Freedom report, day one

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I’m very mildly hung over from the two 22-oz beers I drank last night. Lindsey and Noelle, if you’re reading this, thank you again for those excellent going away gifts. They were complex, rich, and delicious, even if they did give me a bit of a headache today. I don’t want to think about how I’d feel if I hadn’t spread them out over four hours. At least I still have an area of my life where I can legitimately call myself a “lightweight.”

The whole family sat down to watch THE SECRET OF KELLS last night. My wife and son had no idea what to expect, but they were just as blown away as I’d expected them to be. Gorgeous movie. Highly recommended.

Also last night, I talked with the filmmakers making the book trailer. They received my drawing of the ghost knife sigil just fine, and I’ll post a link to imdb page for the actor playing Ray Lilly when they give me permission.

This morning I slept in until the late, late hour of 6:30 am. Luxury! I mailed off the last copies of GAME OF CAGES that I owed folks, and sent one each of my books to Pat Rothfuss for his charity auction. If you have something to donate, please consider doing so. It’s a good cause.

Then I did a bit of writing… but not much, because I’m enjoying this weekend. Next, I’m going to check out my library books and head out to meet a college buddy I barely ever see for a late lunch.

Hope you guys are having a day that’s just as nice.

My creepy request for your personal information

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Hey, I haven’t mentioned this before, but I have a mailing list.

At this point it’s, like, nine people, but it exists. I’ve used it once so far to announce the pub day of Game of Cages.

If you would like an email letting you know when Circle of Enemies (or anything else of mine) publishes, shoot me an email to harry at the URL above sans double u’s, by which I mean harryjconnolly.com. (I type it that way to avoid spam harvesters, sorry.) Alternately, drop a comment in this thread on the main blog and type out the appropriate email address in indicated form.

And that’s all (for now)

Randomness for 11/5

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1) Tired of arguing about science on Twitter? Let a computer program do it for you. via Jay Lake

2) “It was just a wasp, Dad.”

3) Popping corn in super slow-motion. Video.

4) Least popular monsters.

5) The many types of author panels.

6) This is one awesome mom.

7) Wasteland the movie trailer. Video, but it doesn’t auto-start. This is a documentary I’ll be watching when I get a chance.

Book survey and other writing links.

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I’m reposting this because it didn’t cross post. Sorry

Here’s a bunch of links for books and writing. For starters: NPR is conducting an online survey about how they can improve their book coverage.. If you’re a listener, please do fill this out to let them know what you want.

Personally, I suggested they set aside a segment on weekend mornings for genre fiction, and have an expert in different genres (romance, mystery, sf, etc) rotate through to discuss the latest trends, awards, and best-sellers. I also reminded them that many of their readers are big nerds, and they should take notice of that.

Doing NaNoWriMo? Gosh, if only someone would write an article of writing advice for you! And if only someone else say, Laura Miller at Salon, would express some kind of disapproval of the way it’s run. Because then someone else could jump in with a misguided but completely understandable misreading of Miller’s article. And after that, Miller could write the clarification in the way she should have written the original article.

Skip Miller’s original article and jump right to the response, I say. She makes a fine point. [Update: stupid LATimes website won’t let me link directly to Laura Millers response in the comments of the Book Jacket post. You can skim through and find it at November 03, 2010 at 02:41 PM, though.]

Next, I’ll bet you thought the ebook pricing debate had already been found dead in its stable, but the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers wants to take the whip to it all the same. He’s convinced me, but I’m not a Kindle person.

What does Jim Butcher read? Watch the video to the end to find out. Also: spoilers for his latest book, CHANGES, in that interview. (For those who don’t want to watch the video, he mentions me as an author to watch for.)

And finally, Nick Mamatas points to an editor who snatched content off the web and published it without permission in her magazine. When the writer contacted the magazine about it, the editor replied with the most amazing email fail ever. Really, it has to be seen to be believed.

This one is spreading around blogs and Twitter like a wildfire, and the magazine’s Facebook page is currently being barraged by outraged comments. Awesome.

