Life is not fair

I’ve just got an email (well, actually it was last night, but at the speed my brain moves, that counts as ‘just’) informing me that I’ve sold two stories to the estimable Shawna at Realms of Fantasy. Mmm. Stoooories . . .

The two are Leviathan’s Hooks, and Long is the Shadow. (Originally, this was Long is the Shadow of the Moonlit Hills) but I thought the shorter one was snappier. The title of the other comes from Cans’t thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? (it’s in the Bible, dumbass), and has nothing to do with the story at all. Except tangentially. Maybe. Kinda. Well . . . I don’t know, really. It’s that kind of story.

I wasn’t sure RoF would take Leviathan’s Hooks actually; it’s got some nasty horror in it. Not on-screen, but nasty anyway.

From Rich Horton in Locus, reprinted* in entirety by Doug Cohen at Realms of Fantasy. Here.

And the review of my story is below:

Euan Harvey’s ‘‘By Shackle and Lash’’ is a strong Persian-flavored story about a couple of soldiers whose cowardice gets them assigned to cleaning duty in a prison – and to dealing with a mysterious woman and, eventually, her hopes to escape to her city – a city long vanished.

Sounds good to me. Better go and buy a copy of the mag. (Follow the link above; you’ll see a link to buy an ecopy of the magazine.)

Wreathed in Wisteria, Draped in Ivy is going to be published in the 100th issue of Realms of Fantasy. Dave Leri has done the illustration, and it’s pretty awesome. In fact, it’s so awesome, I had to shrink it a little, because the first time I posted it,  its sheer power BROKE THE INTERNETS!

Editor Douglas Cohen has a post about the ASFA and RoF’s nominations for the Chesley Art Awards. He’s also got a list of artists who’ve been nominated for work done for RoF. Three of the illustrations done for my stories have been nominated. So go check ‘em out!

Dave Leri’s interior illustration to “The Demon of Hochgarten” by Euan Harvey

Frank Wu’s interior illustration to “Hanuman’s Bridge” by Euan Harvey

Diana Wynne Jones has died, reports the Guardian. It’s a shame; I really enjoyed her ‘Tough Guide to Fantasyland’. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy. It’s well worth the money. The obit notes she died of cancer–it will sound self-centered, but I get a nasty twinge each time I read that in an obit. It brings home . . . well, it brings home certain things. Let’s leave it at that.

(AP) – 2 days ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a breakthrough cancer medication from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. that researchers have heralded as the first drug to prolong the lives of patients with melanoma.

The federal health agency approved the injectable drug, called Yervoy, for late-stage or metastatic melanoma. The agency has only approved two other drugs for advanced melanoma, the last of which was cleared more than 13 years ago. Neither drug has been shown to significantly extend patient lives.

Known chemically as ipilimumab, the biotech drug only worked in a small segment of patients studied, and on average they lived just four months longer than patients given older medications. But experts say the drug is an important milestone in treating the deadliest form of skin cancer, which is often unresponsive to therapy.

“Clearly this is not a home run, but it’s a solid base hit,” said Tim Turnham, director of the Melanoma Research Foundation. “And because we see other things in the pipeline, we think this the first in a series of important new therapies for melanoma.”

More.

Well, it’s good that the FDA approved it. It’s not a cure–except possibly for a minority of patients–but it is far better than the current treatments, which are frankly pretty useless. It’s still in progress with the NHS, but I don’t imagine it will take too long before it’s approved for use in the UK as well.

FDA Approval Expected this Month for Ipilimumab

By: BRUCE JANCIN, Skin & Allergy News Digital Network

More.

***

Worth a read, especially for some of the peculiar responses people have had to the drug (tumours growing and/or new sites of metastasis before stabilization). And also there are the usual dismal survival stats:

“The 12-month survival rate was 46% with ipilimumab alone, compared with 25% with vaccine only; the 24-month survival rates were 23% and 14%. Median overall survival was 10.0 months with ipilimumab plus vaccine, 10.1 months with ipilimumab alone, and 6.4 months with vaccine only”

Median survival 10 months. And that’s an improvement. Melanoma is a very nasty cancer once it’s spread. I was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma in August, 2009. That’s 19 months ago. I am lucky to still be alive.

