School headmaster insists that there are no vampires infesting the Boston Latin School.
Aren’t you glad that’s settled? I am.
ETA: Remember that “legs like quills” book I linked to a while back? Making Light does a thorough link farm on it.
Heh. “… her neck was a bottle of wine covered in dew and otters.”
If I want to make the characters to do something crazy and cool, please do not fight me on it. I am not interested in hearing that my ideas don’t make sense or that the characters would never do that. I have a word count goal to make for the day.
Or not.
Sincerely,
your author
Question: Do you agree that Indiana Jones would never destroy priceless works of antiquity, even if it forwards the plot of a stupid computer game– Y/Y?
Let me be more specific: I’m sitting at a little table at Starbucks. One of the homeless guys from the neighborhood comes in and sits about three feet from me (it’s a small place) at about two-o’clock from me.
He’s wearing flip flops and his feet are filthy and covered with sores. He has two bags with him full of random crap, and he can’t seem to decide where to sit. He moves to a table, leaves his bag there when he moves to a comfy chair, spends about five minutes throwing wooden stirrers onto the chair opposite one at a time, then picks them up and throws them on the floor, then picks them up again and throws them onto a table.
Me, I’m deliberately not looking at him. Not when he’s standing at a corner scratching his back on the wall, not when he’s letting his feet dangle over the arm of the chair, not at all. He’s much too close to me for us to look at each other without engaging, and once that starts I’m never going to get anything done.
So I kept my eyes on my laptop screen. I kept my hands on the keyboard. And I met my goal for the day. Now I have to get a couple things done around the apartment and write enough to make yesterday’s goal, too. (eta: Done)
First one: No kids around? In the mood for some sick, disturbing humor? Watch Silence of the Lambs: The Musical animated with Legos.
Second one: Lots of kids around? Want to watch an amazing artistic and technical achievement? Watch an animation done entirely out of graffiti.
Actually, if you only have time for one, don’t miss that second one.
First the links:
Writers, Do not call a publisher, even if you’re “calling on behalf of an agent”. ::Rolls eyes::
And, here’s a list you didn’t know you absolutely had to read: Twenty Ridiculous Complaints Made By Tourists. The first one, about the aroused elephant, is priceless.
From Failblog.org: Child safety: You’re doing it wrong.
From Failblog.org part 2: Is this really a bag of Doritos?
I love the serene look on the yellow guy’s face. Crotch-stomp=bliss.
And now, galleys: I’m told that Del Rey will be printing over 500 bound galleys for Child of Fire, and 300 of them will be given away at San Diego Comic Con. They’ll also be the only fiction advance reader edition they’ll be giving away at the event. Pretty cool, thinks me.
And I’m one of them.
Last night, I was playing “Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb” and I was trying to work my way through the Prague levels, which take place in a castle. Why is that bad? Because the character has to walk on high ledges, jump from one building to another, shimmy of chains, use his whip as a swing and generally get very very high.
Me, I don’t like the heights. I could barely watch the end of Peter Jackson’s version of KING KONG on my 19″ TV set because the image of the ape at the edge of that building made me nauseous.
And yeah, so did Indy. Several times, I had to jump out into the void and catch a chain, then swing back and forth and jump to catch another chain or a ledge by my fingertips. Then there were the fist- and gunfights on balconies.
Whenever someone fell, screaming all the way down, I got a knot in my stomach. And when it happened to Indy I had to walk away from the computer.
Some people shouldn’t play computer games.
I’m sure this will be all over by the time I post it, but check it out.
Sci-Fi Channel to change it’s name to SyFy this summer.
No, that’s not The Onion. And today isn’t April 1st (I checked). Despite a double-digit increase in earnings, they really are changing the name because they think it’s been holding them back.
Mr. Brooks said that when people who say they don’t like science fiction enjoy a film like “Star Wars,” they don’t think it’s science fiction; they think it’s a good movie.
