Birthday Gift Report!

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So Friday was my birthday. I woke up at my usual 5am work time and did my pages. What’s more, I added even more cool stuff to the end of A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark–it sounds self-serving to say this, I know, but I’m getting really excited about this book (and I can’t wait to be done with it and move on to a new thing).

What did I find when I arrived home? A giant gift-wrapped box on my dining room table. My son, naturally, was super-excited to have me open it, but I was exhausted from several long days and begged a nap (gift one).

After we had our fruit salad and I did the whole wish/candle thing, I tore it open. It turned out to be a George Foreman Grill (gift two).

Now, I’m skeptical of electric cooking appliances. I use our food processor and stand mixer all the time, but specific gadgets for cooking? Too fussy, too messy, too much trouble to take out and put away. Especially that last one. I use the crock pot about once a week, and even though it’s fine for the first two, it’s a pain in the ass for third. We just don’t have that much counter space or storage.

But this gadget? The cooking plates come out and fit in the dishwasher, it has no controls beyond an on/off switch, and it folds up pretty compactly.

What’s more, my wife had picked out a beautiful steak for me to have for dinner (gift three) and it cooked up beautifully. I can’t wait to try potatoes, asparagus, and (naturally) burgers in it. My son is eager to put a personal pizza in it, and I’m game for that.

One other birthday gift turned up at the end of the night. Google Alerts brought me this: Publishers Weekly gave Circle of Enemies a starred review. (gift four) That means I’m 3 for 3 for PW reviews. :) I’m seriously pleased about this.

Anyway, I’m back to making donuts. At this point, it’s a sprint to the end of the draft. I just wish it wasn’t so damn gorgeous outside, which is like a gift I can’t play with. Local temp for July 2nd: 78F. Sunday the second is expected to be ten degrees cooler.

Today is my birthday

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Well, really it’s my not-birthday (ob repetitive explanation: My wife and I share a Bday, which sucks, so I bumped mine back a month). But that doesn’t matter, right? It’s just a date, and I’m supposed to celebrate the new year.

You don’t have to ask. I’m 46.

Anyway, I was up way, way too early to write, and write I did. After having almost zero idea how I was going to end A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark yesterday I bumped against the frontier of my synopsis and started brainstorming ideas. Within an hour, I had the end all worked out, and as I was smoothing it out this morning (connecting the plot points clearly, I mean) I had several more good ideas.

That’s all recorded, and at this point it’s a race to the end of the draft. I’ve already made today’s long-goal; hopefully I’ll be able to do another thousand words or so before I go home.

There will be no cake tonight. I don’t like it, and neither does anyone else in the family. We’ll be having melon-free fruit salad, instead, which is the tradition for my bday. What other efforts will be made on my behalf I do not know. I just hope I get a nap.

Anyway, I get a little more time to goof around online, then it’s back to the word mines. Have a great Friday and Happy Canada Day, you wonderful Canadians.

Randomness for 6/30

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1) Weird things customers say in bookshops.

2) “Well, at least it’s not towels!“

3) A Game of Thrones of Muppets

4) Han Solo and Greedo bookends.

5) How to have a well-behaved child.

6) His Girl Friday… with all that wonderful dialog edited out! A feature length movie gets trimmed down to under eight and a half minutes. Video.

7) Dear Photograph

(Re yesterday’s post: You guys know I generally don’t reply to hypothetical comments, yes? I don’t want to control or direct those conversations.)

This week’s hypothetical

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You slip and bump your head on your bathroom sink, and suddenly you have the most amazing idea. You retreat to your basement and spend 24 hours building a crazy device out of household electronics, and when it’s finished your head is still clearing–you don’t even know what it is.

When you emerge with it the next day, you quickly discover that you’ve just build a mind-control device. When you speak through it, you can get people to do just what you want them to do, and they’re happy about it.

An amazing discovery! But could you make someone kill themselves, or kill others? How long does the effect last? You don’t know the answer to that.

How are you going to test the limits of your new device? And what are you going to do with it?

“How awful! Legislating from the bench… I mean, from the legislature.”

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Andrew Sullivan does a quick rundown of some responses from social conservatives to the NY marriage equality law and surprise surprise if they aren’t convinced it’s tyranny. The short version is this: Gay rights advocates who want to be able to marry = Bull Connor. Because having the right to visit your partner in the hospital after a car accident is the same as siccing dogs on people.

History will tag these people as the assholes they are.

