Smale Christmas 2018Welcome to the Smale Christmas Letter for 2018, and our recap of the year. We'd thought that maybe 2018 might be calmer and more manageable than previous years? Yeah, didn't turn out that way. But all's well, and we can't complain. 2018 marks 25 years of singing together with our crazy vocal band: Karen joined the group that would soon become The Chromatics in November 1993, and Alan followed six months later. We marked our quarter century by having our busiest year for some time, with 17 gigs, the most since our 22-gig spree in 2008. Highlights included performing at the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center as part of the NASA 60th birthday celebrations; a joint gig with the Tone Rangers at Union Stage in Washington DC; and performances at Farpoint and Balticon SF conventions, Earth Day Alexandria, and a couple of New Deal Café appearances. We were the Special Musical Guests at Philcon in November, where we performed five gigs in about 36 hours. And this year we bought new microphones and receivers, which made us sound Even More Awesome. Here's to the next 25 years!... uh, maybe. Stay tuned. Karen upped her photography game this year, winning an Honorable Mention in her very first gallery exhibit in Martinsburg, WV. Karen also joined the Digital Photo Club of Annapolis, which allowed her entry into more local exhibits. One photo accepted to her first juried exhibit in Annapolis didn't sell there, but did sell in about 5 minutes at the Philcon Science Fiction convention later in the year. She participated in a few other exhibits and showcases and Karen continues to work on her skills and attempt to get her work seen in more places. Perhaps you remember that Alan won the Sidewise Award, Short Form in 2012 for the novella that started it all: A Clash of Eagles. This year, the CLASH OF EAGLES trilogy in its entirety was nominated for the 2018 Sidewise Award, Long Form. Although he didn't win, Alan is extremely happy for the recognition, and to have come full circle with the project that's meant so much to him over the past five+ years. His Roman/baseball time-travel novella in collaboration with Rick Wilber, The Wandering Warriors, was the cover story for the Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in their May/June issue, and will soon be published as a standalone volume by a prominent small press. In addition, Alan continued to travel and promote the CLASH series: he was featured at Denver Comic Con with Del Rey, appeared at Awesome Con, World Fantasy Convention, and the World Science Fiction Convention; was happy to be keynote speaker at a regional Read Across America event, and read at two prestigious events: Galactic Philadelphia, and Charm City Spec (in Baltimore). As a presenter at the Nebula Awards in May he was very happy to wear a tux and hand a Nebula to Kelly Robson for her awesome novelette, A Human Stain. Alan is also working hard on two new book proposals, both alternate history: one set in the fourth century Mediterranean, the other set in an alternate 1979. Both projects are going back and forth between his agent and potential publishers. In his day-job Alan still serves as Director of the HEASARC, NASA's High Energy Astrophysics science archive. He is actively involved with new initiatives in machine learning and AI, and the students he shares with Padi Boyd both had spectacular years: Becka Phillipson published her first refereed paper, on non-linear dynamical analysis of the neutron star binary X1705-444, and Trevor Torpin earned his PhD from Catholic University. For work Alan went to meetings in DC, Chicago, Denver, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, and Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, and for pleasure he went to England to visit his parents twice: solo in April, and with Karen in October. Ideally he'd like to travel a little less next year, at least for work. In other (non-work, non-Chromie, non-writing) travels, we spent a weekend in Frederick, Maryland for the Fire & Ice Festival; visited Karen's college roommate, Terry, in Colorado to celebrate a trifecta: a retirement, a birthday, and an anniversary; Karen also visited her mom twice during the year: solo in April and with Alan in October; and we both enjoyed a relaxing weekend at Bethany Beach, Delaware. And Karen's cousin, Sharon, visited DC this year and we got to catch up for a few hours over dinner. We remain healthy. Alan had a retinal tear fixed in his left eye this year, but recovery was nominal. We're still cooking vegan at home and doing hikes, walks, Pilates, yoga, and other random acts of exercise whenever feasible. ...So. TL;DR: we're fine. How are you?
Alan alansmale@gmail.com
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