Mutual Combat

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First, the meathead ordinance has passed. Essentially, this means that officers could ticket people who are shouting, fighting, whatever as they leave a closing bar. This is good news for us, since we live in a very quiet neighborhood that has one bar nearby. People spill out of the bar singing and squabbling way too often. The city could balance their budgets on the backs of these fools.

What really caught my eye about this was this sentence in the article: “Fighting, or ‘mutual combat’ — where two parties punch and kick each other but don’t harm anyone else or cause property damage — isn’t currently against the law.”

To which I say “REALLY?” I have a hard time accepting that. The police wouldn’t arrest two dudes slugging it out in an alley as long as they didn’t break anything else, accidentally punch a bystander, or scream too loud?

Seattle: still hanging on to its frontier heritage.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day four

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Here are today’s books:

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The book on the left is the sequel to the book on the right. They’re detective/thrillers, and the protagonist is pretty much the maskless version of Batman–she’s good at pretty much everything and more than a little crazy. In book one she hunts and art thief and killer and falls for the woman she’s supposed to protect. In the sequel… well, I didn’t read it. My favorite part of book one was the travelogue of the couple’s visit to Norway, and that left me cold for the second one.

However, I’m a fussy, idiosyncratic reader (unlike everyone else, ‘natch) so maybe you would like them! Speak up!

Update: These have been won.

Randomness for 8/3

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1) Invisibility gets closer to reality.

2) The URL says it all: http://writershouses.com/

3) Thinking of becoming a literary agent?

4) Michelle Sagara on authors meeting readers who have not read the author’s work. I have never worked in a bookstore and have no idea how to rec books, but the rest matches my thoughts very closely.

5) Glory, Glory, Howl-le-lu-ya!. This is hilarious and weird. Do you love Jesus? Well that’s fine. Do you feel moved to do *this* and post it online? Dude. Seriously. via Robin Bailey

6) Don’t be that guy. For anyone who wonders why comics are so ridiculously sexist.

7) The Nietzsche Family Circus

More science!

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For those who missed the first one on Monday, these comics are 100% made by my son, to illustrate (with humor) his science lessons.

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Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day three!

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Today’s books:

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No explanation necessary, yeah? Who wants them?

Update! These have been won.

Now, I bring you… SCIENCE!

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As part of my son’s homeschooling, I’m asking him to create fun, funny, instructional science comics. He wrote, shot, and put together the comic below all by his lonesome. I offered to help, but he didn’t need it!

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What do you think?

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day two!

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Here’s today’s book:

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Writing a book set in the Regency period? Love reading those books? Here is a history of crime and the criminal underclass of that time, as well as a look at how a modern(ish) police force was built to combat it.

Is it comprehensive, accurate and interesting? I don’t know! I haven’t read it. It hurts to give this one away, actually, because it sounds so damn interesting. But it’s sat on my shelf for about 12 years w/out being cracked open, and it’s time to accept facts. Who wants it?

Update: This book has been claimed.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day one!

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

For day one, I’m offering this:

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No, it’s not a horror novel. It’s actually an examination of the concept of Satan in a historical and social context, especially with regard to creating a Christian identity by identifying and defining Christianity’s enemies. Interesting! But I’m not going to reread it, so why don’t you try it?

Update: This book has been won.

A spider has set up home on my desktop computer

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It’s awfully cute, hanging there, and I supposed I could take plotty inspiration from the complexity and interconnectedness of its web, but it’s also anchored to my reading materials. I’ll have to sweep it up and dump it outside eventually, but I’m willing to wait until it warms up out there.

Besides, it may help keep my son off YouTube for a little while.

Head, meet wall

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I’m trying to get a package together for my agent (sample chapters and selling synopsis, basically) and sweet mole sauce, have I been struggling. The last couple of months have been stressful–I don’t need to review, do I? Good.–and my daily word counts have been small. Now that I’m in the revision phase, I’m finding all sorts of repetitive and contradictory stuff in there. Characters are introduced twice, the protagonist discusses a clue with a character then decides to hide the info from him 50 pages later, the protagonist is confused by changes to a building he said he’d never seen before.

It’s a damn dirty mess. I really need to work faster on these early drafts, if only to save myself time and effort during revisions.

Anyway, I picked up a bunch of weird books at a yard sale today, and I’ll be slipping out of the library as soon as I dig up a movie for the family to watch tonight. We have a big afternoon of de-cluttering planned, although it remains to be seen which family members will be willing to get rid of some of their belongings (me) and which will not (them). Wish me luck.