Five things make a Friday post, even though it’s Sunday

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1. Congratulations to the residents of New York state! A while ago someone asked, if someone from the mid-1960s were transported to today, what would be the most surprised change, and I suggested the gay rights movement. Marriage Equality in New York and in other countries and states is the result of focused, dedicated political action; I admire the hell out of the work they’ve done and wish their work was finished already. It’s sad that they have to keep fighting.

2. R.I.P. Martin Greenburg. Thanks for all the stories.

3. R.I.P. Peter Falk. I never understood the appeal of Columbo when I was a kid–they always showed the killer at the start of the show! It was only later that recognized the class aspect of the show (like Kolchak) and started to get into it. Yes, he was wonderful in THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but I was honestly startled (pleasantly) by his turn in WINGS OF DESIRE. That role could have been smug and tedious, but he rocked it.

4. The Locus Awards have been announced. (no link) Like the Nebulas, they only reinforce my decision to ignore awards entirely.

5. Have I mentioned here that I’m working on getting my short fiction for sale on the Kindle, et al? I am. The rights to most of my Black Gate stories (except the one that’s out right now) have reverted, plus I have a number of Pald stories that I never sold or even submitted anywhere. They go further into the setting and background than earlier books did, especially how the city is run. I’m hoping to convince my wife and son to whip up cover art for them as a homeschool project. We’ll see.

Bonus, secret sixth thing: Because of travel, we didn’t celebrate Father’s Day last week. Instead we’re celebrating today. I get brunch at a really nice restaurant (Portage Bay Cafe in Ballard) then library/bookstore, and finally, after my wife has gone to work, a movie with my son. Yay!

While I’m thinking about it: a message to smokers

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Hey, smokers, if I could have your attention for a moment, I’ll keep this brief.

Cigarette butts? Those are trash. Litter. Seriously, you shouldn’t be just throwing them anywhere. They should be actually thrown out, after being put out. You wouldn’t toss a candy wrapper or banana peel on the sidewalk, would you? (I hope not)

Many years ago when I first moved to Seattle, I had a joe job that required me to sweep up the sidewalks out front every day. At one point I had a discussion with my co-workers while they were on a smoke break, and I told them: “You know how those butts you drop are magically gone the next day? Well, it ain’t magic.”

So! Let’s keep in mind that butts are trash and should be disposed of like trash. Thanks!

Boy yesterday’s post seemed cranky, didn’t it?

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I didn’t think I was being all cranky, but it geez.

Anyway, I’m not online much because of the book-writing. Both yesterday and today were big days for me. Doing 2.5K words is a modest goal for many writers, but for me it’s nearly unthinkable. Hitting that mark two days in a row, with extra time to revise an old short story? That’s practically a breakthrough. I may have transformed myself into a totally different person. I’d better oversleep tomorrow and waste the whole day on Twitter or my wife and son might not recognize me.

Anyway, it’s not even one o’clock, and I’m done for the day. ::thumbs up::

No real post today

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I’ve been more scarce that usual lately, I know. I spending that time writing, so hopefully people are okay with it.

The post I would have written here is actually up on the Suvudu.com site. It’s about the Harry Potter movies, and it’s very very serious. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be showing up on the main Suvudu site, and I’m not going to sit here trying to figure out how it works when I could be working.

As for me, post-vacation leg pain has dropped to the usual levels and I’m planning a couple of nice long walks today. Unfortunately, it’s cloudy and 54 degrees outside. Fucking Seattle.

This week’s hypothetical

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You are hanging out at an amazing science facility–something like Star Labs–and you’re holding in your hand a newly-developed antibiotics gun. It can inject a person with a special capsule that will slowly release a full course of antibiotics, then, once the course is done, the capsule itself is absorbed by the body. A full cure in one dose.

A friend of yours comes by–she’s a little drunk. She and her colleagues have been celebrating the creation of a time window, which would let you see into any place or time on the planet Earth, and also let you pick something up or send something back.

While you’re getting over your envy of the magnificence of their creation, your friend gets excited. She could open a time window and you could shoot a full course of antibiotics into anyone in history. You could cure John Keats of his tuberculosis, if you wanted!

You mention the dangers of changing history, and your friend suggests that would be honestly difficult. If you cured Typhoid Mary, yes, a whole lot of people would have lived rather than died, and that might change things. If you cured John Keats or Immanuel Kant, you would end up with some more interesting things to read. It’s perfectly safe with a careful choice!

Do you want to cure someone in the past? Who would it be, and when?