Quote of the day

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There was a period in the 90s where I was writing a lot of science fiction screenplays because it was a popular genre. For the most part, a science fiction movie is really just an action movie that takes place in the future. Sure, there are exceptions like GATACA, but mostly you have TOTAL RECALL and JUDGE DREDD and TERMINATOR and I ROBOT and MINORITY REPORT. In a science fiction script you start with what one big thing makes the world different – Apes have taken over? Food shortage plus population boom so we all eat Soylent Green? The Zombie Apocalypse happened and now you are the Last Man On Earth? There are psychics who tell the police who to arrest before they commit the crime? There is one big change, which is tied to the theme (point) of your story.

–Bill Martell, screenwriter (and practical man)

Reviews, Part 21

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New reviews of my work:

1) Patrick of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist gave Game of Cages 7.5 out of ten because he liked the book I wrote but would have liked a different book better. “Game of Cages is an entertaining blen of urban fantasy, mystery, and action. The pace is crisp, making this one another page-turner.”

I’m honestly tempted to tell him not to bother with the rest of my books because it seems pretty clear that we’re not interested in the same things.

2) Rob D. Smith at A Thousand Masks liked Game of Cages quite a bit. “But if you like tautly crafted hardboiled magic tales, go out and get this book.”

3) MTimonin also liked Game of Cages, and sees where the overall story is going. “Connolly has some very good characters here, and his premise is intriguing.”

4) K.C. Shaw at Skunk Cat Book Reviews loved Child of Fire very much. “In short, this is probably the perfect example of an urban fantasy.”

5) K.C. Shaw also read Game of Cages and liked it a lot, although not as much as the first book: “I don’t usually read sequels immediately after reading the previous books. This series is too amazing to resist, though.”

6) The most thoroughly neutral review of Child of Fire yet: “It would be accurate to say that if one likes Butcher’s work, Connolly’s will have some appeal.” That sentence is as close as the reviewer comes to expressing an outright opinion on the book; I’ll take that as a “didn’t care for it.”

7) Drey at Drey’s Library gave Child of Fire a “Good” rating: “Child of Fire is a pretty good first offering from Harry Connelly, and I’ll be finding out how Ray fares in the next installment, Game of Cages.“

In which I gag

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It’s Halloween, so I pulled one of these off the shelf (the one on the left). I peeled the foil and discovered it was a screw cap, not a cork. Opened it anyway. It’s bad, but what the hell, I drink bad red wine all the time.

Then I got to the bottom of the bottle and gagged on the “solids” there. I don’t know what the hell it was, but it was grit and chunks and whoa did I come close to chunking right into my sink.

Thank you, R Wines of Eastwood, Australia and importer The Grateful Palate of Oxnard, California, for bringing some real horror to my Halloween. The slogan on your bottle (“It’s Just Wrong”) was accurate on more levels that I would ever have expected.

Randomness for Halloween

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1) Can self-replicated Lego Robots be far behind? via Rose Fox.

2) Explain the internet to a 19th century British street urchin. Flow charts are funny. also via Rose Fox.

3) A Halloween edition of Great Comics that Never Happened! I love this one.

4) Heeeeeelllllllo, teddy bear! Who know Charlie Sheen could set his own eyes on fire in real life! Video.

5) 11 Awesome skiffy-themed animated gifs. I can’t decide if my favorite is Khan finding Waldo or Picard tommy-gunning Chunk.

6) This is how I’ve always imagined an agent’s office would be run.

7) Baby Powerhouse Remix. Video. This is a nice antidote to all the Halloween creepy grossness. Unless babies freak you out.

Halloween followup

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Friday night, my wife and son stayed up until midnight listening to L.A. Theater Works’s production of War of the Worlds and Lost World. You can listen at the site, at least for a while. Give it a try. My son rated it “Awesome!”

The picture says it all

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Happy Halloween!

Remember, the original TV series Kolchak the Night Stalker is available on Netflix Streaming. Me, I’ll be getting back to my Kolchak rewatch writeups soon.