Queen (Fabulous Records)

Screenplays

• Nightspeeder. A feature-length science fiction script (written with Will Shetterly). Commissioned by Perfect World Ent.
• William Tell, a feature-length historical adventure script (written with Will Shetterly and Don Helverson). Optioned by Synchronicity Productions; now available.
• Dogland, a feature-length script (written with Will Shetterly). Optioned by Consolidated Heavy Industries; now available.
• Masters of Earth, a TV series bible (written with Will Shetterly). Commissioned by SciFi Channel.

Steve and I had an outrageously good time writing that–it was one of those times when I’ve said, “And they’ll PAY me to do this? SCORE!”

I wrote James and Susan, and Steve wrote Richard and Kitty. An exercise in philosophical role reversal that amuses those who know us best.

On Tuesday, February 28th, Lojo will be performing at Hot Licks Blues ‘n’ BBQ in Bisbee, Arizona. This is possibly Bisbee’s best venue, and it’ll be a Fat Tuesday to die for. (Here’s the Hot Licks website).

For those who live in the Tucson area and can’t travel so far on a work night… Would you be interested in a Lojo Russo house concert in Tucson on the day before that: Monday, Feb. 27? There would be a cover charge, but I don’t imagine it would be daunting. The show would run 7-9pm. If you’d be interested in coming to a house concert on the 27th, please e-mail me as soon as you can at qwertyranch, so I can start this shiny ball rolling.

Lojo’s music is funny, smart, moving, and very, very accomplished. You’ll spot Celtic, rock, jazz, blues, and trad American folk influences in her stuff, but mostly, it’s ever so Lojo and delightful. She’ll be traveling with copies of her CDs, so you’ll even be able to take her home with you. Check out her website for more cool stuff.

She’ll rock the house, and your world. Don’t miss her!

So I’ll be posting mainly on LiveJournal for a while. If something seems particularly Blogger-specific, I’ll drop it here, but you can find me most dependably at Dark Roast.

When the song of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the brothers,
to make music in the heart.