“We spent a lot of time in the ’90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it’s called Sci Fi,” Mr. Brooks said. “It’s somewhat cooler and better than the name ‘Science Fiction.’ But even the name Sci Fi is limiting.”
But wait! Turn off your outrage machine! There’s also this:
It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and nonlinear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.
That’s right. Hidden beside the bashing of its core audience (you know, people who like science fiction) is a smart business decision. They want a trademark they can paste onto projects in other media, including a long-rumored MMORPG (did I get that right?) that will tie in to a TV series.
They’re also planning to launch Syfy Games and Syfy Kids. I think they were smart to change the name. They’re going to have branding that is uniquely their own.
Although they should have gone with “Skiffy”.
Right now, it’s snowing here. I’m looking at the biggest flakes I’ve ever seen in my life. Bigger than Ritz crackers, I swear. None of it is sticking, though. The boy, he is disappointed.
It’s been a while since I wrote about the books I’ve been reading, mainly because even the meager writeups I do take a lot of brain space.
Last week I finished I Know a Trick Worth Two of That by Samuel Holt (Amazon.com). It was a light read (every book I pick up is a light read any more) but very satisfying. Sam Holt is the name on the cover, and it’s also the name of the protagonist in this first person mystery. In reality, it’s one of Donald E. Westlake’s pen names, but the conceit is a clever one. Holt is a former cop who fell into acting and played a detective on a TV show for several years. Now the show has ended and he’s rich, but can’t get another acting job because everyone associates him with Packard.
And when murders occur, folks turn to him to solve it, because hey, he’s Packard!
In this one, Holt’s old partner comes to him for help–folks are out to kill him, and Holt agrees to hide him in his house. Unfortunately, during a dinner party, his houseguest is killed. Holt knows that the murderer is one of his guests–one of his closest friends–but who? Can he find the killer without driving away everyone he cares about?
And you know what? It works. You get a convincing look into the life of a formerly successful actor, lots of great characters, an honest-to-Pikachu whodunit with clues and everything (I ignore clues–I’m terrible with them) and a denouement in which the protagonist calls all the suspects together to name the killer.
Fun! I’ve been such a book grouch, that I’m pleased to have found this one.
Then, there’s The Boys by Garth Ennis, (Amazon.com, Indiebound.org) a superhero graphic novel set in a world where costumed superheros are self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing assholes, and the characters of the title are a team of freelance government operatives who spy on them, collect blackmail material and generally show their hate.
The main baddies are a twisted version of the Justice League–reckless, violent jerks more concerned with their licensing rights than doing good. And the protagonists are the kind of depraved, cynical anti-heroes that so many comics creators seem to love.
There’s a lot that’s wrong here. It’s full of casual racism and sexism (want to know what the only female member of “the boys” is called? “The Woman. Nope, not kidding). It’s rife with the immature nihilism that defines so many “adult” comics. It’s got hate-fucking, prostitutes, drug use, boozing, and… um… doggie rape. All things I would hate in fiction.
And yet, it has an undeniable power, too. Not just in an “Oh John Ringo No” sort of way, but in the reader’s secret suspicion that, if we really did have people with superpowers, this is how they’d behave. And the story has a driving force to it that pulls me through all the annoying parts. Also, the audience stand-in character who gets everything explained to him? Modeled on Simon Pegg. I have no idea why that makes me happy, but it does.
Anyway, after I finished Volume 1, I added Volume 2 to my to read pile.
The snow has turned to rain. Too bad.
Currently, I’m reading The Bone Gardenby Tess Gerritson, which has so far not engaged me with all the misery and pus. On the graphic novel end, I’m reading the trade for The Middleman.
I just finished another Flycon panel on Dark Fantasy and Horror–some smart people said smart things, and I talked too. You can read it here if you like.
Sorry that I forgot to post a reminder before hand. I was tempted to backdate a note that said “Come join the fun!” but how fair would that be?
In other news, I always play computer and console games on the easiest possible setting. That’s how you do it, too, right?