Issue #12 of Flurb is out, with astonishing tales by fifteen writers: Byrne, Callaway, Di Filippo, Ellwood, Gunn, Hayes, Hogan, Moore, Rucker, Salinas, Shirley, Skaftun, Sterling, Tambour, Webb!

This makes five years of Flurb since the first issue, by the way, with 153 stories published thus far.

Go to flurb.rudyrucker.com and be among the first of the sixty-five thousand people who’ll be checking out our new issue over the coming six months!

Seek the gnarl, dear readers, seek the gnarl.

And when you take a break, come back here and post something encouraging in the comments. Our authors need your support.

I’ve been away from the blog for the last few weeks because I was on a trip out to Wyoming and Wisconsin to visit our two daughters and their families.

Isabel lives in Wyoming, where she runs her business, Isabel Jewelry, which exists both online and as a storefront in Pindedale, WY.

And Georgia is in Wisconsin, running her business Georgia Rucker Design, where she’s mostly designing books these days.

Isabel has accumulated an amazing amount of tools and know-how over the years. It’s sort of alchemical, the way she turns bits of stone and metal into adornment. I’ve always loved cluttered workbenches.

I didn’t get any photos of Georgia’s office because mostly we were at her house with her husband, Courtney, their two kids, and the kids’ toys. I gave my little grandson that “Cow and UFO” painting I was talking about in the previous blog post. He likes it.

“Jumping Man,” (C) Georgia Rucker, about 18 by 24 inches, oil on canvas. Click for a larger version.

I got a photo of a nice, somewhat cubist painting Georgia did of me a few years back—it’s based on a photo of, she says, me in mid-air, jumping off something. I get kind of hyper when we go swimming.

“Cloud Spirits II,” (C) Isabel Rucker, about 6 feet by 1.5 feet, November, 2010, Latex paint on wood. Click for a large detail view of the picture.

Isabel is a painter too, and, as well as her jewelry, she’s been making fairly large paintings of clouds—the one above is called “Cloud Spirits,” and is quite awesome.

This is a cool picture of a reflection in the Santa Cruz Harbor. I think I’ll do a painting from this. I already did a painting of the harbor with a young seal or sea lion, shown below.

“Santa Cruz Harbor,” by Rudy Rucker, 20 x 16 inches, September, 2011, Acrylic on canvas. Click for a larger version of the picture.

Now that I’m back in California, I’ve been putting together the next issue of my webzine FLURB. It’s a doozy. I’ll be rolling out the new issue early on Tuesday, September 6, when everyone’s back from the beach and at their computers. I’ll do a special post announcing it.

I like to use certain simple images when I’m scribbling a drawing for my children or grandchildren. Over the years, I’ve honed my favorites down to clean, cartoony icons—such as the “Cow and UFO” shown in my latest painting. Back to basics!

“Cow and UFO”, 24″ x 18″ inches, August, 2011, Oil on canvas.” Click for larger version.

More info at my Paintings page.

On the local publicity front, the Santa Cruz Weekly is featuring a profile of me with an excerpt of my new novel Jim and the Flims. You can find a PDF of the Santa Cruz Weekly online. It’s mainly the same article as was in the Silicon Valley Metro last week, but this version features two of my Santa Cruz paintings as illos.