Singular they is great. You do have a precedent of "it," though. In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, there's a bigendered character who uses it as its primary pronoun. It takes a page or two to get used to, but then you're fine.

If you do want to use gender-neutral pronouns, I recommend Spivak pronouns (e/em/eir).

~Duk

I'll be there! And hey, this year I'll actually be 21, so no worrying about them kicking me out at ten... and perhaps I'll have one of them five dollar margaritas, hmm?

~Duk

As a Berkeley native, I want to reiterate what was said up above about the Bay Area consisting of WAY more than just San Francisco itself. San Francisco is very strongly a non-isolated city, despite having to go across bridges to get to the other major parts of the Bay Area. Oakland/Berkeley/Richmond and San Rafael/Sausalito/Marin are all very definitely important parts of the San Francisco area.

Also, if you really do want a big isolated house on a hill, there are two places you could pull one off, though both are about an hour's drive from San Francisco proper. Behind the Berkeley hills you've got Orinda, Moraga, Lafeyette, and further out Danville, which are way more sparsely populated, and do have a fair number of mega-mansions out in the nearby hills. (I went to high school with kids from there--the parties they threw were pretty crazy, let me tell you.) Driving up the other way (due North) from SF, Mill Valley is home to some similarly palatial homes, though they're much closer together than the ones out towards Orinda.

I'd definitely spend time with maps of the Bay Area, familiarize yourself with the look of it. NYC is a very apt comparison--the different parts of the Bay Area are all very different from one another, but still interconnected. Also check out a map of the BART system, as it's vital for getting around, but only goes to certain places.

As for SF/F viability, frankly it doesn't get much better than San Francisco. It's full of weirdness, historically and currently. I actually just got done running an urban fantasy tabletop campaign set in SF. Good times ensued, I assure you.

~Duk

SO EXCITED OMG!!!

This is the best news since the announcement that Jim's handing off the work of writing the rest of the books to Stephanie Meyer!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

~Duk

    I must not be too serious.
    Seriousness is the snark-killer.
    Seriousness is the little-death that brings total boredom.
    I will face my seriousness.
    I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
    And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
    Where the seriousness has gone there will be nothing.
    Only snark will remain.

~Duk

So... is Myrrdn going as pantsless Ehren? Because I think that would be an excellent costume choice. Yes indeed.

Pantsless Ehren and topless Kitai. The most accurate bestest Alera cosplays ever.

~Duk

It's true! You guys rock! I mean come on, how many forums are awesome enough that one of the members makes cloaks for the moderators? That's just freakin' sweet.

(Me? Jealous of those cloaks? Surely you jest. )

~Duk

As a storyteller myself, it was tons of fun to actually hear Jim reading it. As I have heard it said, there are two halves to storytelling--the story and the telling. When we read the books, we really just get the story. Getting it with the proper telling, well, that just made it so much more fun! I'm excited to rewatch (relisten?) when the videos go up on February.

~Duk