An interesting news item today. Apparently a group of researchers at Sloan-Kettering in New York have developed a nano-particle that seeks out and sticks to melanoma cells.It’s non-toxic, and emits bright infra-red light. The pic in the article shows the technology being used to highlight a melanoma tumour in a rat.

This is interesting, as it’s the first time that the spread of melanoma can be imaged so precisely. This more more precise and less invasive surgery, and fewer complete lymphadenectomies like mine. And of course, once you’ve developed nano-particles that track and adhere selectively to melanoma cells, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine piggybacking something that kills melanoma on the back of these nano-particles. You’d then have something that targets and kills melanoma, while leaving healthy cells untouched. A cure? Sounds like it to me . . .

Some interesting news about melanoma treatments came in to my inbox (as well as the usual frankly dismal survival stats).

A diagnosis of melanoma is very bad news: Millimeter per millimeter of tumor, it’s among the deadliest cancers. Typically first appearing as a dark, irregular skin lesion, it can spread rapidly to every organ. There are some 68,000 new cases of melanoma in the United States each year, and the incidence is growing, despite warnings to stay out of the sun or wear sunblock to minimize exposure to ultraviolet radiation, the disease’s most important risk factor. Highly curable if found early, melanoma grows aggressively if undetected. Nationwide the cancer kills almost 9,000 people a year, mostly those with fair skin, often in the prime of life and frequently within mere months of discovering that their cancer has metastasized far and wide.

The best hope is a harrowing treatment for which only the fittest patients qualify: intensive immunotherapy that uses high doses of interleukin-2 (IL-2), a potent immune hormone. IL-2 therapy requires multiple hospital stays, during which patients receive intravenous infusions several times a day. The catalogue of side effects includes a racing heart, flulike chills, decreased blood pressure, vomiting and diarrhea, and edema, which can cause 10 to 20 pounds of weight gain.

Even then, no more than 20% of patients who get the treatment benefit, though 6% appear cured for life. Still, immunotherapy is better than the only other Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for advanced melanoma: Chemotherapy with dacarbazine gets only a 10% response rate, and patients survive an average of just seven months.

Keep reading.

Well, it’s been a looong time since I updated here. The reasons for that are manifold, but the main one is that I now post regular updates on Facebook. If i know you and we’re not linked on facebook, send me a friend request. The email address I’m using there is euan DOT harvey AT gmail.com. Replace the whatsits with the doodads, of course.

For people I don’t know personally, I’ll divide this update into bits. First is health. The cancer seems to be stable at the moment. I’m not getting any new symptoms, but it could start growing again at any time, so I’m not holding my breath or about to announce that I’ve beaten it. The last conversation I had with my oncologist went something like this:

Him: “No symptoms?”

Me: “No.”

Him: “Hm.” [Grins]. “Well, that’s unusual.”

Which I guess is good.

I’m running a lot, which helps my mood and (may) help with keeping the cancer at bay. I’m registered for the Watford Half-Marathon (at least, I’ve sent off my form and they’ve cashed my check, so I guess I am), and I think they still have places. So if you live around Watford, get in there!

For writing, I haven’t touched pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, for a long time, but I will be starting again now I have achieved some measure of mental stability. The impetus came from selling two stories to Realms of Fantasy. I’m going to start with revising a couple of shorts I’ve got hanging around, and then perhaps think about starting something longer.

The family’s all good. My wife is very slowly adjusting to living in the UK. She’s started work now, which gives her much more focus. She complains about being tired–but she’s never really happy unless she’s complaining about something. She’s smiling a lot more, which tells me how she really feels.

I do intend to post more on this blog. So be prepared for a deluge of posts about running, and writing (and cancer).

Best wishes to you all for 2011.